He was a Boy, She was a Girl

When we got back to school on Monday, Jamie was instantly onto me about my hair cut.

“what the hell dude?” he asks, dragging me away from the rest of the group at lunch.

“my mom made me get it, kay? Defiantly not my choice.”

Jamie eyes me, as if he’s deciding whether to believe me or not. “fine, but you really need to talk to her before anymore drastic changes.”

“yeah, yeah.” I say, pushing his worries aside. We make our way back to the table.

After school I run into Coach Michael.

“hey, uh Coach, could I have a word with you?”

“sure, you’re that new kid, right? Aiden something?”

“yeah, Aiden Baker.”

"You’re old coach called the other day, asking if you joined the team yet.”

“oh.” I respond.

“Obviously I had to say no, but he sounded disappointed. Is that what you want to talk about?”

“well, yeah. Jamie mentioned something about there being a spot opened…” I trail off.

“I’ll talk to the other coaches, but I’m sure you’ll have the spot.”

“great, thanks!”

On Thursday, I get called to the coaches office and he informed that I did indeed have the spot.

“so you’ll start Wednesday at the game, does that work for you?”

“defiantly.”

Now, all I had to do was tell Callie. That was one thing I was dreading about this upcoming weekend.

*Saturday*

All of us were sitting on Callies couch, waiting for her to finish. By all of us I mean Mollie, Paige, Matt, Jamie and I.

After Paige Screams up to her for the millionth time, Callie finally comes down. “sorry.” She says, “we should go.”

“ya think?” Mollie asks sarcastically

I lag behind the rest of the group with Callie, “nervous, huh?”

"You have no idea.” She answers and I have a feeling it was more than just the party that was making her nervous. We walk out to the Limo which my parents insisted we get.

“just stick with me, it’ll be over before you know it. I slide into the limo after Jamie and the girls stay out for a second, talking. Once they get in we drive the short way to the ball.

“ready?” I ask, linking my arm with hers.

“not even close.”

"You’ve been to hundreds of these Callie, you’ll do fine.” I reassure her.

After about an hour of dancing, we take a seat at our assigned table. Callie couldn’t stop fidgeting which was making me worried. What was bugging her so much?

A girl who I assume to be Christine runs up, calling Callies name. Callie excuses herself and they go off to talk some. I turn to the crowded room, scoping out if I knew anyone besides who I came with. My eyes find Logan and he looks up, glaring at me. A girl walks up to him and he smirks an evil smirk at me before turning to her.

Callie walks back to the table, an almost scared look on her face, “everything alright?” I ask.

“yeah, she just had a question about some guy.” I could tell she was lying but I let it be. A slow song comes on and I ask her to dance. You know, to try to get her smile some at least. It worked, although I think she was smiling at how cheesy the dance was, but whatever, she was smiling and that’s all that matters. At the end of the song I dip her and give her a quick peck on the lips.

Just then, we hear a voice call behind us, his voice to be exact. “Callie?” Logan sounded hurt. Callies eyes pop open as I pull back, we were both frozen.

“what’s going on?” I mouth to her.

“I have no clue,” she mouths back.

I pull her up and let go her, taking a step to the side just to be safe. “how could you do this to me?” Logan asks. People around us stopped dancing to watch what would probably turn into a fight.

“Logan, what are you doing?” Callie asks quietly. He quickly smirks at us and then turns his smile back into a frown of disappointment.

“I can’t believe you just kissed him in front of me!” he cries. My fists clench at my side. I was ready to beat this guy to death. How dare he pretend to be the victim here!

An older couple pushes everyone aside, I recognize them as Mr. and Mrs. Powell, Logans parents.

“Logan dear, what on earth is going on here?” his mother asks.

“This…” He points to me, “guy, just kissed my girlfriend.” It all made sense now. Just at that sentence the way that Callie has been acting made sense. She knew that his parents wouldn’t have known about the breakup. She probably guessed that something like this would happen, while me on the other hand, assumed that everyone knew what happened.

“how dare you-“ Callie starts but Mr. Powell cuts in, talking to me.

"You want to explain yourself son?” he asks.

I gulp and look down at Callie for any type of support. She just stares at me as clueless as I am. I take a deep breath before answering, “sorry sir, I wasn’t aware this young lady was already taken.” I explain.

“Ha! As if!” Logan exclaims, “father, this boy is in y French class at school.” He explains to his dad, “he sure knows who I’m dating. And in all honesty, I was pretty sure he was going out with that girl Samantha Reynolds.”

WHAT!?

Callie handed me a pile of her jewelry and her shoes.Before I had a chance to do anything, Callie already tackled him to the ground and started beating up on him.

