Dating The Bad Boy

e l e v e n

two weeks later

CHAPTER ELEVEN: FRIDAYS MEAN FOOTBALL GAMES

"Wisconsin! You're going to be late!" my brother Drew calls. I quickly glance myself over and tighten the bow in my hair. Getting stupid Jojo Siwa vibes, I laugh a little. I grab my pom pons and put them in the 'Beverly High School Cheer' duffel bag I ended up buying.

Yes, my parents do know that I cheer. When I made the squad, they called my house phone to tell me. My father ended up answering the phone and when I told him what I did, he ended up telling my mom. At first they were mad at me, but excited I was actually involved in something. They told my brothers and Bianca, they literally threw a party.

I walk down the steps and my whole family is gathered by the door. "Look at you!" my mom says, looking like she's about to cry. I roll my eyes, "I'm not getting married mom." I sigh. She wipes a tear that must've fallen and nods. God, they're so extra. "Who's driving me?" I ask. I look at the five people standing in front of me and none of them say anything. "You're getting a ride." Drew smirks.

"What? From who?" I question. Drew opens the door and pushes me out onto the front walk. "I'll pick you up after the game! Bye!" they slam to door and I turn around once I hear his voice. "You ready to go Peaches?" I turn and look at the greek god of a guy that stands before me. I nod my head and slowly walk towards him.

I put my bag in the trunk of his Camaro and walk around the the passenger side of the car. I open the door and sit on the comfortable, plush seat. River gets in next to me and turns the keys in what I think is the ignition. "You look good in your uniform." he comments. I feel my cheeks heat up and know they're tinted pink. "I bet you won't look that bad, before your covered in sweat anyways" I babble.

He chuckles and I nervously giggle. Why am I like this? "Always know how to compliment a guy, don't you, Turner?" I nod and buckle my seat belt. We drive in silence as I fumble with my uniform and fingers. I'm not just nervous about the game, I'm nervous around River. I don't understand it. "So, I was thinking." River starts but I interrupt, "Hmm that's not always a good thing, is it?"

He gives me a glare and I flash him a smile. "Anyways, tomorrow I could take you out driving, if you'd like." River says glancing in my direction. "Yeah, that would be—great" I admit. He smiles as we pull into the parking lot. I get out of the car and grab my bag. "See you out there QB." I remark, smiling.

"I better here you cheering for me." River smirks, grabbing his rather large bag. "Well then let's hope you're actually as good as you make it out to seem." I retort. He chuckles, "Don't worry babe, I got this" Before I can even react to what he called me, he turns on his heel and walks towards the field house.

I shake it off and head towards the girls locker room in the gym. I set down my bag on the bench and Tessa walks over to join my one, now two, person party. "So, the Bad Boy gave you a ride?" she questions. I take out my pom pons and give her a quick glance. Of course she looks perfect. "I don't think he's much of a bad boy, don't you think?" I answer.

"Didn't he tell you that you don't know who he was before he moved here?" Tessa asks and I know she's right. I don't know who he was. But I don't know if that really matters. If who he was, was so bad, and I can't see that now, has he changed? "Yeah, but he doesn't seem all bad." I shrug.

Another girl from the squad, named Ariana, walks over. It seems like everyone on this squad is gorgeous. She has beautiful black, silky hair. Rich, dark, blue eyes. Paler skin, with freckles dotting across the bridge of her nose. "Talking about River Coleman?" she asks, leaning against the lockers.

"Who's not." Tessa replies and Ariana stifles a small laugh. "I suppose that's true. Every girl seems interested in him. I don't really see the big fuss" Ariana shrugs and crosses her arms across her chest. Tessa laughs at the assistant captain's remark about the now star quarterback. "Yeah and aren't you dating Jordan?"

Jordan is our schools best linebacker. Although he's very good at football, I don't really think he's good in the boyfriend category. "How long have you guys been dating?" I ask, curious to see how long Jordan can go without cheating on a girl.

"Next week it'll be eight months!" Ariana smiles. I'm honestly shocked. But I smile back, just wanting her to be happy. They are really cute together though. "Time to go" Tessa says, clearly excited for the game. All of the girls on the squad follow Tessa as we head down to our stadium.

We grab the large piece of paper that the football team will break through. We all line up and the girls who don't hold the banner start to rustle their pom pons. The marching band starts playing and the football team comes running through the center of our set up. River looks at me before he crashes through the paper I hold up. Everyone cheers and the marching band starts another song.

We head over to the sidelines and wait for quick-off.

••

The whistle blows indicating it's half time. Currently it's 30-7 and we're winning. River is honestly the best quarterback we've had in a long time. I go over to our bench and bend down to grab my water. I hear someone walking over and I assume it's River. "Hey, good job out there." I say turning around. "Oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else" I say when I realize it's someone from the other team.

"Nah, don't worry, we suck." the guy chuckles. He's pretty attractive, like most football players are. Tall, muscular, dirty blonde, swooped, hair, tan skin. He looks like a guy out of a magazine. "There's two more quarters, you can still win. I rather you not, but you could" I say shrugging. He smiles and runs a hand through his hair. "I'm Jake, by the way"

"Wisconsin." I say, mentally groaning at the ugly name given to me at birth. "That's different, I like it." I look down, blushing. I look to my right and see River standing at the end of the three benches pushed together. He's clearly mad, I can tell by his bulging muscles and his tightened jaw. He sets down his water and heads over to where his teammates are.

"Don't you have to be with your team?" I ask Jake and he laughs. "Nah, we don't do that. We know we suck so I guess we just don't care. What about you Miss Cheer?" I look up into his sparkling eyes and think about what he means. "We all know the cheers so I guess we don't 'huddle up'" I say, making air quotes. He stifles a laugh. Yeah, I'm not funny at all.

The team comes back out of the field house that's beyond the marching band bleachers and I see River. He doesn't catch my eye, he's too focused on Jake, the "enemy". I turn and look back at Jake, who's carefully studying me. I give him a small smile and as he's about to say something, an arm wraps around my waist. I get pulled closer to a body and that bone chilling voice cuts deep into my ears, "Hey babe, who's your friend?"

I look up at Jake, then at River, then Jake, then back to the ground. "Is this guy bothering you?" Jake looks confused and tries to say something but River speaks again, "You know I'll do something about it if he is." Jake stares at River as if he's insane, which I'm kinda positive he is. "No Riv—"

"You better go back with your teammates now. Or I will slam your head into this bench, you got that?"