They Could Never Know (Editing)

Part 16

I have my new routine down to a T. Breakfast with my family, school, practice, friends. It's been two weeks, and the case so far has been moving slowly. I still have glancing eyes, but they have started to dwindle down, eventually this town would be captured by the next big gossip and my name would be lost in the wind. "I can't wear this shirt Tess." Chloe says as she holds out the homemade shirt with Phillips on the back. According to Chloe she would not be wearing that shirt because Miles was her boyfriend. I did understand this but all the seniors on the basketball team had someone to wear their shirt. Football season was finally over and now basketball would start up, a sport Grant never had any part in. She holds it out to me, "you wear it." A smirk tugs on her cheeks. Apparently, Katy and Chloe weren't blind when it came to Liam and I. After the hot tub I couldn't help but let my eyes drag up and down him every time I saw him. I know Liam wouldn't kiss me until we were both ready for that, he made it clear he wasn't rushing me. "If I wear this shirt, I will be putting a target on my back for all the girls to throw their arrows at." I whine. I was putting up a fight to wear this shirt but secretly I wanted to see Liams face when he saw me in it, Chloe and I both knew I would be leaving this locker room with Phillips plastered on my back. I slip the shirt on and spin to look in the mirror. "You are going to drive that boy crazy." Chloe teases. One of my favorite things to do was drive Liam crazy just as it was his to drive me crazy. "Hey, did you get the GPS coordinates I sent you for the party tonight?" Chloe asks as Katy emerges from her bathroom stall. Since Chloe has started dating Miles, we have new party spots with people from his school. "Yea, will either of you need a ride?" I ask knowing the answer, they would be hitching a ride with their boyfriends. "Liam told me he was taking you." Chloe says as she daps her lips with my red lipstick. "Oh, that's nice of him." Katy wiggles her eyebrows at me. It was nice of him, that away I wouldn't show up tonight by myself which was something Liam would never let me do. Coach hollers into the locker room that it was time for us to enter the gym to start riling up the bleachers full of our students. The cheers for basketball are a little different from football season so I took me a little extra practice to catch up to the girls who had been doing this since middle school. The team breaks through the doors, Liam and Nick in the front of the team piling in.  They each run into a line behind us, what the crowd didn't know was that the boys would be dancing for this pep rally. Each player picked a cheer leader and by the familiar tug on my curls I knew exactly who was behind me.  Liam stretches a finger out and traces his last name on my back causing shivers down my spine, "Wear this more often would ya sweet cheeks." The corners of my lips turn up, "anytime Casanova." He hated the nickname, almost, as much as I hated his nickname for me. The pep rally wraps up and student file out, but we stay, the game starts earlier than the football games would. The boys take the hour to meet in the locker room, likely hyping each other up with telling their teammates how pretty they are. Katy, Chloe, and I don't stray far from the gym, finding a seat on the bleachers. 

.... 

The halftime buzzer rings through the air, the boys' jog into the locker room. I head to the concessions to grab a drink, "Two blue Gatorades please." I hand over my money and slide the drinks from the counter. I jog back to the gym before the game starts and search for blonde hair, I spot Liam on his bench talking to Nick. I stretch out the blue drink to Liam who is in a deep conversation with Nick, "Thanks bab...sweet cheeks." A look of horror spreads across his face as he snaps his face to mine, fumbling over his words, something Liam never does. He was always a smooth talker, confident. "Don't get all tongue tied on my account, baby." I reply, smirking at Liams dropped jaw and walk back to the girls peeking back at Liam and Nick, I liked taking words right out of his mouth. No come back meant that I won this round. "Liam looks like he's about the fall from the bleachers." Katy says as I reach them. "Good." I counter back, still gloating in my success. "He also started at your butt the entire walk over here, but who can blame him." Chloe shrugs her shoulders and laughs at me swatting her.