***Whoa, whoa, whoa... TWO chapters in ONE day? Yep, I must be a genie...cuz I'm granting your wish! A very quick upload. This one is pretty short, too, but it's important. It's kind of a filler chapter, but there's major drama. I love your comments, so leave me a whole bunch!
VOTE COMMENT FAN***
Chapter Nine
(Jordin’s POV)
I stare after Ollie in shock for a moment, and then stumble after her. Even when she’s a good twelve feet ahead of me, turning for the staircase, I can detect the furious stomps in her footsteps. Tears start to spill over when I remember that just two hours ago we were strutting into the gym arm-in-arm.
How could a simple nomination tear us apart like this?
“Ollie!” I call after her. “Ollie, please stop!”
I trail behind her hurriedly, ambling down the stairs and into the locker room. I scurry right up to her and take hold of her hand.
“Please, don’t be mad!” I beg. “It’s not my fault!”
Ollie rips her hand from my grasp and turns back to her changing. She ferociously yanks her sweaty gym shirt off and replaces it with a pretty yellow one. I admire how nice the color makes her hair glow against her skin.
“Please, Ollie.” I plead. “You know it’s not my fault. Why are you mad?”
She glares at me. “Why am I mad? You’re trying to replace me as captain, Jordin! I thought maybe you were different than the rest, that I could trust you to be my friend without you using me for popularity or my position on the team—but you’re just like them.”
I angrily swipe the back of my hand across my cheeks, the tears streaming in a fast current now. “Olivia,” I say her full name threateningly. “You know that I didn’t nominate myself to be captain. You know that Lauren forced that upon me. Didn’t you hear me trying to get out of it?”
Ollie crosses her arms over her chest and faces me head on. “Oh? And how do I know that’s not an act? Like your whole ‘nice, shy girl’ thing. Please, I know that’s just a cover for you. I bet you’re not even really like that. I mean, look at you now—you’re bursting with aggression. So where does this girl—” she points at me “—go when it counts?”
Blood filters into my cheeks as she announces this to everyone. “It’s not a cover act, Ollie! Now you’re making up lies about me? How could you sink so low? I thought we were friends.”
“I thought we were friends, too.” Ollie whispers. “But you had to go and botch that.”
She swings her bag over her shoulder and sprints out of the locker room. I slouch down onto the bench in between the sets of lockers, my face hidden in my hands. I’m not crying anymore, I’m full out sobbing.
It’s happening again.
“Hey, it’s okay,” A cautious hand pats me on the back.
I sneak a glance up and see that it’s Lisa standing above me. “I’m fine.”
I cross to my own locker and start changing. I don’t feel like slipping back into the skirt, so I pull on a pair of comfy sweats instead. I leave my tank top on and settle for my green Converse. I keep my hair in its messy ponytail and start towards the door.
“Jordin, wait.” Lisa says.
I turn to face her and see her heading toward me. “What?” I ask.
“Don’t you need a ride?” She asks.
“I can walk.” I mumble.
In fact, I’d hate to walk. My house is a good three miles away from the school; it would take me ages to get there. I awkwardly shuffle in the doorway, willing Lisa to offer me a ride home.
“Come on, I’ll take you.” She says.
I nod and follow her out into the parking lot. I rake my eyes over the empty expanse. The whole parking area is bare except for five or six cars. Lisa leads me to a shiny yellow Mustang and gestures for me to get in. I slide into the passenger side seat and settle in, clipping the belt across my body.
“So, uh, that was quite a fight.” Lisa murmurs as we hit the highway.
I nod slowly. “I know. Why is she so mad?”
“Ollie always gets like that when her position as captain is threatened. Lauren will pick a candidate and then Ollie will throw a huge fit. She gets super upset. I don’t know why, exactly. It happened with me, too.” Lisa explains.
I raise an eyebrow. “You were nominated for captain?”
“Yeah,” She answers. “Last year Lauren thought I might be a good captain. Ollie was freaking pissed. She yelled at me and accused me of being a terrible friend—totally threw me off my game. So the next week, when the competition was, I still felt really bad. She creamed me and the entire school voted her captain.”
“Oh,” I mutter.
“I know. Do I turn here?”
I point to the next turn on the right and Lisa follows that road. “She’s really protective of the whole ‘dance team captain’ thing. She doesn’t want the title taken from her. And now it’s her senior year, she wants to go out with a bang.”
Lisa pulls into the driveway of my house and parks her car.
“Thanks for the ride.” I tell her. “And, uh, what can I do about Ollie?”
“Don’t worry.” Lisa says. “It’ll all blow over. I mean, I lost the competition last year, but now we’re great friends.”
I step out of her car and shut the door. Lisa backs out and waves quickly before her fancy Mustang zooms down the road. I watch after her as the car disappears around the corner. I turn on my heels and make it up the steps to my house. When I throw open the door, I’m greeted by my mother’s excited squeal.
“Jordin, honey!” She calls. “Come into the kitchen!”
I comply and follow the delicious smell of brownies into the kitchen. There, I see my mother busily bustling around with the oven. I can see a pan of brownies cooling, a pan of chocolate chip cookies in the oven, and yet my mother is still working on some sort of batter.
