Page 5 of Billionaires Don’t Date Cheerleaders (Texting the Boyband #2)
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“Why do I need to take math, anyway?” Jude asked. He trailed after me, staring at the schedule in his hands and completely oblivious to the gawking stares of everyone we were passing. Personally, I was really enjoying everyone stepping out of our way instead of constantly bumping shoulders with everyone going in different directions between classes.
“It’s a required class,” I said. I wondered when the last time he ever did a math class was. It was required every year, but based on his grumbling, I guessed it had been a while. Maybe they did it differently wherever he was doing school before? “What did you do before this?”
“What do you mean?”
“For school. I’m guessing you didn’t just come here from a public school.”
“Well, when we were on The Next Great Boy Band , we did this homeschool type thing,” Jude said. “Really, it was mostly just filling out these stupid packets as homework. And we didn’t even have to learn anything to pass, the pages just had to be filled with something.”
Yeah, that sounded about right to me. Not that I thought any of the boys were stupid or anything—far from it—but I’d had the feeling that boy band stars weren’t expected to go to school for eight hours a day. I wasn’t sure how they would even have the time, honestly.
“And what about after the show?” I asked. “It finished last summer, right? So what did you do for your whole sophomore year?”
The Next Great Boy Band was a reality show where they’d all met. Everyone auditioned individually, but then they got put together into bands, who then performed each week, with one group getting eliminated each week. Take Five had quickly become a fan favorite. By the end of it, they had already risen to stardom.
“We kept up the homeschooling,” Jude said, “but with more in-person stuff. It was nothing like this, though.”
“Did you miss it? Regular life, I mean. Going to school, seeing people…” I gestured around us. “Not being stared at 24/7.”
I came to a stop outside of his math classroom, and he stopped as well but didn’t go inside. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“That’s not much of an answer.”
The side of his mouth curled up. “Ask me again later. Maybe I’ll have an answer for you.”
I bit the inside of my cheek and nodded. Without another word, I spun around and headed for the stairs to get to my class, trusting him to go into his as well. By the time I got to the top of the first set of stairs, the hallways were almost empty. It must have taken me longer than I realized to get Jude to his class—at this rate, I was probably going to be late to my own class. I wouldn’t care, except that if my teacher marked me as late on the attendance, the school automatically phoned my house, and I wasn’t guaranteed to be able to get home and erase it before my parents saw it.
I started taking the steps two at a time, and once I got to the top floor, I just broke into an all-out run. I was on the completely wrong side of the school and had probably less than a minute until the bell would ring, so there was truly no other option. I just hoped my skirt was flying up too much, or I would be giving everyone in school a free show. I didn’t even slow down as I reached the end of the hallway, I just skidded to a stop just inside the doorway of the classroom and took in a few gasping breaths. I probably should have worked out a little more of the summer because I had clearly lost all the stamina I needed for cheer. Once I felt like I could breathe without my lungs burning, I stumbled over to the desk I shared with Megan and dropped my bag on the floor—where it landed directly on top of someone else’s. Why would someone be sitting in my spot? I looked up and saw Hudson sitting in my spot… right next to Megan.
I blinked. “Oh. Hi.”
Was he in this class, too? Gosh, that was probably killing Megan.
“Hello,” Hudson said. He held a hand out, and I shook it. “Hudson. If I’m not mistaken, I think we met at Starbucks last week.”
“That we did,” I said. I held back a smirk as I remembered that day. “I told you that you’d be seeing a lot more of us soon.”
“Indeed. I hope you don’t mind that I took your spot. Megan here just insisted that I sit with her. I was going to wait to find an empty desk, but she practically forc—” Megan punched him hard in the arm. “Ow!”
Odd way for her to flirt, but I would take anything.
He shook his head. “You see how she treats me?”
I grinned. If there was someone who would be able to keep up with Megan, it was him.
“You get used to it,” I said. Megan tilted her head up so she could see me over Hudson’s shoulder.
“He won’t tell me what class he’s supposed to be in now.”
