"doesn't your head hurt anymore?" anna asked.

"i'm perfectly well."

"well? we were quite scared yesterday when you passed out. "

"also gabbie fell on top of you." daniel said as he combed his freshly dyed blond hair. now anna and he could almost look like twins.

the band and the cheerleaders were in the gym locker rooms, preparing for their presentation before the game that night.

"very well, it's almost time!" exclaimed coach ross, her eyes set on corbyn. "besson, if it doesn't feel good, seavey will take your place."

"i'm fine, don't worry." corbyn hastened to say.

"are you sure?"

"yes."

when the woman nodded and left the locker room, corbyn took one of my hands to the back of his neck and touching the small lump on his head and made a soft expression of pain. it still hurt, but not too much.

daniel looked at him with a frown.

"corbs, i'd like to talk to you." the blond heard gabbie's voice before leaving the locker room.

"what's wrong?" corbyn asked to see her so serious.

"i want us to talk alone," gabbie added, looking at anna and daniel.

the two friends of corbyn looked at the blonde as if seeking his approval to leave the field without him, corbyn nodded, so they had no choice but to leave them alone.

"what's up?" corbyn asked again.

gabbie bit her lip. "you're probably thinking it was me who caused yesterday's accident, but i promise you it wasn't." corbyn shot her a suspicious look. "you and i were once friends, of course i would never do something like throwing you on purpose, less than a height like that."

even when he didn't want to believe her words, she seemed to be speaking seriously. she looked very sincere. corbyn sighed. she was right, probably in the end her fall had not been intentional.

"it's fine. don't worry, "said corbyn, turning to the door.

gabbie took him by the arm. "wait! also... i also wanted to apologize. "

"what?"

"yes, you know. for having ruined our friendship and having messed with jack, but i swear it was he who looked for me, i never... "

"gabbie." corbyn didn't need to hear that. "it's okay."

the music coming from the countryside caught the attention of corbyn. "we have to hurry, the game will start."

"i'm sorry, corbyn, but you've always had it all. it's time for you to lose everything. "

corbyn frowned without understanding anything.

before he could react, gabbie pushed him so hard that corbyn ended up falling to the ground, but she didn't stop there, when he tried to get up he got kicked in the ribs.

"are you crazy?" corbyn whined coughing.

"stay here and rest. oh and don't worry, i'll tell coach ross and the rest that you felt bad. daniel will take your place. "gabbie said leaving the locker room, closing the door behind her.

corbyn rose from the floor to go to give him his due, only when trying to open the door, it refused to open.

had she locked me in the dressing rooms? corbyn thought growling.

"is anyone out there ?!" the blonde shouted in the hope that his voice would be heard even above the scandal. "i'm locked!"

no one was going to listen to him, he could shout everything he wanted and still be useless.

corbyn still didn't quite understand why gabbie insisted on ruining his life.

corbyn released the contained air and headed to the dressing room bathrooms, maybe he could slide through one of the windows and get out of here.

just when he was about to open the only window in the bathroom, he realized that he wouldn't be able to arrive in time for the presentation before the game, it was already too late. however, he lost nothing with trying.

corbyn hung on the window and went out as he could, it was fortunate that he didn't end up getting stuck in the attempt. once outside he ran to the field where the cheerleaders and the band were preparing to start the presentation. they all looked at him with surprise in their eyes when they saw me.

"corbs?" daniel murmured confused. "gabbie said you felt bad..."

"besson, what are you doing here?" the coach asked.

"coach, gabbie locked me in the locker room after attempting against me."

"what? but you told me that you didn't feel well, that you wanted to stay in the locker room and rest. "gabbie defended.

could she stop lying?

"stop lying."

"i'm not lying. that blow you hit yesterday in the head should have affected you too much, you just want to make me look bad in front of the coach to get revenge. "

"avenge me? it was her who hit me and left me locked in the locker room because she hates me! "

"i would be unable to do something like that! and much less for something as silly as that! coach, corbyn is making up all that. he wants to harm me. "

"i'm not making up anything!"

"of course! you are a fucking liar, bitch! "

"the only bitch here is you!"

"enough!" the coach screamed. "both of you!"

"but coach..."

"neither of us is going to participate in tonight's presentation, the others go out to the field now. we cannot continue to delay the game. "

gabbie and corbyn opened their mouths but left quietly when the coach talked again. "one more word and i will have to suspend them both, did you hear me?"

ΩΩΩ

as expected, the bicentennial tigers won the game thus achieving the streak of four consecutive wins. the presence of zach ended up being very beneficial for the team since at the time of throwing and catching the ball, it turned out to be even better than jack avery himself, who of course didn't like anything to be overshadowed by him.

gabbie and corbyn had no choice but to watch the game from a distance, both were punished and corbyn was revoked from his position as captain and would now be daniel.

"are you happy?" asked corbyn while picking up the last glass of soda in the stands, the coach had forced us to clean the place after the game. "you should, you achieved your goal. although i think you forgot a little detail, now you can't be a captain either. "

gabbie shrugged. "as if i care."

"of course you care."

gabbie shrugged again. "i already told you that i don't care. my goal was to stop you from being captain and that's how it was. "

"you really don't care?" corbyn asked now confused.

"of course i care, idiot!" gabbie shouted, throwing me an empty plastic bottle.

gabbie didn't say a single word again until they finished closing the black trash bags and left them in the green containers of the school. "sorry," she muttered apologizing again.

corbyn turned to her and raised both arms. "i swear if you hit me again i will defend myself. i have gone to self-defense classes "

gabbie smiled and even laughed. "no, i'm not going to hit you. sorry for that and for... for everything. i just... " her eyes filled with tears and he turned his back on corbyn. "sorry."

that left corbyn in shock, he didn't expect to see gabbie cry. the last time he saw her cry was in one of the seasons of gossip girls they saw at home, when she used to go to his slumber parties.

corbyn came over to hug her and see if he could clam her. "gabbie..."

she pushed him gently. "let me go. gosh corbyn, a while ago i kicked you in the ribs and now you are comforting me." she sobbed. "why are you like that?"

"i don't know, i guess it's because a part of me still sees you as my best friend. not to mention you are horrible at kicking. "

gabbie smiled.

"gab, why don't we just forget all this? let's start our friendship from scratch."

gabbie frowned. "no." but when he saw corbyn's expression, her smile widened. "just kidding. do you really want us to be friends again? even after everything i did? "

"well, not best friends, but it would be nice to not fight every time we see each other."

gabbie sighed. "it's okay. let's start from scratch. "

"great." corbyn said smiling.

"why don't we go to chris's party?" gabbie proposed wiping her tears.

"what a good idea, the chris's party is the perfect place to regain our friendship." corbyn muttered sarcastically.

it had just been at a chris party where their friendship had been shattered because of a boy.

"oh, i didn't say it with that intention, it's just that everyone is at that party." gabbie brought both hands to her face. "i don't know how to do this."

corbyn laughed. "okay, let's go to chris's party."

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word count: 1480

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