M E A N I N G F U L
M I S T A K E S
Chapter Twenty Four
"Alright everyone!" I jolt awake unexpectedly when Coach booms his voice down the bus. A headache begins to grow. "I want you all to grab your bags from under the bus, and wait at the side until I have the keys, then I will read who is sharing rooms."
The four hour trip became exhausting the moment I felt my head growing worse. I'd forgotten to take painkillers, so I thought I'd sleep it off.
Students had been chatting loudly, some of the boys tossed basketballs around, and Coach could be heard sharing terrible jokes around with the boys surrounding him.
Being locked in such a confined space with a bunch of Lacewood students is something I definitely do not enjoy. It gave me more reasons to shut my eyes and press my side to Hunter's so I was comfortable.
Now that I'm awake, I see the bus is parked in the motel parking lot. My stomach bubbles with excitement. Today is the first day of my performance with the cheerleading team.
"Seriously, Hunter?" William sticks his head between the seats and stares at the brown haired boy beside me. "You ate all the skittles! I only got two!"
"You took your time eating them, and I was hungry." Hunter defends himself with a shrug and stands from the seat once all the other students start clearing the bus.
"I wouldn't be complaining, Will. I didn't get any." I didn't know my best friend packed skittles, but I'm not surprised. They're his favourite treat.
Hunter holds his arms up in surrender. "You were asleep! I wasn't going to shove them down your throat when you were unconscious! I didn't want to wake you."
I laugh loudly when Hunter's face turns guilty. I stretch my legs then stand to join the boys, finally following them down the bus isle. "It's fine. I don't even like skittles."
"You don't?" He says through an inhale, his voice laced with disbelief and he places a hand over his heart- as if I had wounded him.
I shake my head and carefully walk down the stairs. "The only sweets I like are chocolate and jolly ranchers- the blue ones mainly. You should know after you stole my blue ones." I still have a grudge against him for that. "You owe me a packet."
"Listen up everyone!" Coach walks back to the small hoard of students with a bunch of keys dangling in his hand. "There's forty of you, which means there will be three to four people in a room."
"I'm guessing the basketball team are going to be the ones with the luxury of only three people?" I mutter to William who nods in agreement, knowing his Coach well enough to see his decision.
"Or even just the guys. The girls might get four to a room." He quietly says back.
Coach starts reading out the names and room numbers- proving William's point that the boys have three people per room, and the girls with four.
I push my tongue against the back of my teeth when I notice the pattern of people within the room. The basketball team are together, and the remaining people have been split with only one friend to share with two students they don't spend time with.
"William Henderson, Hunter Kings, and Ian Piermont, room one-five-seven." The two boys nod in approval at each other, and Ian grabs the key from Coach. They're unbelievably lucky.
"Becky Robertson, Mia Vanderwal, Kimberly Hall, and Lolita Brown." William and Hunter both turn their heads to me, and my face pales. "In room-one five-nine."
Coach seems proud of the choice. He often notes who classmates hate, and pairs them up in situations like this. He put Mia and I together on purpose.
I'm thankful the room is close to William's and Hunter's, meaning that is my ticket to an escape if I can't handle Mia and Kimberly.
I'm considering sleeping on the bus. Maybe if I run fast enough and hide, I can get away with it. I'd made all those jokes to Hunter about sharing a room with her, and karma has snuck up on me.
Becky snatches the key from Coach's hand and miserably drags her suitcase over to me. "I can't be held responsible if they push me far enough to kill them."
"I would probably help you." I take ahold of my own mint coloured bag. Mia and Kimberly stay in their spots with their glares projected our way. They completely ignore Natasha beside them who is complaining about not being in their room.
"I'll get rid of the body." William suddenly declares under his breath as he walks past Becky and I, joining Ian to go to towards their room. We snicker.
"Try not to miss me too much for the total of," Hunter pauses to look at the time on his phone, stepping in front of my vision, "forty minutes until you see me again."
"You're such a dork." I reach up and ruffle his already messy hair alike what the boys usually do to me. I am sick of fixing the mess, so I wanted to see what was so entertaining by ruining someone else's hair.
"Your dork."
"You spent four hours with her on a bus." William marches back to us and grabs Hunter's jacket sleeve. "You don't need to act like you're never going to see her again."
I laugh as I watch the blond drag him along and towards the stairs that lead to the second floor.
"What do I have to do to get a boyfriend like that?" Becky swoons, also watching the boys disappear.
I don't know how I got someone like Hunter. Sometimes I wonder if he hadn't lived next door and William didn't befriend him, would he and I end up the way we are now?
