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The blonde laughed.

“Sorry, babe…” I also stood up and faced him. He had the size of a wardrobe compared to me and, God, those abs… Uh, I was a lucky girl to have a hot man like that to call mine.

“You fool!” I pushed him back into the pool.

“Oh! Is that so, Roni?” He reached out and pulled me into the pool at once, throwing me behind him. I went straight with my face into the water and, when I came back to the surface, I looked at him considering going straight for murder.

“Lucky for you my cell phone is in my bag!” I declared with good humor.

“Really lucky…” He whispered , pulling me towards him, placing his mouth on mine.

Devouring me right there.

I was thirsty and didn't want to drink any more water, so, around nine thirty, I was forced to leave my room and go get some juice in the cafeteria of our building. I went downstairs with my robe covering my nightgown and my slippers squeaking against the wood floor. I got to the machine and swiped the card, pressing the buttons to get the strawberry juice. The machine made the usual noise, and I bent down a little to catch the order where it fell. I was distracted and tired, but even so, it was impossible not to notice Veronica entering the building with wet hair.

She had the vibe of a happy relaxed person. It was irritating.

“You look like you fucked…” I shot, catching her attention.

His brown eyes captured me. A wide, provocative smile took over her.

“Yes, I had sex with my boyfriend, you must remember that I have one.”

I nodded because, in fact, I remembered. He was cute, but he was no good. Everyone in Chamberlain knew this.

“Yep. I remember the scandal that ensued when he cheated on you last time too. It was summer last year, right?” I provoked. Everyone our age knew about; We might not have studied at the same school, but the city was small.

Derek almost broke Martin's face at the time, and Veronica ended up giving the worst performance ever in a friendly football game between our schools. I didn't know many details, but I knew they were back together at some point, obviously.

She seemed to inhale all the air available in the room, leaving me with only her perfume mixed with her boyfriend's sickly cologne.

“Good night, Kendra!” Was her last sentence.

“Hey, I just hope this wet hair doesn't mean you two did this at the university's public pool, because you know: it's public and there are cameras.” I warned her, stepping in front of her. “It would be a shame if you were kicked out of college, or worse, off the cheerleading squad.”

And I followed the way to my room again.

I arrived in front of the door and took a deep breath, needing a second with my legs hurting to continue. Training was draining absolutely all my energy. I never imagined it would be something so demanding like that, at the same time, I was me, I wouldn't give up on that. I wanted to be on that team, I wanted to go to Daytona with the official team and I would do everything in my reach to guarantee that trophy for the Venenum team.

I entered the room, finding Sidney lying on the sofa reading something that I didn't bother to ask what it was. Jazmine was already locked in her room, probably already asleep.

“Good night…” I whispered to Sid, who answered me before I closed the door to my cubicle. As soon as I lay in bed, my cell phone vibrated next to me, on the nightstand.

A new message from Hayley had arrived.

HAYLEY:Hi, Kendra! What are you doing?

I thought:I'm going to bed with pain in every single muscle. But I didn't answer it, I just fell into a deep sleep.

I was warming up with Sidney telling me about a boy who was in her computer science class.

“I swear, his eyes are almost blue and when he puts on his glasses, my God, it makes me feel… things!” My roommate was gushing. I needed to laugh. She was dramatic and exaggerated, I loved that about her.

“Do you even know his name, Miss I-have-a-crush?” I asked while pulling my foot back.

“Not yet.”

“You should ask his name next class.” Jaz suggested.