“Is anyone gonna work besides me?” Caleb asked as soon as Ms. Garcia was out of earshot. Wes smiled sheepishly.
“I can help, but I didn’t read anything.” He offered. Caleb sighed.
“Nevermind,” Caleb bent over his paper and kept working.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you guys. I have a dentist appointment after school today so my mom’s picking me up.” Amanda announced.
“That was random,” Laila mused. “Are you going after drama club?”
“No, right after school. My mom wants me to go early cause she doesn’t want me out after dark.”
Both girls turned to Jace as he began to laugh, not even bothering to pretend it wasn’t at Amanda.
“Your mum won’t let you out after dark?” He finally managed between laughs. Wes was looking at Amanda with a horrified expression.
“Yeah,” Amanda scrunched her face, “She’s kinda overprotective.”
“You mean crazy?” Laila offered.
“Insane.” Caleb corrected, grinning. Amanda shot them both harmless glares.
“It’s not my fault.” She huffed, pouting at the table. Caleb went back to working while Jace continued to laugh. Laila ignored him and started drawing on her piece of paper.
“Do you have a cavity or are you just going for a checkup?” She asked, not looking up from her paper.
“Just a check up.” Amanda answered. They continued talking while Laila drew, and when the bell finally rang Caleb stood and took the paper to Ms. Garcia. Laila placed her paper back in her binder, but not before Jace could see it.
“Broadway?” He asked, his eyebrows raised. He pulled the binder from her and slid the paper back out, staring at it. His eyes shifted back to Laila as a teasing smirk tugged at his lips. She snatched the amateur drawing from him. It was a Tony Award with her name on it and the word Broadway above it in lights, though it was a horrible drawing. She couldn’t draw to save her life.
“Yeah,” She nodded. “I’m gonna be on broadway one day.”
He didn’t respond, only pushed past them to leave the classroom for lunch. She sighed angrily and slid the paper back into her binder before shutting it.
“Bye guys.” Wes smiled as he followed Jace out the door.
“He is so annoying.” Laila grumbled, waiting for Amanda as she packed her bag.
“Wes?” Caleb asked. He had just returned from Ms. Garcia’s desk and was packing up his things too.
“No, Jace!” She exclaimed. It obviously wasn’t Wes, since he was actually nice and all.
“You should stop letting him get under your skin so much,” Caleb chided. They set out for the lunch room together as Amanda pranced ahead of them. “He only does it because you react so much. I think you entertain him.”
“Obviously.” Laila muttered, rolling her eyes. Lunch and musical theatre passed without incident, no doubt because Jace stayed far away from Laila, and before she knew it the time had come for cheer. She headed to her locker and let out a reflexive sigh of annoyance as she saw Jace standing there. She spun her combination and pulled it open, grabbing her cheer uniform and placing her binder of sheet music inside. She slammed her locker shut and jumped; Jace was leaning against his own locker, his eyes on her.
“So guess who made the soccer team.” His voice was void of any emotion, though his smile was undoubtedly smug.
“Congrats.” Laila smiled, hoping maybe he would be nice for once.
“Yeah. You got lucky,” He started, and she raised her eyebrows for him to continue. “You get to cheer for me at every game. If they don’t kick you off, that is.”
“They’re not gonna kick me off,” Laila crossed her arms over her chest. “Could you be any more cocky?” She eyed him in distaste, wondering how in the world he could even be related to Rose.
“Yeah, but I don’t feel like it today. Maybe tomorrow.” He pushed away from his locker and walked away, not giving her a chance to respond nor sparing a second glance in her direction. She stared after him, wondering why on earth she just had to be the one person in school he seemed hell bent on annoying when he didn’t give anyone else the time of day.
She continued to watch him as a girl came up on his side and placed a flirtatious hand on his shoulder, saying something she couldn’t quite catch. He ignored the girl completely, shrugging her hand off and walking away as if she hadn’t said a word. Laila set off walking behind him, trying not to laugh as she passed the crestfallen girl.
He said he messes with me because I’m fun, she reminded herself, which probably means he plans to kill me in the near future.
She entered the locker room and quickly changed before stuffing her dress in her bag, heading out to the field. Cries and greetings of her name went up around the group as she approached, and she happily replied to the girls as she joined them.
