Page 10 of Billionaires Don’t Date Cheerleaders (Texting the Boyband #2)
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“But you normally meet her at 6:40,” Grace said. I sighed and ran down the stairs, hoping she wouldn’t follow. I threw my cheer bag and backpack by the door and slipped on my warm-up jacket as I headed for the kitchen. I thought I might have shaken Grace off my tail, but I only had a moment of peace before she came barging in after me. “What’s going on? You’re being so secretive.”
I poured some coffee into a travel mug and grabbed a banana to eat after practice, then brushed past Grace to head to the front door. It was almost seven, and I didn’t want to make Jude wait. Though, I did have a feeling he was going to be a little late since he hadn’t actually been to my house before, and it might take him a minute to find it.
“You’re not meeting Jess, are you?” Grace asked.
“What?” I tried my best to sound flippant, but it was hard to hide anything when I was talking to Grace. “Why would I be meeting anyone else? I have cheer practice.”
As I picked up my bags—which was difficult considering everything I was juggling in my hands already—Grace dove in front of the door so I couldn’t leave. She looked up the stairs like she was checking we were alone, then whispered, “You’re meeting a boy, aren’t you?”
If she hadn’t sounded so excited by the prospect, I probably would have continued to deny it. I would have insisted that it was Jess picking me up and that she was acting crazy. But as it was, I couldn’t lie to her. I knew Grace hated our parents’ no-dating rule as much as I did, so me going anywhere alone with a boy was an incredibly exciting prospect for her. Like I could pave the way for her to be able to get a boyfriend one day.
I glanced behind me to make sure my parents weren’t there and then bit my lip and nodded. I didn’t want to give her too much information, lest she accidentally reveal it to my parents, but I could tell her that.
Grace smiled and stepped aside. “Have fun.”
“I really am just going to cheer practice,” I said. That much should have been obvious from my outfit of workout shorts and a ratty t-shirt. I didn’t want her to get ahead of herself and think this was any more than it was. “He’s just coming with me. To watch.”
“No boy has ever driven you to cheer practice before,” she said. “You like him, don’t you? That’s why you invited him.”
“ Invited might be a strong term,” I muttered. More like I said I would be there, and he went ahead and invited himself. “But… yes. I think I do like him.”
If only she knew who we were talking about right now… she might scream.
A shiny blue sports car pulled up outside our house, almost vibrating from the music spilling out of it. Grace’s eyes locked on it through the window, and her jaw dropped.
“Is that… for you?”
“I think so,” I uttered slowly. I guess it was my fault for not realizing when Jude said he would drive me that he would pull up in a car like this. I opened the front door. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Yeah,” Grace mumbled, her gaze locked on the car. Funny—I’d never thought of her as someone who cared about cars at all.
I ran outside and down the walkway to his car before there was any chance of my parents looking out the upstairs window and seeing me get into the car. If they saw that it wasn't Jess picking me up, they would get suspicious, and I didn't need that.
Jude rolled down the passenger side window as I came up.
“Do you want to put your bags in the back?” He asked.
“No, it’s fine,” I said. I glanced behind me again. The curtains were all drawn upstairs, but Grace was still staring at me out the window, probably trying to get a glimpse of the boy picking me up. I did my best to block the view as I got into the car. “My sister thinks you’re my boyfriend.”
“Oh yeah?” We started down the road.
“I doubt she can think of any other reason why a boy would drive me to cheer practice.”
Jude laughed. “I guess I can’t blame her. As you might recall, I do have a thing for cheerleaders.”
“Oh, right,” I said. “I think I offered to find you a girl to date on the team, didn’t I? I better follow through on that promise.”
Jude’s grip tightened a little on the steering wheel. “Yeah,” he said. He sounded like he could barely get the word out. “I guess.”
When we walked into the gym, every eye was on us. Cate screamed in excitement. Kinsleigh choked on the water she’d been drinking. Eloise fell out of her handstand, crashing awkwardly into the mats that were waiting to be laid out on the floor. The only person flat-out smiling was Jess—who I’d explained the situation to the night before when she asked why I didn’t need a ride from her today.
“Evans,” Coach Bee said. She walked over to me, hands on her hips. “Need I remind you that this is a cheerleading practice?”
“No, ma’am,” I said. I wrapped my hand around the strap of my cheer bag. “I’m ready for practice.”
“Then why did you bring a visitor?” She looked at Jude briefly. “We’ve already hosted tryouts for the year.”
“Thank you, but I’m not here to try out,” he said.
“This is Jude,” I said as if there was anyone in this whole school who wouldn’t recognize him. “He was wondering if he could watch the practice.”
“Watch the practice?” Coach Bee repeated. “Why?”
“I like cheerleading,” Jude said.
“Well, I…” Coach Bee rubbed her forehead with her hand. “You can sit on the bench over there—quietly, please.”
“Sorry,” I said to Jude as Coach Bee walked away. “I forgot to warn you that she might not be… thrilled that you’re here.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jude said. “I’m used to the teachers annoyed with us being around.”
