September 22nd

When Skye and Levi met up in chemistry class the next day, they were met with praise from their teacher once they walked into the room. They looked at each other in shock as they set their backpacks down, being told that their teacher was impressed by how well they work together. This comment from their teacher was definitely going to reflect their grade, but Skye was too excited that she was giving off a good impression.

"Wow, go us!" Skye beamed, giving Levi a high five.

"Right?" Levi high fived back. "Imagine what our grade is!"

"Ah, shit." She said a bit too loudly, groaning as she sat down in her seat and not even realizing she just cursed in front of her teacher out loud.

"Language, Ms. Simmons!" He yelled out, making Skye grow embarrassed as everyone in the class fell silent and immediately stared at her like a shark eyeing its prey.

"Sorry!" She replied, then turned to Levi in humiliation. "Oh my god, that's never happened to me before."

"Ooo, good girl gone bad." Levi teased, wiggling his eyebrows jokingly.

"Shut up!" Skye whisper yelled.

As the class went back to its usual chatter, Skye and Levi went back and forth at each other in their seats with Levi being the typical tease and Skye not tolerating it. But, class had to start, and their chemistry teacher wasn't just going to let everyone chat all period. "Class! Shall we get started?"

Everyone whipped their heads to the front of the class, murmuring "yes" and getting out their supplies. Skye and Levi did the same, but once Skye got out everything she needed, she hit Levi's side from under the table (but didn't receive any sort of vocal reaction) then grabbed her pencil like nothing happened and slouched into her chair with her binder sitting on her lap.

"You're gonna pay for this." She whispered.

•••

Later in the day, Skye found Levi walking towards her in the halls come lunchtime, then the two walked up to each other outside the cafeteria doors, letting all the passing students walk by them as they stood in the middle of the hall for a brief moment.

"Hey, sweaty," Skye said, followed by a snicker.

"Hey," Levi said out of breath. Like he was every day after gym, he was sweaty from all the exercise. "Gym class totally beat my ass today."

"Ooo, what game do they have planned?" She asked, knowing all the gym classes would be doing the same thing all day.

"Volleyball." He replied.

"Dammit." Skye cursed under her breath. "I was hoping for badminton."

"I thought you hated sports?" Levi raised an eyebrow. While Skye hated sports with a passion and only willingly watched sports during the winter and summer Olympics, she had a secret love for badminton and gave it her best shot when given the opportunity. Actually, she and Nikki once bought a cheap set of birdies racquets at Walmart and played in Skye's backyard when the weather was nice, but obviously, they don't do that anymore. Plus, there was no way Skye would ask her dad to play with her. It would be way too embarrassing to have her neighbors witness that.

"Badminton's the exception because it's the least scary sport." Was Skye's response, and Levi just had to bring up football as the bet was still on since they hadn't received their grade yet. Despite it being the stupidest bet ever, Levi really wanted Skye at his games.

"Well, you're gonna have to start liking football too." He smirked, which made Skye roll her eyes.

"Don't get too confident." She scoffed. "We haven't even received our grade yet."

"I'm feeling pretty confident." Levi shrugged.

Wanting the subject to be over, Skye urged that they get in the lunch line, and started to walk into the cafeteria with Levi obviously following her right away. "Come on, let's get in line. I heard they have tater tots today."

"Tater tots? Hell yeah!" He exclaimed.

The two got in line, and because they waited so long to actually get in the line, they were going to have to wait a while before they got their food. The lunch ladies were hard at work though, but it was going to take some time before Skye could greet them and be one of the rarities that actually treated them with respect unlike most of the kids at school.

"God, can this line go any slower?" She groaned, feeling her stomach begin the grumble. It was so loud she could hear it over everyone in like talking loudly.

"I bet it could." Levi chuckled behind her.

"Man, I'm so hungry," Skye whined. A moment later, Skye's phone dinged, meaning she got a notification, but she didn't know what until she turned on her phone. She turned it on to see that she received an email from her chemistry teacher, and the subject read "Lab Report Grade". It was the moment of truth; who won the bet?

"Levi." She said, gently slapping his arm a few times to get his attention.

"Hm?" Levi turned and looked down at Skye.

"Our grade just got posted." She replied, looking up at him because of their height difference. It was different when they were sitting down, but standing next to each other? Skye was thankful she wasn't too short because she would probably hurt her neck.

"What did we get? What did we get?" He asked repeatedly, making Skye annoyed.

"Hold on!" She yelled then started tapping away on her phone. She opened up the email, and right at the very top was the grade. "No, no, no, no, no."

"What, what, what, what, what?"

"See for yourself." Skye sighed and showed Levi her phone.

"Aha!" He exclaimed. If the line weren't so crowded, he'd be jumping for joy. Levi then started poking Skye's arm, rubbing the grade they received in her face. "We got an A, we got an A, we-"

"Stop that!" She said, slapping his hands away from her.

Throwing one of the straps off his shoulder to reach the zipper of his backpack, Levi pulls out a piece of clothing that Skye couldn't quite point out and attempts to hand it to her. "I'll have you know that I prepared for this very moment. Here."

"What's that?" Skye questioned.

"One of my jersey's." He replied. "I want you to wear it to the game. Ya know, since I won the bet."

"Uh, why?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Why not?"

"That wasn't part of the bet, plus the football guys do that with their girlfriends, I would know." Skye was right on this. It was a thing the football players with girlfriends did. If they were one of those couples, the girlfriend would even wear the jersey to school that Friday as a way to flex their man, and well, Levi wasn't Skye's man. She definitely didn't want him to be her man either.

