Shattered Ties(17)

I hurried to Lucy’s locker, but she wasn’t there, so I made a beeline for class. Luckily, she was sitting in her seat, and Jesse was nowhere to be seen.

“Guess what?” I whisper-shouted.

“What?” she asked as she eyed me curiously.

“I’m going out with Jesse tonight.” “What?” she shouted.

“Shh!” I glanced around the room to make sure that no one was listening. “He just asked me to go get something to eat after school.”

“Like a date?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“That’s great, but I thought you weren’t interested in him.”

That stopped me in my tracks. I wasn’t supposed to be interested in him. I was supposed to be ignoring him and focusing my attention on Todd. Todd and I had gone out last night, and it had been fun, but it didn’t make me nearly as excited as going out with Jesse. I must be losing my mind. I’d ogled Todd for two years, and when he finally paid attention to me, I didn’t even care.

“I, uh...” I stammered, trying to think of a way to cover myself.

“Emma, chill. It’s okay to like him. Honest.”

“No, it’s not. My mom will freak if she finds out.”

“Who cares? He seems like an okay guy, and he’s smokin’ hot. Just go with it,” Lucy replied as she grinned at me.

“I care. I don’t want to have to deal with her.”

“She won’t find out. Didn’t you say she left this morning and won’t be back until tomorrow?”

“Well, yeah...”

“Okay, so then you’re safe. She never has to know.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“I am right. You always worry about what your mom will think. Well, I say, f*ck her. She’s nothing but a stuck-up bitch.” My mouth dropped open. “Lucy!”

“Sorry, but it’s true, and we both know it. If you like this guy, go for it.

She can go suck a fat one.”

“What are you sucking?” Jesse asked as he settled into the chair next to me.

“Uh, nothing,” I muttered, praying he hadn’t heard anything else from our conversation.

“A big fat dick,” Lucy said matter-of-factly.

I dropped my head to my desk and prayed that the ground would swallow me whole. I couldn’t believe she’d just said that to him.

Jesse snickered. “Well, if you insist...”

I raised my head from my desk and glared at him. “Don’t even finish that sentence.”

Lucy and Jesse both laughed at my embarrassment.

“What? We’ve all done it...well, everyone, except you,” Lucy said as she stuck out her tongue.

I didn’t think I’d ever hated my best friend, but in that moment, I did.

“Will you shut up already?”

“Sorry.” She snickered as Mr. Kester walked in.

“Sure you are,” I grumbled as I glanced at Jesse.

He was smiling, and I felt my heart melt a little. Why does he have to be so damn gorgeous? His personality sucked most of the time, so if he were ugly, I could ignore him. No, that’s a lie. There was just something about the guy that made me want to get to know him, regardless of what he looked or acted like.



The rest of the day passed in slow motion. I must have checked the time at least twenty times in each class, only to see that a minute or two had passed.

When the final bell rang, I grabbed what books I needed from my locker and walked to the gym for practice. It was normally my favorite part of the day, but today, I wasn’t looking forward to it. It was just another obstacle that got in the way of my date...or rather, not a date with Jesse.

All of the other girls had already arrived by the time I walked in, and I hurried to the locker room to change into a pair of shorts and a tank top. By the time I finished changing and made my way back out to the gym, my girls were already lined up and waiting on me.

Jennifer tapped her foot impatiently as I approached. She and I were both captains of the team, and she was my least favorite person on it. It wasn’t that she was a bad cheerleader because she rocked at our routines. It was just that she came off a bit cold sometimes. We had butted heads more than once, and I often wondered if Coach had lost her mind by putting us together to run the team.

“Are you ready, princess?” Jennifer asked sarcastically.

I liked it much better when Jesse had called me princess even if he was being sarcastic about it.

“Yeah, I’m ready when you are,” I replied, ignoring the iciness in her tone as I started stretching.

“Great. Everyone ready?” she shouted.

The girls nodded and prepared for the start of the routine. I grabbed the remote next to the CD player and hit play. As soon as I heard Nicki Minaj’s “Roman’s Revenge,” I relaxed my body and prepared to start. This was my thing. Cheering was everything to me, and I loved it. It was like breathing. I couldn’t live without it.

My eyes met Lucy’s, and off we went. We’d perfected this routine over the summer, and I could do it with my eyes closed. We both did two cartwheels that put us in front of the rest of the girls. I took a deep breath. We started off small with a toe touch jump, and then we did two more cartwheels past each other. Next, it was tuck, tuck, back up, get a running start, then an aerial, and end with a handspring. I. Loved. This.