Little Dove | Daniel Hayward

7.

"Guys, look who's back!"

The Eagles rush over to Daniel with cheers as he walks through the door.

"Although it's good to be back at the Greenhouse for Daniel Hayward, the question remains, is he still our captain?" Sophie asks, taking out her Louie to blog Daniel's return.

"Guys, I am and always will be your captain," Daniel smirks proudly, adjusting his crutches.

"But we heard Louis told you that you needed-" Sophie gets cut off by Daniel, who's still smirking arrogantly.

"Louis was just a little upset over everything that happened, so he overreacted. My mom will talk some sense into him."

I scoff quietly at Daniel's dependence on his mom. "What if she agrees?" I ask.

Daniel shrugs, "I highly doubt that, Lex. And besides, I would never let you guys down."

I nod reluctantly, giving Daniel a tight-lipped smile.

"Eagles," Louis interrupts us as he walks through the door.

"I know these last few days have been chaotic for everyone," he says, earning nods of agreement from everyone. "But everything will return to normal as soon as you select a new captain."

A small smirk makes it's way onto my lips as I shoot Daniel an I told you so look. He rolls his eyes in response and turns to Louis.

"Did my mom talk to you yet?"

"I cannot overlook your lapse of judgement," Louis continues. "This has been a very difficult decision to make. And I want to thank Daniel for his service. Your new caption has some very big shoes to fill."

I glance at Sophie and nod encouragingly. She smiles in return and walks off.

I follow behind her and we end up walking into the locker room.

"So?" I ask. "Are you going to run for captain?"

"Me?" Sophie questions, as if I had just told her to travel to the moon. "Nah, that would be crazy."

"It wouldn't," I reply. "Think about it: you're the first woman to run for captain and you're the captain of the cheerleading team. Just remember what Ariana Grande once said, God is a woman."

Sophie nods and smirks. "You know what? You're right. I will run for captain, and nobody's going to stop me."

I laugh and throw my arm around Sophie's shoulders. "That's the spirit. Now come on, we've got captain business to discuss."

We walk into the main room and I notice a very angry Daniel storm into the locker room, followed by Brooke.

"Couples," I mutter, folding my arms.

"Maybe you should go check on them," Sophie suggests. "You are their friend after all, so if an argument breaks out then you can be the peacemaker."

"Me? Peacemaker? Brooke hates me and everytime I open my mouth Daniel rolls his eyes," I scoff.

"Brooke doesn't hate you," Sophie sighs. "She's just intimidated by you, don't tell her I said that."

"She's intimidated by me? Why?"

"Well first of all, you're fairly tall and she's fairly short. Plus you're like the most athletic girl in the Greenhouse. And you're pretty close with Daniel," Sophie explains humourously.