Complicated Love - Chapter 4
Mondays, always the least anticipated day of the week. On this particular Monday, you'll discover Izzy's best talent, meet her other friends and another member of the soccer team who chats up Izzy after school.
Mondays... They had to be the absolute worst day of the week. My Mondays always started with me staying in bed until the last minute possible. On Sunday nights I always stayed up really late finishing my homework that I procrastinated. I liked school, I was pretty smart too, but I wasn't one of those people who prioritized my time wisely. I didn't have a study schedule or a specific time for homework. I'd do it whenever I had extra time or the night before (which happened most often).
"IZZY! HURRY UP!" Grayson yelled up the stairs as I started to climb out of bed.
"I'LL BE THERE IN A SECOND!!" I yelled back and quickly went to wash my face and brush my teeth.
While in the bathroom, I pulled my hair into a quick braid. I went to change into some black jeans and a plain white shirt. I slid on a baggy cardigan and put on my favorite white low top converse. I put on some foundation to make sure my skin was looking okay, filled in my eyebrows, and applied a little mascara before I grabbed my backpack and headed downstairs.
"You took forever! We have to pick up Cam! Hurry up, get in the car!" Grayson yells at me once I get to the kitchen.
"But breakfast!" I whined.
He grabbed a granola bar and tossed it at me, "Let's go, this is all you're getting."
"Grayson!"
"Too bad! You took too long, Cam's waiting!"
"Why are we picking him up?! He has his own car," I said as we climbed into the car.
"It's in the shop right now."
"Why? Did he wreck it?"
"Yeah last night, I think."
"What happened?? Is he okay? Did he hit another person?"
"I don't know the details Izzy, ask him when he gets here."
I ate my granola bar quickly and my stomach was still grumbling. I frowned and then got a great idea. I grabbed my phone and dialed Cam's number.
"Hello? Are you guys here already?" Cam asked. His voice was sleepy, I could tell. Cam wasn't even out of bed; Grayson was such a liar.
"On the way. Can you bring me a bagel? And an apple? And maybe if you have some strawberries?"
"What the hell? Might as well come in and clean out my pantry while you're at it," he mumbled tiredly.
"Please Cam! Grayson rushed me and I couldn't eat a proper breakfast."
Cameron groaned and I could tell he was rolling his eyes at me.
"Fine."
"Thank you," I said and then hung up. I hoped, it wouldn't be weird with Cameron today. After we got out of the bathroom during dinner, he didn't talk to me and sat there in annoyance. I was pretty annoyed too and ignored him. Once we got back home, he got in his car and went home right away. I guess, he wrecked it sometime afterwards, hopefully it was minor.
Once we got to Cam's house, he trudged out with his hands full with my food.
I climbed out of the car and took it from him, "Thanks!"
"Your wish is my command," he said sarcastically while bowing then hopped into the front seat.
I climbed into the back and started to eat.
"Holy shit, you're chewing so loud!" Cam said to me. Grayson started laughing and I rolled my eyes at them.
"Deal with it. If Grayson let me eat, we wouldn't be in this situation."
"Yeah, but I bet you slept in... again," Cam said with a laugh.
"So what if I did? I'm allowed to sleep in if I want to."
"Of course you are Princess," Cam said and sounded pretty annoyed. He probably rolled his eyes at me, but I didn't care. I was just happy with my food. Cam turned the music up louder and started bumping his head along with the beat.
Grayson had one of our homemade CDs in the car, it was our favorite to listen to while driving. Grayson, Cam, and I made it a few weeks ago. We'd put all our favorite songs on it, so we can jam out in the car. And every few weeks or months when we want to listen to something different we'd burn a new CD. The CD we had in was a bunch of rap songs and ones with high energy.
The boys were jumping in theirs seats and rapping along with the track on the way to school. I was constantly yelling at Grayson to keep focused on the road, but he could barely hear me over the music. I got really anxious in car ever since my dad and I had gotten in a car accident last year. He was driving and I was in the passenger seat and my side of the car got hit by another car. We weren't seriously injured, but the car was totaled and I was really effected by it emotionally. To this day, I get anxiety and panic attacks in cars, I can't help it. I just don't trust the other drivers on the road, some people don't know what they're doing! I knew Grayson was a good driver, but it still made me really nervous to see him bouncing around.
Once we parked we got out and I remembered to ask Cam about his car.
"Hey, so what happened to your car?" I said as I tried to keep up with Cam and Grayson. They both had really long legs and mine were shorter so I'd always be partly running whenever I walked with them.
"Oh, yeah..." He mumbled, "Just wasn't looking properly and crashed into the mailbox on my way home."
"Really? Cam you should be more careful," I said to him, "it could have been a lot worse..."
Cam looked at me and realized I was thinking about the car accident. He knew about my anxiety, he had witnessed my outbursts many times, even some of the really bad ones. He put his arm around me and rubbed my shoulder, "Alright, I'm sorry Angel. I'll watch out from now on."
"Good." I said and parted ways with them to get to my locker.
*****************************************************************************
The first-class that I had was Choir. I loved Choir and I really loved to sing. I was pretty modest about my voice, but I won't lie to you guys, I've got a pretty good one. I feel so cocky by full out saying that I've got a good voice, but it was the truth. My choir director would pick me for solos in songs, I usually sang the national anthem at school assemblies and sports games, I got the most vocally challenging part in school musicals, and everyone complimented me when they heard me (even the people who I had never talked to before). My voice was the one thing that people really knew me for; besides the fact that I was Grayson's twin sister.
Ever since I was young, I loved to sing along to the Spice Girls because my mom played their music all the time. Ever since then I wanted to be a Spice Girl. I'd dance around the house with a hairbrush as my microphone. Once I got older and started to join choirs and musicals, I became a lot more reserved because I didn't want to seem arrogant. I didn't like those kinds of people, so I decided I would never be one.
We were just about finishing up and sang through our song one last time. Everyone was grabbing their things to head to their next class when my choir director, Mr. Flint, called me over.
"Isabelle, are you going to audition for the musical next week?"
"Umm... I was planning on it," I said nervously. I was always nervous for auditions, it was just so scary to have the judges watch me so closely because what if I mess up? And if I don't get the part, I feel so embarrassed.
"Good. We really going to need you for this production."
"Me?" I said softly.
"Yes! Your voice is naturally theatrical and very special and unique. Last year you did an absolutely fantastic job!"
"Oh wow, thank you Mr. Flint," I beamed, "That's really nice of you to say."
"Well, I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it Isabelle. I look forward to your audition."
*****************************************************************************
Lunch! The best part of the day. Just kidding, the best part of the day was the end of the day. Lunch was a close second though. I sat down in the cafeteria with Jen and the other people who we hung out with. On either side of me was Tyler and Leah. Beside Leah was Devin (who was her boyfriend). In front of us was Violet, Marcus, Jen, and Shawn. The eight of us usually hung out after school twice a week as a study group and sometimes on weekends we'd go watch a movie or just hang out at someone's house. I tried to invite them to the parties that my brother hosted but they never came, it wasn't really their scene. That's why I always dragged Jen, isn't that what best friends are for?
"How was your weekend guys?" Devin asked while biting into his sandwich.
"I had tons of homework and studying to do. I didn't see daylight once this weekend," said Shawn gloomily.
"You need to give yourself a break Shawn," Violet said worriedly, "you're going to overdo it and crash one day."
"Nope. Coffee helps me just fine. There's no time for a break," he said stubbornly, "especially if I want to get into a good university."
"I forgot about university! I can't believe we're almost out of high school," Leah said and sighed happily.
"Forgot?! Leah, it's almost time to send out our applications," Shawn said while drinking his juice.
"I know, but don't worry! I'll catch up because you'll teach me how to become nocturnal," everyone laughed.
Shawn saluted her, "Yes ma'am."
"Jen got asked out by a really hot guy on Saturday morning!" I blurted out excitedly.
Everyone looked at her in awe. Jen was the quiet one out of all of us. Even though she had come out of her shell when she was near us everyone knew she wasn't very outgoing towards strangers especially.
"Really Jen!?" exclaimed Leah.
"Oh my goodness! Tell us about him! What happened?!" Violet clapped her hands together and leaned closer to hear.
Jen retold the story of our Saturday morning brunch. The guys rolled their eyes as the girls gushed and squealed over Gavin.
"So have you set up a date yet??" Leah asked eagerly.
"On Wednesday night, he's taking me somewhere," Jen said with a big smile.
"Somewhere?" Devin said suspiciously.
