I got such good feedback from the first chapter that I decided to write a second one no instead of next week. Hope you guys like it. Let me know.
It has been a week since Loren's first day, and she loves Sun Valley. Loren has spent a lot of time with Melissa, Eddie, Tyler, Ian, and a lot of the football players. Today is the day of cheerleading try-outs and Loren is looking forward to it. Mel agreed to try out with her because Chloe was captain of the squad and Loren was a little nervous about that. Luckily, Chloe does not have the last say on who makes the squad. Coach Collins did.
She got out of bed and showered. Then she put on a pair of dark wash skinny jeans and a red V-neck. She put on her red Vans and packed her try-out clothes in her duffel bag. Loren came out of her room with her bags and grabbed a granola bar before leaving the house. Nora had to go into work early, so she was already gone. Loren put her things in her car and drove to school. She parked her car and started walking into the school. She was at her locker when Melissa, Ian, and Tyler walked up to her.
"Hey Lo." Tyler said.
"Hey you guys. What's up?" Loren asked as she put her duffel in her locker.
"Nothing much. Are you ready for try-outs today?" Melissa asked. "Yes. I am kind of freaking out though because Chloe hates my guts."
"Chloe hates everyone's guts." Ian said.
Loren laughed. "I guess that's true."
Loren closes her locker and they walk out to the courtyard to talk before class.
Eddie's House
"Sweetie, wake up! You are going to be late for school." Katy yelled through Eddie's closed door.
"What time is it?" Eddie asked sounding groggy.
"It is 7:30. You have 30 minutes to get to school." Eddie's eyes shot wide open. "Mom, why didn't you wake me up earlier?"
"I was cooking breakfast, and don't take that tone with me you man." Katy said as she crossed her arms.
"Sorry mom. I'm up." Eddie got out of bed, grabbed a towel from the linen closet, and ran to the bathroom to take a quick shower.
Ten minutes later, Eddie ran out of the bathroom and got dressed. He grabbed his bag and ran down the steps. Eddie grabbed a strip of bacon off the plate on the table. "Morning Pop, Bye Pop." Eddie. Eddie walked over to Katy and kissed her cheek. "Bye Ma." Eddie said. "Bye Sweetie." Katy said.
"Bye son." Max yelled after Eddie.
Eddie walked out of the door and got in his car. He was driving pretty quickly until he hit traffic right around the corner from the school.
"Crap!" Eddie yelled as he hit the steering wheel.
In the Courtyard
Loren chewed the last bite of her granola bar and looked around the courtyard. "Have you guys heard from Eddie this morning? We are doing an experiment in Chem this morning and Mr. James said that we are going to need our partners."
"I haven't talked to him." Tyler said.
"Me neither." Ian said.
"Well he better show up before the bell rings." Loren said looking worried.
"I'm sure he'll be here." Mel said.
As if on cue, the bell rang. Loren took one last look around the courtyard, and then she walked with Ian to Chemistry.
Eddie's Car
Eddie looked at his phone. It was 8:05. "Loren is going to kill me." Eddie said to aloud.
Eddie pulled into the school parking lot and ran into the school. Eddie burst into Chemistry class, looking completely distraught.
"Nice of you to join us Mr. Duran." Mr. James said. The class let out a quiet laugh. Eddie walked quickly back to his seat. Loren looked slightly annoyed.
"I am so sorry Lo. I woke up late and then I got stuck in traffic." Eddie whispered.
Loren smiled at how flustered Eddie got. She put her hand on Eddie's. "It's ok." Loren said. "We haven't even started yet." Loren took her hand off of Eddie's and opened her notebook to a fresh page.
Eddie calmed down and settled into his seat.
"Now, I want one person to come and get goggles for yourself and your partner. I want the other to get the chemicals on the lists that are on your tables. They are in the back of the room. Be careful. A lot of the chemical are in glass containers.
"I will get the chemicals, and you get the goggles." Loren said
"You got it." Eddie said.
Loren went to the back of the room, and got the chemicals. When she got back to the table, Eddie was wearing his goggles. He gave Loren her goggles.
"Thank you." Loren said. She put the goggles down on her table, and then put her hair in a high ponytail. She put the goggles on and looked to the front of the classroom.
Mr. James went through each step of the experiment, and the students followed. The ending result was a hardened substance that formed in the beaker.
"Cool." Loren said.
Eddie and Loren then filled out the experiment sheet and handed it in. There was nothing else to do until the rest of the class finished, so they just talked.
"Are you nervous about try-outs?" Eddie asked.
"Not try-outs exactly, more like Chloe." Loren answered.
"She doesn't decide who makes the squad you know?" Eddie says.
"I know, but I know she hates me. What if she tries to convince the coach not to put me on the squad?"
"Coach Collins is fair. She would never let one of the cheerleaders decide how she chooses the other girls on the squad." Eddie said in a comforting voice.
Loren smiled at him. "Thank you."
"For what?" Eddie said smiling back.
"For being my friend. I mean everyone is so great and I love it here." Loren said back
"No problem." Eddie said.
"All of the experiment logs are in. The bell should be ringing soon, so pack up." Mr. James said.
Ian turned around so that he was facing Loren and Eddie. "You guys want to go for pizza after school. Coach said that practice was going to be rough today and you and Mel are going to have try-outs. You should be done by the time our practice is over."
"That sounds great. I'll tell Mel." Loren said.
The bell rang. Loren gathered her books. "I'll see you guys at lunch." Loren said as she walked out of the classroom.
Eddie smiled as he watched her leave, her ponytail bouncing behind her. Ian shoved Eddie. "Stop drooling man." Eddie snapped out of his trance.
