We were about to go on. I stood in a huddle with the other NJSU cheerleaders. We were all nervous. It was only our third competition of the season, and there was a full house. Mairead, one of my best friends and also the captain of the team, came over to me. "Good luck!" she squealed.

"You too," I replied. Just then, the announcer called us out and we spirited onto the floor. We hit everything in the routine perfectly. I even doubled out of my scorpion, which I hadn't been hitting lately. I also stuck my round off flip flop full, which sort of surprised me. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Mairead stuck hers, too. I smiled.

The whole time, I was scanning the crowd, looking for my boyfriend Gerard and his friends. (He and I both went to NJSU, and we were both seniors majoring in art.) I finally spotted them halfway through the dance. (By the way, our music was MCR's Bulletproof Heart. It took a lot of convincing to get my team to allow that...) He must have noticed I was looking at him, because he waved. I winked, not only to say hi to him but for dramatic effect.

When our routine ended, we spirited off the floor. I saw Gerard get up from his seat, leaving Mikey, Ray, and Frank behind, and walk over to where I was. I closed the distance between us with a hug. My feet lifted off the ground a little as he lifted me up and spun me around. "You did great," he whispered in my ear.

"Thanks," I replied, "Ugh, let go of me, I'm all sweaty."

"So what?" he replied, not letting me go. We must've stayed like that for a solid 30 seconds. We both felt Gerard's phone vibrate in his pocket. He was forced to release me to check it. He read the text message, then snickered and handed it to me.

It was from Frank and it said, "give this to mandy. i'm bored as hell! when can we leave?" I looked up at him and he was smiling.

I rolled my eyes and typed back, "after awards. settle down! gawd ur hyper" In fact, the award ceremony was about to start. My team and I waited while the judges announced third place, then second place, and then... US! We won first place! We ran out onto the floor and jumped for joy. I hugged Mairead. "You did awesome!" I whispered.

"You too!" she whispered back. They handed us the enormous trophy and after a few more moments of screaming and jumping, we walked off the floor. Gerard hugged me again. We were about to go back to where the guys were when we noticed something horrible. They had been bombarded by fangirls.

Gerard quickly put up the hood on his sweatshirt and put on his sunglasses. "Stay here," I said to him, "And please remember what I'm about to do means nothing at all. Got it? I love you and you only." He looked confused and was about to ask me what the hell I was talking about when I cut him off. "Promise me!"

"I promise," he said.

"Good," I replied. I squeezed his hand before I walked over to the guys. I approached Mikey and clung to his arm. "Hey, honey!" I said, loudly enough for the girls to hear. I pulled Mikey into a hug and whispered into his ear, "I'm just trying to get you guys out of here. This means nothing. Play along."

"Okay," he whispered back. I pulled away but still clung to his arm.

In my best preppy voice, I said, "Ugh, I'm sooo tired. Can we please leave now, baby?"

He turned to the girls and said, "Sorry, we have to go now. It was nice meeting you."

"You're the best, baby!" I said. I quickly kissed him on the lips. We held hands as we walked away from the girls. We let go when we were sure they weren't looking anymore. "I'm sorry I had to do that... and for getting my lip gloss on you," I said to Mikey.

"It's okay," he replied, "If you hadn't done it, we probably would've been stuck there for half an hour!"

"Honestly, it felt almost incestuous. It was like kissing my brother!" I said. He laughed. We approached Gerard then and I hugged him. "I'm sorry," I whispered, "I swear it meant nothing. Even ask Mikey. Are you mad at me?" He laughed.

"Babe, I'm not mad at you. I trust you. If you say it means nothing, then it really meant nothing," he said. I smiled.

"Thanks," I replied.

"So Mandy," Mikey said, "Am I a good kisser?" He raised his eyebrows. We all laughed.

In the spirit of humoring him, I said, "Yes, Mikey. Terrific."