Pacific Bell High

> XXXIII <

"Look at that form." Mia said with a frown as she sat back on the bleachers. She shook her head in disappointment as she saw the cheerleaders doing their routine.

"Hm, hm." She heard, and she turned to look at Allie, who had been huddled up because of the cold and sipping away at some hot chocolate. "I understand now what you mean when you say that you don't trust your best friend to run the routine."

"It's like—oh my God. I told Clarissa about her wrists and she still doesn't listen. Geez, look at that poor form!" Mia groaned as she crossed her arms over her chest. Cristina, I should have been there for the pregame workout.

One of the students turned around in their seat. She had recognized him as Peter Collins, a senior in the lacrosse team. He had looked at Mia in awe before dreamily saying, "Hi Mia." He then looked over at Allie, who smiled and waved at him and asked, "Hey, are you her mom?"

Allie giggled as she shook her head. She placed a hand on her chest, and proudly said, "No, I am Michael Harris' mother."

Peter scrunched up his face in question and said, "Michael Harris? As in Michael the—"

Mia kicked his chair with her good leg and quickly let out, "Oof! It's getting so cold. I'll need some hot chocolate."

"Oh! I'll get you some, darling." Allie said as she stood up. "You should have told me earlier. I feel so bad."

Mia gave her an innocent smile and thanked her as she walked away. Then, her look turned murderous as she turned towards Peter, who flinched away at the face. "Talk about anything that goes inside the school and I'll make sure you'll be cut off from any interaction. You got it?"

He gulped in fear and nodded his head quickly. She then smiled at him and, in a sweet voice, said, "Good. Now turn around and be a good boy."

On the field, Coach Evans had patted all of the boys on their helmet and congratulated Martin for his tackle again. For some reason, Martin had told Coach Evans that he wanted to play defense for the first quarter, since he said he knew exactly what the quarterback was going to do.

Too bad they didn't know the full reason behind it.

Halftime was close to done and the boys were getting back on the field. Coach Evans had kept both Martin and Justin back to explain to them a move that they had been practicing for the past week. When he was positive that they were ready, he nodded and walked towards the rest of the coaches.

As Martin put on his helmet, Justin kicked at the dirt.

"Whatever you've got up your sleeve, you keep my sister out of it." Justin said, his voice hard as he stared at the field. He did not like the feeling he got when he saw that his little sister was on the floor and Martin had picked her up. Or that time when he caught them looking at each other too long to be mistaken eye contact.

Martin turned to glare at him. Who the fuck does he think he is?

"Don't get near my sister." He then turned to look him straight in the eye. "I'm serious."

He then put his helmet on and turned around, jogging onto the field.

Martin's glare slowly disappeared and a smirk slowly etched across his face as he also ran on the field.

Idiot, it's too late for that to happen.

Mia looked down at Justianny, who had suddenly stood up quickly and grabbed against the bar. She looked up only to see Justin and Martin's obvious tension growing, and rolled her eyes when Justin walked away from him.