“Well, I guess he’s in this one now,” I said. What a shame, right? I grabbed my bag from where it was on Hudson’s and sat down at the desk behind them. If I couldn’t sit next to Megan, I would at least make sure I had a front seat to everything going on between her and Hudson.
“We were just discussing the reasons Megan doesn’t like me,” Hudson said. “So far on the list is that I spilled coffee on her.”
“She does take her coffee very seriously,” I said. Megan glared at me, but I ignored her. She would thank me when they fell in love.
As Mrs. Kavinsky started the class, I pulled my phone out. I wasn’t expecting to see any texts, except maybe a few from some group chats. What I was definitely not expecting was a Twitter DM from the one and only Jude Turner.
Jude
My class is boring
Sloane
Classes usually are
Jude
Then it’s your job to entertain me
Sloane
How is that my job?
Jude
You’re my guide. You’re in charge of making sure I settle in well at school
Sloane
And I did so by walking you to your class
Jude
But my class is boring
Sloane
I think we’re going in circles here
Jude
Why can’t you be in all my classes
Sloane
If I was, I wouldn’t learn anything
You’d just be talking to me the whole time
Jude
It’s not like you’re learning anything now
Because you’re texting me
Sloane
And I’ll be sure to blame you when my report card comes in
My mom: why did you fail English
Me: Jude Turner
Jude
I can only imagine how confused she would be
Sloane
Hopefully confused enough not to ground me
Jude
Are you parents strict?
Sloane
Oh yeah
Yours?
Jude
I don’t live with my parents
Sloane
Right you and the rest of the band live with your brother now right?
Jude
Indeed
And he’s not strict
He can’t be because I know what he was like as a teenager
Sloane
Trouble maker?
Jude
You have no idea
Sloane
Do you miss your parents now that you’re living here?
Jude
It’s nice to have more freedom
Sloane
That didn’t answer the question
Jude
Good perception
Sloane
So?
Jude
So what?
Sloane
You know what
Jude
No ma’am I do not
Sloane
I know you can’t see me right now but I’m rolling my eyes
Jude
Ok ok fine
Yes I do miss my parents sometimes
More than that, I miss my younger sisters
Sloane
How many sisters do you have?
Jude
Two
Nina and Lilah
Sloane
Nina, Lilah and Jude? Your name really doesn’t match
Jude
It does actually
Sloane
??
Jude
Remind me to explain some other time
I don’t want to get into it over text
You have a sister too right?
Sloane
Yeah, how’d you know?
Jude
You mentioned it on Twitter
When you said that your sister loves our band
Sloane
How on earth do you remember that
You tweet with like a hundred people a day
Jude
I always remember the interesting ones ;)
Sloane
You think I’m interesting?
Jude
You think I shouldn’t?
Sloane
I didn’t say that
I’m just surprised that you gathered that from one conversation of twitter
Jude
Well opening with the fact that Hudson spilled coffee on your best friend was a good start
Sloane
Ahhhh yes of course
I have to stand out from the crowd
Jude
Somehow I doubt you ever have trouble doing that
Sloane
Careful Jude
If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were flirting with me
Jude
Would that be so bad?
Sloane
Why don’t you ask your publicist
Jude
Point taken
Sooo not to change the subject but where do I go for lunch
Sloane
I’ll come get you
Stay by your classroom
Jude
I could probably find it on my own, just tell me where
Sloane
STAY
I’m not losing you on the first day of being your guide
Jude
Fiiiiiiiine
It took me longer to get back down to Jude’s classroom after my class finished as I had to push my way through hoards of people, all heading the same way. When I finally got there, I found him leaning against the wall, flipping through his textbook like it was a novel he was reading.
“What are you doing?” I asked. Jude jumped, practically throwing the book in the air, and put a hand to his heart.
“Geez, don’t sneak up on a person like that,” he said.
“Sorry,” I said. “I wasn’t exactly being quiet, though. Maybe all those concerts damaged your hearing.”
