The Last Cheer (Book 1 of the Cheer series)

Five

On Monday morning, I walk into my school with a smile on my face. I find the familiar figure of my best friend standing at her locker, which is only three lockers away from mine.

"Allison! Guess what!" I scream at my best friend, who drops one of her books in fright. I race over to her and pick it up.

"Someone is overly excited!" She chuckles and packs the book into her bag.

"Yip!" I squeal while doing happy dance, "I got onto the team!!"

"And that team is?" She asks, and looks at me strangely.

"The cheerleading team!" I answer, waving my hands.

"When did you tryout, and why didn't you tell me about it?" she questions and I shake my head.

"I didn't want to tell you in case I never got in." I say and she shakes her head.

"That is a violation of the girl code Melissa Daniels. Best friends are meant to tel each other everything!" She scolds, disappointment marking her features, the smile drops off my face.

"I know and I'm sorry. I would've told you even if I didn't make it. Did you try out?" I inquire, and my best friend turns to look at me.

"Hell no. I tried out twice and the cheerleaders told me I looked like an elephant trying to balance on a banana peel." She mutters and I run her shoulder.

"Harsh."

"I know right. I would much better describe myself as an elegant goat." She scoffs and I burst out laughing.

"I'm pretty sure those are contradictory." I protest and she slabs my arm.

"That's an insult to the goats. They are incredible creatures I will have you know, and they make amazing cheese." She informs and I shake my head.

The bell rings, signaling that school has started, and I run to my next class. When the bell finally rang for break I could finally dig into my food. I am so damn hungry. I stuffed my sandwich into my mouth.

"Melissa you are such a pig when it comes to food." Allison says as she sits down opposite me at our favourite table, which is by the window, and looks out on the football field.

"I know but it's so good." I mutter and take another bite of my sandwich.

"I'm so irritated." She says, playing with her food. She slams her fork into her pasta and stabs it harshly. I cringe. The poor pasta.

"I know, and the poor pasta has to suffer for it. What's wrong? Let me give you my wise counsel." I smile and look at my best friend.

"So you know that I like this guy Charlie." She starts and I nod, "Well, he's in the same art class as me, and he sits two seats away from me. Today, one of the cheerleaders decided that it would be funny to pass him a note saying that I like him, because somehow they found out. They did so, and now he knows Mel. I was so embarrassed. He then read the note, turned around, and winked at me. He winked at me." She complains.

"Okay. I don't see the problem." I ration, and Allison scoffs and shakes her head.

"He knows now!" She huffs and crosses her arms.

"So?" I fling my arms up in frustration, she scoffs, "He clearly likes you!"

"You think so?" She wonders, looking at Charlie with a longing gaze.

"Yeah. I do. Now stop being irritated and smile Allison. Let things happen in their due time." I advise, and smile at her.

"You do know me too well best friend." she said.

"Yes I do best friend. Now will some jelly beans cheer you up?" I asked her and took the packet out of my lunch box and wave them in her face.

She grins at me and opens the bag. She reaches into it and she grabs her favourite colour. Green.

"Don't take all the green ones! Those are also my favourite!" I groan.

"Sorry. First come first serve." She sticks her tongue out at me, and keeps digging in the bad, searching for the green jelly beans.

"Excuse me but I think those are my Jelly beans!!!" I said snatching the packet and it almost broke, when I ripped it away from her, but luckily I caught it and took the last green jelly bean.

"Melissa!" Someone shouts, interrupts. My head jolts upward to find the owner of the voice. It belongs to one of the cheerleaders.

"What?" I ask, stuffing my hand into the bag of jelly beans and stuffing more into my mouth.

"Since you are part of the team, you don't need to sit on that nerd bench because we have a table for you. And if it would make you happy bring your dork friend, Alice." She shouts back, and looking at me, and then she turns back to her friends and laughs at a joke.

"It's Allison." I shout back in protest.

"Are you coming or not?" She asks and turns back to her friends. I roll my eyes. She has a serious attitude problem. I turn to look at Allison.

"You want to go sit with them?" I ask and Allison nods quickly.

"Duh! Who wouldn't want to sit at the popular table?" She asks rhetorically and I shrug. We walk over to the cheerleader's table and find a free seat.

Some of the girls start talking to me about the hot guys and start speaking randomly about the latest drama in the school. I found it very strange because they never used talk to me before I became cheerleader. Allison and I look at each other wide eyed, as if to say, What the hell?

The bell rings and the cheerleaders take much longer to get to their classes. There is always so much traffic and everyone is pushing everyone to get out. Nothing out of the norm. Except for the fact that when I walked past the people with the cheerleaders, everybody rushed to get out of our way.

"Get out the way dork!" I hear someone shout, and they push me out the way. I turn around, with my hand on my hip to protest.

"Watch it Matthew!" I shout, as I see that it was Matthew's doing and keep on walking.

"Melissa!" He shouts and I stop in my tracks, "Sorry about that. Are you okay? How is Steven?" he asks. I shrug.

"He is doing okay I guess. Stable. Nothing else. The same old dead weight." I admit, trying to hold in the sadness in my eyes. I looked into my brother's best friend's baby blue eyes. He is damn handsome.

"Um... I better get going. Check you later, Matthew." I say awkwardly, and made a quick getway through the crowd.

"Bye Melissa. " I hear him say quietly and I rush off, a smile on my face.