"What?" Eddie asked, still out of it.
"You like Loren."
"Yea, I like Loren. You like her too; she's our friend." Eddie said as he walked out into the hallway.
"You know what I mean Ed. Don't try to play it off." Ian said.
"I'm not playing anything. She is just a friend, plus we have only known each other for a week." Eddie said. "I better get to class; I'll see you at lunch."
Ian walked to his class, still thinking of how defensive Eddie got at the mention of Loren. Ian smiles to himself. "He's totally into her." Ian says to himself as he walks into class.
The rest of the day goes by pretty quickly. The final bell rings, so Loren walks to her locker. Melissa is already waiting there with her bag. "Hey." Mel said.
"Hey." Loren said back. "Thank you for doing this with me. I know cheering isn't really your thing."
"It's cool. Who knows? Maybe I'll like it." Mel replied.
Loren takes her bag out of the locker and slings it over her shoulder. "Come on, the locker rooms are over here." Melissa said.
They reach the locker rooms and walk inside. They pick lockers that were right beside each other. Loren changes into a pair of black soffe shorts, and a white tank top while Mel changes into red Nike shorts and a black tank top. They were both putting on their sneakers when Chloe walked over to them. "Do you two honestly think that you will make the squad? You two even being here is a complete joke."
"Well it will be that much funnier when we make it and you get to see us at practice every single day." Melissa shot back.
"You wish." Chloe said as she walked out of the locker room.
"I hate her so much." Melissa said as she tied her sneaker angrily.
"Yea, she isn't the nicest person to be around." Loren said as she finished tying her shoes.
"Seriously Lo, you are way too nice." Melissa said laughing.
They walk out of the locker room and into the gym. Couch Collins had them all get in a straight line so that she could collect physicals. Once they were finished, Couch Collins told them that their first task would be to run a mile around the track.
All the girls walk down to the track. It surrounds the football field, so they are close to the football team while they practice.
Once the girls get down to the track, Couch Collins takes out her stopwatch.
"I want to see a mile in at least 7 minutes, 30 seconds, and that is 4 times around the track. Everybody line up." All of the girls stood at the starting line. Chloe stood beside the Coach.
"You too Carter." The coach said. "But I'm head cheerleader." Chloe whined.
"That doesn't matter. You are a part of my squad so you will do what everyone else does." Coach Collins said. Chloe walks over to the starting line with an attitude.
"On your mark, get set, go." All of the girls take off running, except Loren and Melissa. "We can just pace ourselves. That way, we won't burn out quickly like the other girls will." Loren says.
"I like the way you think Tate." Sure enough, most girls were breathing heavily and walking by the second lap. Loren and Melissa finished their laps first, with 30 seconds to spare. They walk over to get water from one of the water coolers outside. Loren was drinking her water when she made eye contact with Eddie. She waved at him. Eddie saw Loren and waved back. Unfortunately, he should have been running and got sacked by Jeremy and Ian.
Loren's hand went to her mouth. The guys got off of Eddie and he looked over at Loren. Loren mouthed "Sorry." Eddie stood up and shook it off. He ran back to the team which was huddled around Coach Douglas. "Chloe finished her mile right at 7 minutes, 30 seconds. She walked over to the water cooler and gave Loren and Melissa a dirty look. The other girls came in around 8, some even at 9 minutes.
Coach Collins wrote something on her clipboard, and then she showed the girls a cheer. She showed it to them three times, and then she called them up in groups so that they could do it. All of the girls did the cheer, and some did better than others. The try-outs lasted for about 2 hours. Loren and Melissa walked up to the school and into the locker room. "You were awesome Lo. You're totally going to make it." Melissa said as she grabbed her bag. "You were pretty good too Mel. I think we both have a pretty good shot." Melissa smiled. They walked out of the locker room to see the football team coming in. Ian found them in crowd of guys.
"Give us 10 minutes, then we will be ready." Ian said. He was talking to both of them, but no one would know that by the way he looked at Mel. It was like Loren didn't even exist.
"Ok." Melissa said.
Ian smiled and jogged to the locker room.
10 Minutes Later
"Are you guys ready to go?" Eddie asked
"Yea." Loren said.
Brian and Jeremy came out following Ian. Brian put his arm around Loren's shoulder. "Those shorts work for you Tate." Loren laughed and shoved Brian playfully. "Shut up Brian."
"Hey, I'm just saying." Brian said jokingly.
Ian and Melissa were talking to each other and Eddie was checking his phone. Loren walked next to him.
"Hey." Loren said.
"Hey Lo." Eddie replied.
"I am so sorry about practice. Ian and Jeremy looked like they crushed you." Loren said.
Eddie looked up from his phone and gave Loren a fake offended face. "First, it wasn't your fault and second, they did not crush me. I barely felt it."
"Oh really." Loren said laughing.
"Really."
"Whatever Duran." Loren said.
Everyone was in the parking lot now. They got into their cars and headed to Tony's Pizza. They got there within ten minutes. Loren remembers that she needsto text Nora to tell her where she will be.
Went out for pizza with some friends. See you when I get home. Love u.
They order two large pepperoni pizzas. They eat, talk, and laugh.
"Could I say something?" Loren asked everyone at the table.
"Sure." Eddie said.
"Well I already told Eddie this, but I wanted to say that I am really glad that I came here. You guys have been amazing and you're the best friends I could have asked for."
"Aah. We love you too Lo." Melissa said.
Loren laughed. She looked around at everyone at the table and she knew she had found friends that would last for a lifetime.
Please Comment.