Just You and I

Chapter 6

It was nearly three o'clock, and I was still working on the game plan. Although I had been playing for years, I couldn't seem to figure out what to do and how to do it. I wonder how Coach had made these up throughout the beginning of the year, since our former captain transferred to another school and we were left captain-less for nearly .

I was huddled over my desk, concentrating, when I heard a faint knock on the door.

"Come on in"

Natalie walked in slowly acting kinda suspicious, with her sheepish smile and fiddling hands.

"Hey Nat, I didn't hear you come in. How was school?"

"School was good, school was good..." she slurred a bit at the end of her sentence. "So listen Jake...."

I straightened up in my chair a little to listen to her. For some reason I kept feeling like she was up to something.

"You know how the cheerleading team cheers for all the sports in our school...?"

"Yeah..." I raised a brow questioningly.

She paused a little, as if taking in my reaction. 

"Aaaaaaand you know how mom's not gonna be back home till next week.....?"

"Okay where are you going with this Nat?"

She took a deep breath and let it out quickly.

"Okay. So....I may or may not have invited all the people who play sports to a party at our house tomorrow........" She concluded with a nervous smile, trying to look completely innocent.

"You did WHAT? Nat are you CRAZY?! With that many people coming, there's no DOUBT our house will be turned upside down!"

"But Jaaaaaaake!! It won't be THAT many people! I mean sure it'll be like a few hundred, but I still—"

"A few HUNDRED??"

Natalie then gave me her signature puppy dog eyes and a small pout.

"DON'T give me that face" I said, crossing my arms on my chest. Every time Natalie wanted something, she always made that face. And I always caved.

"This is only cuz the Regional Tournaments for all the sports start next week and everyone just wanted to have a little fun before it started." She ended, and went straight back to the pout and large eyes.

I sighed. "But why exactly does it have to be in our house?"

"Cuz all the other cheerleaders said their parents were home and obviously we have the biggest house from all of the cheers...." She sounded like she was trying to convince me, using her powerful puppy dog magic on me like she always does.

I blew out a long breath and paused to look at her for a few seconds.

"Fine."

She instantly started jumping up and down with glee, the biggest smile ever plastered on her face. I couldn't help but smile at her reaction. I loved seeing Natalie happy.

"BUT! Only under one condition. "

She stopped jumping and cocked her head to the side quizzically.

"After it's done you have to clean up the entire house. But I will NOT help you. You can get your friends to help you if they want to help out. But I will DEFINITELY not be anywhere near the disaster that this house will be tomorrow, until you clean it all up. I will inspect how well you've cleaned the house. Deal?"

She was thinking about it for a few long seconds, her eyes darting around as if thinking about how bad the mess will be and if it was really worth it. Then she looked me straight in the eye and replied "Deal."