One of the Guys (31 page)

We burst out laughing at her
comment; the others wondering what the hell we were on. The thing
was, Logan wasn’t my ‘bitch’ but when were finished, he was sure
going to wish he was.

“
Showtime girls!” Charlotte
squealed as the whistle blew for the second half of the game, and
my heart raced.

Here I go.

*****

Logan

The first half of the game had been
boring. Our team had scored dead even with the other. Even their
cheer squad was bland, I never used to like watching anyway, but
even a sped up track of ‘Back in Black’ by AC/DC wasn’t enough to
make it exciting.

I remembered when Chase and I would
make fun of them.

She’d stood up, rolled her arms as
if she were cheering and shouted:

Give me a G O D U M B A, give me
an S S and then what does it say? Goooo Dumbaaass!

When she’d thrown her hands in the
air in mock excitement, I’d almost choked with laughter.

“
Our girls are coming out soon.”
Carly said from the bench in front of me.

She’d broken her ankle and was out
of action. That meant they were down a girl, but she didn’t seem to
be upset about it. Actually, she looked kinda pleased. That wasn’t
something I expected of the head cheer leader.

I looked to my right, where Matt
was sitting. He was busy texting, obviously bored waiting for the
second half to start. To my left, Lex, Pike and the other guys
sat.

Chase should’ve been sitting with
us.

Yeah, I’m a wimp.
I thought to myself. I still hadn’t gotten over
the fact that my own brother had hidden the fact that my best
friend had feelings for me. Thinking about it, it could have been
just the light reflecting off her ocean colored eyes. The way she
smiled when she was happy about something.

I dropped my head down, resting on
my hands with my elbows on my knees.

I heard a voice announcing the
Tigers cheer squad, but I didn’t look up. I was too busy feeling
sorry for myself.

“
Holy fuck, is
that Chase?” Lex said in surprise. “It
is!”

My head snapped up as the guys
spoke.

“
Jesus!”
Pike
whispered.

“
Fuck
me!”
Matt’s eyes bugged.

Walking onto the field with the
squad, was Chase. Wearing a cheer uniform, and Oh. My.
God
. She looked so damn
sexy I had an instant hard on.

Her legs were on show, and my eyes
traveled up and down her body, over her tight curves and her… dear
God, her chest.

I wanted to rip everybody’s eyes
out if they looked at her, but I knew that was stupid. Chase was so
beautiful everybody should have been
made
to look at her.

I felt the heat in my face when she
made eye contact with me. I attempted a weak, pathetic smile, but
she just turned away and looked to Poppy. They had a wordless
exchange before looking forwards again.

The music started, and ‘Low’ by Flo
Rida and T-Pain sounded out.

They started by swaying their hips
side-to-side to the intro.

When the beat kicked in, they moved
about in unison, and seductively, which only made my groin strain
even more.

Their backs turned to us and as
they circled their hips round, the skirts lifted, showing the tiny
white shorts underneath. I heard a collective male groan from
around the field.

Nobody spoke as we watched the
girls perform.

I couldn’t take my eyes off Chase.
She was so graceful in her movements. So fluid and
natural.

Watching the routine, Chase shocked
the crowd when she performed a front aerial -a forwards walkover
with no hands- and then a variation of back handsprings,
somersaults, and movements that had her contorting her body in ways
that shouldn’t be humanly possible in my opinion; all perfectly in
time with the other girls’ movements and the music, making the
other squad look like amateurs.

“
What the fuck?” Said Stu, when
Chase performed a back handspring, only to be facing us in a
walkover. What was that? It looked like she turned
back-to-front!”

“
It’s called an onodi.” I said,
remembering the names after asking Chase myself.

I felt the guy’s eyes on me when my
voice sounded tight.

Just then, my heart flew in my
throat when the senior girls held Chase with their hands. The
juniors had been thrown and caught, but this was Chase, getting
ready to be thrown in the air.

“
If I was a guy, I’d have such a
boner for Chase right now.” I heard Carly say. “She’s super hot.
Who’d have known?”

I did!
I
thought to myself.

My thoughts were broken when Chase
was thrown upwards, the crowd gasping when, in the blink of an eye,
she performed a full twist into a double back landing perfectly on
the girls’ hands.

I swear my ass gripped the bench
for dear life.

After jumping down, the dance
continued. Ending with Chase in the box splits, with Poppy and Sian
either side in straight splits.

The crowd went wild, clapping and
cheering for them. It was as if the football team had already won.
They still had another half to go.

“
I think the
teams need a few more minutes after
that
performance.” The voice from
the speakers laughed.

It was true. I think almost every
guy, and some girls, in the crowd needed cold showers after what
they’d just seen. Myself included. But, there was only one girl
that made me that way, and I’m pretty sure she hated me.

The Tigers won the game by fifteen
points and when the team left the field, I spotted the squad
leaving too. I needed to catch up with Chase.

Hurrying from my bench, I
practically ran to the tunnel that took them to the changing
areas.

I slowed when I saw the other
teams’ football captain stopping Chase. Her back was to me, so she
didn’t know I was there.

I listened as he tried to flirt
with her, and asking her out. I wanted to hurt him so
bad.

