My day consisted of nothing but schoolwork. My Honors classes were getting the best of my life, and cheering wasn't the easiest occupation either. I was good, and my best friend Macey made me tryout alongside her, even though I was more of a softball kinda girl. I walked onto the football and greeted the players, and sat on the bench next to Macey and Sophie. My brother Seth failed to show until practice had started, and he was accompanied by Grant - another underachieving sports addict.
The captain of the squad, Tine Walters, stood on the ground in front of all the Varsity cheer leaders of Cougar High school. Her loud voice boomed out through the stands, and I saw a few beefy players look our way. "Alrighty girls! Today we'll be learning a few new moves, concerning the band has perfected a new song." We all followed her onto the grassy part of the field reserved for us. I could hear the coachs' gruff voices yelling at the guys to run faster and work harder or they'd be off the team quickly. Tina walked over to a small CD player and clicked play, and I heard a smooth jazz beat going, but as Tina demostrated new moves the tempo rose higher and higher, and her moves got faster and faster. The small snippet of song was over within thirty seconds and she had ended in a perfect split - the one thing I had yet perfected. "Now let's try that together!" She yelled over the speakers, and we all started on our knees just like she'd shown us. My arms shot up in the air and waved with the beat of the music, and I could feel it flow through me. The split was up, and to my surprise my legs went further than yesterday's practice. We all picked up our pom poms and started the more familiar dance moves we'd learned earlier this summer at cheer camp. I was tempted on chugging my water, but was quickly deterred when football players started looking this way.
"Cammie, did you get the lesson in Math today?" I heard Macey ask from behind my back. We had to pass this class in order to get college credit, and at this moment I was struggling to keep up my "A". I turned to her, and said, "Actually Mace, if you want to come over tonight I'd be more than happy to show you how." Her face perked up, and I realized that she must be excited about more than math. "Macey, anything else you want to tell me...Like why you're so eager to join me for study time later?" As I said this I saw her eyes waver to where Seth was standing, but quickly snapped back to me once she realized what she was doing.
"MACEY! You like Seth, why didn't you tell me?" I whispered to her. She nodded her head, and pointed to the guy standing next to Seth. He had broad shoulders, piercing green eyes, and a slight tan that showed he liked spending time in the sun. His biceps flared every time he would catch the football, and throw it back. I had to shake myself out of my thoughts, and turned once again to Macey. "What about him?" I asked innocently, but on the inside I was holding back drool. "He looked at you a few times during practice Cam, I think he likes you." And her small smirk grew into a broad smile.
"That's great and all, but what time is it, practice should really be over. I can't hear the band blaring anymore, so football should be done by now." I said, hoping to get out of there before he looked over here again. Just as I said that the boys went into the gym to take their showers, and I walked into the girls bathroom to change into something a little more comfy than my uniform. I came out and walked to Seth's car, only to see him leaning on the hood talking to the new guy. Seth caught a glimpse of me out of the corner of his eye, and waved me over, the last thing I would ever want to do at this moment.
"Hey Cam, this is Zach, he's new, and he was the quarterback at his old school, and he's way better than Jared!" Seth exclaimed, giving Zach a hard slap of the shoulder. "Yeah, hi and everything, but Macey wanted to come over and work on our math, so if you don't mind," I hinted. But, it wasn't Seth who took the hint, Zach did, and he ended the conversation with a, "Hey man, I'll see you tomorrow at lunch." With a head nod and a door slam, he was long gone.
The next morning I woke up at six thirty-four, an unusual hour for me. I decided to go all out on my appearance today - I curled my dirty blonde hair into tight ringlets, and made sure my make-up was perfectly placed on my face. I also had time to contemplate my intricate outfit, I had on a white lacy tank with a purple shirt and dark wash skinny jeans. I put in dangly silver earrings, and a silver hear necklace, with my metallic strappy boots.
At school I got an approving look from Macey, and a jawdrop from Liz. Bex was sick with the flu today, and her mom was taking her to the doctor's office. Cheer practice had been cancelled due to Tina being halfway across the continent at a funeral home for her grandfather. I walked into my Advanced Math class, and guess who was sitting right next to my assigned seat - Zach. Why was he following me? I heard a giggle from Macey, and Liz took her sweet, innocent, southern self up to the front of the classroom to discuss something about a mistype in the textbook. I sat down, and he looked over at me with a smirk plastered on his face. His eyes were bright and cheery, and his dark brown hair was messed up in all the right places. STOP IT CAMERON! YOU DON'T LIKE THIS KID.
I went through all of class taking notes, and copying problems off the board, and trying to interpret Mr. Smith's jumbled speech. Seriously, the guys a legend, but it would help if he could at least teach us how to say "distributive" without having to correct himself. I walked out into the hall, and to my locker to get my books. I closed the door, and there he was - like you see in commercials, or a movie. Just sitting there like he had been there all his life, and owned the place. I rolled my eyes, and walked on trying to get away from him. I tried to walk faster, hearing his heavy footsteps behind me, but it didn't work because I felt a strong hand on my shoulder.
I had just noticed the posters about the upcoming Fall Dance. Why was I always the last to get information? I turned to face him, realizing he was a few inches taller than me. "What?" I almost yelled at him. He put up his hands in surrender, and said, " I just wanted to know if you would help me study after school. Coach Soloman cancelled practice for who knows why, and I needed help on my Math homework." He needed help from me? Wow, never thought this day would come. "Sure, Tina cancelled practice, and I needed to finish the homework anyways. My house is-" he cut me off by saying, "I know where you live Cam, we're neighbors." Wow, talk about a punch in the gut. All I have been trying to do is avoid him, and apparently he noticed. "Oh, ok. Be there at four thirty after school." With that I turned and walked to French. But, he was following me, all the way into the classroom.
Mrs. Dabney decided we needed speech practice, and paired us off. Zach and I had to carry on a fairly short conversation, and it went as follows.
Z: Allez-vous au festival de chute? (Are you going to the fall festival?)
C: Personne ne m'a demande. (No one asked me.)
Z: Tina m'a demande , mes je lui ai dit que j'avais une epreuve pour faire les estudes pour. Elle est si credule. (Tina asked me, but I told her I had a test to study for. She's so gullible.
I turned around and went back to studying my notes, and I heard him mumble something about "girls being so moody". I supressed a laugh and tried to stay focused until the end of class.