high school [ jeff atkins ]

[ 17 ]

17; burn break crash

jeff walked the school in his baseball uniform, speed walking with montgomery over to the gymnasium. the two of them were trying to follow the school rules by not running in the hallways but were trying to get to the gymnasium the quickest they could. rose, lisa and the other dancers as well as cheerleaders were performing in the gymnasium for the first day of the camden exchange. unlike the other sports, dancing and cheerleading were reoccurring, for each of the three days there'd be a new cheer competition or dance competition. jeff knew he'd be extra late to the cheerleading competition, but that's not the one he wanted to see anyways, he needed to get their quickly because his girl's competition would be starting soon and he wanted her to see him in the crowd of students as she danced.

"fuck it," jeff grumbled as he broke out into a sprint, jeff only ever broke out in a sprint when he scored a homerun, but getting to the gymnasium on time was as important as a home run.

montgomery trailed behind jeff, not being as fast as the other boy, with his usual cocky grin on his face. montgomery loved seeing his best friend so whipped over one girl, he found it both amusing and something he should look up to. montgomery was known for his bad antics and all of his failed relationships, but that year he wanted to be different, he was a senior and he just wanted to get a better reputation before he skipped off to college. montgomery wanted to attend the university in miami, it was a party university and one he'd love to attend, but he needed to get a better reputation amongst liberty high school before he could even think of going to that university.

within seconds jeff and montgomery were bursting through the gymnasium doors and they were both greeted with loud cheers and the scene of the liberty high cheerleaders finishing off their performance. jeff huffed in relief, knowing the two of them made it to the gymnasium just in time. quickly, the two boys found justin, bryce, zach, marcus and alex all siting beside each other and joined them. jeff sat himself in between justin and zach, while montgomery squeezed himself between bryce and alex. instantly alex and montgomery began bickering about the smallest thing, it being about how dirty alex's shoes were and how scabby they looked. jeff and zach on the other hand dived into a serious conversation about the basketball game that would be happening that night.

"i've been practicing my shots for weeks and they've just been getting shittier and shittier, i don't know what's going on man," zach huffed and shook his head, "i think i'm just becoming hella stressed out with all this school work bullshit."

"you'll be fine tonight, my hits are always shit during practice but are legendary on the feild," jeff laughed, trying to lighten the mood of the conversation just a tad. "you're zach fucking dempsey, you'll be awesome dude."

once music echoed throughout the gymnasium and the sight of rose dressed in just blue and white caught jeff's eyes, the group of jocks instantly quietened down. jeff's smile on his face widened as he watched the girl he had been running to get to the gymnasium get in her first dancing position. as expected her and lisa were situated up the front of the group since they were the best dancers amongst the group. lili unfortunately was no where to be seen, which was extremely weird since she was one of the main dancers. lili had been around school quite often, rose and lisa had seen her many times chatting amongst her own friends, but they hadn't seen her in dance class for almost three weeks. it was unusual and weird, lili was always so enthusiastic about dancing but now she seemed to want to have no part in it. lisa and rose weren't going to press the subject and just let lili figure out what she wanted to do on her own, since it was none of their business anyways. if lili didn't want to dance anymore she didn't have to and that was her choice.

as soon as the group began dancing cheers erupted throughout the gymnasium, all because of the nine girls dancing to an underrated song. jeff felt himself stand up in his seat and let out the loudest holler, cheering on his girl and her dance team. montgomery and zach quickly followed in suit, standing and hollering as loud as they could. jeff knew that rose was becoming embarrassed by the way she smiled shyly as she danced and her cheeks were visibly becoming redder. jeff loved to cheer her on, he loved praising her in the things she was good at because that was just him. he praised everyone in what he believed they were good at, he praises montgomery on the pitches he throws, he praises zach on his basketball shoots, he praises justin on the basketball dribbling he does perfectly. he praises all of his friends because nothing makes him more happier then seeing other people happy.

"yes rose! you slay that dance!" zach screamed at the top of his lungs, make jeff almost lose it in a laughing fit.

"go rose! go rose! you're doing great sweetie!" montgomery yelled out after jeff clapping his hands together so loudly.