Forever Friends

Chapter 5

TJ watched as he kicked the leg of a wooden chair lightly so it moved back from the table enough for him to sit down. He then used the chair across from it to prop up his feet as he shoveled another handful of chips into his mouth. "I'm actually not that dramatic. I won't be surprised if your car comes back without a door or something. He's not a totally bad driver; he's just a little reckless..." He face scrunched up a little, "Well--I guess that's kind of the same thing, isn't it?" Then he shrugged and went back to his chips.

"Maybe I shouldn't have loaned him my car..."

"He actually wrecked Annie's first car." TJ continued.

Conner looked towards the door. "Maybe I should try to stop him." But he'd already heard the car pull off... screech off was more like it. Was that the smell of burning rubber?

"Speaking of Annie,"

"Or you could take us to the school and I'll get my car back and Randy can just hitch a ride." Then he realized they weren't still talking about the cars. He looked over towards TJ curiously, "What about Annie?"

TJ hadn't exactly been looking forward to this and he didn't want to be that guy. He gave warnings to guys that were going after his sister. Hadn't he reached his quotient yet? "I don't want to do the overprotective brother thing with you."

"But you're going to?" Conner took a stab at finishing that thought.

"Kind of. I kind of have to. You understand." He cleaned off the salt from his fingers and then rolled up the bag. "Annie's like one of the guys. I know she can take care of herself just don't do anything stupid and break her heart. I don't remember ever seeing her with a boyfriend before so..." He shrugged, and then sighed, "She matters a lot to me. To all of us," he added. "So just don't mess it up. See? It wasn't that bad." He put the bag on top of the fridge and then started to walk towards the living room. "Now come on, let's finish up, then I'll give you a lift to the game."

Conner watched TJ walk out of the room and figured if that was the talk he had to worry about, at least he'd lived through it. He didn't have any immediate plans on screwing up anyway. His eyes widened. Now that he was aware that people were watching him to see if he screwed up, he wondered if he'd be more prone to it. Crap. "Coming," He called to TJ as he dumped Randy's full bottle of beer and went towards the living room.

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This was going to be perfect. She had spent far too long planning this whole night out, down to the last detail. It would happen just like she imagined it. With a smile full of anticipation across her lips, Savannah turned her head. She looked away from the front of the house that they were standing in front of and focused on her shorter best friend. "Are you sure you don't want to get changed?" She asked, eyeing the worn in jeans that Georgia wore. Savannah had been chomping at the bit to get her hands on her cousin. She wanted to put her in something that showed over her curvy form. Maybe put her in a pair of heals to lengthen her legs. She'd probably get a little relaxer in her slightly frizzy hair and let it fall a little more manageably over her shoulders. And some make up, for sure.

Georgia knew that look on Savannah's face and shook her head, slightly rolling her eyes. "You can stop making me over in your head. And yes, I'm sure I don't want to get changed. I happen to like being comfortable. You can most definitely keep whatever you're picturing putting me in. I like my jeans." She folded her hands over her waist though. Going to the after game parties was her least favorite part of school.

She just didn't fit in there. She didn't like drinking. In fact, she liked to stay in complete and utter control of her actions. She could have fun without downing some liquor and probably doing something she'd regret later.

As if on cue, a group of kids came stumbling out of the house, very obviously drunk. One was slurring and then started laughing, head tipped back in humor. They seemed to be having fun but she had a feeling, at least one of them would be curled in the bathroom, praying to the porcelain god. That was disgusting in and of itself.

Savannah on the other hand was able to spare a few words with a few of the drunken kids. She seemed to fit in so easily. Georgia was pretty sure that her beautiful cousin could do anything she wanted and people would still love her. She just kind of blended into every situation so flawlessly. She was practically friends with everyone she met. Except, that is, for the one person who came up the walkway towards the house.

In her signature cheerleading uniform, hair piled atop her head in a ponytail, Sara Wolfe politely greeted Georgia but then narrowed her eyes at Savannah. Ever since Georgia could remember, Sara and Savannah were constantly fighting with each other. And they were quite evenly matched. Savannah would get up one, and then Sara would get back at her. It was a constant war with no clear winner for the whole she-bang. Only winners for each battle.

Hands on her hips, Sara tilted her head to the side a little while glaring at the long haired blonde. "That's funny."

Savannah was just as quick to straighten, arms crossed over her face. "I know but a little makeup will cover up that girl stash." She said as she tapped her upper lip.

"Actually," Sara hissed, full of spite and loathing. "I was talking about how I asked Kaleb to leave the trash on the curb and--" She let out a fake gasp and pointed to the curb that Savannah's heals were planted on. "Oh look, he actually did!" She flashed a big, fake smile.

Blue eyes were filled with fire as Savannah tried punching holes through Sara's head with just a gaze. "You know Sara, green just isn't a good color on you. I know having Tony McCoy turn you down so he could go out with me must be a real big blow to your ego."

Sara chuckled, "Well you'd know all about big blows, wouldn't you Slutvannah?" Truthfully, it did kind of hurt that someone, anyone, would pick Savannah Maxwell over her, but she was smart enough not to let Savannah get the best of her.

"Ooh... I get it. So am I the pot or the kettle today?"

In the middle of all this, standing quite awkwardly, Georgia just stood between the two partially wishing that she could just be somewhere else all together. She rocked back on her heals, staring at her sneakers and let out a breath. "Okay then. I'm going inside." A house full of drunken idiots would be so much better than listening to those two go back and forth at each other.

Savannah looked up at Georgia started to head up towards the front door. "I'm coming, Gigi." Then she turned her attention to Sara again. "Besides, I'm sure Sara has a valtrex prescription to renew or something." She perked a brow at Sara and then rolled her eyes and turned to walk away. The two walked inside and Sara just stood there for a minute. She didn't want to walk in at the same time that they did. It would look like they came together and she wasn't about to let her reputation get tarnished that easily.

The group of drunken kids that were now quiet stared at her. She looked back and held her arms out, "What are you staring at?"

One of the girls with black hair stepped forward. "My brother said he saw you at the drug store today getting a pregnancy test. We were just wondering who's it is?" Grinning, the girl shrugged, "I have ten bucks on that Kaleb guy you're always with. My friends think it's some moron from the football team. Care to clear it up for us?"

Sara shouldn't be surprised that the news had traveled so quickly. In a small town like this, almost nothing happened that the whole town didn't know about within a few hours. She rolled her eyes, "Like my life is any of your business." Talk about things that tarnish your reputation. She shook her head and walked around the group of teenagers. She really needed to get inside and get some alcohol in her. That would make all of this so much easier to deal with.