Rory
Jacob’s broad shoulders with her arms up in a left L, and she knew they had nailed it. They had just done three straight run-throughs
without a single mistake or blip. Jacob had really done it. He was ready.
As the flyers hit the ground, the entire squad cheered and hugged. Even Layla was fist-bumping people, which was unusual—for
a cheerleader, she could be oddly cheerless.
“That was incredible!” Rory shouted, throwing herself into Jacob’s arms. She was so caught up in the moment she didn’t even
consider what she was doing until it was too late to back out.
He swung her around in a circle, her legs flinging out behind her. When he placed her down again, he clapped his hands once and heaved for breath. “It was, right? Damn, who knew a cheerleading routine could be so . . . satisfying?”
“We did!” Gwen and Maya replied, raising their hands and laughing.
“Fair enough,” Jacob said, grinning at them. Then he turned back to Rory and added, “I don’t know about you, Captain, but
I think we’re ready.”
He took a gulp from his water bottle, and Rory marveled at how lighthearted he seemed. When practice had started, it had been
clear something was bothering Jacob. He’d barely said hello to anyone and had been sullen and distracted all through warm-ups.
It seemed like nailing the routine had really turned his mood around.
“For homecoming, definitely,” she agreed, plucking her own water bottle off the ground. “So now we spend extra time on the
routine for regionals.”
A few of the other cheerleaders groaned their exhaustion, but Rory paid them no mind. She was too busy envisioning herself
hoisting the trophy at regionals. And maybe getting another huge, twirling hug from Jacob. Had he always smelled that good?
Jacob froze and looked at her, his bottle still raised, a bead of water shimmering on his lower lip. Rory stared at it. What
would it be like to kiss that little drop of water off of him? Just one, small, sweet little kiss.
Something was seriously wrong with her.
“I’m sorry, there’s another routine?” he asked.
The squad laughed, Rory included. “Um . . . yeah,” she said. “Stop messing around.”
“I’m not. . . . I thought . . . I figured we’d do the same routine for both.”
The laughter got a little louder, and Jacob looked away, red blotches blooming on his already sweaty face. Rory suddenly wished
everyone would shut it.
“That’s a hard no,” Layla said, sauntering over. “The halftime cheer is just a cheer. The regionals routine is a two-and-a-half-minute
routine.”
“But it’s not just a cheer,” Jacob said weakly. “There’s music. There’s dancing!”
“Yeah, but not like in the regionals routine,” Rory said, a little more gently. “Two and a half minutes is a lot.”
“So why am I just hearing about it now? Why haven’t we already started learning it?” Jacob shoved his water bottle into his
Woodmont Soccer bag, his mood clearly falling again.
“I didn’t want to confuse you when you were just starting out,” Rory explained.
“Okay, so how far behind am I?”
Carlos stretched his arms overhead and said, “Pretty behind.”
“Not helping!” Rory sang. “Look, Jacob. It’s gonna be fine. Honestly, a lot of the moves are the same—there’s just a longer dance portion and an additional stunt section. You’ve got the fundamentals down. You’ll learn the routine in no time.”
His back was to her as she said this. He was busy yanking a hooded sweatshirt out of his bag and pulling it on over his head.
When he finally turned to face her, he was glowering. “This is crap. I’m gonna go watch the game.”
“The . . . soccer game?” Gwen squeaked.
“Yeah, the soccer game,” he said, turning to storm off.
“Oh, you’re definitely going to go watch the soccer game,” Layla called out, making him stop in his tracks. “We’re cheering
at it, remember?”
Rory watched his shoulders slump, and all she wanted to do was hug him. It was amazing how quickly she’d gone from seeing
Jacob as her mortal enemy to seeing him as something . . . else. Her teammate? Her friend? Whatever he was to her, it was
clear he was overwhelmed, and she wanted to make it better.
But right now, they had to cheer on his former team—something she knew was only going to make everything worse.