Chapter 29: Welcome to Laser Tag, Population: Problems.

Chapter 29

I stared at the board ahead of me, bored out of my mind. Why did teachers have to make lessons so boring? The majority of the class was out of it and a few were staring at the board, watching as he scribbled nonsense in his sloppy cursive writing onto it.

Friday’s were supposed to be the highlights of a student’s week, but I was anything but excited. Sure, the weekend meant that Aunt Cherry was going to be flying in on Sunday. But it also meant that I was going to have to go to viola practice and show off the song I’ve been practicing for hours at a time.

When the class ended, I was the first out of the door. Today was my last day of detention and I was going to get it over with. Yesterday, I learned that the detention teacher we have on Thursdays and Fridays leaves halfway through it to ‘go to the bathroom’ but they just ditch their job and go to Taco Bell.

Unlike the other kids, I stayed in the classroom yesterday and I planned to do the same today. Who knows if the principal would do a surprise checkup? I know it may seem nerdy but I don’t want to get another week of detention because then they’d make sure my mother was called. I didn’t really want to face her wrath.

When I entered the room with my bag slung over my shoulder, I’d drawn attention from everyone in the room. There were about five people there, two of which were girls.

“What are you doing here?” One of the girls glanced at me before rolling her eyes.

“I swear, they give detentions to just about anybody nowadays.” The other girl retorted with an eye roll. Is detention a prize?

“I’ve been here for the last four days.” I snapped back, taking a seat that I’d claimed as my own, or at least for these four days.

The girls stayed quiet and the teacher soon entered the room with a clipboard and told us to sign in. I did as told and went back to my seat, starting on my homework. I might as well get something done while I’m in here.

“I’m going to the bathroom, I expect you guys to stay where you are.” The teacher stated, grabbing his bag. He gripped his rolling suitcase in the other hand. How can he make us believe that he’s ‘going to the bathroom’ when he’s literally moving out of the classroom?

They waited five minutes until we heard his familiar car engine speeding out of the parking lot. They got up and grabbed their bags, the clock striking 4:15 PM. He left a bit later than he did yesterday.

The two girls saw me staying in my spot before they scoffed, their heels clacking on their way out of the room. I just rolled my eyes. I heard their heels come to a halt in the doorway. I didn’t bother looking up.

“Hey.” One of the girls said cheerfully. I didn’t bother to look up; it was obvious that she wasn’t talking to me.

“Hello.” The other girl spoke breathily. Was she having an asthma attack?

“Excuse me.” I heard footsteps shuffling forward, in my direction.

“Fio.” Adrian greeted me, approaching my desk. I raised an eyebrow when I finally looked up. I looked over his shoulder to see one of the girls glaring daggers at me while the other one was staring dreamily at Adrian’s back.

“Hey, Adrian; hey, doesn’t the game start soon?” I asked him, tearing my gaze from the love-struck girls mid-sentence.

“Yep.” He replied, grabbing my folders and notebooks from under my arms and forcing them into my bag. I glared at him.

“Why aren’t you out there? And what are you doing?” I asked him, reaching for my bag but he zipped it and slung it over his shoulder. I just realized that he was in his football attire. That’s why she was staring at his back. I would be, too.

“Why aren’t you out there?” He asked me, beginning the walk out of the room, bypassing the girls and nearly smashing their faces into the doorway with his shoulders.

“I have detention.” I replied, following him. One of the girls tried to trip me but I casually kicked her leg, tossing a halfhearted apology over my shoulder at her with a smirk. I heard her groan in pain.

“I didn’t see a teacher in there. Don’t bother saying that he went to the bathroom, I saw the students leaving the classroom a few minutes ago. Now, let’s go.” He told me and I shrugged.

“What?” I asked, catching up to him. Did he say, ‘let’s go?’

“You’re going to the game, that’s what.” He snorted, leaving the school. He was walking towards my car in the parking lot.

“But I can’t- I have detention! That’s where I’m supposed to be! Not at some fun game!” I replied while taking out my keys.

“You’re contradicting yourself.” He told me when I opened the passenger’s seat and he tossed the book bag onto the seat.

“Yeah, I know.” I replied and he looked at me.

“Where’s your sweater?” He asked me and I rolled my eyes.

“I didn’t bring my sweater.” I clarified. I brought his jacket. He saw it and grabbed it, handing it do me. I put the jacket on and closed my car door, locking it. “What’s the rush?”

