Chapter 1.

“Jesus Christ, Bailey! Hurry the hell up!” honked my best friend, Selina.

 

I rolled my eyes as I shoved a bagel into my mouth, grabbed my bag and ran of my house; into the cold.

 

When I got in, Selina immediately stepped on the gas.

 

“Holy crap, girly! Calm the hell down!” I exclaimed, trying to put my seatbelt on.

 

“Marcy is going to fucking kill me,” she ignored me and kept driving like a maniac.

 

“May I ask why?” I finally got my seatbelt on.

 

“I’m supposed to meet her out in the field in like ten minutes,” Selina glanced at the time on her dashboard.

 

“Eyes on the road!” my voice coming out in a squeak.

 

She rolled her eyes and kept them on the road. “I cannot believe I overslept!” she started to rant, “I never oversleep! This is all Alex’s fault! If only he didn't keep me up all night, this never would’ve happened.”

 

I almost threw up my bagel. “Ew! TMI, Selina!”

 

“I meant on the phone. Get your mind out of the gutter, Bailes,” she glanced at the time again and groaned, “Why do we have to live so far from the school!?”

 

Almost everyone at school lives in the really nice part of town while the school is smack dab in the middle of the border of rich and poor. Our town isn’t really that big. We have two schools; one that holds preschool-8th grade and the other that holds 9th-12th grade. We usually know everyone and don’t treat the poor like dirt, unless you’re the head cheerleader.

 

Ahead, I saw the light turn yellow. Selina took this as a challenge as she started to speed up. My eyes widened as I exclaimed, “We’re not going to make it!” my eyes darted back and forth towards the light and Selina. When I caught the look of determination in Selina’s eyes, I closed my eyes and started to pray.

 

I may not believe in you God, but please, PLEASE, I want to survive this. I’m too young to die. I still want to be an actress, I still want to travel the world, I still need to make amends with--

 

My thoughts were stopped by the sound of a door closing. I slowly opened my eyes and it took a moment for my brain to register the fact that I was still alive. Either that or God’s idea of heaven was my school.

 

“So like, if you’re done doubting whether we made it or not, get out. I have three minutes to get to the field.”

 

I took out the spare gloves in the glove compartment and put them on, then opened the door. I hate the cold. I hate it so much, I just want summer to come already.

 

As soon as I closed the door, Selina’s car beeped indicating that it was locked then she ran towards the field.

 

“Thanks for leaving me here!” I yelled at her back.

 

Selina turned around and started to jog backwards as she yelled back, “Go look for Alex and meet me at the field!” she turned back and sprinted towards her destination.

 

I sighed and made my way towards the school. When I got in, there was hardly anyone inside, just like usual. I took out my S4 and looked at the time, ‘6:40am’. While walking, I decided to text Alex.

 

Where are you?

 

I locked my phone and looked up, but it was too late. My forehead hit a strong chest. I squealed in response while the other person made no move to help me so I had to balance my own self.

 

I looked up to see who it was and almost choked on my own saliva.

 

“S-Sorry,” I mumbled.

 

He scoffed. “I highly doubt it.” Before I could answer, he brushed past me and walked off towards the boy’s bathroom.

 

I gulped and checked my phone for any messages from Alex.

 

Front of the school.

 

Stay there.

 

I texted him back and made my way towards my locker. I put my stuff away and made my way back towards the front of the school. When I stepped outside, I saw Alex – Selina’s boyfriend of two years – texting to someone. Whoever he was texting sure made Alex frustrated since he kept running his hand over his face and saying, ‘Oh my god, this idiot’.

 

“Alex,” I called out, pulling my scarf closer to my face.

 

He looked up and put his phone away then made his way towards me. “Hey,” he smiled. “Where’s Selina?”

 

It literally took me a year to get used to Alex’s English accent because I’d mostly pay attention to his accent rather than what he was saying to me.

 

“Out on the field. We’re supposed to meet her there,” we started to walk towards the field. “I think she’s angry at you.”

 

He chuckled. “What did I do this time?”

 

“Apparently, you kept her all night on the phone and so she directed some of her anger towards me.”

 

“Why is she out on the field, anyway?”

 

“Marcy,” her name came out bitchier than I intended it to. But Alex knew my dislike towards the head cheerleader so all he did was nod his head.

 

When we got to the gate, we saw Marcy and Selina having some kind of heated discussion. Though they were far away, Selina’s arms were crossed as she did a lot of head motions, meaning she was trying to get something into Marcy’s head.

 

Marcy though, was looking at her nails, her lips also moving and I could make out one word: ‘Boring’.

 

“Should we interrupt?” asked Alex, clearly worried that Selina would do something stupid, like get herself kicked off the squad.

 

I waited for Selina’s famous ‘running her hands through her hair then hiding behind it’ because that meant she was so frustrated with the other person that her only method was to slap -- and I mean literally slap -- some sense into them.

 

When Selina didn’t do that, I shook my head. “I think they’re just talking about one of the other cheerleaders. If they were talking about the dance, there would be a cat fight by now.”

 

Alex gave out a sigh. “Well that’s good. I know how much her position means to her.”

 

When Selina found out about being co-captain, she screamed, squealed, cried, laughed. She was like an emotional rollercoaster. Though she wasn’t captain, she didn’t care. She was happy with her position.. She just wasn’t happy with the captain.

 

Her and Marcy have a weird relationship. One minute they’re best friends, the next it’s as if they hate each other. They defend each other but they also talk behind each other’s backs.

 

I never really liked Marcy. One because she treated the poor like they were scum. Two because well, because just how she treats everyone. “I’m the head cheerleader, you must do what I say or you’ll suffer the consequences” is practically what she wants everyone to know.

 

Marcy’s eyes looked past Selina and landed on me. She said something to Selina who turned her head. She turned back and said something to Marcy who shrugged and walked into the girl’s locker room.

 

We walked over to Selina who was running her hands through her hair and mumbling, ‘God, why do I put up with her?’

 

“Hey love, you okay?” smart of Alex to keep his distance.

 

“Peachy,” she muttered. “Just fucking peachy. God!” Alex flinched at her tone. “Why the hell do I even put up with her!?”

 

“You love cheerleading,” I stated, my eyes lingering on the entrance to the girls’ locker room.

 

“I wish I can just kick her off the team."

 

“What were you two arguing about?” asked Alex. I mentally facepalmed myself. Alex, you have been with her for two years. You do not ask her what she and Marcy argue about because she will start ranting all day.

 

“There’s this really good freshman cheerleader but fucking Marcy wants to kick her off the team ‘cause she was late to practice a few time when she already told Marcy what was going on. Oh, and her parents aren’t lawyers or doctors.” Selina turned to me. “You saw her at tryouts. The girl who danced to Slow Down by Selena Gomez. I mean, I hate Selena Gomez but that doesn’t mean I don’t want her on the team.”

 

The reason why Selina hates Selena Gomez is because her last name is also Gomez and Selina loves singing so just imagine that. Imagine almost everyone at school making a joke about that.

 

“She made most of our choreography too. It’s not just us shaking our asses--”

 

“I did like that dance,” said Alex.

 

Selina rolled her eyes and continued, “It’s not one of Marcy’s provocative dances. The girl took ballet and hip hop classes since she was young. She knows what she’s doing. It’s Marcy who has no fucking clue what she’s doing. Some captain,” she muttered the last part.

 

It was quiet for a moment before Selina sneezed. Alex immediately took off his scarf and wrapped it around his girlfriend. “We should head inside,” he looked up at the sky. “It looks like there’s going to be a storm.”

 

I pray that there isn’t going to be a storm.