"He said he wanted to surprise me."
"OOOH! That is SOO cute!" Violet babbled.
Jen blushed and nodded, "I can't wait! You guy will have to help me get ready."
"Yup! I'll do your hair, Marcus will fix your makeup, Shawn will give you a manicure, and Devin will decide your outfit! I can't wait!!" Tyler said mockingly, making all the guys laugh. The girls just looked at him offended.
"Come on!" I swatted at his head, "Be happy for Jen!"
"Alright, alright," he smiled, "I'm happy for Jen, just joking around. Relax ladies."
"Hey Izzy," Leah said to me in a whisper, "that guy is staring at you."
"What guy?" I said and whipped my head around to look.
Leah grabbed my hand and shook it, "Stop that! He'll notice!"
"Who is it then! Someone tell me!"
"He's sitting with the soccer team," Leah said, trying to act casually.
Violet looked over and her eyes went big, "It's Chris Carter. He's really cute!"
"Chris Carter? Why is he looking at me!?" I wondered.
"Maybe he's into you!" Leah said excitedly.
"No way!" I blushed just at the thought, "Is he still staring?"
"Yep," Devin said in a flat tone, "Who cares?"
"Stop it Dev!" Leah smacked his arm and gave him a look, "Izzy deserves a cute guy looking at her. It's about time!"
"Sorry babe," he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek and rubbed his arm where she hit him.
"Whipped," Marcus said under his breath and all the guys chuckled.
"Fuck off Marcus," Devin just rolled his eyes, "I'm the boss, especially in bed."
"Devin!" Leah smacked his arm again but harder.
"What!?" He looked at her with wide eyes.
"I can't believe you said that!" She said angrily. She got straight up out of her seat and stormed out.
"I was kidding babe!" He said and ran after her.
"Whipped," Marcus said again and laughed loudly.
"Just wait until you guys get girlfriends, you won't be laughing," Violet said to them.
"I'm never going to be tied down," Tyler said, puffing out his chest to seem manly.
"Sure," Jen laughed and nudged his side, "because you're a wild tiger right?"
"Yeah I am," he said proudly.
"Name 5 girls who wanted to 'tie you down' in the last year," I said challengingly with a smirk.
"I don't have to do anything you say," he dismissed me and ate his lunch. Everyone laughed and for the rest of lunch, we chatted about how terrible Mr. Grout was at teaching math.
*****************************************************************************
After school Grayson had soccer practice again, so I used this time to practice for my audition for the school musical. Since it was the end of the day barely anyone was hanging around the school, so I went into the girls changing room because it had a nice echo. It reminded me of when I sang in the shower, and I loved to sing in the shower.
This year's musical was High School Musical. Typical right?! I loved watching the movies when I was a little girl, Troy Bolton was my first crush, I'm pretty sure. I was pumped that it was the musical this year, but I needed to practice a lot if I wanted to do well. I hid away into the girls' changing room and pulled out the lyrics to the song 'The Start of Something New' the first song that Troy and Gabriella sing.
I sang Troy's parts in my head and sang Gabriella's parts out loud. It sounded pretty odd but I tried. I sang it thrice before I heard someone start to clap. I whipped around and saw Chris Carter in the doorway smiling at me and clapping his hands.
"Oh god," I blushed deeply, "How long were you standing there?"
"Long enough," he laughed softly.
"I'm so embarrassed," I said and slapped my forehead lightly.
"Don't be Superstar," he smiled at me with his bright blue eyes, "you should be proud, you're really talented."
"No, I'm really not that good," I always got so awkward when someone complimented me. I always just denied them, I couldn't help it, I didn't want to agree because I didn't want to be arrogant.
"I'm being serious!" He laughed and sat down on a bench, "Continue, please!"
"No! Not while you're here."
"Why not? You're going to sing in front of the whole school when you get the part."
"That's IF I get the part! Anyway, future me will deal with it when she gets there," I said and shrugged. I eyed him, "Aren't you supposed to be at soccer practice and not in the girls' changing room? What if I were changing!"
"I was at practice... But I didn't see you under that tree, so I went looking out for you," he smiled and patted the bench and motioned for me to sit, "and if you were changing, it would have been even better," he winked.
I nudged his arm and shook my head at him, "That is inappropriate Christopher!"
He laughed and looked at me surprised, "You know my name?"
"Well yeah," I said with a smile, "you're in the soccer team. Grayson and Cam talk about you guys all the time, I know more about you guys than you think."
He looked at me a little shocked, "Alright then Superstar, tell me something about myself."
"Hmm... You ate a whole pizza in 7 and a half minutes when you guys won your first game of the season last year."
"Wow. Impressive, I don't even remember that."
"Weren't you really drunk?"
"Haha, yeah that might be why I don't remember." He said and we laughed together.
"So why were you looking for me?" I asked curiously. I had never really spoken to Chris one on one like this before, so it was sort of strange. But also nice!
"I've been meaning to say 'hi' one of these days," he said and shrugged casually.
"Okay," I laughed softly, how random, "Hello then."
"Hello," he said and waved.
"Was that all?" I laughed softly and looked at him. He was really cute. He had dusty blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He was tall and had a nice smile. He was pretty muscular because I think he also played on the basketball team, so he was always working out to stay in shape to play these sports.
"No," he admitted, "Um... I wanted to ask if you wanted to hang out sometime."
"Oh," I wasn't expecting that, I didn't want to let the opportunity of a cute guy asking me to hang out slip away so I smiled and said, "Yeah, okay. That would be nice."
"Really?" He seemed very surprised.
"Yeah, why? Do you want me to say no?"
"Haha, no I wanted you to say yes! I don't know, I just thought you were unavailable."
I laughed and shook my head, "I'm not unavailable. Who did you think I was seeing?"
"Cam."
"Cam?" I wondered what the hell Cam had told the guys, he liked to make things up about us all the time. I shook my head and rolled my eyes, "He wishes. He probably thinks we have a thing; he's just really stubborn and always difficult."
Chris laughed along with me and smiled, "Well, we should hang out sometime then."
"Yeah, we should."
"Can I get your number?"
"Yeah, of course," I smiled and put it into his phone, "Now get back to practice!"
"Sure thing Superstar. I'll text you later," he winked and ran back out to the field.
I stood there and smiled. Chris Carter wanted to hang out. That didn't mean a date. But it could potentially lead to a date. I smiled even wider. This was the first guy to get my number before Grayson slaughtered him, maybe Grayson wouldn't be so harsh this time. Chris didn't seem like he was like the rest of the soccer team, he seemed nice. Not to mention cute!
*****************************************************************************
Complicated Love
Re: Complicated Love
Complicated Love - Chapter 5
Cameron discovers that he's got a real dilemma on his hands. He and Izzy have quite the argument that may lead to some tears. Read on to unravel more of Complicated Love!
The next day at school, I was walking through the halls with Jen in the middle of class because we were going to the office to pick up some notices for our history teacher Mrs. Canny. We walked into the office and told the office lady what we were there to pickup and she went to a back room to get the papers.
While we were waiting, I heard a familiar voice yelling in the principal's office. I walked over to the door and put my ear to it.
"What are you doing Izzy?!" Jen whispered and motioned for me to come back.
I held my hand up to tell her to be quiet for a second, "It's Cam!" I mouthed to her.
I listened closely and this is what I heard.
"Please Principal Fox! You can't do this to me! To the whole team!"
"I'm sorry Cameron, the only person who can fix this is you."
"How? I'm not smart! Soccer is the only thing I've got going for me!"
"You are smart Cameron. You just need to open your mind and put in some hard work. That is why you will find a tutor, someone who will help you raise your grades, so you can continue playing soccer."
"Which classes do I need to raise?"
"Math, English, and History because all of those classes are below a passing grade."
"Holy shit that's three classes!"
"Language Mr. Hart!"
"Right, sorry."
"Here is a list of our top students, all of them are more than capable of helping you. All you need to do now is find someone who is willing to help you. Now get to class."
Once I heard that I ran back over to where Jen was. The office lady came back with the papers and as soon as she passed them to us Cameron exited the principal's office.
He looked stressed, his hair was sticking up in every direction and his cheeks were red. He walked out of the office quickly, not even noticing that Jen and I were standing right in front of him.
"What happened in there?" Jen asked curiously as we started to walk back to class.
"Cam's failing 3 classes and he isn't allowed to play soccer unless he raises his grades."
"Oh god, that's not good."
"Nope," I said, popping the 'p'.
