Persuaded

CHAPTER TWO

Chapter Two:

A week later, juggling my job as a peewee cheerleading coach, volunteering at the local library and packing up, the summer still hadn't proved to be any easier. In fact, I was busier than I'd ever been before. Friday afternoon—during an unexpected day off—I was trying to remember to pack my room, but instead I'd found myself thinking of Greg—I mean, Gregory—more than I should. It was the first real time I'd had a minute to focus on him at all, which wasn't good.

In particular, most of my thoughts revolved and swirled around three and a half years ago. No matter how hard I told myself to think about something else, the day I had broken Greg's heart wouldn't leave me alone. I was haunted repeatedly by his lopsided grin when he had approached me at school—surrounded by my friends—and asked if he could talk to me for a few minutes.

"She can't talk to you right now," Kylie had sneered at him. "She has cheerleading practice, duh."

"Oh, okay. Hey, I'll come by after school then." Greg nodded in my direction as I closed my locker in disbelief. "There's something I've gotta say and I can't—I was hoping—that is, there's just something I have to tell you. I've been thinking about it a lot and I would be really happy if you'd—I mean, I think we'd make—You know what? I'll see ya later and tell you then. It's not like two hours is going to make much of a difference anyway."

Oh my gosh! He's gonna ask me to go with him! I know it. Eek! "Okay, promise?"

"Yeah, I promise. I'll be there." Greg smiled.

"Come on, Amanda. We have to go now!"

Helpless, I had glanced back and saw the slightly confused look on Greg's face when the other cheerleaders rudely dragged me away from him—the one guy I had seriously been crushing on the whole school year. So what if he wasn't the typical high school jock my friends had been trying to throw at me for months, he made me laugh—and that right there was worth a thousand other guys.

If only I had hung onto that thought— if only I had reminded myself repeatedly to stay firm—I may have never landed in such a mess.

I didn't remember how happy Greg made me feel, and I didn't stay firm. It was hard to, especially with the combined efforts of the cheerleading squad—my friends—all of them determined to make me see reason.

"No, Amanda, you may think that you like him, but believe me, Greg What's-his-name is a nobody and he's going nowhere. Seriously, why stop at the bottom when you could have the top?"

"Besides! He could totally ruin your chances to get Scott Mathews, who—hello?—has only been gawking at you for weeks now. If you get Scott, your future is set. His parents will even secure you a cheerleading scholarship for college, remember?"

"Yeah, and uh—honestly, none of us want to hang out with Greg, anyway! So what are you trying to say? You'd rather have him, than us?"

"Exactly! If you want to stay on this squad you have to remember one rule; we're sisters here, and none of us will allow you to throw yourself away on a guy like Greg."

"Eww! It just grosses me out even thinking about you and him. Girl, you have got to step back and see what we see, okay? If you could see the situation like we can, you would run the other way."

Their words were so rushed and loud I didn't even a chance to defend myself or Greg, had I wanted to.

That whole practice was a blur. My head was a combination of crazy jumbles and pressure points. One thing was for certain. By the end of the two hours I had made up my mind; I would tell Greg no.