The Story Behind A Pretty Face

Chapter 8

2 months later

"Come on Mika!"

I rolled my eyes at Nelly's extra self. She was doing too much. I opened my locker to grab my math book.

"So you're just going to go through high school and not do any type of sport? That's lame!", she said as she crossed her arms.

I stuck my tongue out at her, "You're lame!"

She began to pout.

Ugh. Why was this such a big deal to Nelly? She was right. I had no intention of doing any sports in Chicago so what in the hell made her think I was going to do any here?

"I'm just not interested. Okay? How about I promise to come to almost every basketball game to see you dance? "

" No! I want you out there on the floor with me.",she began pouting, again.

I just shook my head. Why should it matter if I'm on the dance team with her or not? She's been doing it without me all this time. Hell she didn't even know me until like 3 months ago.

"You should do it, man. It will be fun. Besides, your brother is playing basketball."

I nearly tripped over my own feet,"The hell?"

Nelly smiled, "Yes, your sister-in-law convinced him."

I grimaced, "First, that's not my sister-in-law. Second, he hasn't played official ball in years. And third, why would she do that? She dances?"

Nelly made her way into the classroom and dramatically plopped in her seat. "No, I told you. Alayna cheers. We have cheerleaders for football and dancers for basketball. Never the two shall meet. And don't asked me why we do it like that; that's just how it is."

I sat down in my seat. Before I could open my mouth to speak again, Mrs. Gisely came in, "Alright, we're not going to cover anything new today. Turn to pages 128 and 129 and complete any 45 out of the 82 problems you like. It's due tomorrow morning. I'm giving you class time and homework time to do it, so no excuses. You may work in pairs, but each person must turn in their own papers. Any more questions? Alright, begin."

I swear I wanted to cry in relief. She was going easy on us today. This also gave me a chance to continue my conversation with Nelly. Nelly immediately caught on and slid her desk closer to mine.

"I'll do the problems with imaginary numbers. You can do the other ones you like. We'll switch and copy later." she said while flipping though her book.

I stared at her for a moment. She liked to tease Tone, but she was low key a nerd too.

She looked up, "What?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. I just don't get why you want me to do it so bad."

"Because, this is the year I have a really good chance to be captain, and the only thing that can make it better is if my best friend is dancing beside me. "

I smiled," Aaaaw look at you being sentimental."

She rolled her eyes and then raised an eyebrow, "Besides, Mike is trying out for ball too."

My breath caught and my eyes immediately glanced at him across the room. The past 2 months haven't brought much progress with them when it came to Mike. We would speak, but I was too shy to make a move.

He looked up and caught me staring. He flashed a bright, wide smile and I swear my heart melted. I dropped my head and flipped a page in my math book.

Nelly bust out laughing. "Yall need to damn stop. I don't know why you won't talk to that boy."

I punched her in her arm," Girl, Hush! I don't like him like that. "