Caught Under the Mistletoe

When you're an only-child teenager, Christmas isn't as exciting as it used to be. This was true for Kyle. His parents gave him his presents when he got up late in the afternoon. He no longer got up early morning and woke up his parents to go get the presents "Santa" brought him. It wasn't like that anymore. He unwrapped his gifts, hardly as excited as when he was littler. A new basketball, basketball shoes, a few video games. It was hardly different than last year-- not that it bothered him much. It was all he had asked for. Once he was done opening all his gifts, his parents retreated to their usual activity: work.

Kyle woul have probably spent the whole day playing his new video games had his cell phone not rung. He paused the game and pulled it out to answer. "Hello?" he said.

"Hey, dude," Brad's voice said. "Wanna hang out with me and the guys today?"

By guys, Kyle knew he meant some of the varsity basketball team and a few jocks from the two neighboring schools, Annaba --Arlington's public school rivals-- and Richard's Academy. It always varied on who specifically would be there-- Brad hung out with a lot of people. However, Kyle didn't mind most of that group.

"Sure. I take it we're meeting at the Rec?" Kyle guessed.

"Yeah. We are planning to scrimmage a little bit to prepare for the post-Christmas tourney," he said. "We could use someone like you on our time," he joked.

Kyle laughed. "Okay. I'll be there in ten." And he hung up.

***

As promised, ten minutes later, Kyle walked into the gym, where the nine guys were already shooting hoops. Brad looked over when the gym doors slammed shut behind Kyle and grinned. "There's our star player," he said. "Merry Christmas!"

Kyle snickered. "Hey. Merry Christmas! I take it you guys don't have anything better to do on Christmas than come here, too?" he joked.

Shawn, one of Arlington's players, laughed. "Not at all."

"Al-right!" Xavier, another one of the player on Arlington's team, said. "Now we can get this game going! Five-on-five. Arlington's boys against Annaba and Richy Riches-- a.k.a. the losers," he joked.

The guys from the other two schools laughed, taking the joke lightly. "We'll see what you say once you lose," one Kyle only knew by face said.

Brad laughed. "It's on," he said.

***

An hour passed quickly with the boys playing hard-- perhaps harder than at an actual practice. However, thanks to Kyle and Brad-- the two best players on their team-- Arlington's boys dominated over the others and won by an embarrassing lead. All of the ten, panting, sweating, and exhausted, high- fived each other and laughed. They continued with their light-hearted teasing as they walked out of the recreational center.

When the other guys left and only the Arlington guys remained, Brad grinned. "Who wants to get a bite for our victory? It's on me."

"Swe-et," one of the guys, Paul, said.

Xavier and Shawn also agreed.

Brad smiled at Kyle. "What about you, dude?"

Kyle shrugged and smiled back. "Sure. I've got nothing better to do."

And so, Brad, Kyle, Paul, Xavier, and Shawn walked across the street to a small lunch place. It wasn't the best food, but since Brad was paying, the guys didn't complain. They sat at one of the tables each with a drink, sandwich, and a bag of chips.

"We are going to kill at playoffs," Shawn commented, when the subject arose in the conversation.

Brad chuckled and raised his can in approval. "Of course we will."

"With the help of the cheerleading squad, of course," a voice said from behind Kyle. He and the others turned to look at the voice's owner. A pretty tall blonde hair, blue eyed girl stood confident and beautiful. She was the kind of girl guys drooled over. She smiled at Brad, ignoring the rest of them. Kyle frowned, unsure of who this girl was. "Hiya, Brad," she said.

Brad didn't smile back, but he kept a pleasant look as he nodded at the girl. "Hey, Arielle," he said.

Kyle cocked his eyebrow. This girl looked familiar, but Kyle was rather bad with names and faces. she definitely looked like someone who would hang out with Brad and the basketball jocks. As much as he hadn't meant to, Kyle found himself staring.

"Arielle," Paul said, "how nice of you to join us. Merry Christmas!"

As if noticing the rest of them, Arielle smiled. "Ah. Merry Christmas!" she said. "I was just planning to grab a light lunch because my family is eating a late Christmas dinner. Shouldn't you all be celebrating Christmas, too?" she asked.

"Nah," Shawn said with a grin. "Too busy with basketball."

"Well, I was just going to grab something and go, but I guess I can spare some time," she said, smiling at Brad again and sitting in a chair across from him-- next to Kyle.

