Chapter 40: Chapter 40

“So no more cuffs on you guys?” was Siobhan’s first question as soon as we made it to class.

“Looks like it. We were both on our good behaviors.” I sought out Aaron and found him by the class lockers. He caught my gaze and wagged his brows. It was a flirty gesture but something was lacking. I went to his seat and he came to join me. He sat on the desk. “I was on my best behavior apparently.”

He smiled. “I can see that.” That was all he said. There was something off about his response but I didn’t push, I didn’t want to.

Andre headed to his seat where he pulled our chairs and desks apart. I watched him work, and Siobhan hung around him talking to him. I could see the anger tension in his back and shoulders but he had the good grace not to let Siobhan notice. I turned in Aaron’s seat to check for Carla. There she was in her seat a huge frown on her face. Good thing, Becca who was talking to her didn’t notice but I could see the rage and some other emotion in her gaze as she watched Andre and Siobhan work to restore our seats to their original positions. She must have noticed me watching because the frown soon wiped off and a smile touched her lips when her gaze drifted to me. She even gave off a little wave.

What the heck? My rational mind was nagging that there was something very off about her. She came as the shy girl, the opposite of Andre’s arrogance yet here she is giving off creepy vibes.

“Uhm…babe, do you want to sit on my seat for the next class?”

My eyes snapped to Aaron’s and I grinned. “We are now on “babe” terms?” I joked.

“Uh…it’s…well I just thought…”

I frowned. Why is everyone so off today? “Hey,” I reached for his hand. “I was just joking.”

“Oh yeah, uhm…” He looked like he was struggling with what to say.

“Is there something you want to tell me or ask?” I asked hoping he was ready to pop the question. Maybe that was why he was stuttering and avoiding my gaze.

“Uhm…” he leaned down. “I’m kinda worried. Look, I know you and Andre had no choice but to sleep together yesterday night and I know he looks good and all that…you guys didn’t…you didn’t make out or anything last night, right?”

The laughter bubbling out of me was more of a shocked reaction to his question. “No, we didn’t do anything last night. Is this why you’ve been avoiding me today?”

“I haven’t!... actually I’ve been worried about the basketball game and then I remembered you guys spent the night together and I couldn’t help but think about that too.”

“Aaron, I am offended by your question. I thought you trusted me.”

“I do,” he whispered heatedly. His voice was low so that the rest of the class wouldn’t hear us. “I just couldn’t help it…”

“You can’t date me if you don’t trust me.”

“I know that but I’ve seen the way you look at each other sometimes and with what Shewa said the other day…I don’t know.”

I didn’t know what to say. What could I have said when his worries were valid? I just didn’t think he noticed. The only thing I could do was assure him.

“Nothing happened last night. If I had my way it would have been you in my apartment last night but there was no way around it. And whatever you think is on between Andre and me, whatever may have been there…it’s not there. I’m taking a chance at both of us now, I just need you to trust me.”

I expected relief but even though he grinned and squeezed my hand there was guilt in his eyes. I guess that’s understandable, I would feel guilty too if I were in his shoes.

“So we are good?” I asked.

“We are. So are you sitting here?”

“I guess I’ll go back to my seat.” I stood up and left.

After that, I did my best to focus. Aaron mentioned the basketball game and it occurred to me that we cheerleaders had a huge role to play in making sure they played well, that is if you have good cheers. So for the next few days, I took my mind off the drama happening around me and got Siobhan and Eva to work together to create cheer routines that would get the boys on their toes. The boys did the same thing training for their big game. Because of the game principal Jorge scrapped Reading Time for the next two weeks so that we cheerleaders could practice our routine and the boys could work on their skills for the big game.

Since it was just the Class 3 seniors who were going to compete, the other classes could only watch. Coach divided the team into two groups and scheduled mock matches to get them familiar with their tackles and skills on the court.

The cheerleaders could only stay on the sidelines but we still had a huge role to perform.

We came up with some exciting cheers and with Gideon and Dan on the team, we now have strong shoulders to do more complex stunts on.

“We should chant their names when one of them is with the ball and form the pyramid, ya know?” Siobhan suggested. “Let’s do that and think of something else.”

“Maybe we could add an ultimatum for the boys too, the guy with the highest goals gets to kiss the girls of his choice,” Eva suggested.

I started to roll my eyes at the idea. Trust her to come up with something like that.

But before I could refuse the idea Siobhan jumped straight on it. “Actually, that’s a very good idea. Who doesn’t love a good kiss especially if you get to kiss as many girls as you like?”

“I don’t see how that’s going to get the boys moving,” I voiced out.

“Uhmm….speak for yourself,” Gideon chipped in. “If I was on the court knowing I get to have free kisses for scoring goals then you bet your ass I’ll be bringing my A game.”

Eva and Siobhan both gave me smug grins. “You see, Bibi, even the boys are all in with the idea. Let’s take a vote. All in favor say, Aye!”

Everyone else but me said, Aye! Okay, even Carla didn’t say Aye.

“You are the only naysayer, Bibi which means we are going ahead with the plan. Let’s tell the boys when we are done with today’s routine.”

Since it was everyone else against me I caved in. We practiced our routine for an hour until it was dinner time. When the siren went off we had to stop and packed our stuff. I was packing up the bag of pompoms when Siobhan approached me. She leaned against my back.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” I responded sensing there was something she wanted to talk about. “What’s up?”

“I’ve missed you,” she lifted her weight off so that I could straighten then linked her arm through mine. “We haven’t talked as much as we used to since you became Head girl and in a way, I’m mad at you but then again I can’t be too mad because I know you’re just doing your job.”

I agreed with her. Seems like she’s always too busy or I am always busy and we don’t talk as much as we used to.

“You are right. I'm guessing this isn't a random observation. What do you want to talk about?”