Never Easy

Banner by Mikay (:

Callie groaned as the beeping continued to ring through the air. Half asleep, she stretched out her left hand towards her nightstand and touched around the table before finally hitting the snooze button. She stuffed her face into the soft pillow and tried to make the minute last longer than sixty seconds.

Sleeping in today was not an option. As much as she would love to have fifteen more minutes of sleep, Callie couldn’t afford to lose the precious time this morning. What was today? To most people, it was just like another normal Friday. But for Callie, Friday night was going to be the first night she was going to be cheering at the school’s football team.

Football was a huge part of Mason City High School. The team had quite a reputation to live up to. State titles plaques filled the glass cases that were lined down the main hallway of the school. Only the best played for Varsity, heck it was pretty incredible if you even dressed up for varsity.

Walking into her closet, Callie ran her fingers along the soft cheerleading uniform. The light in the closest shone on the black and red uniform. Firebirds was printed in bold white on the front of the uniform to contrast the school colors. Callie tugged the black Underarmour that had been thrown on the floor a few days ago and held it in her arm along with the uniform.

Forty five minutes later Callie, running late as usual, did a last minute check on her appearance as she grabbed the green tote bag from her bed. She frowned as it clashed with her outfit but there was nothing she could do about that now. Bringing her hands up, she ran her fingers through her soft hair and adjusted the red ribbon that was laced around her ponytail.

A vibration in her room distracted her from the image of herself as Callie looked around the room to find the source. It took her a couple seconds, but she finally found her phone under her pillow. It must have gotten shoved under there when she fell asleep texting Shannon last night, she reasoned. Flipping it open, one new text appeared and Callie hurriedly pressed the center button to see who it was from.

Sent: 6:17am From: Joe Jonas
Good Morning. :) I still find it amusing to see your name as “Pretty Lady” in my phonebook.

Callie rolled her eyes and shut the phone. Ever since Friday night, she had been getting texts from him nonstop. Okay, that maybe she was over exaggerating just a bit. It wasn’t really that often, just texts maybe once or twice a day. The first text she had gotten from him was the fact that her name in his phone was “Pretty Lady”. She responded to that text but after that, Callie tried keeping it a minimum to talk to him. The idea was to have him come to her.

Callie rushed downstairs and snatched a blueberry muffin from the plate that was sitting on the island. She quickly gave a quick kiss on her mom’s cheek before hurrying out the door. She slid into the silver 2009 Toyota Camry and put the keys into the ignition. Backing out of the driveway, Callie drove down the roads and to Mason High School.

Glancing at her cell phone, Callie saw she had exactly seven minutes to get to her locker and make it to homeroom on time. It was days like these where Callie wished she could just stop the clock so she could relax just a little bit before heading into full speed mode.

Being one of furthest parking spaces away from the entrance of the school wasn’t exactly the best either. Since she had turned in her form only after she moved here, Callie had been at the bottom of the list for practically everything. It had been even a miracle that she had even gotten this parking space.

As fast her legs could carry her without looking like a complete idiot, Callie speed walked to the entrance of the school and brushed past the main office and into the heart of the school. Weaving through the kids who were still lingering in the halls, she made it to her locker and quickly spun the black dial.

Taking the handles of her bag, Callie hung it on the metal rung before taking the text books from the bottom of her locker. Incoherent muttering escaped her mouth as she tried to balance the textbooks in her left hand and still grab the binders and pencil bag from her locker. A yelp left her lips as she saw the textbooks slip out of her hands but surprisingly enough fall into another pair of hands.

“Next time, try not taking so much stuff with you.” A deep voice spoke from behind her. Callie didn’t have to turn around to know who the voice belonged to. She closed her eyes briefly for a moment before reopening them and turning around.

“Thanks,” Callie said with a small smile as she took the textbooks from Joe’s awaiting hand. She readjusted the binders and books on her arm so they would stay balanced this time.

The warning bell rang throughout the school indicating to Callie that she had to leave soon if she wanted to make it to class on time. Kids seemed to get the hint too and were heading to their classes also. Callie was well aware of the curious looks that they were getting but tried to shake it off.

Joe was still leaning against the lockers with his own books held at his side. She wasn’t planning on continuing to talk to him and began to walk the opposite direction from where he was standing. It took a couple of seconds to register to him that she had actually walked away from him.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Joe asked slightly confused.

Callie stopped walking and turned around with a slightly annoyed expression. She could play with his feelings later, but she really had to get to class on time knowing that if another tardy was marked on her record, detention would be stamped all over it. “I have to get to homeroom or I’m going to be late.”