"You jerk!” she screams. I take a step back, not wanting to be dragged into this, "You fucking manipulating jerk!” Everyone and I mean everyone was crowded around us. Callie finally gets up off Logan, “never talk about me, my friends, or my boyfriend like that ever again. You hear me Logan?! Never!”

She walks back over to me and I hand her stuff back to her. “thank you.” She says, putting everything back on.

“so, I, uh, guess I don’t get to take a swing at him tonight” I say jokingly.

“sorry, I just had some anger built up.”

“Yeah, I noticed. I’d rather you beat him up than me, so it’s all good.” Callie turns back to the crowd and I follow her eyes. Logan was still on the ground. I look at Callie and can see her moving closer, “don’t even think about it Callie.”

“I know what I’m doing.” She assures me. I hesitantly let her go and she walks over to him, offering her hand to help him up. Logan flinches and I could hear Callie laugh a lot. After a moment, Logan takes her hand and is once again standing, but not smiling at all. “now you know what you’re messing with Logan, so stay away.” Callie warns him and then turns, pushing through the crowd to our table. I turn to follow but feel a hand on my shoulder, pulling me back.

“if you think you’re going to replace me, think twice.” Logan says as I turn to face him.

“what’s that supposed to mean?” I ask, slightly confused.

“football team?” he laughs, “everyone knows punks can’t play football.”

“watch on Wednesday, maybe you’ll learn something.” I turn to leave again and this time I’m tackled to the floor. Mrs. Powell lets out a small shriek as her son and I wrestle, throwing punches every now and then. About two minutes later I felt someone trying to pull as apart and saw Jamie and Matt there. I tried to let them, but Logan wouldn’t budge. They stopped trying and stepped back. I heard Paige mention something about down the shirt and realized she was talking about ice. Hell no, I was not having ice down my shirt. Before Matt could take another step closer, I grabbed his hand, stopping him from putting the could substance down my shirt. Logan on the other hand didn’t get what was going on and jumped off me the instant the ice touched his back.

“never” I instruct Matt after catching my breath, “put ice down the back of the guy you’re trying to save. Do you think I wanted to be down there? No. so, pull him off me, not the other way around.” We all head to leave and Callie goes to apologize to Mr. and Mrs. Powell.

“I can’t believe you did that Aiden!” my mom scolds me once we’re at the cars.

“I didn’t really have a choice mom. He was pretty insistent on wanting to kill me.”

“Think about the reputation our family has now?!”

Before I could defend myself, Jamie breaks in, “actually, it’s a very high reputation. Aiden just beat up our schools quarterback not once but twice. Which is good cause everyone hates him ever since he cheated on Callie with Samantha…” Jamie trails off from that.

I nod in agreement, “exactly.”

Callie slowly walks up to my side and I wrap an arm around her, pulling her a little closer.

“Damn girl, you know how to fight!” my dad mentions after a few minutes of awkward silence.

“Robert!”

“what?! It’s the truth, did you see the way she threw her punches?”

“dad, lets just drop it for tonight.” I add in.

I hear Callies stomach let out a small growl, “I’m hungry,” she says.

“I think we all are,” my mom replies, “so how about we go grab some dinner, the night is still young.”

“sounds great!” Paige chimes in.

“okay, Paige, Mollie, Jamie and Matt, you guys come with us.” My mom orders, “Aiden, you and Callie go home and get cleaned up. We’ll meet you at Starlite in about half an hour.”

I give my mom a quick hug and then walk Callie over to the other Limo. The rest drive off quickly, leaving it just Callie and I in the parking lot.

“I still can’t believe you attacked him like that.” I was leaning against the limo with Callie next to me.

“yeah, well, now you know never to cheat on me.” she points out. I turn so that I’m now pressing her against the car door.

"You really think I’d cheat on you?” I ask, leaning closer.

“mmm, I would like to say no, but-“ she pauses, taking in a rigid breath, "You never know.” Just before we’re about to kiss, we get interrupted.

"You’re right, you never know.” I turn and block Callie from Logan.

“get in the car now Callie.”

“he’s not worth it Aiden.”

“Callie, get in the car.”

“ah, look it’s the perfect couple fighting.”

Callie steps out from behind me and starts yelling at him, “give it up Logan! Nobody like you! The only reason you were popular was because of me. Without me, you’re just another guy at the school

Logan stood there for a second before turning and stomping off. I stay silent and open the door for Callie, sliding in after her.

After about half the car ride I speak up. “I think I should tell you something.”

"You don’t’ have t-“ she starts.

“no, I have to. Please, just let me do this.” I practically beg.

“okay.”

“okay, so.” I let out a big breath, “I- don’t freak out.” I tell her.

