﹙ HURTS ME TOO ★ ﹚

ESTRELLA SAT IN THE BACKSEAT OF HER BEST FRIEND'S CAR!

She breathed against the window and traced the word help into the glass with her fingertip. Juliet almost snorted at this from the passenger seat.

"You're so dramatic." Xena said, scanning the area for parking. "It's one game. We don't have to go again if you don't like it."

"I won't like it." Estrella told her as the car came to a stop beside the street.

"You've never been, how would you know?" Juliet asked as they got out of the car.

Estrella leaned on her friend's shoulder as Xena pulled blankets out of the trunk. How serious was one football game?

The trio approached the stand to pay for their tickets. The bleachers were completely full of people wearing a variety of neon.

"Here." Juliet tore a pack of glow-stick jewelry open and cracked it between her hands. "Don't you own neon?"

"Does she look like she owns neon?" Xena clasped the necklace and bracelets around her friend's neck and arms. "No offense, when I see you, I think you're, like, some new hot guy."

"Am I not?" Estrella grinned as she led the way up the bleachers.

"When I see you, I think you're Dylan." Juliet informed. "Like now."

Estrella glanced down at her outfit of choice and looked back up, glaring at her friend. "I'm throwing this outfit away when I get home."

"You're so hot, and I love that you wear what you want, but I want to see you dress like you know you're hot." Xena grasped her friend's shoulders and began to lead her in another direction. "C'mon. Let's go sit with James."

"No, thank you." Estrella said, but she was shoved into the row anyway.

She smiled awkwardly at the mix of girls and guys sitting in the middle of the student section. They smiled in return, especially James.

Estrella was far past her awkward middle school phase, but she definitely didn't act like it. Whenever her friends pointed out a guy's obvious feelings for her, she'd deny them and say she wasn't interested anyway.

She didn't need a relationship, especially not with someone who had to wait until it was socially acceptable to like her.

"Estrella?" A girl named Madison called for her attention. "Do you wanna get in our picture?"

"Uh," Estrella glanced at her friends, who beckoned her forward. "Sure."

She put on the smile that looked the least like she'd been held at gunpoint to be a part of the interaction and leaned into the group.

When popularity finally stumbled upon Juliet and Xena, they eagerly accepted it and found it was much nicer to be inside the crowd they'd once made fun of than to watch from the outside.

The only one of their trio to not dive into it was Estrella. Despite the three girls having blossomed out of their shells like they'd fantasized about during middle school, Estrella found it was much safer to stay at home like she'd always done.

She didn't go to parties, she didn't ever go to homecoming, and she was already planning on missing prom.

It wasn't for a lack of invitation. After entering high school, kids who used to poke fun at her in the hallways socialized with her like it'd never happened.

Estrella wasn't against partying, or smoking, or underage drinking. She just didn't care for it and found that it was exhausting to pretend. So what if she didn't attend?

More drinks for everyone else and another nap for Estrella. No harm, no foul.

As she watched her friends chant along to the cheerleaders performing the varsity halftime performance, she shoved her hands into her pockets.

There were little reminders of how socially inept she was everywhere. She felt like a loser, but nothing made her feel as bad as Dylan Hoffman did.

He didn't even have to say anything. He could just look at her with a smile and she'd still wonder what insulting thing he'd just thought of about her.

It was a hard thing to get rid of. She'd spent all of her childhood chasing him like she didn't know how to do anything else.

She was head over heels and he just wanted to be left alone.

Dylan didn't mention it, in hopes that neither of them would get any more shit than they already did. He'd vehemently deny association with her, going as far as washing his arm off if she got too close, or accidentally brushed against him.

But he was just a kid then. A kid who wanted to fit in, a kid like anyone else.

Children were mean. They found things like the latest toys, clothes and games to be the labeling factors of the social hierarchy.

Estrella was a kid, too, and she wouldn't have ever considered doing that to anyone else. Especially not to him.

"Hi, Dylan." An eleven-year-old Estrella had taken her seat beside him. She'd thought about talking to him all week. "Did you get a haircut?"

Dylan had looked at her like she was an alien. "Uh, yeah?"

Estrella only nodded to herself and smiled in the opposite direction. In her eyes, he was an angel. She assumed that because he wasn't outwardly mean, he was nice.

Dylan thought she was creepy and obsessed. Those were more his friend's thoughts than his own, though. He'd eventually adapted them without even realizing it.

Xena watched her friend flip through the tiny notebook she always carried. "You bring that with you everywhere. Either live your life or do something with your music."

Estrella shoved the notebook into her pocket and tried to fix her gaze on the field like everyone else was doing. She messed with the ends of her jeans, straightening them out.

"Dylan's number three, by the way." Juliet leaned into her friend. She'd finally learned how to keep her voice low when she was mentioning him.

"That's not beneficial information." Estrella leaned back on her arms.

"Don't lie. I saw you reading his interview in class." Xena teased and glanced at the field.

"I was hate reading!" Estrella defended. "He said one of his hobbies was vintage thrifting. Who says that?"

"We know you want him. You guys would make a cute couple." Juliet added, pointing to the field. "Look. He scored that touchdown for you."

"Shut the fuck up." Estrella rolled her eyes.

She leaned into her friends as the sea of neon-dressed students stood up, cheering for Dylan's winning move. Even the parents were acting like they'd never watched a football game in their life.

"He's looking at you." Juliet prodded her shoulder.

"You guys are so annoying." Estrella said, rolling her eyes.

"No, I'm serious." She insisted.

Estrella brushed off her friend's words, muttering excuse me's as she made her way back down the stairs. She eyed the concession stand at the far end of the field.

The bleachers were quickly emptying. A couple of the students were crowding behind the fence, talking to the football players.

"You're lucky Dylan's friends didn't come today." Xena said. "The stands would've been packed."

"I wish they did. I have a crush on Ariana Greenblatt." Juliet said, getting in line behind her two friends. "Ellie, will you get with Dylan so you can send her my way?"

"No." Estrella denied it immediately. She approached the stand, glancing over the menu.

"Not like you have much of a choice. He's coming." Xena glanced quickly behind her. "Good luck."

"We'll be at the car if you want us to bring back hammers." Juliet whispered, grabbing her friend's arm and rushing off to give the two privacy.

Estrella rolled her eyes. She turned back and ordered a water bottle and a bag of Skittles. She tapped her fingers and audibly sighed when she felt a presence behind herself.

"Came to watch me play?" He asked, moving to stand beside her.

"Aren't you supposed to have your eyes on the ball and not the stands?" She told him. She didn't have to look up at him to know he was grinning.

"Who said I was watching you? Maybe I just think Xena's cute."

"I didn't say you were watching me."

Dylan shut his mouth. He wanted to argue that she'd implied he was watching her, but he'd already exposed himself.

"You're here 'cause of me, right?" He added, hoping that he'd rile her up into taking the attention off of him.

"You're funny." She brushed off his comment.

"Yet, you didn't laugh." Dylan placed a five on the counter when the woman working the booth returned with Estrella's request. "See you on Monday."

The girl glared at his back as he walked away without so much as another look. She took her things and resisted the urge to launch her bottle at his head.