The Last Chance (Book 2 of the Cheer Series)

Eight:

Melissa

I somehow find myself staring at the red headed girl walking through the corridors in Matthew's shirt. I raise an eyebrow. She's an interesting looking girl. She is beautiful, but her striking green eyes and red hair seem to contradict each other, and you can see her wild and free spirit form a mile away.

I can hear the whispers. In fact, the other cheerleaders only speak about her in the cafeteria. She has caused somewhat of an challenge. Many girls in this school find Matthew attractive and seek his advances. He's a player, except he has Jessica as a girlfriend, but she turns a blind eye to his ways. I love Jess, the head cheerleader, but she is so silly when it comes to Matthew.

The red head, Rebecca, or Queen Victoria, I have heard them call her, bobs into the cafeteria for second break. I'm sitting with my friends around the popular table. Her eyes search the cafeteria and she lights up as she spots her usual table. We call them the rock group. They love music, and they are all so different. She skips over and sits next to a beautiful African American girl. She has an Afro which suits her features, and I can see she laughs a lot. I turn back to the table full to the brim of football players and cheerleaders. It's a clique high school, with the same old clique friend groups, and as much as I hate to admit it, I too form the popular group, with gossiping cheerleaders, and the centre group which is in the middle of every drama. Including, as of late, the case of Rebecca Black.

"Do you think she plays an instrument?" I hear from across the table.

"You think they would accept her otherwise?" Someone else comments. I roll my eyes. Rebecca has been the center of every conversation for the past week.

My eyes catch Matthew as he makes his way over to the popular and plonks into his chair in the middle of the table.

"Hey Hudson!" One of his football friends slaps him on the back, "Getting somewhere with Her Majesty?" He mocks, referring to one of Rebecca's many popular nicknames. I hear a few people sneer. I can tell that they are jealous of her quickly growing popularity, even though she is so new to the school.

"No." He argues, but his friend looks skeptics, "No man. I have become friends with her, and nothing else. In fact," he pauses for emphasis, and to find the right words to explain his situation, "I think I like it so much better this way. I don't have any female friends who I haven't dated. Except for Mel over here." He winks at me, and I raise an eyebrow.

"This is no way that it's ever going to change Hudson!" I shout and the table bursts out laughing. Matthew himself even laughs. My eyes drift over to Jess. She is biting her lip, and I can't help but wonder what she is thinking about the comment he made. He could not have made a more clear admittance of his player ways. She doesn't have an excuse.

My eyes then drift away from the conversation of the table to my brother. Steven is sitting at a table, alone. He doesn't have a girl today, but I can see a few girls who walk fast and flirt with them. He smirks and clearly flirts back, but he doesn't call them over like he usually does. I excuse myself from my table and make my way over to his table. Before he sees me coming, I'm already in the chair opposite to him. He turns around as I slide the chair in, making a noise as I pull it out. His eyes widen as they land on me.

"So..." I start, and even though my brother is my best friend, I have no idea what to say to him. The realisation breaks my heart.

"I don't want to speak to you, Melissa." He says, and he uses none of my usual nicknames. I sigh sadly.

"I know." I pause, "But this time, you don't actually get a say. I'm your twin. Your twin Steven. It's like I've lost you a second time."

He studies me and leans back in his seat. "Fine. Speak." He grunts and I roll my eyes.

"Alright. To put it lightly, you have become a jerk. This person inhabiting the body of my brother is not my brother and no matter how much you try to change yourself, this person," I pause, and gesture to him, "will never be my brother. Steven, you don't need football to make you feel deserving of love. Football is only a small aspect of who you are, and if you can't play, you can find other things that make you you. You don't have to earn my love. I love you because you are my brother and my best friend, and no mater what you do, what you did, I will always love you." I state. His eyes seem to soften for a moment, but he quickly recovers, and his features turn cold once again, in fact, he laughs.

"You think I care about your love Melissa? I lost everything!" He shouts and I flinch slightly. In the corner of my eye I can see people start it look at us.

"You didn't lose everything Steven. Football isn't everything. You have your family, your house, your school, your life, and even if you don't seem to care, you still have me." Tears are starting to form in the back of my eyes, but I blink, and push them down, "If you think football is everything," I pause, swallowing the lump in my throat, "then you are sorely mistaken and you have to seriously reorder your priorities."

I hear the chair in front of me screech, and before I know it, I see Steven's head of blonde hair, matching my own, leaving the cafeteria. I bang the table in frustration. I just have to hope, I have to pray, that I somehow got through my brother's many, high walls he has built up between me and himself.