HERE’S A FUN fact about high school cheerleaders and football players that I did not know. Each cheerleader is assigned a football player—or two—and is responsible for decorating his locker and or making posters displaying the player’s number.
One guess who Zach’s cheerleader is.
Yep. Reagan.
But that’s about to change.
“Jayla, this is Kali,” Lexi says. “She’ll be Zach’s cheerleader from now on.” I know Kali. She sits beside me in first period. Kali is cute. Her auburn hair is in an adorable pixie cut, her face is petite with a small spattering of freckles, and her eyes are golden brown.
“Thank you.” I wrap my arms around Kali and pull her in for a hug. “How’d you pull that off?” I ask Lexi. “Do you have to scrub your wicked stepsister’s toilet for a week?”
Lexi laughs. “Hell, no. Your cousin took care of it.”
“Took care of what?” Zach asks, walking up to his locker.
“Kali is your cheerleader from now on,” I tell him and he smirks. “Unless you’d rather have Reagan.” I raise a questioning brow.
Zach looks down at Kali and grins. “Thanks. You just saved me a whole lot of drama.”
Kali laughs. “No worries.”
ZACH DID THE sweetest thing tonight at the beginning of the game. He found me in the stands, pointed to me, kissed the index and middle fingers of his right hand, and tapped them over his heart. Then he threw up both hands with the universal rocker sign as he jogged backwards onto the field. I swear I felt everyone’s eyes on me. But I didn’t care. I stood up, wearing my new custom designed jersey with Zach’s number “6” on the front and “EASTON” across the back, and blew him a kiss.
After the game, we decided to forego any of the parties and spend a quiet night stuffing our faces with junk food and watching movies.
Wink wink.
LABOR DAY WEEKEND, I invite all my new friends over for my first barbecue get-together and to meet my best friend. “Everyone, this is my best friend, Evangeline and you guys already know Alex. Weenie, this is Brad, Cherry, Lexi, Evan, Olivia, Carter, Harper, Kali, Justin, you know Cole—”
“Unfortunately,” Evangeline teases. Cole responds with a cocky smirk, flipping her off.
I curl my arm around Zach’s waist. “And this is Zach. Zach, this is my sister for life.”
Evangeline looks him up and down, then nods. “I approve.”
Zach laughs and I roll my eyes. “Ignore her. She’s a bitch but once you get to know her, she’s still a bitch.” Everyone laughs.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Evangeline,” Zach says.
“You, too.” She smiles as my friends all stare open-mouthed at her.
“How did you two meet?” Olivia asks.
“Our moms went to college together,” I lie.
“Oh,” she says. “That makes sense how you know Alex.”
I shake my head but Evangeline cuts in.
“Actually, I met Alex through Jay’s cousin, Dylan.”
I’M HAPPIER THAN I’ve ever been in my entire life and it’s all because of my girl. Being in a relationship with Jay is easy because she’s so laid-back about everything, which isn’t something I’m used to. She’s extremely affectionate, but, at the same time she isn’t clingy. She splits her time between lunch with our friends in the dining room and eating in the performing arts building with her Project Mayhem classmates. She’s liked by everyone, except for the bitch squad—Hannah, Ashton, and Reagan. Jealousy being the main factor with all three of them.
Jay doesn’t seem to care one way or the other. She and Lexi have become extremely close, which is not only good for Jay, but for Lexi, too. The two of them have formed their own social circle with Harper, Cherry, Olivia, and Kali. Jay is a good judge of character and seems to surround herself with people she trusts while keeping everyone else at arm’s length, but still approachable. She laughs at Brad’s goofy jokes, which I think is good for his ego. And she set him up with Cherry. I hadn’t realized how deeply Brad had been hurt by Hannah because he’s good at hiding his feelings behind his sense of humor.
“I DIDN’T KNOW the Pussycat Dolls reunited,” Hannah says and Ashton laughs out loud, prompting all of us to turn our heads to see Jay, Harper, Lexi, Kali, Cherry, and Olivia walking toward our table.
I laugh under my breath because they do look like the Pussycat Dolls, but way hotter. However, Hannah’s jab wasn’t meant to be funny; she’s being a bitch as usual.
“Hey, Z,” Jay says as she and the girls squeeze in at our table.
“Last time I checked, this table is for the athletes, not a bunch of music nerds,” Hannah barks out, curling her lip.
“Wow,” Jay says, arching a brow.
“Shut up, Hannah,” Brad says, then turns his gaze on Cherry and wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. “Music nerds are hot.”
“I’ve got a better idea,” Cole says standing from the table with his tray in his hand.
“Where are you going?” Ashton whines.
Ignoring Ashton, Cole takes his tray and moves to a different table. The rest of us follow, leaving Ashton, Hannah, and Piper at the table with the rest of the athletes.
“WHAT ARE YOU reading?” I ask, shoving my text book into my backpack. Every day, except Wednesdays and Fridays, after football practice, I come over to Jay’s. She reads or writes while I do homework or study. It’s the easiest way to spend time with my girl and keep my grades up, or as Jay puts it, “a win-win.”
“It’s a story about a teenage girl who loses her mom and her aunt to breast cancer and she’s convinced that she has it too,” Jay answers with her eyes still glued to her iPad.
“That’s awful. Why are you reading that? Do you think that’s gonna happen to you?”
She sighs and looks over at me. “I hadn’t thought about it. Thanks a lot, Z.” She rolls her eyes playfully before returning her attention to the book.
Suddenly, the thought of losing her makes my heart twist painfully in my chest and I shudder. Feeling my stare, Jay turns to face me and arches a brow. “What?”
“I love you.” The words just leap from my chest.
She stares at me, letting those three little words linger between us. It’s not like we haven’t said them a hundred times already, but for some reason they feel different. Stronger. Deeper.
Sensing my inner meltdown, she slowly closes the cover on her iPad and sets it on the table before rolling over on her side to face me. Raking her hand through my hair, she captures me with those blue-green eyes like she’s staring into my soul. “I love you too, Z.” She pauses. Her eyes flick back and forth over my face. “I knew from day one. At the time, I didn’t understand what I was feeling. I just knew I liked you.” She smiles. “The first time you held my hand, I felt it in my heart. The first time you kissed me, I felt it in my gut. And the first time we” —she blushes— “you know, I felt it in my soul. I love you so much that it scares me.”
“Why?” I ask, resting my hand on her hip, my thumb caressing the skin exposed between the hem of her T-shirt and the waist of her yoga pants.
“Because I never want to lose this feeling. I don’t think I’ll survive another heartbreak.”
“I would never hurt you, Jay. Not on purpose, anyway. I can promise you that much.”
Her brows pinch in confusion. “What do you mean ‘not on purpose’?”
“I’m a guy.” I shrug as though that should be reason enough. “We do dumb shit. I’m sure I’ll do something to piss you off at some point in our relationship, but I’ll never disrespect you by lying or cheating. I know what it feels like to not be with you and I don’t want to ever feel like that again. My heart has always belonged to you, Jay. You’ll always be my girl. You’ll always be the girl.”
What else is there to say?
Her hand slides from my hair to the back of my neck. She pulls my lips to hers and I roll on top of her, claiming her. A soft sigh escapes her as she parts her lips, brushing her tongue against mine. We’ve tried to slow down on the physical stuff, but it’s impossible to keep our hands off each other in moments like this.