THE BAD BOY AND THE CHEERLEADER

THE BAD BOY AND THE CHEERLEADER - CHAPTER 43

CHAPTER 43:

CALEB’S  POV:

I would have never thought there would be a day where receiving with attention from hot girls would be a chore.  Something unwanted.  As a cute brunette moves so close to me on the cafeteria bench that her breasts are brushing against my arm, I feel something hit the back of my head.  Twisting around to look down at the floor behind me, I see a baby carrot.  I glance up to see Gianna giving me a dirty look from one table over. 

I give her a helpless gesture and she turns her head away, to listen to what some guy has to say to her.  Who the hell is that guy anyways?  I don’t think I’m going to make it through a year and a half of this crap.  I pick up the baby carrot and chuck it at the guy who’s talking to her.  Hits him right on the forehead.  Maybe I should be a jock.  Julie would approve of that, since in her mind, wearing a jock strap equals good enough to date her daughter. 

Glancing away from Gianna, I see Josh sitting at the end of her table, watching our exchange.  I flip him off and turn back around. 

I hate this whole situation.  Last night, that hateful woman, Julie, showed up at my dad’s condo to try to reconcile with him.  I was in my room upstairs at the time, but I cracked my bedroom door open to listen to what was going on down there between her and my dad.  I was ready to go downstairs and protect him from her viciousness if I had to. 

Instead, as I listened to her words, they were sugary sweet and mildly seductive.  She was telling my dad how much she loves him and misses him.  How she just wants things the way they were before.  That they could be happy again and divorce isn’t necessary. 

And my dad sounded like he was falling for it.  That is until Julie threw out her opinion that it’d be better off for everyone if I moved back in with my mom.  That’s when my dad exploded in anger.  I was so proud of him.  Did she really think that she could come over and manipulate him into seeing things her way? 

I had a big smile on my face as he yelled at her about all of her sins where I’m concerned.  Go Daddy-O!  He basically told her that if she couldn’t accept me, then he wanted to go forward with the divorce.  That’s when her true crazyass colors came out and she started yelling about what a loser I am, I was totally offended, and how I was never coming near her daughter again, little does she know. 

He yelled for her to leave, seconds later the door was slamming shut.  I quietly closed my own door to give my dad some privacy.  He did what he had to do, but it probably still hurt him to do it.  For some unexplainable reason, he does love, or did love Julie. 

I’m so lost in my thoughts, that I almost don’t notice when Gianna walks past my table on her way out of the cafeteria. 

Is the shake in that cute little ass for me?

I’m curious enough to send Gianna a text asking her. 

She texts back, “I’m surprised you even noticed me, with all those girls around you.”

I smile at the dose of jealousy on Gianna’s part. 

I text back, “What girls?  There’s only one girl in my world and that’s you.”

She texts back, “Aw, I love you.  Meet me at your car in two minutes?”

I brush off the girl that was hanging onto my arm and throw away the rest of my lunch before leaving the cafeteria.  I’m thinking that Gianna and I should skip the rest of our classes today.  Maybe take a little drive to the nearest park. 

When I get to my car, Gianna is leaning against it, a naughty smile on her face.  I like that smile.  That smile means good things for me.  I wish now that I wouldn’t have been so stubborn three years ago about meeting my stepfamily.  I could have been on the receiving end of that smile years ago. 

For the rest of the school week, things pretty much go the same.  We resist ditching as much as possible, but don’t resist the temptation entirely.  On Tuesday morning, we go out to breakfast, but make it to school for third period.  We take the entire day off on Thursday and go to Six Flags amusement park before it closes for the upcoming winter. 

Sometimes I just stare at her while we’re in school.  I feel content just having her near, especially in the two classes we have together and at lunch.  We may have to pretend that we aren’t on speaking terms, but our eyes speak to each other.  Sometimes they say words of love, and sometimes lust.  Sometimes with a look, we let each other know how much we miss the other person. 

Now it’s Friday, right before the football game is about to start.  Gianna is in one of my favorite outfits of hers.  It involves a short shirt and pom poms as an accessory.  At the moment, we’re in the backseat of my car, and my hand is inching up her thigh. 

She’s giggling.  She’s not supposed to be giggling.  “Caleb, behave!  I have to get to the game!” 

“Sh,” I tell her.  “It doesn’t start for ten minutes.”

She scoffs at that, “Since when do you only take ten minutes?”

“So true,” I mutter against her neck. 

The next instant, I land on the floor of the backseat with a thud.  One thing bad about dating a girl who’s a dancer is that her legs are damn strong.  When I get back up on the seat, Gianna is sitting against the door, fixing her clothing. 

I sign in resignation, “Fine, I’ll wait until after the game, but I’ll have you know that watching  you jumping up and down out there is going to be torture.”

She laughs and opens the door to climb out of the car.  I watch her walk away.  I love the sway of her hips. 

I decide to distract myself with carbs and raid the concessions stand.  I miss kick-off, like I care, and my food and I find a nice little spot at the bottom of the bleachers.  Someone sits down next to me and I don’t notice who it is until I hear the words. 

“She should wear that outfit everyday.” 

I almost spit out my food.  I swallow it down and glare at Ian, “What the hell are you doing here?”

He gestures to the cheerleaders below us.  “I’m here to support Gianna in her extracurricular activities.”