************************************************************************************
Grayson and I still were driving Cameron to and from school since his car was taking longer than expected to get fixed. After school the three of us went to get some ice cream like we usually did at least once a week.
"Welcome!" Said Benny the owner. We came here so often that Benny knew exactly what we all wanted, "Let me guess. Chocolate fudge with sprinkles for Grayson! Mint chocolate chip with coconut flakes for Cam! And for the little missy... Cookie Dough with Oreo crumbles!"
We laughed and nodded at Benny. Grayson flashed him a thumbs up, "Yes sir! Are we getting too predictable?"
"Nothing wrong with it my friend!" Benny replied with a smile, "I'll bring them to your table. Sit! Sit!"
"So how was your day boys?" I said, seeing if Cameron would talk about his meeting with Principal Fox.
"Boring," Grayson said, "except Brittney wore these hot yoga pants to gym class!"
"God, do you really think that was what I wanted to hear?" I said and glared at Grayson, "She's such a bitch Grayson, why are you into her?"
"Seems like you question every girl we're with," Cameron challenged, bringing up Sunday night's argument where I asked why he was with Amanda.
Grayson looked at Cam confusedly so Cam explained, "She grilled me about Amanda the other day too."
"Hey! I did not grill you! You saw what she did to me! Why would you want to be with someone who purposely spills burning hot soup all over another person!"
"Maybe cause she puts out," he grumbled at me and folded his hands over his chest in annoyance.
"Fuck you, jerk!" I yelled at him. He was clearly talking about all the times that I didn't want to kiss him, especially Sunday night. Why would he say that?!
"What's going on here?" Grayson asked and looked at the two of us who were glaring at each other.
"Nothing. Your baby sister is just jealous of Amanda."
"First of all, I am not a baby! We're the same god damn age!" I argued and frowned at him, "Second, I am not jealous of Amanda at all! Why would I be?"
"Cause she can get a pieces of this," he motioned to his body arrogantly.
"What? You? Why would anyone want you! You're rude, overconfident, disrespectful, inappropriate, stubborn, and most of all... A DOUCHE!"
"Very classy Izzy." I was a little stunned that he called me Izzy. I hadn't heard him say my real name in ages.
"What? No Angel? No babe? No Princess? Since when do you call me Izzy!"
"You don't even like it when I call you those!"
Grayson cleared his throat when Benny came over with our ice cream. I thanked Benny and then went right back to arguing with Cam.
"You wouldn't like it if I called you Hunny Bunny! Or Sugar Boogar! Or Cutie Patootie!"
"Those are so fucking strange! At least what I call you are normal."
"Stop! Enough of this!" Grayson interjected, "Eat your ice cream. I don't want to hear you idiots any longer."
************************************************************************************
Back at the house, I went straight to my room because I couldn't handle Cameron any longer. He was so annoying and confusing.
Sunday night he was begging me to believe that he actually cared about me and thought of me differently than the other girls he screwed. Now he's being sour and accusing me of interrogating him about Amanda. He's just sore because I didn't want to kiss him, must have made a real dent in his ego.
I opened up my laptop and went to YouTube. I searched the high school musical songs that I wanted to prepare for my audition and listened to them, singing along quietly to myself.
Just before dinner I heard a knock on my door. Grayson came in and sat on my bed, "What is going on between you and Cam?"
"He tried to kiss me Sunday night and I said no and now he's being a little bitch about it."
"NO, I'M NOT!" Cameron busted into the room and yelled at me.
"Yes, you are. And god, stop shouting!" I threw a pillow at him.
"You need to get a grip Izzy," Cam said to me and emphasized when he said my name. For some reason, I didn't like it.
"Stop it! Stop calling me Izzy. I don't like it, just don't say my name at all!" It was really bugging me for some reason. I didn't like the way he said my name. He made it sound so angry and irritating.
"Izzy! Izzy! Izzy! Izzy!" He pranced around my room and repeated my name over and over.
Grayson rolled his eyes and left my room mumbling something like, "You two need to figure this shit out without me, I can't take it anymore."
I threw another pillow at Cameron, "Shut the fuck up!"
"IZZY! IZZY! IZZY!"
"STOP IT!" I screamed at him, but he wouldn't stop. I ran over to him and started pushing him. I pushed him tons of times and he let me push him until was pressed against the wall still saying my name over and over, "Stop saying it!"
"Why IZZY? You don't like it? Izzyyyyy the perfectionist! Izzyyyyy is so prim and proper! Izzyyyy never likes to have fun! Izzyyyyyy the boring little prude!" He teased me. Those insults pushed me over the edge. I was so angry and tired of this fight that his comment about me being a boring prude was the breaking point.
"FUCK YOU!" I yelled and started to cry.
I couldn't help it. As much as I didn't want to cry in front of him, I couldn't help it. I brought my hands up to my face dropped down, crouching into a little bundle near Cam's feet.
"Shit," Cameron whispered once he realized I was upset and crying.
He bent down and put his hand on my back, rubbing it up and down.
"Get off me!" I yelled with my shaky tear-filled voice, but I wasn't able to shake him off.
"Baby don't cry," he said and came closer, clearly not hearing what I said.
I shook my head and curled myself into a tighter ball. I tried to speak with some strength in my voice, but I couldn't, it came out broken and sad, "I hate you."
"I know," he sighed heavily. He sat down on the ground and pulled me down onto his lap. I tried to pull away, but he didn't let me go before he said, "I hate me too."
Cam rubbed my back as I cried and brought his face close to mine, "I didn't mean it Angel," he said softly and pressed his lips to my cheek, "I'm so sorry."
"You did mean it. You said it after all..." I had to admit, his kiss on my cheek soothed me a little. Which made no sense, because he was the one who made me cry in the first place.
"No, I was angry. I was just angry babe," he patted my hair and held me in his arms, "I had a really shitty day and I took it out on you. I shouldn't have done that..."
"You really shouldn't have," I said, calming down a little bit more now.
"I fuck everything up with you," he said and leaned his head back against the wall, "every fucking time."
I sat up next to him after I calmed down. I wiped the tears from my cheeks and sighed, "It's okay."
"No, it isn't. I just made you cry and now I feel like shit."
"I'm fine now Cam, don't worry about me."
I pull myself up and go to the back of my door and grab the hoodie that he let me keep the other night. I came back over and gave it to him, "This is yours."
"I told you to keep it," he put it back in my lap and shook his head no.
"I don't want to keep it anymore."
"Babe..."
"Please, just take it back," I pushed the sweater into his hands persistently.
"Okay. If that's what you want."
"It is."
I could tell that Cam got the deeper meaning to that. I was trying to tell him that this little fling between us needed to stop. We didn't mesh well, we just argued all the time. I hoped that everything would go back to the way it was before, where we were just friends.
We both knew that we had feelings for each other. We had never really talked about it, but we didn't need to. Both of us were confused by what we were feeling, we didn't want to confront our feelings either. At least not right now. That would be messy. So I hoped that we could push the feelings away and get over each other.
Little did I know that it would be crazy impossible for us to get over each other. We were already in the deep end, and soon we would find out if we'd stay afloat or sink to the bottom.
************************************************************************************
The following day at school I was sitting in Math class. Math wasn't my favorite subject, but I wasn't bad at it either. I was pretty good at Math, it was just boring to me. I was really interested in History. That was really strange because most people didn't like History, but I loved it. It was so interesting, and I loved learning how people lived in the past, different cultures, and events and people who shaped the way that we lived to day. It Fascinated me.
I followed Mr. Grout's lesson the entire time and took a few notes. The last part of class was when we had time to work on our homework. He gave us about ten minutes to get started, which I was grateful for. I'd rather do my work now and shorten my time doing homework later than have loads to do, because I know, I'll just procrastinate it.
"Hey," Cameron came up to me and sat down in the seat beside me.
"Hi," I said while finished working out my last problem. Finally I turned to look at him, "How's it going?"
"Not well..."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"I'm failing this class... among others."
I looked at him with wide eyes. Of course, I knew that already but I didn't want him to know that I knew, so I pretended like this was brand new news, "Are you really Cam?"
"Yeah... And Principal Fox said I can't play soccer unless I bring my marks up."
"No way!"
"Yeah. I'm in shit Angel."
"Well just hand in all the work you haven't submitted yet, and study really hard for the next few tests. I'm sure it will be fine."
"I can't hand in the work if I don't know how to do it. I'm not smart like you. If I can't play soccer the scouts won't see me and then I'll never get recruited. We both know I won't be able to get into college without soccer."