“We have two minutes to get you to the ticket booth and I have a minute after that to get to the gym.” He told me when we approached the ticket booth.

“She’s with me.” Adrian quickly said and the girl nodded her head, smiling girlishly at Adrian while he turned and looked at me. “You’re in seat 32A, it’s in the front near Jessie.” He told me and I nodded while he smirked.

“Good luck.” I told him and his smirk deepened.

“You too.” He told me and I stared at his back for a moment before walking towards the A section. What did he mean by that?

I saw Jessie sitting in the front of the section and she was waving me over. The cheerleaders were doing a cheer while I sat next to her.

“You were in on this?” I asked as she removed her purse from the seat beside me. She handed me a drink, a bag of skittles, and a bag of Cheetos.

“Duh, why wouldn’t I be?” She asked, looking at my oversized jacket…or should I say Adrian’s normal sized jacket?

“Do you realize what jacket that is?” She asked me and I looked down at the jacket. It had the number ‘1’ on it and it was red and black, our school colors. I shrugged.

“It’s a jacket.” I replied, shrugging and Jessie rolled her eyes. I looked behind us to see that we were the first row. I realized the chances of us getting hit with a football were likely.

“It’s his football jacket.” She told me and I glanced down at the sweater. He was number 1. Wasn’t that from SpongeBob?

I felt my jaw drop when I assessed the situation. Jessie laughed loudly at my face. The cheerleader’s stopped cheering while we waited for our football team’s arrival.

Brielle was glaring at me, or should I say- Adrian’s jacket that was on me. I guess she realized that this was his football jacket before I did.

When our football team finally came out, I was drinking my soda impatiently. I just wanted the game to start to ease my nerves.

Adrian played very well and by very well, I mean perfectly. I don’t understand how someone could be so perfect. He is smart and managed to get good grades, he is athletic and plays like a pro, he is good looking, he is funny, he’s confident, he has a pretty good personality, and he is the perfect package. That is why you can’t have him.

The commentators were loud and you could most likely hear them from the inside of our school. Our school gave most of their money to help create a professional football field. They even had a large screen that was used as a ‘kiss cam’ on a lot of sports games. Of course, we didn’t use it as a kiss cam, but it was used to embarrass people, not purposely but accidentally. But what is purposeful is how the commentators harass the people who magically appear on the jumbotron.

I was nervously biting my lip and watching the game. We were winning, of course but I wasn’t nervous about that. The game was stopped and the players were getting drinks and talking to each other about plays. It was typical. That wasn’t what I was nervous about either. I was nervous about the fact that they decided to turn on the camera and it was searching the crowd to find its victim.

The guy in the booth that controlled the cameras was a typical college nerd. He worked at our school at events like this and he didn’t know any of us, which helped him to embarrass us even more. He had nothing to be guilty about. He also took requests on who to aim the camera at, as long as you give him a seat number, he’ll find you.

“Stop worrying so much.” Jessie snapped while I ate my skittles. I furrowed my eyebrows. How could she tell that I was nervous? “You’re vacuuming the skittles out of your hand. Calm down, if the camera aims at you; flash them.” She smirked and I glared at her. Way to help me.

“Yeah, like I’d do that.” I snorted, crossing my legs, Indian style on my seat. I was surprised that my legs could fit on the chair.

While I continued talking to Jessie, she told me about her and Trent. Suddenly, she stared at me with her eyes wide. I furrowed my eyebrows as she stared at me and then something behind me. I turned to look at whatever she was staring at behind me and I realized that I was on the large screen.

I heard the commentators speaking about me and I wanted the floor to open up and consume me. Jessie said that it was more likely for a cat to walk on his hind legs and dance to Nicki Minaj for the camera to turn onto me. Where is that cat?

I saw Adrian smirking beside the guy who controls the camera’s booth as he watched with pride. He was proud that he’s the one who’s publically embarrassing me. He planned this out!

“Fiona Harper; she’s a junior.” The first commentator, a boy named Gregory Wye stated. I stared at myself, horrified. Please don’t notice the jacket, please don’t notice the jacket.

“What’s this? She’s wearing a jacket with the number 1 on it. And it’s the school colors. Do you know what this means, Greg?” Aidan Hynes continued.

“It means that Adrian Easton has a fan, I suppose.” Greg replied. I felt my face warm up and Jessie was full on laughing. I looked over to see Adrian smirking, too. I buried my face in my hands. When was this going to end?