“
It’s not a good idea.” She said,
after he asked her to go to the dance.

“
Look, just blow off your date and
come with me instead. We’ll have a great time.”

Yeah, I knew what ‘great time’ he
was after.

“
I’m not going to the dance, and
I’m not interested.” She replied, crossing her arms over her
chest.

I saw her shoulders hunch forward.
She was clearly uncomfortable with him. I walked forwards when the
guy turned away. Chase stayed still for a moment, and I managed to
get close enough to her before she could get away.

“
Chase.” I said, reaching for her
arm before she could go any further.

She stopped and looked at my hand
that held her arm.

I dropped it and moved to stand in
front of her. Her face void of emotion.

“
Hey.” I said nervously. “You
looked great out there. I forgot you were so good.” I laughed
nervously. Suddenly not knowing what the hell to say now that she
was listening.

Chase's eyes narrowed, and I could
see the hurt in her eyes.

“
Wow. Something else you’ve
forgotten. Why am I not surprised?” She said, then moved around me
to walk away.

I felt the stab to my gut at her
words, instantly regretting saying that to her.

“
Chase, I didn’t mean to hurt you…”
I said, and she swung round to face me. The anger in her eyes like
fireballs ready to burn me alive.

“
Hurt me?
Is
that
what you think you did? Think about it from my point of view,
Logan. What would
you
have felt if I’d been
so
nice to you one day, then forgot about you the
next? Only to try to make it up to you by being overly friendly,
and touchy, making you feel things,
then
act as if nothing happened. To
suddenly get closer to you and then do a complete one-eighty. To
treat you differently in a group than by ourselves. To be your…”
Chase paused as if stopping herself from saying too much, taking a
breath, and I could see tears forming in her eyes. Tears that she
was trying hard to fight. “To then have you wait, and wait, and
wait, and eventually have to walk home. Alone. In the dark, where
anything could have happened. Does that sound like a friend to you
Logan?
Does it?”

My mouth hung open as I realized
what Chase had felt.

She’d felt as though I was playing
games with her. Fucking with her head on a daily basis with my
tactics that were, I now knew, selfish and just… cruel.

“
But you know what, Logan?” She
continued. “I should thank you really, because there’s no way I’m
going to let myself be taken advantage of again, and I’m not going
to be hidden, pushed away, or ignored.”

I couldn’t find any words as I
watched Chase turn and rush into the changing area.

Chapter
15

Chase

The girls had been really
supportive since I’d walked into the changing area in
tears.

I should’ve walked away but seeing
the look on Logan’s face as he watched me on the field, I wanted
him to say
something
at least. To say he’d ‘forgotten’ again, made me snap, and I
poured out almost everything that I felt.

The one thing I managed to keep
back was, ‘to be your everything’.

Logan
had
been everything to me, and now I
felt just as bad as I did when we’d first fallen out.

I didn’t leave my room for the
whole weekend. Poppy, Sian and the girls had texted me a few times,
but I didn’t want to see anybody.

The only one that I had let visit
me was Ruffles. The poor thing was in mourning as well as I
was.

I finally came out of my room only
because I had to go to school.

On nervous feet, I walked into the
building, not hearing the praise for our squad and my skills on the
field.

I just nodded my thanks and kept
walking. Meeting up with Poppy had been my only comfort.

We walked past Logan, outside his
homeroom, and I didn’t look at him, but I knew Poppy had given him
the evil eye again.

“
Come on, Chase the ace. You’re
stronger than this. I know we’ve had a set back, but you were doing
just great.”

I liked how she referred to ‘we’,
letting me know I wasn’t alone.

“
It hurts.” I whispered.

Seeing Logan, speaking with him
alone… My chest ached for the loss I was reliving.

“
Come on, honey. We’ll work this
out.” Poppy said, linking my arm.

I nodded, hoping she was
right.

After homeroom, I made my way to
math. Sitting down in my seat, I knew it wouldn’t be long until
Logan arrived too. Thankfully, the rest of the class was spilling
in, making me feel better. I tried to look as confident as I
usually did, but really, I was on edge.

I kept my head forwards, when I
felt a hand brush through the back of my hair. Turning at the
touch, I made eye contact with Logan.

He was smiling as he pulled his
hand back.

“
What the fuck are you doing?” I
spat.

The nerve of him to touch me after
what I’d told him after the game.

“
Nothing.” He replied, sitting down
as if nothing had happened.

My heart hammered in my chest.
Maybe it was just automatic. A left over memory of when he would
play with my hair when it was loose.

I doubt it.

I had no clue what he was up to,
but by the smile he was trying to hide, I knew it wasn’t
over.

The bell sounded for the end of
class, and I stood. Logan moved at the same time, as if he were
just waiting for me to do so, and he stood facing me, looking down
into my eyes.

I swallowed, and for a second I was
taken in by his eyes. His thick long lashes fanning out.

“
Asshole.” I said, moving quickly
out of his way.

I hurried to meet up with Poppy, to
go to our biology class, meeting Charlotte on the way.

“
How was math?” Charlotte
asked.

“
Did he say anything?” Poppy
added.

“
The fucker stroked my hair.” I
said, still not believing what he’d done.

“
What!” They asked.