Never Easy

The sound of her third bell teacher droning on about the negative effects of populism was filling up the entire classroom, and yet, only about half the class seemed to be paying attention and writing down the notes.

Callie’s head jerked forward as her eyes began to droop but quickly pulled herself back up before she would drop onto her desk. Her hand covered her mouth as a yawn left her mouth. The start of tears began to creep its way to the front of her eyes causing her to blink furiously in effort for them to not escape.

Trying to keep awake, Callie sat up straight in her chair and restructured her posture. For the next five minutes or so, she actually tried to pay attention and understand the lesson. But her mind started wandering again and she soon realized the plan was a total fail, and slouched back with a sigh.

She suddenly remembered that earlier that morning that in a rush she had slipped her iPod into her pencil bag instead of her schoolbag. Keeping an eye on her teacher, she quietly pulled the zipper and took out the pink iPod. She unwrapped the headphones and stuck one in her ear and set the iPod inside her jacket pocket.

The beginning beats of Colbie Caillat’s new song started to play as Callie began doodling in her notebook. At first, it was just mindless doodling with her drawing hearts, smilies, and flowers. That slowly changed to writing her name over and over again and then to her surprise, she found herself writing her boyfriend’s name along with hers.

Her pencil stopped midway writing Joe’s name when she suddenly remembered the morning’s events. Her stomach sank with the thought of winning. It wasn’t the fact that she had won that was bothering her, she secretly loved the fact that she had won over the entire junior class, but it was the motivation that had gotten her there.

If it hadn’t been for Amanda, Callie knew that she wouldn’t have even been considered for Homecoming Court. It was because of their bet and the way she had taunted her that Callie had made it her mission to win. She had done everything she could to win.

But not all bad things had come out of the bet. Callie had an amazing boyfriend and she did win Homecoming Court. But there was no way of forgetting that she had used her boyfriend to get to where she was now. Her popularity had risen when she won a spot on the cheerleading squad but it rose even more when she became Joe Jonas’s girlfriend.

Callie wasn’t sure if she was even going to tell Joe. The only other people who knew about the bet were Shannon, and the rest of the cheerleading squad. She knew there was a chance that Amanda may rat her out, but if she did, there was a very high chance that their coach would find out and then the entire squad would be in huge trouble.

The nagging doubt that was lurking in her heart was that she didn’t know if Amanda would be willing to risk her position on the squad just to make the outcome of this bet more than it would be. She never knew with that girl.

In all the relief from winning the bet, Callie hadn’t thought about what would go down today during cheerleading practice. She had yet to see Amanda today. All day she had been getting congratulated for winning the spot of for the junior class. Many people found the coincidence that both Joe and Callie had won pretty funny which she just shook off with a laugh.

Amanda wasn’t the only person she hadn’t seen this morning. She had somehow missed Joe this morning after their first bell class besides the fact that their first bell classrooms were right next to each other. She figured that he had stayed after for something or had to leave early.

The ringing of the bell signaling that third period was over startled Callie out her thoughts and her music. Picking up her books, she stood up and joined the rush of students leaving the classroom.

Callie maneuvered quietly around the hordes of students as she made her way to her next class. She smiled at a few of her friends and quickly said hellos to them. She was so preoccupied within herself as she listened to her iPod that she didn’t even hear her name being called.

The second an arm wrapped around her waist, Callie practically jumped. She gave a sigh of relief when she saw the raven haired boy standing next to her with a silly smile on his face. She reached up and took out her headphones and stuck them in her pocket before turning around giving a matching smile in return.

“Hey!” Callie stood on her tip toes to give Joe a hug before returning back to her normal height. “Where were you this morning? I waited for you after first bell, but I could find you.”

“Sorry about that,” Joe apologized. “I got called down to Coach Haggland’s office. He wanted to go over a few plays for the Homecoming game this week.”

“Speaking of Homecoming, congratulations Homecoming Prince,” Callie teased with a small giggle. “Can you believe we both won?”