"Oh Cam, you are smart. You just need to actually try. If you put as much effort into school as you do soccer then you'll be good to go." I rubbed his arm, trying to make him feel better.
"Can I ask you a huge favor?" He looked at me nervously. I knew what he was going to ask already, but to keep up my facade I pretended not to know, "I know, you're pretty mad at me still and the things I've said and done to you are pretty shitty. But I need a tutor and you're the only one I know who's on this damn list."
He pulled out the crumpled piece of paper that Mr. Fox gave him. All the students with the top grades were on there and right in the middle of the page was my name, which Cam had circled in red ink. I grabbed the paper from him to look at the list. There were a lot of people I didn't even know, so I could imagine how strange the list of names looked to him. But then I saw Shawn's name.
"What about Shawn?"
"Who is Shawn?"
"My friend! He's really smart, way smarter than I am."
"But I don't want to get help from him. I'll have to spend a lot of time with my tutor if I want to play by our season opener and I don't want to spend it with a loser."
"That's rude Cam!" I frown and smack his arm, "I'm friend with him, does that make me a loser too? Because then you really should go find someone else."
"No, Angel you aren't a loser. You're definitely not a loser."
I eyed him and sighed. I knew Cam really needed my help. And what he said was true, he'd have to spend a lot of time working with his tutor and he was already over at my house 90% of the time. I was angry with him still and things between us have been really complicated lately, but that didn't mean I didn't care about him anymore, "I'll do it."
"You will?" He looked up at me and smiled as if he had just won the lottery.
"Yes, I'll tutor you," I said and he tackled me in a hug.
"Thank you so much Angel!"
"But!" I said quickly.
"But..." he waited for me to continue.
"You have to do everything I say. If I say we're going to study on a Saturday night then we will study on Saturday night. No if's, and's or but's. Got it?"
Cam groaned slightly, nodded and then started to smirk, "No butts? But yours is so nice!"
I smacked his arm, "Cameron!"
"Sorry Angel, I couldn't help that one."
"We'll start tonight."
"Tonight...?"
"Yes... is there a problem with that?"
"I've actually already got plans..."
"Did you even hear what I just said?!"
"Yes, but I made these plans before I knew, I needed a tutor..."
Just then the bell rang to signal the end of class. I got up from my seat and grabbed my things, "If you want me to be your tutor, you'll be at my house tonight ready to work on Math. If you don't show up, then I'm not going to help you at all."
I started to walk away and Cam groaned loudly, "For fucks sake!"
"Watch your language Mr. Hart!" Mr. Grout shouted and Cameron apologized as he walked out the door.
************************************************************************************
Cameron discovers that he's got a real dilemma on his hands. He and Izzy have quite the argument that may lead to some tears. Read on to unravel more of Complicated Love!
The next day at school, I was walking through the halls with Jen in the middle of class because we were going to the office to pick up some notices for our history teacher Mrs. Canny. We walked into the office and told the office lady what we were there to pickup and she went to a back room to get the papers.
While we were waiting, I heard a familiar voice yelling in the principal's office. I walked over to the door and put my ear to it.
"What are you doing Izzy?!" Jen whispered and motioned for me to come back.
I held my hand up to tell her to be quiet for a second, "It's Cam!" I mouthed to her.
I listened closely and this is what I heard.
"Please Principal Fox! You can't do this to me! To the whole team!"
"I'm sorry Cameron, the only person who can fix this is you."
"How? I'm not smart! Soccer is the only thing I've got going for me!"
"You are smart Cameron. You just need to open your mind and put in some hard work. That is why you will find a tutor, someone who will help you raise your grades, so you can continue playing soccer."
"Which classes do I need to raise?"
"Math, English, and History because all of those classes are below a passing grade."
"Holy shit that's three classes!"
"Language Mr. Hart!"
"Right, sorry."
"Here is a list of our top students, all of them are more than capable of helping you. All you need to do now is find someone who is willing to help you. Now get to class."
Once I heard that I ran back over to where Jen was. The office lady came back with the papers and as soon as she passed them to us Cameron exited the principal's office.
He looked stressed, his hair was sticking up in every direction and his cheeks were red. He walked out of the office quickly, not even noticing that Jen and I were standing right in front of him.
"What happened in there?" Jen asked curiously as we started to walk back to class.
"Cam's failing 3 classes and he isn't allowed to play soccer unless he raises his grades."
"Oh god, that's not good."
"Nope," I said, popping the 'p'.
************************************************************************************
Grayson and I still were driving Cameron to and from school since his car was taking longer than expected to get fixed. After school the three of us went to get some ice cream like we usually did at least once a week.
"Welcome!" Said Benny the owner. We came here so often that Benny knew exactly what we all wanted, "Let me guess. Chocolate fudge with sprinkles for Grayson! Mint chocolate chip with coconut flakes for Cam! And for the little missy... Cookie Dough with Oreo crumbles!"
We laughed and nodded at Benny. Grayson flashed him a thumbs up, "Yes sir! Are we getting too predictable?"
"Nothing wrong with it my friend!" Benny replied with a smile, "I'll bring them to your table. Sit! Sit!"
"So how was your day boys?" I said, seeing if Cameron would talk about his meeting with Principal Fox.
"Boring," Grayson said, "except Brittney wore these hot yoga pants to gym class!"
"God, do you really think that was what I wanted to hear?" I said and glared at Grayson, "She's such a bitch Grayson, why are you into her?"
"Seems like you question every girl we're with," Cameron challenged, bringing up Sunday night's argument where I asked why he was with Amanda.
Grayson looked at Cam confusedly so Cam explained, "She grilled me about Amanda the other day too."
"Hey! I did not grill you! You saw what she did to me! Why would you want to be with someone who purposely spills burning hot soup all over another person!"
"Maybe cause she puts out," he grumbled at me and folded his hands over his chest in annoyance.
"Fuck you, jerk!" I yelled at him. He was clearly talking about all the times that I didn't want to kiss him, especially Sunday night. Why would he say that?!
"What's going on here?" Grayson asked and looked at the two of us who were glaring at each other.
"Nothing. Your baby sister is just jealous of Amanda."
"First of all, I am not a baby! We're the same god damn age!" I argued and frowned at him, "Second, I am not jealous of Amanda at all! Why would I be?"
"Cause she can get a pieces of this," he motioned to his body arrogantly.
"What? You? Why would anyone want you! You're rude, overconfident, disrespectful, inappropriate, stubborn, and most of all... A DOUCHE!"
"Very classy Izzy." I was a little stunned that he called me Izzy. I hadn't heard him say my real name in ages.
"What? No Angel? No babe? No Princess? Since when do you call me Izzy!"
"You don't even like it when I call you those!"
Grayson cleared his throat when Benny came over with our ice cream. I thanked Benny and then went right back to arguing with Cam.
"You wouldn't like it if I called you Hunny Bunny! Or Sugar Boogar! Or Cutie Patootie!"
"Those are so fucking strange! At least what I call you are normal."
"Stop! Enough of this!" Grayson interjected, "Eat your ice cream. I don't want to hear you idiots any longer."
************************************************************************************
Back at the house, I went straight to my room because I couldn't handle Cameron any longer. He was so annoying and confusing.
Sunday night he was begging me to believe that he actually cared about me and thought of me differently than the other girls he screwed. Now he's being sour and accusing me of interrogating him about Amanda. He's just sore because I didn't want to kiss him, must have made a real dent in his ego.
I opened up my laptop and went to YouTube. I searched the high school musical songs that I wanted to prepare for my audition and listened to them, singing along quietly to myself.
Just before dinner I heard a knock on my door. Grayson came in and sat on my bed, "What is going on between you and Cam?"
"He tried to kiss me Sunday night and I said no and now he's being a little bitch about it."
"NO, I'M NOT!" Cameron busted into the room and yelled at me.
"Yes, you are. And god, stop shouting!" I threw a pillow at him.
"You need to get a grip Izzy," Cam said to me and emphasized when he said my name. For some reason, I didn't like it.
"Stop it! Stop calling me Izzy. I don't like it, just don't say my name at all!" It was really bugging me for some reason. I didn't like the way he said my name. He made it sound so angry and irritating.
"Izzy! Izzy! Izzy! Izzy!" He pranced around my room and repeated my name over and over.
Grayson rolled his eyes and left my room mumbling something like, "You two need to figure this shit out without me, I can't take it anymore."
I threw another pillow at Cameron, "Shut the fuck up!"
