Chapter 13
Tyler
I’m on my way out of the student gym on campus when my eyes catch a glimpse of the cheer team’s practice, the blaring music preventing me from just walking past.
I lean against the railing on the top floor, watching the chaos below. Looks like they’re about to throw their bodies in the air. A few of them execute across the floor, some are going at it slow and others can’t stick their landing.
I consider leaving to meet up with Jared and Beckham until a familiar petite figure takes the mat.
Serena’s raven hair is tucked into a high ponytail. She wears an oversized Skyline Vikings t-shirt with the hem tucked into her sports bra and black spandex. It’s a look that takes my breath away, causing a mild sensory overload.
I hang back just to watch her. If I didn’t want to go into overdrive, I should have left a few seconds earlier. I soak in her expression going from zero to a hundred, a look of determination fueled by adrenaline. I watch her lock in, full sending across the mat. I have no clue what she’s exactly doing, but it’s so fucking impressive and attractive to see her in her element.
I watched Cassie practice a few times last year, and she wasn’t bad, but she’s nowhere near Serena’s level. Serena is out of this world.
Growing up, I assumed all cheerleaders were just poms poms, pumping up the crowd at games, and doing the occasional dancing on the sidelines. I used to believe that cheerleading wasn’t a sport compared to football, soccer, or baseball. I definitely don’t think that anymore.
Teammates scream in support in the background, encouraging her and clapping their hands once she lands perfectly on the ground. I can already see Serena’s the type to not gloat about her skills, as she keeps her head down, a cute shy smile grows on her lips, and then walks off the mat towards her friend.
“Why are you staring at the cheer team?” a hand clasps on my shoulder, pulling my attention away from the main gym to Beckham behind me.
I remove his grasp from my shoulder and reluctantly walk away from the top, heading towards the door. “I wasn’t staring.”
Beckham and I head out towards the locker room to clean up after our workout. “You were definitely staring.”
“Shut the fuck up.” I huff out, pulling the locker room doors open .
“Serena’s a nice girl.” Beckham nonchalantly offers.
“How do you know her?” I reply, a little too quickly for my liking.
“Know who?”
Damn it, another person to add to the conversation. I turn my head to greet my best friend, Jared, with a subtle nod. “Sup.”
Jared returns the greeting. “Sup. What are we talking about?”
“No one,” I respond, again, so fast that it sounds suspicious.
“No one?” Jared cocks a brow at my answer, not believing my shit. Before he can follow up again, Beckham beats him to it. “I caught him drooling at your fine ass sister.”
Sister?
“You have a sister? You don’t look anything alike.” I question, genuinely surprised.
“Yeah, we’re stepsiblings, but I care about her as if she’s my own.”
I guess it makes sense in a way. I mean, he has blonde hair and blue eyes, and she has black hair and brown eyes. There’s no resemblance to connect the dots and when we hang out, Jared comes to my place for peace and quiet since I take care of Harper most days .
Despite all our years of hanging out and being close (so I thought), I still didn’t know much about his family. Was there a reason why he never told me? But then, why would Beckham be in the know while I wasn’t? I shrug it off, figuring there are probably bits of Jared’s life he doesn’t like sharing.
Jared drops his head back, eyes closed like he’s mentally counting to three. Actually, I think he’s counting to three because he doesn’t respond for three seconds. “Okay, back on topic. My sister has a name. Two, don’t ever call her that again, or I will literally drop kick your ass on the field.”
Beckham lifts his hands up, towel hanging off his shoulder like he’s surrendering. “Chill bro. She’s a nice girl, I respect her too much.”
“So why are we talking about my sister?” Jared follows up, his brows snap together. “Did anyone say shit about her?”
I choose silence. Beckham doesn’t.
He juts his chin at me as I’m changing my shirt to a clean one. “Your boy was staring at her during their practice.”
Great, now I’m going to get dropped kick. “I wasn’t staring. She’s got mad skills.”
“Better than Cassie?” Beckham mutters under his breath.
“Why are you bringing her up?” I throw a dirty towel at him. He catches my towel and throws it in the basket .
