The Anklebiters

Months had passed. Days became shorter. And this was all because of Alex.

To Hayley, days used to tick by slower and slower by the minute, almost as if they were never ending. Now that she had someone by her side, everything seemed so much faster. She liked having Alex around; he was there for her and always made her laugh. He was a fire that never burnt out, constantly there whenever she needed him. Admittedly, she knew she was growing attached to him and actually liking it, let alone she liked the way the butterflies swelled up in her stomach whenever she saw him. She wanted to tell herself that everything between them was just business (at least to her), but she couldn’t bring herself to.

After always reminding herself how deep she was in this, she finally realized it wasn’t her that in too deep. It was her feelings.

One Saturday afternoon, Alex popped at Hayley’s house, guitar strapped on his back―without an explanation as to that―and took her to the local park. He took her all the way to the back, past the swing sets and the slides, to the grassy field located amongst the wide range of trees. Dandelions were already sprouting up from the grass, and Hayley crushed a few of them as she threw herself in the grass, enjoying the sun. Alex did the same and grabbed for her hand, lacing their fingers together.

They stayed like that for a long time, laying and enjoying each other’s presence. That was until Alex finally sat up and brought his guitar up from where he seated it next to him. Hayley didn’t open her eyes as he started strumming the perfect instrument, even through her shock that Alex actually knew how to play guitar. With the swaying of the wind, the sun shining, and Alex’s playing, she was in paradise; she wouldn’t have moved even if asked.

After he was finished, she finally sat up and opened her eyes, taking a second to adjust to the sunlight. “Why didn’t you tell me you could play?”

He was tuning the instrument when he looked up, a small smile on his face. “It’s kind of always been a secret. You’re the first person I’ve trusted to play in front of.”

“I’m honored,” she grinned, scooting closer and pushing strands of hair from his face.

I’m so good at this fake-girlfriend thing, she thought to herself.

It’s because you’re not faking it anymore, her conscious battled, and Hayley instantly retracted her hand at that.

To make up for her sudden reaction, she continued, “You should try going into the music industry. You could really make a career out of it.”

“Ever since that time in my dad’s club, you’ve been talking about the future.”

She shrugged. “I’m writing the future.”

He nodded and went back to turning the knobs at the end of the guitar at different angles. “And to answer your question: football is what I’m good at, I guess.”

“I don’t believe that.” She bit down on her lip, wondering how she could get him to say how he really felt about the subject. “Okay, it’s secret time.”

He chuckled softly and rolled his eyes. “I’ll play along.”

“You need to tell me how you really feel about football.”

“You really want to know?” He lofted a brow, and she nodded. “I honestly hate it, even though I’m good at it. Jack told me to go out for it when I didn’t want to, and whenever I try to get out of it, Jack makes me feel guilty and tells me to think of what it did for the Hustlers. Plus, the guy wants to keep the attention of this redhead at our table to make your friend, Tay, jealous, so if I leave the team, she and the rest of those people I don’t even know leave too.”

Hayley recounted his words and made a mental note to tell it all to the Anklebiters later. Although, it almost pained her to think that she had been telling her friends all of Alex’s secrets and words since the start of the relationship. She was stabbing him in the back, and it made her want him to do the same to herself to even out the score. Recently, she had started to hate to tell the Anklebiters things about him, so she started saying less and less.

“Alright,” she breathed out, finally breaking the silence, “now you ask me something.”

He took a moment to think about it, before he started to smile. “Tell me why Taylor hates Jack so much.”

She bit the inside of her cheek. “If I tell you, you have to promise it never leaves your mouth.”

He reached over to put his hand over his chest. “I swear on my crazy ex-girlfriend’s grave.” Before Hayley could question, he threw in, “When she dies, at least.”

She laughed. “So it started in freshmen year when Jack and Taylor started dating―”

“JACK AND TAYLOR―”

She reached out and put her hands over his mouth. “What did you promise?!”

He put his hands up in surrender and she slowly removed her hands. “Anyways, after like several months of dating, Jack ended up cheating on her with this cheerleader, Abigail. After that, Taylor totally revamped herself and found me and Jenna as recruits for a ‘new club’ she wanted to start. Only being mere freshmen, Jenna and I just wanted friends, so we went along with it. A year after that, we started gaining recognition and friends, and then Tay was recruited. The Anklebiters were then official, and they were started just to crush Jack’s reputation so he wouldn’t cross Taylor again.”

“Damn,” Alex rubbed the back of his neck, “no wonder why Jack never told me history with Taylor.”

“They’re both very stubborn and hold long grudges. They weren’t made for each other.”

“Good thing we are,” he smiled a little and grabbed her hand, caressing their joined fingers with his thumb.

Hayley looked down at their hands and swallowed down hard. There’s only so much time left, she reminded. I don’t think I’m ready for when it happens.

Notes

Now you guys have a look into why the Ankebiters were started! Remember how Taylor is always muttering stuff about how things started her freshman year of high school? That's the reason! *DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN*
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