Thank you to all who read & reviewed. I apologize for the AU and OOC-ness in advance - now let the ranting continue...
Chapter Two
iHeart Memphis, but i also love dancing
After spending less than an hour editing, Freddie played his project video for Ethan. He'd decided to go the parody route and included the not so brilliant moments. His roommate could barely watch the whole thing he was laughing so hard.
"That is definitely an A," Ethan patted Freddie on his back. "The part with the fat guy mooning you is freaking awesome. How did you ever get a shot like that?"
"It was all him," Freddie admitted. "How's yours going?"
"I'm still waiting on an e-mail reply from the coach," Ethan shrugged.
"E-mail?" Freddie chuckled.
Ethan rolled his eyes. "He's not exactly tech-savvy."
As Ethan replayed the video, Freddie's phone buzzed with a test from Valerie, aka mystery host of the movie night he attended. Valerie was cute, personable and made it known she was definitely single. From her current text, she was bored and looking for someone to 'hang out' with her. Freddie replied that he had just finished his project and if she wanted she could come by and get a preview.
She texted back that she might drop by 'later' and Freddie, being no stranger to getting blown off by girls, simply shrugged and didn't give it another thought. After watching his video a few more times, he and Ethan settled in for an afternoon of video games.
It might have been a half hour later when there was a knock on the door. Figuring it was someone from their hall and not wanting to stop the game to get up Freddie yelled, "Door's open."
The last person he expected to see was Valerie.
She was wearing a long flowing skirt and cropped tank top which showed off her pierced navel.
"If you're busy…," she began.
"NO!" Freddie heard himself say with a little more excitement than necessary. "I mean, me and Ethan are just taking a study break."
"Oh," Valerie stood there, looking uncertain as to whether or not she was going to stick around.
"But, uh, Ethan was getting ready to head out to the library."
"Huh?" Ethan briefly glanced at his roommate before returning his attention to the monitor.
"You said you had homework, remember?" Freddie said staring down his roommate.
"Yeah," Ethan reluctantly agreed. "I guess I should do that now."
There was an awkward moment when Freddie introduced Ethan and Valerie as Ethan was packing up his messenger bag. Both boys being new to this whole roommate thing, Freddie left it at– I'll text you – to let Ethan know when it was okay to come back.
His roommate wasn't happy about it and Freddie knew that he would definitely owe Ethan – especially if anything actually happened.
"Tell me about your project," Valerie asked, taking off her animal print jacket and making herself at home on Freddie's bed.
Freddie gave her a brief overview as he sat at the desk loading the video.
"Cheerleading?" Valerie laughed. "Caltech doesn't even have a football team!"
"They don't?" Freddie replied. I guess that's why Andre was running with the cheerleaders.
"So what sport do they cheer for?" Valerie asked.
"I don't know." Funny, after spending all time with Spencer – Freddie never even thought about asking that. Not that it mattered.
With his laptop positioned on the bed, he laid next to Valerie, who was on her stomach. Her legs were bent at the knees with her bare feet pointed to the ceiling. Her toes were painted bright orange and she had a tattoo on her ankle.
"Nice ink," Freddie commented and they spoke briefly about the meaning behind the Chinese symbol she had tattooed on her. With each sentence, Freddie noticed she moved a little closer to him and he returned the favor. When the conversation paused, Freddie took the opportunity to play the video.
Valerie loved it. She laughed through the entire thing and proclaimed that Jade's single line: "Get that fucking camera out of my face," was priceless.
Valerie moved her hand to the keyboard, typing in a web address. As Freddie's eyebrows lifted in disbelief, the girl next to him explained that it was her brother's account.
Even so, porn was porn – and watching it with a female.
This was fucking awesome!
As she scrolled through the options, asking Freddie's preferences he was frantically trying to remember where he stashed the box of condoms he brought with him. Obviously now was not the time to fucking forget where he put them. As he selected an orgy video (hoping Val would get the hint) he got up to turn off the lights, and check his dresser drawer.
Thankfully that's where they were.
Soon to be opened.
The movie started and right from the first second, he was bombarded with bare pussy. Not one girl in the entire scene had a stitch of clothing on any part of their body. He was grateful to be watching with his groin pressed into the mattress. Maybe Valerie wouldn't notice how pathetically turned on he was in less than ten seconds.
But she did notice.
Somehow.
Despite his best efforts to keep his hips from shifting and creating the familiar friction his body craved.
She leaned closer, her chin resting near the cap of his shoulder. "You want to fuck?" she whispered, her words soft and seductive.
"Yeah?" Freddie said as controlled as he could manage.
"Yeah," she smiled back.