"Throw a milkshake at a guy, and he'll come around eventually." Her eyebrows shoot up. "Actually, don't. It'll create a lot of problems. It's a horrible idea."
Most of the students have already left to find their rooms, and slowly we do the same. "They need an elevator in this place." Becky groans while climbing the steep stairs.
I eye her suitcase that reminds me of William's. She too overpacked. "I don't think it's the stairs. I think it's your bag." Becky huffs at me.
Mia and Kimberly both stand still at the bottom of the stairs, looking around the carpark for what I think would be an elevator like we had done for a moment.
When Becky and I reach the second floor, the girls still are looking around and complaining that they can't get their bags upstairs- their bags which are the same size as Becky's small one.
"You watch, she'll get one of the guys to help her carry the bag." She bets, leaning against the railing to watch the girls amusingly. Mia takes out her phone and begins to call someone.
"I'm not sticking around to find out who she's talking to, and why she has their number. I'll never be able to look at them again." I turn around and trudge down the orange hall, watching the numbers that go by.
"Room one-five-nine." Becky unlocks it swiftly with the key. "At least it's close to the stairs. If we desperately need to run, we can."
"Or to throw ourselves down quickly and efficiently." She doesn't laugh at what I say, instead she nods and purses her lips as if she agreed my idea was better.
Our motel room is small and childlike. I feel suffocated at the sight of the horrible green wallpaper and thick wooden beds.
"Two bunk beds, great." Becky rolls her eyes. "Shotgun the top!" She climbs the ladder and jumps on the stiff mattress.
There's a bed pressed to each wall and a very small walkway between, then a bench at the end, and an open door that leads to a smaller bathroom. There's not even a window.
The light flickering above us is yellowy, and the carpet is heavily stained. The place smells so foul it's hard not to grimace.
"I'm not going to get any sleep tonight." I run my hands through my hair and lie down on the bottom bunk. "I have trust issues as it is, and knowing Mia is a few feet away is really going to tip me over the edge."
I already feel the anxiety rattling in my stomach when everything she's ever said to me replays in my head. All I keep seeing is her sitting comfortably with Noah.
"We can take shifts. Now that you mention it, I don't think I can sleep with her here either. I don't want to wake up missing a limb." Becky says right as the door opens.
"This place is so gross." Mia and Kimberly stumble in with one of the boys from class trailing behind with both of their suitcases.
"I hate these horrible oranges and greens. I feel like I've stepped on the set of a sixties movie." Kimberly scans the room.
Once Tony, the student carrying their bags, places them on the ground with a relieved exhale- he leaves without saying a word or a thank you from the girls.
"I can't believe we have to share a room with them." Mia acts like we can't hear her, and crosses her arms.
"The feeling is mutual." I remain calm and stare at the wooden planks above me. "Too bad none of us had a say in it." My fingers are tightening together.
"I overheard one of the girls on the bus say that you're captain again." Mia's lips pull down in her scowl.
"You should've rethought when you told Principal Morrison that I wasn't stable enough to be on the team. Seems like Coach thinks the same of you now."
I shouldn't have said anything. My lips could've stayed sealed- and all of this would've been avoided.
Her jaw ticks. "The only unstable one here is you. I mean seriously," her chest is rapidly rising and falling as she thinks of something to say, "all you do is go around crying for attention all the time. That's not what I call stable."
I look away from her and back to the wooden slats. "I wouldn't call whining that you didn't get your way stable either."
"You're a fucking b-"
"Mia just shut the hell up." Becky snaps and sit's up, her feet dangling over the bed. "No one on this side of the room clearly gives a crap about you or what you say, so just stop running your mouth and making a fool of yourself. Keep your opinions about Lolita to yourself before I make you swallow them."
I can't hide my surprise. I've never heard Becky stand up to Mia like this.
She steps dangerously close to our bunk bed. "So help me Becky, I'll-" I shoot up from my bed and stand right in front of her.
"You'll what?" An intimidating side of me surfaces. Treating me badly is one thing, but my friends is another.
I am tired of taking her harsh words, and watching her bully others. I can't be sidelined and cry every time for it. I wanted to be stronger- so I'm being stronger.
"That's what I thought." I snap after she stays silent. Mia angrily huffs in my face and spins around, her hair hitting my cheeks before she marches back over to the other bunk bed, and tosses her bag on the bottom one.
"We've been in the room for less than five minutes and someone almost lost their head." Becky chuckles and jumps off the top.
"Give me another five and Mia will also lose her shiny nails." I make sure to say it loud enough so Mia can hear. Her body is ridged, knowing this time she couldn't get to me.
Becky snorts. "Give it ten, and world war three will happen right before my eyes."
