Passive Smoking

Chapter 1

Shay POV

Climbing onto the bus, I hear the noisy kids yelling about gossip and for "Kennedy to turn down her ratchet music." I sit down in my designated seat as the bus driver floors it, barely waiting for me to sit down. Today, we are supposed to be having a pep rally in the gym for our football team. That'll be fun to watch considering we get out of our boring classes and actually do something. As soon as arrive at the school, cheerleaders are ushering us into the gym with their Pom-Poms and megaphones. The band can be heard three hallways down and as you enter the gymnasium, good vibes and shining lights fill the air. We all quickly fill the bleachers, some anxious to see what this rally brings. To be honest, I'd rather be in Spanish.

As soon as everyone is seated, the cheerleaders close the doors and the lights go out. Then all of a sudden a single stage light turns on from the ceiling, which points directly to a cheerleader standing there.

"Hello everyone, I'm Savannah, and I think it's about time you meet our football team." The crowd screams and my eardrums almost burst in response.

"Then without further delay, meet your 2016-2017 VHS football team."

The band begins to play Confident by Demi Lovato. A few more stage lights turn on above head, and turn to one of the gym entrances. One by one, their names were called and they run to the other side of the gym. Everyone got cheers, as common courtesy, but no one got as much praise as #37

"Number 37, Ryder Westbrook, Position: Quarterback." said the Savannah.

And the crowd went freaking nuts. Not that I can blame them. Ryder walked in with the same confidence as he always walked. He waved to his "adoring fans" and then jogged over to the rest of the players, some people hitting and hugging him. The rest of the list was nullified and seemed insignificant in volume compared to Ryder's. Afterwards, the cheerleaders did some dancing or whatever and then began to explain the first game. At our school, we always played silly little games/challenges for our pep rallies. They were usually something weird like "eat a pie without using their hands" or "play hungry hungry hippo but with people instead." The first game was a generic three-legged race.

"The teams are as followed: Heather Alvarez and Fiona Quinn, Robert Jackson and Brian Matthews, Ryder Westbrook and Shay Walker." I got quite a few cheers from the crowd. I'm not the most popular kid in school, but I'm definitely not an outcast. With a little difficulty, I was able to get down the stairs with relative ease. In the audience, I heard my best friend Alice shout my name. I waved at her and marched forward to where Ryder was. We've talked a few times in math class, but other than that we don't talk to each other much.

"You ready, Shay? I mean your last name is Walker."
He joked.

"The point of a race is to go fast, not a leisurely pace" I pop the p and draw out the s sound at the end. He shrugs it off as two cheerleaders come over, one ties our ankles while the other explains the rules.

"All you have to go to the cone and back three times. Whoever comes in last doesn't compete in the second game." Savannah says as the other cheerleader finishes tying us together. They both walk off together.

"We got to work as a team on this..." I start to say, but I'm immediately cut off by Savannah.

"On your mark, get set, go!"

Ryder takes off a little too quickly for me and I end up stumbling.

"Keep up, Shay-Z" I laugh hard at his pun, causing me to lose focus slightly. I quickly remember what we are doing and match my speed with his. Looking to my right, I see him with his tongue out, as if he's concentrating really hard. I snicker a little and look to the left to see a team catching up with us.

"We gotta speed up." I say, but he shakes his head.

"Not now, we can't beat them in a coordination game because they are best friends. If we go faster, so will they and they'll outrun us. Just wait a little."

"Fiona and Heather take the lead, while Robert and Dante lag even further behind." Savannah announces. As we finish the second lap, Fiona and Heather are already halfway to the cone.

"Now?" I say slightly panicked. He shakes his head again.

"We need a straight shot, let's pick up the pace, but gradually." We slowly get faster, but they pick up on our scheme and sprint it. Ryder looks annoyed, but not too upset with 2nd place.

"We'll beat them next game." He says.

A/N

Such nice chemistry, right from the start. Ryder isn't just dumb jock. Or maybe he is cause his plan failed. Whatever. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