It is kind of short, but I still wanted to get a chapter to you guys so here it is. I hope you like it. As usual, leave me comments with your thoughts. XOXO cece1397
P.S. there might be more typos in this one because I didn't feel like reading it over.
Loren was sitting in her usual spot during lunch when Melissa runs up to the table.
"Collins just put the list up." Melissa says.
"Did we make it?" Loren asks.
"I don't know. I came to tell you as soon as I saw her. Come on."
Loren stands up and they both run to the list. "I can't look." Loren tells Mel. "You do it."
Melissa braces herself and runs her finger down the list. "You made it." Melissa says. "Oh my gosh, so did I."
Both of the girls squealed out of excitement. They hugged each other and walked back out to the courtyard. "I would just like to say that you are looking at two of this season's cheerleaders." Melissa said.
"That's great Eddie said." Loren sat back down between Eddie and Jeremy. Eddie looked at Loren. "I told you that you had nothing to worry about." Eddie says.
"Congratulations babe." Ian says. He kisses her. Loren looks at them both surprised and a little bit confused. "When did this happen?" Loren asks.
"These two have been talking since last year. It was just a matter of time before they got together." Brian cut in.
"Oh. Well congrats you guys." Loren said as she smiled at them. "Thanks Lo." Melissa said.
Lunch ends and everyone heads to fourth period. At the end of the day, the intercom comes on and Coach Collins makes an announcement:
I would like Rebecca Tyler, Anna Dawson, Ashley Mason, Marissa Gomez, Courtney Spencer, Loren Tate, Kelsey Jones, Amber Johnson, Melissa Sanders, Chloe Carter, Alissa Madden, Jessica Washington, and Jordan Caldwell to report to the gym tomorrow after school for a meeting regarding this cheer season. Congratulations ladies; I will see you all then.
The bell rings. Loren gathers her books and heads to the parking lot. "Hey Lo, wait up!" A voice calls from behind her.
Loren turns around and sees Eddie running up to her. "Hey. What's up?" Loren asks in her cheery voice.
"Well, I'm having this party on Saturday and I was wondering if you'd be interested. It's this thing my parents like to do every year. It is for the football team and the cheerleaders. Parents can come too, but they usually attend the more formal dinner that my parents have the week before the first game." Loren shakes her head as she listens.
"They're the head athletics boosters, so we do this kind of stuff a lot. What do you say?" Eddie stands there watching Loren contemplate the invitation.
"I think that sounds like fun. I will definitely be there." Loren says.
"Ok, cool."
"Cool."
Before Eddie walks off he says "And bring a bathing suit, it's a pool party/ cookout kind of deal."
"Ok, thanks for inviting me." Loren says as she runs a hand through her hair.
"No problem." Eddie says back.
Loren gets in her car and drives out of the parking lot. When she gets home, Nora is cooking dinner. "Hey sweetie. How was your day?" Nora asked.
"It was great. I made the squad Mom!" Loren said excitedly.
"That's great. What about Mel."
"She made it too. There's a meeting after school tomorrow for the cheerleaders, so I will be home late." Loren tells her.
"Tell Mel that I said congratulations too."
"I will."
"So, Eddie invited me to this barbecue that his parents are having for the team. It's on Saturday. Can I go?" Loren asks.
"Eddie is your chemistry partner, right?"
"Yea."
"Is he cute?"
"Mom. Really?"
"What? It's a valid question."
"He's not exactly hard to look at." Loren says, not wanting to come out and say that he is 100% drop dead gorgeous.
"So he's cute."
"Seriously mom. So can I go or not?"
"Of course you can. His parents will be there though, right."
"Absolutely."
"Will other parents be there?"
"Eddie said that most parents don't come to this party, but his parents have this big dinner where the parents all meet and talk."
"I have to work on Saturday anyway, but you have fun."
"Thank you mom. Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Loren says as she hugs Nora.
"No problem."
Loren goes to her room to do her homework until dinner is finished. She and Nora eat and talk more about school.
Once she finishes all of her homework, Loren gets ready for bed.
At the Duran Household
Eddie is eating with Katy and Max, and they are talking.
"So Eddie, how was your day?" Katy asks.
"It was good. Coach Collins put the list up for the cheerleaders, so I invited all the girls to the party."
"That's good. Did your new friend Loren make it?" Katy asked.
Eddie could not help the light blush that came across his face when he heard Loren's name. he wished he could, but it was out of his control. "Yea, she made it and so did Mel."
"Loren is your chemistry partner, right?" Max asked clarifying.
"Yea." Eddie answered.
"Is she pretty." Katy asked.
"Yes mom. She's pretty." Eddie learned a long time ago that there was no use in trying to avoid the obvious with Katy. She could read his like a book, so even if he didn't tell Katy what he really thought of Loren, she would know anyway.
