Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own characters.
As each hour passed, the butterflies in Charity's stomach grew. She was nervous about helping Tyler after practice. She knew that by behaving herself she could prove to Lauren that she wasn't out to hurt her. However, Charity had never been one to behave herself and Lila wasn't helping matters by egging her on.
"You should totally put the moves on Tyler today. You can't honestly tell me that the boy isn't fine." Lila said with a knowing smile. Charity glanced around the locker room. Lucky for Lila, Lauren and Jenny weren't there yet.
"Can you keep it down Lila. I'm not going to mess with Tyler. I'm going to be a good little girl." Charity said with a twinkle in her eye. At least she hoped she was.
"Alright ladies, 5 minutes!" Charity called out in reminder. She slammed her locker door, smoothed out her short shorts and quickly pulled her long straight brown hair up into a messy bun. Giving Lila one last glance, she hurried out into the gym.
A few of the guys were already shooting around in order to warm up. Charity picked a spot that allowed her good view and sat down and began stretching. When Tyler came out he looked her way and waved. She quickly returned the wave and continued stretching. Charity liked stretching alone. The quiet just felt right to her. Her solitude was soon interrupted by the arrival of the rest of the squad. Charity made her way over to Lauren.
"Are we still practicing the routine for the competition?" Charity asked.
"You mean for the Classic? Yes." Lauren replied.
"Alright ladies. I'm thinking about changing up the routine a bit. I want to practice front handspring twist to extensions. I'm thinking those would make the flow into a modified wolf's wall better than just plain elevator extensions" Lauren explained. Charity raised her eyebrows. Those stunts weren't exactly easy, but they would look amazing. If they could pull it off.
Two hours later and they almost had it. Well, Lauren, Charity and Jenny had it. Bella and Lila were struggling.
"Good job ladies. We'll work on it again tomorrow and then Charity and I will decide which way we'll go." Lauren said, dismissing practice. Charity was giving Bella a couple tips when Jenny walked up.
"Thanks Charity!" Bella said with a wave as she headed into the locker room.
"Why don't you try to keep your lips to yourself this time, new girl." Jenny reminded her sweetly before pushing by her. Charity was about to say something bitchy when Tyler jogged up.
"Ready for math or do you want to change first?" He asked with a smirk.
"Nah, I'm good. Lets get started." Charity replied. She grabbed her backpack out of the locker room and headed over to the practice mats to set up spot to study. A few minutes later Tyler joined her with his own books.
"Okay, so I'm stuck on problem 11." He said, handing her his work. She scanned the problem and checked his work against hers.
"Right here in step two, you're not following the order of operations." Charity explained. Tyler was a quick learner and picked up what she was saying right away. In no time they were laughing and joking as if they'd been friends all of their lives. They also somehow managed to get their math homework done as well.
"Thanks a lot Charity. I had fun doing my homework for once." Tyler said as they were packing their stuff up.
"Me too, we should do it again sometime." Charity replied.
"So, you're going to come to my party, right?" Tyler asked as they walked across the gym. Charity didn't see any reason not to. It wasn't as if it would just be her and Tyler.
"Yep, I'll be there." She said, making her decision.
"Good, well I guess I'll see you tomorrow." He said with a grin. Charity returned his smile and headed into the locker room to get changed.
"Well, well, well, looks like our little plan is in full swing." Lila said as Charity rounded the corner. Charity gasped loudly. She hadn't been expecting Lila to wait on her.
"About that, we need to talk. I'm not so sure it's a great idea." Charity said as Lila followed her to her locker.
"What? I thought you despised Lauren." Lila screeched. Charity could tell this wasn't going to be easy.
"She's still not my favorite person, but she is my sister. I shouldn't have done what I did last night. Lauren didn't deserve that and she sure as hell doesn't deserve what we had planned." Charity said with a hint of finality in her voice. She wanted to make it clear to Lila that this was not up for debate.
"Fine, I get it. I wonder what would happen though if she found out about our plan? I mean, you apologized to her, you're getting close to Tyler. Wow, it seems to me you're still following our plan to a T. Or should I say your plan? I tried to stop you, remember?" Lila asked in a mockingly sweet voice.
"You wouldn't dare." Charity said, feeling her anger rising.
"Try me." Lila replied, crossing her arms and staring Charity down.
"You don't know who you're messing with, Lila. I'd be careful if I were you." Charity replied. She grabbed her things and left the locker room and Lila behind.