"IZZY! IZZY! IZZY!"
"STOP IT!" I screamed at him, but he wouldn't stop. I ran over to him and started pushing him. I pushed him tons of times and he let me push him until was pressed against the wall still saying my name over and over, "Stop saying it!"
"Why IZZY? You don't like it? Izzyyyyy the perfectionist! Izzyyyyy is so prim and proper! Izzyyyy never likes to have fun! Izzyyyyyy the boring little prude!" He teased me. Those insults pushed me over the edge. I was so angry and tired of this fight that his comment about me being a boring prude was the breaking point.
"FUCK YOU!" I yelled and started to cry.
I couldn't help it. As much as I didn't want to cry in front of him, I couldn't help it. I brought my hands up to my face dropped down, crouching into a little bundle near Cam's feet.
"Shit," Cameron whispered once he realized I was upset and crying.
He bent down and put his hand on my back, rubbing it up and down.
"Get off me!" I yelled with my shaky tear-filled voice, but I wasn't able to shake him off.
"Baby don't cry," he said and came closer, clearly not hearing what I said.
I shook my head and curled myself into a tighter ball. I tried to speak with some strength in my voice, but I couldn't, it came out broken and sad, "I hate you."
"I know," he sighed heavily. He sat down on the ground and pulled me down onto his lap. I tried to pull away, but he didn't let me go before he said, "I hate me too."
Cam rubbed my back as I cried and brought his face close to mine, "I didn't mean it Angel," he said softly and pressed his lips to my cheek, "I'm so sorry."
"You did mean it. You said it after all..." I had to admit, his kiss on my cheek soothed me a little. Which made no sense, because he was the one who made me cry in the first place.
"No, I was angry. I was just angry babe," he patted my hair and held me in his arms, "I had a really shitty day and I took it out on you. I shouldn't have done that..."
"You really shouldn't have," I said, calming down a little bit more now.
"I fuck everything up with you," he said and leaned his head back against the wall, "every fucking time."
I sat up next to him after I calmed down. I wiped the tears from my cheeks and sighed, "It's okay."
"No, it isn't. I just made you cry and now I feel like shit."
"I'm fine now Cam, don't worry about me."
I pull myself up and go to the back of my door and grab the hoodie that he let me keep the other night. I came back over and gave it to him, "This is yours."
"I told you to keep it," he put it back in my lap and shook his head no.
"I don't want to keep it anymore."
"Babe..."
"Please, just take it back," I pushed the sweater into his hands persistently.
"Okay. If that's what you want."
"It is."
I could tell that Cam got the deeper meaning to that. I was trying to tell him that this little fling between us needed to stop. We didn't mesh well, we just argued all the time. I hoped that everything would go back to the way it was before, where we were just friends.
We both knew that we had feelings for each other. We had never really talked about it, but we didn't need to. Both of us were confused by what we were feeling, we didn't want to confront our feelings either. At least not right now. That would be messy. So I hoped that we could push the feelings away and get over each other.
Little did I know that it would be crazy impossible for us to get over each other. We were already in the deep end, and soon we would find out if we'd stay afloat or sink to the bottom.
************************************************************************************
The following day at school I was sitting in Math class. Math wasn't my favorite subject, but I wasn't bad at it either. I was pretty good at Math, it was just boring to me. I was really interested in History. That was really strange because most people didn't like History, but I loved it. It was so interesting, and I loved learning how people lived in the past, different cultures, and events and people who shaped the way that we lived to day. It Fascinated me.
I followed Mr. Grout's lesson the entire time and took a few notes. The last part of class was when we had time to work on our homework. He gave us about ten minutes to get started, which I was grateful for. I'd rather do my work now and shorten my time doing homework later than have loads to do, because I know, I'll just procrastinate it.
"Hey," Cameron came up to me and sat down in the seat beside me.
"Hi," I said while finished working out my last problem. Finally I turned to look at him, "How's it going?"
"Not well..."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"I'm failing this class... among others."
I looked at him with wide eyes. Of course, I knew that already but I didn't want him to know that I knew, so I pretended like this was brand new news, "Are you really Cam?"
"Yeah... And Principal Fox said I can't play soccer unless I bring my marks up."
"No way!"
"Yeah. I'm in shit Angel."
"Well just hand in all the work you haven't submitted yet, and study really hard for the next few tests. I'm sure it will be fine."
"I can't hand in the work if I don't know how to do it. I'm not smart like you. If I can't play soccer the scouts won't see me and then I'll never get recruited. We both know I won't be able to get into college without soccer."
"Oh Cam, you are smart. You just need to actually try. If you put as much effort into school as you do soccer then you'll be good to go." I rubbed his arm, trying to make him feel better.
"Can I ask you a huge favor?" He looked at me nervously. I knew what he was going to ask already, but to keep up my facade I pretended not to know, "I know, you're pretty mad at me still and the things I've said and done to you are pretty shitty. But I need a tutor and you're the only one I know who's on this damn list."
He pulled out the crumpled piece of paper that Mr. Fox gave him. All the students with the top grades were on there and right in the middle of the page was my name, which Cam had circled in red ink. I grabbed the paper from him to look at the list. There were a lot of people I didn't even know, so I could imagine how strange the list of names looked to him. But then I saw Shawn's name.
"What about Shawn?"
"Who is Shawn?"
"My friend! He's really smart, way smarter than I am."
"But I don't want to get help from him. I'll have to spend a lot of time with my tutor if I want to play by our season opener and I don't want to spend it with a loser."
"That's rude Cam!" I frown and smack his arm, "I'm friend with him, does that make me a loser too? Because then you really should go find someone else."
"No, Angel you aren't a loser. You're definitely not a loser."
I eyed him and sighed. I knew Cam really needed my help. And what he said was true, he'd have to spend a lot of time working with his tutor and he was already over at my house 90% of the time. I was angry with him still and things between us have been really complicated lately, but that didn't mean I didn't care about him anymore, "I'll do it."
"You will?" He looked up at me and smiled as if he had just won the lottery.
"Yes, I'll tutor you," I said and he tackled me in a hug.
"Thank you so much Angel!"
"But!" I said quickly.
"But..." he waited for me to continue.
"You have to do everything I say. If I say we're going to study on a Saturday night then we will study on Saturday night. No if's, and's or but's. Got it?"
Cam groaned slightly, nodded and then started to smirk, "No butts? But yours is so nice!"
I smacked his arm, "Cameron!"
"Sorry Angel, I couldn't help that one."
"We'll start tonight."
"Tonight...?"
"Yes... is there a problem with that?"
"I've actually already got plans..."
"Did you even hear what I just said?!"
"Yes, but I made these plans before I knew, I needed a tutor..."
Just then the bell rang to signal the end of class. I got up from my seat and grabbed my things, "If you want me to be your tutor, you'll be at my house tonight ready to work on Math. If you don't show up, then I'm not going to help you at all."
I started to walk away and Cam groaned loudly, "For fucks sake!"
"Watch your language Mr. Hart!" Mr. Grout shouted and Cameron apologized as he walked out the door.
************************************************************************************
Re: Complicated Love
Complicated Love - Chapter 6
Grayson and Cameron don't seem too thrilled to find out that Izzy has befriended Chris, Izzy goes to Jen's to help her get ready for her date with Gavin, and Izzy's dad thinks up a great plan for the upcoming 4 day long weekend! Want to find out more? Keep on reading Complicated Love!
I was sitting under my tree waiting for Grayson and Cameron to finish their soccer practice. Cameron seemed pretty annoyed at me for being so stern about our study session tonight, so he never came over to talk to me the entire time. Maybe I should get him annoyed with me more often, it was a lot more peaceful without him interrupting me while I was reading.
Their practice had finally finished up and the boys went into the changing rooms. I heard my phone beep and I pulled it out of my bag to look at what it was. It was a text from Chris.
C: I saw you staring at my butt
I laughed out loud and shook my head. Chris was funny. We had been texting back and forth for a bit since we talked the other day and I learned that he was funny and quite nice. He was easy to talk to; we always found something to talk about, even if it were as random as why fish don't ever blink.
I: I wasn't staring!! Don't flatter yourself ;P
C: If you say so... but we both know the truth Superstar.
I: You're just jealous you couldn't look at mine
C: You caught me red handed, I'm pretty bummed about that.