That was all the consent Freddie needed before rolling her over onto her back and pressing his mouth to hers. He felt a desperate tug as she struggled to get his pants undone. Leaning on one elbow he let his fingers skim down the curve of her breasts before assisting her in unbuttoning his jeans. As she reached down into his boxers, he lifted his body enough to get her skirt up to the top of her thighs.
There were no panties in sight.
Their arms twisted together as their hands frantically attempted to stimulate each other. Freddie winced as she caught some of his hair. He heard her suck in a breath as he drove his fingers inside her with a little too much force.
"Not so hard," she panted.
"Sorry," Freddie agreed, instantly slowing his hands down. His lips however, slipped away from hers as he kissed down her neck and into her cleavage.
There was a rough yank on his cock.
It almost hurt.
Freddie hissed out a breath and let it go. Thoughts of having sex over-ruled any logic his brain had at the moment. With her shirt pulled up to her neck, Freddie nuzzled against the sheer fabric of her bra as he slid his arm around her back to pop the hooks. He managed to get the first one undone but the other wasn't cooperating.
Then her fingernails scratched against the shaft of his cock.
"Ugh," Freddie flinched.
"Sorry!" Valerie apologized. "I just want you so bad!"
Freddie wanted to say something in reply but it took several seconds to recover from the unexpected clawing of his most sensitive area. As he helped her get his jeans off, Freddie exhaled once more trying to get past the discomfort. He got to his feet and reached over to his dresser.
"You don't have to use anything, I'm on the pill."
"I don't mind," Freddie replied, tearing open the box and removing two condoms.
"You know it feels better without them right?" Valerie cooed, reclining back and spreading her legs so Freddie could see every inch of her. Deep pink contrasted with her pale skin. Her clit was rounded and swollen with hints of her arousal reflecting the light from the laptop's monitor.
"I'll take your word for it." He quickly ripped the wrapper open and began to slide the condom over his penis, fairly certain he'd only make it about thirty seconds before finishing.
"You've never done it without one?"
"Nope." Freddie finished and crawled back onto the bed, dragging his covered cock over her slit.
"Even with your girlfriend?"
"Never had one," Freddie mumbled. It was a sore subject and one he wasn't about to discuss right now. He slipped his fingers back inside her, delicately drawing circles in her vagina.
"Mmmmmmm," she moaned licking his ear as he slide inside her. "You never had a girlfriend, huh?"
Was this girl for real? Freddie couldn't believe she was still talking. He moved his hips a little harder, her eyes fluttered closed and he thought that was the end of the conversation.
"So you're a relationship virgin?" She was sucking on his neck now. Heavily as though she was going to consume him.
"I guess," Freddie replied, wishing she would just shut the hell up. She was starting to get into his head, which was having an adverse effect on his libido.
"That's so sad!" She continued nibbling at his shoulder.
Now as much as Freddie wanted sex – he was starting to get pissed. Being polite and well-mannered, he wasn't exactly the kind of guy who was going to call her out right there on the spot but she was being kinda rude.
Cupping her face in his hands, he decided the best course of action was to start kissing her again. It would keep her from talking and help him get his head back in the game. It worked at first, the thrashing of her wet tongue around his mouth as her body tensed up squeezing his cock dulled the moderately insulting words spewed moments earlier.
Freddie was just starting to enjoy things again when she ripped her mouth from him.
"Hold on a sec," she said twisting her body so she could look at the laptop. "This is my favorite part!"
"What!" Freddie gasped incredulously, as his head sank down into her chest. "This is fucked up," he muttered to himself.
"You gotta watch this," she tapped his shoulder. "Seriously! Look!"
Freddie sank his full weight onto her as he curled his body to see what was so great that she interrupted sex to watch. One of the female stars was mid-orgasm.
"Did you see that?" Valerie asked excitedly. "She squirted! She actually squirted!"
"I saw it," Freddie replied dryly. His mind was wandering in all directions and he was having trouble focusing.
"I would LOVE to come like that," she sighed wishfully. "I've been with a ton of guys and they've all tried but none of them to seem to have what it takes – you know?"
Freddie didn't reply. What could he possibly say?
"Have you ever made anyone come like that?" Valerie asked, running her hand through his dark hair as she thrust her hips upward.
"No," Freddie admitted as he sat back on his heels pulling out of her.
"What's wrong?" Valerie asked as she sat up, looking completely baffled by his actions. "I know you didn't finish yet."
"This isn't working for me," Freddie answered taking off the condom and dropping into the trash.
"What do you mean?"
"Never mind," Freddie scooped up his pants from the floor. "Let's just watch the movie."
"Are you sure?" Valerie was on the bed, legs dangling toward the floor, looking thoroughly confused.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Oh good!" she clapped her hands together as she reached for the laptop. "I'm gonna go back a couple scenes because there's this one part…."
