By Saturday morning my muscles ache, my stress levels are already at an unhealthy level and my mental capacity for airhead athletes has been exhausted.

School, cheer practice and working at the diner after school is a lot and I'd forgotten how little hours the day actually consists of. Still, I suck it up and remind myself that it's only one more year and then I can head to California's Institute of the Arts.

Surprisingly, Drayton must have stuck to his word and squashed the rumour before anyone else caught wind of it. But that doesn't change the fact that he'd humiliated me in front of his 'boys'. Not to mention Emily's persistent evil glares and pestering to know what has me giving Drayton the cold shoulder.

I don't know where the speculation comes from. Drayton and I have never conversed before so it's as if things are as they've always been. But apparently my distaste towards her ex boyfriend is strong and obvious enough to gain attention. That doesn't stop me from adamantly denying that absolutely nothing has ever or will ever happen between us.

"What are you girls doing today?" Nathan asks from the breakfast bar after I've showered, dressed and emerged from my bedroom at an ungodly hour of the morning, all thanks to Spencer who runs on the energy of some other worldly source.

"We're going shopping," Spencer chimes as she slides into the seat next to Nathan, reading the paper from beside him. I start making a coffee in hopes that I can perk up as soon as possible.

"We're going into Castle Pines tonight," I mention as I stir the contents of my bright blue mug. "What will you be up to?"

"Is that the club opening?" he questions, closing the paper with an apprehensive expression.

Spencer and I exchange glances before she purses her lips with wide eyes while Nathan impatiently taps the countertop with narrow eyes. I don't bother hiding our plans. He may be able to advise that I don't go or mention that he doesn't want me to. But in the end, he can't stop me.

"Yeah, that's the one." I shrug, sipping on my coffee and turning my attention out the kitchen window, watching the neighbour's kids bike up and down the footpath. The elderly woman across the street watering her dry lawn and taking note of the fact that our picket fence is in desperate need of a fresh coat of paint.

Basically I'm avoiding the stare from Nathan that's practically burning a hole in the side of my head.

"How are you getting there?" he finally asks with a strained voice.

"We're taking the train," Spencer declares with a cheery tone as if she's just displayed some sort of noble responsibility. I huff loudly, rubbing the sides of my temple.

"The train?" Nathan looks between the two of us as though we've lost it. Spencer realises her error, slinking into her seat as she bites her lip and shrugs with an apologetic expression. "No way, you can't take the train at night, I'll drive you."

"We'll still have to get home after," I walk towards the breakfast bar, leaning on it with flat hands. "We'll take the train, its no big deal."

"Actually we can get a ride home afterwards!" Spencer pipes up and I furrow my brows in confusion. "Yeah a friend of mine is driving there but then um one of the people that she's taking isn't going back with her, so there's room in the car."

She's lying and I can see straight through it. However, Nathan is either extremely gullible or doesn't want to come and get us afterwards, so is accepting our explanation without too much thought.

My guess is, it's the latter.

"Alright," he stands up and walks into the kitchen, putting his coffee mug in the sink before he plucks his keys out of the bowl on the countertop. "I have a date tonight, so I probably won't be home," he clacks his tongue and winks, earning an eye roll from myself. "I gotta go do some practice with the team but I'll be back later to give you a ride."

"Okay," I reply as he heads towards the door. He opens it up and pauses before leaving, turning back with a confused expression across his face. "Wait a sec, why can't you guys get yourself there? You got your car back yesterday and Spencer has one as well?"

"Because we'll be drinking," Spencer makes a pssh sound with her lips as she rolls her eyes before her brain cells start firing and she realises she's put her foot in it. . . again.

"You're an idiot." I mutter. Nathan fortunately just shakes his head with a little smile on his lips before he disappears, closing the door behind him.

"Should we go?!"

•

We spend a few hours wandering around the shopping complex in search of some clubbing attire. I don't want to splash out and spend too much money. A majority of any spare cash that I have goes into a college fund, but I decide that one new dress won't break the bank.

"What about this one?" Spencer holds up a long sleeve, red lace dress that has a low cut neckline and a short length. We're in the fourth shop of the morning and I'm having a good time but I can not for the life of me find something that catches my attention. Spencer purchased her dress two stores ago and I think at this point she's hoping that I'll just hurry up and decide.

The little boutique is relatively busy. Groups of girls around our age flick through the racks with excitement as they chatter away, trying to compete with the loud music coming from the ceiling speakers.

"Na," I shrug at the dress and watch Spencer desperately trying to prevent her features from contorting. "I'm not really into bright red."

"Ugh," she plops it back on the rack and we continue walking through the store, running our eyes across the options of clothing as we go. "There has to be something you like?"

"Yeah we'll find something," I smile genuinely as I start shuffling through a stand of black mini dresses that are assorted by size and style. "They organise the racks so well here."

"Is this payback," Spencer comments, coming to a stand beside me. "Is this because I spilled the beans in front of your brother and now you're making me suffer through your indecisive tendencies."

"No it's not because you spilled the beans." I chortle as I pull something of interest from the arrangement of fabrics. "If I'm going to spend money on a dress, I want to love it!"

I hold up the recently acquired garment and admire it. It's a rose gold silk dress with a low cut neck line. The sides curve inwards and it has thin spaghetti straps. It's gorgeous and it looks as though it'll fit in all the right places.

"I'm going to try this on," I announce with excitement which Spencer immediately mirrors, skipping along beside me towards the changing rooms.