I: Ha-Ha... very punny
C: I aim to please
I got up from my spot and walked over to the Jeep. Grayson and Cameron came out of the changing room with the rest of the team and I quickly spotted Chris. He was looking at me too and he waved. I smiled and waved back at him and he held his phone up, indicating that he'd text me. I shot him a thumbs up and leaned against the car waiting for Grayson and Cam to get to the car.
"What was that Izzy?" Grayson said with a frown.
"What was what?" I asked.
"You're waving to Chris Carter? Since when you were two friends?" Grayson asked while he unlocked the doors. I hoped Grayson wasn't going to get all weird and protective just because of this.
I shrugged and climbed into the car, "We chatted in the changing room the other day."
"The changing room!?" Cameron said quickly and whipped his head around from the front seat. Grayson did the same and had a huge frown on his face.
"Grayson, don't wrinkle your forehead so much," I pressed in between his eyebrows to flatten his skin out, "it'll get stuck that way one day."
Grayson swatted my hand away and raised his voice, "What the hell was he doing in the changing room with you!? Was he watching you change! Fucking pervert! I'm going to kill him!" He opened the door and got out. My eyes went wide and I jumped out of the car too.
I pushed on Grayson's chest as he tried to push past me and get to Chris, "Stop it Grayson! I wasn't changing! Get back in the car!"
When I said, I wasn't changing he relaxed and got back in.
"Then what happened?!"
"I was practicing for my audition in the changing room because it was empty and he just happened to hear me. See? Not a big deal!"
"I don't know Gray..." Cam said and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Stop it! Both of you! We're simply friends! Cam and I are friends and you don't mind that Gray."
"Oh no, no no! If you and Chris are the same as you and Cam, then I don't like this at all." Grayson huffed and started the car.
"What? Why?" I looked at Grayson confused.
"Cam is already too friendly with you. How many times has he felt you up? And tried to make out with you? Not to mention you two are equally stubborn and you fight all the damn time!"
"Yo, I'm right here," Cam said offended, "I can hear you."
"And like I've said a million times, that's my sister!"
"And like I've said!" Cam argued back, "I can't help it sometimes."
"More like all the time," I mumbled and leaned against the window.
"Don't pretend you don't like the attention," he said slyly and turned around in his seat as we drove off.
************************************************************************************
Ring! Ring! Ring!
I was currently watching Netflix on my laptop when my phone started to ring. I jumped up and listened for where my phone was. I looked in my school bag and couldn't find it. I ripped my sheets off and it wasn't there.
"Holy hell! Where are you phone?" I said out loud, I finally checked my closet and there it was sitting on a shelf. I rolled my eyes and shook my head, how did it end up there?
"Hello?"
"Izzy! You need to come over!" It was Jen, she sounded frantic.
"Oh my gosh! I almost forgot! Your date with Gavin is tonight!"
"Yes! Get over here! Violet and Leah are on the way, I need you guys' help!"
"I'm on my way!" I said as I grabbed my purse and hung up.
I ran into Grayson's room where he was yelling into a headset and playing some shooting video game. I waved at him, hoping he'll peel his eyes off the screen.
"What?" He said when he had a second.
"Where are your keys?" I said while looking through his desk drawers.
"Backpack."
I finally found them and walked out of the room, "I'll be back later."
I drove to Jen's house and when I got there Violet and Leah were already up in her room roaming through her closet. I ran up the stairs after saying hello to her parents and made my way to her bedroom, which was blaring loud music. I walked in and laughed, Jen was standing in the middle of her room while Leah and Violet were holding up different pieces of clothes against her and she didn't look very impressed.
"Guys! Will you pick something already?" Jen said as they ran all over her bedroom.
After 30 minutes of choosing an outfit, we all finally decided on some light wash jeans with a few rips in the knees and a flowing white shirt with a long black cardigan. We gave her some cute sandals and told her to bring her black handbag.
We sat her down and I fixed Jen's makeup while Leah painted her nails, and Violet curled her hair. In another half hour, Jen was all ready to go. She looked amazing!
"Voila!" Leah said as Jen was finally able to look at herself in the mirror.
"Wow guys, you did a great job," Jen beamed, "I look... beautiful."
"Jen, you're beautiful without all this makeup," I smiled at her and gave her a hug.
"It's true," Violet agreed. Then she clapped her hands together and jumped up, "Well, we better get out of here before Gavin comes."
"You better tell us everything tomorrow!" Leah said while grabbing her purse.
The three of us had finally made our way downstairs and were about to leave the house when we heard a knock on the door.
We all froze and looked at each other with wide eyes. Jen whispered, "He's here early!"
We all straightened out our outfits and fixed our hair before I opened the door to find Gavin looking quite handsome.
"Hey Gavin," I smiled at him.
"Izzy," he said and returned the smile, "Hey, how's it going?"
"Good," I said and urged him to come into the house, "Come on in."
"Jen," he said excitedly when he saw her. He came over to her and gave her a hug, "You look great!"
"Thanks Gavin," she blushed deeply. Then Jen introduced the girls, "This is Violet and Leah... and of course you know Izzy already."
"Nice to meet you guys," he said to them and they replied back timidly. They were probably stunned by how cute he was!
"Well, we better head out," Jen said and pulled Gavin out of the house with her. Once they left the three of us squealed happily while jumping up and down.
************************************************************************************
After dinner that night, I grabbed my math stuff and brought it down to the dining room. Cam better be here soon, I thought. Actually, why did I care? It's his future and it's his responsibility to do something about it. If he didn't show up then it was his fault, not mine.
"Amanda! I just fucking can't tonight!" I heard Cam come from the front room. Cameron actually came, which surprised me a little. This was a good sign, however he was talking to Amanda. Which wasn't good, because I hated her.
"What am I doing? I told you I'm studying! ... Don't laugh at me! I'm being serious."
He walked into the dining room and rolled his eyes at the phone, "I'm actually studying, okay? This isn't a joke or some excuse to ditch you!"
I started laughing loudly. She was clingy, just like Cam said the other night.
Then I heard Amanda's screech come through the phone because it was so loud, "ARE YOU WITH IZZY?!!!?"
Cam groaned into the phone and gave me a look that told me to shut up. But to me, it just made the situation even funnier, so I kept on laughing. "Yeah I am Amanda, calm down alright? I gotta go... bye."
He hung up and I shook my head at him, "So those were your big plans eh?"
"Yeah," he sighed, "her voice gives me such a headache sometimes."
"You and me both," I agreed. I was about to say something about why he kept seeing her if he annoyed her. "I don't kno-" then I cut myself off, I didn't want to start another argument. These never ended well, so it was best to avoid a fight altogether.
"You don't what?" He looked at me confused.
"Nothing," I said quickly and sat down with him at the table.
"You definitely had something to say Angel," he urged me on and eyed me.
"It wasn't important," I smiled and then pointed to his book, "let's get started."
For the next two hours I helped Cam with math. We worked on the basics, the first lesson of the year. I couldn't believe he was this behind! But if we wanted to do well on all the other units then we had to start at the beginning.
The method I used to really get him to understand the concepts was repetition. First I did the problem without telling him what I was doing or why I was doing it. Then I asked him to try to explain what I had just done. After, I'd do the problem (or a similar one) but this time explain my steps out loud for him. Then I would get him to do the question that I had just done.
After two hours we started lesson 2, he was doing great so far. I knew he was capable of it, he just needed a different learning style because Mr. Grout was hard to learn from. He never explained anything out loud, he would tell us to read the explanation from our textbooks, which weren't always clear. I learned that sometimes listening and seeing things simultaneously (especially for math) was a more effective way to learn a concept.
"Hey you two," my dad said as he came into the dining area, "what are you up to?"
"Math," Cam sighed, "it's really hard."
My dad chuckled and patted his back, "Good thing you've got a good tutor," my dad winked at me and held up his hand for a high five.
I high fived him and Cam nodded with a smile, "Yeah, she's pretty amazing."
"Have you guys started thinking about colleges?" My dad asked and pulled out a bag of chips and poured them in a bowl.
"I've searched up a few online, some nearby and some a bit farther away. I've narrowed it down to 5 that I'm serious about," I said to my dad.
"That's great kiddo," dad smiled at me and then turned to Cam, "how about you son?"
"I haven't looked into it too much. Fingers crossed I can get scouted," Cam said hopefully, "or else I'm not sure if I'll go to college."
"Oh don't be so sure Cam," my dad patted his back, "you're a smart guy. And with Izzy's help you'll be on the right track."
"Thanks George," he said with a smile.
"Maybe you guys should go visit a few of the campuses, it would be good to go see what they're all about." My dad suggested, "Hmm, yeah, I've got a great idea! Where's Grayson? GRAYSON COME HERE!"
