His Rotten Apple

26 ~ This isn't the Titanic

From the other side of the field, Josephina spotted Zailey running towards them.

    "Is that Zai running?"Josephina squinted at the distance in disbelief.

    "Zai and running? Never thought I'd hear those words in the same sentence," Nathan said.

    They watched Zailey as she ran, when suddenly, she tripped on a grass wedge lump. She fell face down on the grass, and her friends ran the rest of the way partly concerned and partly laughing.

    "Zai?! What happened to you?!" Jacque said, laughing.

    Elizabeth helped her up to her feet, "And I present to all of you, the queen of gym."

"Shut up. I owned those tetherball courts!" Zailey boasted.

"Uhuh, whatever makes you feel better, Zai," Jacque put a hand on her shoulder.

"Did you get ants inside your panties again? Why are you so... Weird?" Josephina asked.

"I needed to talk to Lizzie... Privately," Zailey said.

"Oh, of course, you two as usual. Our characters don't matter in this story at all anyway," Nathan complained.

"Nathan, chill a bit, yeah? Zai seems like she's got something serious going on," Josephina reprimanded him.

"We'll give you two some space, but please, let's not let this end up like last time, okay?" Jacque said.

Elizabeth took a seat on the bleachers. "So, what's up?"

"Well... I-um..." Zailey started. "Uh, it's... It's about..."

"Connor," Elizabeth continued for her. "It's okay, you can talk about him."

"How'd you know?"

"How can I not know when you have that look in your eyes?"

Zailey quickly covered her eyes, "What look?"

"I don't know, just... That look," despite knowing Zailey's true feelings, she wanted to leave her to figure them out herself.

"I'm sorry, I know everything's still sensitive for you, but I really didn't know who else to turn to."

"I'm fine," Elizabeth assured her. "And you know what? I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to get over him."

"You're really over him?"

"No... But, I don't know. I just feel comfortable. I'm really rooting for the two of you."

Zailey looked down, "There's nothing to root for."

"Ugh, what the hell? This is the first time I actually ship something, and you decide to sink it. This isn't the Titanic, Zai, and I want a happy ending!"

"But there's also..."

"Also what?"

Zailey debated to herself whether or not to tell her about Kriss, especially considering their complicated history.

"Zai... What is it?"

"There's Kriss. She's pretty. She's smart. Successful... and Connor... He's... He's in love with her," Zailey struggled to say.

"She's taken," Elizabeth said. "They can only be friends."

"Lizzie, how can you say that? You know about... That..."

Elizabeth chuckled, "You sound like me a couple years ago. But Zai, as perfect as she may seem, you're beyond that. I was never able to make up with Kriss after that small fight over a guy. But us? It took us less than a week... A fucking week."