“Aiden, do you realize that telling me not to freak out will probably lead to me freaking out.”

Eh, she has a point, “fine, just. Ugh.” I don’t know why it was so hard for me to get out. All I have to do is tell her I’m not virgin. three simple words, it really shouldn’t be this hard. I watch as Callie pulls out a notebook and pen that was in the limo.

“here.” She says, handing the stuff to me.

I stare at the objects now in my possession, “what the hell am I supposed to do with that?!” I ask.

“well, it’s obviously hard for you to get out, so I thought you could write it.”

I quickly scribble down the three words and hand it back to her. The notebook fell to the floor and she froze.

“Callie?” I ask, “Callie!” she still didn’t move, “dammit, I told you not to freak.” I mumble to myself, turning away from her.

“Callie, look, it’s not like I’m pressuring you or anything, I swear. Plus, I haven’t had sex in over a year. It’s just, I knew that that was one of the big secrets Logan kept from you and I wanted to be straight forward, not have you find out from Mollie or something.”

“Mollie!? How the hell would Mollie know?!” she screams at me.

whoops! Shouldn’t have mentioned that one. I bite my bottom lip, “wait, no, that’s –shit. Mollie and I never did anything, I swear. But she still talks to people from my old school and shit gets around, you of all people would know that.”

she takes a few breaths, “okay.”

What? I was expecting more of a fight.

“okay?” I ask, making sure.

“well, what am I supposed to say? It’s not like we can go back in time and change stuff or something. If you promise not to pressure me into anything, then okay.” I slide closer to her.

“I promise.”

“okay then.”

“okay then.”

“was that your big secret?” she asks, after a minute.

“huh?” I had been thinking about other stuff, not really paying attention to the here and now.

"You know how we both have secrets, was that yours?”

“oh, no.”

“no?”

“no.”

“oh.”

I could tell she was disappointed with that answer. “I need to work some stuff out before I tell you.” I explain, “I, -it’s complicated.” Callie nods, “can I ask you something now?”

“of course you can.” She answers, rolling her eyes like that was a stupid question.

“well, back at the party, you called me your boyfriends and I just wanted to make sure that you’re ready for that.”

“if I’m ready for a relationship?” she asks.

“yeah…” I look at her, confused at how she was reacting, “what?”

"You’re asking me what exactly?”

“do I have to spit it out?”

“I think at this point you do Aiden.”

I sigh and she laughs a little, "You just broke up with your boyfriend of what? Four, five years? That was only two weeks ago Callie. I’ve been the rebound boyfriends before and I don’t aspire to being that guy again.”

“trust me, you would not be my rebound boyfriend.”

“is that supposed to be an insult?” I ask, faking a hurt expression on my face.

"You’ll never know.”

“oh, I think I will

The limo pulls into the driveway and Callie jumps out, beating me to the door. I catch up with her and wrap my hands around her waist, tickling her.

“Aiden!!!”

“what?!!”

“that tickles!”

“that’s the point!”

“unlock the damn door Aiden!”

“why?” I ask as I stop tickling her.

“because, I’m seriously hungry.” Her stomach grumbles right on cue.

“I guess I can’t fight with that growl.” I say, taking out my keys and unlocking the door.

We quickly clean up the few scrapes each of us had and head back out to the limo.

“just so you know,” I say, holding the door open for her. “I know you changed the subject earlier.” Callie smiles and doesn’t answer as the drive pulls out of my driveway. “Callie, I’m, for once, being serious.”

“I’m ready, okay. And you mister are asking me if I’m ready but you haven’t said anything about yourself.”

I pause and look away from her before answering. “I just think that, even though I really like you, we don’t really know each other.”

“okay, fair enough. There’s a game Wednesday, we can go out after that.”

better now than later I guess. I really should have told her on Thursday when I got the news, something has been holding me back though, “about that…”

“about what? The game? You’re going, right?” she asks, hopeful. Great, she’s making this harder and she doesn’t even know it.

“yeah, I uh talked to Coach Michael and there was an open spot on the JV team and I sort of-“ Callie cuts me off.

"You sort of what?!” she asks a little to frantic.

“am now starting quarter back for JV.” I say in one quick breath.

"You-you-you’re a football player?” she stutters out

We were in the parking lot of the restaurant with the driver becoming quite impatient with us. Callie opens her door and gets out, slamming it shut. I thank the driver and quickly get out after her and up to her side.

“how could you not tell me?” she asks, continuing to walk toward the entrance.

“I just found out on Thursday and I was going to ease it into a conversation…” I trail off, knowing that excuse would not suffice.

“why not just tell me Aiden?”

