Nicole woke up early the next morning with the events that took place yesterday fresh in her head. Looking at the clock, she read that it was 7:15 in the morning. School didn't start till around 7:35, so she laid back down and went back to sleep. She woke up ten minuets later, and knowing that she couldn't sleep any more, she got dressed. Since there was a football game, Nicole had to change into her cheerleading uniform. Slowly and painfully she did. The she did her hair up into a ponytail and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair that used to reach her neck, now reached the middle of her back. Sighing, she turned around and walked downstairs to get some breakfast. Since Ray was still sleeping, and since he was going to pick up Veronica, Nicole decided to walk over to Gerry's house and see if he would give her a ride to school. She grabbed her bag and keys, wrote a quick note, and left.

She ran all the way to Gerry's house and when she finally reached it, she caught her breath. Slowly she made her way to the front door and rang the doorbell. It opened to reveal Ms. Bertier.

"Hello Ms. Bertier. Is Gerry home?"

"Yes he is dear. Come inside, he's just eating breakfast." She walked in and looked around. Ms. Bertier led her to kitchen. Gerry looked up at Nicole.

"Hey Nicky. What you doing here?"

"Could you give a ride to school? I didn't fell like going to school with Ray." He smiled at her.

"Sure thing. Hold on for one sec."

Nicole waited patiently for Gerry to get ready and when he was, the two of them got into the car drove of. "I need to pick up a few of the guys. You OK with that?"

"Sure thing." Underneath her breath she muttered, "at least it's not Veronica."

"What?"

"Nothing." They made a few stops until they had picked up everyone.

"NOOOOOOOO. I WON'T GO!!" Nicole was screaming the whole way while Gerry and Julius started dragging her towards the field. "LET ME GO. I'M NOT GOING OUT THERE. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH." Gerry picked her up, and swung her over his shoulder. She started hitting him, and at the same time, screaming her rejections of going out onto the field and cheering. When they finally got there, Gerry walked over to his teammates and set her down.

"Guys. Tell her that cheering is not a bad thing."

"Don't believe him. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Cheerleading is for sissies and I'm not a sissy. I would choice football over cheerleading anytime. I would even choice jumping of a building and dieing over cheerleading." She turned around and started to leave, but a few of the players blocked her way.

"Not you guys as well. Come on. I'm just going to sit in the stands and cheer you guys on instead of standing with the cheer dorks and cheering their way."

"NICOLE." She slowly turned around to see Ray and Veronica walking towards them. "Go with Veronica and cheer."

"But-"

"No buts. I told you already that I don't give a damn whether you hate cheerleading or not. I went through a lot to get you a position and you're going to do it."

"I DON'T WANT TO DO IT. I HATE CHEERLEADING AND I ALWAYS WILL."

Ray felt his blood boil. He raised his hand and slapped her across the face. Nicole stumbled back and fell onto the floor. "You ignorant little brat. You are so ungrateful, do you know that. I went through everything to get you what you wanted and all you do is complain and moan. You're going to get up, walk your ass over there, and cheer like your life depended on it because if you don't, I'll hurt you so much that you'll wish that you were never born."

Nicole could fell tears slip down her cheeks. Slowly she got up and turned away. "I'll see you guys later." With that, she ran all the way to the girls' locker room. Veronica gave Ray a sympathetic look, kissed him, and went after Nicole like she cared about her.

"Man Ray, that was harsh." Ray faced his teammates. "What?" "Hitting your own sister. How low can you go?" "Mind your own business. She's not your sister." He turned around and walked away. Gerry felt like punching Ray hard and was ready to go after him, but Julius held him back. "Don't do it man."

"Why not? Did you see Nicky's face? He hurt her a lot, and that makes me mad."

"It makes us all mad Gerry," Rev said looking at the direction that Nicole had gone. "He doesn't care about her at all. I bet that by now, she'll have a barrier around her heart to protect herself from getting hurt again."