𝐌𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝 𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 | 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚

Chapter 09.

Betty shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she waited anxiously in the pussycats lounge room. She'd left Veronica early because she was afraid she'd be late, which Veronica had told her was such a Betty thing to do, causing the blonde to roll her eyes in annoyance. Archie had told her how intimidating Josie could be at times and Betty just hoped Josie wasn't effected by the weather the way Veronica was. If so, she was in for a rollercoaster through hell.

A click of the door opening to her left make her heard jump a little in surprise, she was startled easy. Josie came in wearing her everyday cat ears, her jean jacket and checkered shirt, leggings and suave boots. Betty had always admired the girls style, which was granted seem as she was best friends with Cheryl who had also had an amazing sense of style.

Betty smiled shyly, "Hey, thanks for doing this." Betty started nervously, unsure of what else she could say to start up a conversation.

Josie paused, eyeing Betty up, making her feel a little self-conscious but she didn't react. By now, she was used to the looks she'd sometimes receive from people. Josie offered her a smile that seem a little forced.

"I thought I was coaching Veronica?" Josie spoke, Betty thought it was slightly rude, she gulped and lowered her eyes to the floor.

"V didn't want to do it, so Cheryl asked me."

"You can sing? Miss Perfect has a voice, why am I not surprised?" Josie sighed, Betty glared over at the girl, not liking the attitude because she was far from perfect and Betty didn't understand why Josie was being cruel, she was usually a nice person.

"Do you have a problem with me? Because as far as I can remember, we've only exchanged glances." Betty demanded, now folding her arms, Josie raised her eyebrows at the girls sudden burst of confidence.

The dark haired girl shrugged, gesturing to the microphone before them.

"No. Let's just see what you've got. Have you chosen a song to sing?" She asked, not lingering on the bicker seeing no good would come from it. Besides she knew attacking Betty would be like attacking Veronica and surprisingly Josie actually liked the raven-haired girl.

Josie shook off her bag and dropped it onto the couch, glancing expectantly over at Betty, waiting to hear what she had. Betty felt as though she'd been put on the spot, feeling her nerves swarm her but she swallowed it down as she always did and imagined she was just in her bedroom. Alone. She'd made Veronica choose her a song she sung best seem as she was the one that heard her sing most of the time, Betty was happy with Veronica's choice of song seem as it was one of her favourites.

"I'm singing I'm Yours by Jason Mrarz. It's not the definite song I'll be singing for the game. I wasn't prepared but I think I'll sing a more upbeat song next time." Betty told Josie, Josie seemed satisfied with her answer and Betty knew she was waiting to hear her. Betty wrung her hands in front of her as she did most of the time when she was uncomfortable but she sucked in a breath and began.

***

Veronica never realised how much she'd miss Betty if she wasn't at practice, but right now she was getting a taste of it and she didn't want it, she needed Betty back. She didn't mind the other girls, she got along well with them or civil at least but it seemed Cheryl enjoyed Veronica being without Betty. She'd been giving her the most complicated stunts to do whilst the others did something simple around her, she knew it was unfair but she was willing to play a part in Cheryls game. Besides, it meant she had a big part in the routine at the game.

After Veronica ended up crashing to the floor in a heap, she could feel the sweat starting to appear on her forehead and she was silently wishing she'd chosen to sing. Cheryl tapped over a disapproving look on her face as she looked down at Veronica, waiting for the girl to clamber back on her feet. Veronica sighed and hauled herself up. She'd almost had it, she just had to perfect the final flip and spin and jump, Cheryl was acting like doing ten things at once was easy.

"Come on Veronica, I'm giving you an important role but you seem to be struggling." Cheryl arched a brow, knowing she was pissing Veronica off, she loved getting under the brunettes skin.

"I'm doing my best, I can't ace it perfectly in an hour, we have a couple of weeks until the game anyway." Veronica said, she couldn't be bothered to argue with Cheryl today, she was already exhausted and she imagined Betty was too, she knew what Josie could be like, she'd work her for hours until her voice was sore. Veronica sort of felt sorry for her but she felt sorry for herself too, she hated being stuck with Cheryl because even though her and the redhead were friends - she still took advantage of her when she could.

"I could do that within my first week of cheer-leading and you've been on this squad long enough now to do the complicated move." Just as Veronica was about to respond Cheryl backed up and started to do Veronica's routine changing it up a little so it was a little harder than hers, she moved swiftly and perfectly, not stumbling or forgetting a single move. Veronica had always wondered why Cheryl was the head cheerleader when she barely did a thing but now she understood why. Cheryl stopped, not a drop of sweat on her brow. "You'll get it soon enough, Veronica."

She hadn't said it as though she was being spiteful and rubbing it in that she could do the move and Veronica couldn't, to Veronica's surprise it Cheryl sounded like she was genuinely reassuring her that she could do it eventually. Veronica decided she might as well thank her, she knew Cheryl wasn't an exact demon sent from hell that there was a soft side to her...somewhere. "Thanks, Cheryl."

"No problem..." Cheryl gave Veronica a slightly shy smile, then cringed feeling herself being too nice and like the switch of a button she'd flipped back into bitch mode. "Get back to practicing."