I knew the answer, but I didn’t want to tell her. She didn’t need to know I was practically the same guy her ex was. “I don’t know.” I tell her

Callie stops dead in her tracks and turns to me, "You’re just like Logan, aren’t you?” she questions.

“what? No I-“ I start saying, but she cuts in, stopping me.

“yes you are Aiden, and that’s why you don’t want to tell me anything. You’re afraid that if you’re like him, I won’t want to be with you. You were right, we really don’t know anything about each other. I should never have called you my boyfriend.” Well ouch, I wasn’t expecting that from her. Especially the last part, it hurt more than it should have. After her rant, she stomps off, entering the restaurant.

I walk in minutes after Callie and take the seat next to her. Sadly it was the only seat open. Jamie looks between the two of us and I could easily tell that he knew something was up. I push that aside and enjoy dinner, as much as I could at least.

After what seemed to be a pretty sane dinner, I walk out to one of the limos and get in with Matt and Jamie to follow. Callie and the girls on the other hand climb into the other limo.

“I guess we’ll grab a cab.” I hear my mom say and they walk off as we drive to the house.

“okay, what the hell happened?” Jamie questions, not sounding too happy.

“I told her about me not being virgin.” I answer.

“and…? How did she react?” Matt asks.

“freaked out, and then she was fine. And then I told her about football.”

“oh no,” Jamie comments.

“oh yes. She was going to find out one way or another and so I just told her when she asked me out for Wednesday.”

“what did she say to that exactly?”

“well, she asked why I hadn’t said anything before. Then she claimed that I was just like Logan and stormed off.”

“ouch.”

“yeah.” We pulled up to my driveway and noticed that the girls were already at the house.

Matt and Jamie follow me into the house and we plop down onto the sofa. Without warning, my phone goes off.

“Can you move it like this?

I can shake it like that!

Can you move it like this?

I can shake it like that!

Can you move it like this?

I can shake it like that!”

Jamie eyes me, “really Aiden, you chose that song.” I roll my eyes and answer the phone.

“why you calling so late Zack?” I ask.

"Your girlfriend just called.” He says.

“how many times do I have to tell you, holly and I are not dating.”

“no, no, not her. Calvina or whatever. I don’t know. All I know is Mollie was there.”

I put him on speaker and set the phone on the table, “what was it about?” I ask.

“um…she asked me to tell her about you.”

“and..? what did you say Zack!”

“that you played football, and skated. Oh, and that you were good at French and your car is like the best.”

“that’s it?”

“that’s it.”

“well, okay, I’ll let you go back to sleep then.” I end the call.

“sleep? Isn’t it morning there?” Matt comments.

“yeah, it’s also Sunday.”

“good point.” There’s a knock at the door and matt gets it, knowing that it was probably Paige, “hey you guys, I’m out!” he shouts. Jamie and I shrug as we hear the car door shut. Jamie starts to look around the room at all the different pictures and stuff.

"You guys have a really tight family.” He mentions.

“yeah, I guess.”

“older brother?” he guess, pointing at a picture of Mike.

“yeah.”

“and younger sister?” It was a picture of Riley that he was holding in his hands and I fell silent for a moment.

“not exactly.”

“what? Adoption or something?”

“no.” I bite my lip, trying to decide if I should tell him or not. “If I told you something, you’d have to swear to never tell Callie or anyone for the matter..”

“okay…?”

“I’m serious, not a peep.”

“I swear. God Aiden, sometimes I wonder what she sees in you.”

I let out a sigh as Jamie takes a swig of the can of soda in his hands, “okay, so that baby girl is my daughter.”

Soda sprayed everywhere, "Your what!!?!?!?!”

"You swore.” I remind him.

“I know I did! But that doesn’t mean I can’t yell at you!”

“her name’s Riley and well. Long story short, there was a party, we were drunk, and well, shit happens. Her father made me stay with her for the nine months and then kicked me out at the end, getting a restraining order. Now, to get away from the drama, we moved here and well, that’s basically the end of that.”

“wow.”

“yeah. But like I said, not a word. It’s that secret I haven’t told her yet.”

“she’s gonna flip.”

“hence me not telling her yet.”

“mind if I stay the night?”

“not at all.”

“cool, I’ll just go grab my bag from the car.” I nod and turn on the T.V.

after about two minutes, Jamie comes back in, not closing the door, “uh Aiden?”

“yeah,”

“come here for a `sec” I stand up and walk over to the door.

“what?” I ask.

Jamie points to Callies house where a guy a couple years older than us was standing. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say that that is Callies secret.”

I stare at the guy. He was probably mid twenties, rough brown hair and nice fitting clothes. Nothing too amazing about him.

My only question is though, how does he know Callie?