I am right, the dress looks amazing. It clings to my hips and thighs, giving me an hourglass shape. It's definitely worth the money and I have the perfect pair of heels to wear with it.

We head home, finally endowed with some new dresses and an upbeat attitude towards the night. I'm actually looking forward to the evening. The music we blast in the car on the way home gets me in the partying mood. 

Spencer and I lounge around the house for a few hours, having something to eat and a few beers before we decide to start getting ready. The kitchen ends up a mess after we scatter Nathan's lunch ingredients across the countertop so that we can make some burly sandwiches. Spencer complains about bloating but I won't hear it. Whenever she goes out on an empty stomach she turns into a class A booze bunny and gets drunk faster than Charlie Sheen at an open bar.

So she agrees to a BLT and sits at the breakfast bar while I clean up the kitchen and eat at the same time. We chit chat about school and what classes we've got this year. As well as the miserable teachers that we loathe and the brilliant ones that we love. Neither of us have much love for math. Chem and Bio can be fun on the odd occasion that we do practicals rather than bookwork. Spencer loves English. It's her favourite subject and I've talked her into doing my reading responses on more than one occasion for the simple fact that she'll pick up a book and read it without even knowing what it's about. She has a major chip on her shoulder about the fact that she's not in Econ with Drayton and I though. Who knows what she thinks she's missing out on. But she complains about it for some time until we head to my bedroom to start getting dressed for the night.

"You get to sit across from him and stare at him and-"

"That looks amazing," I regard her dark blue bodycon in an attempt to distract her. It is gorgeous though. She has an incredible figure, long legs and a slender frame. I don't think she realises how envious I am of her natural dancer's  body.

My small bedroom doesn't offer much in the way of space, my double bed which sits under the wooden framed window takes up a major portion of the room. My IKEA vanity and tall boy in the corner are squished together to offer more walking space and the pink walls which have been this colour since I was a child, are covered in printouts of Spencer and I. Or Nathan and I. There's even a few photos of cheerleading competitions because Spencer had taken them and stuck them to the wall herself.

She decides to ditch her glasses for the evening, popping in some contacts before she starts applying her make up. She looks stunning, her clear caramel coloured skin is flawless and her brown eyes are accentuated by the smokey bronze eyeshadow that decorates her eyes.

My small stereo blasts Trumpets by Jason Derulo while we colour our faces in separate mirrors, singing loudly and swinging our hips back and forth to the beat. It takes me a fraction longer to get ready, due to the fact that when I hear music, I let it carry me. I can't help but move my limbs with the beat, feeling the rhythm in my soul. There's no greater feeling than moving to a piece of music and letting the rest of the world fall away.

"I dunno why you're so against clubbing," Spencer comments as she slides into her high heels. "You love to dance?"

"I'm not against clubbing," I tell her and find my own pair of velvet black pumps. "I'm more against the sweaty, drunk, messy sea of bodies that gyrate all over you."

I check my final look in the mirror one last time as I hear Nathan calling out from the living area. My long blonde hair cascades in soft curls down my back, my eyelids are winged out with a soft sprinkle of bronze shadow and a nude lip to finish it off. Pleased with the final product I flash Spencer a wide smile.

"Let's do it!"

•

The club is exactly as I'd expected it to be. When we finally made it in after standing in the line for about an hour, we entered to find a nightlife atmosphere. It was dark and loud, artificial smoke, likely produced from machines floats through the air, bright flashing lights cast down from the ceiling, illuminating the large crowd in the middle of the floor. The space is huge and about ten feet up the sides of the walls are platforms where more people are dancing, some spraying water from plastic guns down into the mass of bodies. The stage at the back of the room houses more dancers and a huge DJ stand with an enthusiastic girl behind it, waving her hands as she jumps on the spot.

I spot the bar that runs along the left side of the wall and silently wish that I could indulge in some liquid courage. But the large black stamp on the top of my hand identifies me as a minor which means no drinking other than the few beers I'd already had. The bouncer warned us that the ink was impossible to get off and washing it under the tap would just cause it to run and make a mess. Upon leaving we would have to pick up the little sample of balm that removes it.

"How awesome is this place," Spencer grips my arm with excitement, shouting over the Calvin Harris remix that's blasting so loudly that I can feel my skin rippling.

"It's pretty great," I tell her. It's not bad, but I'm yet to determine if I'd rather be at home tonight or not.

Suddenly a tall dark guy appears in front of us, his eyes focused on Spencer as he leans in with an excited expression.

"Spencer Laurel??" he questions.

"Yes! Tim right? Wow, I haven't seen you in forever!" Spencer turns to me and starts shouting next to my ear. "Tim was my Spanish tutor at school a few years ago. He was a senior."

Now that she mentions it and I take a closer look, I realise that he does look familiar. He's cute and I don't miss the googley eyes that Spencer's giving him.

"Do you guys want a drink?" he asks, showing us his clean hand.

"Yes please!" Spencer and I answer in unison. We make our way further into the crowd and wait nearby while Tim disappears to order some drinks.

"He's so cute!" Spencer squeals as we bop along to the music. I nod in agreement.

When Tim comes back with the drinks, we disperse further into the crowd, dancing while we do our best to avoid the bottles being knocked out of our grasps. Tim and Spencer dirty dance all over each other but I don't envy her, in fact I be sure to give her a series of suggestive winks and looks that ensure she knows I'm hella proud of her.

Suddenly a familiar voice cuts through the loud music and I feel my mood plummeting south. "Hey cheer pear."

• • •

End of chapter 4. Please tap the star if you enjoyed this chapter ! So much love ! Until next time !