Extraordinary // Wayhaught

She's Cheer Captain (part 2)

There was a loud knock on the door.

"Time to get up, girls," came the coach's voice.

Waverly and Nicole were jolted from their sleep and immediately blushing at their situation of entangled bodies. The smaller girl smiled as she withdrew her arm from Nicole's waist. Nicole gasped slightly at the feeling of Waverly's hand slowly grazing across her stomach. Then they both turned away and got off the bed.

Waverly grabbed her cheer uniform and makeup from her bag and a towel from the closet. She went into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She didn't know what to feel about what had happened and she was sure Nicole was only going to be harder to talk to now.

When Waverly was done in the bathroom, she found Nicole lacing up her football boots. The redhead looked up and gazed at her face which was now done up in makeup. Her hair had been done into a high ponytail complete with a sparkly bow in the team colours. For the first time, Waverly actually loved how small and tight the cheer uniform was as she felt Nicole's eyes explore her body.

"Wow," Nicole let slip. Then she focussed back on her shoes, clearly blushing.

"Thanks," Waverly said with a giggle. "Are you gonna be long? I'm starving."

"I'll just be a moment. I'll do my hair later."

As promised, a moment later Nicole was up and ready to head down for breakfast. She held the hotel room door open for the brunette.

"Can I ask you something?" Waverly asked as the pair reached the elevators and waited for one to take them downstairs. The redhead nodded. "How come you're not as close with the team as the rest of them are? You always seem a little on the outside."

"I... I don't know. I guess I'm just not good at all that. Or I'm too different." She shrugged.

"Do you consider them friends?"

"I guess so. I wouldn't say that they're not. But I don't see them outside of school, practice and games."

"Do you have any friends that you do that with?" Waverly pried. The silver doors in front of them opened revealing an empty lift. The two got in and Nicole hit the button for the ground floor, a little aggressively.

"Why do you care?"

"Because you seem really nice and you're the star of the football team, so I just don't get why you're such a lone wolf. And I like you."

"I don't get it either. If you ever find out, let me know, okay?" Nicole grumbled. The lift doors opened and she stormed off ahead.

"Nicole, wait."

But she wouldn't turn back.

Nicole found a seat at breakfast between a few other girls so that Waverly wouldn't try to sit with her, but the brunette ended up giving her sad puppy eyes from across the table all morning. Nicole just ignored her and tried to talk with her teammates, but her mind kept trailing back to earlier that morning. To how good and right it felt to be wrapped up in Waverly. To how her stomach filled with butterflies when she stepped out of the bathroom. And to the night before and the way Waverly smiled at her like nobody had ever smiled at her before.

She gave in and shone a quick smile at the frowning brunette, hoping no one was paying close attention. Waverly smiled too, just slightly and then let her attention drift to her plate of food.

During practice, the cheer team mostly watched from the side to begin with. They would warm up and have a run through closer to game time. Waverly Earp was thrilled about this because it gave her time to shake the feeling caught inside her. Or feed it by staring at the long legged footballer, that she just couldn't get out of her head, from her perfect view where she sat on the freshly cut grass.

As the football team were stretching, the coach yelled out, "What's with the hair, Haught? Go to the bathrooms and tie it back, now!"

Nicole took off, her face turning almost as red as her hair. Waverly felt a tug in her stomach and decided to follow her. She got up, grabbing her little backpack she'd brought, and jogged to the door that lead into the girls bathroom, just at the edge of the field, under the stand of seats.

"Nicole?"

"Waverly?"

"Hey. Sorry, that's kind of my bad, I rushed you."

Their eyes met in the mirror that Nicole had stood herself in front of, as the brunette approached from behind.

"It's fine. Umm do you have a hairbrush?"

"Yeah, I do."

Waverly fished around in her small bag and extracted a pink brush a moment later.

"I suck at braids, but my ponytails always come loose," Nicole said as she took the brush from Waverly's outstretched hand. Waverly smiled and took the brush back, then beckoned for Nicole to follow her. She lead her to a bench in the middle of the room and asked her to sit.

"I happen to be excellent at braiding hair. It comes with having to go to a million sleepovers a year with the other cheer girls," she explained as she began brushing through the long red hair in front of her.

"Thanks. This is really nice of you."

"No problem. Sorry about earlier. And sorry about umm the bed thing." She blushed.

"It's fine. All of it."

"You make a comfy pillow, Haught," Waverly joked as she began to braid. "Sorry if I made you uncomfortable. Maybe tonight we can make a wall of pillows so it doesn't happen again."

"No. I wouldn't mind if it did."

"Aha! I knew you were a big softie."

"Shut up."

"Don't worry, I won't spill your secrets."

Nicole just relaxed and enjoyed the feeling of her hair being done; the fingers brushing her scalp and the gentle tugs on her hair, like the softest head massage ever. "Okay, all done," Waverly announced after she secured the braid with a hair tie at the end.

The pair headed for the exit, Nicole stealing a glimpse of herself in the mirror as they passed. Waverly really was excellent at this. She thanked Waverly and jogged off to rejoin her team.

Later that afternoon, the game went incredible, much to the surprise of Nicole. Not because they weren't good. Their team was awesome. But for the first time ever, Nicole couldn't stop staring over at the cheerleaders. Or one particular cheerleader. Somehow she managed to focus enough on the game to get her team a win. After she made that final, winning score, the team yelled victoriously and lifted her up into the air.

The cheer team joined them in praising Nicole and for the first time in a while she felt that she was actually a part of this group of friends. But then they let her down and each one of the slinked off to their smaller little circles, leaving her behind. Just as always.

Except no. Today was different. Today somebody remained behind as everybody disappeared off the field. Waverly waited for her with a smile. A proud smile.

"Hi, good game. You did great."

"Thanks. You didn't have to wait for me."

"I wanted to. Come on." The brunette held out a hand to her. Nicole hesitated, then took it. She was instantly wary of how sweaty her palm was, all of her was drenched. But the other girl didn't seem to care. They walked in silence for a few minutes, across the grass and towards the hotel, which was just down the road.

"What are your plans tonight?" Nicole asked as they reached the lobby.

"Oh my god!" Waverly squealed a shiver her arm lightly, "you talked to me unprompted! Like a friend!"

"Shut up or I'll stop," she shoved her back, "Do you wanna watch some movies?"

Waverly pressed the up button for the lift and smiled. "What if I have something else in mind?"