Joe laughed. “I know, it’s ridiculous. I was surprised that we both got nominated. I didn’t think we would both win.”

“Well at least you’ll be the one walking me down the field and not some creeper,” Callie stated.

“I probably would have found someway to walk down with you anyway if I hadn’t won,” Joe said with a laugh.

Callie rolled her eyes. “That would have been quite a scene. I can just picture it now, you pushing some poor guy out of the way just so you could walk me down the field.”

“Exactly!” Joe exclaimed. “But now I won’t have to do that since I’m already supposed to be walking you down.”

Callie chuckled and nodded. She leaned up and gave him a swift kiss on the cheek. They were nearby her next bell class and she knew he had to leave soon to make it on time for his class.

“See you at lunch Homecoming Princess.” Joe smiled as he leaned down and planted his lips on hers. The kiss was short and sweet but still put Callie in a great mood.

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Callie sighed and sat down at her lunch table as she set down her brown paper bag. It had been a long morning with her classes going the slowest as possible. The only thing that brightened her morning was winning Homecoming Princess.

Lunch passed by smoothly as she chatted with her friends. Homecoming buzz was in the air as all the girls talked about their dresses, dates, and the plans for that night. Boys were talking about their dates and all they had planned for them.

Halfway through lunch, Joe came over to her table and said a quick hello to her and her friends. He had caught her by surprise for the second time that day by coming up behind her and giving a small peck on her cheek.

He slid in the seat next to her, but before he turned to the rest of the girls at her table, he leaned in closer to her ear. “Why’s Amanda looking at you like that?” he asked curiously.

Callie followed his gaze and came in contact with Amanda shooting daggers with her eyes towards her. After a moment, her enemy turned her head away and acted like the past few seconds hadn’t even happened.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Callie lied.
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Callie raised her right arm behind her head and touched her opposite shoulder with her hand as she stretched out the muscles in her upper arm. She repeated the exercise with her left arm and continued to warm up the muscles in the rest of her body.

The sun was shining down on their city today giving the illusion that it was a warm day when it in fact was a chilly weather of high 50’s. But that didn’t stop the cheerleaders from wearing short shorts and t-shirts or the football papers wearing summer type gear for their practice. The coolness of the breeze actually felt really good on Callie’s skin so she wasn’t really bothered with the cooler weather.

She reached up and tightened her ponytail before retying her shoelaces. As she pulled the final string on her laces, the whistle blew signaling that practice was starting. She walked quickly to where Coach Alison was standing. The rest of the girls followed her lead and made their way to their coach.

Callie watched Amanda walk over with a couple of her friends. She still hadn’t said a word to her all day and it was beginning to scare her. She would have thought that she would have said something, anything to her by now, but not a word. Not even a scowl had been tossed her way.

Practice seemed to fly by without a hitch. Coach Alison made them go through all their cheers till they could do them without a single mistake from any of the girls. It was a long and exhausting practice, but for Callie it was a detour for the worries that was starting to overtake her mind.

Every time they had a break, she would cast a glance over to Amanda. Once or twice they would make eye contact but after a few seconds, the eye connection was always broken. Neither of them made the move to talk to each other.

After awhile, Callie forced herself not to think about the consequences of winning. Nothing had happened so far, so why was there a reason to worry? Right now, she had to focus on practice and their big Homecoming this Friday. It was their biggest for them, and she knew that most of the school would be there to watch.

By the time practice was finished, it was around five thirty and the sun was slowly starting to set as the evening came upon them. Her bags were set on the bleachers along with the rest of the cheerleaders along with the football players. The football players’ locker room was being redone causing the bleachers to be covered with everybody’s school bags, cheerleading bags, and others.

Her legs were starting to burn from the extensive use that Callie collapsed onto one of the bleachers as soon as she got to one. She brushed the blond strands that had come lose out of her ponytail out of her face and tucked the behind her ears. She pulled out a blue jacket from her bag and put in on over her t-shirt.

