Seven Brothers

9. Along Came Drama

***

Later that day I had changed into my gym clothes, ready to meet my fate. All eyes were on me when I entered the gym, I stuck out like a sore thumb. I didn't belong on the cheer squad, I was more of a track girl. Team sports always meant trouble for me, maybe it was something to do with my extreme competitiveness and violent tendencies?

"Peyton! You're here!" I heard Mia squeal in her nasally voice. She emerged from the posse of girls and grabbed my arm, dragging me in, dragging me to the very depths of hell.

"Now, we're just gonna do some warm up drills to begin with, before we get into the good stuff" she instructed, before strutting to the front of the group. For fifteen minutes, fifteen whole minutes, I threw my body about, copying the actions of Mia, my body making shapes I didn't even know were possible. It was more of a work out than I had expected, I had to give it to the cheer squad, they were all in very good shape.

"Nice job Peyton, you managed to keep up" Mia said, walking back over to me, a wide grin spread across her face.
"Just about" I huffed, struggling to catch my breath.
"Jus, Grace. Come over and help me with some extensions" she called to two other cheerleaders. Two of her minions who followed her around school I noticed.

"So, you and Elijah are good friends, right?" she asked as the other girls gathered around.
"Yeah, I guess so, he hangs out with my brothers all the time" I shrugged it off, trying to play it cool so she wouldn't go off in a mad fit of jealousy.

"So you know him pretty well?" she asked, eyeing me up and down. I was about to say no, because the truth was, there was a lot I didn't know about Eli, even though he was gradually opening up to me, he was still so closed off. I never knew if I was talking to the real him or the front he puts up.
"Yeah, I do" I smiled at her, I was so ready to toy with her.

"What you're gonna do is stand on our hands and make that shape" she pointed over to a girl who had been lifted into the air, making a shape with her body that looked like a medieval form of torture. I raised my eyebrows sceptically at her. She and her friends just simply placed their hands down, waiting for me to step up. I conceded, relishing in the fact that I was stepping on Mia Hastings' perfect, dainty hands with my muddy trainers. I nearly plummeted to the floor when they lifted me suddenly.

"So, how do you think I should go about winning him over?" she asked casually as I was suspended in mid-air, going against everything I knew about physics.
"What?" I said at first, concentrating on not falling to my death, but then I realised my opportunity had come. "Oh right, well, Eli is a really sensitive guy, you know" I lied as I attempted to bend my body in ways it was not designed to bend.

"He likes big gestures, like flowers maybe? He'd love flowers! And public displays of affection, you know. He likes to feel wanted, that's how you'll get his attention" I tried to contain my laughter, scarily aware that my life was in Mia Hastings' hands, she could literally drop me on my ass at any moment.

I couldn't contain my shock as all of the girls who were being lifted around me front-flipped off of their perches, landing gracefully on the ground. The movements were so sudden that I jumped and lost my footing, falling to the floor, in a heap.
"Oh my god! Peyton are you okay?" Mia exclaimed. It was weird, it was almost like the she-devil actually had a heart.
"Yeah, I'm fine" I said, standing up woozily, the world around me spinning. It was like being hungover without the fun night to cause it, totally unfair.

"Oh god, you're bleeding, that's gonna bruise" she sighed, inspecting my face. I instinctively raised my hand to my eyebrow and sure enough, there was a small amount of blood.
"Don't worry about it, but I think that'll be my cue to leave" I tried to smile at her "Don't forget what I said about Elijah, you should probably send the flowers to my house because he spends most of his time there." I began to leave.
"Oh I won't" she grinned enthusiastically "Thank you Peyton". I chuckled to myself, she won't be thanking me later.