Freddie sank down on the bed beside her, texting Ethan the all clear. He was mentally crossing Valerie off his special friends list.
i done took off on em, i don't plan on landing
Freddie sat in Dr. Franklin's office, watching the man's facial expressions as he played Freddie's first edit of his project video. Benson's smile started to fade as his professor did not burst into laughter after the first fifteen seconds. He became downright nervous after the next thirty seconds when the professor didn't even crack a smile. By the end of the video, Freddie was riddled with anxiety. Why didn't he laugh?
Everyone else who saw it thought it was great. Freddie knew if he put it out on the internet it was the kind of video that would go viral and get a million hits. He was sure that if he made it a web series, he'd get a few thousand subscribers. Freddie KNEW what people wanted to watch so why was Dr. Franklin sitting there with that look on his face, the one that came with a positive comment followed by at least three negative statements.
"Fred, I think you did a sound job editing the segments together," Dr. Franklin began.
Freddie stiffened in the chair. There was the compliment. His foot tapped as he waited for the criticism to begin.
"…but I think you may have misunderstood the assignment."
Uh, nooooo. Freddie disagreed.
"An effective marketing campaign promotes the product in a good way. For example, if you were trying to sell tee shirts – even if they were ugly – you'd find the most attractive models you could to wear them."
Freddie nodded. That made sense.
"What I'm asking you to do is exactly that."
"But that's what I did," Freddie told the professor. "I added humor to…"
"Nudity and vomiting are not amusing. They are juvenile and directed at a very small percentage of the population."
Freddie did not like the professor's review. He felt that Dr. Franklin's opinion of the video was just that – his opinion. "My target audience is the college demographic. From my field study of CalTech freshmen, this video was very well received."
"Were any of those freshmen, cheerleaders?"
"Uh," Freddie thought for a minute. "I don't believe so."
"Perhaps you should conduct a field study with the appropriate target audience." Dr. Franklin sat back in his chair with a smug look on his face.
That meant Freddie's next step was to show the video to the cheerleading team and get their input – no wait – FILM their reaction as they watched the video. That way he could validate his advertising campaign and make his point.
On his way out of the professor's office he scrolled through his phone. He remembered seeing a text from that guy Drake and he hadn't bothered opening it since he'd already finished the video. Finding the text he opened the message and looked at the list of recipients include in the blast.
He read through the names; Evil Jade, Twin 1, Twin 2, Cat V, S. Marx, Megan is a Demon, Coach S, Carly, Fat Trina, Tori V, BeckO, Fred, Gibby, Socko, Tyler, Ryder, Harris. A, Mascot Rob, Puking Nevel and finally NinjaJosh before getting to the actual message.
Great news. Becks dad will be here Friday for a tumbling clinic. Be in the gym by 7pm.
He had plans for Friday night – so there was no way he was going to stop by the gym to show them the video. He also wasn't going to wake up at 4 am again either. There were a bunch of replies to Drake's message which Freddie didn't read but he added his own comment.
Video is finished so if you want to see it text me back.
Hitting send he shoved the phone back in his pocket, only to have it vibrate a split second later. Text after text came flooding in as the entire squad replied in a matter of minutes. Even the coach sent a reply with a proposed time and place for everyone to meet – which happened to be in less than an hour.
Freddie didn't have any more classes that day and so he sent a confirmation to everyone. From there he went back to his dorm where Ethan was diligently working on his homework.
"Hey," Freddie gave him a nod.
"Hey," Ethan replied back as he turned halfway around in his chair. "Valerie came by looking for you."
"Oh yeah?" Freddie dropped his bag on the floor and grabbed his deodorant from the top of his dresser.
"She said to tell you to that didn't text you back because she messed up her phone but she'll be at her dorm later if you want to stop by."
Freddie rolled his eyes. Didn't text me back? I never texted her. "I got stuff to do so she's SOL tonight."
"Seriously?" Ethan looked at him skeptically. "You're not going over there?"
Freddie knew his roommate had virtually no sexual experience at all and would drop everything for an open invitation like that. "Nope," Freddie replied. "I'm meeting up with the cheerleading squad."
"OOoooo," Ethan's eyes widened. "Need a wingman?"
"Yeah sure." Freddie let out a light laugh. It wasn't like anything was going to happen anyway.
As they walked across campus toward the athletic complex, Freddie bitched to Ethan about how Dr. Franklin had criticized his video. He was still complaining when they reached the Athletic Director's office. The door was open and it looked like everyone was already there.
The room was huge with a giant flat screen mounted to the far wall with a white board on either side. There was large conference table with twenty chairs and still enough space for the AD's desk, credenza, six filing cabinets and a stack of extra chairs.
Two coolers filled with bottled sports drinks were on either side of the doorway and from the amount of perspiration, Freddie figured that the team had just finished running.