“Lalaaaa!” Caleb sang as he ran up behind her, belting her name out in a loud tenor voice. “So guess who made the soccer team!”
She followed his gaze across the field, and of course he was looking at Jace. Because, according to him, he could make up the whole damn team by himself. She almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of his stupid claim.
“Jace,” Her voice was void of the excitement Caleb’s held as she looked back to him. “I know. He told me.”
“Well I’m not complaining about it. I’d love to cheer him on.” He smiled mischievously.
“You would.” She let out an amused laugh as she shook her head.
“And you wouldn’t? You can’t honestly tell me you don’t think he’s sexy beyond all reason.”
“Ew,” She scrunched up her nose. “There’s no way in hell! He’s rude and mean. Do you not see how he acts with me?”
“I see how he acts with everyone and I think it’s absolutely adorable.” Caleb sighed, once again gazing across the field.
“Well I think it’s obnoxious.” Laila declared. She grabbed his arm and tugged him to the midst of the cheerleading squad. “Do you know if we’re starting today or just doing introductions?” She inquired, looking around at the few new girls they had added. They normally took a day or two to go over procedure and let the girls get a feel for the way things worked.
“We’re hopping right in!” Katie’s excited voice came from beside her. “We’re looking for flyers today. You can’t be the only one forever, you know.” Katie smiled at her before taking her place at the front of the girls, where Ramani already stood toying with her hair. She finally settled for placing it in low pigtails. She turned and grinned at Laila, waving her over.
“You better be spotting me.” Laila told Caleb before skipping to the front. Caleb was the only one she trusted to catch her now, she had been dropped by the other girls far too many times.
“Hi!” Ramani chirped, now fixing her nail polish.
“Okay, girls, c’mere!” Katie called, raising her voice above the loud chatter of the many girls. They fell into silence as they crowded closer. “Who here has been a flyer before?”
Three girls raised their hands.
“And who here wants to be a flyer?” Ramani asked. This time only two hands shot up. Laila raised her eyebrows. Was that it?
“Okay, anyone used to doing base?” Katie continued. This time Caleb’s eager hand shot up, and he smiled hugely at Laila. Two other girls raised their hands, and Laila shot Katie a worried look. Caleb might be okay catching her on his own, but they would need three girls for each of the other two flyers.
“Um, how is this gonna work?” She asked, not at all trying to hide the worry in her voice. There was no way she was going to give up her claim on Caleb. She had had enough bruises in her three years of cheering already. Katie smiled before turning back to everyone else.
“Okay, looks like we’re looking for bases today. We have Caleb and you two, we need four more more. Laila, do you mind?” She gave Laila a pleading look.
“Sure, why not. If I die I’m blaming you, though.” She agreed. She slid a hair tie off her wrist and pulled her hair up in a loose ponytail, letting the random lock of black hair fall in her face. “Anyone who thinks they can handle being a base, come over here.” She waved her hand behind herself, taking charge and sparing Katie the trouble of doing so. Eight girls followed, including the two who had been bases before and the other two flyers.
“I’ll be teaching the rest of you cheers over here,” Katie added, leading the rest of the girls slightly to the side. Just as the girls began to separate a loud cheer came up from the other side of the field. Laila glanced over to see the soccer team starting off on their first lap of the day, and wasn’t surprised in the least as Ramani sighed from beside her.
“Here they come.” Ramani murmured. Laila giggled and rolled her eyes.
“Are you gonna help me or what?” She asked, waving a hand in Ramani’s face to regain her attention.
“Yeah. Yeah, sorry. Where’s Caleb?”
“Right here!” Caleb came up on Laila’s other side, beaming. Laila smiled and turned to the waiting girls.
“I’m gonna show you this with Caleb, and we’ll go over the technique of it so you guys can try catching me four at a time. When we choose the bases we’ll start practicing with the other two flyers. Yeah?” She didn’t wait for anyone to respond before backing into Caleb’s waiting hands. She gripped around his wrists and bent her knees and a second later he had tossed her in the air. He tightly gripped one of her feet in his palm while her hand held the other leg beside her head, pulling it up in a perfect vertical split with her free arm positioned in a high V. He tossed her up again and she spun twice in the air before he caught her bridal style and swiftly set her on her feet in a perfect dismount. She heard a cat call a second later and turned to see Wes grinning at her as he passed. Jace was staring at her as well, looking mildly impressed. She smiled at Wes before turning back around.