"Do think you might ask her out?" Max asked.
Eddie almost chokes on a piece of broccoli. He picks up his glass and took a quick sip of water. "Well she's only been here for a little over a week, so I mean…" Eddie paused. "I don't know."
"Well any girl is better than that Chloe. I did not like her for you at all. She only ever talked about herself." Katy said. Her brow was furrowed, the way it gets whenever she talks anything she doesn't like.
"We all know how you felt about Chloe mom." Eddie said.
"Speaking of Chloe, did you invite her to the party this year?" Max asked curiously.
"I actually told her that we weren't having a party this year." Eddie said as he grinned to himself.
Max and Katy both laughed. "I don't really have a problem with that." Max said. She wasn't exactly the life of the party last year."
"Yea, she just thought she was." Eddie added on.
They finished dinner and Eddie helped clean the table and wash the dishes. Afterwards, he went up to his room and started doing his homework. By the time he finished, it was 10:00. Eddie set the alarm on his phone and went to bed.
The next day (After School)
Loren and Melissa are on their way to the gym when they see Eddie and Ian walking to the locker rooms.
Ian walks over to Melissa and gives her a quick kiss. "Practice is going to end pretty late tonight, so I am going to need to take a rain check on dinner with your parents tonight." Ian told Mel.
Melissa looked a little disappointed but then smiled. "It's ok, we can just reschedule. I'm sure they will understand."
"Are you sure." Ian asks searching her face to make sure she wasn't too upset.
"Yes, I'm sure." Ian kisses Melissa one more time and looks at Eddie who is talking to Loren. Big surprise there.
"Yea man, I'm coming." Eddie turns back to Loren. "So I just wanted to tell you that I told Chloe that there is no party at my place. In fact, I told her that there wasn't going to be a party at all."
"Eddie!" Loren says as she laughs.
"What? Why make everyone else suffer, right?"
Loren shook her head signaling that she agreed. "So don't mention anything about the party around her. I told the other girls and of course the guys are ecstatic." Eddie said. "So can I count on you to keep this little secret?"
"Of course." Loren says.
"Ok, hey I will text you my address after practice." Eddie says as he begins walking off.
"Ok." Loren said.
Eddie and Ian walk into the locker room, while Melissa and Loren continue to the gym.
The meeting takes a while because all of the girls have to be measured for new uniforms. They are given the financial information needed to pay for all the gear. "I can only except checks made out to Sun Valley Athletics. If you have any financial issues, come see me during any of your lunches and we can work something out." Coach Collins says. "Uniforms will be here anywhere between one and two weeks after placing the order, and checks are due back to me by November 5. That gives you about 2 weeks to get you money in. Our practices will be every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and games are on Fridays. I also may add a day that we may have practice, if there is a routine that I want you guys to learn. If there are any questions, feel free to ask me now." Coach Collins says.
She answers all of the questions asked of her and tells us that we can go. "I look forward to getting to know all of you better this season." She tells the girls as they leave the gym.
Loren and Melissa walk out to the gym and walk out to the school parking lot. "Do you want to sleep over on Friday night?" Loren asked. "We can get ready for Eddie's party together."
"That sounds great." Melissa said. "I'll just check with my mom. She is always planning last-minute family stuff. I'll text you about it."
"Ok." Loren said back
They got into their cars and went their separate ways.
Later on that Evening
Eddie just texted Loren to give her his address, and Melissa says that she is able to come over on Friday night.
Loren is excited to have so much going on. Loren gets out of her bed and walks into Nora's room. She is in bed reading when she looks up. "Do you need something sweetie?" Nora asks.
"No. I'm just letting you know that Mel is coming over tomorrow. She and I are going to get ready for Eddie's party together."
Nora looked at Loren and patted the spot of mattress beside her. "Now tell me the truth, do you like Eddie?" Nora asks.
This question caught Loren completely off guard. Her face turned a little red. Loren took a deep breath and looked her mom in the eye. "Maybe a little." Loren finally says. "He's just really sweet and he was nice to me when I first got to Sun Valley, but there is no way he is interested in me."
"Why would you say that?" Nora asks.
"Because he just sees me as a friend, plus there's the fact that we've only known each other for a week. If I told him that I like him, it would probably freak him out."
"Well you'll never know unless you try but I do think that it would be good to wait and see how things pan out. Once you get to know each other better, things might change."
"Mom, I'm not going to pursue this. It would ruin our friendship and that's one of the reasons I like it here; it's all of my friendships actually. I just don't want to make things weird."
"I understand."
"Well I'm going to head to bed now. I will see you in the morning." Loren hugs Nora.
"Ok sweetie. I love you."
"I love you too."
Loren stands up and walks out of Nora's room. She gets in her bed and just lays there for a while. Eventually, she drifts off, thinking about her new life, especially the parts with Eddie.
