Prank Week [ON HOLD INDEFINITELY]

Chapter 33: Claire

Wednesday, September 4th, 1:00 pm

Anticipation sunk in. My palms were already drenched in sweat and sweet smelling watermelon cucumber lotion I 'stole' from Amy. The prank wasn't til later tonight. Why was I so worried? I had to put that behind me. Put myself in a different mindset. I had other stuff to focus on. Like my cheer routine, or my biology test, or that cute guy over there who looked familiar. Who was that? He's kind of hot, but who is he? Oh my gosh. It's Josh. What the heck? I'm going crazy.

I can't like Josh. He's enemy territory. Off limits. But, his smile is pretty hot, I admit. And his eyes, and damn, he has some nice abs. I swear I'm drooling.

"Claire! What are you waiting for?!" The loud, annoyed voice clears my mind, and

I so 'gracefully' fall off the top of the pyramid. This is why cheer should practice inside. Where hot guys won't distract us. Amy hops down from the second row to check on me.

"You okay? You kind of zoned out there."

"Yeah, I guess I'm fine." I say, dusting off my knees and fixing my two-toned hair back into a perfectly curled half up look, securing the glittery gold bow around my hair tie. Just when I thought the worst already happened, frat boy comes running to my rescue.

"What happened? Did one of you forget how to stand?" He said, laughing at his own cliche dumb cheerleader crack. "But for real, you girls okay?" He covered up. " Who fell?"

He walked over to me. "Claire?"

"Go away, Josh."

"I was just checking on you." I wanted to turn away from his gaze, but I couldn't. We must've held each other's stare for what seemed like minutes, but in reality was probably only a few split seconds.

"Well, if you're wondering, I'm fine. Embarrassed as fuck, but fine thank you. We're done for today girls."

With that I trotted off towards the house, red in the face. Amy followed cautiously.

"What happened back there?" She asked. "You just spazzed out."

"Amy, I'm fine."

"Claire, I know you're not. I can read you like the magazines at the doctor's office. Easily and hard to stop."

"What?" I asked, confused by her metaphorical attempt, which I'm pretty sure had failed.

"Never mind that." She said. "What's wrong?"

Like a cranky toddler, I burst into tears. I'm pretty sure I have depression or am bipolar or anxious, something. I have these crying outbursts every few weeks or so. I can't control them. It's like whatever stress I bottle up, comes out, and it's not pretty.

Amy rushes to my side. "Claire, tell me what's bothering you. Why are you so sad lately?"

"I couldn't answer that if I wanted to," I said, bawling. "I don't know. My life is one big confusion. I'm the pretty rich girl, but I'm not a bitch. Still, people call me a snob. It doesn't feel right going through with this prank tonight. I'll just have more people who hate me. And if I don't, the girls will hate me. And now this, I was embarrassed as shit back there. What's going on with me, Amy?" I didn't dare tell her about my feelings for Josh. She was my best friend, but even she wouldn't forgive me for that. I'm such a hypocrite.

"Claire, I can't answer that. Only you can. Only you know what you're thinking right now."

I dried a tear from the corner of my button nose. "I guess you're right," I whimpered like a puppy. "I wish you were wrong." With that, I threw myself into her shoulders, gasping for air. I needed comfort right now, and only she knew that. Only she could come close to understanding.