“So, obviously you guys won’t be doing that because none of you are co-ed partners except Laila and Caleb,” Ramani started. She was shamelessly eyeing the other girls one by one, whether to size up their basing abilities or simply assess their hotness, Laila wasn’t sure. “So can you two,” She pointed to the ones who knew what they were doing, “come help Caleb catch her.”
“Will any of us get to partner with Caleb at all?” One of the flyers asked.
“No, sorry. He’s all mine.” Laila smiled apologetically as Ramani giggled beside her. Caleb and the two girls positioned themselves around her and she looked to Ramani for direction. “What’re we doing?”
“Toe-touch basket toss.” Ramani placed her hands on her hips, watching intently as they got in formation. Laila was easily tossed in the air, where she executed a toe touch and once again was dismounted perfectly. “Good,” Ramani nodded, waving the two girls away. “Two more.”
Laila shot her an unsure look as the second batch of girls approached. Ramani gave them a brief overview of what to do, and then it was go time. This stunt went well, and then it was time to test out the final two. Laila took in a deep breath, and then she was up in the air. She went into her toe touch, but this time as she was coming down one of the girls missed, instead leaving a scratch along Laila’s side. Luckily Caleb and the other girl caught her just fine, and she was gently placed back on her feet.
“Ow,” She sucked in a deep breath, pulling her shirt to just below her bra to examine the cut. There were three long scratches running across her side.
“Sorry! I’m sorry, I am so, so, so sooo sorry,” The girl was panicking, hovering between wanting to help Laila but not wanting to touch her for fear of making it worse.
“It’s fine, really.” Laila smiled, hoping to comfort the girl. She gently ran a finger across the forming welts but didn’t wince.
“Watch out--!”
Laila jumped to the side as a soccer ball went flying past her head, missing it by a fraction of an inch. It hit a nearby bleacher and bounced off, barely nudging her foot as it rolled back toward her.
“I just saved your life,” Caleb announced.
She bent and picked the ball up, only to have it plucked from her hands a second later.
“Thanks for catching it, big head.” Jace was grinning at her, bouncing the ball back and forth between his hands. His hair was disheveled and he was slightly sweaty.
“I don’t have a big head.” Laila protested, placing her hands on her hips. Jace cracked a half smile as he looked her up and down.
“Would you prefer fairy?” He finally asked.
“No!” Laila snapped, her voice raising in frustration. “Go away.”
He grinned and jogged off, leaving half the girls staring after him.
“He is so sexy,” Ramani sighed, her eyes on his retreating back.
“He tried to kill me!” Laila declared, shooting her friend an incredulous look.
“Okay guys, practice is over!” Katie’s voice cut into their conversation, causing the girls to turn to her. “See you all tomorrow. The flyers and bases can finish with Laila and Ramani tomorrow.” She smiled in their general direction before heading to the stands to collect her stuff. Laila made a beeline for Caleb, who was on his phone.
“Who are you talkin to?” Laila whispered, standing beside him as he held his phone slightly away from his ear. She could hear a voice shouting over the other end.
“My mom,” He mouthed. “Yeah, I know mom! But I have to take Laila home--” He held the phone further as the noise increased. “No, I know he’s hurt but it’ll only take like twenty minutes!”
“What happened?” Laila whispered.
“Cory broke his arm playing football and Chynna won’t be out of class for two hours, my mom’s stuck at work and he has no one else to take him--” He winced as his mom’s voice reached a new high. “Yes, mom I’m listening!”
“I can find a ride home, it’s fine.” Laila offered, cutting in. She grabbed the phone from Caleb and held it to her ear. “Hi Mrs. Moross. Don’t worry, Caleb will be there. I can get a ride home.”
Caleb smiled in relief as Laila nodded along to his mom, who had stopped yelling and was calmly thanking her. She handed the phone back and grinned.
“Go ahead,” She bent over to unzip her bag, grabbing her phone out. “I’ll call my phone for a ride. Tell Cory I said hi.”
“Thanks. I’m sorry!” Caleb grabbed his bag and ran off toward his car, looking slightly panicked. She sat on the bench as the other girls slowly headed off toward their own cars or rides and dialed her mom’s number. She picked up on the third ring.