Coach blows the whistle once Alli finishes her move with flawless precision as always, calling for us to bring it in. “Alright, practice is over. We’ll meet again on Wednesday and work on basket tosses and the stunts I added.” The team pans out, leaving to grab their things from the locker rooms.
I do my own thing since Alli hangs back with Coach Miller to talk about the routine. I gather my things from my locker and start freshening up, so I don’t smell like complete sweat.
Cassie is only a few feet away, but she doesn’t look at me, well, it doesn’t look like she’s talking about me. I remove the hair tie from my hair, letting my hair fall down to my shoulders. I wrap the hair tie over my wrist and start picking it off and on my wrist to calm my nerves. I grab my things and head out to the parking lot, car keys in hand.
Day one of high school cheerleading and I don’t know if I love it or hate it.
Chapter 13
Tyler
I’m on my way out of the student gym on campus when my eyes catch a glimpse of the cheer team’s practice, the blaring music preventing me from just walking past.
I lean against the railing on the top floor, watching the chaos below. Looks like they’re about to throw their bodies in the air. A few of them execute across the floor, some are going at it slow and others can’t stick their landing.
I consider leaving to meet up with Jared and Beckham until a familiar petite figure takes the mat.
Serena’s raven hair is tucked into a high ponytail. She wears an oversized Skyline Vikings t-shirt with the hem tucked into her sports bra and black spandex. It’s a look that takes my breath away, causing a mild sensory overload.
I hang back just to watch her. If I didn’t want to go into overdrive, I should have left a few seconds earlier. I soak in her expression going from zero to a hundred, a look of determination fueled by adrenaline. I watch her lock in, full sending across themat. I have no clue what she’s exactly doing, but it’s so fucking impressive and attractive to see her in her element.
I watched Cassie practice a few times last year, and she wasn’t bad, but she’s nowhere near Serena’s level. Serena is out of this world.
Growing up, I assumed all cheerleaders were just poms poms, pumping up the crowd at games, and doing the occasional dancing on the sidelines. I used to believe that cheerleading wasn’t a sport compared to football, soccer, or baseball. I definitely don’t think that anymore.
Teammates scream in support in the background, encouraging her and clapping their hands once she lands perfectly on the ground. I can already see Serena’s the type to not gloat about her skills, as she keeps her head down, a cute shy smile grows on her lips, and then walks off the mat towards her friend.
“Why are you staring at the cheer team?” a hand clasps on my shoulder, pulling my attention away from the main gym to Beckham behind me.
I remove his grasp from my shoulder and reluctantly walk away from the top, heading towards the door. “I wasn’t staring.”
Beckham and I head out towards the locker room to clean up after our workout. “You were definitely staring.”
“Shut the fuck up.” I huff out, pulling the locker room doors open.
“Serena’s a nice girl.” Beckham nonchalantly offers.
“How do you know her?” I reply, a little too quickly for my liking.
“Know who?”
Damn it, another person to add to the conversation. I turn my head to greet my best friend, Jared, with a subtle nod. “Sup.”
Jared returns the greeting. “Sup. What are we talking about?”
“No one,” I respond, again, so fast that it sounds suspicious.
“No one?” Jared cocks a brow at my answer, not believing my shit. Before he can follow up again, Beckham beats him to it. “I caught him drooling at your fine ass sister.”
Sister?
“You have a sister? You don’t look anything alike.” I question, genuinely surprised.
“Yeah, we’re stepsiblings, but I care about her as if she’s my own.”
I guess it makes sense in a way. I mean, he has blonde hair and blue eyes, and she has black hair and brown eyes. There’s no resemblance to connect the dots and when we hang out, Jared comes to my place for peace and quiet since I take care of Harper most days.
Despite all our years of hanging out and being close (so I thought), I still didn’t know much about his family. Was there a reason why he never told me? But then, why would Beckham be in the know while I wasn’t? I shrug it off, figuring there are probably bits of Jared’s life he doesn’t like sharing.
