The scout had already phoned twice that week. I had avoided both calls. My father had phoned once, too and my mother was acting weird. It was as if she was trying to lure me into a false sense of security and get me to open up to her by being overly nice. One day, she brought me breakfast in bed—Seriously? But the thing I wanted most in the world, Sadie, was gone. And my life felt so bland without her in it, and school felt even worse.

Everyone was still talking about the fight video. No one would shut up about it and the principal had called a huge assembly and threatened anyone else with suspension should they continue to share it or watch it. But people continued to share it and talk about it and stranger still, was how some of the guys started talking about Sadie because of it. Having a video of two female classmates cat fighting, seemed to have ignited some serious primitive cave man crap in some of them, because one morning I heard Chase call her hot.

"What did you say?" I asked, stopping and turning to look at Chase and Tyler.

"That Sadie is actually hot," Tyler said.

"I never noticed it until now," Chase added.

"Dude, no wonder you are always hanging out with her," Tyler added, holding his hand up for a high-five I was not going to give him.

"So," Chase came closer to me, "have you done her?"

"WHAT?!" I stepped forward, raising my voice and glared at them. "Don't you ever, ever, talk about Sadie like that again. You understand me." I pointed my finger right in Chase's face. "In fact," my voice got louder still, "stop talking about any of the women in this school like that. It's disgusting and disrespectful and I should have said something to you guys ages ago. So take this as a warning, if I ever hear you talk about Sadie, or anyone else like that, we are going to have a serious problem."

I hadn't noticed that a small crowd had gathered, and when I was done, a clap and a few whistles rang out. I turned to see Brett and some of the girls from my class standing there clapping.

"Yeah, and me too," Brett stepped forward, but managed to keep behind me somewhat, as if he was using me as a shield. And then he turned to me. "It's about bloody time you told those assholes where to get off." And then he slipped his arm through mine and started walking me away from them.

"I don't know why I didn't tell them sooner," I said to Brett as we walked down the corridor together.

"Better late than never, I guess," he said. "Besides, what can I say about you Connor, you're a little slow off the mark with things."

"You mean Sadie?"

"Of course I mean Sadie."

I stopped walking. "Have you seen her? Do you know where she's gone?"

Brett shook his head. "No."

"I need to know where she is, and I know who I have to ask." I gave Brett a pat on the back and then walked off to find Jarrod.

"Hey!" I said, when I found his by his locker.

When he saw me, he slammed his locker closed. "What's up?" He asked curtly, pushing past me.

I followed him, undeterred. "Have you heard from Sadie?"

He swung around, a self-satisfied smile now plastered across his face. "The great Connor Matthews is asking me where Sadie is?" He was enjoying this and I had to let him.

"Yes! I am."

His mouth twisted into a cruel smile. "Must be crap not knowing, huh?"

"Look, have you heard from her or not?"

"Dude, you're a fucking idiot, you know that!"

"What?"

"Just let her go."

"Sorry, what?"

"She's fucking in love with you. Everyone knows it. Everyone can see it. But you don't even know that she—"

I cut him off. "I do! Okay? I do."

Jarred looked at me oddly. I don't think we'd ever said more than two sentences to each other before. This was a first. His face softened a bit and he looked around. The corridor was empty. Everyone must have been in class already.

"I like her, okay," he said, the words almost knocking me off my feet. "But, after she stood me up on the day of your tournament, I understood. She'll never like me, or anyone else for that matter, as long as you're there."

I blinked a few times. I was startled by Jarrod's candour. Startled that I wasn't hating him at the moment. I actually felt sorry for the guy. He really liked Sadie—At least he had good taste.

"If you're not going to..." He continued but paused, suddenly looking reluctant.

"What?" I pressed him, curious about what he was going to say.

"If you can't give her what she wants, you should let her go. Seriously. She's fucking trapped. She has been since I've known her."

I took a step back. I hadn't expected him to say that and a part of me wanted to jump in and defend myself. But I decided to shut up.

