Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own characters!
"Lauren, its five minutes till game time, where's Jenny?" Charity asked again. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Lauren roll her eyes. Charity stopped pacing and stood with her hands on her hips.
"I saw that." She tried to say sternly, but Lauren had started making faces at her, so it came out more giggly than she had planned.
"Seriously Charity, I don't know. Her phone was busy the last time I called. She'll be here, don't sweat." Lauren said optimistically.
"Oh, see, I told you." Lauren said looking behind Charity's back. Charity spun around and saw Jenny jogging across the gym.
"Sorry guys, my car broke down and dad had to bring me his car." She said breathlessly as she threw her pom-pom's down by the bleachers. Lauren gave Charity an 'I told you so' smile over Jenny's head.
"It's okay. I'm just nervous about doing the routine at half-time." Charity admitted to the girls. They had only all nailed the routine for the Classic yesterday. They had done it well today at practice too, but she was still worried.
"We need to practice it in front of a crowd and the Classic is next weekend. It's now or never." Lauren explained. Charity nodded. She was about to reply when the lights dimmed. Giving Lauren a weak smile she ran out onto the gym floor with the other girls to cheer while the line-up was called.
Tyler was called last since he was captain. When he ran out onto the court he gave them a little wave. Charity figured he was waving at Lauren but she still felt a little jolt of excitement. She mentally kicked herself for it too.
The first half flew by. The ravens were up by three. The crowd was already pumped because of the close game. Charity closed her eyes and tried to picture the routine being done flawlessly.
"Alright ladies, let's do this!" Lauren yelled as the got into formation on the floor. The lights dimmed, their music started and they executed perfectly. Charity was so proud of her squad. They had worked so hard. She only hoped that they would do as well next weekend.
"See, new girl, we pulled it off. No worries." Jenny said flipping Charity's pony tail as they cleared the floor.
"Breathe Charity." Lauren instructed. Charity let out the breath that she hadn't realized she was holding.
"Thanks. Weren't you worried?" Charity asked. Lauren seemed to have nothing but confidence.
"Sure, I was scared shitless. Never let 'em see ya sweat!" She quipped as she skipped off with a smile. Charity laughed out loud.
"Something funny?" Lila asked softly, walking up beside her. She stiffened when she saw it was Lila.
"Are you lost? I seem to remember giving you the brush off." Charity said coldly.
"We did a good job tonight. Wouldn't that be horrible if next time we're stunting, oops, my hand slipped?" Lila said in mock horror. Charity's eyes grew wide with disbelief.
"You wouldn't." Charity said shakily.
"And you wouldn't back out of our plan now would you?" Lila asked brightly.
"Course you wouldn't. See you at the party." She said, patting Charity's cheek. Charity performed the rest of the game while in a fog. She couldn't believe Lila had threatened her. She had to do something. Someone had to have some dirt on Lila. Maybe Tyler? She made a mental note to talk to him later.
After the game she was kicking herself for not asking her dad for a ride. She had originally planned to ride with Lila, but that was obviously out. Jenny and Lauren had already left and her dad wasn't answering at home. She sighed loudly, cursing her luck under her breath.
"Something wrong?" Tyler asked her. She spun around quickly. She thought that everyone had already left.
"Not now. I missed my ride. I thought I was going to be stuck here." She told him.
"Well Tyler's taxi service is only running to the hottest party of the year." He said teasingly.
"Good thing that's where I was headed." She replied with a grin. She followed him out to his car and smiled to herself when he opened the door for her. She had to keep reminding herself that he was Lauren's boyfriend.
"You guys rocked tonight at half-time." He said appreciatively as he pulled out of the parking lot.
"Thanks, but how did you even see us?" She asked in confusion.
"I hung back and watched. Coach was pissed, but it was worth it." He smiled. She couldn't help but smile back at him. Why, why, why did he have to be taken?!
"Hey, I wanted to ask you something. You keep telling me that Lila is bad news. Why is that? Did she do something?" Charity asked slowly. She wasn't at all sure she wanted to know the answer.
"Not really. Just a vibe I started getting from her. Everything was cool between us for a long time. Then she made the cheerleading squad and we started hanging out with some of the girls and I really liked Lauren. She was fun to hang out with. She's different you know, from other girls. And Lila got insanely jealous. She started blowing up over tiny things and her temper was just unreal. So I told her we were over. She seemed to take it pretty well, but then there was the party last week. She would love nothing more than to hurt Lauren, I'm sure of it. I just didn't want you to get caught in the crossfire." He explained. Charity nodded.
"Okay, I have a confession to make. I don't know if Lauren has told you, but I'm her half-sister. We just found out that my dad is her dad too. And I was really mad at first and Lila and I kind of went overboard. When I realized that I was being petty I wanted out, but now Lila is sorta threatening me and I don't know how seriously to take her." Charity said in a rush. She couldn't believe she was telling Tyler all this, but she was currently only on speaking terms with 3 people in Tree Hill and she couldn't exactly tell Lauren or her dad this. Tyler was being pretty quiet and Charity was already regretting telling him.
"I hate to say this Charity, but I would take her pretty damn seriously. She's just got this twisted view of Lauren and like I said, she'd do anything to hurt her. And obviously anyone who gets in her way." Tyler sighed.
Charity had been afraid that he would say exactly that.