"Hey man," Drake greeted him, with a choreographed handshake that took Freddie a second to learn.
"Hey Drake. This is my roommate, Ethan." Freddie introduced the pair.
Drake nodded at Ethan but immediately returned his attention to Freddie. "Never heard back from you about the music. Did you get my text? "
"Nah, man," Freddie lied. "When did you send it?" he pretended to check his phone while Drake verified he had the right phone number. Then after a quick round of hellos and a few more introductions of Ethan to some of the team members, Freddie motioned to his roommate it was time set up to play video on the flat screen.
Around them assorted conversations took place. Freddie glanced over his shoulder and caught one of the twins watching him with scrutinizing eyes. Beside her was Jade, glaring at him with equal intensity. He wondered what their problem was.
When everything was ready, Spencer took the helm calling everyone to their seats.
"Now remember," he told the team. "It's not about being the best…"
"But it is..," one of the twins interrupted. "It is about being the best.
"Sam, I know you want to win this year but…," Spencer began.
"I want to win too," Mel announced from her seat next to Jade.
"If there's anyone here who doesn't want to win, then they should get the fuck out now," the midnight haired cheer captain stated.
"Thank you, Jade," Spencer said through gritted teeth as the twins bumped fists with her. "What I was trying to say is that's it's not about being the best. It's about being better than you were yesterday. And I think today's practice is going to pave the way for great things this season."
Freddie noticed that the majority of the squad did not seem convinced.
"Come on guys," Josh clapped his hands together. "We can do this. Come on guys…" he stuck his fist out in front of him as he looked around for support. "Don't leave me hanging!"
Socko, Tyler, Ryder and Drake all put their hands in too.
"Tech on 3 – ready."
"One. Two. Three."
"Tech!"
"Well that sucked," Ethan whispered to Freddie as the half-hearted attempt at team spirit completely flopped. Freddie shrugged he didn't care if the team won or not, his only concern was his project grade.
Spencer seemed to give up for the moment and turned the floor over to Freddie. The tech guy didn't have much to say other than, "Hope you like it," before hitting play.
Within seconds the team was in stitches, laughing and howling so hard that it echoed. Camera in hand, Freddie filmed their response eager to show it to his know-it-all professor. When the video ended, Spencer had tears in his eyes.
"Well done, Fred." He patted Benson's shoulder. "I think that was exactly what we all needed."
"Thanks," Freddie grinned.
"Alright, let's calm down." Spencer turned to the team, who were still making fun of each other. "We're going to watch the real video now."
"That was the real video," Freddie told Spencer.
"What are you talking about?" Spencer replied. "That was…"
"Funny," Freddie finished his sentence.
"I was going to say unprofessional," Spencer frowned. "I can't show that to the alumni."
"Why not?" Freddie was confused at the mixed review.
"Look," Spencer pulled him aside. "In case you didn't know, the athletic department has a very small budget. We barely get any money and so we rely HEAVILY on donations from alumni to fund our program."
Freddie folded his arms over his chest. "What does this have to do with my project?"
"Project?"
Spencer looked confused.
"For Virtual Marketing? Dr. Franklin?"
Spencer shook his head. "I'm not sure what you're talking about, but Carly and I are HUGE fans of your web show. When you announced you were coming to Caltech, we knew that we wanted to ask you to do the team video. I looked you up and spoke to your freshman advisor. She was supposed to give you my contact information…."
Freddie stopped listening at "HUGE fans of your web show". He knew the show was popular from the amount of views but he didn't realize that it might possibly lead to anything more. However, he didn't have time to make videos for fun and if the team had no money, he knew he wasn't going to get paid.
Spencer was still talking and not wanting to waste any more of his time, Freddie simply said. "I would love to help but I'm only here to complete a class project."
"We could work around your schedule."
"Sorry," Freddie shrugged. "I can't."
"But…," Spencer looked back toward the team. "They want to go to Nationals. In Florida. Do you have any idea how much that is going to cost? The travel expense alone not to mention the hotel and…"
"Sorry, Spencer. I can't do it. You'll have to find someone else."
"I'll do it," Ethan volunteered.
"Do you have any experience?"
"Oh yeah," Ethan nodded. "My friend Benny and I post You Tube videos all the time."
"You Tube." Spencer didn't sound convinced.
"Problem solved," Freddie announced going back into the office to pack up his equipment, leaving Ethan behind to talk with the coach.
In his pocket his phone beeped with a text from Maddie asking about getting together Friday night.
Freddie quickly sent back a reply. This year was about priorities and even though he felt bad disappointing a fan or two, it was time to leave high school behind and move on with his life.
For those who are watching the tournament - I'm sayin Rock Chalk Jayhawk - one last time before my bracket is completely fucked.
-Gemma