"What are you doing?"

"Nothing." I stammered as I tried to think of something to say. I was obviously caught eavesdropping with how I escaped eye contact from the blonde-haired guy and the fact that my fingers relentlessly fidgeted with each other.

"That was clearly something." James hinted while we watched reckless Atlas gone the other way. "You want us to get in trouble again by listening to the shithead's phone calls. I got to say Calista, you are one hell of a feisty girl." He expressed out as his merciless sapphires observed me when I looked behind me to see if anyone saw us.

"You really don't care to know what really happened that night?" I brought it up again as I examined the calm guy in front of me.

His lips were thinned into a grim line. "I don't think it's worth my time, either way they were going to talk about us at some point to make Jake look innocent." He took a cigarette out of his jacket's pocket and stood steady as he rested the stick between his lips.

"Weren't you friends with them?" I asked intriguingly.

His eyes darkened as his vision went to the football team who walked with each other to sidelines of the field. Something inside of him changed at my question yet he covered it almost flawlessly.

"I was wrong to even consider them my friends when they backstabbed me," he muttered as he sighed out and continued, "Calista, you really need to lay low around them. They aren't normal, they do batshit crazy stuff to people."

My gaze flickered between James's earnest face and the shifting patterns of sunlight on the grassy patches of the garden. The quiet rustle of leaves made me think about the worst cases, he was right when it came down to Atlas and Linda. But I still had no idea how far they would go.

I didn't have anything to lose.

The little voice in my head scathed me by the time James walked away to class, telling me that I couldn't just stand there and bear the consequences of something I didn't commit. In some way, I really didn't want to be connected to my mother when she was caught in the scene with another man.

I was far from that.

The wind picked up the moment I walked faster to get to cheer practice.

Coach Serena came up to me with a euphoric smile on her face. "The popular cheerleader is back, bitches!" She cheered out to the girls who got lined up in their matchy black and white cheer uniform. Her arms hugged me tightly and I could tell the obvious reason, it was because she saw me as a ticket to level up for the competition that had all the other universities cheerleaders against us.

She was the first one to believe in my potential before, even when there were jealous girls that attempted to trip me over, she was there for me when nobody wasn't. I made sure she felt that when I hugged her back.

After the heartwarming embrace, we got down to business as she told us to do some stretches. However, Linda was a fierce competitor when she showcased coach Serena her smooth splits, but I followed her line of vision that led to the emerging football team, more so who was in front, it was Atlas with his football cleats and his cold steady gaze once he stood at the centre of the light green field.

The cheer team were on the sidelines with the arrays of pompoms and skipping ropes, so it wasn't a surprise that none of them acknowledged us as much as Linda tried to get Atlas's attention with her sultry glances and her twirls. The same result: no attention whatsoever from the big bad wolf.

I refocused on what coach Serena advised us as we held the pompoms.

"Now, Willow, you go to the back and Calista will be the lead in front-"

"But that's not fair. I should be the lead." Linda growled out in a rage; I held back an eyeroll while coach Serena glared at the bold girl.

"Calista needs to do a double flip in front. You still don't know how to do that." I audaciously smirked at the girl, who had smoke coming out of her ears, as she had her arms on her hips with a pinched forehead.

"She can't do that, show us." She challenged; we both knew how hard it was to land a double flip with the pompoms.

Coach Serena nodded at me, and I winked at her with a grin. The girls, Tima and Willow as well as Naya and Lea made space for me, and I clutched my pompoms firmly to show them what I was made of.

My hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail that swayed with each move. My eyes were focused, reflecting the intensity of my determination. With a fierce grace, I leap into the air, executing a flawless double flip as I raised my hands with the pompoms and a winner smile. My cheer mates gasped in awe as I landed with precision. With an added touch, I made a front flip that showed my spandex with a smooth split next.

"That's how you do it, girls! Good job Calista!" Coach Serena applauded as they clapped, but then stopped when Linda gave them a warning glare.

We all huddled up for the next move, the pyramid. It was the most difficult move a cheerleader could execute, it even led to injuries with other teams that experimented this – I was sure that I would pull it off with practice, it was the goal I programmed my mind to because it would certainly make us win.

Lea and Willow were first as they got on their hands and knees, then Linda came on top of Lea and Naya on top of Willow, it was my turn as I flicked both of my wrists and took a deep breath. It was our first try after we finished our stretches. I climbed onto Naya since I didn't want to risk going on top of Linda, she would probably let me fall on purpose and blame it on my skills.

My close dream failed when the football smacked my butt fast that it made me drop to the ground and the pyramid collapsed with a few yelps. Linda's scream stood out; I never knew she could make a mean falsetto.

