Beautiful Demons

35. The New Demons Cheerleader Is...

"Are you pumped about the party tonight?"

Drake put his arm around me and pulled me close. We were standing by my locker before calculus.

"I can't even think about the party yet," I said.

"Why not?"

"I'm too nervous about finding out whether I made the squad or not."

"From what I heard, you've got this," he said, kissing my forehead. He was so tall he towered over me. When I leaned in close, the top of my head barely reached his chin. "Mrs. King is making the announcement right after school?"

"Yep."

"Want me to come with you? For moral support?"

I smiled and looked up at him. "You'd do that?"

"Sure. No football practice on Fridays cause of the game tonight, so it's no problem. Maybe I can even give you a ride home afterward."

"That would be great, but what about Agnes? Ella Mae usually drives in to get us both. If I call to ask her if you can bring me home, she'll probably say no unless you want to take Agnes too."

He shrugged. "Whatever you want is fine with me. I just want to be close to you."

I blushed and leaned against his muscular chest. "Will you still feel that way if I don't make the squad?"

He laughed and squeezed me tighter, but he didn't say yes. A nervous knot formed in my stomach that didn't go away for the rest of the afternoon.

After the final bell, Drake and Brooke walked me to the gym. The current squad assembled on the floor with Mrs. King in front as the bleachers filled with students waiting to hear the announcement.

"Wow, there's a lot of people here," I said to Drake.

He squeezed my hand. "Everyone wants to see who the new cheerleader is. It's a really big deal here. I mean, Tori's death affected everyone. In a way, it's like filling her spot is a way of moving on."

I looked up at him, surprised he'd had such a deep insight. Maybe there was more to Drake Ashworth than I realized.

Agnes came up the stairs and sat down on my other side. "Hey," she said. "Nervous?"

"Extremely."

"Good luck," she said, crossing her fingers and holding them into the air.

"You too."

"Welcome everyone," Mrs. King began. "The death of Tori Fairchild was a tragedy for this community, and we know that no one can take her place in our hearts."

As she spoke, I couldn't help but wonder if her husband's relationship with Tori had been the reason she died. It was difficult to picture Mrs. King as a killer, but if she knew the truth about her husband and Tori, there was no telling what a powerful woman like her might be capable of.

"We also know that Tori would have wanted us to have the strongest squad possible for the rest of the games and competitions coming up this year. The sophomores that tried out yesterday did an amazing job, and I would like to thank each one of them for coming out this week and giving a hundred percent."

Everyone clapped politely. My right leg bounced up and down. Just tell us already.

"As you know, we do only have the one open slot, so even though competition was fierce, we can only invite one special girl to become a Demons cheerleader. And that girl is..."

I squeezed Drake's hand so hard his knuckles turned white. My breath caught in my chest, waiting to hear the name.

"Harper Madison!"

I jumped up and screamed, my face flushing with joy. Beside me, Agnes stood and gave me a big hug.

"Come on down and join us Harper," Mrs. King said.

The rest of the squad gathered around me, hugging me and telling me congratulations. Brooke pulled me out beside Mrs. King and lifted my hand into the air. The crowd in the gym was on their feet, whistling and cheering for me.

The moment was surreal. Was it really only a month ago that I had moved to Peachville? I never dreamed life could change so much so quickly.

My cheeks hurt from smiling so much as I waved to the crowd.

"Harper, we would like to present you with this brand new Demons uniform," Mrs. King said as Brooke handed me a blue and black sports bag that held my pom poms, shorts, a t-shirt with the Demon mascot, and a crisp new uniform. "Let's welcome Harper Madison to the team one more time!"

The crowd cheered and I scanned their faces. Movement to the right of the bleachers caught my eye and I turned to look. A handsome boy with brown spiked hair stood leaning against the wall, staring at me. The cheer of the crowd turned to background noise as our eyes met. For a moment, we were the only two in the room.

He lifted his chin in a nod of acknowledgment, then turned on his heel and left. I felt lightheaded and weak in the knees. I knew him from somewhere. But where? It seemed important.

Mrs. King's voice brought me out of my trance.

"Harper will be our honored guest tonight at the game and hopefully by next week, she'll be on the field cheering with us, so make sure y'all give her a warm welcome and lots of support over the next couple weeks. Go Demons!"

"GO DEMONS!" The squad yelled, then gathered me up in a group hug.