“You can spare a couple minutes, can’t you?”

Tapping her foot impatiently, Callie replied. “Not really, Joe. I can’t get another tardy or I’m in for detention. And I can’t really have one for tonight with the game going on.” Knowing that time was slipping out of her hands, Callie turned around again and began to walk down the hallway.

Joe jogged up to her and stepped right in motion with her. It only occurred to her then that this could be taken to her advantage. Killing two birds with one stone…be on time for class and still be able to toy with Joe’s emotions to make him fall for her. “Speaking of the game, what are you doing after?”

“How does that concern you at all?” Callie asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I was thinking we could hook up afterwards. Ice cream or something to celebrate the victory,” Joe answered smugly.

Callie let out a small laugh. “Victory? You’re positive the team’s going to win?”

“Well…yeah.”

“We’re playing Oak Hills. In case you’ve forgotten, they were undefeated last year and are supposed to be again this year,” Callie reminded him.

Both of them turned the corner and Callie could see her homeroom classroom at the end of the hall. She wasn’t exactly where Joe’s homeroom was, but she assumed it was nearby if he was walking her to homeroom. “I know that. But with me as quarterback, we’re going to win.”

“Oh really?”

“Yup,” Joe said popping the last consonant of his reply. The sounds of their feet echoed throughout the hallway and Callie realized they were one of the last few people still left in the school hallways. Thankfully, the door to her classroom appeared closer and they were finally at the entrance of her homeroom classroom.

Callie looked behind her shoulder and could see all the students already in their desks talking away the last few seconds before the final bell would ring. She turned her head back to Joe and stared into his eyes. “Here’s my answer. If you win the game tonight, I’ll let you take me out afterwards. But no win, no ice cream.”

Joe smirked. “You got yourself a deal, Pretty Lady.” With that said, Joe smoothly set himself inside the classroom right next to hers as Callie stepped back inside her own homeroom. The door shut in front of her and Callie found herself facing the disapproving look from her homeroom teacher. She rolled her eyes and made her way to her seat in hell.

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“Let’s go Firebirds!” Callie yelled as she waved the black, red and white pom poms in front of her. The roar of the crowd increased behind her as the football was thrown long and caught by the wide receiver before he was knocked down after running almost fifteen yards.

The game was well underway and was actually almost done. Night had covered the evening sky and the black sheet was covered with stars. But here in Mason High School football field, the school spirit and football game was only thing on their minds. The score was currently 19-21 and the stadium was in full frenzy.

Since the beginning of the game, the Mason Firebirds sure had come a long way. They had been down 9-18 at halftime but had seriously kicked some ass during the third quarter and the beginning fourth quarter. If they won this game, Callie knew it would be all over the papers tomorrow. Oak Hills had one of the top high school football teams in the state and it would be huge news if they had lost after their undefeated season last year.

Minutes seemed to pass by fast as the adrenaline rushed through Callie’s blood. Her heart was rapidly beating knowing the end of the game was nearing. She loved cheering at games like these; it made here feel alive and as if it was the only thing that mattered in the world at the moment.

Noise filled the air as an interception occurred letting the ball go back to Mason. Callie watched as Joe ran onto the field and quickly get into position. Calls were being made as the clock ticked down to under one minute. Callie and the rest of the cheerleaders kicked into full speed of their cheers as the anticipation ran high throughout the crowd.

Her eyes traveled to the game clock and saw it was stopped at nine seconds. Her eyes switched to the field and dishearteningly saw the team was only on the forty yard line. The referee blew the whistle and immediately Joe broke away from the huddle and looked around the field frantically looking for an open receiver.

Her eyes kept shifting back from the game clock and the field. The stadium’s noise level increased by at least twenty decibels as Joe threw the football to Mark, who Callie couldn’t even believe this, was standing right open near the five yard line. Defense was rushing up on him as he caught the ball and sprinted away.

Screams erupted throughout the entire football stadium the second he entered the touchdown zone. Callie was like every other Mason high school student that night, screaming as loud as she could at their unbelievable victory. The game board flashed 26-21 as the extra point was kicked.

It took awhile, but eventually the chaos died down. People were leaving the stadium to head out to after parties or just to head home. After helping clean up the student section, Callie walked over to her cheerleading bag. She flung it on her shoulder when she noticed the blinking of her phone. Reaching into her bag, Callie took out her phone.

Sent: 10:59pm From: Joe Jonas
You and me, ice cream tonight Pretty Lady.