“You look exhausted,” Joe commented as he walked up the stairs and to the bleacher that she was sitting in.

She looked up to Joe in simple black shorts and a red t-shirt. His book bag was slung over his shoulder and his hair was in a tousled but sexy mess. He walked over to her and stood over her as she got all her belongings together.

“You have no idea. Coach Alison worked us so hard today to get us ready for the game on Friday. It’s crunch week for us,” Callie explained.

Joe leaned down and gave her a kiss on the side of her head. “You’ll be okay. Come on, I’ll take you home. We can pick up your car later tonight.”

She laced her fingers into his and followed him down the bleachers. Everybody was still lingering around the bleachers and the field since practice had just finished. The two of them both said their goodbyes to some of their friends as they made their way out to the parking lot.

“Callie!” a voice shouted. The person repeated her name again but instead in a loud enough tone that most of the people left all turned around to see what was causing the commotion.

She turned around, still hand in hand with Joe, and found Amanda walking towards her. Her stomach churned as she saw the obvious fake smile plastered on her face as she made her way towards her and Joe.

“I just wanted to say congratulations on becoming Homecoming Princess, Callie,” Amanda spoke in a sweet voice that was dripping with fakeness.

“Um, thanks,” Callie mumbled. She hesitated before continuing. “Listen, I have to get home and-”

“No hold on a minute,” Amanda interjected as she twirled on a piece of her curled hair. “I only have one more thing to say and then you can go.” Callie frowned at her choice of words. “I really didn’t think you would be able to do it. I’m impressed.”

“Do what?” Joe interrupted. Cassie glanced up to her boyfriend and then back to the brunette girl in front of her.

“Amanda…don’t,” she pleaded softly. “Please.”

“Do what?” Joe repeated as a look of confusion began to appear on his face. Callie could tell that he knew something was up but didn’t know what. When he noticed the scared look on her face and the confident look on Amanda’s, he unlaced his fingers from her hand and took a small but noticeable step away from her.

Callie’s eyes darted toward all the people around her and she could see that most of them were focusing the encounter that was taking place in front of them. Voices were starting to become whispers as the audience became more and more curious.

“What? You didn’t tell him?” Amanda scoffed. “I thought you would have by now.”

“Will someone please tell me what’s gone?” Joe demanded.

“Fine, you want to know? I’ll tell you.” Amanda glanced at her and smirked for a second before looking straight into Joe’s eyes. “Callie and I made a bet two months ago. She was to become your girlfriend and win Homecoming Princess for the junior class within two months to prove that she had what it takes to be on the squad.”

Callie briefly closed her eyes as silence surrounded her. She slowly opened them and was incredibly frightened to look at Joe. She finally did and instantly regretted doing so. Joe’s eyes were filled with so many feelings. He was shocked, hurt, but most of all, angry.

More silence lingered in the air as neither of the three of them spoke. She finally broke the deafening silence that was starting to become a bigger hole in her heart. “Joe, just, just, please,- ” Callie stuttered. “Just hear me out.”

He shook his head and began to walk backwards and away from the two other girls. “Forget it. We’re done. I can’t believe you.” With that, he turned around maneuvered his way out of the increasing amount of students.

Callie looked back at Amanda who gave her one final smirk before turning around and making her way back to her friends. It was only then that she remembered that almost everybody had still been there. She raised her head to find almost everyone staring at her with wide eyes and unsure of what to do now.

She felt like she couldn’t move. Her feet felt like they were planted in the ground beneath her and had no strength to move. But she had to get out of there. She had already suffered enough humiliation for one day, it couldn’t get any worse. Even though she knew for the past two months that this bet was just hell waiting to break loose, Callie didn’t even begin to fathom what an impact it would have on her.

As she walked to the parking lot, she crossed the sidewalk to reach her own car. Another car sped in front of her and it wasn’t till a couple seconds later that she realized it was Joe’s face in the driver’s seat of the car. It was only then that it hit Callie that the one person who had practically been the source of her happiness for the last two months, was now gone.