Author's Note

This chapter is not edited even once since I don't have my laptop but was too eager to share it with you guys. So there maybe spelling and grammatical mistakes in it. I will remove this author's note once it is edited.

Angelina's POV

The basic difference between humans and robots is that humans can think for themselves and don't have to do an automated task.

But we like fools decide to do the same task again and again.

"1 2 3, 1 2 3, yes just like that!" Our cheer coach hollers.

"Take a five minute break and do the whole routine again." Coach says after we get into our final position.

Again? I think rest of the team agrees with me since everyone let's out a groan.

"I know you all are tired but the game is tommorow. This will be the last time. After that go home and get some beauty sleep." Tommorow is the first game of the football season. It's good that it's a home game.

I strech a bit first so as to not get cramps and then push my hair forward to expose my neck to the air. Raelyn, a friend from the cheer team throws me a towel so I give her a thankful look. She smiles in understanding.

Wiping my face and neck I make my way over to my bag to get my water bottle.

"I swear coach is trying to kill us." I hear Rosie say when I reach there.

"Suck it up, it's the last time anyway." Katie says rolling her eyes and then proceeds to drink from her bottle.

"You both are right." I say taking a large gulp of water from my my bottle. They both blink in confusion at first but then it strikes them. My eyes fall on the boys who are just coming out of the locker room after taking a shower. Their practice ended before ours. Five familiar heads start making their way towards us making a smile break out on my face.

"Get in the formation girls!" Coach shouts then blows her whistle. Jake mouths 'I will be right here' to me then shakes his hands as if he has pom-poms in his hand. I mock glare at him but he just winks.

When I get into my position, I notice that all the five boys are leaning against the wall beside our bags.

When the music starts I try to do everything perfectly. Even if Coach said this is the last time, she can make us do it again if she is not satisfied.

Just the last few steps...

Both hands up, then spread them and finally the last position.

"Good job! Practice over." Everyone sighs in relief. I hold both my palms up towards Jake to indicate that I will be back in ten minutes. He nods in understanding.

When I enter the locker room I am met with excited murmurs. Some are excited because they will be finally presenting what they have learnt and some are excited to see the boys play. I am a bit of both, I am excited because all that practice will be finally of some use and of course I want to see Jake in that uniform.

Soph stands on a chair she found and claps her hands to get everyone's attention. Everyone turns to listen what our captain has to say.

"This year we had old faces as well as news faces but you all did an excellent job in practice. Now perform with the same spirit on the field since the ones who don't understand the game should have something to look at." She says winking making us all laugh.

"If the boys are Stanfield Tigers then we are the tigresses. Go Stanfield tigresses!" She yells.

"Go Stanfield tigresses!" We all yell in excitement. As Soph hops down most of us make our way into the showers. I guess rest of them are going to shower at home.

I freshen up quickly and wear my skinny dark blue jeans and red crop top. As I tie up my hair in a side ponytail I hear some of teammates greeting me.

"See you tomorrow at the game, Anne!" Riya and Shanice shout as they head out.

"See you too!" I holler back. Rosie and Katie were going to take a lot of time so they had told me to leave without them. After my ponytail is done I pick up my duffel bag and walk out of the locker room. Almost immediately I spot the guys.

"How was your final practice before the game?" I ask them as I get near where they are standing.

"It was great especially Dasher's pep talk." Drake answers. They all laugh as if it is dome inside joke.

"Soph's pep talk was definitely the highlight of our practice too." I say laughing then add turning to Dasher "Did you two plan this?"

"No, I just thought I should hype up the school spirit one day in advance." He says shrugging.

"I thought so too." Soph comes from behind me and then goes to Dash. They both start kissing so I look away.

"Where are Rose and Katie?" Justin asks.

"They are going to take longer. They told me to leave without them." I would have waited but my joints are killing me, I silently add.

"Is it okay with you all if I leave?" Jake asks the boys.

"Yes, everything is done. Just show up on time tommorow." Dasher says, ending his makeout session with Soph.

"I will," He says rolling his eyes then puts an arm around my shoulder. When we get out of the gym he starts massaging my shoulder.

"How did you know?" I ask surprised.

"I just know" He winks. This reminds me of our first date.

"Be serious," I try to hide my smile but I am sure I failed.

"You were rolling your shoulders uncomfortably." He answers. It warms my heart that he was looking so closely that he noticed something about me that even I didn't.

"You have no idea how thankful I am." I say as the pains subsides gradually.

"You can tell me on our date tommorow." He says keeping a straight face.

"I didn't know we had a date tommorow." I say raising an eyebrow.

"You didn't?" He asks giving me an innocent confused look then adds "You know now anyway." I shake my head but I have to admit it was smooth.

"Won't you be tired after the game?" I ask confused.

"I am an athlete, remember?" He says.

"Okay Mr. Athlete, I was just asking." I say rolling my eyes.

*****

"I am back!" I yell the moment I enter my home. Jake dropped me and went his own way. We decided that it's best if we just rest today for tommorow's game.

"In the living room!" Dad yells back. Wait, what is he doing at home?

I rush to the living room keep my bags against the couch and then jump on the couch hugging dad.

"What are you doing at home right now?" I ask still hugging him.

"The case we were working on got finished early, so we thought why not give the kids a surprise?" He says ruffling my hair.

"What do you mean by we? Mom is home too?" I ask excited. I am excited because hardly Mom and Dad finish cases early and them finishing at the same time is once in a blue moon. We don't even get to talk to them as they can be in court fighting a case at any moment. We just have to wait for them to get home in the evening which sometimes even turns into night if they get too invested in their next case.

"Yes, she is in the kitchen with Ash. I was waiting for you." Dad answers chuckling. Before we even reach the kitchen I am met with the aroma of cupcakes.

