A/N- Ugh, I totally couldn't make up my mind whether or not to post this but I guess I will. Even though the female characters are pretty much the same, this is a normal AU universe so it doesn't relate at all to my other stories. Read and Review and tell me if you want more pls.
The summer sports camp was large with separate fields for football and soccer teams, a baseball field, and a cheerleading field as well as a communal dining hall, and separate dorm rooms for the guys and girls. Everyone in Brooklyn who were either already on their high school team, or wanted to make a team was there. Sure it cost a pretty penny to go, but it was worth it.
Fred would officially be a high school freshman come September. He had grown a few inches taller and gained a little more muscle. His hair was still the blond curly mess it always was, but he didn't wear his signature hat as often as he used to.
Right now Fred was running suicides with his new friend Kevin back and forth across the football field. They ran, tossing a ball back and forth and touched down between the cones laid out for them. Sweat stung Fred's eyes and his leg muscles were cramping, but he forced himself to keep going. He was aiming to make varsity by his junior year and some stupid suicides weren't going to stop him.
"So Fred," Kevin panted. "I hear you're the top pick for co-captain for our team. Is it true?"
"I think so," Fred panted. "That'd be pretty sweet. But it'd be cool just to make quarterback."
"I'm more of a wide receiver myself." Kevin grinned. "Or an Outside Linebacker."
The coach blew two long bursts on his whistle, finally releasing them for the day. There was more than one groan of pain as everyone straightened up and headed to the showers. Kevin nudged Fred's arm and gestured over to the next field. The cheerleaders were who had been practicing in the field next to them had just gotten out of practice too. Already the guys were whistling, cat-calling, and generally showing off to get their attention. The girls giggled and pretended not to care, but it was obvious by the way they were flipping their hair that they were trying to get their attention too.
"Dude check it out," Kevin leaned close to him excitedly. "See those girls over there? I think they go to our school!"
Fred glanced over to where he was gesturing and saw a couple of girls giggling to each other and glancing their way.
Kevin gave them a cheeky grin, flipping his red hair out of his eyes. "Fred, how sweet would it be to land one of them as your next girlfriend? They're total hotties."
Fred shrugged. "I guess they're cute, but I'm not into girls like that."
"Uh, really? Dude, are you like... into guys or something?" Kevin said giving him a weird look.
"What? No!" Fred felt his face flame. "I just meant that-"
"Dude relax, it's cool." Kevin said quickly. "I'm not judging. You do you, brah."
Fred scoffed. "Whatever, I'm not... I just have better things to do than to get involved with cheerleaders."
"Uh-huh. Sure. Totally."
Fred resisted the urge to punch him and headed into the locker room for a much needed shower. He really didn't swing that way, it was just dating brought nothing but drama. Girlfriends demanded time and attention that Fred just thought would be better spent playing sports, eating, or hanging out with his best friends Joe and Sam.
After showering and changing into some normal clothes, Fred headed into the dining room for some grub. He loaded his tray with some hot dogs and fries and headed over to the table where his team was sitting. As soon as he sat down a few of them snickered.
Fred glared at Kevin. "What the hell did you tell them?"
"Nothing much." Kevin chuckled. "I just warned them not to judge in case they saw you with one of the male cheerleaders."
"For the last time I'm not gay." Fred growled.
"Yeah, maybe he just has a really ugly girlfriend back home." Another guy laughed. "You know, one with a great personality."
The table erupted into laughter and Fred felt his temper rising along with his embarrassment. Why didn't he just lie and say he had a hot girlfriend in another state or across the country or overseas or something?
"Shut your traps, alright!?" Fred snapped. "It's not that I don't like girls. It's just... the girl I date has to be a perfect ten. Totally hot, totally cool, and top of the pyramid kind of cheerleader."
Okay, he had no idea what that last thing meant, but he overheard one of the guys say it when talking about his own girlfriend.
Kevin laughed and nudged his shoulder. "Then take your pick dude. All the girls at that table are top of the pyramid material. Just make sure you get a girl from our school."
Fred held back a sigh of irritation and looked towards the cheerleaders. His eyes fell on the same group of girls he saw earlier. All of them were pretty good looking he supposed, but one had on a whole lot of makeup (which probably meant she was high maintenance) and two of them looked like they were arguing (which of course meant drama).
