If Not For Her

Chapter 30. "We won"

Emmalyn watched her walk away, she looked past her at Nicolas. It was him, it was always going to be him. Why did she expect anything out of it? "You ready?" Sofia asked her, hair in a recent braid. "Yep," she said as they heard the bell it was starting. "This is our call. Come on"

They went to the court through the back door and mixed up with the other cheerleaders. She had to lead and went to stand in the front, she looked out a bit and saw Annabeth sitting with Christina in the exact middle. She met Nicolas's gaze across the hall. He looked nervous, she gave him a smile which he reciprocated. Seeing this Sofia patted her shoulder, "are you" "he likes someone else and that person likes him back, a lot it seems" her words came bitter. She was bitter.

They heard the announcement as they all walked out greeted by a loud cheer. They flawlessly carried out the routine, Emmalyn ended at the top of the pyramid and searched the room, where was Adam? Instead, she met Annabeth's eyes, she jumped back down as the music slowed gradually. Their mystery mascot cleared the stage, no one knew who it was and after a few months they gave up. The mascot's performance earned them another round of applause.

The players got on the floor as the room stilled, every student at the edge of their seats, the first game of the season had a lot of importance. Alex looked confident, and as predicted he scored most of the goals, and surprisingly Nicolas was tight behind him. Emmalyn glanced at Annabeth to watch her cheering with the students as Nicolas scored another goal. During the first half, they had the lead.

The second half started and they started losing, the opposite team started scoring more than them. Everyone held their breaths as the ball came into the possession of Nicolas, he passed the ball to Alex, giving him the glory to win. But why? Emmalyn did not understand, the students cheered as the ball stayed in their possessions, they kept scoring and soon there was still hope, that they would win.

At exactly around ten seconds of the game, they were at a draw, Alex had the ball, he glanced at Chris winked, and scored, winning the game. The room erupted in cheers. They finally won. The players hugged and high-fived each other. Alex as the captain was congratulated. Before leaving, he took the mic as all the players went back. Emmalyn watched him with a smile as the guitar made sense, a song was his grand gesture.

She along with the others watched him in anticipation. He was still catching his breath when he looked straight at Christina, she started to get up but Annabeth pulled her back. He smiled gratefully at his sister. "For this victory, I would like to sing a song" the crowd cheered, it was something Alexander rarely did, but those who knew him knew the song was not for the game but the girl.

He strummed his guitar as melodies flowed out, he kept his eyes on her at the center, she knew he was singing to her. His voice accompanied his tunes, mesmerizing everyone. He played "betty" by Taylor Swift. The crowd cheered when the song ended. He didn't pay attention to anyone else but just her, she stood up and kissed him. He took her into her arms. The teachers started separating them or speaking of discipline, but they didn't seem to care.

Alex spun her around as she laughed. He mouthed a thank you to Emmalyn before leaving, she nodded in acknowledgment. She walked back with the rest of the cheerleaders, everyone seemed happy, her happiness seemed to evaporate as she saw Annabeth and Nicolas stand extremely close, it appeared as if they were kissing. She turned around, as Alex tackled her in a hug, "you are an angel" he said. She didn't feel like laughing, she felt as if someone had kicked her right in the stomach. "Party at my house, tonight," he told everyone. He went the other way, Emmalyn decided if she should go or not but at last, she decided to go instead. She deserved a bit of fun, why should she suffer?