As always, I don't own the characters, and the reference to a quote that I used in the chapter—all rights go to Kiera Cass.

Enjoy! I like this chapter a lot!

All these football players were making me nervous. I have never been good with guys. My last, and only relationship ended terribly.

"America, I know how important cheering is to you, so you should go for it." Aspen tells me as we sit together under the shade of an old tree in the commons of Carolina U. I nod, feeling great about where this is going, maybe he will finally acknowledge and accept my decision to want to go pro. This could be the moment. We have enough money put together to have a small little family and friends service and pay the local priest by now, I don't know why he hasn't asked for my hand yet.

"but, if you want to go into NFL cheerleading, we simply can't be together anymore. I couldn't deal with you travelling and being away so much, and plus, you need a real job. Cheering won't get you very far." I feel my eyes welling up with tears as Aspen tells me this. I just shake my head and stand up, rushing away from him and up to my dorm.

May, my roommate, is in our room studying as I walk in. She immediately gets up and after at least an hour or so, I finally calm down.

"Don't let a stupid boy tell you that it's either him or your dream. If your dream and him are separate ideas, then there is someone else special in your dream and its sure not him." May tells me as I catch my breath between small sobs. I just nod my head to her and lay my head down on my pillow, falling asleep.

I wake up and glance at the clock. 2:13 am. I look over and see May sleeping in her bed across the room and I decide to see if he has texted me to change his mind. I was so sure he was going to propose to me right then and there, but instead he shunned me. Maybe May is right. He is obviously not in my dream, so I should forget him.

No texts, calls, emails, or messages on any social media. Nothing at all. I go to my text messages with him and begin to type:

"It's over. We are two totally different people with totally different lives and dreams ahead of us and I don't think this relationship is the best thing for us."

I click send without a second thought. Well, I did think about it a lot after I sent it, as tears silently run down my cheeks. I go to my computer and boot it up. I go to the internet and search: "NFL teams on the west coast."

I end up looking through audition information and team information about a couple teams until the morning. When May woke up, she came over and looked over my shoulder and smiled a sincere smile at me, not even knowing that I had ended whatever Aspen and I had only 8 hours before.

So, I look around the room, seeing guy after guy holding a beer glass and joking around, and decide to leave. I suck at social interaction. I reach the elevator when I feel a piece of fabric fall over my shoulders. I turn around and see Maxon standing there and I reach for whatever was on my shoulders. It was my coat that I almost left there. He gives me a sincere smile and presses the elevator button for me, simply saying "see you at practice" as I leave.

When I wake up the next morning that we have practice and see it raining buckets outside, I silently thank Maxon for giving me my coat back, since I have to walk to practice. I take a quick shower, mourning over the fact that it was raining because I hate rain. It didn't rain much back in Carolina, but here in Seattle, there was almost always at least one ominous looking cloud in the sky, which made being outside much worse, since I normally love being outdoors.

I change into some Seahawks yoga pants and tank top with my jacket before going out to the elevator to begin my long, wet, walk to practice.

Practice was fairly uneventful and boring because we couldn't practice on the field due to the rain. I think everyone was overjoyed when we finally were let out an hour early to go home.

I take the short walk back to the apartment building and walk in, struggling slightly with my bags. Just as the elevator arrives I hear someone call out to hold the elevator, so I decide to be nice and listen, pressing the open door button once I'm inside.

My heart drops when I realize it is Maxon running toward the elevator. I could press the button and just leave him, but he was basically here—that wouldn't be the right thing to do. So I wait a couple more seconds and he finally gets on the elevator. We press our respective floors and the elevator doors close on us.

I pull out my phone, not wanting to socialize with anyone. Rainy days put me in terrible moods. As we begin to reach my floor Maxons asks: "America, do you want to come up and hang out in my apartment? I mean, after you get a shower and all…" he fades off. I roll my eyes and accidently hit him pretty hard on his leg with my heavy bag as the elevator doors open and I get out. I look back right as the doors are closing and see him almost doubled over as the elevator doors close. Oops.

I take a quick shower and plop myself on the couch with my TV turned on. I notice that "The Diaries of Gregory" is on and decide to watch just a little bit of it, since everyone else thought it was so good. The 3rd episode of the night that I was watching was interrupted when my phone beeped with a text from an unknown number.

"Do you even know how long it took me to find your number?" The text asked.

I text back: "Who is this?" and I throw my phone back beside me.

Moments later my phone rings again with a text: "Oh, sorry. Bad manners on my part! It's Maxon."

He is such a creeper for getting my number. Before I can respond he texts me again: "I don't mean to be a creeper with getting your number and all, but I wanted to tell you that I'm okay."

"What are you even talking about? Did you get hurt at practice? And who in the world gave you my number?"

A few minutes later he texts me back: "sorry, I'm watching the Diaries. Carter (Linebacker) asked Marlee if she had it, so I basically got it from Marlee. Hope that's okay… And I'm talking about finally recovering from your bag hitting me in the worst spot as you picked it up in the elevator."

I roll my eyes. I hit him in the leg. That couldn't have hurt that bad. "Come on, I totally hit your leg." I tell him, doubting what he is saying. He texts back immediately.

"It doesn't take that long to recover from a hit to the leg." I laugh and put my phone on the table, ignoring anything else he wants to say. While that is hilarious, it is also super embarrassing.

I cook some microwave mac and cheese for dinner and then change into my pajamas and finish packing my suitcase since we leave for Cincinnati tomorrow. I pack a couple pairs of practice clothes, my warm ups, and the uniform along with two sets of normal clothes in case we have time to go out, which we never know if we will have or not.

I set my alarm for 6 am in the morning and fall asleep quickly, silencing my phone when it wakes me up at 11 pm with a text from Maxon.

My alarm goes off too soon, so I turn it off and cuddle up in the covers for a few more minutes before getting up and taking my speedy shower. When I finally arrive outside the stadium to catch a ride to the airport with Marlee and some other teammates, I am just beginning to actually wake up and become more aware and less groggy.

We make our way to the airport and hop on the plane about an hour later, finding our own seats. I sit beside Marlee with Elise across the aisle from us and a couple of other cheerleaders around us. I am talking to Marlee about our schedule once we get there when I hear a familiar voice behind me. I glance around, trying not to be creepy by turning around, and see Maxon behind me. This is going to be a long flight.

Thanks for reading! I hope this chapter clears some of your doubts and concerns about the characters!

As always, comments are appreciated as I would love to improve my writing!

~~ibelieveinprincesses