An Unexpected Fate

The Lunch Date

Monday and Tuesday were days like any other. Aside from a few close encounters with Molly, who was still out for Ellie, nothing different really happened. There was, however, some slight awkwardness between Ellie and Freya. They had decided to keep their relationship between them to start with until they better understood, but in trying to hide it, they realised they weren't acting how they usually would around each other. Whether the other girls noticed or not, Ellie didn't know.

On Monday afternoon, they had their first cheer squad practice. The girls who had been picked all got changed into their uniforms in the locker room. Ellie felt pretty cute in her black and white skirt and top, embroidered with the high school logo. They all made their way into the gym hall where Brittany started running them through a bunch of training drills and started teaching them different moves and routines. It seemed to come somewhat naturally to Ellie as she moved swiftly and fluently between positions. Most of the other girls were moving a bit slower and less graceful, but everyone was still doing really well. Whilst they were doing cool down stretches, Ellie saw Brittany glance over to her as she was talking to the supervising teacher, Mrs Glumwall. Her heart started racing. Maybe I'm not doing so well... Are they gonna kick me off the team? She thought.

Once the stretches were finished, everybody piled out back to the changing rooms, but Ellie was stopped by Brittany and Mrs Glumwall. "Ellie, do you have a second?" Brittany said.

Ellie wiped some sweat from her brow. "Uh, yeah. Is something wrong?"

Brittany smiled. "Not at all. We were watching you during the routines and we think you're doing really great."

Ellie was taken aback. "Oh, uh, thanks. It's been great fun."

Brittany's smile grew wider. "I'm glad you're enjoying it. We wanted to ask you something. As you know, I'm the team captain, but every squad also needs a co-captain. Basically, you'll help me sort out going to competitions and if I'm absent, you'll take over training."

Ellie was even more stunned. "Uh, wow, uh... I don't know, Brit, I'm still new to all of this. I don't really know all that much about cheerleading."

Brittany laughed. "Don't worry about that. Miss Glumwall has a list of all of the basic moves and instructions for them. At one point, we'll do a session with you leading whilst I'm here so I can teach you how to put a routine together. There's no pressure and if you don't want to do it, that's fine."

Ellie thought for a second. This was a pretty cool opportunity. She nodded. "I'll do it."

Brittany pulled her into a big hug. "Okay, good, perfect. The other bonus is that you get out of last period half an hour earlier so we can sort out practice, but I thought I'd tell you that after you already agreed. Come on, let's go tell the squad."

Ellie followed Brittany into the changing room. Since it was the end of the day, nobody was getting changed, but they were all waiting on Brittany and Ellie so they could leave together like they usually do. "Attention squad!" She called out. Everyone turned to look at her. "I am very happy to say that we now have a new co-captain. Ellie!"

The changing room erupted into people clapping. Ellie blushed slightly as she made her way to her stuff, being pulled into hugs in every direction. She couldn't help but feel pleased with herself as she got to her stuff. Freya walked over, grinning. "Co-captain? That's awesome, congrats!"

"Thanks. I can't believe it." She said as Freya hugged her. She finished grabbing her stuff and when everyone was ready, they all left to go home.

***

Tuesday was pretty uneventful. Ellie finally got measured for her ballet gear and would be getting it on Thursday, but other than that, still nothing happened. There was still some awkwardness with Freya, which killed her inside, but it was nothing she couldn't handle.

Finally, Wednesday came. Ellie and Freya had different classes before lunch, so they agreed to meet in a nearby cafe for lunch. Ellie walked there, nervous and a little worried. She wasn't sure what was going to happen, but she hoped it was good.

She stepped into the small cafe, only a handful of people were inside waiting to be served. It was a nice place, with flowers over the walls and a mix of different smells that oddly worked. She saw Freya sitting by a table, looking over a menu. "Hey." She said, sitting down across from her.

"Hey. This place is pretty nice, huh? I've never actually been here." Freya said, looking around.

"I came here once in first year when I was coming from the dentists. My mum took me in on the way back to school." Ellie said. "It's weird that no one else from the school comes here."

"The owner stopped letting people from the school in a while back, but she's friends with mum so they let me in. I told them you'd be coming so they wouldn't kick you out either." Freya explained.

"Huh." Ellie picked up a menu. The cafe did a bunch of different things, from burgers to chips. Ellie eyed up the chips and cheese. "What are you thinking about getting?"

"I dunno..." Freya said, looking over the menu. "Might get a burger. What about you?"

"I was thinking chips and cheese."

Just at that, a woman came to get their order. Sure enough, Freya ordered a cheeseburger whilst Ellie got a chips and cheese. She took their order and came back a few minutes later with their drinks. They had a brief discussion about their classes as their food got served. It wasn't the best food Ellie ever had, but it was pretty nice.

"I think we need to talk about how awkward the last few days have been." Ellie said, thinking.

Freya looked sad for a second, but nodded. "Yeah... It's sucked. It feels like we've grown apart..."

"I don't think it's that. We're trying to hide us from everyone else, from our best friends. We're scared that every little thing we do, they're gonna question." Ellie said.

"I know, but we wanted to keep this between us." Freya said. Ellie tried to read her face. She looked anxious or stressed, maybe both.

"Maybe we shouldn't. Think about it, we're not getting a lot of time to ourselves because everything we do, there's always someone there. Maybe we should be more open about it? Embrace it, almost. It means we can spend more time together during school actually being a couple instead of trying to pretend like nothing is going on." Ellie said. She had spent the last few days thinking about it and this was the best idea she had come up with.

Freya thought for a moment before she slowly started nodding. "Okay. Let's do it. Let's tell the girls we're doing this and let's just not hide it."

Ellie smiled. "Okay."

They finished up their food and paid before leaving. As they walked back to the school, they eventually ended up holding hands. They exchanged a look together before they laughed nervously. They didn't say much on the way back, but it was nice just to be in each other's company. When they got back to the carpark, they found the girls deep in conversation.

"No, I'm telling you, she won't last another week." Gwen said.

"She's gonna win, if she doesn't, I will burn this country down." Annabeth said.

"Are you guys talking about the dumb TV show again?" Freya said, laughing, as she and Ellie stood next to them.

"It's not dumb, it's very entertaining." Gwen said. She looked over at them and saw that they were holding hands. She grinned. "You two finally seem normal again. Finally worked out your feelings for each other?"

Ellie and Freya were taken aback. "What? You knew?" Ellie asked.

Maple laughed. "Of course we knew, you two were terrible at hiding it. We just didn't know if you were ever actually gonna admit it."

Ellie and Freya looked at each other, then started laughing. "I guess now we're admitting it." Freya said. Just at that, the bell for afternoon classes went. The conversation switched back to Gwen and Annabeth arguing about their TV show, whilst Ellie, Freya, and Maple discussed their ballet class. Ellie wasn't really talking much, but instead listening to Freya passionately explain the various dances  they were going to be learning. She couldn't but smile as she listened.