Kyle was desperately trying to figure out why Arielle seemed so familiar. Finally, he had to ask, "Sorry, but who are you?" He hadn't meant to sound blunt, but as usual, it came out that way.

She blinked at him with her abnormally long eyelashes, surprised. The guys all chuckled, and a small smirk began to appear on her face. "Funny," she said. "You would thinkg the star basketball player, Kyle Lynch, would know the head cheerleader when he saw her. Not to mention the head cheerleader that also happens to be captain of the girls' basketball team."

Xavier grinned. "You'll have to forgive him, Ari. he isn't exactly a social butterfly."

Kyle chuckled sheepishly, admittingly a little embarrassed that he didn't know Arielle. It wasn't that he was anti-social, just that he spent much more time with Cole and the others than these guys and their crowd-- not that he liked them any less. "Sorry," he said to Arielle.

She smiled with a giggle that made Kyle feel even more embarrassed for some reason. "It's fine. We were never really introduced to each other, so its understandable."

Kyle noticed that all the guys seemed infatuated with this girl-- the way things usually were when it came to the head cheerleader-- except Brad. Brad ate his sandwich, looking no different than he had before Arielle had popped up; however, ironically enough, the only one Arielle seemed interested in talking to was him-- which was not surprising considering Brad's popularity with girls.

"So how have things been, Brad?" she asked.

He shrugged, swallowing his food and taking his time before answering. "Same old, same old," he answered blandly.

Arielle leaned forward on the table towards him. "Hm," she said with a smirk. "How have things been going with Eliza?"

"We broke up," Brad said, not really torn on the matter-- not that he ever was when it came to break-ups.

"Oh really?" she said, her interested perked. "Sorry."

Brad shrugged.

Paul looked from Xavier sitting on his one side then to Kyle on his other. Kyle shot him a questioning glance, and Paul murmured very quietly. "Ari was his girlfriend before Eliza."

That explains why she looked so familiar, Kyle thought. Sure, she was head cheerleader, and he should recognize her well enough because of that; however, Brad did have a habit of introducing his girlfriends to Kyle. Brad had been single for a while before Elizah, meaning Arielle was probably from August or even early in the summer. Even Brad had a hard time keeping track.

Brad sighed as Arielle began asking him about girls he was interested in. "Just let it go already," he said, sounding slightly irritated. "I realize we dated for a while, but that was a while ago. It's over. So stop bugging me already."

Kyle and the guys' mouths dropped in surprise at his bluntness.

Arielle just blinked in shock. "W-what?"

"You're annoying," Brad said, giving her a dark look.

"Brad," Kyle warned. That was too harsh.

Arielle just sat there, astonished for a moment. "Um," she murmured with a cough. She stood, shaking slightly but recovering fast. She regained a shadow of her previous confident smile. "Well, I guess I should be going then." Her voice cracked as she spoke and she flinched. She was obviously more upset then she was trying to act. She coughed again. "See you all around," she added before speeding off.

Kyle frowned, watching her go.

"Not cool dude," Xavier said.

Brad sighed. "Well, it's not like I haven't tried to tell her to get off my back before."

Kyle still watched Arielle as she left the building. Just before she did, he noticed her wipe her eyes. She was crying. He suddenly felt compelled to go after her. She wasn't his ex. It wasn't his words that had made her cry. And yet still, he felt the need to go after her-- to comfort her. He sighed and stood abruptly.

"Kyle?" Shawn asked.

"Sometimes," he said to Brad, rather sternly, "maybe talking it out is better than pushing them away."

Brad frowned.

"I'll be right back," Kyle said, giving Brad an unintentional dark look. Then, he went after Arielle.

He saw ehr outside on the bench that was up against the building wall, looking out at the street, and as Kyle had thought, she was crying silent tears as she stari]doed out at nowhere. She didn't even see Kyle as he sat down next to her with a frown.

"Hey," he said.

That startled her, and she jumped slightly, wiping her wet cheeks quickly. She looked over and saw Kyle. "Sheesh, don't do that," she said.

"Sorry," Kyle mumbled.

It was silent for a long moment before finally, Arielle sighed, smiling a ghost of a smile. "It must be really weird to see the captain of the cheerleaders crying so pathetically, huh?" she murmured.

Kyle shrugged. "What makes you any better than anyone else?" he said.

She glared at him. "Is that an insult or something?"

