November 25th

The week of Thanksgiving was always an exciting week for the Wintersville school district. Why? Because all of the kids got a half-day of school Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday leading up to Thanksgiving break. The excitement never ended, even for the seniors during their final year, plus the best part was that they got out before the middle and elementary schoolers.

Now on Wednesday aka one day before Thanksgiving and the turkey bowl, the school day was an easy one considering their schedule was cut in half. The best part for Skye was that she was up to date with all of her assignments, so she basically didn't have to do a thing besides just be in attendance. Gotta love the American public school system, right?

Skye currently sat in her AP Spanish class, sitting with Hunter and watching the other students do extra credit work while she had nothing to do. There was no need for her to do any extra credit, so all she did was sit there bored out of her mind. Thankfully, her teacher called for her name, making her almost fall out of her chair as she was practically in a trance while staring into space.

"Ms. Simmons!"

"Yes?" Skye replied, seeing everyone stare at her as they anticipate to hear what Mrs. Michaels, the Spanish teacher, wanted.

"Since you're my most trusted student, do you mind doing an errand for me while I grade these papers?" She asked. "I'll give you extra credit."

"What? No fair!" Hunter whined. Of course, he out of all people would complain about this, but he didn't have the highest grade in the class, so could he really complain? Obviously not.

"Get back to work, Mr. O'Neil. You need this extra credit big time." Mrs. Michaels ordered, and everyone who watched immediately looked back down at their papers to avoid any embarrassment for themselves.

"Bitch." Hunter cursed under his breath. Skye looked over at him with wide eyes for a moment but shook off the shock to ask what was needed of her.

"Um, what do you need me to do?" She asked.

"Can you drop this off to Mr. Rivera's room? The algebra teacher?" Mrs. Michaels questioned. "He let me borrow his whiteboards so I could use them with the Spanish I kids and I forget to return them."

"Oh, sure." Skye agreed, beginning to stand up and grab her backpack, although a certain someone didn't want her to go.

"Skye, don't leave me." Hunter whisper yelled, reaching to grab her sleeve, but she yanked her arm away from him, which made him pout.

"Let me write a hall pass for you." Mrs. Michaels said, seeing as her least favorite student was being a pest to Skye.

"Sorry, dude. I just gotta get out of here." Skye shrugged, then walked over to Mrs. Michaels' desk to grab the hall pass and what she needed to return.

"Thank you so much." She thanked her, handing over everything needed.

"No problem." Skye grinned, then walked out of the classroom, leaving Hunter behind.

Skye walked through the empty halls, having to go to the complete other side of the school to return these "stupid whiteboards" as she called them in her mind. She couldn't exactly complain as it gave her a reason to not be in that classroom though. But while she walked past all of the classrooms, she saw a familiar face also walking through the halls, a face she didn't mind seeing.

The familiar face was none other than Levi, who held a bathroom pass in his hand, although he didn't really have to go to the bathroom. "Hey, what are you doing in the halls?"

"I should be asking the same thing for you." Skye sassed, seeing as it didn't look like he had any errands to do unlike her.

"Heading to the bathroom, what about you?" Levi said.

"Running errands for Mrs. Michaels." She replied. "I don't have anything to do in that class."

"Same!" He exclaimed. "We were told that we were gonna watch a movie but all we're watching is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas."

Okay, any person in the world would agree that they wouldn't want to watch such a depressing movie on the last day of school before break, but seeing as it was a history class, Levi's history teacher thought it was a genius idea. Levi honestly would have rather watched Hamilton or something actually interesting, notably on full volume to make what would be a fun experience excruciating to the ear.

"That's actually so depressing," Skye said to him, which he agreed to in a heartbeat.

"Oh my god, right?" Levi replied. "Who does that the day before Thanksgiving?"

"Shouldn't you be going to the bathroom?" She raised an eyebrow at him. Skye knew she couldn't just waste her time, so she knew Levi definitely couldn't waste time since he wasn't on any sort of errand. Plus, if a teacher or principal were to see them, they would think Levi was cutting class, which he didn't need the day before the turkey bowl.

"I just asked to go so I could get out of there for a bit." He shrugged, then snuck in some sass. "Besides, don't you have errands to run?"

"Oh, shut up. I've got time to kill." Skye rolled her eyes.

"Well, so do I," Levi smirked.

"No, you don't." She said. "You just look like you're cutting class right now. You can't risk getting in trouble the day before tomorrow."

The mention of the day before tomorrow made Levi think of the movie of the same name, which he wished his history teacher put on instead. "Damn, we should've watched that movie. Jake Gyllenhaal is like my only guy crush."

Skye, who didn't know how to respond, let her jaw drop as she was not expecting that to come out of Levi's mouth at all. It made Levi think that she would go around telling people that, and seeing as Xavier, who was his best friend in the entire world, liked both girls and guys, he had to ensure that Skye wouldn't say anything at all.

"Oh my god, don't tell Xavier I said that." He said, covering his mouth with his hands.

"I'm just gonna go..." Skye said, proceeding to walk away from him and that conversation in general. She had to get going anyway, so it was best that she just left.

