Maybe Too Protective

Chapter 3:

 I heard guy's voice, so it wasn't Miley. Instead of Miley, I got the football boys, They all grouped around me as they had yesterday.

"I thought my brothers said hands off!" I turned from them.

"Where are your big bros now? Huh? Are they going to protect you?" One of the guys laughed. He slid his hand over my shoulder, which I fought off to my best ability, but I failed. I stood there frozen in fear. What could they do? I asked myself.

"I thought we said hands off!" I heard one of my brothers. THe arm around my shoulder was removed. The boys around back off and my brothers stepped in. Max was also in the mix. THe boys turned, walking away. Was this all worth my dream, cheer? Yes. Of course.

"You okay?" Tyler asked. I nodded slightly. Just then the bell rang. Great, class time. I walked away from the group of boys and grabbed items from my locker.

------(After Cheer)-----

Cheer today was brutal. The workouts were easy and learning the cheers were too. It was just every time I made a mistake, Miley would hound on me. I just nodded and took it, trying to get it better. When it got to stunts, they wanted my to be a flyer. I did everything perfect within the first few tries, which left Miley speechless. Apparently it took her 10 tries to get that one right. I overheard that from some girls before I began walking down.

Walking home was much more peaceful today. No one following me. The football boys had a scrimmage game earlier today so they would be home since that was all they did. . My brothers too. I smiled as I walked along. Today was an almost fin eday. Once I reach home all my brothers were waiting for me again. Their bodies untensed when they saw no one with me.

"How was to day?" Devan asked as we all walked inside.

"Great. Cheer was awesome." I replied. I sat down on the couch, all my brothers taking a seat on the couch or in surrounding chairs. I tossed the remote to Mike. It was his turn to decide what movie we would watch tonight. I clicked on John Wick Chapter 2.(Disclaimer: Not sponsored and don't own.)We watched that all the way through. We all laughed at how almost no one on the train looked at the dead bodies John just kill and all the amazing kills. We walked to the kitchen for a late dinner. Then, I went upstairs, showered, and easily drifted to sleep. Only waking up 3 times.

-----(Morning)-----

I awoke to a sore body, but that I was expecting from cheer. I leaned up, but dropped back on my bed in pain. I pulled up my shirt. The bruise on my stomach had grown tender to the touch or move. I tried to move out of my bed, but the pain was almost unbearable. Still, I managed to get up and go to my bathroom. I locked the door behind me. I fumbled through my medicine cabinet, finding two things. Leftover painkillers from my knee surgery a while back and advil. I popped some advil, putting the two bottles away. I had awoken before my alarm clock, so I sat on the floor of my bathroom, waiting for the pain to subside. Once it did, I grabbed the advil again and threw the bottle into my backpack. I hurriedly got dressed and acted like everything was normal on the way to school.

Once at the school the periods seemed to go by so slow. It seemed like I already knew the information being taught.

-----(Locker Room After PE)-----

I popped some more advil, the pain growing quickly. I sat on the bench between the row of lockers. I prayed they wouldn't come around the corner. Alas, my praying did nothing and they came around the corner again. The looked at me in disgust. I was about to get up and stand up to her. I was sick of it. Her friends saw what I was doing and quickly came over, holding me down. Before I knew it, Miley brought her fist to my nose, making me fall backwards, right off the bench. I had the side of my face on the floor, but it didn't really. I could feel the hot liquid pour out of my nose. What hurt was what came next. Miley brought contact with her foot to my stomach. That, racked me with pain. My whole body shook, but that was all it would move, otherwise I was frozen in pain and fear.

"That was for getting the footballs boys attention!" She kicked my stomach again.

"That was for being a bitch of a cheerleader!" Then, she brought her foot to my face.

"That is for just being you! And look you got blood on my shoes!" She kicked me square in one of my thighs and turned away in a huff. The girls looked at me and and what I saw wasn't disgust anymore, It was a little bit of sympathy. That was quickly wiped away when they turned to follow Miley. I sat on the floor, bleeding. I knew Max would be worried, so I did my best to get up. It hurt so much I wanted to pass out, but I didn't and crawled to my feet. I slid on my hoodie and walked to the mirror. My eye without the bruise was rapidly developing a red cut, the cheek under it was cut and bleeding. My nose was bleeding. Wiping the blood away made it look better from a distance, but if you were close you knew what was on my face.

A tear escaped my left eye, falling onto the cut which stung. I wiped it's trail away and walked to the door. With a deep breath, I opened it. The three girls were walking towards lunch. To my right, Max was looking at me, shocked.

"Lucy, that wasn't from a fall was it?" He asked, concern and sympathy written all over his face. I shook my head. He motioned for me to come over. He pulled me into a hug which he knew exactly what I was going to do. I cried into his chest. "Lucy who did this?"

"Miley and her two followers." I said reluctantly.

"Let's go tell your brothers." He slid his arm over my shoulder and we began walking, but I stopped.

"No way, you can't tell them." I begged.

"What?" HE looked at me confused.

"If I had to get beat up for the rest of the season so do it. Those girls run cheer. I can't make them mad." I told him.

"Lucy, is this enough pain for cheer? Getting beat up, disrespected by guys, made fun of?" He turned to face me.

"Yes. Cheer has been my dream for years! I can't just give up on it. I've worked so hard to come this far." I told him.

"If you are sure about this?" He looked at me. I nodded. "Can I just ask something?" He looked at me. I nodded. "Is it true one of the football players smack your butt?"

"Yeah. I couldn't do anything they were all like 6 feet tall!" I told him.

"No, I understand. When your brothers catch drift of that, they will not be happy." He sighed.

"I know." I sighed. "Where do you think my brothers would never find me?" I asked Max.

"Nowhere, they would find you everywhere." He looked to me and back at the hall.

"I really don't want to see them right now." I told him.

"If you don't want to, I'll walk with you." He responded. I nodded and we just walked all lunch long.

-----(After cheer)-----

"Hey Lucy, you alright?" One of my newest friends asked me. We had met through cheer. She was a freshman too who had tried out, but only got accepted yesterday because a cheerleader broke a leg. Her name was Cassie.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just a little beat up." I laughed a little at my joke.

"Listen, where are you getting those bruises? The whole team is worried." Cassie told me. I didn't trust her enough yet to tell her the truth.

"Practicing cheer at home is dangerous. Please use caution, much more than I did." I told her like I was a warning in a medicine commercial.

"You can't lie to me, my mom is a doctor. I know what a cheer accident looks like." She rolled her eyes at my lie.

"Fine okay, but you can't tell anyone. I have to trust you, can I do that?" I asked serious, she nodded. "It's can't be here. We have to get a ways away." She nodded and we began walking the way of my house. Once we were far enough away, I spilt it, everything. She looked at me in shock.