Chapter 4, here we go!

BREAKING OUT

"I was thinking of dying my hair light brown," Nikki contemplated, pushing the salad leaves around her bowl thoughtfully. The cafeteria was packed with Beverly Hills High students, but the cheerleaders were in their own little social bubble. Much to Eve's delight, she was now a part of that bubble. "Or maybe blonde."

"Ew," Maryse scrunched up her face. "Why would you do something like that?"

"People can't the difference between Brie and I." The twin sighed in a 'Poor Me' fashion. She turned back to the Queen Bee. "Anyway, it works for you."

"Yes, but I'm a natural blonde." Rosa Mendes scoffed at Maryse's comment; however the blonde simply shot her a dirty look, before carrying on. "Besides, you can't change. You guys are twins, it's like it's your gimmick."

Nikki once again sighed reluctantly, before turning to the newest member of the cheerleading squad. "What do you think?"

All of the cheerleaders' eyes focused in on Eve, whose jaw dropped slightly, as she attempted to think of a sensible, yet cheerleader-friendly answer. "I think you have great hair, Nikki."

"That's so sweet of you." The twin blew Eve a kiss across the table. Phew, lucky escape.

"Does anyone want anything from the vending machine?" Eve asked, pulling her wallet out of her bag and getting up from her seat.

"I'll have a sparkling water thanks, sweetie." Maryse slipped a couple of coins into Eve's open palm, before turning back to her conversation with Rosa. As much as Eve enjoyed hanging out with the cheerleaders, she sometimes needed to step away from their mindless talk, and take a moment to herself. She wasn't saying she was above them or better than them, but some of their conversations could be a little...

"Hey Tiffany!" As she queued for the vending machine, she noticed the girl waiting in front of her was the one that had shown her around the school to begin with. Although they hadn't spent much time together, Eve had always found Tiffany sweet, and fun to be around, and hopefully just because Eve was a cheerleader, that didn't mean they couldn't still hang out.

Eve was worried this might be the case, however, when Tiffany didn't respond to Eve's greeting.

"Tiff?" Eve walked around to the side of the vending machine so she was facing the blonde. "What's going on?"

"Why're you talking to me, Eve?" Tiffany frowned, furrowing her brow in a confused manner. "You're with the cheerleaders now, and-"

"That doesn't mean I can't talk to you!" Eve exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.

"Actually, it kinda does." Tiffany replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You're a cheerleader now, and you say we can still be friends, and maybe we will for a little bit, but..." She paused, and bit down on her lip. "Cheerleaders don't talk to girls like me. We're in different worlds now, Eve."

"Tiff-"

"I appreciate the effort, Eve, really I do, but-" Tiffany didn't even finish her sentence, as she simply shrugged, took her bottle from the receiving hole and left the vending machine.

Eve was hurt. She didn't understand; at her old school back in Denver, there were no cliques, everyone just got along, and spoke to everyone. Friendship groups weren't an issue-

"Ouch, that was awkward."

Eve didn't even realise anyone was stood behind her, until an unfamiliar voice told her otherwise. As she turned around, she saw a tall, reasonably attractive guy stood behind her. He was blonde, and with an athletic, muscular frame.

"Eavesdropping is bad, y'know." Eve pointed out, before slipping her money into the vending machine.

"You caught me. I couldn't help it." He offered her an outstretched hand. "I'm Jack Swagger."

"Eve Torres." She responded, shaking his hand. A little formal, but she was happy to oblige.

"Oh right, you're Kofi's sister." He responded with fake 'sudden realisation'. He knew exactly who she was, and what she was all about. "And you're on the cheerleading team."

"Well done." She grinned. "You're my new stalker, right?"

"No, I'm just a buddy of Kofi's." Jack responded with a dazzling smile of his own. "I thought I'd come introduce myself; I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of each other."

Eve winced, unsure if he was insinuating at something. "Really? Well, I'd better get back to my table, but I guess I'll see you around?"

"Definitely." He nodded, before turning in the opposite direction. He had her right where he wanted her, didn't he?

"Is that Jack over there talking to Eve?" Dolph nudged Kofi, and pointed over at the vending machine where the basketball captain had the newest cheerleader smiling.

"Eve is so hot." Montel commented, his eyes focused on the beautiful Latina, making it difficult for him to concentrate his lunch.

"Dude, that's my sister." Kofi punched Montel in the arm.

"Yeah, but she's your step-sister." Dolph added. "It's not that weird."

Kofi looked over at Montel, who simply laughed. Dolph wasn't exactly going to be getting any offers from Harvard any time soon. "You have a step-sister right?" Dolph nodded. "And she's pretty hot, isn't she?"

"No way man, that's..." Dolph stopped mid-sentence and rubbed his chin in a state of thought, "No, you're right. It's still pretty weird."

"Man, you've already got a girlfriend; leave some of the hot chicks for the rest of us." Montel laughed, as Jack came back to the table with his usual cocky swagger – no pun intended. "You can't be flirting-"

"Who said anything about flirting?" Jack said innocently. "I was just... making the new girl feel welcome."

