Never Easy

Banner by Michaela.

“You did what?” Shannon exclaimed.

Callie groaned and hit her head on the headboard of her bed. The minute she had gotten home, Callie had taken the fastest shower possible before calling up her best friend. In a rushed state, she tried to explain what had happened and it was only when she was explaining to Shannon over the phone what had happened earlier today, did she realize how impossible and stupid it sounded.

“I know, I know. I can’t believe I agreed to something like that. It’s just…ugh. She was just being such a bitch to me, Shannon! I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t have her get the better of me.”

Shannon sighed. “I understand why you did it, Callie. But how are you going to get out of this mess? Are you actually going to do this?”

Callie bit her lip. She let a few seconds of dead silence linger in the air before finally responding. “I don’t know, Shannon. I don’t know.”

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The sound of a metal locker being slammed echoed throughout the silent school hallway. Callie had just been dropped off by her mom after her dentist appointment this morning and she had happily skipped the first two periods of the school day. The silence in the school was comforting to Callie as she quietly hummed to herself as she walked down the hallway, books in hand.

Her body felt refreshed from the couple extra of sleep she had gotten this morning and rounded the corner on the way to her third period classroom. She leaned her head down, her hair covering the left side of her face, as she ruffled through her books to find her tardy pass.

“Where did it go?” Callie muttered to herself. She leafed through the papers in her homework binder and frowned. She was more than positive that she had stuck the tardy pass in the side pocket of the binder. Sighing, she looked through her other folders thinking that maybe she accidently put in there by mistake.

“Looking for this?” A deep voice asked from behind her. Callie swiveled around and stepped back in surprise.

Speak of the devil.

Well not really, but Callie had tried all morning to push the dare out of her mind, and till now, she had been successful. It wasn’t till this second that Callie realized it was going to be impossible to do this.

Because standing right in front of her, with a tardy pass in his hand, was Joe Jonas himself. Clad in worn out dark denim jeans, they hugged his body in all the right places along with his black shirt that was stamped with the school mascot and Firebirds Varsity Football Team. His hair was naturally wavy and his bangs barely covered the top of his dark eyes as he smiled at her with hisadorable smile.

Callie eyed his shirt warily and then shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Um, thanks.” She let her eyes focus on the tardy pass that was pressed in his hand and reached to take it from him. It was tightly folded inside his hand and there was no other way to get the pass besides actually touching his hand. Callie’s fingers brushed against his hand, and the warm temperature of his hand radiated off onto Callie’s body. Involuntary, Callie started to feel butterflies making their way into her stomach, and she cursed to herself that they had.

“It’s Callie right?” Joe asked with a hint of question on his face as he made sure he matched up the correct girl and name. They had talked often in class, he sat next to her in both their advanced history and honors English class, but it was usually only for mutual questions. She wasn’t afraid to admit, that like all other girls she sometimes shamelessly flirted with him. But who could resist?

Callie nodded and tucked the pass back in her binder, hoping to stall time. She looked up just in time to see him starting to turn around to head back to class when he spoke again. “By the way, congrats on making the cheerleading team.”

A look of surprise flashed through her eyes when for the first time they connected eyes. She quickly searched them to only see genuine in them. “Thanks. I didn’t think you would know.”

Joe chuckled. “I’m on the team, Callie. Of course I would know when they add a new cheerleader. All the guys have been talking about it for the last couple of days.”

Callie scrunched her eyebrows together. She wasn’t sure what to think of that. The thought of being the topic of the football team’s conversations didn’t seem to intriguing at the moment and made her slightly uneasy. “Uh, thanks,” She paused. “I think.”

Laughter came out of his mouth once again as Joe ran his hands through his hair. She shifted her weight to her left foot wondering if he felt as uncomfortable as she did now. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that, none of us know you that well and we wanted to meet you.’

Her mouth formed an ‘o’ shape as she realized that he was right. “Oh, I see.” It did make sense. She didn’t really know anybody on the football team or the cheerleading team for that matter. The only friend she had on this friends circle at the moment was, Holly. And even her she didn’t know that well.

“Actually, I’m glad I found you.” Callie tilted her head to the side wondering where this was going. “Some of the guys from the team and the cheerleaders are going to Coldstone after practice. You up for it?”

Callie jumped as the shrill of the school bell rang throughout the school. She had missed the end of third period because she had been talking to Joe. Not that she minded, Algebra wasn’t exactly her favorite subject. Callie quickly realized that she had to go to the opposite side of the school and needed to leave soon if she wanted to make it to class on time. “Um, sure. I’ll be there.”

She flashed him a smile before she walked past him. Despite the damn butterflies that continued to attack her stomach, Callie felt like that she should have the last say.

Because Callie was the one who should be chasing Joe. Right?

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Callie pushed open the glass door that entered into Coldstone and stepped inside. The famous ice cream shop was located right next to the high school and was a famous hangout place for the students. She eyed the area before finding the people she was looking for sitting at a large table.

Many of the guys there Callie could recognize from around school, but ones who she had never talked to. Most of them had on their football jackets and Callie couldn’t blame them. The weather was starting to get a little chilly now since fall was approaching them. Her eyes gazed over the rest of the people, specifically the cheerleaders. Her heart sank when she saw one girl that she had successfully avoided till now.

Amanda’s back was turned and it wasn’t till Joe looked up and smiled to see Callie making her way over to their table that the devil itself made it her mission to talk to her. Callie could tell that she hadn’t known that she would be coming today and was trying to fix the problem pronto.

The rest of the group smiled at her and greeted her as Callie pulled back a chair for herself and sat herself down at the only empty seat, next to Amanda. A sweet, fake smile slowly curved onto Amanda’s lips that made Callie want to hurl. “I didn’t know you were coming, Callie.”

Callie returned the comment with her own fake smile. “I didn’t know till this morning I was. Joe invited me,” She explained. She watched in enjoyment as Amanda’s face went into a slight shock as she wondered how in the world Callie had already become such good friends with Joe when it was only yesterday that she had given her the challenge.

“I see,” Ashley said simply before turning back to the rest of the group.

Callie fought to roll her eyes but instead launched into a conversation with a couple of the guys on the team. She found herself easily having fun with the guys who seemed like any of her other friends. They were funny, teased her which Callie also knew was a tactic for flirting. But she brushed it off knowing that there was only one guy she had to concentrate on snagging.

Speaking of that one boy, Callie sneaked a side glance to Joe as she half listened to Grant’s story of his sister’s jackass of a boyfriend. She watched him talk to Amanda while eating his own ice-cream cup that was in his hand.

Despite not meeting Joe before, she certainly knew a lot about him. For example, Callie knew that his status was a player. She knew it was one of the reasons that Amanda had picked him. He seemed to be more into the idea of friends with benefits than an actual long lasting relationship.

And that was merely beginning of the challenge. Joe had girls throwing themselves on him wherever they went. Throughout the freshman year girls, Joe was most likely the most popular image while day dreaming in class.

Callie had still been contemplating whether or not she would go through with this dare, but as soon as she saw Amanda disgustingly try to get his attention, even though it was working, she decided that she was going to do this. If not just to get revenge, it would certainly spice up her life a little.

But Callie also knew that she would have to try a different tactic to get Joe. Doing everything that everyone else was doing was obviously not working for them. Callie realized that instead of playing easy to get, she would have to play hard to get..

That’s why when Joe caught her staring at both Amanda and Joe, and he gave a sly wink with his winning smile, all Callie did was roll her eyes and turn her attention back to Grant.

What Callie didn’t realize was, playing the hard to get game, was going to be much more difficult than she imagined.