Defying Him

Chapter Four: OhMyGoal

Lingering had been my problem for months. My one-on-one therapist was right. I like to wait for improbable things.

Since the day I left Myles Cameron on the first floor of this building, I never set my eyes on him again. He used to spend all day at my brother's ever since I came here. The three of us eat at least one meal together every day, but he skips that routine recently. I eavesdrop on Brayden talking to him on the phone the other day, but I picked up nothing important.

Yesterday, when I asked my brother if Myles was alright, he told me something unbearable that's now plaguing me like needles in my brain. While I thought we had a connection, Myles have icy feelings that were apparently platonic. Heard he was with Autumn in Paris for the weekend, probably shopping for their wedding, which Brayden believed was really soon.

I am in California, where there's a beach within walking distance, surfers, cute bodies, and sun to tan my body, but nothing among those luxuries cheered me. It was worrying Brayden I am crawling back into depression.

Today, Sunday, when Brayden left to join his friends for lunch, I sit on my bed in one of Chloe's sweaters, which her parents had given me after the funeral, provided we used to be the same size, people mistook us as siblings.

I had warmed some frozen pizza but barely tasted it. I am holding a pen and the large old diary that I always enhance with new plain sheets. Today I didn't know what to write to Chloe, for I have told her every moment that leads to this.

I drop the pen and skim through old notes until I come over to last year, where I am a shadow in a black-and-white world.

***

A new year had started. Mom and I went to Forever 21 yesterday to grab some new pairs of outfits for the semester, where we join Cal and her mother as planned. We bought sets of adorable clothes for our wardrobe, which our moms said were decent. They were mainly pants and sweaters and flat shoes. We bought matching backpacks and wristbands and went to the salon for new hair.

It's junior year, another ride until the final stage. Cal and I are going to survive as sneaky as ghosts live among human beings, and when we graduated, we will go to college in California and fall in love with Myles Cameron. Cal loves him like I do, just as she always understands what's going on in my head.

The first days of school had been hell for people like us and it's a tradition now. They made us flinch and drop our trays in the lunchroom or our books in the hallways. Everyone is f*****g perfect, except for us. We will never blend in. I am sure now.

Scarlett Maverick made us eat from the trash bin again. If only we had a voice, but I had been voiceless my whole life and Cal also seems to choke in moments like that.

So yes, the first day of school sucks. I hope we will do better next year.

***

I am sobbing fully on force by the time I finished reading the page. The diary was Chloe's since ninth grade. I made it mine after it was given to me this January and now it looks huge because I write to her every day.

So yes, my therapist was right. I linger on impossible things. Chloe would not come back, but I want her to know I am thriving. I even meet Myles Cameron, our tv crush, and turns out he is an asshole.

Around five in the evening, in the living room, I am on i********:, watching Scarlett Maverick's new posts. She had posted herself at an indoor rock climbing, and some football game she hosted that raised over four thousand dollars for wildlife habitats.

Everyone loved her, even when she was the devil.

"Pack up for a day or two. We are flying to Florida."

I jump at the startling voice. My thumb brushes the heart button on the screen.

Shit. s**t. s**t.

I tab to unlike, but the damage had already been done. She had already received the notification.

"Do you have any idea what you just did?" I yelled at Brayden, who must have walked into the apartment just now.

"What did I do? I am just standing here." He dumbly holds up his hands.

"You were sneaky. You made me like Scarlett Maverick's post. Now she will remember my existence and probably post my stalking on her story. Great."

My heartbeat is fast. I climb off the couch and race to the room, where I could cry my eyes out. I heard him calling after me, but I hate him so much at the moment to care.

When I wash my face, I stare at myself in the mirror, studying my flaws. My hair is brown and stopped at elbow length. It isn't styled perfectly like Scarlett's or Autumn's. I am sure it's a failure for a girl to look like me. My lips were heart shape and sometimes pale, like right now. My eyes weren't huge and my small nose was slightly upturned. I am plump compared to Scarlett and her group of friends. That is why I should explain myself before she can embarrass me online.

Cali: Hey, Scarlett, it was a mistake. I sent her a direct message and waited a few minutes before a new text came from her.

Scarlett Maverick: Creep

Fuck my life.

~

On the ride to the airfield, I was a wreck. I cover my head with a cap and the hood of my cardigan to hide my flushed face from giving prominence to my tear-stained complexion.

I should be excited about the trip. I've never been to Florida, and it is on Chloe's and I's bucket lists. But the half part of me is mutilated.

"This is Cali?" A mature man in a tracksuit asked my brother when we step out of the black SUV Brayden's driver drove us with.