I smile. "I'm going to start getting ready now before little miss sunshine," I glance at Mia, "hogs the bathroom on purpose."
Becky takes ahold of both of our bags. "In that case, I'll do my hair and make-up now with you."
The bathroom is tiny, to say the least. I don't dare stare at the smelly toilet and stained bathtub for longer than necessary.
The long mirror stretches over a broken sink, but it's wide enough for us both to stare. There is hardly any room to step back, unless we want to tumble into the gross bathtub. I think I'm going to use the school's bathroom instead of this one.
"I want to vomit, but I'm too scared to go anywhere near that toilet to do so." Becky pinches her nose. I quickly unzip my bag and take out my bottle of perfume to spray it in the air for some relief. "That's better. You didn't happen to pack hazmat suits in there, did you?"
I laugh. "Unfortunately not. I think if I need to pee, I'm using either the school or William's and Hunter's room." I pull out my make-up bag and hair curler, setting it to rest on the edge of the tub since it looks the cleanest.
Becky's eyes meet mine in the mirror. "Are you and Hunter a thing? When did that happen?"
I want to curse myself for suddenly feeling so giddy. "I kissed him on Friday, but we spoke about it on Saturday."
"It's about time." She gushes. "At practice I always saw how he would look at you on the bleachers even when you were reading. When I stopped by the hospital, he was sitting with his head resting on the bed- doing nothing but staring at you. He didn't look away once."
"I'm going to be a mood killer, but that last one was pretty creepy."
She shakes her head and laughs. "It wasn't a creepy, I promise. When I walk in the room, he was fixing your blanket to make sure you weren't cold, then he fixed your hair for you. Oh Lolita, you've got that boy wrapped tightly around your finger."
"Let's get it moving everyone! Come on, come on! Chop chop!" Coach slams his fists against our door and then to the doors beside us, definitely gaining everyone's attention in the motel.
"Are you excited?" Becky sings happily as we leave the room. Mia and Kimberly had already left thankfully.
I nod. "I'm a little nervous. It's been a while since I performed at a game."
"Well, it'll be a great surprise for the boys. I remember when you'd bring William in and try to get him to dance with us- he loved you being captain more than you did yourself. It'll be a great surprise for the Kingscross High cheerleading team. They hate you." Becky nudges my side with her elbow.
Gosh, I'd almost forgotten about the Kingscross cheer captain. I was only sixteen when I met her, and it was the first time I ever threw my milkshake at someone. "It's a new captain this time. Hopefully no more drama."
We walk down the stoats and join the gathering students. "What is it with you and that black coat and white shoes recen- and stockings?" William does a full body scan of me once I join him and Hunter who are waiting beside the bus.
Becky had split away from me to not make anything too obvious, since I wanted to keep it a surprise. My curled hair is gently held back in a pony so I don't look identical to the team.
I'm going to wait until the game to apply my red lipstick and slip off the black coat. Although, I forgot that I put on my skin tone stockings.
I do my best to act normal. "It's a nice coat that I forgot I had. Why? Is there something wrong with it?" I know that question always makes William second guess. He doesn't like if I even remotely feel insecure.
"No, no! You wore it yesterday and I didn't think-" he pauses and sighs. "Nevermind. You look great in it." I smile in victory when he defeats himself.
My eyes meet Hunter's that is already on me. Becky's words rush to my head, and I smile. Everything shifts when I consider what she said- how I have him wrapped around my finger. My pulse quickens.
"How has it been sharing a room with Mia?" Hunter asks and he starts to match my own grin.
That question ruins the moment that I was rolling in. I groan. "Someone in that room almost died within the first three minutes, and I can promise that target was on Mia's head."
Hunter's head falls backwards as he pushes out a loud laugh which gains the stares from other students.
The sound was so contagious that even William chuckles at him. It takes a few minutes for him to sober, but when he does, Hunter takes my hand and gently pulls me so that I am beside him. An arm moves to wrap around my waist.
"Just sneak in our room. It's not like Coach will notice." I'm tucked closely to his side, and I immediately appreciate the warmth against the cold air.
"On the bus everyone!" Coach booms his voice out and the students are quick to follow his order.
"Does he ever stop yelling?" I rub my temples when yet again, my headache stirs. Everyone takes their previous seats, so I slide next to the window again.
"You know Coach, Lols." William turns in his seat to face Hunter and I. "I don't think I've ever heard him speak normally my whole high school life." The blond turns away from us now.
Hunter engages in a conversation with one of the boys from the basketball team who sits across from him. While he leans in the talk to his team mate, Hunter places his hand on my thigh.
