TWO.
❛ ALWAYS THE VIXEN. ❜

         'Are you sure you don't want to come to tryouts with me?" Lexi asked for the fifth time today.

Betty had repeatedly refused, given the fact she already knew Cheryl would rather be burned alive than allow Betty Cooper to join the cheerleading team. Lexi had frowned and offered a solution that she could talk to Jason to convince Cheryl to let Betty join, but Betty had politely declined. If Betty ever got onto the team, she would do it because of her own ability to cheer not because her new friend of sorts had good contacts.

"I'm sure. Have fun though." Betty masked her hurt with a small smile, one Lexi saw right through.

"Betty —"

"Why didn't you want to sit with Chuck today at lunch?" Betty asked, changing the subject as she opened her locker. When she was met with silence, she tilled her locker shut and turned her attention towards the brunette.

Lexi frowned, leaning her weight against the lockers next to Betty's. She knew what the girl was playing at — trying to distract her from talking about cheerleading practice. But she also knew it was working. That was why she couldn't answer her.

"I mean, you don't have to tell me or anything. I was just —" Betty rushed to get out upon seeing the disheartened look on Lexi's face.

"I broke up with him."

Betty's eyes widened in shock. To the rest of the school Lexi Hale and Chuck Clayton were the perfect couple. However, nothing was ever as pretty close up as it was from afar. "What happened?" Betty asked cautiously, trying not to offend the brunette.

Lexi let her eyes follow Betty's movements as she closed her locker properly before looking up to meet her eyes. "Let's just say, I found out he wasn't as nice a person as I thought."

The blonde nodded in understanding, causing her ponytail to bob up and down with her head. She didn't want to press for more answers, given the fact Lexi and her weren't that close. It was also because Lexi was a ticking time bomb. The girl had not only lost both her parents over the summer but she'd also managed to find out her boyfriend was a lying prick. If she felt cornered, she'd snap.

Lexi faked a smile and stood up straight. "Right, well, I'm going to be late. Wish me luck!"

"Good luck!" Betty grinned as the Hale girl walked away from her in the direction of the changing rooms.

"Lexi," Chuck called jogging to catch up with the girl.

She rolled her eyes at the irony that he just so happened to be in the corridor at the same time as her. "Piss off, Clayton."

A look of anger swiftly came over his face. "I've done nothing but try to apologise to you and you won't even hear me out."

Lexi stopped walking as her eyes lit up in absolute fury, she barely had time to enjoy the sight of his bruised and swollen eye as the only thought stabled to the walls inside her mind was that this prick thinks he has a right to defend himself after what he done. "Have you actually apologised though? Have you actually said the two magic words, 'I'm sorry?'"

"Maybe if you'd stop acting like such a bitch I would have the chance to."

As soon as her mind processed the words that crawled out of his mouth, her fist was already pulled back and swinging towards his face. His hands flew to his face as the blood rushed out of his nose, "What the fuck?"

Lexi looked around at the people gasping in shook and holding their phones out videoing the scene. If people hadn't realised how uneasy things between them were before, the two had definitely staged an epic breakup for the entire corridor to enjoy. Lexi Hale and Chuck Clayton were over for good.

"Fuck you, Chuck Clayton."

Lexi Hale was in bitch mode. Nothing could calm her down now, not after the 'breakup' scene in the corridor. The next person to upset her wound be in for a shock. She stood up straight and made her way into the gym after tying her shoelace. Her natural chestnut waves were tied up into a high ponytail to stop her hair from getting in her face when she was practicing.

Once she got there, she realised the other girls were either on the ground stretching their limbs or sitting stiffly on the bleachers as they exchanged nervous chatter with one another. Lexi let her eyes travel to the last three girls in the gym who were sitting like royalty, ready to judge who would be allowed to join the squad and who would be humiliated just by showing up.

"Alright, sluts." Cherry smiled gleefully as she clasped her hands together. "There will be sweat, there will be tears, there will be disgusting snot dripping from your noses but most of all there will be gut wrenching shame and self hatred — for all who fail to make the cut. Now as for those who actually want to stay, carry on. I haven't got all day."

On a good day Lexi would have smiled at how bitchy Cheryl could be but today was most certainly not a good day and she sure as hell wasn't smiling.

The redhead glanced over the girls, grinning as one got up from the bleachers and ran out crying. Though, her gaze paused as her eyes met the forest green Hale eyes. She let her eyes wander over her white and yellow shirt that did nothing to hide the dark coloured bra underneath it and the short black shorts that made her slim legs look like they stretched for miles on end. Looking back up to her face, Cheryl unconsciously placed a more gentle smile on her face. "Lexi, you're up first."

Lexi nodded oblivious to Cheryl's intense stare as she strutted in front of the three chairs and began her cheer. The redhead felt a stir of something foreign in the pit of her stomach as she watched the brunette move her body to the sound of the music she had selected, how her lean legs flexed before a cartwheel and how her lips turned upwards at the sides as she sticked a landing after a series of front flips.

Cheryl was so lost in her thoughts about the brunette that she had failed to realise Lexi had finished her routine and was now standing with heavy breathing and a confused look on her face. Lexi arched an eyebrow in question as soon as Cheryl met her gaze, she was wondering why the redhead had zoned out.

"Below average," Cheryl snarled.

It didn't matter how intrigued Cheryl grew by the brunette, it didn't matter if she wanted to play nice. She couldn't because she wasn't allowed to be interested in anyone, especially not someone of the same gender. Her mother would kill her if she even thought about pursuing a relationship with the girl or anyone that wasn't approved of by the Blossom family.

"But Cheryl, she was amaz—"

"Shut up, Ginger." Cheryl interrupted without even glancing at the girl sitting beside her, "As I was saying below average, but you've got some spark. No matter how small. Perhaps I'll make something of you yet."

Lexi let out a short breath of air as she grinned. Her bad mood had been discarded as she found herself beyond amused at the girl's behaviour, she could see there was something she was hiding behind that smirk off hers.

Cheryl narrowed her eyes as she saw the amusement flash through Lexi's eyes. "Is something funny?"

The two girls sitting beside the Blossom girl shared a look of concern as Cheryl rose from her seat to stand in a defensive manner.

Lexi smirked as she slowly took steps closer to the school's self proclaimed queen bee. "Nothing at all, sweetie."

Cheryl clenched her jaw at the sudden lack of space between the two of them. She was standing so close to her that she could smell Lexi's rich scented perfume that reminded her of spring.

Lexi's smirk widened as she saw how uncomfortable Cheryl had grown in the space of five seconds. The redhead was fuming at the fact someone had dared stand up to her but also a little more intrigued by her brother's best friend. Lexi Hale was certainly someone she would never understand.

"What's wrong, Cherry?" Lexi spoke quietly, letting her voice turn husky. Cheryl stayed silent as she fought against her body's wishes to shiver at the sound. "Never been this close with a girl before?"

"No," Cheryl answered weakly. She mentally cringed at how vulnerable she sounded and intensified her glare, "Why would I, when I have no interest in being intimate with girls?"

Lexi felt herself smile genuinely as her smirk fell from its place. "Then you, darling," she paused glancing down at Cheryl's lips before flickering them back up to her startled eyes, "— have no idea what you're missing."