“Or does she? I heard that they had an argument about that same jacket during lunch just other day.” Aidan chuckled. Do they not have a filter? They’re acting as if this is a normal conversation!

“I’ve heard that, too. She’s not complaining about wearing the sweater now, is she?” Greg joked.

“I think the two would make a nice couple, don’t you?” Aidan instigated. Kill me. Kill me now. I turned to Jessie for help but she was still laughing. Does someone have a gun?

“I do. Do you guys?” Greg asked the crowd. Cheers began erupting through the crowd and I felt my face reach the warmest it’s ever been. I want to cry. I even saw Logan cheering loudly.

“That sounds like a yes.” Aidan replied.

“I noticed a few people not cheering, Aidan.” Greg continued and I wanted to rip my ears and eyes out.

“I did, too, Greg. But do you know what else I noticed?” Aidan retorted. Please change the subject, please change the subject.

“What is it?” Greg asked, curiosity clear in his voice.

“Her best friend, Jessica McDaniels, has a thing with Adrian’s best friend, Trent Knight.” Aidan explained as the camera panned to Jessie’s horror stricken face. I was the one laughing now. They continued blabbing about Jessie while my eyes scanned the water table.

I saw Number 1 (ha, I saw pee) standing with a cup in his hand, drinking it before his gaze captured mine. His mouth was still full of water and he shot me an open mouth smile and a wink. Water came pouring out his mouth and he frowned, wiping it off of his chin as I laughed. How could he have been that stupid to forget that he had water in his mouth?

When we were in the last moments of the game, everyone started talking about the party after the game. I looked at Jessie and she smiled at me. I turned back to the game, trying to ignore the discussing about the party.

It was obvious that our team was going to win and when we did, the other team didn’t seem upset. It’s like they knew they were going to lose, which is sort of sad if you think about it.

Jessie told me that we were going to meet the boys at a Chinese Buffet in an hour. I asked her if we were going to the party and she said that Trent would text her about it. I just nodded.

Jessie and I went back to my house. I showered while Jessie got herself ready. I dressed in dark jeans and a red ‘Nerd’ sweater I bought a while back. It was long sleeved and comfortable. I put on my red and white stars Converse before sitting down and letting Jessie do my hair.

Surprisingly, it only took her 25 minutes to do my hair. I guess when you’re a hair pro, a job that takes a hair simpleton, like me, an hour to do; it only takes you 25 minutes. She curled the tips and put something that makes my hair smooth into it. It smelled amazing and I wasn’t complaining.

I walked over to my dresser and grabbed my small jewelry box. I didn’t wear much jewelry, hence the reason why the box is small. I thumbed through the earrings, rings and few necklaces I owned until I found my gold bracelet. It had little sweet treats as charms and it was amazing.

“You’re seriously wearing that bracelet?” Jessie asked, rolling her eyes as I clipped the bracelet onto my wrist. I nodded, shrugging my shoulders carelessly. In Jessie’s world, everything had to match. The maximum amount of colors you could wear were two unless the shirt is multicolored, then you could wear two main colors and two side colors.

“It’s pretty.” I replied and she rolled her eyes again. She rolls her eyes so often that one day they’re just going to keep repeating the action and I bet nobody will notice.

“Yeah, but you’re wearing red.” She told me, placing a hand on her hip. We were leaving in ten minutes. “I bet your socks don’t match. Right?”

“So? I’m not worried about matching every piece of clothing.” I told her and she rolled her eyes. As I sat on my bed, I was suddenly pushed backwards. Jessie had my leg in a vice grip as she ripped my shoes off.

“Your socks don’t match!” She nearly cried. I stared at her as she turned to look at me, dropping my leg in the process. I put my shoes back onto my feet.

“They’re blue.” I replied and she shook her head, pointing to my shirt and then my shoes.

“You’re wearing blue and red, in the same outfit.” She told me with a hand over her mouth. I rolled my eyes.

“You’re overreacting. Besides, we have to leave.” I replied and she picked up her keys while shaking her head. We were leaving my car here and taking hers.

When we were in the car, she turned to look at me with a smirk. “You do realize that this is like a double date, right?” She asked me and I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. “Oh wait, you already had your first date with Adrian, huh?” She smirked wider.

“It wasn’t a date!” I nearly shouted. She didn’t look alarmed. She just smirked.

