*******************************
Ivy and I both made sure that are bows were clipped on properly to are high ponytails. Once that was done we looked at each other with a smile.
"So, is Luke planning of giving you his jersey?" Ivy asked slyly. I shrugged and looked at her grinning.
"I don't know... how about Alex huh?" I said crossing my arms. Ivy shook her head and clicked her tongue.
"Touché my dear friend. Touché." She said, I laughed smacking her shoulder. But a glare from across the locker room was burning through the side of my face.
"Ok but who the hell is glaring at you so hard??!" Ivy blurted our, turning to meet, Emily's gaze. They both had a stare off which resulted in Emily winning.
Ivy snorted and looked at me "is she mad because your getting Luke's Jersey not her?" She snickers out, loud enough for Ivy to hear. I looked over and saw Ivy's face get red in frustration. I looked at Ivy and warned her.
"Hey, don't forget about the recording.. we don't want her to lose it." I said,Ivy quickly chippered down.
"Right.. sorry," she says. I shook my head but before I would say anything, are came running into the locker room.
"Ok girls!! Show time!! Remember your routines!" Are coach clapped and wished us good luck as we ran out of the locker rooms.
The crowd was big but mostly filled with students. It was the first basketball game of the year so obviously lots of people would show up. Soon after all the cheerleaders were out, the basketball team soon arrived.
The cheers of the crowd got louder as the game started. Are school was off to a good start but the other school was as well. During half time the cheerleaders waved there Pom Poms before running off back into the locker rooms. I was headed in the locker room when Alex stopped me. I looked at him with confusion.
"Hey, can you tell Ivy, that uh.." he paused.
"???" I looked at him weirdly.
"The next ones for her?" He said, his cheeks red. I smiled and nodded. He looked at me with a bright smile on his freckled face.
"Thanks!" He said, quickly rushing back to catch up with Luke and rest of the team. I clicked my tongue before going into the locker room. Ivy was standing next to are stuff and threw me a bottle of water, while wiping her neck of sweat.
"What happened?" She asked. I smiled and shook my head.
"You'll see, just keep your eyes on the last game okay?" I said. She nodded slightly but still looked at me funny, I shrugged my shoulders and took a sip out of my water bottle, still smiling.
During the last half, the game was looking up for are team, that was until the other school had gotten two three pointers in a row, the score was now 27 - 28, so unless are school scored a two or three pointer in the 21 minutes left, the other team would win. Just when I thought it couldn't go south, two of the members on our team crashed into each other, they both had to sit out because of the hit. So we were forced to send out another player. My eyes went wide when I realized who it was, how did I not see him earlier!?.
The same guy from yesterday that was talking to Emily, casually walked onto the field, as well as another familiar face but I was mostly focused on the first guy. Who I soon found out was,
"Garret!" Emily yelled. Waving a thumbs up at him. "You got this!!" She said. The other cheerleaders looked at her but quickly looked away to do one of are routines. Ivy looked at me afterwards with worried eyes.
"That's-"
"Yea, thats him." I interrupted. She looked somewhat uncomfortable so I put a hand on her shoulder and smiled.
"It would be stupid enough to try pulling something here, in front of everyone. We're ok for now." I reassured her, she nods and sighed, her blue eyes still hiding unease. The game went on as normal, not much changing. That was until Luke was able to pass the ball to Alex, who made a three pointer. The crowd went wild. Mostly because Alex was blocked on all sides. Even Ivy was shocked. Especially when Alex turned around and pointed in Ivy's direction with a smile. All the cheerleaders went crazy while smiling at Ivy with eyes of envy.
I looked at Ivy to see that her face was a dark crimson red color. But she was smiling with her eyes.
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Emily and I walked out of the locker rooms with are hair down but we were still in our uniforms. Just then, two guys from the opposite team came up to us both.
"Hey so uh, wanna go out with us sometime?" The taller one asked, looking at us with a small smile. Ivy immediately moved closer to me and got awkward.
"Actually were-" she started, when an arm wrapped around her shoulder we turned to see who it was.
"She's taken, actually." Alex's voice spoke up, the taller guy quickly turned to me and smiled.
"But your not right?" He said, seeing that no one came to my side,
"Actually, I'm good." I said with a bit of sass, looking at him with uninterested eyes.
"You sure you don't want-
"I'm sure." I said. They both scratched the back of there necks before walking away. I rolled my eyes and looked at Alex and Ivy.
"Do you know where Luke is by any chance?" I asked Alex. He thought for a moment before shaking his head.
"It's ok! I'll text him, you guys go on!" I said smiling. Ivy looked at me, blush rushing all the way up to her ears.
"You sure you don't want a ride home-
"I'm good, have fun!" I said, waving them off as I walked outside. I laughed before taking out my phone to text Luke, before seeing him and one of Emily's followers talking at the back of the school.
"So um, I wanted to say.." the black haired girl stutters blushing. Luke looked at her waiting.
"I really like you Luke, and I was wondering if..." she stopped, but this time Luke didn't wait for her.
"I'm sorry, I cant return your feelings." He cut her off coldly. She looked shocked.
"But I-"
"I'm sorry, my answer is no." He says still standing there looking at her. She looks at the ground with tears in her eyes.
"I- I'm sorry!" She says, before running past me and into the gym. Not noticing me through her teary eyes. Luke sighs and brushes his hair back with his hand.
"You can come out now Sara." He says, looking in my direction. I jump and slowly walk out of my hiding place.
"Sorry.. I didn't mean to spy, I was just, there." I said, twiddling my fingers. He looks at me with a small smile. We stand in silence for a while before I clear my throat.
