The Bad Boy's Accomplice | ✓

Ch. 11 - Go Spartans!

Deja's POV

Thirty minutes into the program, I catch Tiara walking inside of the auditorium. Her dumb self tiptoed in. Tiara has an obsession with being a bad girl, even though she's not even close to being a bad girl. She just likes the feeling I guess.

After waving at me and practically everyone else in the auditorium, she walks over to Ms. Kits and hands her a note.

"Deja, I give you permission to leave to the gym."

On that, Tiara and I leave to the gym. It's not even the end of the school day yet, so I don't know why I need to be in there. I guess since I'm new I need extra practice.

I walk through the gym doors and I'm welcomed with the smell of freshly polished floors, sweat, and gym socks. Of course, it's not a nice smell, but you get used to the sweat and stinky feet when you were a gymnast for 11 years.

I quit because I was sick of the sport and I knew that I wasn't good enough to make it to college level. My dad understood, but my mom went ballistic when I told her that I wanted to quit.

"Deja, sit on the bleachers for now. We haven't started warm-ups yet," Coach E tells me.

Tiara sits down on the bleachers with me and I can't help but notice that she's not limping. She doesn't look anything like she did yesterday when she interrupted study hall.

"Tiara, why aren't you limping?"

"I have a brace on."

"Then, you can do your stunts, right?"

"Actually, I can't. Coach E doesn't want me to put any outstanding weight on it."

"Sure, did Coach E tell you that or did you tell yourself that?"

"After Coach E told me, I told myself. Now, we need to go over the requirements of being a cheerleader."

"What do you mean requirements? This isn't a secret society, so why is there requirements?" I ask.

"By saying requirements, I was meaning things that could make you a better cheerleader."

"Then why couldn't you just say that?" I ask.

"You know that my word choice isn't the best of the best," she says. "Now, in order to be a good cheerleader, you must always look happy and like you don't hate your life."

"I don't look like that," I say defensively.

"Sure. You don't have resting bitch face, but that's what's on your face right now."

"So, that's all that I have to do? Be a fake-ass bitch the whole time? I can see why Cynthia made the team."

"You should stop cursing so much. It doesn't help you build school spirit."

"Tiara, since when did you care about school spirit? Do they brainwash cheerleaders too?"

"Deja, stop it. You just need to be nice for the football game that's tomorrow night."

"T, you never told me that there was a game that I had to be present for tomorrow. I have plans for tomorrow."

"Well, you never have anything going on, so I didn't think it was necessary to tell you. You can just reschedule your plans."

"I have a date to go to tomorrow and I can't reschedule it because I'm already in hot water with the guy."

Tiara scoots closer to me in a matter of seconds. "Who is it?" She asks with lit up eyes.

"You don't need to know. All you need to know is, he's going to be irritated with me. He's probably gonna do something outlandish because he's gonna be pissed at me."

"I don't know what outlandish means, but if he cheats on you, I will whoop his ass."

"Wait, so you're the only one that's allowed to curse?"

Tiara doesn't say anything in response and we both cross our legs while still sitting on the bleachers. Two minutes pass before it's warm-up time.

I jog three laps around the gym. Afterwards, I do some lunges, splits, etc. They weren't that hard to do, but my two-month hiatus from physical activity definitely had an impact on me and my performance.

Everyone gets put into groups based on what they do like Tiara told me. I see Cynthia grouped with the bases (the people that hold people) not the flyers (the people that twist and do tricks in the air). Suddenly, all these bad possibilities come to mind. All I can imagine is me doing tucks and back handsprings and Cynthia sticking out her leg or something to mess up the flow of everything.

Practice officially starts around 2 p.m. and Coach E tells everyone to get in two rows. I go to the front row and we go over the routine. It's the basic "Go Spartans" cheer that everyone knows and loves. I hate it, but I'm just gonna have to act like I semi-like it.

"Yes, yes, you and you, you can't mess with Southview! We can say it once, we can say it twice, the Southview Spartans will never play nice! Woo!" Everyone chants robotically.

"Feel the routine! Stop acting like you guys don't have any spirit. I need this to be the cleanest of the cleanest. It's the first football game of the season and all eyes will be on you guys during halftime. Deja, you're doing a good job with the chant and the moves," Coach E says both angrily and encouragingly.

Cynthia gives me the side eye due to Coach E's evaluation of my performance. Everyone sighs before restarting the whole thing. Tiara is probably loving every second of this torture that I'm enduring.

After we repeated it, Coach E gives us another evaluation. "That was great, but Cynthia, if you don't get your claps on track, you will be moved to the back. You're going slower than everyone else."

Since Cynthia is standing right beside me, I see her try to brush back a flyaway back into her ponytail. Afterwards, she sighs and says, "Coach E does the most, right?"

I want to place my hand on my chest because I'm taken aback by Cynthia. She either never wants to talk to me, or when she talks to me, she always has something mean to say.

I don't say anything and act like I didn't hear what she said. Coach E then instructs me on the timing of my tumbles. Once everyone has said the chant, everyone goes into their groups from the line again. The bases get into formation and the flyers get booted up by the bases. That's when I start my two back handsprings that go into a tuck.

Thirty minutes later, practice is over and I go to the bleachers to get Tiara.

"See, it wasn't that bad," Tiara says, getting up from her seated position.

"Yeah, it wasn't that bad. Isn't your mom supposed to be picking us up?"

"Yeah, she texted me already. She said that she'll be here in 10 minutes. Do you have to use the bathroom?"

"That was a random-ass question, but no, I don't have to use the bathroom."

"Oh, well I have to use the bathroom so, can you come with me?"

"Sure, I'll just stand outside the door," I say.

On that, Tiara runs out the gymnasium, leaving me behind in the gym. I walk into the hallways and I have that eerie feeling that I get when there's no one in the hallway. Cynthia walks beside me and says, "So, you want to fight me?"

"What?" I ask before I feel something strike my face. It becomes apparent that someone has just punched me. I think it was Cynthia, but there are three people surrounding her. I don't know what just happened.

The next thing I know, I;m punching Cynthia in the face, hitting hard enough to knock her to the floor. The three girls that were with Cynthia start running away from the scene, leaving Cynthia on the floor.

In a panic, I run to the nearest bathroom, searching for Tiara. After finding her, she analyzes my face.

"Deja, what happened to your face?" Tiara asks.

I walk in front of the mirror and I'm in shock. I have a bruise forming on one of my cheekbones. It's not that bad, but it's vibrant enough to have my mom hurt me. Well, based on recent events, it's vibrant enough for my mom to kill me.

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