The Comeback Season

|chapter sixteen|

"Runnin' through the 6 with my woes. Countin' money you know how it goes. Pray the real live forever man. Pray the fakes get exposed."

I smile at Tyler as he transports into a Drake wannabe. "You like Drake?" He looks at me in shock and says, "who doesn't like Drake?" "True," I say nodding my head. The song was starting to end when Tyler says, "your pick." He is holding up his phone and I smile at him before taking it.

"Anything but Miley Cyrus," he says with a repulsed look on his face. "Ok, first Miley has made some hits. Second, I wasn't going too." He smiles at me and nods. I find the perfect song and tap to play it.

"My baby don't mess around. Because she loves me so. And this I know for sho," I start to sing and dance slightly. Tyler smiles at me and he starts dancing. He reaches to turn the music up more and we lose our minds. Our voices are perfectly in sync with every word and beat.

"Hey ya! Hey ya! Hey ya! Hey ya!" I'm clapping my hands while Tyler is drumming the steering wheel. We finally arrive at the restaurant, but stay in the car dancing till the song ends.

"Great choice Lia," Tyler says opening my door. "Thank you very much," I respond jumping down to the ground. We watch as Bryce and Sabrina park next to us. "Listen, I won't let her do anything to you." Tyler grabs my hand and I smile in admiration.

We all walk into the dinner and smile at Joe. Joe took over this dinner after his father passed. I used to come here with my dad and Mr. Stone was so nice to us. He would be extremely proud of Joe.

"Wow, bigger group today Tyler. Hey Nova, Coco, Reid, Lia, Drew, Parker, Wesley, and Bryce." We all wave except for Sabrina. She just looks annoyed that he doesn't know her name. I am actually shocked that he knows Bryce's name cause he just moved here. We follow Joe to a round booth and slide in.

The seating goes as follows: Tyler on the outside, then me, Nova, Coco, Reid, Drew, Parker, Wesley, Sabrina, and Bryce on the other side. Joe doesn't have to ask what Nova, Coco, Reid, and I want. We always get bacon cheeseburgers with fries and vanilla milkshakes. "The usual for you guys," he says looking at the other boys. They all nod and Joe starts writing again.

He turns to Sabrina and she is looking at the menu. Her face looks unpleased, but she orders a grilled chicken sandwich and water. Joe nods and walks towards the kitchen. "I'm guessing you four come here a lot?" Parker asks looking at my friends. "Yeah, its kind of a tradition," Reid replies and we all nod and smile.

I look across the table and catch Bryce looking at me. He pauses before he turns his gaze to Drew. "You should have caught that pass Drew." "Ugh, I know. I was so pissed that I didn't, but there were so many guys on me." Bryce nods and says "yeah, I just took a chance and threw it to you." "What about Thomas missing that block?" Tyler says and all the boys start talking about the game and I zone out.

"Cahlia, what is that on your face?" Wesley's question brings me out of my zone. "What?" I look at him in confusion and he points to his face to give me an idea of where my mark is. Damn. He is talking about that slap.

"Yeah, what is that," Sabrina says with her head tilted grinning at me. The entire table turns to look at me and I feel another panic attack coming on. I will not let Sabrina see me at my lowest point.

"I need to go to the bathroom," I tell Tyler and softly hit Nova's thigh telling her to follow. Tyler's eyes look concerned and he quickly gets up to let me out. I start doing my breathing technique before I even enter the bathroom. Nova and Coco quickly hurry in after me.

"Bryce keeps watching me—," I say out of breath. "An—d I didn't even hit that bitch back." I place my hands on the sink and look into the mirror. "It's not even that bad," Coco says moving my hair to get a better view. "Yeah," Nova says clearly lying.