Chapter Six

Throw a flag on the play, man somebody get the ref

For an entire week afterward it was all Freddie could think about. He didn't mean to obsess over what a fucking bitch Jade West was and how stupid cheerleading is to begin with but the thoughts kept pestering his mind. Clearly she did not know how talented Freddie Benson was with a camera or else she wouldn't dare treat him like she had.

All through his lunch date with Shannon (who incidentally had gotten back together with her boyfriend) he complained about Jade. He managed to smooth things over with Maddie (turns out they'd both aced that test after all) and he used her as a sounding board as well.

He told anyone who would listen – his roommate, his entire floor, everyone in his classes, basically anyone who was within earshot – knew how Freddie felt about Jade's superior attitude. Even, the previous night when Valerie stopped by for a quick fuck, he'd gone off about Jade.

But as he ran his mouth over and over – the thought of any of this ever getting back to Jade – never crossed his mind.

Until…

He was standing in line at the milk machine, waiting to fill up his daily bowl of Cheerios, when she caught him by surprise. Freddie heard the sharp edge of her voice as she hurled a challenging, "You got something to say to me, Benson", right in the middle of Tuesday morning breakfast.

"Uhhhh," Freddie turned slowly to face her. His knuckles whitened around the edges of his tray as he feared she might dump the cereal over his head.

Jade stood there with her arms folded across her chest. In black flannel pajama bottoms, decorated with patterns of white pairs of scissors, her combat boots and a tight fitting black tee with the logo from The Scissoring written in red ink mimicking blood, she scowled the ugliest, scariest face he'd ever seen. An expression that clearly meant, I'm going to murder you.

Shannon's mutant eyes were like rainbows compared to this.

The normal murmuring of morning chatter subsided and Freddie felt the sweat form on his brow at the deathly silence in the room. Jade's deep eyes, stared into his and it felt as though she was setting him on fire from within. His entire body was burning from the inside and he could feel the hot flash rise up to his face.

"I'm waiting." She tossed her head slightly, displacing the uncombed tangles in her hair even further.

It took every ounce of courage Freddie Benson had to look her dead in the eyes.

"You're a fucking bitch, Jade."

The words were there but not his tone. His voice cracked a little when he dropped the F-bomb which he was certain gave off the impression of a kitten attacking a tiger. Adrenalin began to pulse through his body causing him to shake. Freddie's body trembled so badly that the juice in his cup began spilling all over the tray.

"You can't treat people like shit because you're a fucking movie star."

That sentence came out clearer and with more force.

"I offered to help you but you lied to me and your entire team didn't bother to show up. I expect an apology."

Freddie almost didn't believe those words came from his mouth but from the gathering crowd he knew it had to be true. Several of his fellow students turned to Jade, awaiting her response.

"It's okay for you to invade my privacy. It's okay for you to use the squad in your little 'project' video. It's okay for you to show that video without our permission under the guise of market research for a school assignment. It's okay for you to use us again to live out your little fan boy dreams during a private coaching session with Dr. Oliver but the second I tell you that you're an asshole and to fuck off– suddenly I'm a bitch."

Freddie tried to swallow but there was something stuck in his throat. "Well, yeah," he managed to say. The onlookers seemed unimpressed with his response.

Jade looked him up and down one more time before walking away.

Freddie barely got his tray down on a table before his dropping it. He looked around to see students madly texting on their phones.

Never in his life had Freddie had the balls to confront someone like Jade on his own. As he walked out of the cafeteria – using the other set of doors – he felt an odd sense of accomplishment. Maybe he wasn't getting a job in Hollywood anytime soon but he didn't care. He'd gone head to head with Jade West and survived.

Go blah la la la low, man somebody get some help

In less than an hour, the video of their argument had over five thousand hits.

Freddie sat in class, watching the guys in front of him watching the video. The confidence Freddie felt earlier was fading as he saw the multitude of comments posted beneath the video, most of which included speculation about him being Tawny Walkerblack's next victim.

More interesting though was the original video he made of the Caltech team, which he'd posted fifteen minutes ago in retaliation, now had its link posted within the video description.

Interesting.

Freddie wondered who took the initiative to make that connection. He checked on the video from his end and it only had about a twenty hits and one comments. During the class that number grew and grew. His e-mail account was blowing up with notifications.

Freddie smiled smugly.

After class, he returned to his dorm only to find his roommate was in a terrible mood.