Fred was this close to lying and saying that he was gay when his eyes landed on another girl. She was gorgeous with milk chocolate skin and warm brown eyes. She was also pretty curvy with long wavy, brown hair and full lips. Her eyes locked with Fred's and after looking him over, she gave him a small smile which he returned with a nod.
"Dude, you totally caught Joleena's eye!" Kevin whispered excitedly. "Way to go! I hear she's gonna be co-captain of the cheerleading team. Great coincidence huh?"
"Yeah totally." Fred went back to eating. "Maybe I'll talk to her in school or something."
"Why wait? I'll go set you two up right now."
"Uh-huh. Yeah I- wait, no!"
Before Fred could stop him, Kevin got up from the table and went over the cheerleaders. They quickly made room for him and he started whispering to Joleena while glancing over at Fred. Some of the girls whispered to Joleena too until she nodded and whispered something to Kevin. Kevin nodded and came back to the table.
"Well it's all set up." He smiled proudly. "Meet her outside in ten minutes. And make sure to invite me to your wedding, alright big guy?"
"Yeah remind me to thank you later." Fred mumbled.
A few minutes later Joleena stood up from her table and headed out the door, walking right past his table on the way. A gentle wave of sweet smelling perfume followed after her and Fred couldn't help but notice how shapely her legs were.
Kevin cleared his throat and Fred stood up to follow after her. The night air was warm and the moon shone over the camp. He met Joleena over where they had orientation and sat down next to her on the bottom bleacher.
"Hey," He gave her a toothy smile. "My name's Fred."
"Joleena." She said in a soft French accent. "So I hear you're co-captain of our football team."
"Technically that's just a rumor. But I hear your co-captain of our cheerleading team. That's cool."
"Actually I might be. They haven't voted yet."
"Oh."
They became quiet and things only got more awkward between them. All Fred needed to do was turn on the charm, flirt a little, and ask her out. 1, 2, 3 and he had a hot cheerleader girlfriend and the rest of the guys would finally leave him alone.
"You're accent is really cute." He smiled. "Are you an exchange student or something?"
Joleena shook her head. "Actually I was born in New York, but I just spent the past couple years in France. What about you?"
"I was born and raised in Brooklyn, but I think my ancestors came from Ireland or something."
"Interesting." Joleena gave him beautiful smile but then became quiet again.
But then again if things didn't work out between them, things could end up even more awkward then they were already.
Fred sighed and scratched the back of his neck. "Look Joleena, you seem like a nice girl and everything, but to be honest I'm not really interested in dating girls."
"Oh?" Joleena's eyes widened in surprise. "So... you're interested in dating guys then?"
"No!" Fred groaned. "Why does everyone keep saying that? I just don't like all the drama that comes with dating."
"Are you serious?" Joleena gave him an odd look and he cringed. Great, now all the cheerleaders would be making fun of him. But to his surprise, Joleena laughed in relief. "I feel the same way!"
Fred blinked in surprise. "You do?"
"Yes!" Joleena gave another laugh. "The last boyfriend I had got angry if I so much as spoke to another guy, and yet I found out he had been cheating on me with my best friend for months."
"That's nothing." Fred laughed. "My last girlfriend flipped out and dumped me because I didn't text her while I was hanging at my best friend Joe's house."
"How inconsiderate of you." Joleena said sarcastically, then giggled. "Oh relationships are such a pain. And it's so annoying how everyone expects us to do it."
"Tell me about it." Fred grumbled.
"But... maybe we might be able to work around that." Joleena leaned in conspiratorially. "What if we did start dating?"
Fred raised an eyebrow. "Um, Joleena, no offense or anything, but I just told you that I'm not interested in dating. And I thought you weren't either."
"But that's the point!" Joleena said eagerly. "Neither of us really want to date anyone, so why not pretend to date each other? We pretend in front of our teammates and the generally public, but we have no real romantic obligation to each other."
"You think that will work?" Fred leaned forward too. "What if you actually meet a guy you like or something?"
"I doubt that I will, but if that does happen we just have a friendly break up."
"I don't know Joleena," Fred looked away. "I'm, um... I don't think I'd make a very good boyfriend."
"Oh don't worry about that." Joleena waved her hand dismissively. "I'll train you and tell you everything you need to do. It's just ten percent appearance and ninety percent lying. You'll be fine. So do we have a deal?"
Fred thought for a minute. With Joleena as his fake girlfriend, he could keep the guys off his back and maybe even avoid having other girls flirt with him. He grinned and grasped her hand.
"Alright. Let's do it!"