I Like Me Better | to all the boys I've loved before

cheertastic

It was a sunny Tuesday afternoon when I forced myself to go to the place I had dreaded all of high school.

The locker room.

Since I never really did sports, I hadn't ever had to go in there, and I would have liked to keep it that way.
But now, I was doing cheerleading, and was morally obligated to be a part of the team, who were all meeting in the locker room.

I put both straps of my backpack on in preparation, and ventured into the deep jungle, also known as teenage girls.

Of course, the cheer squad (apparently you "never call it a team" as kate told me) had to meet all the way in the back, and I had to push past sweaty girls, yelling and swearing and singing journeys "don't stop believing" loudly and off key.
The cheer girls were all in the back, and after we had all hugged each other (SO much hugging) we were ready to get changed. I wedged myself in a corner and turned around to take off my shirt, praying all anyone else could see was my back. Meanwhile, behind me, the rest of the girls were dancing loudly to Britney Spears in sports bras and spandex.

Well cheer was certainly going to be interesting.

I heard Chloe chuckle and could feel her eyes on my back.
"Wow, LJ, you sure know how to party," she laughed.

"Ok, well, I just don't really do the public nudity thing," I replied, pulling up my cheer skirt, which to my dismay was shorter than necessary.
"Relax! It's not nudity and none of us are lesbian, so I'm not sure what you're worried about," Chloe answered back as the other girls laughed.
-
We were headed across the field where the boys were practicing, and I heard all their wolf whistles, which I instantly decided I didn't like.
We reached the other end, and Kate lined everyone up, all of us in our cheer uniforms.
She looked and me and said decidedly, "a flyer. You're much too small for a base."
So I got to be the 'lucky one' who they tossed way up into the air, and I was screaming plenty as they flipped me around.

"Alright, Alright, put her down before you take the life out of my girlfriend. I need her, ya know," Peter's voice was light and playful as he pulled me out of a pre - basket toss position.
"Ok, we get it, you're 'in lurve', but we need LJ!" Chloe complained.
"Yeah, no one else is her size, it's not like we can just throw Hannah around," Kate followed, earning a whack from Hannah. Peter gave them a weird look, followed by Kate's
"Ok, fiiiiine, you can take her. Go, go, go!" She ushered us across the field.
Ok, that was weird, even for Kate. The girls did a complete 180, and I couldn't help but wonder what they knew.
"So," Peter's voice snapped me back to reality as he twisted our fingers together, "what do you say we go back to my house and watch a movie?" He asked.
"Ok, don't get me wrong, I love movies, it's just we always seem to do movies."I said tentatively. He shrugged.
"We could go grab lunch? There's this great new Mexican place, and hey, we could even bring leftovers for dinner so your dad won't have to cook," he suggested.
"I think you mean so we won't have to eat dads cooking," I replied, laughing.

-

"Alright, it's a 20 minute drive, and if you think I'm doing that without tunes, lemme tell ya covey, you're wrong," Peter said sassily as he handed me the aux cord.
"Ok," I said, laughing. This boy had more character than anyone I'd ever met.
"So what do you wanna listen to?" I scrolled through Apple Music.
"Whatever you want, baby. I don't really care," he said, turning off monroe street.
So me, being the person I am, decided to put on high school musical hits because why not!
In the middle of us loudly singing "I KNOW YOU CAN; NOT A CHANCE"
peter announced that we were there.
I looked up, and it wasn't a Mexican place.

It was school.

"Goddamn it peter, this is the meanest thing you could do to me," I said, turning to him.
"Well it's not my fault I forgot my lacrosse stick here. Just wait, ok? I'll be right back." He said, kissing me quickly and closing the door behind him.

So I snuggled down into the seat, propped my feet up on the dash, and scrolled through Pinterest, waiting for my boyfriend to comeback.
Wow. I forgot the chills the word boyfriend gives me when I'm talking about peter. I mean, I sometimes forget it's real between us and not just the game we were playing earlier. My life has changed so much for the better since peter. I had a bunch of new girl friends, I had a got boyfriend, I was on the cheer squad (not quite sure if that's a good thing yet, though)...
I really did love Peter.
After all that thinking, I realised 20 minutes had passed by and Peter still hadn't returned. He had probably run into coach or something, but I was starving and needed some
Mexican food.
Grumbling, I walked out onto the field to see all the Lacrosse players standing in a long line. I started walking past them, and they each handed me a rose.
Oh no.
By the time I had reached the end, I had a huge bouquet of roses, and I kept walking because I saw my beautiful peter standing at the edge of the field. He pulled out a huge sign that read
WINTER BALL WITH ME?
And I ran the rest of the way (and I NEVER run) just to tackle hug peter, who deftly swooped down and attacked my lips, and for a moment I was lost in his soft, sweet lips and forgot there were people watching. It was in that moment that I realised how much I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this boy. I pulled away a bit and just left my lips barely touching his.
"Yes," I said barely, and he picked me up, wrapping my legs around him. In between kisses I said, "I'd love to go. And I love you." He suddenly started laughing into the kiss, and I couldn't help but laugh too as he set me down. His eyes, his beautiful eyes, looked straight into mine. No where else, just right into mine, and he said, with the biggest smile on his face,
"God, Lara Jean. What did I ever do to deserve you as the love of my life."

YAY!! sorry that took a while to update, I got a mini case of writers block there. Super excited for the next chapter, but also super bummed cause the three day weekends over tomorrow and I have to go back to school 😔
What do yall think about this chapter?? Comment ideas for whatever you wanna see in this book, I'll dedicate the chapter to you and I might write it for you guys!!
Also, thanks so Much for 13k. This is a freaking dream, I love you all. 💕💕

Xoxo,
Graygray

Xoxo,