HEAD IS A MESS HEART IS A WRECK

Shake Your Pom-Poms

Chapter 3

It was a bright crisp Monday morning. And my besties, Lottie and Lily and I were hanging out in the common room before lessons started. We were laughing and catching up on all the latest school gossip, who should be shipping who and who had just been dumped.

'R- i-n- g ' end of break.

All three of us strolled slowly down the noisy, crowded corridor into our tutor class. Our tutor, Ms 'Witch' features Zelda, glared at us fiercely with her sunken eyes, large crooked nose and thin bloodless lips. She also has this gross mole on her face which I swear gets hairier each day.

"Sit down class" Ms Zelda screeched in her cackling voice. "Today we have a new pupil joining us. This is Jake. He has just moved from the City of London to the Cotswolds, so please make him feel welcome".

'Ello' he uttered in his concrete jungle twang. Jake oozed hotness with his olive coloured skin, puppy dog brown eyes and raven coloured hair, which he wore in an ultra cool 'faded at the sides, thick on top' bad boy hairstyle. And the way he cruised back to his chair swinging his city boy swag was sooo sic!

As soon as I saw him I felt giddy and fluttery inside.

I spent the next few days, in this kinda loved up trance. I couldn't shake Jake outta my head. It literally felt like my heart wanted to jump out of my chest!

Lottie and Lily were highly amused when I told them. It was rare for me to be so into a guy so quickly. Normally I'd be more like, 'Whatever'.

Next month it was the Year 11 leaver's Summer Ball. Lottie, Lily and I were ecstatic and constantly chattering about what to wear, how to style our hair and who we hope will ask us to be their date.

"I really hope Memphis will ask me for the last dance" confided Lottie, "He is so fit".

"Who do you think will invite you to the ball?" Lottie asked me, "I hope Lincoln will finally man up and grow a pair, cause if he snoozes he loses and I think that new guy Jake is crushing on you too".

"Oh, I-I don't know" I stuttered.

Thankfully motor-mouth Lily barged in. Words flew out of her mouth at 100 mph without pausing to take a breath.

"I can't wait for Dennis to ask me, he better invite me soon, otherwise, he will miss his chance and I know he will go crazy for me when he sees me wearing my new sparkly pink dress with the plunging neckline".

"If you've got it flaunt it" I giggled.

"Oh yeah, girl, I got it, I got it good" boasted Lily, whilst doing her, I got it, 'stir the pot' dance.

We had just come out of 'Cheerleading' club and were still holding our pom- poms and feeling pretty hyped.

Down the hallway, I could see my evil nemesis, Narcissa Wallaby, and her fake cronies heading towards us. We call them the 'plastic fake-tastics' because 'everything' about them is fake. Fake hair, fake nails, fake eyelashes, fake tans, fake boobs and fake lips. And then they complain when they can't find a 'real' man that will respect them for their brains?! It really is hilarious. They are pretentious, clueless and so shallow.

The 'plastic fake-tastics' pushed passed, and then started hating on us.

"Don't mean to be cruel girls, but you better step up your moves, cause you're gonna look like fools and shame the school" bitched Narcissa.

We looked at each other in disbelief. And then with a glint and a knowing smile all three of us began shaking our pom-poms and singing to Taylor Swift's, 'Shake It Off'.

"And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate

Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake..

I shake it off, I shake it off, Oh, Oh

Shake it off, shake it off"

"Yeah, shake it, shake it, baby" I teased.

I carried on shaking my pom-poms like crazy, but somehow, I managed to swirl, whirl and twirl straight into Jake's arms!

"Oops, oh my, I'm so sorry' I apologised.

I could feel my heart beating hard like a drum and my cheeks glowed like a burning flame.

"No worries gal" Jake smirked, "And keep on shaking your pom-poms. I enjoyed it".

Jake flashed me a smile that promised trouble and breathlessness. He gazed at me for a moment, and then gave me a cheeky wink. For the first time, our eyes locked and I felt like my whole world had stopped.

Then suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw them again!

They were right there in front of me, 'heart fairy' girl and 'nerdy brain' girl. Just floating and fluttering happily around Jake's head.

"Aghhh" I shrieked and started freaking out.  I threw my pom-poms in the air and then fell backwards onto the floor in shock. The winged duo both looked as scared as me and disappeared quickly in a puff of white smoke.

I could hear Narcissa and her 'Plastic Fake-tastics' sniggering at me like a pack of screeching hyenas on valium.

"Hey, you ok?" asked Lily with a worried look on her face.

"It looked like you'd seen a ghost," Lottie said fearfully.

"I'm fine" I mumbled. My knees felt weak and my legs were shaking. All I really wanted was for the ground to just open up and swallow me whole. I watched Jake walk away like I was some kind of crazy on the loose.

Lincoln rushed over, "What happened? Are you sure you're ok?" he asked urgently. He held out his hand to mine and I felt this burst of energy rush through me as our hands touched.

"Thank you" I blushed.

"I'll walk you home if that's ok? Make sure you don't get freaked out by any ghosts again" Lincoln said gallantly and smiled.

I blushed again "Yeah, that would be good".

Suddenly Lincoln lifted me up over his shoulders and gave me a piggy-back ride. I screamed in delight and started shaking my pom-poms in the air wildly. Lottie and Lily laughed so hard that tears rolled down their cheeks. Jake carried me on his shoulders until we were almost home, I was very impressed with his strength and stamina.

'Oh, why did my BFF have to be so damn cute and look so hot?' I thought to myself.

As we approached my front door he stopped and hugged me goodbye. But this time, he really hugged me. It wasn't just one of those flaky, wimpy 'whatever' hugs, it was a long, tight, hold me close 'I care about you and don't wanna let you go', squeezy kinda hugs.

It was totally unexpected and completely took my breath away.

He pulled me in even closer, and whispered, "You know our friendship means everything to me".

"Me too" I replied breathlessly.

Lincoln gazed deep into my eyes, I thought he was going to try and kiss me, so in a panic, I turned away quickly. I was worried that I may start to feel something I knew I shouldn't.

My hands and knees started to tremble, so I quickly sprinted inside, ran up the stairs and just led on my bed in disbelief.

I led there stressing and freaking out about Lincoln's warm, unexpected hug and how much of a fool I made of myself in front of Jake. Suddenly, I felt overwhelmed with an explosion of emotions.

I felt a single tear stream slowly down my cheek and my heart felt like it could shatter into a thousand pieces.

"Maybe I am crazy?" I questioned myself out loud.