Grayson came into the room, "Yeah dad?"
"You three should go visit some colleges since it's a long weekend coming up, what do you say? It would be great for you guys to see what colleges you're compatible with."
"Yeah, that seems like a good idea dad," Grayson beamed, "Brittney can come too."
"No she can't," I said immediately.
"Why not? She's looking into colleges too!" Grayson whined, "Why do you hate her so much?"
"You know why I hate her so much," I rolled my eyes and grabbed some chips from the bowl.
"Anyway, I'll call some places and get you all sorted. I'll book you guys a room and fill up the car with gas for Friday. I wish, I could come with you guys, but I've got huge meeting on Saturday and your mother is working night shifts at the hospital all weekend. I really want you three to get serious about colleges... well, I know Izzy already is serious about school but you boys," he pointed at them, "you need to get ready for college."
"Can't we fly? Do we have to drive?" I asked my dad pleadingly.
"Darling, you'll be fine. Grayson is a great driver," he said encouragingly.
"It's not him, I'm worried about," I sighed heavily.
"Cam is an excellent driver too," dad argued.
"It's not Cam either Dad. It's everyone else on the road. What if they aren't paying attention. What if they crash into us? It's a long drive, who knows what could happen..."
Cam put his hand on my back and rubbed it up and down. I saw Grayson give him a look and he made sure to stay near the top of my back, not any lower, "Don't worry Angel, it'll be fine. Gray and I will drive extra carefully, okay?"
"Yeah sis, a road trip will be fun," Grayson pitched in and offered a smile.
"I don't want to dad," I whined as my chest got tight and my body tensed, "I really don't want to."
"Izzy, come on," Grayson begged me.
"No."
"Izzy!" Grayson raised his voice a bit more.
"No! I can't do it Grayson! You don't understand! You didn't get hit by a car and almost die! It didn't happen to you so you don't know how I feel!" I busted and shouted at him.
"You didn't almost die! You barely came out with a scratch! Why are you so crazy about this?!" He shouted back stubbornly.
"You don't understand. No one does! I can barely make it to school sometimes, how am I going to survive a 5-hour-trip? I get anxious and tense and I sometimes I can't breathe!"
"I thought your anxiety was fixed! I thought Sue was working!"
"Sue?" Cam asked and scrunched his eyebrows together confusedly.
"Izzy's therapist," Grayson blurted out.
"Therapist?" Cam said surprised, "you have a therapist?"
"Grayson!" I groaned loudly. I didn't want Cam to know about that. It was private, no one knew except for my parents and Grayson. Jen didn't even know! It was embarrassing. When people find out you go to therapy, they think you're crazy.
"Alright enough yelling!" Dad said and clapped his hands together, "the boys will drive down Friday morning and you can fly out Friday evening and they'll pick you up from the airport."
I sighed in relief, Dad always had my back. Since he was in the accident with me, he was the only one who had an idea of what I was going through. I couldn't help the anxiety, I was working on it though. I smiled at Dad and he flashed me a smile back before he got up and left the room, "Make sure to clean up the kitchen before you guys go to bed."
I couldn't believe Grayson said that out loud. I didn't want anyone to know about Sue. It was personal and he had no right to talk about Sue. She was my business, not his!
"I can't believe you!" I glared at Grayson, got up and stormed up to my bedroom. I slammed the door and jumped right into my bed and covered my entire body with the blankets and groaned. This was so embarrassing.
************************************************************************************
Read more at iBuzzle: http://www.ibuzzle.com/articles/complic ... pter6.html
Grayson and Cameron don't seem too thrilled to find out that Izzy has befriended Chris, Izzy goes to Jen's to help her get ready for her date with Gavin, and Izzy's dad thinks up a great plan for the upcoming 4 day long weekend! Want to find out more? Keep on reading Complicated Love!
I was sitting under my tree waiting for Grayson and Cameron to finish their soccer practice. Cameron seemed pretty annoyed at me for being so stern about our study session tonight, so he never came over to talk to me the entire time. Maybe I should get him annoyed with me more often, it was a lot more peaceful without him interrupting me while I was reading.
Their practice had finally finished up and the boys went into the changing rooms. I heard my phone beep and I pulled it out of my bag to look at what it was. It was a text from Chris.
C: I saw you staring at my butt
I laughed out loud and shook my head. Chris was funny. We had been texting back and forth for a bit since we talked the other day and I learned that he was funny and quite nice. He was easy to talk to; we always found something to talk about, even if it were as random as why fish don't ever blink.
I: I wasn't staring!! Don't flatter yourself ;P
C: If you say so... but we both know the truth Superstar.
I: You're just jealous you couldn't look at mine
C: You caught me red handed, I'm pretty bummed about that.
I: Ha-Ha... very punny
C: I aim to please
I got up from my spot and walked over to the Jeep. Grayson and Cameron came out of the changing room with the rest of the team and I quickly spotted Chris. He was looking at me too and he waved. I smiled and waved back at him and he held his phone up, indicating that he'd text me. I shot him a thumbs up and leaned against the car waiting for Grayson and Cam to get to the car.
"What was that Izzy?" Grayson said with a frown.
"What was what?" I asked.
"You're waving to Chris Carter? Since when you were two friends?" Grayson asked while he unlocked the doors. I hoped Grayson wasn't going to get all weird and protective just because of this.
I shrugged and climbed into the car, "We chatted in the changing room the other day."
"The changing room!?" Cameron said quickly and whipped his head around from the front seat. Grayson did the same and had a huge frown on his face.
"Grayson, don't wrinkle your forehead so much," I pressed in between his eyebrows to flatten his skin out, "it'll get stuck that way one day."
Grayson swatted my hand away and raised his voice, "What the hell was he doing in the changing room with you!? Was he watching you change! Fucking pervert! I'm going to kill him!" He opened the door and got out. My eyes went wide and I jumped out of the car too.
I pushed on Grayson's chest as he tried to push past me and get to Chris, "Stop it Grayson! I wasn't changing! Get back in the car!"
When I said, I wasn't changing he relaxed and got back in.
"Then what happened?!"
"I was practicing for my audition in the changing room because it was empty and he just happened to hear me. See? Not a big deal!"
"I don't know Gray..." Cam said and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Stop it! Both of you! We're simply friends! Cam and I are friends and you don't mind that Gray."
"Oh no, no no! If you and Chris are the same as you and Cam, then I don't like this at all." Grayson huffed and started the car.
"What? Why?" I looked at Grayson confused.
"Cam is already too friendly with you. How many times has he felt you up? And tried to make out with you? Not to mention you two are equally stubborn and you fight all the damn time!"
"Yo, I'm right here," Cam said offended, "I can hear you."
"And like I've said a million times, that's my sister!"
"And like I've said!" Cam argued back, "I can't help it sometimes."
"More like all the time," I mumbled and leaned against the window.
"Don't pretend you don't like the attention," he said slyly and turned around in his seat as we drove off.
************************************************************************************
Ring! Ring! Ring!
I was currently watching Netflix on my laptop when my phone started to ring. I jumped up and listened for where my phone was. I looked in my school bag and couldn't find it. I ripped my sheets off and it wasn't there.
"Holy hell! Where are you phone?" I said out loud, I finally checked my closet and there it was sitting on a shelf. I rolled my eyes and shook my head, how did it end up there?
"Hello?"
"Izzy! You need to come over!" It was Jen, she sounded frantic.
"Oh my gosh! I almost forgot! Your date with Gavin is tonight!"
"Yes! Get over here! Violet and Leah are on the way, I need you guys' help!"
"I'm on my way!" I said as I grabbed my purse and hung up.
I ran into Grayson's room where he was yelling into a headset and playing some shooting video game. I waved at him, hoping he'll peel his eyes off the screen.
"What?" He said when he had a second.
"Where are your keys?" I said while looking through his desk drawers.
"Backpack."
I finally found them and walked out of the room, "I'll be back later."
I drove to Jen's house and when I got there Violet and Leah were already up in her room roaming through her closet. I ran up the stairs after saying hello to her parents and made my way to her bedroom, which was blaring loud music. I walked in and laughed, Jen was standing in the middle of her room while Leah and Violet were holding up different pieces of clothes against her and she didn't look very impressed.
"Guys! Will you pick something already?" Jen said as they ran all over her bedroom.
After 30 minutes of choosing an outfit, we all finally decided on some light wash jeans with a few rips in the knees and a flowing white shirt with a long black cardigan. We gave her some cute sandals and told her to bring her black handbag.