I groaned when I landed on my ass and back at the same time, thankfully, my head didn't get injured as I tried to breathe from my nose, but the sharp stabbing pain hurt me even more. I closed my eyes for a moment before I opened them up again to see coach Serena as she placed both hands on my cheeks.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Her eyes widened as she checked my body, then said, "do you want me to get you an ambulance?"

"No, that's okay. I'll be fine." Words tumbled out of my mouth by force in order not to scare her more.

My vision blurred before I blinked a couple of times to clear it out. Coach helped me up with her arm as I stood up and grass grazed my kneecaps by the time Atlas came to us, the girls fanned themselves as they stared at him like lovestruck puppies as if he wasn't the cause of our bruises.

"I want the ball back." He pointed to the ball in coach Serena's hand with eyes that were distant and a straight mouth that was void of any emotions.

"There you go but be careful next time," She advised the emotionless guy in front of us, "she could have been hurt way worse."

She didn't know that Atlas never had any remorse, he had hating bones in his body as he fleetingly glanced at me before his eyes went to the coach.

"Actually, I meant to throw the ball at her." He stated honestly that it had coach Serena raise her eyebrows at his blunt statement. He enjoyed that as he saluted then walked back to his team.

That triggered me and I found myself ignoring everyone as I ran up to him and kicked him in the back of his knees, but he didn't budge when he flung the ball to Jake fast and landed perfectly in Jake's palms. Both of our teams proceeded to practice when Atlas gave Jake a nod to continue and turned to me with an annoyed gaze.

"What the fuck is your problem?" I neared him with a deep frown. My shoulder muscles were still sore, which made it trickier for me to beat him. "You almost killed me back there." I strained each word with a glare.

He leaned down slightly as his unsympathetic eyes scorched me that lifted the venomous smile.

"I have a problem with pathetic popular cheaters," he hissed as he tilted his head, "oh wait, you're not popular anymore."

"At least I don't make my mom sick." I sneered and he stilled when he parted his lips and furrowed his eyebrows, his brown irises dimmed as he processed what I told him, I held my breath when he intimidatingly stared at me. I covered my mouth whilst I realized that it was way out of line, but he had it coming when he started to get on my nerves.

"Atlas, get back here." His coach screamed across the field, he cut eye contact as he ran back to his team, and I exhaled in peace by the time I reached my team.

"I'm feeling better, don't worry about me." I told my lovely coach as she gave me a pat on the shoulder.

"Never mind him, Atlas is Atlas." She consoled with a disappointed smile.

"Yea, guess so," I muttered. "Wait, you know Atlas?" I asked, my hopes risen.

"Of course, who doesn't know him? His dad used to be my ex – his mom had it way worse though, she was crippled from the accident and stays in a hospital care."

Great, now I felt more guiltier that I mentioned his mom. My conscience felt bad for him.

"What happened to them?" I urged her to continue.

She shrugged; her eyes laced with melancholy as she tidied up the pompoms and I followed her to help.

Linda and the girls walked out instead of helping as usual, the self-entitled brats never knew any courtesy.

"Nobody knows, really, it happened a year ago." She spoke stoically.

My eyes travelled to the team that did drills with the ball and I gazed at the guy who sat down with sweat that rushed down his forehead, he took his shirt off to reveal the six packs he got.

On the chest of the bad boy laid a tapestry of inked defiance, an intricate tableau that seemed to pulse with its own heartbeat. Bold lines weaved together to form a mythical phoenix; its wings spread wide in eternal flight across his muscular frame. Each feather was meticulously detailed, catching the light to reveal shades of crimson and gold that danced with every shift of his stance.

"We can continue tomorrow, go get some rest." I didn't notice I ogled at him until coach spoke.

I was lost with words once I nodded and walked slowly, the last person I thought I could get some information about Atlas was the coach. The kid I was that used to stutter came to me as my tongue was tied and my heartbeat drummed in guilt. This wasn't how dad raised me,

Now, standing in the aftermath of her outburst, I felt a pang of regret that twisted in my gut. The realization my own impulsive actions weighed heavily upon me, colouring my thoughts with remorse.

I got done with my shower as coach lend me one of her sweaters because I practiced in mine, and they were messed up with stains and sweat.

As soon as I finished tying my hair, I wanted to fix the damage I did when I walked outside in a creamy sweater and jean shorts with a plastic bag that had my clothes along with my backpack.

Atlas had his broad back to me, we were the only ones on the gridiron, his wet hair slicked back with dimples on his lower back that was half hidden by his washed jeans. He placed his hands in his pocket.

"I'm sorry." I burst out. "I didn't mean what I said back there."

"I don't give a fuck what you meant," he replied icily, then rotated himself to meet my eyes. "Who's the stalker now?" He berated.

"And I don't give a fuck about what you have to say. I only said it to get it off my chest." I repeated with a scoff.

He sighed out irritatingly when I turned my back to go.

"It was an accident." His husky voice made me stop in my tracks. "I didn't throw the ball at you."