“Like Madame Dubois avoiding coming into class until after announcements?” I asked. Even though we were both saying it in joking tones, something in his face told me that it wasn’t all funny to him. “I guess that would get hard with time… If there’s someone who should be happy you’re at school, it’s your teachers.”
“Yeah, well…” Jude sighed. “At least I know most of the students are happy to see us. Can’t really complain about that, right?”
“I guess,” I murmured. If I were in his shoes, I didn’t think that would be enough. Feeling like you’re a burden to the faculty just for being a student… I could only imagine the ways that would start to weigh on a person after a while. “Anyway, why don’t you go sit down? I need to get my shoes on and everything.”
Jude nodded and headed for the bench. He hadn’t been away for more than two seconds before three girls descended on him, asking why he was there. I would have gone to save him and pull them away, except that I was also ambushed as Jess and Eloise grabbed my arms and pulled me off to where all the bags were.
“First, you’re tweeting with Jude, and now you’re bringing him to cheer practice?” Eloise asked. She put a hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. “Sloane, I need you to tell us the turn: are you two dating?”
“What? No!” She looked at me knowingly, like she thought I was just holding out because we were keeping it a secret or something. “We’re not dating! Honest.”
“You can say it all you want,” Eloise said. “But trust me, we all see the truth.”
“You clearly don’t if you think we’re dating!”
“Okay, girls!” Coach Bee clapped her hands to get our attention. “Let’s start warming up.”
Jess wrapped an arm around my shoulder and gestured around the room. “Forget it, Sloane. There’s no way you’re going to convince all of them.”
Yeah, I was getting that sense… And strangely, I didn’t mind the idea as much as I thought I should.
"Okay, girls, split into your groups for stunts!" Coach Bee called. "We'll start with some individual practice of what we learned last week, then continue from there.
I grouped off with Eloise, Jess, and Layla, and we found a clear spot on the gym floor--that just happened to be very close to where Jude was sitting. Eloise counted us through the routine as we did one practice round where we just marked the steps without actually lifting Layla to make sure we were all ready. Once we were sure we had it, we moved into the actual stunt.
"One, two, three, four," Eloise counted as Layla jumped into our hands. She continued counting out loud as we pushed Layla up to a standing position and finally threw her up in the air. She had to twist in the air, then landed back in our arms.
I obviously couldn't look at Jude while I was focusing on holding Layla up, but I could feel his eyes on me the entire time. I couldn't help but smirk to myself as I imagined what he must have been thinking as we moved into the more complex moves. Whenever I got the chance to glance at him, he seemed more into it. His eyes were wide and fixed on the stunt, his face filled with awe. His mouth hung open slightly as the girls moved through the stunt, and he watched with rapt attention. He leaned forward in his seat, his hands gripping the arms of his chair as if he couldn't take his eyes away. His enthusiasm was contagious; all of us were pushing ourselves to do our best and make sure he got a good show.
By the time Coach Bee called for a water break, we were all panting heavily but laughing. As we walked to our bags, Eloise gave me a knowing look and an almost imperceptible nod, like she knew the way Jude had been looking at me.
We all stopped by our bags, and the girls grabbed their water bottles. I was looking for mine in my bag when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked over my shoulder and saw Jude there with a big smile on his face.
“You guys were amazing!” He said. I grinned back, blushing slightly as Eloise nudged me with her elbow, and Jess looked at us smugly.
“This isn’t even that impressive,” I said. “You should see actually cheer at a game or one of our competitions.”
“I’d love to,” Jude said seriously. The rest of the girls started to disperse to grab their own water, but Jude stayed where he was next to me. "You made that whole thing look so easy! It’s insane!”
I laughed. "So having to get up early was worth it to watch?"
"More than worth it," Jude said. I looked away, fiddling with the hem of my shirt.
“Well, maybe you should come to more of our practices, then,” I said.
“You don’t think your coach would mind?”
“I mean… I don’t think I’ve ever seen the girls work this hard before,” I said. “You can be like our team mascot or something, I don’t know. Helps boost our spirit.”
“I doubt they’re just showing for me,” he said.
“Oh, Jude,” I sighed. “You severely underestimate the power you hold over teenage girls.”
“Yourself included?” he asked.
I smiled. “Very much so.”
Call Me Jude @judeturner
I am amazed by cheerleaders... that is all
Hudson @hudsonshaw
I lay awake at night praying for @judeturner to stop blowing up my phone
Riley | Take Five @rileythorton223
Don't you... Live together?
Hudson @hudsonshaw
We could be on the same couch and he would still text me
Call Me Jude @judeturner
Damn say it to my face
Hudson @hudsonshaw
I tried. You told me to text you instead
Call Me Jude @judeturner
Oh. My bad
Sloane @its_sloane
Should I feel special that Jude actually talks to me?
Hudson @hudsonshaw
You are the chosen one. I beg of you to use your powers for good
Call Me Jude @judeturner
But being evil is so much more fun. come to the dark side @its_sloane
Sloane @its_sloane
oh baby, you already know I'm there
Riley | Take Five @rileythorton223
Did she just call Jude baby??
Eloise @eloise.seymour
You should hear them at school... Constantly flirting
Sloane @its_sloane
Lies… no flirting here