Chapter 3: III: The Basketball Game

Liam's pov

Today started great and now I just wanna go to fucking sleep forever and maybe listen to my Redneck Billy playlist on Spotify (Check it out). The name is ironic because I'm a redhead, and everyone calls me Ed Sheeran because they think it's funny. It's not though.

I wanna watch Solana play, she hasn't talked to me since I confessed but I guess my feelings don't matter to her. I told Asher everything that happened and he felt bad for me, but of course, he didn't understand because he already has a girlfriend. Ari. And of course, he'd rather help Ari sell the tickets and leave me with Tara.

I mean Tara's not all bad, not bad at all. If I look past the fact that she's obsessed with me, she is a great friend and person too. As long as she doesn't do anything but her job I'll be fine.

We finished setting up and of course, Ari and Asher were flirting. Tera is the only one I know that seems jealous of them, but not in that way. I am saying that she's jealous because she doesn't have what they have. But we're about to go to college after this year and maybe she wants to spend our last year with someone special. But then again it's college, there will be a lot more people all the same age, and she'll have someone eventually. Or at least I hope so. She might end up lonely forever.

So far so great, Tera had her headphones on. It looked like she was reading something. Now I know I said if she didn't bother me I'd be fine but I was curious and so fucking bored. "Hey." I tapped her on the shoulder. "Yeah?" She asked, confused. "What are you reading?" "Wattpad but this time it's not fanfiction," she said, I felt proud of her.

Ever since Tera found Wattpad it's all she talks about and I blame Solana, since stranger things 4 came out that's all she reads about. "I am proud that you are not reading fanfiction 24/7 anymore," I said.

"Oh shush you're just mad you've never seen stranger things." She says and I can already tell I've made a mistake giving her the idea to talk about the damn show. "And I never want to," I say expecting her to start rambling on about the topic, to my surprise she just shrugged her shoulders and went back to reading.

Either the book is really interesting or something is wrong. "Is something wrong Tera?" I try to sound concerned but I'm not concerned. "No, just bored I guess," she says going back to her phone. I decided to leave her be, but the weird thing was whenever someone came to buy food she'd be her happy self like she was earlier today.

When the second quarter of the game started I decided to try and bother her again. "Hey, Tera." I nudged her. "What song are you listening to?" "I'm listening to SOS by ABBA," she says. SOS? Something must be seriously wrong with Tera."Do you want to hear my playlist? I think you'll like some of the songs." she looks confused for a second and then nods.

"Ok so, the first one is Melatonin by Birds of Bellwoods. It's really good." I say typing in the song. "So, the song is about sleeping gummies?" she asks and that makes me laugh. "Yes, it's about melatonin, the chemical in your brain," I say, correcting her.

The song starts and she starts bobbing her head. For a second I thought she was having a seizure, but no she was just doing whatever that was. I gave her some more of my songs and she gave me hers I don't have a long playlist cause hers is 8hrs and 20 mins and mine is only a 1hr exactly. After a while, her mood started to lighten up and so was mine. It was nice not to think about Solana, but good things always come to an end.

"Hey Tara, can we switch? I wanna talk to Liam." Asher asks and there are only three things I could guess that he wanted to talk about. 1) Ari and their relationship. 2) Funny TikToks. 3) Solana and me. I told him why I was sad because I didn't want Nathaniel to know that I liked his crush and I didn't want to tell Hudson cause he cannot keep secrets. (he really can't)

"Yeah, sure I don't mind." She says and walks over to Ava they start talking about whatever girls talk about. "So, you're still down in the blues?" he asks and I roll my eyes. Why does everyone keep saying down in the Blues? "I was fine until I started thinking about her again. "Well I don't think I have advice for you, but I know exactly what will make you feel better." he pulled out his phone which is already on TikTok.

Tara's pov:

Liam showed me some songs from his playlist which was nice. I sat next to Ari and she asked me if I was listening to music, I said yes and she grabbed my headphones to listen to. "Oh wait, can I listen to a song?" she asks and I nod. I see her type in I See Red by Everybody Loves an Outlaw. "Oh, I know that song," I say getting excited.

After a while, we went to the bathroom together to "gossip". We didn't say bad things about people, just things that happened and our opinions, for example, the topic right now was Solana and her lovers. I guess it's okay that Liam likes Solana, I'll just have to be happy for them. Plus there are hotter boys, like James

"Do you think Liam's gonna lash out and fight for his love? I know you want him to for you." Ari says to me, I hate it when she makes fun of me. "Actually no I don't like him and why is it he's the only one who can see that," I say a little loudly.

Asher calls Ari to sit with him and switch again. I tried to decline and stay with Ari because what she said made me uncomfortable. But Asher didn't care and went to do snacks with Ari while I did tickets with Liam.

I was damn sick today and just wanted to go home. I was tired of everyone, they just don't ever listen to me. When half of the game was finished we packed up the ticket table. I was glad I couldn't just be left alone now.

I was now listening to 1985 by Bo Burnham and went to the bathroom to sit by myself. Ari followed me to ask me what was wrong and I told her I was fine and wanted to be left alone.

Liam's pov:

"Guys I think Tera's sad." So it's not just me who thinks that. "Yeah, she seems quieter and more unusual," I say looking for a reaction. "Yeah I think it's beca-" Arianna gets cut off by Tera walking out of the bathroom giggling.

"What are you laughing about?" Asher asks as she puts up her middle finger toward Asher. Me, Asher, and Ari looked at each other in confusion trying to speak with our eyes but the two love birds got distracted until, "Yeah, ok I'll see you later, bye babe." Tera catches all of our attention when she says "Babe". We all look more confused than ever. I have so many questions.

1. Who is she calling babe?

2. Does she have a boyfriend?

3. How did she pull a boyfriend?

4. Why would he want to be with Tara?

5. Can Tara get a boyfriend

6. How?!!?

"Ooooh, who was that?" Ari asked. Yeah, I want to know who is sorry enough to date Tera. Tera pulls Ari aside to talk, they start whispering and Ari keeps gasping and making weird facial expressions.

"Omg I don't believe it, show me what he looks like," Ari says and I and Asher tries to see what is happening.

"Oh, he's cute," Ari says and Asher nudges her. "I mean cute for you." She corrects herself. "So wait, does Tara have a boyfriend?" I wonder if he was forced or if he's just delusional. I mean Taras is not a bad person she's just, why?

"Yes, I have a boyfriend Liam." She says.

"I don't believe it, I wanna see proof," I say. "Why does no one believe me?" She questioned getting annoyed. "Because we don't believe you." We said weirdly in sync. "Like who'd wanna date you?" Asher says. He can be a real dick sometimes.

"Ok, his name is James, and he's my friend's cousin. He made the first move as they all do." She said and we all burst out laughing. " 'As they all do?' What do you mean?" Asher asks, still laughing. "Yeah, all my other 'friends'." She pulls out her phone and shows us a few pictures of him and the texts.

"Woah?". "This dude must be blind calling Tera 'Hot'," I say. "Yeah, are you sure he's real?" Arianna asks. "Yes, I was just on the phone with him. And we've been on 4 dates already.

Today has been an eventful day. First I tell Solana that I like her. Then she rejects me and chose my best friend. And now Tera has a boyfriend who likes her back.

When I finally got home I decided to skip dinner and go straight to sleep. I thought I would be sad still but I wasn't anymore. I had a lot of things on my mind and the main person was Tera. I don't know why and I tried to think about something but I just ended up falling asleep.