"Hey, wait!" Levi called for her, making Skye stop in her tracks. "You'll call me later, right?"

"Why?" She turned, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

"Just because." He shrugged. Actually, it was for a more important reason, but he didn't want to say that right now.

"I'll try not to forget," Skye replied. "By the way, my lips are sealed."

"Cool, bye." Levi chuckled.

"Bye." She said, then the two went their separate ways.

•••

Late in the night, Skye's phone went off, waking her up as she was dead asleep. Not even bothering to turn on her lamp, she reaches for her phone, having the bright screen shine on her eyes, which hurt for a moment. She looks to see it was Levi calling, which wasn't what she expected as he never called this late. Skye decided to answer, wondering to see if something was wrong.

"Hello?" She said, sounding tired as she answered him, which Levi felt bad for.

"Hey, sorry to call you so late," Levi said.

"Is something wrong? Did someone die?" Skye asked.

"No one's dead, but there is a problem." He replied. Thankfully no one was dead, but Skye still had concerns.

"What's wrong then?" She questioned.

Levi let out a big sigh, nervous to let out of all his emotions on her, but he didn't know who else to talk to, and she was his best option as he was more comfortable with her than he anticipated. "Skye, I can't sleep. I'm so nervous about tomorrow. What if I screw everything up? This is my last game ever before college next year."

"Why are you so nervous? You're literally the star player." Skye said, which didn't exactly help his case.

"Exactly, everyone just expects me to be perfect!" He exclaimed. "And this game is so important, you know? I really don't want to ruin it for my teammates, especially Danny and Hunter."

Skye could notice in the way he spoke how passionate he was about this, but also how it felt like he could go into a breakdown at any moment. All of the confidence he had disappeared through thin air, and he desperately needed some sort of confidence boost, one that Skye would give him.

"Levi, I should tell you something." She said, making him more nervous than he already was.

"Uh, what is it?" Levi questioned. He was assuming that Skye would blurt out some sort of romantic confession, but he was very much wrong. Plus, the timing couldn't have been any more awful if that were the case.

"I believe in you a lot, I do," Skye admitted. "You may think you're gonna screw everything up, but you're gonna end up doing the complete opposite. I just know you guys will win."

"Well, that's a surprise." He chuckled.

Although Levi couldn't see it, Skye rolled her eyes at his response, but continued with her words of encouragement anyway. "Look, Levi, I doubted you the moment we met."

"Ouch."

"But I don't have a single doubt about you now. You got this, I know you do." She said.

Skye had stereotyped him as the classic jock upon meeting, but she came in for the biggest surprise of her life when he turned into an amazing friend, despite the minor setback. The same went for Levi in a way. His life was so routine and so boring, but then Skye showed up into his presence and turned his life around. After being in the depression he was in from Megan dumping him, all of his baggage faded thanks to Skye.

Levi couldn't help but be touched by Skye's words, and now he was glad he mustered up the courage to call her in the middle of the night. "That actually helped a lot."

"Glad I could help, especially because you're always there to help me." Skye grinned.

"It's what good friends do." He said, which he regretted saying.

"Yeah." She frowned. Friends.

Looking over at his clock to read the time, Levi decided he should probably leave Skye alone and let her sleep, seeing as the time read a quarter past three. "I'll let you get back to sleep. I'm sorry for waking you up."

"Don't be sorry," Skye insisted. "I think you needed this phone call."

"Yeah, I did." Levi sighed.

"Well, goodnight. I'll see you in the morning." She said, referring to the game that was in the morning.

"Yeah, goodnight." He replied, then hurried to say one last thing before ending the call. "Oh, and Skye?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you, seriously," Levi said. He honestly didn't know how he'd be right now or in the morning if it weren't for that phone call. He would probably be way more of a mess than he was before, then he'd really screw things up. All he needed was some confidence.

"You're welcome," Skye replied, then they said their final goodbyes before finally hanging up.

"Bye, Skye."

"Bye, Levi."

Something about that phone call made both Skye and Levi feel warm and fuzzy inside. For Levi, hearing that Skye believed in him really changed his perspective, but for Skye, seeing that he cared so much and called her out of all people showed that they were actually good friends, even if the both of them shared the same confusion that they wouldn't express out loud. It was a friendship worth living for, and it couldn't have been a better match as they had both lost important people in their lives around the same time.

Neither of them knew what the last game would hold tomorrow, but it would surely be a game for the ages, one that would be talked about for years to come. Levi felt like a winner already, and it was all thanks to the beautiful, smart, and sassy Skye Simmons.

•••

MARIA TALKS!

okay so i wrote all of these chapters in advance so at the time i wrote this i was literally on SUCH a roll. i was churning out chapters like a machine and i LOVED IT. i had never been so inspired it was insane.

wish i could go back to that grind but i've been in a bit of a funk leading up to the days of the 1 year anniversary of my grandma's death but i'm feeling a bit better compared to yesterday so maybe i can give myself a push and write a little (stuck on chapters 42 and 43 atm) idk

besides that, the two part act one finale is next 😌 the drama shall unfold and i'm pretty excited

and don't be a ghost reader!!! it's 2021 babe tapping on a star to vote isn't hard i get done dirty enough