“Little birdy told me she’s been trying to get back in your good graces,” he shrugs.
Jared slams his locker, bringing our attention back to him. He lifts a finger like we’re children going into timeout. “Anyone going to answer me about my sister?”
“No one’s talking about her.” Beckham sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. A flash of relief hits Jared’s face. Something to ask about later.
“But,” Beckham continues, “I think Ty is smitten by her.”
I slam my locker, slinging my bag over my shoulder with Jared and Beckham following suit as we head out of the locker room. “Fuck off, I hardly know the girl.”
Beckham shoots me a smug smile. “I’m just saying, she’s a nice girl. I like her.”
Jared halts his tracks and sends a death glare at Beckham for his comment. “You are not dating my sister.”
“Down boy, I meant I like her as a person.” Beckham raises his hands in the air.
“Damn right. You could be the last guy on Earth and I still wouldn’t set her up with you.” Jared snaps. We continue walking out of the locker room until Jared and Beckham halt their steps. “Catch ya later, we’re heading for films. ”
We exchange brief hand slaps. “Later.”
My friends disappear through another set of doors, heading for the film room. I’m halfway down the hall until a very familiar figure blocks my path.
“Hey.” Cassie greets me, her hand caressing my upper arm.
And I don’t feel it. Her voice, her ‘hey’ used to make my days. She was everything to me. But now, I felt… nothing.
I scratch my brow, hoping my face doesn’t show how uncomfortable I am. “What do you want, Cassie?”
“I wanted to say hi. I haven’t talked to you in a while.” She puffs an exhale and crosses her arms. I can tell she’s getting defensive. “And you know what I want.” She brings her hand back to my arm, caressing it up and down.
I shake her hand from my arm as I breathe out heavily. “I don’t want what you want.”
“Ty, I’m sorry for how I acted before. But I’m r–”
My face twists at her too-little-too-late apology. “Stop it.”
“Tyler, I…”
She stops herself as I rub my temples, trying to mend down the headache that’s creeping up. “May I remind you that you didn’t want a relationship. ”
Cassie flinches at my sharp tone but offers nothing in response, so I keep going.
“You played me and like a fucking fool, and I let you.” I rake my hands through my hair, messing it up in the process. “It’s kind of late to apologize.”
“I care about you. I didn’t mean for this to happen.” She waves her hand between our bodies.
“Don’t act like you care now, either. I know you don’t. But thank you for trying to pretend.” I give an ironic smile and try to comb my hair back to place, I probably look like a mess.
Cassie takes a deep breath, her gaze steady. “I’ll give you some space… Take care, Ty.” She breaks first and walks out the doors. I can tell she feels defeated by the way her shoulders are sulking.
But I wasn’t going to let it get to me. A simple “I’m sorry” doesn’t magically solve the problems between us, nor can it convince me to let her back in. The damage was done and it was beyond repairable. Unfortunately for me, I don’t think Cassie realizes that. I hate that I have to sound cruel, but she’s been on my ass to hear her out. I made my peace months ago and I’m ready to move on.
I hang back in the hallway for a few minutes, in hopes Cassie has left already so we don’t have a part two to our conversation. Once the coast is clear, I step outside and my long-sleeved shirt saves me from shivering at the slight breeze. The senior parking lot is pretty empty since it’s after hours and the only students left are the ones who participate in fall sports or do off-season training like me.
I spot my black Four Runner in the distance and walk towards it, keys in one hand ready to go, until I spot a figure pacing the front of their car a couple of rows down. I’m closing the distance and next thing I know, a smile wears my face. “Hey, sunshine.”
Serena whips her head as she sets her phone and keys to her side. “Oh, hey.”
I jut my chin to her car. “Need help?”
Serena rubs her arm due to the chilly breeze flying by. She’s still wearing her practice outfit, and over it, an oversized navy blue sweater with Charlotte embroidered across her chest. “Yeah, my car won’t start and my family isn’t answering.” She glances at her phone, hoping for a notification to pop up. “And my friends left already.”
I set my bag down and motion for her keys with my hand out. “Let me take a look.”
