Never Easy

Banner by Mikay <3

Curses were running through Callie’s head as she pushed aside the clothes on her bed that tumbled down onto the floor. The rejected clothes from earlier this morning were shoved along with those as she searched for her missing phone.

“Where is it?” Callie muttered as she opened the top drawer of her chest of drawers. She flipped through the jeans which were previously neatly stacked but were now messily tossed aside.

A sigh of relief left Callie’s lips as she found her phone sitting at the bottom of the drawer. She snatched it from its hiding place and tossed it into her tote bag. Glancing inside the green bag, Callie did a last minute check to make sure she had everything before rushing out of her bedroom.

She ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. Opening the pantry door, Callie grabbed a Nutri Grain bar. Her mom was standing behind the island and was watching her daughter in amusement. Taking the coffee that had been made for her, Callie kissed her mom quickly.

‘Running late, Mom! Bye!” Callie called out as she opened the entrance to the garage door. Running late was merely an understatement. She was about fifteen minutes running late and Callie wasn’t sure she was going to make it to school on time with the traffic she was sure had increased by now.

It had all started when she made the mistake of hitting the snooze button on her alarm clock. Callie had only planned to sleep an extra ten minutes but that quickly turned into an extra half an hour. Thanks to her desired beauty sleep, Callie was sure that she broke the world record in getting ready in the morning.

Normally, if she had been running late, Callie would have thrown on some jeans and a t shirt and would have let her hair go natural. But today wasn’t a normal day, well, at least not for her.

Two days ago, Callie had officially become Joe Jonas’s girlfriend. Today marked the day where it would be the big unveiling to her school peers and one lovely bitch who liked to go by the name of Amanda. As much as she regretted saying yes to the bet, Callie couldn’t wait to see the expression on Amanda’s face when she saw the two of them of walking down the hall.

Callie groaned as her fingers tapped impatiently on the steering wheel. She tilted her head and saw the traffic was moving at a small crawl. Letting out another groan, Callie ran her fingers through her straightened hair. She glanced at the digital clock on her car stereo and saw that it was one minute past seven. She had about seven minutes if she wanted to make it to class on time.

The second the traffic light changed to green, Callie gunned the car and must have broken at least a dozen traffic rules as she passed the speed limit by an easy twenty miles. The parking lot was already filled with faculty and student cars. Callie slid into her parking space and grabbed her bag as she opened her car door.

Walking backwards, Callie locked the car from her keys before turning around and running into the school. Pushing the doors open, Callie walked as fast as she could to her locker. She weaved through the many kids who were still using the extra minutes to mingle with her friends.

The warning bell indicating that everyone had two minutes to get to their classes rang throughout the hallways just as Callie opened her locker. Taking her first and second bell books, Callie hung her tote bag on the hook and slammed her locker shut.

“Hey.” The voice traveled from above her and all the way down to ears. Callie jumped at the sudden voice but she knew who it belonged too. A smile crept onto on her lips as she turned around and faced Joe.

She greeted him quickly and reached up to give him a hug. His cologne’s scent floated down causing Callie to take in a small whiff of the heavenly smell. She pulled back and readjusted the books in her hand.

“Hi,” Callie said with a smile.

“Here, I got those.” Joe reached out and gently shook the books out of Callie’s hand and added it to the stack of books in his grasp. “Where were you? I couldn’t find you at all.”

“C’mon, let’s walk to class and I’ll explain.” Callie began to make her way to her first bell class and watched as Joe followed her. She slipped her small hand into Joe’s large and was greeted with a surge of warmth running through her arms.

Within the minute they had left before they were marked tardy, Callie had fully explained to him the dilemma and problems she had run through this morning. She was not too happy when Joe found the situation amusing and laughed at her every few seconds.

“Hey, it’s not funny! I went through hell and back trying to get to school on time today,” Callie pouted. Her hand wriggled out of Joe’s as she placed a fake annoyed expression on her face.

Joe laughed. “I know, baby.” They had just approached the door to Callie’s first bell classroom and she knew that Joe had to leave soon to make it on time to his classroom. “I have to go, but I’ll catch up with you later.”

Callie nodded and reached out in front of her to pick up her books from Joe. As she did so, a finger touched right underneath her chin, tilting it upwards. Her eyes closed as she met Joe’s lips for a soft, gentle kiss. Slowly, Callie opened her eyes just in time to see Joe stepping back with a small smile.

Callie turned around and walked into her first bell classroom. Everybody was already seated since the bell was to ring any second. Eyes were laid on her as Callie made her way to her seat. Callie racked her brain to figure out why and then it dawned on her that they had been in exposure to them since they had stood right at the door. Well, there was one part of her plan already over with.

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“Stupid bag,” Callie muttered as she hoisted her cheer bag on her shoulders once more. The nuisance of a bag kept falling off her shoulder since it was loaded with gym shoes, cheer practice clothes, and other essentials.