“Oh really,” I say smoothly.  “Well, you can just go ahead and head back down south now because I’m already here.”

He points with an index finger out towards Gianna, who is watching us with a curious look on her face, “She’s already seen me.  It’d probably hurt her feelings for me to leave so soon.”

“I doubt it,” I mutter.  Then I glare at him, “Why are you bothering me?”

He shrugs, “Besides Gianna, you’re the only person I know here.”  Then he smiles, “Plus, I knew it’d annoy you.”

I toss my food into a nearby trash can, “I’ve lost my appetite.”

“So, which of the cheerleaders have you screwed, Caleb?” Ian leans over and asks in a very loud conpspiratorial whisper.  The middle-aged woman on the other side of him gives us a disapproving sideways glance.  He doesn't notice.

I turn my head to give him a dirty look, then grin after a thought occurs to me, “Only Gianna.”

He bumps his shoulder against mine, “Come on, you can tell me.  I won’t tell Gianna.  Who have you cheated on her with?”

“Do you think I’m retarded?  First off, I’d never cheat on Gianna.  Second, if I did, I definitely wouldn’t tell my biggest rival.”

He has a satisfied smile on his face, “So, you admit that I’m a rival?”

“Not. Even. Close.” I give him back a reflection of his own satisfied smile. 

He scowls. 

I grin even wider. 

He gets a thoughtful expression on his face, “So, which number is her ex-boyfriend Josh?”

I look at him out of the corner of my eye, “She told you about him?”

“Yep.  I kind of feel like kicking his ass.” Ian mumbles. 

“Already took care of it.  And I don’t know what his jersey number is.” I could probably easily find out though. 

“What about that Seth guy?” He’s trying to act nonchalant, but I sense an intensity in him.  Just how much does he like my girlfriend?  Maybe he’s not interested in her to piss me off after all.  I’d much rather have him chasing after her just to annoy me.  I don’t want him to like her for real.  Only I can like Gianna like that.  Only I can love her like that. 

“Don’t know that either,” I carefully say.  “Why do you care?”

He shrugs one shoulder, “Just wondering.”

Uh-huh.  Sure. 

I get an idea.  “Do you want me to hook you up with someone?”

He rolls his eyes at me, “No thanks.  I’ve seen your taste in girls.  Other than Gianna, you suck at picking out chicks.”

“Before Gianna, my taste in chicks was hot and easy.  When have you ever had a problem with those specifications?  Have you forgotten that we’ve messed with some of the same girls?”  Jeez, saying that out loud, it kind of sounds weird . . . wrong.  I shake off the thought with a shudder.

He laughs, “It was always fun when I’d steal your date at a club.”

I raise my eyebrows at him, “I had just as much fun stealing yours.”

We grin at each other, then when I get this weird feeling that we’re bonding or some stupid crap like that, I turn my head away and cough into my fist. 

Awkward. 

For the rest of the game, we don’t talk much, but instead watch the players and one cheerleader in particular.  Although, I see Ian’s eyes stray to a couple other ones from time to time.  Maybe he’s not in love after all.  I’ll ignore what he said and see if I can get Gianna to hook him up with one of them.

GIANNA’S POV:

When is this freaking game going to end?  I’m being tortured, having my man in the stands and unable to go near him.  I can tell my mom that I’m going to a party thrown by one of the football players and instead spend time with Caleb.  Cause you know, in her mind, kegs and wild parties is much more acceptable than being with the guy I love. 

As much as I’d prefer not to have to hide our relationship, it hasn’t been so bad.  Caleb and I have managed to spend quite a bit of time together this week.  And it hasn’t been all about sex, either.  Sometimes we just hold hands and cuddle, like when we went to the amusement park yesterday.  Afterwards, we went to Rocky Mountain Diner.  Caleb must really love the food there cause he ate half of my food.  Again. 

Ian has turned out to be a really good friend.  He even came to watch me cheer tonight.  I wave towards where he and Caleb are sitting together.  They’re actually talking, maybe they’ll finally become friends. 

At the end of half-time, one of the other cheerleaders hands me a piece of paper.  I open and read it.  It says, “Meet me in the cafeteria after the game, love Caleb.”

So romantic, so bad.  He wants to meet in the cafeteria probably for some really naughty reason.  I know that he likes to rebel against authority and school, but doing it in the school cafeteria is just bad.  Of course I’ll meet him anyways. 

By the time the game ends, we win, I’m bouncing around like I have to go pee.  I don’t, I’m just antsy to be back in my man’s arms.  I go with the other girls to the locker room, but only long enough to grab my duffel bag.  Outside of the locker room, I run into Seth outside the girls locker room.  He’s on his way to the boys.  He asks me how I am and whatnot.  He seems to be taking the breakup much better.  He even seems cheerful. 

I finally manage to get away from him and take the back doors out of the gym and walk through the dark school grounds to the main building.  At the cafeteria’s entrance, I try the doors and they’re unlocked.  I walk into the large, dark room and call out, “Caleb!”  I don’t think he’s here yet. 

When an arm wraps around my waist from behind, I automatically lean back into Caleb’s chest.  “I’ve missed you.”

He puts his face in my hair and inhales, “I’ve missed you too, Gianna.”

That’s when I realize that it’s not Caleb. 

I immediately start struggling in Josh’s grip.  He finally lets go of me to fling me against a wall. 

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