"Wanna grab a drink? I know a place that has great milkshakes!" I said. He looks at me and nods.
"Sure, But wont you be cold?" He asks me, it was then that I started to realize how short the cheer skirts were, and thought I was wearing shorts underneath, the breeze quickly made we get chilly quick.
"Oh.. your right, it's fine though-" But before I would finish, Luke had taken out his hoodie from his bag and handed it to me.
"Here." He said, looking away blushing slightly. I took the hoodie and immediately put it on, it was cozy.
I snuggled into it before smiling at him. "Thanks! Now let's go get milkshakes!" I said bubbly. He laughed slightly before nodding.
"Let's go."
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I sipped my cookies n cream milkshake while looking at Luke. He was talking about something that I had lost all concentration on. I looked at him. The girl who tried to ask him out was the same girl who almost snapped my wrist on the first day off school. I laughed mentally, back then she said a favor for a favor but who knew she just wanted him to herself. But while my mind was there, I couldn't help but feel, jealous? I said I didn't want to rush into another relationship, but with Luke it was... different.
"Sara? You've been staring at me for a while now." He says looking at me. "You okay?"
Snapping out of my trance I nod my head. "Sorry about that, I was just thinking about something." I said. He nodded and took a sip of his milkshake. We sat there for a bit in silence before Luke finally spoke up.
"Sara?"
"Yea?"
"What, what are we?" He asked. I looked up from looking down at my milkshake. He was staring at me with his sea blue eyes and looked quite serious. I took the straw of my milkshake and stirred it.
"I- I don't know Luke." I answered honestly.
Yes, there's no denying that I had feelings for him, but with school and cheer, not to mention Emily, would now be such a good time to date? I sighed. It would be best to tell him what's happening, I did want to keep him out of it as much as possible before, but now would be best.
"There's actually, something I need to talk to you about." I said slowly, looking up at him. He looked at me with worried eyes.
"Is, everything okay?" He said. I would love to just say yes, but at this point, he should know.
I shook my head "no.. I just, can I show you something?" I asked. He immediately nodded his head. I moved from the seat across from him to the seat next to him before pulling out my phone and plugging in my headphones.
"Are you, ready?" I asked, he looked at me and nodded. I sighed slightly before pressing play. He sat there listening to it and at then after it was over he slowly took the headphones. We sat there for a minute before he said something.
"When was this." He asked, but it sounded more of a demand. I started to get scared and quickly put my phone away.
"Ye- yesterday morning on my way to school." I said. He brushed his hair back with his hand.
"I, don't know what to say." He said, I couldn't blame him, I wouldn't either.
"Why didn't you tell me yesterday?" He said, his voice much softer than two seconds ago.
"I didn't want to scare you, I guess." I lied, brushing some of my hair back with my hand. He quickly grabbed me by my shoulders and pulled me into a hug, a warm hug.
"You could've gotten hurt Sara, please tell me these things sooner. I don't think I would be able to loose you." He says. I blush intensely and return the hug before pulling away..
"But still, why didn't you actually, tell me then?" He asked again. I looked at him and then looked down, not saying anything.
He softly put his hand on my cheek and brought my face up to look at him. Still, I darted my eyes to look somewhere else.
"Answer me Sara." He said, sounding even more hurt than before.
"You told me that you had known Emily since you were young, and I didn't want to come in between your relationship with her." I admitted. He slowly moved his hand away from my cheek. I turned my face to face him. I couldn't read his expression but before I could process it,
He kissed me.
It wasn't are first kiss, but it definitely was just as magical as the others.
Not to sound cheesy or whatever.
We pulled away slowly and my face was already hot again.
"Why, why did you-"
"Thank you Sara," He said. I looked at him confused.
"Thank you for caring about my relationship with others, and sacrificing yourself for my better being." I looked down and blushed.
"But please stop doing that." He said. I quickly look up at him.
"What? Why? Does it make you uncomfortable? Oh I'm so sorry I'll stop-"
"No, because I want to be the one protecting you." He said looking me in the eyes. I widened my eyes as my brain process what he said.
"I like you Sara, a lot." He says, still looking me in the eyes.
"I want to know if you feel the same." He said. I sat there for a moment, sipping my milkshake while thinking, that was until I finished my milkshake, I had no other excuse. I sat there for a moment before standing up.
"L-lets head home." I said, Luke nodded got up from his seat, following behind me.
***
We walked in mostly silence except for the quiet chirping of crickets. Literally.
After a while, I spun around to look at him.
"Luke I wanted to give you an answer-"
"It's fine Sara, I understand if you don't have the same feelings, I just thought-"
I grabbed his arm and pulled him into another kiss, he was shocked but responded quickly. When we pulled apart to catch are breath I looked at him.
"I like you too Luke, a lot. But I'm still not sure if I should rush into another relationship, but at the same time I don't want to keep you waiting... I just, need time." I explained. He smiled brightly and nodded, holding my hand tightly.
" I can wait for you, as long as you need." He said to me. I smiled softly and pecked his lips again. That was before he pulled me back into a longer and deeper kiss.
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"Thanks for dropping me off Luke." I said. He smiled,
"No problem." He said, still holding my hand. It wasn't until I pulled my hand gently that he finally got the message and let go.
"I'll see you tomorrow?" He asked. I smiled and nodded. He started to walk off when I then remembered that I was still wearing his sweater.
"Wait! Your sweater!" I said. he shook his head and looked back at me.
"Keep it, it looks better on you." He said winking at me before walking off. A grin made its way to my face as I walked into my house thinking of how my day couldn't get any better.
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(Thank you for reading this chapter! Hope you enjoyed!)