Serena willingly hands me her keys and I get to do with the car maintenance skills I’ve learned from my dad. I unlock her car and plop in the driver seat, inserting the car key. The dead engine spurring confirms her battery is dead.
I pop my head out, “The battery’s dead. ”
Serena’s expressions shift, displaying a mix of fatigue and frustration. She rubs her forehead, “Ugh, that’s what I thought but I didn’t want to believe it.” She stands next to me as I come out, handing the keys back to her. “Thanks for helping.” She grabs her stuff from the backseat, slinging her backpack on and her cheer bag over her shoulder.
“Can anyone take you home?”
“I’m just going to take the bus. It’s only 15 minutes.”
If Jared found out that her car died and I let her take the bus, I’d be six feet under by tomorrow.
As Serena starts to walk away, I reach for her arm and swiftly spin her around. She stumbles at my sudden action, landing against my chest. She glances up with those big brown eyes, confusion swirling around in her orbs and cheeks flushing pink. “If your brother found out I let you take the bus, I won’t hear the end of it.”
Serena backs up from my arms and coughs to the side. “Oh.”
I don’t take that as a no, so I tilt my head at where my car is parked. “Come on. I can’t let you take the bus when I’m perfectly capable of taking you home.”
She nods and I reach out a hand to help her with the bags. She hands me only the cheer bag, and we walk together. We throw the bags in the backseat, and I open the passenger door for her, but Serena looks hesitant to get in, “I don’t bite. ”
With a reluctant sigh, Serena hops in and pulls her seat belt on. “I know.”
I hop in the driver seat, and we exit campus. I don’t need to ask for her address, now that I know she’s Jared’s sister. I’ve been to Jared’s house a few times to drop him off, but I never stayed for too long. For the past year, he’s came over to my house since I’m watching Harper most of the time.
I’m thinking of ways to ask how their step sibling thing works without sounding like a creep, but Serena breaks the silence lingering between us. “How do you know Jared?”
I glance at her, then return my attention to the road. I clear my throat, “We’ve known each other since middle school. Pain in my ass ever since.”
I sneak a glance at her and catch her looking out the window.
“I see.”
“How do you and Jared know each other?”
Serena picks at her nails. “We’re stepsiblings.”
Oh, I knew his dad remarried, but I didn’t know he got a sister from that marriage.
“Jared hasn’t said much because it’s... complicated.” She glances at me, a silent look in her eyes. “Beckham just knows everything since their moms are friends. ”
Silence creeps back in for a brief moment.
“Mind if I play music?” Serena asks quietly, her hand already on the radio dials.
“Go ahead.”
Nonsense by Sabrina Carpenter starts to play softly in the background. Serena taps her fingers and hums along to the side as the song carries on. I feel drawn to her in a way that’s so damn hard to resist and I catch myself questioning the pact I made.
I park outside of Serena’s house, bringing the car to a full stop. We both get out at the same time and I grab her things out from the back. I hand her things to her, but my impulsiveness has me walking beside her as we walk up to the front door.
“You don’t have to walk me in,” Serena says softly.
I chuckle and flash a toothy smile. “My mom would kill me if I let a girl walk up to her door alone. Just let me do it, sunshine.” I say and she only nods. “Will you make it to school tomorrow? Do you need a ride?”
“I’ll be okay, I can just ask Jared to take me until the car thing gets figured out.” Serena reaches down in her bag for her keys.
I wait until she unlocks her door before taking a step back. “I’ll see you Wednesday at the library?”
“Yeah, Wednesday. ”
Serena steps inside but before she can close the door, she turns around to face me with a shy smile.
“Thanks for the ride, Tyler.”
“Anytime, sunshine.”
Serena’s face flushes and I see her lips twitch for a second. I feel a flutter in my chest. Serena disappears inside her home, leaving me breathless at a simple goodbye.
I head back to my car and sigh as I close the door. My hands grip the steering wheel tightly, and I lean my head against the seat. The realization hits me like a ton of bricks–maybe I’m deeper than I thought.
I’m screwed.