Jude put his textbook in his backpack and then looked around. “So, where do you eat lunch around here?”
“The cafeteria usually,” I said. “I mean, unless you want to go out for lunch. I guess that would make sense for you, right? Because you have…” I trailed off before I could finish that sentence: because you have all the money in the world and could eat out for every meal if you wanted to.
“The cafeteria’s fine,” he said.
“It’s just over here,” I said. “And since it’s warm out today, you could sit outside if you wanted. There are only a few tables, so they’re usually taken pretty quickly, but I’m sure anybody in school would be willing to let you sit with them if you asked.”
The school was built on a hill, so the front half of the first floor was technically a basement while the back half aligned with the ground. The cafeteria was centered along the back of the school with a small patio outside, sitting between the gym offices on one side and some rarely used classrooms on the other.
“I’m just going to find the other guys. Do you want to sit with us at lunch?” Jude asked. He said it so casually as if it was an everyday occurrence to be asked by a member of an internationally famous boyband to have lunch with them.
“I can’t,” I said. My heart ached at having to say the words even though there was no reason it should have hurt me that much. Before the announcement that they were coming to our school, I hadn’t given much thought to Take Five. Sure, I had to listen to Grace talk about them all the time, but outside of that, I wasn’t a fan of them. I didn’t stalk them on social media ,go to their concerts, or wish that I could meet them. It wasn’t my dream to get to be walking down the hall with Jude Turner like I was now. But when I looked at his face and saw the disappointment in his eyes at me rejecting him, suddenly all I wanted was to stay there and eat with them.
“Oh,” he said. “Yeah, no worries.”
“Sorry, I just meant?—”
“You don’t have to?—”
“I just have a meeting to get to,” I said.
His brows furrowed. “A meeting?”
“For the cheer team,” I explained. I shifted my bag on my shoulder so he could see the cheer team badge I’d ironed onto it. “We have them almost every Monday at lunch. So, I just have to go to that. But, um… could I sit with you tomorrow?”
A smile broke on Jude’s face, and relief waved through me at not having to see his puppy dog eyes anymore. I’d known this boy for three hours, and already, all I wanted to do was ensure his happiness… oh boy, was I in trouble.
Sloane @its_sloane
Breaking news: Hudson Shaw is probably in love with Starbucks girl
Take Five Boyband @takefiveofficial
???? Do tell
Sloane @its_sloane
Why do you always respond to me with the official account instead of your personal one
Take Five Boyband @takefiveofficial
I’m more mysterious this way. You don’t know who I am
Sloane @its_sloane
I’m 90% sure Jude is the only one who ever logs onto the account (other than your PR team… I hope)
Call Me Jude @judeturner
Fine you got me. Now back to the story!!
Sloane @its_sloane
OH RIGHT! So friend and I go to Starbucks today and guess what? Hudson got there before us and got her a $50 gift card to pay her back for the coffee he spilled last week! He left it with the barista to give to her
Call Me Jude @judeturner
He’s a romantic at heart
Sloane @its_sloane
Truly
Call Me Jude @judeturner
What if—and hear me out—we just got rid of math altogether
Sloane @its_sloane
Like… as a class?
Call Me Jude @judeturner
No just in life. No more math, just vibes
Sloane @its_sloane
The world would fall apart immediately… I’m in
May @may_flower
What do you think the T5 boys do when they're home? Do they talk? Play video games? All hide in separate rooms of the house?
Take Five Boyband @takefiveofficial
We sit in silence and stare at the wall until our managers need us again
Hudson @hudsonshaw
You can't just say stuff like that from the official account. PR will kill you
Take Five Boyband @takefiveofficial
I had to share the TRUTH
Sloane @its_sloane
I would like to formally retract my earlier statements where I complained about T5 starting at my school
Call Me Jude @judeturner
Awww Sloane you softie
Sloane @its_sloane
I’m not above taking back the retraction
Hudson @hudsonshaw
@judeturner don’t ruin this for us