SHE'S NOT AFRAID! - G. PORTER

five!

E.J. Caswell knew many things about Gina Porter.

For example, he knew she was pretty, and he also knew that she knew that she was pretty. He knew that she was kind, although it wasn't an obvious trait of hers. He also knew that she liked her life. She liked being popular, she like being a cheerleader, and he knew that she wasn't afraid of anything, not one single thing, at least that he knew of.

What he didn't know about Gina Porter as that she was willing to go behind his back, and sign up for football tryouts despite the fact that she knew he wouldn't want her to.

But as E.J. stood there, looking intently at Gina who still hadn't responded to his outburst, and was giving him the same hard stare back, he knew one more thing about Gina. He didn't control her.

Nor did he want to, he didn't want to be overbearing, or put his foot down when it wasn't this place, after all, he wasn't Gina's boyfriend, just the closest thing to it. And even if he was Gina's boyfriend, it still wasn't his place.

And although he couldn't tell her not to do it, it didn't mean he had to to be happy about it.

He broke his stare with the Gina, looking over at Coach Carlson who had yet to say anything. "Whatever, just let her do tryout... see if I care." E.J. said, his voice rising with aggravation as he turned around to walk back into the crowd of confused football players.

Gina's eyebrows slowly formed a furrow as she slowly leaned forward onto her foot, falling into a step just as it seemed she would've fallen over. "Hey, what's your problem?" She called after the boy. He stopped in his tracks, turning around to face the girl who now had her arms folded over her chest.

"Nothing, there's no problem. I just thought that our-" E.J. let out a breath of annoyance at the thought of calling what he and Gina shared a friendship, but he didn't know what else to call it, at least not in the moment, so he continued, "friendship meant more than you going behind my back to tryout for my football team."

"Your football team?" She raised an eyebrow.

E.J. let out a laugh, "Yeah, I am the captain arent I?" E.J. asked cockily, knowing the answer.

Gina could only roll her eyes at his arrogance. "Jaden's your co captain." she pointed out.

"Yeah, and?"

"Shouldn't he also get to decide if I deserve a chance to tryout?" Gina challenged, and E.J. wanted to laugh.

"Yeah, sure," E.J. looked for the boy he called his best friend and closest confidant, spotting him on the outskirts of the group, "Yo Tucker, hobble over her for a sec!" E.J. called out to his best friend, waving him over.

Tucker hung his head as he approached his best friend and his protégé, totally sure of where his loyalty lied, but not feeling confident about it.

"Tell me, do you think that Gina has what it takes to even deserve a chance to tryout out for our team? To essentially replace you?" E.J. asked, trying to milk the fact that this would make or break the rest of the season, hoping the tag on the end about her replacing him would seal the deal.

Tucker met the hopeful and almost watery eyes of Gina, he let out a sigh, he knew what he needed to do. He couldn't let Gina down, not after they had spent all that time training.