"Ugh! What a lousy bastard!" Chloe exclaimed as she too saw what Liona was referring to.
"Holy hell, in broad daylight and on campus too! Really can you get any more scummy? He's not even trying to hide his cheating ass!" Allison called out loudly.
"Jeffery Peterson! You asshole! Consider us, done!" Liona shouted at him before walking past him without a second glance.
"Wait! Liona!" He tried to call out and go after his girlfriend, but he found his path blocked by her two guard dogs. Her BFF's were standing in his way with their arms crossed
"You heard her, she's done with you!" Allison glared at Jeffery.
"That's what you get for being a slimy two-timing bastard! I guess we won't be seeing you at Liona's birthday. Consider yourself uninvited." Chloe moved to block Jeffery who was trying to sidestep Allison.
"What? Her birthday? She's having a birthday soon?" Jeffery was confused. He didn't know that Liona's birthday was so near.
"Hah! You didn't even know when her birthday is! Scum!" Allison scoffed at him.
"Really what kind of tool doesn't even know their ex-girlfriend's birthday!" Chloe threw out before she and Alli hurried to catch up to Liona's retreating back.
Jeffery was left just gaping after the girls.
"Well, it looks like you're all mine now!" The girl Jeffery had been making out with grinned. She didn't like hoity-toity Liona. Served her right for flaunting her connection to their teacher in class today.
"Can-it, Brenda! You were only using me anyway, don't pretend that you weren't cornering me for some petty reason. Get lost and take your stupid resentment elsewhere, you know you can't touch her. Her grandfather will kick you out of this school faster than you can say bullshit!" Jefferey said before storming off.
"Fuck you, Jeffery! I won't take you even if you beg me to!" Brenda shouted after him, pretending to be a victim to the satisfying murmurs of another batch of students leaving the high school building.
Liona just ignored the drama behind her. She wasn't broken up over breaking up with Jeffery, she really was only dating him because he was good looking. There were no feelings involved to be broken up over. She also didn't care that she was disliked by Brenda and her pretending to be a victim was just like her. She'd get her comeuppance one of these days for the way she acted. Word always got back to her grandfather, one way or another about people like her in the school. Her grandfather always made sure that this school stuck to a strict zero bullying policy, so she never had to deal with anyone with petty ideas about her or her family.
She never saw the need to beg her family for favors, she always got whatever she wanted, whether she asked for it or not. However, she didn't let it go to her head. Yeah, her family was well off, but that didn't mean that they were snobbish assholes. Respect was a big part of her upbringing and her parents had instilled that into her and her younger siblings from the time they could talk. It just seemed that some people really lacked that respect for others and lashed out in petty ways when things didn't go their way.
"Are you okay, Liona?" Allison asked as she caught up to her BFF.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Liona smiled over at her friend.
"He wasn't good enough for you anyway." Chloe stated as she too caught up.
"I call for a girls day out this weekend! I think we should go out and get all the junk food we want and then stream a movie marathon and do our hair and nails, the whole nine yards!" Liona declared. "My treat!" She added.
"Sweet!" Chloe cheered.
"Awesome!" Allison laughed.
The girls quickly forgot about Jeffery and walked with Liona to the elementary building as they discussed which movies they wanted to stream and what colors they wanted to coordinate for their nails. There were only so few ways they could express themselves with a school dress code, and nails were one of them. Before too long, they reached the classroom where Liona's cousin Ethan was waiting.
"Sorry I'm late, Mr. Webber. I'm here to pick up Ethan Gray for my Aunt Emma Gray." Liona apologized as soon as she got to her cousin's classroom.
"Mrs. Gray already informed me you'd be by shortly to pick him up. You're good to go." Mr. Webber indicated that Ethan was waiting as he nodded to his student.
"Liona, you're picking me up today. Not Mom or Dad?" Ethan asked as he grabbed his book bag and jacket from its hook on the classroom wall.
"Yep. Looks like you're stuck with me, Chloe, and Alli, today, little guy." Liona smiled.
"Well, I guess it can't be helped." Ethan resigned himself to a boring day with his cousin and her friends.
"Your mom said you wanted to play soccer today. Where's your ball?" Liona asked as she noticed that he didn't have it.
"It got put in the basket by the door." Mr. Webber helpfully pointed out. "It was the only place that it wouldn't get mixed up with the school's soccer balls."
"Mr. Webber was nice to make sure I didn't lose it accidentally!" Ethan chimed in helpfully as he grabbed his ball.
"Thanks Mr. Webber, I'm sure Ethan appreciates not losing it." Liona said, looking at Ethan pointedly, hoping he would remember his manners.
"Oh, yeah! Thank you, Mr. Webber!" Ethan understood that his cousin was reminding him of his manners.
"You're quite welcome, Ethan. I'll see you tomorrow." Mr. Webber bid them goodbye.
"Do you like your teacher, Ethan?" Liona asked as she walked out into the hall where her friends were waiting.
"Yeah, Mr. Webber is cool! He's fun and understands that I learn faster than the other kids but doesn't make a big deal about it in class." Ethan chatted happily.
"That's good! I'm glad you like your teacher, Ethan. Now why don't we head on over to the park with the lake, outside of town, and have a bit of fun with Alli and Chloe? I'm sure if you ask nicely, they'll play soccer with us." Liona said, winking at her friends who picked up on the hint.
"Hey Chloe, I was just thinking that I haven't played soccer in forever, think I still got game?" Allison asked in an obvious manner after noting Liona's wink.
"Hmm, I don't know, but you know what? I'm sure I still got my A game, so I think we should play a round and see who's better. Now if only there were more people to play with us!" Chloe answered with a smile.
"I wanna play soccer, will you play with me and Liona, Alli, Chloe?" Ethan asked with a big grin.
"You know what? I think that can be arranged! Let's all play at the park together!" Allison said.
"Sure, sounds like fun! Let's go, Ethan! Last one to Liona's car is a rotten egg!" Chloe taunted with a half-hearted boost of speed.
That got Ethan to laugh, who then followed Chloe and Alli as he half jogged to keep up with their pace with his cousin behind him.
The group got to Liona's car but let Ethan win. Once Ethan was settled and buckled into his seat, Liona waved at her friends who each got into their own cars and would follow.
The drive to the reservoir outside of town wasn't a long drive with the car auto adjusting to country road speeds while Liona kept Ethan entertained with a fun word game she had played with her little brothers and sisters as a kid with their dad. She was always terrible at it, but with her 5-year-old cousin playing, it wasn't too hard to win once in a while. However, more often than not, he thoroughly trounced her in the word association game with his vast vocabulary that was beyond his age. Liona had fun though, and Ethan was a good sport when he lost, so the drive went quickly.
Once at the reservoir park, the car auto pulled into an available spot and parked. When they got out of the car, Chloe and Alli were just pulling into the parking lot as well. When both girls exited their cars, they all headed over to the large grassy area near the parking lot and found a place that Ethan deemed good enough to play. There were a handful of other people here, some with little kids that were playing on the play equipment nearby, some were having a picnic, while others were just enjoying the sunny day in early spring.
The group quickly split into two teams with Alli and Chloe taking up one side while Ethan and Liona took up the other. They passed the ball back and forth and played a modified game of soccer, that was more keep away than anything, but Ethan was laughing and having a lot of fun, so that was all that mattered to Liona.