“Faith” I breathe out content.
“Cameron?” she says questioning and I freeze in alarm. Crap. I wasn't altering my voice. I force a strained laugh.
“Nope, quit dreaming. It's me, Izzy.” I can hear an audible sigh on her end.
“Izzy.” her voice cracks and so does a piece of me hearing it. “I'm not friends with Cameron anymore.”
I close my eyes trying to keep my own tears from falling when she begins to softly sob on the other end.
“Are you okay with that?” I hesitantly ask her. I can hear her sniffling yet she doesn't respond. “You just nodded your head ‘No’ didn't you?” and she chuckles so softly.
“Gah. I feel so stupid. I mean I knew I couldn't date you and be friends w
*Faith POV* I throw the blankets off me quickly, running for the bathroom and jumping in the shower. How did I not see that text until he was like 5 minutes away? I step into the water and squeak as the ice cube temperatures deprive me of the warmth my bed had provided. I grit my teeth and bear the temp just long enough to wash my red puffy face. I can only hope the arctic temperatures will ease the swelling from my tears. Shivering, I step out of the shower and wrap a towel around me and run to my walk-in closet searching for anything I can toss on. I clearly haven't done my laundry in a couple of days as I search frantically for something, anything to throw on. I groan in frustration. I can hear a chuckle from my room and I freeze. “Don’t get dressed up on my account.” I smile at the sound of his voice. I
The cheers reverberate off the metal stands as I weave my way through the crowds of moving bodies. Everyone is in their own bubbles laughing and chatting loudly. Groups of girls giggling over the guys in their football gear, especially Cameron Davis. Number 36. The star player, the hottest guy in the school, and the person I'm trying like hell to avoid. Now if only my eyes could remember that I need to not stare at him like the hungry wolves on the sideline looking for a fresh piece of meat. Teenage hormones are such a strange thing, there is this magnetic draw to Cameron no matter how hard I try to ignore it. How can I feel exactly the same way for Cameron as I do for Izzy when I know Izzy better. With two minutes left in the game, I sidle up to the fence below the stands wearing an inconspicuous hoodie and baseball cap, wondering if I can figure out which number Izzy is. I know he isn't on the ros
*Cameron POV* Everyone seems to move around me at double speed. The whole of the room is full of laughter and congratulations as the guys replay the last remaining minute of the game that led to our victory. We won. We are going to the championships. This means more practice and less time. This means a way to occupy my mind. Taking a big deep inhale I relish the pain it brings from my injury, anything to distract me from the emptiness I feel. I close my eyes to refocus but all I can see is her face. The disappointment when she walked out of those showers towards me. The question she asked by just saying the name I had given her. One minute I had hope, the next I was watching it go up in flames. I had thought that earlier today was my lowest point. That maybe, just maybe I had suffered enough in one day that I could escape further injury. Instead, I’m in
*Faith POV* Noah and Mia have tried relentlessly to pull me from my depressed state for a week. I didn't have the heart to talk about what happened, that Izzy was actually Cameron. Every time I thought about it I would cry. I stayed home all week from school telling mom I didn't feel good, and with how much I was sleeping I knew she believed it. But today she is forcing me to go to school. Today, I have to walk through the hallways and pretend that being there causes an unbearable ache. I come to the finish line lagging behind Mariah and Ari who are both looking back at me with concerned faces. Who knew a whole week of laying around, eating terribly, and sleeping would get me this out of shape. Geez. I can see them both waiting for me as we come closer to the weight room doors. I hesitate in my step for a moment taking a deep breath. I can do this. He w
Mia and Noah just stare at me with crazy eyes. I can tell Mia is angry by the rigidness of her body, while Noah has taken on a more gentle concern. I know I should have filled them in sooner. I had locked myself away in my own mind by keeping them out of the loop, but if I'm being perfectly honest I was upset with them at the time. They haven't done anything to warrant my mood other than dote on each other. But I also never claimed to be of sound mind when it comes to my emotions or control of them. More than likely I also just didn't want their input on something I was sure I couldn’t explain. I’m also not positive that I had fully admitted to myself the extent of my own crush on Cameron and Izzy. How do you put into words what you can't even process in your own mind? And now here we are. Sitting in a stare-down with Mia trying to control her hurt feelings as I try to verbalize it when I know that words
*Cameron POV* -You can call whenever you are free tonight- Faith. My phone sits in my hand as I stare at it. I can call whenever I am free. I breathe deep. I'm free now. But now I'm panicking, which is a new sensation. I've never wanted to fix something so bad. What if she doesn't believe me? It all seems so soap opera-like. Blurting out I was tricked wont work, though it's true, it's not detailed enough. And kind of sounds like a criminal on his way to prison. I run my free hand through my freshly showered hair. Shit. here goes. 3 minutes after receiving her text I hit the dial button. I'm such a sucker for her. Each and every ring feels like an eternity of torture. By the third ring I am holding my breath, squeezing my eyes shut and saying a prayer. And that's when I hear her voice. I had convinced myself
*Faith POV* I put my phone down and wipe a stray tear from my eye. That was so much more complex than I could have ever imagined. Having a terrible parent I understand, I have one too but having one who emotionally abuses you and manipulates you for the good of only herself? That's something I can't quite wrap my head around. Camerons mother had essentially become his pimp, withholding the only thing of value from him. The only person who had ever really shown him any love. Falling back onto my bed I stare up at the little glow-in-the-dark stars and I smile softly remembering the day I put them up with dad. The dad who doted on me and told me I was his little star. The same dad who when I was sad or heartbroken over some trivial thing he would tell me it would get better and that I would get better at discerning how to do hard things. When I asked him h
I angrily toss around in my bed as I cover my head with my pillow. The muffled sounds of yelling still permeate the flimsy cotton material as I grunt in anger throwing my blankets getting ready to throw down with whoever interrupted my excellent dream. I grab a sweater on my way out my bedroom door pounding down the stairs angrily. Mia comes to the base of the stairs looking white as a ghost and I know something is wrong. “Mia, what the hell is going on?” “I don’t know what happened,” she says tearfully. “What do you mean you don’t know what happened?” I move around her walking out the front door and following the voices. As I walk further, faster down the sidewalk I see Noah standing silently as a man berates him, hurling every curse word in the English langu