"What's up with you?" Freddie asked.

"Sarah supposedly has a boyfriend," Ethan replied with a frown.

"That sucks." He knew that his roommate liked Sarah and had been agonizing over asking her out but Freddie never thought he'd actually do it. Ethan was more of a talker than a do-er.

"How was your day?" Ethan asked sarcastically. No doubt hoping Freddie had an equally crummy day.

"I think I made history," Benson stated getting his phone out to show Ethan the videos.

"No fucking way!" Ethan exclaimed watching the argument between Jade and Freddie multiple times. "I really thought she would have stabbed you or threatened you or something."

"I think you've watched The Scissoring one too many times."

"I can't believe she just walked away like that," Ethan continued.

"Well, she did."

"She didn't say anything else or…," Ethan restarted the video. "Have anyone with her."

"I didn't see anyone," Freddie answered, which now that he was thinking about it did seem unusual. He'd never seen Jade without the Puckett twins by her side. But it didn't phase him – he stood up to a bully; something he'd never done before – and he was very happy with himself.

Until about two hours later when he received a call from Mr. Shepherd the Vice President for Student Affairs. That phone call was the probably the worst fifteen minutes of Freddie's life. As he hung up the phone he was holding back tears.

Under advisement from her attorney, Jade West had formally filed a complaint against him. Freddie was supposed to meet with Mr. Shepherd and Jade's lawyer in two days. The Vice President had asked Freddie to remove his video of the cheerleading squad from all social media as a show of good faith – until the issue was resolved.

Freddie complied immediately.

For the next forty eight hours, the only time Freddie left his dorm was for class and for food. He barely spoke with anyone – including Ethan. He didn't return texts or calls. He basically dropped off the grid using all his extra energy to find ways to avoid being expelled from college and by some small miracle, keep his scholarship. He also prayed that his mother would never find out about this – even though he knew there would be no way to hide this from her.

Freddie practically had an ulcer by the day of the meeting from worrying. He arrived fifteen minutes early and took a seat in the waiting room of the Student Affairs office. Promptly on the hour one of the administrative assistants walked him back to Mr. Shepherd's office.

The man rose from his chair to greet Freddie, shaking his hand warmly and introducing himself. The bookcases around them were cluttered and overstuffed, making the room seem much smaller than it really was. Freddie felt the sweat run from his armpits. He was fairly certain his deodorant wasn't up to the job and before the end of this meeting he was going to have large perspiration stains on his shirt.

Mr. Shepherd didn't need to introduce Freddie to the other person in the room. Coach Shay sat there quietly, shaking hands more as a formality than amicable gesture. There was no lawyer present which lifted a lot of weight from Freddie's shoulders.

Freddie came to the conclusion that this was probably not the first time that someone got into it with Jade at Caltech but he didn't fully understand why Spencer was there, unless this had something to do with the whole team.

"Mr. Benson," Mr. Shepherd addressed him first. "As you are aware this institution has policies regarding the privacy rights of its students."

Freddie nodded.

"The video taken by you on this campus involving the members of the Caltech cheerleading team is subject to the standard practices regulation found in the Student Handbook on page ninety seven…"

Spencer handed a thick manual to Freddie so he could follow along. After spending way too much time reviewing the written policy, Mr. Shepherd was one of those administrators who thrived on rules and regulations, the man looked up at the clock and promptly shut his copy of the handbook.

"I have a lunch appointment," the vice-president announced, as he slid his chair backward, picked up his briefcase and made for the door. "You two can finish up without me."

Relief spread through Freddie's body. There had been no mention of expulsion or discipline of any kind. Was it possible this was just a warning? He turned to Coach Shay, who had looked as though he may have dozed off at one point.

Freddie was just about to ask Coach Shay if there was anything else they needed to discuss, when Spencer pulled out his own briefcase filled with what looked like legal documents.

Pull up on the block

"Are those from Jade's lawyer?" Freddie asked, swallowing hard. There was a lot of paper.

"Yes," Spencer looked at him curiously.

"I thought he was supposed to be here," Freddie continued.

"I'm representing Jade," Spencer told him.

"You're a lawyer?" Freddie said incredulously. "I thought you were just a cheerleading coach…"

"Just a cheerleading coach? Ouch." Spencer repeated, clearly insulted by the comment.

Apologies - getting married in 28 days and planning this wedding has been exhausting... Gemma