“It seemed like it. He skipped school for you.” She told me. I let out a sigh.

“So?” I snapped and she nearly growled in anger.

“How much did you pay on that… get together?” She asked me, turning to look at me.

“Nothing.” I replied, running a hand through my loose, smooth hair.

“Where’d you guys go?” She asked me, smirking.

“The zoo and an amusement park, plus we got breakfast if that changes anything.” I informed her. She nodded.

“How much did that cost?” She asked me and I shrugged.

“He paid for me, I don’t know.” I replied.

“Exactly; he didn’t complain. He wanted to pay. A guy doesn’t take a girl out and pay for her if he doesn’t like her.” She told me and I rolled my eyes.

“Or he wanted to be polite seeing as he just ripped me out of bed at 5 AM.” I retorted and she smiled even wider.

“I think he likes you.” She said in her annoying sing song voice.

“Believe whatever fairy tales you want to.” I rolled my eyes as she started humming the tune that childish song: Adrian and Fiona sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g.

__

We got to the Chinese Buffet; Adrian’s Camaro was already there. I stared at the glossy car. Jessie grabbed my arm and dragged me into the place. I sighed but let her drag me. When we reached the table, she nearly shoved me into the seat.

“Violent.” I muttered under my breath before I sat across from Adrian. I looked up at him and he smiled. It reminded me of the water incident and I let out a bark of laughter.

“Hey.” I replied when I caught my breath. He frowned and rolled his eyes at me.

“Hi, you look nice.” He told me. My face started warming and I internally groaned. Really?

“That doesn’t get you out of what you did.” I replied awkwardly.

“I know, I’m ready for the consequences. But I think you look nice, anyway.” He replied with a smile.

“Thanks, I guess? You look, uhm, nice, too.” I replied awkwardly. What was I supposed to say? ‘Yeah, I know I’m fly. That’s why they call me McFly.’

“I know.” He replied, cockily. I scowled at him.

“You’re the most modest person that I know.” I retorted as he just smiled. He was fidgeting in his seat. “Do you have to go to the bathroom or something?”

“No, I’m just hungry.” He told me and I nodded, waiting for Jessie to move.

“It’s a buffet, we can just go up.” I told her. She nodded, getting up and allowing me to exit the small booth. It was suffocating in there.

I grabbed a few different types of chicken, an egg role, and Crab Rangoon. I walked back to the table to see that Trent and I were the only ones there.

“Hey, Trent.” I said when I sat down. He smiled at me with a mouth full of orange chicken.

“Hi, Fiona.” He grinned. I laughed quietly. “How’s it going?”

“Great, what about yourself?” I asked him and he rolled his eyes. People do that a lot.

“I mean with you and Adrian.” He told me and I furrowed my eyebrows, tilting my head sideways. He couldn’t possibly know… could he? “I know that you like him.” He told me after a minute.

“One minute.” I said, holding up a finger while smiling politely. He smiled and nodded. I spotted Jessie happily walking over towards us. I walked over to her, grabbing her arm.

“Come on, Jessie. Let’s go get some seafood, shall we?” I asked and she frowned.

“I’m deathly allergic.” She warned me. I nodded my head.

“I know. Let’s hope if does its job.” I hissed. Adrian was walking by us and I grabbed his arm. He turned to me with a raised eyebrow. His plate was full. I handed him Jessie’s plate.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” He asked me and I puckered out my lower lip.

“Can you please bring this back to the table?” I asked him, blinking my eyes rapidly. Wasn’t this what the girls on television did when they wanted something?

“Sure.” He muttered, rearranging his plate so that he could successfully hold his own and Jessie’s.

I dragged Jessie to the girl’s room before pushing her into the middle of the small room. I really hope nobody comes into the room. Or even worse, is already in the room.

“Did you tell Trent?” I asked her. She furrowed her eyebrows.

“Tell him what?” She asked, playing stupid. I glared at her.

“You know what I’m talking about, Jessie.” I stomped my foot.

“I swear I didn’t tell him. He heard me one day when I was on the phone with you!” She blabbed and I felt my glare lowering.

“Did he tell Adrian?” I asked and slumped against the wall. If he told Adrian, I’m going to feel so embarrassed. I already feel embarrassed knowing that Adrian’s best friend knows that I have a major crush on him, even though he’s way out of my league.