"No," he answered, "I'm just saying that what makes you so different and great that you can't cry like everyone else."

"Because I don't cry," she said harshly.

"Then what are you doing now?"

Arielle avoided the question with another harsh look. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Just seeing if you were okay," Kyle answered simply with a shrug.

Her eyes narrowed. "Why? You don't even know me. Why do you care?" she asked and then snorted. "Why do I even ask?" she mumbled to herself. "You're a jock. You want the same thing they always want."

Kyle's eyes widened. "No," he assured. "I was worried. Brad was too harsh on you."

She snickered without humor. "It was rather out of character for him wasn't it?"

I wouldn't say that, Kyle thought. Brad had broken up with plenty of girls. Some more harshly than others.

"Would it be pathetic to say I still like him, though?" Arielle asked, looking at Kyle with her watery blue eyes.

"Why?" he asked, a little surprised.

She wiped her eyes, doing her best to blindly fix her eye make-up under her eyes. "I don't know. I just do," she said. "we didn't date long, but it was one of the best relationships I had. And I took it for granted."

Kyle sighed. Sure, he knew Brad was a popular guy-- the dream guy of most girls-- but he took advantage of that. He didn't realize it all the time, but he definitely took advantage of that. Not even a girl like Arielle could hold his gaze for very long. He acted genuine with each of his girlfriends-- and maybe he was-- but it never lasted long before he was off to the next girl.

Kyle scratched his chin, trying to figure out how to answer Arielle. "It's your life," he said, "so do what you want; however, I'd have to say you don't have a shot." She gave him an unbelieving look. "When Brad says it's over. It's usually over. He doesn't go after the same girl twice." He smiled, somewhat sadly. "Not even someone like you."

"Someone like me?" she asked curiously.

Again, Kyle turned a little red without a reason. "Pretty. Head cheerleader. Captain of the women's basketball team."

She nodded, understanding. "Well, that doesn't make me like him any less," she said. She gave him a desperate look. "I hear what you're saying-- really, I do. But... that doesn't mean I can just stop liking him."

Kyle shook his head. "Well, then maybe just give it more time," he said. Funny how guys who abuse women's attraction to them always get the most faithful girls, he thought. A girl like Arielle? Heck, even Kyle thought it was stupid that Brad would break up with her.

"I can't," she said. "I've tried."

"I guess I can't convince you otherwise, then," Kyle said with a dry chuckle as he scratched the back of his head. "Do you need a ride somewhere?"

She blinked at him. "A ride?"

Kyle nodded with a smile. "I figured if you had a ride, you would have left instead of talking to me."

***

Kyle didn't say anything for most of the ride-- he had done more than his usual daily amount of talking already. Arielle sat pretty quietly, too, staring out the window. Kyle didn't mind silence, obviously, but Arielle did.

"Hey," she said, touching the small Christmas ornament Brad's last girlfriend, Eliza had hung on Kyle's review mirror for decoration. "This is mistletoe, huh?"

Kyle looked over at it for a second. "Yeah."

She cocked her eyebrow at him curiously. "What?" she joked. "You using it to kiss girls that hitch rides with you?" She laughed.

Kyle truly blushed and chuckled sheepishly. "No," he said evenly, despite himself. "Someone else put it there."

"Girlfriend?" Arielle guessed.

"Not mine," he answered hesitantly.

She frowned. "Oh. Brad's ex, then?" she said.

Kyle didn't answer, which was answer enough.

Arielle was quiet for a moment. "Kyle, can I ask you a question?"

"Uh, sure."

She bit her bottom lip. "You close with Brad right?"

"Sorta, I guess."

She paused again. "Then... help me get back with him?"

Kyle's eyes widened at her. "I don't think--"

"Please, Kyle?" she begged. Did a girl that pretty really have to be so pathetic looking over one guy? "Please..."

Kyle sighed, watching the road in front of hims o he didn't have to look at Arielle. Here he was witha pretty cheerleader and mistletoe on Christmas, and he was about to agree to help her get back with a guy who would only take her for granted-- if he could even get her back with him. Was he out of his mind?

"Kyle..." Arielle begged.

He could tell she wasn't going to stop with those sad eyes, begging him. Not until he agreed. Not to mention, he was having a very hard time saying no to this girl. He felt like he needed to do whatever to stop her sad baby blue eyes. He rubbed his forehead and sighed again.

"I'll see what I can do..."