Kofi simply blocked out his teammates, as they began to discuss his step-sister. To be honest, Kofi didn't see Eve in that way at all; she was his goofy step-sister, and she had been for years now. He saw her in sweats and a baggy t-shirt in the morning, and eating Ben & Jerry's straight from the tub at night; something that would certainly decrease her 'hot' reputation by a couple of notches.

"Hey Kofi." Kofi turned around and saw that his neighbour Kelly was already walking past him, looking as beautiful as ever.

Today, she was wearing a pair of pink denim hot-pants, a navy blue tank top and a pair of white Birkenstocks, adding to her cute California girl look. No matter how much Kofi focused on her body, he just couldn't escape her beautiful smile.

"Hey Kelly." He replied, giving her a wave, before she sauntered out of the cafeteria. Finally, he'd said something to her. Boy, she was so stunning.

"How do you know Kelly Carlyle?" Jack scoffed disapprovingly, as the basketball team watched Kelly walk down the hall.

"She's my next door neighbour." Kofi said, slightly reluctantly. What did Jack have against Kelly? She seemed perfectly sweet. "Why?"

"That girl is a total whore." Jack laughed. "Even Dolph doesn't want her, and we know he'd have anyone." Dolph ignored Jack's comment by throwing a potato chip at him.

"I don't get it, she seems nice." Kofi paused, letting his eyes go all dreamy and cloudy. "Not to mention totally hot."

"Maybe if STD's are your thing." Dolph muttered.

"What?" Kofi was deadly confused.

"Kelly was on the cheerleading squad from the beginning of freshman year, but then as soon as sophomore year hit, she pulled out." Jack paused to lower his voice. "No-one knew why until someone saw her shopping in Baby Gap, and she had got pretty big. She pulled out of school because she was pregnant."

"No-one knows who the father is." Montel added.

"Probably not even Kelly." Dolph chipped in.

"She left the school, no-one's seen the baby, now I guess she's come back to 'start over'. Not that anyone's ever going to let her live it down." Jack continued. "I'd watch yourself before you start hanging out with Kelly Carlyle."

Kofi sighed; if Jack was telling the truth, then appearances were definitely deceiving

"See you guys later!" Eve called to her friends in the gym, before making her way out to the parking lot.

As she used her sleeve to wipe away the beads of sweat on her forehead, Eve remembered the head cheerleader's words at that first tryout. Maryse was right; the Beverly Hills High cheerleaders did have high expectations, but Eve thought she was living up to them just fine. Maryse seemed to think she was good, and that was the main thing. Now Eve was looking forward to going home to take a shower and eat some Cookie Dough Ice-Cream to reward herself.

It was after-school, so the parking lot was surprisingly empty; only a couple of teacher's cars scattered around, however there was one boy stood about a metre away from her that had definitely caught Eve's attention.

He was leaned back non-chalantly against the wall, and he had a mysterious aura to him. He wore a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. The California sun was burning, so he was holding his black leather jacket in his hand. He had full lips, bright blue eyes, and either very dark blonde or light brown hair – Eve couldn't decide. What she could decide on, however, was that he was very good looking.

Dragging her eyes away from the boy, Eve searched the parking lot for Kofi, but he wasn't there. She pulled her cell phone out of her bag and searched for Kofi's number.

"No battery," She muttered, pushing her phone back into her pocket. "Hey." She turned to the guy waiting next to her. The more she looked at him, the more familiar he looked. "Do you have a cell phone I can borrow? My battery just died."

He looked caught off-guard that someone was talking to him, but he obliged, digging into his pocket and handing Eve his cell phone. She smiled brightly in response, before dialling Kofi's number.

'Hey, you've reached Kofi. I guess I'm not around, so if you leave a message, I'll call you back some other time.'

"Idiot." Eve groaned. Kofi said he'd pick Eve up after cheerleading practise as long as she called when it was done. Well, surely she couldn't call if he wasn't picking up? Eve turned back to the boy and held out his phone. "Thanks."

"That was pretty quick." He commented.

"My brother's supposed to be picking my up after cheerleading practise, and... you were just being polite, weren't you?" She paused and smiled. "I'm Eve, by the way."

"I know." He smiled back; he had a great smile. "You're in my biology class."

That's where she knew him! "Oh yeah, and you're Ted, right?"

"Ted DiBiase." He finished. "So how're you finding-" Before Ted could finish his sentence, an expensive looking black jeep pulled up opposite them, and as the window unwound, Eve noticed Cody Rhodes, a boy from her math class.

"Did you want a ride, or not?" Cody called out to Ted.

Ted paused to capture a glance at Eve. He asked, "Did you want a ride?"

"I'm not a taxi service, y'know." Cody pointed out.

Eve shrugged back at Ted. "It's fine, I can-"

"Eve, I'm kidding." Cody smiled, to which Eve let out a nervous laugh.

"Come on, I'll let you ride shot gun." Ted teased, holding open the door for Eve, allowing her to get inside. "Now where did you say you lived?"

She grinned. "I didn't."

Jack and Eve? Ted and Eve?
And what about those stories about Kelly?
Things are getting very dramatic, very quickly!
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