"Oh my god! You are making cupcakes!" I exclaim bursting through the kitchen door.

"You two act like small kids sometimes." Mom says chuckling. She is taking out a batch of cupcakes from the oven. Ash goes to take a cupcake but Mom swats his hand away.

"Let me at least frost them." She says giving him a reprimanding look. He starts sulking.

"Those are our school colors!" I exclaim pointing at the ocean blue and saffron color icing.

"Yes, we got them from the store on our way back. We thought your school has their first game tommorow, so why not hype up some school spirits?" Dad says entering the kitchen. I forgot about him after smelling cupcakes. He must have guessed what I am thinking as he laughs ruffling my hair and then goes to stand beside mom by the counter.

"Wow a lot people are hyping us up today. No one cared that much last year so what changed this year?" Ash asks confused.

"Maybe because it's our last year." I answer sarcastically.

"Whatever. How much longer mom?" Ash whines.

"Two are done so just take them and let me bake in peace." Mom says sighing. She hands us a cupcake each. She used ocean blue color to ice the outer circles and saffron to frost the inner circles.

"It looks beautiful mom." I compliment smiling at her.

"And it tastes heavenly." Ash mumbles out while eating.

"Asher! Finish the cupcake first." Mom scolds. Ash gives her a thumbs up. Dad is just watching us amused.

"When is basketball season starting?" Dad asks after we both finsh our cupcakes.

"Next month, it should have already started but something happened delaying it." Ash shrugs.

Tell them now!

Are you crazy?

I am not, you are! When are you going to tell everyone exactly?

See even you know you are delaying on purpose. Just get it over with.

"Speaking of basketball, I need to tell you all something." I say.

"What is it?" Mom asks.

"Basketball coach said I play really well and I can even play basketball in college."

"That's amazing, but your school doesn't even have a girls team." Dad says sceptically. He knows there is more to it.

"He said I would have to attend some camps." I am trying to drop the bomb slowly. I just hope they take it well.

"What kind of camps?" Mom asks. Now I have their complete attention.

"He suggested two camps, they are both one week long." There I said it. I met coach from time to time but no one knows about it. I went to him with all of my doubts and he even showed me some college games so I could see if I can match that level. But I made him promise me to not tell anyone till I am sure I want to do it.

"Does that mean you are going to miss school?" Dad asks slowly.

"The one week camp is during the Thanksgiving break. So not the entire duration as most of the camp with be during vacation. I would miss two days of school." I say.

"Thanksgiving? You mean this month?" Mom exclaims.

"Yes, if I go I would have to leave the next day of Thanksgiving. It's in San Francisco." I look at Dad to judge his reaction but his face is void of any emotions.

"Are you sure you really want to play basketball?" He asks finally.

"Yes," I say confidently then add "I want to give it a shot. It can be my second option after robotics."

"Will you be able to manage school? You are going to miss days. It's not going to be easy." He warns.

"I will manage. I will ask the teachers for help and I have friends in all of my classes who can give me the notes and assignments as well."

"I am mostly concerned about your chemistry grade. You are already struggling in that class."

"Jake is helping me and I have improved a lot. I even got an A in my last test."

"You got an A?" Their mouths hamg open. I always get C in Chemistry or get to the border of B so of course they are shocked. Even I checked my name twice.

"Yes, he is really helping me. I am sure he will help me catch up on the days I won't be there." I am pleading now.

"If you are confident then fine but if your grades drop too much then you won't go in the next camp." Dad relents.

"Thanks Dad"

"When is the second camp anyway?" Mom asks.

"It's in February,I would miss the entire week. It is here."

"That's good, but how are you going to stay in San Francisco?" Dad asks.

"About that, coach said he wants to talk to you so that he can explain everything in detail."

"Okay, ask him when we can talk to him." I nod. I mentally sigh in relief, this went a lot better than I had thought inside my head.

"All the best sweetie. Now take these cupcakes and enjoy!" Mom says. Ash and I take our plates and then step out of the kitchen.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Ash askd the moment I close the door. I can hear the hurt in his voice.

"I never told anyone because I wasn't sure if I even wanted to play basketball. No one knows about it except me and the coach. The who even remotely have an idea are Katie, Jake and some other guys because they were there when coach offered. Katie declined hers." I explain.

"Okay but please tell me everything. I can only count upon you to tell me everything." He says looking down.

"There is more to this isn't it? You are not talking about only me."

"Leave it," He says shortly and turns to leave.

"Asher Jones, don't you dare leave! What is going on?" I ask concerned.

"What is going on is that I am an oblivious idiot and the one who should have knocked it inside my head didn't bother. And it turns out she has been hiding things from me as well." He says angrily and then storms off.

What is going on? And by she does he mean Rosie?

Author's Note

Hello everyone 😊! How are you all?

First thank you for 1K votes! I love you guys so much!

As for this chapter I was just setting the base for the next chapters. I want to tell you all about the next chapters but I also don't want to spoil them for you.

So I am just going to say that things are going to get bad and someone from the previous chapters is going to make an appearance again. You all can guess but I won't answer since it would spoil it for you guys.

What are your views about this chapter?

Who do you think is hiding things from Asher? And what things are they hiding from him?

Another thing I want to say is that I would be mostly focusing on only Jake and Anne's relationship. Others will have their own books. I have decided two books as of now amongst whom I would be telling only a bit about first one. The second one would be a total surprise.

First one is story of Asher, Rose and Justin.

'Love Chronicles'

Second one is

'Falling After Nightfall'

Feel free to squeal.

I have decided all the ship names but this author's note is already getting long so wait till next time.

I hope you all like the story so far and have a great day/night ahead 🙃!