Walking toward the west sports field, Alex saw five or six pretty girls heading his way.
The tallest girl addressed him, "Alex, you finally came. Why did you take so long?"
It was Zara Fitzgerald, who had just called him.
Zara took out 10 dollars and gave it to Alex. "Buy six bottles of water for the squad."
"Captain, why didn't you ask on the phone? I would've bought it on my way over." Alex asked while holding the 10 dollars in his hand.
"Heh, why are you in such a bad mood today? It's not fair. What's wrong, can't you take it anymore?" Zara's eyes opened wide as she opened and closed her mouth. Her words shot toward Alex like a cannonball.
"No. All right, I'll go buy it now," Alex said, choosing to go and buy the water rather than argue with Zara Fitzgerald.
When Alex returned with the water, he gave the four dollars change to Zara. The girls from the cheerleading team each took a bottle and drank the water from it.
"Alex, fan me." Zara Fitzgerald ordered Alex. Alex had nothing else to do, so started to fan Zara.
They were sitting on a nearby basketball court, watching the school basketball team practising for a match.
After resting for half an hour, Zara clapped her hands and called the cheerleaders to continue practising.
Alex sat alone in the grandstand and watched Zara and the rest of the squad practice. The seats around him were all filled with the girls' bags and training equipment.
Alex heard someone say, "Hello, why aren't you playing with them?"
A girl walked over from the side, smiled at Alex, and sat down beside him.
Alex was stunned for a moment. This girl had long hair, an oval face, snow-white skin, clear black and white eyes and a friendly expression.
"Hello," Alex replied.
Just as Alex was about to say something else, a tall boy wearing a Lakers jersey walked over and said, "Hi beautiful, why are you bothering with him? He's just the babysitter of the cheerleading squad. He's the one who does all the dirty work. I've no idea why Zara Fitzgerald let him join the squad when he's so poor."
"Oh—" The girl looked at Alex kindly.
"Before you came, this loser was fanning the girls in the cheering squad. That's all he's good for." The male fanned himself and gave the girl a teasing smile.
Then, the tall guy reached out his hand to the girl, "Hello, my name is Dean Marshall. I'm the star player in the school basketball team. And I've started my own business. It's doing pretty well—my annual income should only be around 2 million. What do you think of that?"
The more he looked at her, the more he liked her. With his good looks and other attributes, he knew that he could win any girl he wanted.
The girl glanced at Dean's outstretched hand in hesitation but took it. She just looked at him and smiled, "Hello, I'm Rachael O'Connor, a friend of Zara."
Dean took his hand back, a little embarrassed, and said, "Rachael O'Connor, hmm, that's a nice name. Zara and the squad are training, and it's difficult to talk here. Let's go and walk around the field together, and we can have a chat."
"Thank you, but there's no need." Rachael smiled faintly.
Dean was furious, but he was unwilling to give up on such a beautiful girl. He wanted to stay and fight for her, but just then, someone on the basketball court called out to him and he had to run back to the court.
"What's your name?" Rachael turned her head and looked at Alex with a gentle smile.
"Alex," he replied automatically. His attention was entirely focused on Rachael's demeanour. He could detect neither contempt nor pity in her beautiful eyes as she looked at him.
Alex felt very comfortable with her. As he looked into Rachael's eyes, he started to smile.
**
Zara Fitzgerald and the cheerleading team completed two more jumps, then Zara walked over to Alex and Rachael and said, "Rachael, why are you talking to him?"
Zara looked at Rachael with a little surprise. She pinched Alex's shoulders then shoved him out of the way so she could sit beside her friend. In a serious voice, she said, "I only hired him because I wanted someone to help me carry the stereo and move the outfits. You can tell from his clothes that he's just a poor slob."
"I don't care about that. I think he seems quite nice," Rachael said with a smile.
"Quite nice!" Zara completely disagreed with her friend. She gave Alex a stern look and said, "I knew it. You only came over to talk to Rachael because you think she's beautiful. Don't you know your place? I'm warning you, don't even think about Rachael."
"I—" Alex wanted to explain, but he didn't know what to say.
"What about me, seriously—" Alex began, but as Zara's gaze became sharper, he stopped midsentence. Seeing that Alex had stopped talking, Rachael looked at him helplessly.
They were interrupted by Zara's cell phone ringing. She took out a phone on a pink cover and looked at the number, frowning slightly. She stood up and walked away slightly to answer the call.
"Hey, Cindy. Don't be too stressed. Your family is just worried because you're not married yet. Okay, okay. If you're free, why don't you come to the amusement park? Come and walk around the park. Try to stop worrying. Call me if you need anything."
Then Zara hung up the phone and sat down beside Rachael with a grim expression.
"What's wrong?" Rachael asked as she placed her hand on her friend's knee.
"It's my cousin, Cindy. She's getting older, and her family is urging her to hurry up and get married." Zara glanced at Rachael with downcast eyes.
She said, "Your cousin is very beautiful. She doesn't have to worry about getting married." Rachael smiled.
Zara glared at Rachael and tutted. "Ah, Rachael, you don't understand. Of course, my cousin is worried about getting married. The problem is who will marry her. You've seen her photo."
As she spoke, Zara glanced at Alex with a look of disdain and said, "We can't marry poor losers like him, right?"