Unintended Consequences

Chapter 7

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    The man at the podium introduced himself as the head coach of USC's football team. He had a serious face that was worn down with wrinkles and a deep tan. He didn't smile much as he welcomed everyone to the Home Opener Pep Rally but his commanding voice still seemed to suck us in. His short speech ended with a promise that the Trojans were going to kick ass this year which garnered a resounding roar from the crowd in the stadium. After he stepped away a tall, lean, cheerleader with a tight blonde ponytail stepped up to speak.

    "Hey, Y'all! My name is Holly and I am the head cheerleader for the USC Song Girls!" She shouted as she gave a dazzling smile to the crowd. "We're about to bring in the men of the hour our USC Division 1 boys, the Trojans!" The crowd went bonkers at this as I shrunk into my seat. Dang, these people were worked up. "Then we have our annual Rookie Race, our marching band, and of course us girls may have put together a little something special just for tonight!" My feet shook with the vibrations of the crowd as they hooted and hollered at the prospect of seeing the cheerleaders jumping around together.

     Holly settled the crowd and called each football player out by name. As their name was called a player would walk out of the tunnel with a cheerleader on his arm. They crossed in front of the crowd as everyone cheered their name before lining up in the middle behind the podium. The cheerleaders were all in their full white uniforms with dashes of cardinal and gold, while the boys were dressed casually with their jerseys over top.

    I watched as the slew of attractive men came parading out. Most had smiles on their faces as they waved to the crowd or fist-bumped their teammates in line. I laughed when I saw Emmett walkout, he saluted the crowd before tripping over his own feet and stumbled. The cheerleader attached to his arm shot him a glare when he almost pulled her down but they both recovered and moved into line.

    "And finally! The man we have aaaall been waiting for! Two-time Heisman Trophy nominee... Our star Quarterback... Archer Johnson!" I covered my ears while the crowd roared loudly for Archer. He came striding out of the tunnel, but unlike the other boys, he didn't wave to the crowd. He stared straight ahead as his cheerleader led him to the lineup, and once he was there he lifted his face and acknowledged everyone with a small smirk.

    The girl attached to his arm was beautiful. She had long red hair pulled up into a ponytail while her makeup was dramatic and eye-catching. She was tall enough to stand on her toes slightly and whisper something in Archer's ear. Whatever she said obviously pleased him because he looked down at her with an even bigger smirk before he responded with something that made her cheeks flush red.

    "Alright let's hear it one more time for the Trojans!" Holly yelled from the podium. "Now we are about to start the annual Rookie Race so boys lets have all the Rookies step forward." I watched as Emmett and about 15 other boys stepped forward to listen to Holly. "Okay! We are going to take the next ten minutes to set up your obstacles, in that time you have to go into the crowd and find a girl to partner with you. She has to wear your jersey so we know she is yours and then the two of you will be doing a piggyback race together."

    Holly left the podium to instruct the rest of the football team on where to put each obstacle. Meanwhile, all the Rookies took off like bats out of hell into the crowd to find girls. My heart stopped as I saw Emmett bee-lining it right for me and Madeline. Oh god... please. Please. PLEASE. No. Sure enough, he hopped the barrier and jumped up the few steps to my row before kneeling next to me and giving me a cheesy grin.

    "Whaddya say, Smalls? Wanna kick some ass together?"

    "Not a chance! I am not going up in front of all of those people!" I whisper-shouted.