“No, a-and he promised he wouldn’t.” She informed me. I nodded my head, watching as she let out a breath of relief. “Besides, he said he kind of knew and that was just an affirmation. Trent’s good with things like that.”

“Good, I’d die if he knew.” I replied with a sigh.

“Let’s go. I’m starving.” She told me and I nodded. I walked out of the bathroom, making my way (downtown) back to the table. Jessie was trailing behind me.

“You’re back.” Adrian announced our return. I nodded my head again.

“Do you want to go to the party?” Adrian asked me as I began eating my egg roll. Soy sauce is amazing. I shrugged.

“Do you?” I asked him and he shrugged.

“It’s up to you.” He told me and I shrugged again. I hate when people say that. They could want to go but you say ‘no’ and then they refuse to go even though they want to go, you know what I mean?

“I don’t care.” I stated and Adrian looked at me.

“Do you want to go?” He asked me, raising an eyebrow.

“Not really.” I admitted and he let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness, me neither!” He nearly shouted. What if I would have said yes?

“Calm down. You’re making a huge scene.” I muttered. “Besides, what if I would’ve said I wanted to go?”

“I would have placed an offer onto the table that you can’t refuse.” He winked. I let out a laugh but shook my head.

“Are you guys going to the party?” Trent asked and I shook my head. “We aren’t either.”

“I have an idea!” Jessie nearly shrieked.

“Hopefully, it’s a good one. That’s a rarity when it comes to Jessie.” I snorted and she elbowed me in the ribs.

“It is a good one, Fi-Fi. How about we go on a double date?” I glared at Jessie once the words left her mouth.

“Now why would we do that?” I asked and she smiled widely at me. She made a zigzag motion across the table. It went from Trent to her and then Adrian to me.

“I think it’s a good idea.” Trent admitted, smirking at me. I was so close to smashing my face onto the table. Or his face, for the matter.

“What’s so bad about me?” Adrian frowned. I instantly felt bad. He must think that I hate him. Trent looked at him.

“Absolutely nothing, right Fiona?” Trent looked at me expectantly.

“Where are we going, then?” I grumbled. Jessie squealed. Adrian smiled heroically

“I have the perfect idea.” He grinned.

__

“Laser tag?” Jessie asked, staring at the large building. It was the size of the mall. I was jumped up and down from excitement. Now this was my type of thing.

“Yes, laser tag!” I exclaimed, smiling widely.

“Okay.” Jessie hesitantly said.

When we entered the building, the lady handed us four vests. Two were red and two were blue. We had to decide who was on what team, and of course Trent and Jessie were already clinging to each other for dear life.

“Sure, it’s not like I wanted an option.” I muttered. In all honesty, I wasn’t complaining. If Jessie and I were on the same team, we would have lost. She has no clue what she’s doing and I’d probably pass out after 2 seconds of running.

“You know you didn’t.” Adrian winked, putting his vest on. I slung the red vest over my head. It was bulky and heavy. I just rolled my eyes.

“Prepare to lose.” I replied and he rolled his eyes.

“You underestimate yourself.” He told me and I laughed.

“More like overestimate, what I meant to say was: prepare to get on your knees and pray to Jesus that I make it through this much running.” I replied and Adrian laughed. Trent and Jessie were giving us odd looks.

I learned that they separated us with ages, too. They had a floor for younger teenagers, one for younger kids, and then one for older teenagers and twenty year olds.

Adrian and I had to walk to the other side of the building and press a button when we got there. The lights would go out and we’d have to go off of our hearing. The occasional flash of colorful lights would go off but that’s dangerous for you, too. So you’d rather stay away from that. The team member’s guns and vests are synchronized so if you shoot each other, you won’t get points taken off or added.

A few moments after we started walking, we heard a loud ringing and an intercom sounded from above us.

“We have two new groups coming to join us; they’re wearing purple and green.” The message repeated twice before it sounded off and Adrian and I looked at each other.

“I’m serious about losing.” I told him and he rolled his eyes.

The teams buzzed in around the same time we did. We had a farther walk! They had a countdown until the lights went off. When they turned off, I heard footsteps enter the room. I knew then that I was in for trouble, a whole lot of it.

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A/N:  Cover contest is over! And we have a winner! Shalaylabayla wins the contest! It was a tough competition and every cover was beautiful! Whoever competed will get your chapter of fame with a dedication and your cover on the side! Thank you so much, guys!