"It sucks liking someone that doesn't like you back," he added. "So no, I don't know where she is and No, I haven't heard from her."

Jarrod walked off, and as I watched him go, and I realized he was right. Unless I was prepared to give Sadie everything she wanted, I needed to let her go. But I wasn't going to let her go, not now that I had come so close. But I needed a plan, a good one, and I needed help with it. I took out my phone and messaged Brett.

Connor: I'm coming to you after school. I need to chat.

Brett: Cool. Bring food. The good shit! I'm sick of eating carrots.

Connor: You told me to remind you that carrots are good for you.

Brett: Okay. I know. At least bring some cream cheese to dip them in.

Connor: It's a deal.

**

I sat in Brett's room while we chowed down on a bag of carrots and looked deep in thought. He was staring out the window as if he was waiting for someone to run past and shout out the answer.

"So you need to apologize for what you said to her, obviously."

I nodded.

"You need to assure her that you're committed and ready for a relationship."

I nodded again.

"You need to reiterate how you feel about her and all that jazz."

Again, I nodded. "So how do I do all that?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea."

"Thanks for the help. I came to you for a plan of action."

"I've never been in a relationship, Connor. What do I know about all that stuff?"

"Of course you have!" I argued.

"Who?" he asked looking at me sideways.

I thought about it for a moment, and then I felt embarrassed. He was right... he'd never been in a relationship before—Ever! God. I'd never really thought about that.  I think most girls don't really see past his physical appearance, so they don't see that he's actually a dude worth dating.

"The right girl is out there," I offered lamely. I didn't really know what to say.

"I'm not looking for your sympathy. I know what they think of me... whatever...this is about you, and your pathetic attempt at a love life."

"Thanks."

"You do need a plan, though."

"I know. But what?"

He munched down on another carrot and propped his legs up on his desk. His pants slipped down a bit to reveal mismatching socks. I smiled. Only Brett would not notice he had put on two different coloured socks.

"I know what to do!" he suddenly said, swinging his legs to the floor and leaving the room. Two minutes later, he was back, dragging a reluctant looking Brenna behind him. At Brett's insistence, I explained the whole situation. She paused thoughtfully for a moment, before launching into it.

"So you need some kind of a grand gesture," she said.

"Gesture?"

"Yeah, you know. Some big Hollywood guy-gets-girl-back kind of thing. Haven't you ever seen a chick flick...or an 80s movie?"

"YES!" Brett exclaimed. "She's right. You need to stand outside her window holding up a radio?"

"Uh...what?" I asked, confused.

"Have you never seen Pretty Woman? That's a classic, dude," Brett said. "And you know the reason it works, because it's a personal gesture. It's something that means something to them both. What do you and Sadie have that's special, that means something to you both that no one else knows about? A song... a movie...a place...?"

When he said "place" I sat up.

"I have a place, but what do I do?"

Brenna looked annoyed now. "I can't give you all the answers, Connor. You have to figure that out for yourself. You know her better than anyone, so figure it out."

My mind started racing, grappling for some amazing, magical idea that could set us all right. "Do you think she'll....I mean, you know...?"

"Connor, girls love big romantic gestures. Trust me. If it's a good one, and you mean it, she won't be able to resist!"

And with that Brenna, walked out of the room, but not before paused at the doorway and turning to me. "For what it's worth, I'm rooting for you guys."

I went home shortly after that and took out a pen and paper. I wrote at the top of the page:

Plan: Romantic Gesture

I thought that by labelling the page, it would inspire me to come up with a big idea. But after staring at the paper for ages, I couldn't think of a single one. Well, at least not one good enough for Sadie. She needed something special. Unique, like she was. I needed something that would knock her off her dirty Adidas sneakers.

Inspiration is a curious thing, because later that night I woke up, sat bolt upright in my bed and knew exactly what I was going to do; and it was fucking perfect!

But I had a lot to plan and sort out first. So I threw myself out of bed and started making a list of what I needed to do. It was the first time that week that I actually started to feel better. At least I was actively doing something.

I had hope now! And I was excited.