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Chapter 9.

Today was the big day--my first time cheering at a game. I was nervous for a lot of reasons. I needed to impress Coach Green so she let me stay on varsity with Kelsey. I'd worked my butt off at practice every day this week. Then I'd gone home, eaten dinner, and practiced some more. But more importantly, I needed to do really well cheering at tonight's game so that my dad would have no choice but to let me keep doing cheer.

I still hadn't told him I had joined cheer. It was stupid, and probably not even that big a deal, but I was terrified he would say no. So I was feeling the pressure of tonight, because for better or worse, after tonight, the secret was out. I hoped Dad would understand and let me keep cheering, since it was already proving to be a lot of fun, and it meant I would be at all his games. But I worried that he would say no, it was too dangerous, and make me quit. If that happened, I wasn't sure what I would do.

I arrived at school at 6:45, since Dad always went in earlier on game days. I wondered how much a high school football coach could possibly have to work on, but I didn't ask.

Since it was gameday, all of the cheerleaders were wearing their uniforms to school. That had been tricky to hide from my dad, but I had thrown on some skinny jeans and a t-shirt for the morning and hid my cheer uniform in my bag. As soon as I got to school, I had gone into the bathroom to change. I was just heading back to my locker when I heard someone call my name.

"Lilly? Isn't it a little early for you to be here? Your uniform looks great by the way."

I turned to see Madison standing in front of my locker. She had her hair done up in a high ponytail with her cheer bow done perfectly. Her makeup was equally flawless.

"I could ask you the same thing," I responded with a small smile. "And thank you."

Madison gave me a half-hearted smile, but didn't respond to my comment. Instead, she frowned. "No makeup?"

I shook my head, looking down at the bracelet on my wrist. I knew the cheerleaders always wore makeup, but I didn't have any. "I don't have any, and I have no idea how to put it on."

"You don't have any makeup?" she asked, a glint of amusement flashing in her eyes. It made my stomach feel unsettled.

"No. My parents got divorced before I was old enough to really wear makeup, and my dad sure isn't going to buy me any." I paused, thinking back to online school. "Besides, I never needed makeup when I was staying home all day."

Madison grinned, tapping her fingers along the side of her phone. "Come on. I'll do your makeup."

"Really?"

This was nothing like how I had imagined Madison being. Kelsey made her seem like she was some kind of monster. Other than the second day of school when I saw her reject Luke's kiss, Madison had been nothing but nice. She had never given me a reason to hate her. Especially now.

She nodded. "Of course. I've gotta help out my teammates, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," I muttered, shutting my locker slowly.

It was only 6:50, and school didn't even start until 8:00, so no one was around yet. From what I could tell, it was just me and Madison. I wondered again why she was here so early.

"Come on, my makeup bag is in the locker room." Madison turned and gestured to me to follow her. I nodded, falling into step behind her. I wondered if Kelsey was wrong about Madison, or just being overprotective of her cousin. Madison seemed nice. If she was so awful, why had she offered to do my makeup for me?

I felt a little guilty now about my bet with Luke. If they lost, and Luke brought me as a date to the party, it would really hurt her. Was it selfish of me to like him, even though he was already dating Madison? Somehow, it had all seemed so much easier when I assumed Madison was an evil, unfeeling person. If she kept being this nice to me, I would have to tell Kelsey I didn't like Luke anymore. Maybe I should just find a new crush and move on. After all, there were plenty of cute guys, and I didn't feel right going after a guy who was clearly taken.

____

"Do you understand any of this?" Tae whispered, leaning over towards me so the teacher couldn't hear.

We were sitting in 9th hour biology. I hated science. It always took me forever to understand it. Today, it didn't help that I was leaving in five minutes to go to the game, since the cheerleaders and football players were being released a half hour early.

I didn't understand why, since the game didn't start until 7:00, and it was only an hour away, but I wasn't complaining.

"I lost him four words in," I whispered back jokingly. It was a lie to say I understood the first four words. I had zoned out of the lesson before he even started teaching.

Kelsey, who was seated on the other side of Tae, rolled her eyes at Tae and me. She was actually good at science, and assured me that it was "fun" and "interesting" when you actually paid attention. I would take her word for it.

Tae smiled at my response, writing down a definition that was on the board.

"Are you two going to the party tonight?" Tae asked.

"Ladies," Mr. Davidson hissed from the front of the room. "Do you have something that you would like to share with the class?"

Kelsey sighed. It wasn't her fault that Tae and I were talking when we shouldn't have been. "Yes, it's 2:30. We have to go for cheer."

Mr. Davidson was a big fan of the football and cheer team, as were most of the teachers in the school. My dad being the coach was probably the only reason he hadn't yelled at me for talking in his class yet.

