𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋.
the rest of the team surrounded her.
"you know, it's okay to walk away." troy said.
"shut up." i said, helping bella up, and shoving sawyer out of my way to put my purse down.
bella and i continued playing through the week, laughing when sawyer barely caught my throws.
practice was long, and we stood in a huddle, everyone's eyes on coach.
"bella, now you have the arm, you know the game, but you're still untested. both of you are." coach glanced at me.
"going in with either of you would be a big risk." coach said, and bella squeezed my hand. "but this is texas, we go big or we go home."
sawyer stared at me, and i smiled at him. tory glared at bella.
we'd stolen their spots.
bella screamed, shaking ricky and hugging newt. she started doing cartwheels.
i smiled at her.
"let's go celebrate?" bella suggested, as soon as we got to the locker room.
"sure. where?" i asked, spraying perfume on myself and gathering all my things into my bag.
"i know the perfect place." bella said.
i followed her out of the school, heels clicking on the cement.
"so.. how are you liking it so far here? any cute people?" bella asked.
"i already made more than enough friends in all my classes, i joined the football team, so everything's fine. besides that weird country dude." i frowned.
my car pulled up, and bella's face lit up with excitement.
"we get to ride in this?" she asked.
"yeah?" i said, sitting in the car and patting the seat next to me.
"i love limos!" bella shrieked, grabbing a bottle of water and eating the candy.
"so, i think you're talking about sawyer." bella said, mouth full of chocolate. "he has an accent, always wears a flannel?"
i nodded.
"he's usually not mean. i think he's just threatened by you." bella said.
he should be.
the car pulled up to the restaurant, and we walked inside of it.
"this place looks like it has sweaty peanuts in a barrel." i
looked around, judging the cowboy theme.
"hi bella, and cherry!" newt greeted as soon as he saw us. "i mean, we don't like you."
"cool." i nodded.
besides newt trying to be rude because the rest of the team didn't like us, he was actually very kind.
he was also very well off. we went to the same country club.
"well, i hope you like free pizza!" bella said, watching the pizza she ordered being set in front of them.
i told her not to suck up to them!
"i know you don't like this, but we're teammates now. maybe if we get to know each other better, you know, shared our hopes and fears, we might actually get to be friends." bella suggested.
jesus christ.
"i knew this pizza wasn't free!" sawyer set down his slice.
"we,ll, now hold on there, sawyer. bella might be right." troy said.
"really?" everyone asked in unison.
"sure! i mean, we all have hopes and fears. maybe if you guys go first, i'll find the.. the courage to share mine." troy suggested.
"i love talking about myself!" i said, setting my purse down onto the table. "okay, uhm, biggest fear.. running out of money."
"i thought it'd be running out of your lipgloss." sawyer said.
"that too! i'm wearing some right now." i smiled.
"i bet it's totally fruit flavored." sawyer mocked, in a high pitched voice.
"wanna come find out?" i asked.
his face fell, trying to come up with a response.
"you go next, bella." i said, completely ignoring whatever sawyer's stumbled words were supposed to be.
"oh, well.. okay. don't laugh. when i was six, we went to the state fair. i thought i was going to a petting zoo, but i went into a bull fight! i know it's silly, but bulls still totally terrify me." bella said.
pepper 'hmph'ed, and bella followed after her.
because bella and i joined football, we had to quit cheer, but, we were still allowed to go to tonight's last competition.
"i'll be there." i nodded, and turned around to see troy talking to bella.
"we've realized you guys are just what this team needs." troy said.
"we are?" bella asked.
"yup! all you have to do is go through the official initiation." troy said.
"i'm getting initiated? could this day get any better?" bella said.
as much as i like having my ego stroked, something was weirdly suspicious.
"meet us in the locker room in an hour." troy said.
"can't, sorry." i said, waving goodbye to everyone.
before i left, i leaned in close to bella.
"you shouldn't go." i whispered.
sawyer felt my shoulder brush against his. the smell of my floral perfume and money wafted around him.
he hated it with everything inside of him, he hated me.
i stole his spot, i was annoying, and some stupid classy rich girl.
which is why he lied about the initiation.
as much as he felt the guilt pounding into his heart, it all melted away when he saw me.
i even looked like old money.
he was determined to get me off the team, one way or another.
« ───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ───── »
sawyer, troy, and newt planned to get rid of bella, while cherry got ready for the cheer competition.
he'd have to come up with another plan to get rid of cherry and her heels.
when she went back to the school, she ignored how dark the locker room looked.
they must've gone home already.
cherry walked into the gym.
"bella still isn't here?" cherry asked.
"no." pepper said nervously.
"i'll go look for her." cherry said, leaving the gym.
she walked through the halls, and sawyer tensed at the familiar sound of heels clicking on the ground.
cherry's out there, sawyer thought to himself.
cherry heard the hushed whispering, and she opened the room of the book returns box.
sawyer grabbed her, shoving her inside the box with the rest of them.
"ow, motherfucker." cherry said, rubbing her arm.
the space inside the box was barely enough for the three of them, and now there was another.
cherry was pressed up against him, her shoulder on his.
she could feel the warmth of his body, and he could smell her perfume, and feel the beads of her necklace pressing into his arm.
"why the fuck are you guys in here?" cherry asked. "are you guys watching por-"
"oh, no reason, troy and sawyer just made up a fake initiation!" bella said.
"no we didn't!" sawyer defended.
"newt?" bella asked.
"it's all lies! we made it up to scare you guys off the team! that wasn't even a bull, it was a cow with fake horns on it." newt said quickly.
sawyer and troy stared at him.
newt locked around.
"oh, who said that!" newt said.
"seriously?" bella asked. "after everything we did to prove we belong on this team? after i trusted you guys with my biggest fear, you used it against me?"
"yeah, i'm gonna go." cherry said, but sawyer pulled her back down.
"there's a crazy cow out there, you're not going anywhere." sawyer said.
cherry scoffed, and pulled out her phone to text apologies to both pepper and sophie.