We are in a private airplane hangar, and similar cars like ours had pulled by with Brayden's teammates, none of which pique my interest, despite I had always imagined this day. But one i********: mistake ruined my joy so instantly.

"Yes." My brother answered the man. "Cali, meet our Coach, David."

"Heard you like basketball. Ever thought of joining junior courses?" The man seems excited to meet me.

I wonder what lies my brother fed him.

Admittedly, I used to consider the option before high school, but now, all I want is to be a girl like Chloe and I had planned on new year's eve.

The memories of that night penetrate my vision and play vividly, like it only happened yesterday.

No, "I rather eat glasses." I blurted, and the man's face falls.

Brayden laughs it off and apologizes to the man, telling him the reason I am mad.

"That's intolerable?" The man scrunched his face. "I have an idea. Come." He summoned the rest of the team that are conversing from each angle.

I wonder what David has in mind, but Brayden seems at ease, so I am able to relax, too.

"Group picture." Everyone chanted, and just like that, I have a smile on my face.

A woman in trousers took the photo. I squat in the middle. One of the teammates, Weston Micah, took off my hat and replaced it with the team's brand.

It's more attractive.

After a couple of pictures, everyone gives me a very high five. I have to jump to reach. It is then the asshole arrives. He came around with Nelson, his manager, but the man departs to some angle with the woman who snapped the group pictures.

"You are late." David pointed out, and Myles simply apologize.

He dressed up clean, but his hair is ruffled. I wonder if he had car s*x with his fiancee before coming here.

What even sucks is that he wouldn't look at me, and I am sure he is aware of my presence. Given two of the teammates, he is handshaking right now, had asked for my i********: account.

"You missed the group picture. But is a good thing. A one-on-one picture with number one and number two. Bray, get in." David winks at me and I smile back nervously.

Brayden came next to me, and Myles hesitantly did the same. He brings his hand around my back and I stiffen. It is awkward, unlike my brother's hand which is resting over my shoulders.

The picture is taken with my phone. I survive a single pose that felt like forever and slip out from the boy's warmth, racing over to David with pretend excitement.

I didn't want Myles to see the effect he has on me. He probably shunned me for a week because he knew I like him.

"I am sure that Scarlett girl would be jealous now." David cheerfully gossiped, and I laugh at his joke. He told me about his daughter, saying she is about my age and my height and that she's rebellious. He could've brought her along.

He leads me onto the jet when my phone buzzes with continuous notification. On the screen I am notified of four tags: one is my brother, who has over ten million followers, and one is Vincent Harrison, a verified account, with over four million followers. The third is Zion Thiago, also a verified account with twelve million followers, but who I didn't expect was Myles Cameron. He has almost forty million followers, and hardly posts anyone on his account.

His caption is even more intriguing: "Our luck whiz." And then he mentioned me.

Ohmygoal.

And right now, i********: says I have ninety-nine new followers, which means probably more.

When I step into the lounging area, the teammates are reciting some motivational lyrics. Weston Micah holds out his huge palm, and I slapped mine into it before I take a seat next to David, and he continues to explain more about basketball that I didn't know about.

The whole time, I feel a tinge of heat at Myles's riveting stare. He wasn't conversational like the rest of the boys. He makes sure I know he is watching me intensively, but he didn't say a word as to why he had been ignoring me even when he comes over to grab a bottle of water close by.

Brayden's team is the champion last season, and among the four remaining teams in the NBA playoffs. David had said this was the last game until the finals and that he was sure I was their lucky charm.

We landed in Florida and were transported on a bus to a hotel near ESPN Wide World of Sports, where the game is scheduled for tomorrow night. David promises the team a day at Walt Disney World Resort if they kick the opposing team's ass.

I get a room for my personal space, which my brother booked for me. He didn't forget to remind me to lock the door and stay in here for my safety. He promises we will have breakfast together in the morning, but I have to eat alone tonight because he will be busy the entire night. Training, I guess.

"But you said to stay in." I reminded him, and he thoughtfully recollects what he had preached.

"Oh. I did."

I giggled, and he ruffled my hair friendly. "Okay, you can go to the restaurant or the cafe. But that's your final boundary." He emphasized and shove two hundred dollars into my hand.

I sit on the bed and fold my legs on it while he concernedly repeated.

"I will go nowhere further than the cafe or the restaurant," I promised, and he loosened up. So I decide to taunt him. "Unless I meet a cute boy."

"No cute boys." He cautioned almost instantly.

"Ugly boys then?" I suppress the laughter in my throat while his eyes pop out in horror.

"No, any kind of boys."

I laugh out at his expanse while he shakes his head at my amusement.