"You would be the first person to wear it besides me though!" Levi exclaimed.

"What about Megan?" Skye crossed her arms. Yeah, what about Megan? She didn't know that much about the infamous ex besides that she dumped Levi and she goes to a different school, but really, Skye doesn't know what she's like at all. If she were to ever meet her, it would surely be interesting.

"Rival schools. Could never happen." He said, which was the truth. If Megan were seen wearing a jersey from the rival school, it would basically mean she was asking for her funeral. Plus, she was on the cheer squad for her football team, so it most definitely wasn't gonna happen.

"Too bad, I'm still not wearing it." She said.

"Well, you can change your mind whenever." Levi shrugged, putting the jersey back in his backpack and zipping it back up.

"I doubt it," Skye replied and turned away from Levi, keeping the line slowly moving along. She would get her borderline prison food eventually, but the tater tots were kind of like a treat compared to the usual food they served.

After about five minutes of waiting, Skye got her food and got the hell out of that line. Well, she waited for Levi first, but he came out not even a minute later. The two then walked to their designated lunch table together and sat across from each other, discussing the game as Levi won the bet.

"So, what time is the game?" Skye asked, popping a tater tot in her mouth. Thank god for those crispy pieces of potato heaven.

"Seven," Levi replied, doing the exact same as Skye.

"Alright, I guess I'll get my dad to take me if he's not too tired from work." She said. This caused a bit of concern from Levi, but it wasn't much of an issue since she knew her dad would say yes since it involved him. This morning her dad couldn't stop talking about him during breakfast, and he even waved at Levi and said hello when she was getting picked up, which was totally embarrassing as the guys (excluding Levi) pushed her buttons about it.

"You sure?" He asked. He wasn't going to actually say it, but Levi would drop everything for her. He didn't care if he had to walk through lava, he would make sure Skye made it to his game. The guy needed himself a new cheerleader. Not that being one was her only purpose, but it was a bit complicated for Levi.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Skye nodded then went to continue eating.

"Ooo, are you gonna get him to watch?" Levi teased, and Skye immediately denied the idea of her dad coming with her to watch the game.

"Absolutely not!" She exclaimed. "That would be so embarrassing. I'd rather watch the game alone or something."

Alone, she said? Little did she know on who would be in attendance. "Trust me, you won't be alone."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Skye furrowed her eyebrows.

"You'll see on Friday," Levi smirked.

"Just tell me!" She slightly yelled, then a thought came into her head, a thought that was basically the worst-case scenario for Friday. "Oh god, am I gonna meet your ex-girlfriend?"

"No way!" He exclaimed. Even Levi thought that was the worst-case scenario. "We're not even playing her school until next week."

Skye let out a huge sigh of relief, crossing off that possibility off her list. She still had no idea who she could possibly meet, but it wasn't going to be anyone bad. "Good cause I don't know if I wanna meet her."

"I don't think you ever will." Levi slightly frowned.

"Do you ever miss her?" Skye asked, almost immediately regretting the question as Levi didn't respond right away like she thought he would. "Um, sorry if I'm being nosey-"

"No, I just had to think about the question." He interrupted.

"Oh."

"I do miss her sometimes, but like I said yesterday, I'm starting to move on." Levi shrugged. At least he didn't cry at the mention of her like he did freshly after the breakup, so it was definitely some sort of start.

"Well, for whatever reason she dumped you, she's an idiot for doing it," Skye confessed. It was a bit crazy for her to think that way, but she saw no reason for her to dump him. Sure, he could be a bit of a pest, but it was with good intentions, and Skye was starting to see that.

Shocked by her words, Levi brushed off the sincerity of it with a joking question. "I thought I was an idiot?"

"You are, but not that much of an idiot." She giggled.

"Am I starting to grow on you, Skye Simmons?" He teased. As scary as it seemed, maybe he was.

"You wish, Levi Daniels." Skye scoffed. "By the way, I'm walking home today."

"Awe." Levi pouted.

"Keep pouting, Daniels." She rolled her eyes.

"Pft, meanie." He whined as a child would.

"And yet you want to be stuck with me," Skye said, referencing what he said at her house. Yeah, she got him there with that one.

"Touché, Simmons."

"I know." She smirked.

•••

Dear Future Me,

Uh, I guess I'm going to my first high school football game? Well, no guessing, I lost the bet. I should've purposely did bad on the lab report, but that's so against my morals. God, I hate myself sometimes.

Oh, you're gonna laugh when you read this. Well, obviously you'll know what I'm talking about cause we've already lived it! But anyway, Levi asked if I wanted to wear his jersey to the game?? Like what?? Do I look like your girlfriend?? I don't think so, buddy.

Levi probably just wants to be friends though, right? Right? I'm not looking for a boyfriend right now, and I'm especially not looking to date him out of all people. Yuck.

I guess I can't be too mad about getting an A though. Just means the school year is starting off right. Let's hope it continues to go right.

It does go right, right?

Sincerely,

Past Me.

•••

MARIA TALKS!

merry christmas, it's a double update! i figured i'd do this considering the occasion.

we've come a long way since the first chapter! i mean, i'm starting to become pretty consistent with word and page count. can you believe the first chapter was only ten pages? YUCK. it's a yikes from me y'all.

anyways, if you haven't already, please vote! writing an original story is hard, guys! i really wanna make this the best it can be for everyone including myself 😔

but in the next chapter skye goes to the first football game of the season! and we'll meet another character 👀 can you guess?