Borrowed Time

Chapter 173

There had to be a way to skip every last practice of the rest of cheerleading without getting in trouble, Juliette just hadn't figured it out yet... That was the only reason she was letting Becky drag her to practice, otherwise she would be taking her shortcut.

She deserved her shortcut out of this hellhole.

"I feel I should be legally allowed to skip the last few practices, I know the moves, I'm fine." Juliette sighed, looking over at Becky as she shook her head... Well, she didn't have to agree for her to be right, Juliette was right regardless of what Becky thought.

She'd been cheering for years, even if she didn't know what she was doing, she was pretty sure that she could figure it out, and unless coach changed something last minute that fucked up her entire mental notes of the routine, nothing bad could possibly happen.

"Sure, in theory you're probably right about that." Oh. Yeah, that's... Yeah. But it was followed by a shrug and an apologetic smile. Damn you. "But that wouldn't set a good example as a captain, would it?" She asked, making Juliette roll her eyes... She never asked to be captain, she quite literally didn't want it - she thought it was gonna go to Katherine, that would've made more sense in the long run, but she'd gotten more votes, so it was hers.

She never tried to set a good example at practice, she just tried to get in and get out while doing as little as possible.

"If they wanted someone who cared about what kind of an example they were setting, they should've picked a different captain... Honestly, that's on everyone else." She sighed, which earned her a look from Becky, one that she easily understood - obviously it sounded odd that she'd say that, given the fact that she'd been in the position for so long, but never had she asked to be in it at all.

"We elected you because we thought you'd be the best choice for the team." While that was a good point... They should have considered her innate hatred for cheerleading as a whole - she hated the eyes on her, she hated the scrutiny, the way that it had made Samantha equate that to her being a whore.

Maybe she could've loved it if she hadn't started it while Samantha was her stepmother, but Samantha had completely killed it for her.

"Again... Not seeing how that's on me. You guys were the ones thinking I cared enough to actually be a good example, I have never been that quiet about hating cheerleading." Juliette pointed out, and that was enough to make Becky pause, which was what she wanted - perhaps the introspection would be helpful.

Helpful to remind her that she hated most things - the kindness was new, she'd been hateful for years, of course it wasn't going to go away.

"... True. It was probably because you're popular." She wrinkled her nose at that, shaking her head - she didn't really think of herself as popular.

"I am not popular-." Becky cut her off with a look, shaking her head as she squeezed her hand. Do you not believe me? I am right.

"Please, you and Shelby are very popular... Micheal would be if he didn't choose not to be, but you and Shelby have an immense amount of power in this school... Ingrid too, Ingrid I think got elected because of sheer fear - like people were scared that she was going to eat them alive if they didn't vote for her." That made Juliette chuckle... Ingrid didn't used to be nearly as dangerous as she was now, she used to be all bark and no bite, and at the time of her election, that was exactly what she was.

"Fair, but Ingrid used to basically be harmless, they were scared of nothing." Becky furrowed her brows, shaking her head as though what Juliette had said was the craziest thing that she'd ever heard, and she could hardly blame her - most people didn't know Ingrid like she used to. They believed the facade over ever bothering to get to the root of why she acted the way that she did.