my better half | c.w. ✓

Chapter 11

I stepped back, holding back a laugh at the huge smile that stretched across his face. "Really?"

I nodded, squeezing his hand. "Really."

He stared at me for a moment, his smile so wide it reached his eyes.

"Come on, we'd better get going before Emma strangles me," I said with a laugh as I led him back onto the trail.

We retraced our steps until we were out of the woods, (A/N: hope i'm not the only one who sang that) then hurried down the hill towards the bleachers, where Emma was waiting, an annoyed expression on her face.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm here," I rushed, out of breath from running so much. Sometimes I don't understand my body: I can dance for six hours straight, but I can't run for five minutes without feeling like I'm dying.

"Thank God. There's barely a minute left of the first half. Where the hell were you?" she asked, now slightly less angry, but clearly still upset with me.

"I, uh...I kind of ran off into the woods?"

She looked at me in confusion. "What?"

I looked down at my feet. "I-I saw Noah. And I freaked out."

Immediately her expression changed from annoyance to sympathy. "Oh, Kenna, I'm so sorry." She pulled me into a hug, and I wrapped my right arm around her, my left hand still intertwined with Cole's.

"Why is he here?" she asked as she pulled away. "Oh, never mind, I'm just glad you're okay."

I nodded. "I'm fine. Cole really helped." I smiled gratefully at him.

For the first time, she noticed we were holding hands. She looked up at me, then down at our hands, then me again. "Wait, so is Colenna official? Dang it, I owe Lexi ten bucks."

I stared at her for a minute before bursting into laughter. "Did you seriously bet on that? Oh my god, I hate you."

Emma shrugged. "We all knew it would happen eventually."

I shook my head, still laughing. "Well, you can keep your money, we're not actually together."

"Yet," Cole added, squeezing my hand. I looked up at him, my smile growing bigger at the thought of us being an official couple.

Meanwhile, Emma looked like she might pass out from the excitement. She tended to really invest herself in other people's love lives.

Just then, the clock on the scoreboard went down to ten seconds left in the second quarter. The dance team coach motioned to Emma and I, silently telling us to hurry up.

"Well, looks like we're on," I said to Emma. She smiled excitedly and ran over to where the coach was.

 I turned to Cole. "Thank you. For everything." I gave him one last smile and squeezed his hand before letting go and walking away. "Wish me luck!"

He shook his head, that adorable smile still on his face. "You don't need it."

Blushing, I turned away and ran towards the spot in front of the bleachers where the dance team was warming up. I stood next to Emma and took off my jacket, revealing my dance team uniform. It was a typical cheer/dance uniform, with a red and white long sleeve top that read "Patriots" on the front and a matching red skirt with a white stripe on the side.

It turned out that the marching band was performing before us, so we had an extra five minutes to warm up and stretch.

When the band finished their performance, we lined up on the side of the field, waiting to be announced.