Chad strolled into the book café. He easily spotted Theresa flagging him down.
" Hey there." Theresa greeted him.
" Chad." Ethan gave him a nod.
" My MAN," Alex stood up and gave Chad a bad impression of what looked to be a ghetto handshake.
" Hi." Whitney said casually.
" Hey, all." Chad replied. " I've got some good news. Dave got a gig."
" Really? That's amazing!" Theresa squealed.
" And free tickets and backstage passes for everyone." Chad announced.
" We're all in." Theresa said, without consulting any of her friends.
" We are?" Whitney asked with laughter behind her eyes.
" Yes. We are." Theresa replied firmly.
Charity pressed the play button on her answering machine.
" Char? It's me." Miguel's voice said.
" Where are you? I—I thought you'd be here, at Justin's party." He went on, sounding unsure of himself.
" Maybe you'd know, if you hadn't ditched me." Charity muttered. She'd only gone over to Mindy's to hang out, but still.
" Listen. We need to talk. I mean, I—I really need to talk to you. About some important stuff." Miguel said, his voice breaking.
" Meet me in the parking lot after the game, okay? Bye Char." Miguel said before hanging up.
Charity wasn't stupid. She knew what " We have to talk" meant.
" What's it going to be, Miguel? Me or Kay?", she whispered, dreading the answer.
Kay glanced in the mirror. She had just changed into her cheerleading outfit, but something seemed different. Somehow, she wasn't her usual virbrant, hyper self. This whole Miguel-Charity thing had really shaken her up. More than she'd ever let on to her friends.
She wasn't the carefree, everything's gonna be alright girl she used to be. She was more guarded. Cautious.
Still, she was a cheerleader, and part of the job was to play the peppy part. She walked over to her CD player and popped in her Jock Jams CD. This would definantly psych her up.
The tryout had gone really well, but unfortunantly, Charity, Emily and Mindy had also made it. And today was the first game, and Coach Jenn said that she would be announcing captain today. Normally, butterflies would be fluttering away in Kay's stomach while she tried to psych herself up. But today was different. Almost as if she didn't care.
Her phone rang, but it took her a few rings to realize it, over her loud music.
" Hello?" she practically yelled, over the music.
" Hi. Uh, is Kay there?" said an unfamiliar male voice.
" This is. Who's this?" she said, as she turned down her CD player.
" It's Miguel." He answered.
Kay dropped the phone. Her jaw hung for a split second before she snatched it up again, her tone suddenly ice cold.
" Yes?" she asked, flinching at her cold tone.
" I just wanted to call and see if you were okay. And to tell you I'm sorry." Miguel said quickly.
" Oh, excuse me. I don't exactly know what you mean," Kay said sarcastically. " Did you mean not telling me you had a girlfriend? Or kissing me? Or was it the part where you told your precious little Charity that I hit on you and tried to steal you away from her?"
" Kay—" Miguel started.
" Listen, MIGUEL, you can take your little sorry butt back to your precious little girlfriend. I don't want your pity or apology. Which is, by the way, somewhat pathetic because you don't have the nerve to tell me face to face. Later." Kay rambled on, finally hanging up on Miguel.
Whoa. Kay was quite an actress. She hadn't been THAT angry at him. But there would be plenty of time to think about their strange conversation. And she would. As soon as she caught her breath.
Charity looked over at Mindy. The girl shook her head.
" Damn. Where is she?" Charity muttered.
Coach Jenn had promised to announce captain at the game today. And Charity could feel the butterflies fluttering around in her stomach. She wanted this so much. She NEEDED this so much.
" Do you think when Coach Jenn said she was announcing captain today, she meant before or after the game?" Charity asked Emily, who was stretching beside her.
" It's got to be before. Any longer would be cruel and unusual punishment." Emily responded, trying to lighten up Charity's worried and nervous mood.
Mindy suddenly came running to them. "She's coming. You guys. Act like your stretching out."
" We ARE stretching out." Emily pointed out.
" Whatever." Charity snapped.
Emily and Mindy exchanged a Look.
" Don't worry Char. You've got to get it. Anyways, Kay isn't even that good." Mindy said soothingly.
" She is that good." Charity said. It way never wise to underestimate the competition.
" Girls! I have an announcement." Coach Jenn called, standing about 10 feet away from Charity. The whole squad gathered around her and settled down.
" Well, I'm sure everyone's anxious to hear who the new captain is." Coach Jenn said. " It was a hard decision, but I think it was a good one."
" Your new captain is Kay Bennett." Coach Jenn said brightly.
Charity's insides hit the ground. She had no idea what to do or say. She glanced over to see Kay's beaming face, Theresa and Simone congratulating her.
She felt Mindy take her hand and squeeze it, but Charity couldn't even find the energy to squeeze back.
Charity Standish
I don't get how this could have happened. I had it all planned out. Miguel is the captain of the football team. And I should have been the CAPTAIN of the cheerleading squad. Simple. No, not anymore. Things are anything but simple.
Kay heard the buzzer sound, marking the end of the game, and more importantly, an amzing victory for the Harmony Hellcats. As much as she hated to admit it, Miguel had played an awesome game today.
Now she just had to deal with the squad.
Miguel impatiently looked around the parking lot. Charity should have gotten out by now. The cheerleaders always got out before the player, even if he had practically showered in 2 seconds.
This was it. He was finally going to end their relationship. He didn't want anything to happen like it did the last time, way back in eigth grade…
He walked back toward the school. There were voices coming from the gym.
He glanced inside the gym to see Charity sitting on one of the swestling mats, bent over at the waist, crying. She was being comforted by Mindy, Emily, Simone and Ali.
He was just about to turn and leave when Mindy spotted him.
" Come on in, Miguel." Mindy said in a sad voice.
Miguel gave an inward groan, but he walked to and put an arm around Charity.
He couldn't do it now. Not when she was crying, and so disapointed.
" Kay made captain." She said as she was crying. " It's not fair."
" It's okay, Char. It's okay." He said in a soothing voice, patting her back. " I'm not going anywhere."