We sat her down and I fixed Jen's makeup while Leah painted her nails, and Violet curled her hair. In another half hour, Jen was all ready to go. She looked amazing!
"Voila!" Leah said as Jen was finally able to look at herself in the mirror.
"Wow guys, you did a great job," Jen beamed, "I look... beautiful."
"Jen, you're beautiful without all this makeup," I smiled at her and gave her a hug.
"It's true," Violet agreed. Then she clapped her hands together and jumped up, "Well, we better get out of here before Gavin comes."
"You better tell us everything tomorrow!" Leah said while grabbing her purse.
The three of us had finally made our way downstairs and were about to leave the house when we heard a knock on the door.
We all froze and looked at each other with wide eyes. Jen whispered, "He's here early!"
We all straightened out our outfits and fixed our hair before I opened the door to find Gavin looking quite handsome.
"Hey Gavin," I smiled at him.
"Izzy," he said and returned the smile, "Hey, how's it going?"
"Good," I said and urged him to come into the house, "Come on in."
"Jen," he said excitedly when he saw her. He came over to her and gave her a hug, "You look great!"
"Thanks Gavin," she blushed deeply. Then Jen introduced the girls, "This is Violet and Leah... and of course you know Izzy already."
"Nice to meet you guys," he said to them and they replied back timidly. They were probably stunned by how cute he was!
"Well, we better head out," Jen said and pulled Gavin out of the house with her. Once they left the three of us squealed happily while jumping up and down.
************************************************************************************
After dinner that night, I grabbed my math stuff and brought it down to the dining room. Cam better be here soon, I thought. Actually, why did I care? It's his future and it's his responsibility to do something about it. If he didn't show up then it was his fault, not mine.
"Amanda! I just fucking can't tonight!" I heard Cam come from the front room. Cameron actually came, which surprised me a little. This was a good sign, however he was talking to Amanda. Which wasn't good, because I hated her.
"What am I doing? I told you I'm studying! ... Don't laugh at me! I'm being serious."
He walked into the dining room and rolled his eyes at the phone, "I'm actually studying, okay? This isn't a joke or some excuse to ditch you!"
I started laughing loudly. She was clingy, just like Cam said the other night.
Then I heard Amanda's screech come through the phone because it was so loud, "ARE YOU WITH IZZY?!!!?"
Cam groaned into the phone and gave me a look that told me to shut up. But to me, it just made the situation even funnier, so I kept on laughing. "Yeah I am Amanda, calm down alright? I gotta go... bye."
He hung up and I shook my head at him, "So those were your big plans eh?"
"Yeah," he sighed, "her voice gives me such a headache sometimes."
"You and me both," I agreed. I was about to say something about why he kept seeing her if he annoyed her. "I don't kno-" then I cut myself off, I didn't want to start another argument. These never ended well, so it was best to avoid a fight altogether.
"You don't what?" He looked at me confused.
"Nothing," I said quickly and sat down with him at the table.
"You definitely had something to say Angel," he urged me on and eyed me.
"It wasn't important," I smiled and then pointed to his book, "let's get started."
For the next two hours I helped Cam with math. We worked on the basics, the first lesson of the year. I couldn't believe he was this behind! But if we wanted to do well on all the other units then we had to start at the beginning.
The method I used to really get him to understand the concepts was repetition. First I did the problem without telling him what I was doing or why I was doing it. Then I asked him to try to explain what I had just done. After, I'd do the problem (or a similar one) but this time explain my steps out loud for him. Then I would get him to do the question that I had just done.
After two hours we started lesson 2, he was doing great so far. I knew he was capable of it, he just needed a different learning style because Mr. Grout was hard to learn from. He never explained anything out loud, he would tell us to read the explanation from our textbooks, which weren't always clear. I learned that sometimes listening and seeing things simultaneously (especially for math) was a more effective way to learn a concept.
"Hey you two," my dad said as he came into the dining area, "what are you up to?"
"Math," Cam sighed, "it's really hard."
My dad chuckled and patted his back, "Good thing you've got a good tutor," my dad winked at me and held up his hand for a high five.
I high fived him and Cam nodded with a smile, "Yeah, she's pretty amazing."
"Have you guys started thinking about colleges?" My dad asked and pulled out a bag of chips and poured them in a bowl.
"I've searched up a few online, some nearby and some a bit farther away. I've narrowed it down to 5 that I'm serious about," I said to my dad.
"That's great kiddo," dad smiled at me and then turned to Cam, "how about you son?"
"I haven't looked into it too much. Fingers crossed I can get scouted," Cam said hopefully, "or else I'm not sure if I'll go to college."
"Oh don't be so sure Cam," my dad patted his back, "you're a smart guy. And with Izzy's help you'll be on the right track."
"Thanks George," he said with a smile.
"Maybe you guys should go visit a few of the campuses, it would be good to go see what they're all about." My dad suggested, "Hmm, yeah, I've got a great idea! Where's Grayson? GRAYSON COME HERE!"
Grayson came into the room, "Yeah dad?"
"You three should go visit some colleges since it's a long weekend coming up, what do you say? It would be great for you guys to see what colleges you're compatible with."
"Yeah, that seems like a good idea dad," Grayson beamed, "Brittney can come too."
"No she can't," I said immediately.
"Why not? She's looking into colleges too!" Grayson whined, "Why do you hate her so much?"
"You know why I hate her so much," I rolled my eyes and grabbed some chips from the bowl.
"Anyway, I'll call some places and get you all sorted. I'll book you guys a room and fill up the car with gas for Friday. I wish, I could come with you guys, but I've got huge meeting on Saturday and your mother is working night shifts at the hospital all weekend. I really want you three to get serious about colleges... well, I know Izzy already is serious about school but you boys," he pointed at them, "you need to get ready for college."
"Can't we fly? Do we have to drive?" I asked my dad pleadingly.
"Darling, you'll be fine. Grayson is a great driver," he said encouragingly.
"It's not him, I'm worried about," I sighed heavily.
"Cam is an excellent driver too," dad argued.
"It's not Cam either Dad. It's everyone else on the road. What if they aren't paying attention. What if they crash into us? It's a long drive, who knows what could happen..."
Cam put his hand on my back and rubbed it up and down. I saw Grayson give him a look and he made sure to stay near the top of my back, not any lower, "Don't worry Angel, it'll be fine. Gray and I will drive extra carefully, okay?"
"Yeah sis, a road trip will be fun," Grayson pitched in and offered a smile.
"I don't want to dad," I whined as my chest got tight and my body tensed, "I really don't want to."
"Izzy, come on," Grayson begged me.
"No."
"Izzy!" Grayson raised his voice a bit more.
"No! I can't do it Grayson! You don't understand! You didn't get hit by a car and almost die! It didn't happen to you so you don't know how I feel!" I busted and shouted at him.
"You didn't almost die! You barely came out with a scratch! Why are you so crazy about this?!" He shouted back stubbornly.
"You don't understand. No one does! I can barely make it to school sometimes, how am I going to survive a 5-hour-trip? I get anxious and tense and I sometimes I can't breathe!"
"I thought your anxiety was fixed! I thought Sue was working!"
"Sue?" Cam asked and scrunched his eyebrows together confusedly.
"Izzy's therapist," Grayson blurted out.
"Therapist?" Cam said surprised, "you have a therapist?"
"Grayson!" I groaned loudly. I didn't want Cam to know about that. It was private, no one knew except for my parents and Grayson. Jen didn't even know! It was embarrassing. When people find out you go to therapy, they think you're crazy.
"Alright enough yelling!" Dad said and clapped his hands together, "the boys will drive down Friday morning and you can fly out Friday evening and they'll pick you up from the airport."
I sighed in relief, Dad always had my back. Since he was in the accident with me, he was the only one who had an idea of what I was going through. I couldn't help the anxiety, I was working on it though. I smiled at Dad and he flashed me a smile back before he got up and left the room, "Make sure to clean up the kitchen before you guys go to bed."
I couldn't believe Grayson said that out loud. I didn't want anyone to know about Sue. It was personal and he had no right to talk about Sue. She was my business, not his!
"I can't believe you!" I glared at Grayson, got up and stormed up to my bedroom. I slammed the door and jumped right into my bed and covered my entire body with the blankets and groaned. This was so embarrassing.
************************************************************************************
Read more at iBuzzle: http://www.ibuzzle.com/articles/complic ... pter6.html