“What are you doing, Mom?” I ask, popping a brownie into my mouth.
She smacks my hand away and places a box of vanilla icing in front of me. I hungrily dip a finger into the sweet stuff and lick that off, too. Mm, vanilla icing and chocolate brownie…match made in heaven?
“Jordin!” She exclaims. “Don’t you do that! Frost the brownies.”
Mom drops the sheet of brownies in front of me with a clatter and resumes kneading some sort of dough. I smear white frosting onto the small chocolate cakes, layering it on thickly.
“What’s all this for, Mom?” I ask cautiously.
“For you, silly!” She giggles.
“Uh, why?” I look at her wonderingly.
She shoots me a glance that clearly says ‘as if you don’t know.’ I shrug and rip off another chunk of brownie. I slap on another dollop of icing and take a bite of that one.
“Jordin, aren’t you excited?” Mom snaps.
“For what?” I ask, my mouth full of chomped-up cake.
“You’re captain now!” She squeaks.
When she says this, I choke on my bite of brownie. I spit it out and the chewed-up mess spews all over the place. My mother hands me a tall glass of water and mops up the glop. I chug down the cool water thirstily and glare at my mother over the rim of the cup. Of course, she’s making all this food. It’s my favorite stuff. Chocolate brownies, chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon rolls—I love it all. No wonder the only time she makes it is when I’m given something I don’t want.
“I’m not captain yet.” I tell her.
Mom scoffs. “Oh, but you will be.”
“No, Mom, I won’t. I have to compete against Ollie.” I say seriously.
“That silly blonde girl? Honey, you could beat her easily.” She pats my hand. “You’ll be great, trust me. I think you should do that spunky hip-hop number you love.”
I shake my head. “I’m going to lose.”
“What?” My mom gasps. “Oh, no, you’re not! You will try!”
I shrug nonchalantly, take the entire pan of brownies and the tub of icing, and trudge up to my room.
…
Beep, beep, beep! Beep, beep, beep! A weird shrilling claws me out of my sleep. I spank the alarm on my clock shut and tumble out of bed, rubbing my eyes.
I head to my closet and scan the choices. I’m not wearing anything special today. I pick out a pair of dark jeans, a plain blue t-shirt, a zip-up white hoodie, and blue Converse. I tie my hair back into a ponytail and brush my teeth. See, boring as ever. I tromp out of my room, my bag swung over my shoulder and head for the kitchen.
“Hello, dear.” My mother greets me.
“What’s for breakfast?” I ask grumpily.
“Honey, say hello to our guest.” Mom says through clenched teeth.
I follow her pointed gaze and my eyes land on a smiling Scott. He’s leaning back in one of the chairs by the dining table, his arms folded on the tabletop. When our eyes collide, he winks at me. Usually, that would spark tingles inside me or at least cause me to blush—but right now it does nothing. And it has nothing to do with Scott. I’m just too emotionally drained to feel anything. I’m just numb.
“Hello,” I grunt.
“Hi, Jordin,” He responds perkily.
His happy mood just annoys me more. I seat myself across from him on the table and wait for my mother to serve me breakfast. She slides a plate of toast and a glass of water in front of me and I accept gratefully. Scott watches me the whole time I shove bits of dry toast into my mouth and wash it down with water.
When I’ve swallowed the last bite, Scott smiles. “Ready to go?”
I nod.
“Bye, sweetheart,” My mother chirps.
I wave in response and follow Scott out to his car. I slip into the passenger side seat and pull the hood of my sweatshirt up over my head. I keep my mouth shut tight the whole ride to school, not even making eye contact with Scott.
“So, uh, how are you?” He asks.
“Eh,” I answer.
“Um, did you have a good day yesterday?”
“Eh,”
“Are you okay?”
“Eh,”
Suddenly, I feel the car screech to a stop. I whip my head side to side and see that we’ve parked on the side of the road. I peep over at Scott and see that he’s watching me.
“Er, what?” I ask.
“Oh, so you speak?” He retorts angrily.
“Shut up.” I command. “Just take me to school.”
“Hey, look. We’re going out now—”
I cut him off abruptly. “Whoa, whoa. We are not going out, Scott. We might have kissed yesterday and all…but we’re not dating. So get that thought out of your head.”
Scott looks taken aback for a moment. “What?”
“We are not going out.” I say slowly.
His eyes narrow in anger. “Then get the hell out of my car.”
This time it’s my turn to feel dumbfounded. “What?”
“Get the hell out of my car.” He demands.
Too surprised and furious to do otherwise, I swing the door open and step out into the light breeze. I slam the door shut and walk around the car and onto the sidewalk. I wave Scott a sarcastic goodbye and watch him pull the car into gear.
As I start down the other way on the sidewalk, I hear Scott’s car zip down the road.
***How was it? Do you guys feel bad for Jordin? For Scott? Do you hate Ollie now? There's a reason for her being a b*tch, you just don't know it yet. You know how Lisa said she doesn't know why Ollie's so protective of her captain role? Well...there is a very good reason for that. And you'll find out sooner or later... Just wait! Bahahaha :) VOTE COMMENT FAN***