Callie tugged down her comfortable pair of Soffee shorts and readjusted her tank. Normally, the weather would have gotten chilly by now, but it was unseasonably warmer, leading Callie to wear summer attire for her cheer practice.

Holly, who was walking right beside her, chuckled at her antics. “Heavy bag?”

“Yes!” Callie exclaimed. “It’s full of shit I don’t even need!” She continued to grumble to herself as both Holly and her made the long walk towards an empty soccer field.

The two girls started up a conversation as they passed by the football field. All the players were out on the field starting their stretches. Most of them didn’t bother having their helmet on because of the heat. Callie’s eyes glanced over all the boys looking for Joe.

She finally spotted his dark raven hair towards the front center as he talked to some of his teammates. He must have felt his gaze on her, or they either had telepathy, but Joe decided to choose that moment to look her way. They made eye contact as Callie continued to walk ahead.

Joe stopped stretching and spoke a couple words with one his friends before jogging over to where Callie and Holly were. Holly eyed Callie as he came closer and looked back at her friend. “Are you two dating?”

Callie nodded. “Yep.”

Holly blinked. “Are you serious?” Callie nodded once more as she released a small laugh at her friend’s shocked expression. “I didn’t think you’d actually go through with the bet.”

“I never back down,” Callie stated firmly. Holly shook her head but still the same, laughed before she walked away towards where the other cheerleaders were gathered. They were probably only fifty feet away from where Joe and she were standing, which was exactly where she hoped they would be.

Callie waited patiently for Joe to catch up to her. He reached her a few seconds later, clad in his entire football gear. Callie giggled as her finger poked his shoulder pads. “Impressive, someone’s been working out.”

Joe laughed. “Nah, these have always been like this. I’m just that good.”

Callie rolled her eyes but went ahead and gave him hug besides all the padding he had on underneath. She kept her arms wrapped around his neck as Joe lightly placed his hands on her lower back. Tilting her head, Callie smiled and looked into his eyes.

“I think I’m going to love football practice today,” Joe proclaimed.

“And why is that?” Callie questioned.

“I’ll be able to see you all practice,” Joe explained. “Those shorts aren’t doing me any justice either, just saying.”

Callie laughed and shook her head. “Just for that, you get a kiss.” Standing on her toes, Callie reached up and gave him soft kiss before pulling back. “I have to go, we’re about to start practice.”

“Same,” Joe said as he gave her one last kiss on her cheek before stepping away. Callie sent him one last smile before picking up her bag and jogging towards the soccer field.

Callie set her cheer bag on the ground and retied her unlaced shoe strings. Standing up, she brushed off the grass that had stuck on her legs and joined the rest of the girls who were standing in front of Coach Alison.

Cheer practice flew by without a hitch. Callie was in such a good mood that it seemed her extra attitude boost was helping the rest of the team. The other girls on the team were starting to warm up towards her as some were starting to accept her, which Callie appreciated.

Throughout the entire practice, Callie would occasionally look back and watch the football team practice. A wave or too were sent her way as the boys also inspected their own practice. Few nudges here and there, and guys talking to Joe while looking her way, indicated to Callie that word had spread around. From the people who had seen her at school to the football players and cheerleaders, most knew that Joe and Callie were now dating.

As soon as practice ended, Callie walked over to where her cheer bag was and pulled of her cheer shoes. She stuffed them inside with her other belongings and took out a pair of flip flops. After saying her goodbyes to some of the other girls, Callie started to walk towards the parking lot of the school.

“I have to say, I’m impressed.” Callie turned around and came face to face with Amanda. Her brunette hair was naturally let down as it slightly flipped in the air as she approached her. Callie knew that whatever was going to come out of the team captain’s mouth was going to irritate her. She always did. “I didn’t think you could do it, but obviously you have.”

She was right. Her irritation level was slowly starting to increase. “You gave me a challenge, and I accepted. It’s as simple as that,” Callie affirmed.

“Don’t think you’ve won yet, because you’re far from it,” Amanda said slowly as she took a step forward towards Callie. “You’re only at the beginning, and you really don’t have much time left.”

“Listen to me, and listen to me carefully,” Callie ordered as she lowered her voice. “I gave in to your stupid bet and I’m not backing down now. If this is what it takes to prove to you that I’m better than you, so be it. It’s sad that I have to do this because I know I’m better than you. But this is the way you want me to prove it to you, so suck it up and watch me bring you down.

The anger in her voice was starting toshow on her face as she breathed heavily from the whirl of words. Half the time, Callie never knew what was going to come out of her own mouth, but somehow, it always was offensive and selfish. But it was the only way to show her true feelings to the one’s she loved to hate.

As the last words left her mouth, Callie turned around and gave Amanda one last final smirk.