"Ah, yes, good luck to you all."

Kelsey smiled happily. "Why, thank you Mr. Davidson. I'll be sure to pass your message along to the football team and coach."

Without saying anything else, I walked out of the room with Kelsey. It was almost game time. As we headed out to board the bus that was taking us to the game, I remembered one very crucial detail: the football team was riding with us, and my dad would be there. And he didn't know I was cheering tonight.

"Kelsey. I have a major problem," I hissed. "My dad is going to find out I'm cheering tonight. What if he says no? What if he freaks out?"

"You still haven't told him?" she asked. "I just assumed, since he was going to see you tonight anyway, that he already knew."

"No! I thought once he saw I could do it, he would have no choice but to say yes."

Kelsey was quiet for a minute. Then her eyes lit up. "I have an idea," she told me. "You just go to your locker and get your stuff. I'll meet you there."

I hurried to my locker, a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. There was no way this could end well. I should have just told my father the truth from the start. Now I was in a big mess, and I couldn't see a way out. I was in full-fledge panic mode by the time Kelsey showed up at my locker.

"Problem solved," she said simply.

I groaned. "There's no way it's that easy," I told her. "You don't understand how overprotective my dad is. He'll probably send me right back to class."

I turned around and almost ran into Luke. He grinned at me. "I hear you're having transportation issues," he said with a smirk.

I looked questioningly at Kelsey. She smiled innocently.

Turning back to Luke, I said, "I'm not sure it's something you can help with." I fiddled nervously with my bracelet. This was crazy. There was no way I could pull this off.

"Oh really?" Luke questioned, arching an eyebrow playfully. "A little birdie told me that you can't take the bus because you don't want Coach to see you. And I happen to be driving myself. So, yes, it actually is something I can help you with."

"I figured you could ride with Luke, since your dad is going to be on the bus with the rest of the team," Kelsey explained. "Once we get there, you stay over with the cheerleaders, and your dad will be focused on the football players. With any luck, he won't notice you're there until your cheering tonight. Am I brilliant, or what?"

I hugged her. "You're brilliant, and a lifesaver," I told her.

Luke grinned. "And what am I?"

"Arrogant, cocky, full of yourself," I teased.

"You forgot awesome football player," he told me. "One that's going to win tonight. And then you're going to have to buy a superfan t-shirt."

I groaned. I had almost forgotten about that stupid bet with everything else going on. "We'll just see about that."

___

Somehow, we had pulled it off. The game was starting in less than 10 minutes, and my dad still hadn't seen me. I might actually pull this off. Heck, maybe he wouldn't even notice I had been cheering, and I would never have to confront him about it. I could only hope.

I was super nervous and excited at the same time. I wanted to do well, and I wanted our team to do well, but I also wanted to win that stupid bet. I was regretting that bet now, since chances were that I would be the one losing.

"Do you think my dad will jump to conclusions when I have to buy a super fan t-shirt for Luke?"

I paused, my eyes going wide with horror as I turned to face Kelsey. "Or worse, what will Madison think? I'm on her good side right now. I don't want her to hate me."

Kelsey chuckled, leaning to touch her toes. "Well, I doubt she'll like you any better if you go on a date with her boyfriend," she teased. "Remember, if you win, you're Luke's date to the party. Besides, would you relax? There's a good chance you'll win. When Luke accepted your bet, I really think he forgot who he was playing."

I scrunched my nose in confusion. "What do you mean?" I asked, leaning forward to stretch my legs.

Kelsey sat up, stopping her stretching to look at me. "I mean, they are playing the best school in the conference, maybe even the state."

"I thought we were the best school in the state?"

Kelsey shrugged. "Stats wise, yes. But the other QB has always been a challenge for our defense to figure out. He's like Luke: too good for the defense to know what hit them."

I sat up, crossing my legs. "So this will be a close game then?"

"Oh yeah. I think it will be close for sure, but the other team is going to come up on top," Kelsey admits. "Luke's defense isn't gonna be able to keep up."

"You know that much about football?" I asked. Kelsey didn't seem like a big football fan.

"My dad is big into football. He always has it on, so I watch it with him," Kesley replied as if it wasn't a big deal or anything.

I quirked an eyebrow at her. "Yeah, so is my dad," I laughed. "And until a few weeks ago, I couldn't even explain what a QB did." I knew for a fact that having a football crazed father didn't mean you picked up football knowledge. There had to be more than she was letting on.

Kelsey just grinned at me and headed over to the other cheerleaders as they got ready to welcome our team to the field. Shrugging, I went and joined her. I could figure it out later. For now, I was ready to make my cheering debut.