My eyes move to it immediately, and I suck in a quiet breath. For a second I felt the rising panic in my throat. My mind unknowingly throws me back into my the same fear I got for weeks after the after party.
I couldn't handle being touched by boy, whether it was William or Jake, without shuddering and growing sick.
No one had made an affectionate gesture like this. To me, it feels intimate. The more I stare at his hand, the more comfortable I feel.
I place my hand over his. I'm okay, I tell myself. I feel horrible for being frightened when he first reached for me- but it's hard to control that fear since I'd never been with a boy after what Noah did.
This is new to me. All of it is. Slowly, all those thoughts get tucked back into their box that rests at the back of my mind.
A part of me feels content with Hunter around. I found myself captivated by his company. He didn't run after hearing what had happened to me.
Instead he showed his vulnerable side to me, and had made me open up without realising. He's always gentle with me- even now with his hand on my thigh, the touch is feather light when his thumb swipes back and forth.
I don't have many people in my life that care for me. All I had was William, his family, Jake- and now I have Becky, the cheer team, and Hunter. Perhaps it's why the moment he showed that he had feelings for me, I latched on.
He chose to like me, and I loved knowing that.
"I want everyone on the best behaviour! Kingscross High is an honour school, I don't want you all running around wreaking havoc!" The drive to the high school is hardly a few minutes. We could've walked.
Most of our students begin chanting for Lacewood High while climbing off the bus and heading towards the double glass doors of Kingscross High School.
"Good luck today. Both of you." I glance at William and Hunter. "Go kick some ass."
The brown haired boy kisses me in front of my best friend- who grunts then drags Hunter away froM me. "I'll see you soon!" He shouts before disappearing into the locker room.
"I think I underestimated how much you have that boy wrapped around your finger." Becky joins my side and nudges my hip with hers.
The rest of the cheer squad arrives by us and teases me with all different types of cooing and kissing sounds.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." I laugh and try to pat away my warm cheeks. We walk to the school's gym that is a lot more polished than ours. "Have you got my bag?"
Becky nods eagerly and hands me the small backpack. "The cheerleading teams get the first row on the bleachers." I already knew this, but it's been so long that she felt the need to remind me.
We sit in a row, beside the Kingscross cheer team, both Coaches, and the empty spaces for the spare players.
I quickly unzip the bag and take my water bottle and painkillers out to dose up before the game so it can kick in and tackle an upcoming headache. They've been bugging me all day no matter how much I take.
Eventually both the teams come out, ours dressed in red and Kingscross in a lemony yellow. The game is well under way now, and the crowd here isn't as loud as our school is for home games.
Sneakily, I neatly apply my red lipstick with my shaky hands, and take out my pony to let my curls fall down. My leg bounces up and down as the excitement runs through my veins.
"Are you ready?" Becky stands and jumps up and down to warm her body up. "It's nearly half time!"
Even now, it's easy to tell that Lacewood will win. The score is well in our favour.
The half time buzzer blares and the two basketball teams flee from the court to gather on the side to discuss new techniques and tactics while draining their water bottles.
The adrenaline I would get every time I would cheer floods my body overwhelmingly. It electrifies my bones. I unbutton my coat and leave it on the seat before running my fingers over the red dress and checking the white bandage over my stitchers is in place. The other cuts on my arms will be hardly noticeable when they move.
I jump up and run onto the court with the girls- our backs to the filled bleachers with students. Becky tosses me my pom-poms we decided to use this time, and I bite down on my tongue.
There's a few flips we snuck into the dance, and I pray that I land all of them successfully. After losing so much weight, it took a lot of training to be able to get use to flips again.
Losing my strength along with the weight didn't help. Luckily we can't do the air stunts at games, since I always was the one on the top which would take a lot more practice to get back into the hang of.
The sounds and voices around me become a muffled mess as I wait for the music to start and let it take over my body.
The first beat rings through the speakers and around the gym, so the dance we had learnt in the entirety of yesterday begins.
I move along with the song with each beat exactly how we planned. There's something oddly powerful about cheerleading. It use to be the one time I felt good about myself and how I looked.
I hadn't expect anyone to cheer for us, but they do, and it's my best friend I hear first.
"Yes! Go Lolita! That's my little sister right there!" I spot him jumping on his feet with a beaming smile that almost looks too big for his face.
Hunter is beside him, taking the brunt of William's shouts. He is also smiling just as much as the blond boy. I burn the image of their faces into my mind, creating a tattoo of the moment to remember forever.
My attention can't stay on them as much as I want. Not with the spins, moves, and flips.
The whole time I feel them two watching, and all I hear is William Henderson shouting his love for me.
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