Promise

Chapter 29

***
I was nervous walking into the dance room where winter cheer practice was held after getting dressed in  the locker rooms, even though I had Kendra by my side. We'd just finished getting ready for practice. A few of my teammates greeted me while others stared with a mixture of different emotions. I walked with Kendra towards the assistant cheer coach, Stephanie who was leading the practice today.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" She said playfully as I approached.
"How are you?" I asked, trying to sound casual even though my body was shaking at being around all these people from my past.
"I'm good, Miss Amore, where have you been? You doing okay?" Something told me she knew the answer to both those questions as she gave me a comforting side hug.
"I'm just ready to finish the year," I said, pulling away from her. "I missed cheering."
Coach Stephanie smiled.
"Well, your spot was never taken, you were one of our best, Amore," she said. "We've missed you. I'm not going to take it easy though so I hope you've been keeping active."
"Oh I have , don't worry," I lied.
"Good, get ready for stretches we'll be starting soon."
I nodded and walked over to Kendra who was sitting on the floor with Yasmine. Chantel was too busy giving unsolicited advice to a junior cheerleader on her back handspring.
I paid attention to all the girly chatter around me, the laughter, the fun. Slowly, I found myself relaxing. Eventually, the team started warm ups, then we practiced a few cheers before using the final hour of practice to go over the next basketball game's half time routine. They'd already completed most of the counts and dance moves so I made a few mistakes as I tried to catch on but the more we practiced the easier it became to follow along. I wasn't as rusty as I thought but I had to admit there were parts of my body that couldn't move the same due to a past injury I'd gotten from Jay. Other than that, I was having much more fun during practice than I expected. I was glad I'd come.
I was sweaty and out of breath when practice ended and also disappointed. Why hadn't I realized how much cheering meant to me? How much fun I had dancing, being active, and doing something other than being with Jay all the time.
"Wanna go get pizza with us?" Kendra asked as we headed back to the locker room.
"Sure," I said smiling.
As Kendra continued into the locker room my phone buzzed in my hand. I looked down at it and my heart started racing when I saw it was Jay calling me.
"Hello?" I said answering the phone.
"Can you meet me by the parking lot?" Jay asked. "I want to talk to you." His tone was calm.
"Uh, yeah right now?"
"Yeah."
"Okay..I'll be there in a little."
Jay hung up without saying anything else and I crossed my arms as I started heading in the direction of the student parking lot. Jay was standing by a wall waiting for me.
"Hey," I said. I kept my distance and looked around to see if anyone was around to witness this. Jay had a restraint order now so if anyone saw us talking it would be risky.
Jay looked me up and down, eyeing my outfit I'd worn to cheer practice one that I'd borrowed from Kendra. I subconsciously pulled down my shorts and waited for Jay to say something.
"What's all this?" he asked gesturing towards my outfit.
"I went to a cheer practice," I said.
Jay didn't say anything as he walked closer to me.
"I got your little restraining order this morning," he said. "You don't want to be with me no more? I thought we were gonna work things out."
"It wasn't me," I said immediately. "My dad-."
"Your dad is starting to piss me off. Why you letting everybody come between us? Do you really want this or are you playing with me?" Jay was staring very darkly at me making me nervous.
"I-I'm..." I stammered and struggled to get a sentence out.
We heard voices approaching and we both looked. Kendra raised an eyebrow when she saw me and Jay standing together.
"You okay?" She asked.
"Why wouldn't she be?" Jay asked.
Kendra ignored him and kept her eye contact on me.
"You ready to go?" She asked.
"Yes," I said without thinking.
Kendra nodded and started walking to her car and she looked over her shoulder at me. I saw Chantel and Yasmin walking to Chantel's car as well and I looked at Jay who was mugging all three of them.
"Why you hanging with those bitches again?" Jay asked.
"They're my friends," I said. "Can you just calm down and let me explain."
"You just want to be around everybody else but me, right?"
"Of course not. I love you."
Jay looked hard at me and I felt him stroke my cheek.
"Say it again," he said.
"I love you, Jay," I repeated.
"Good."
I knew everyone was waiting on me but I didn't want to get Jay jealous. But I seemed to be keeping him calm.
"Jay, I have to go," I said gently.
Jay took a deep breath then took a step back from me, glancing over at Kendra's car. Chantel and Yasmine were standing by the driver side talking to her.
"Go then," he said.
I quickly walked towards Kendra's car and all the girls looked up at me.
"What was that about?" Kendra asked.
"You fucking with him again?" Chantel asked.
"No..." I fidgeted with my fingers. "It's just hard for him to get over me, you guys know how he is."
"Mm, it's giving stalker," Yasmine said unsurely.
"Look, can you guys just keep this between us? I don't want anyone at school talking about me."
All three of them looked at each other.
"Whatever, I got you," Chantel said already walking back to her car.
Yasmine looked worried but she nodded her head yes before following Chantel. Kendra didn't say anything when I got in the passenger side of her car.
"Everything good, Kenz?" I asked.
She cleared her throat and nodded.
"Yeah," she said. She started up her car and drove off. "We just want to support you. So whatever you wanna do, I got your back."
"Thank you." I smiled at her, relieved I didn't have to explain myself.
***
When I got home later that evening I saw Darius's car in my driveway and I prepared myself for an awkward encounter. As I was walking into my house, Darius apparently was on his way out.
"Hey," he said in surprise.
"Hi," I said. He stepped to the side to let me in and I walked inside. I could feel him staring at me before I turned around to face him. I hope I didn't look like crap I had yet to shower or change my clothes.
"Where have you been?" Darius asked.
"I went to cheer practice after school," I said. I got warm when I saw Darius smile, his eyes lighting up.
"That's good, did you have fun?"
"Yeah I did." I bit my bottom lip and couldn't help but smile back. His reaction was the complete opposite of Jay's.
"You gonna cheer for me at the game tomorrow?"
"I don't know about all that."
"You better."
"We'll see," I said.
"Let me take you to school tomorrow, like I used to," Darius said.
Before I could say anything I heard the roar of a familiar engine going down my street. Darius was still standing by the doorway and blocking my view of the street but I knew it was Jay's car.
"You should go," I said quickly.
"Oh," Darius said. "Alright then."
I felt bad watching him leave and walk to his car but I immediately closed the front door, peering out of the window to make sure Darius got into his car okay.
"What are you doing?" Chris asked from behind me.
I stepped away from the blinds and turned around trying to look natural.
"Nothing," I said.
Chris scoffed and walked to the kitchen. He sat on a stool and had a bowl of chips in front of him. I sat down on the stool next to him and stole a chip.
"You still mad at me?" I asked.
Chris smacked his lips when I ate his chip and shook his head.
"Nah guess not," he said. "I ain't mean to call you an idiot."
I shrugged.
"I've been called worse," I muttered. "Besides, you were right."
"No I wasn't," Chris said. "I shouldn't have talked to you like that. I just be wanting to protect you and do as much as I can."
"I appreciate that."
"Yeah, so I hope you haven't seen or spoken to Jay. Dad told me about the restraining order."
I stood up deciding now was the time to exit from the conversation.
"I'm going to go take a shower," I said.
"Amore, you haven't right?" Chris asked. "And don't lie you know I can always tell."
"If you can tell then don't ask."
"Are you serious?"
"He came to see me today but I told him I had to go. He didn't get mad or nothing."
Chris suddenly got up from his chair and walked past me.
"Where are you going?" I asked. My brother didn't answer me as he put his shoes on. "Chris?"
Chris ignored me and walked out the house, slamming the door. My heart started racing. What had I done now.