The Last Cheer (Book 1 of the Cheer series)

One

"Steven!" I yell as I open the door.

"What Melissa?" He yells back.

"One of your friends is here!" I scream back.

"Who?"

I tilt my head to look at the grinning and handsome football player leaning in the doorframe. "It's Matthew!" I answer. Steven strolls leisurely over to the door.

"Hey man." He says, doing one of those fancy handshakes with Matthew. Steven walks over to me and ruffles my hair. I roll my eyes, and reach up to fix my hair a little. I shake my head and smile. He treats me like I am younger than him, which I am, but only by a couple of minutes.

He is my twin brother. We are not identical twins, obviously, but we both have honey blonde hair. We look almost the same, opposite in gender, the inky other major difference between us, apart from gender is that Steven has baby blue eyes, while I have chocolate hazel ones. I smile as I see that Steven is wearing his football jacket. He never ever takes it off. I am wearing my favourite shorts and a grey top, along with bunny slippers.

"Melissa, do you want to play football with us?" Matthew asks. I sigh.

"Sure! I just need to change my shoes." I look down at my slippers, and I hear Matthew and Steven laugh.

I might not be sporty, but I do like kicking ass on the field, who said a girl can't play football? I race up the stairs, and slip into black nike trainers. I pull my blonde hair into a ponytail, and then race down the stairs again.

Steven and Matthew walk out the door and I follow. We walk to our nearby park, which is extremely close to our house. I smile as the park comes into view. The familiar childhood memories flood my brain and I run behind Steven and flick him on the ear.

"Hey!" Steven mutters rubbing his ear, and I giggle while he runs behind me, hauling over his shoulder and I squeal as he spins around, almost dropping me a few times. I shake my head.

He finally puts me down, and I receive a few bewildered stares from other teenagers, who are sitting on the swing set, obviously weirded out by our antics. I groan as I see one of the girls, who is wearing a pair of extremely short shorts, as well as a crop top that might as well be a bra, smile flirtatiously at the two boys. She then precedes to walks over to Steven.

"Hey Babe, I never thought I would see you here. What are you up to?" She puts her hand in his shoulder and I snort in disgust. I zone out on the rest of the boring conversation. I make a gag reflex. The girl glares at me and I roll my eyes.

Steven is a bit of a player. He doesn't actually have a 'girlfriend' because he likes flirting with every girl he sets his eyes on. It really is a bit gross. I look at him. He is well built and muscular, he's really handsome, but I hate it when all these girls throw themselves at him. He deserves so much better, yet he shouldn't lead them on like he does. I sigh as I look at him flirting. I turn to Matthew.

"Do you want to play so long?" I ask, but Matthew is also preoccupied in a conversation with another girl. Honestly? Can't these guys control their hormones?

~~~~~~~~~~~
"Melissa!" Allison shouts, waking me from my sleep. I groan, lifting my head off the maths textbook, which was surprisingly  comfortable.

"What?" I moan.

"School is over you dodo!" She states, and I look at the clock, true enough, school is over. I pack up my things, and follow Allison, my best friend, since first grade, out the classroom.

"Ready for Debating practice?" She asks, and nod, following her to my locker. I put my books away, and turn towards Allison once again.

"Where's Steven?" She asks, as my brother is not by his locker, where he usually is after school. I shrug.

"He has gone with my dad on some advanced driving course today. He has to leave early and everything. Surely you should know this? I mean, you are the one stalking him." I tease. She punches my arm.

"Am not!" She fires back. I laugh and roll my eyes. We make our way to the hall where debating practice is held. Allison and I sit down on the stage together.

"Alright students, we have a competition in three weeks! Please split into your two teams, and we will be debating a topic as practice." The teacher orders, and Allison and I split into our separate teams.

We start planning our argument, when my phone violently vibrates in my pocket. I take it out, and my mom's number is on the caller ID.

"Ma'am," I start, looking up at the teacher, "My I please take this call? It's is from my mom and seems urgent." I bite my lip, and the teacher nods. I walk out the hall and answer the phone.

"Hey Mom, is everything alright?" I ask, but all I hear on the other end of the line is a loud sob. My heart sinks. "Mom?"

"Melissa, I need you to meet me in the parking lot. Something terrible has happened, I'm coming to fetch you." She says, extremely quickly and my heart sinks lower in my chest.

"Okay." I swallow, and the line goes dead. I find the teacher.

"Ma'am, something serious happened at home. I need to leave." The teacher nods.

"I hope that everything is alright Melissa. Please go." The teacher replies. I grab my bags and run to the parking lot. I can drive, but Steven is always using the car that was meant for the two of us. My mother's car appears and I run to the door and climb in.

I look at my mother's red, puff and tear-stained face, and my heart drops deep into my stomach.