Page 77 of Raise 'Em Up

“What the hell?” The man looks at me with wide eyes.

“I need to get to The Mirage. I’ll pay you whatever you want.”

He glares at me, then huffs. Thankfully, he doesn’t ask me to get out and we take off. Every second that ticks by, I feel more and more like I’m going to be sick. You would think with Colton riding our asses for everything to be perfect, they would at least make sure I’m there!

We pull up to The Mirage, and I’m out of the cab the second the car stops. “Hey. You have to pay me.”

“Shit,” I hiss, realizing I didn’t bring my wallet or even my phone. “Ah, my name is Rylee Moore. Look me up on Insta. I’ll paypal you the money. I’m sorry, I gotta go!”

I feel horrible as I turn around and leave the guy hanging, but I need to get inside.

“Sorry. No ticket, no entry.” Someone stops me as I try to rush through the door.

“You're kidding me, right?!” I blink at the guy. “I’m one of the cheerleaders.”

“Now, introducing the Solidarity Academy Black Widows!” I hear my team being announced and my stomach drops. “Fuck.”

Not giving a single shit, I push past the guy and take off running into the arena. I don’t have time to go backstage, so I go through the stands, rushing down the stairs.

The music starts. “No!” I shout as I make it to the bottom of the steps. And then I stand there, gaping in horror. “What the fuck?” I whisper.

The music playing isn't the song we picked for our routine. It’s… the I’m Sexy, I’m Cute song from Bring It On.

When Alex comes onto the mats, flipping out, I’m beyond confused. And it’s amplified when I see Trevor, too. It’s only my guys and Alex up there. I look around, wondering where the rest of the team is?

“What the hell are they wearing?” I whisper. They're in skirts and damn crop-tops, for fuck’s sake.

Okay, so they’re not that bad. Oddly, they’re pretty good. Alex and Trevor, I mean, because I already know the other guys can dance.

As they keep going, it gets more and more horrifying. It’s like a train wreck. I can’t look away.

It gets to the roll call part of the song and my brows furrow when they don’t say their names, but they shout out the names of the characters from the movie.

When they’re done, they stand there panting in a pose, waiting for the room to cheer. But nobody does. Everyone starts booing, like it was the worst thing they’ve ever seen.

Then I feel something hit me on the back of the head with a wet thud. “Ouch!” I curse, as I reach behind my head to feel what it was. “Gross,” I whimper when I touch something slimy and bring my hand back around. “Is that a tomato?”

The guys shout as the whole room starts throwing rotten food at them. I duck and rush toward them. “Colton!” I shout. “Lennox, Mateo, Trevor.”

Just as I make it onto the mat, and the guys look over at me, everything goes black.

I bolt up out of bed, chest heaving, pulse racing, as my mind slowly comes back to consciousness. Blinking, I realize that I’m not at the competition, I'm still in my hotel room. I look over to the other bed and find Serenity is passed out, lightly snoring.

“Thank God it was just a dream,” I whisper to myself, placing my hand over my pounding heart. But what the hell kind of dream was that?

Shaking my head, I flop back on the pillow. The dream was weird as hell, but I'm not going to lie, the more I think about it, the more I realize it’s funny as fuck. And maybe slightly traumatizing. I’ve got to tell the guys about it in the morning.

When I wake again, it’s to a pillow being smashed into my face.

“What the hell?!” I groan.

“Wake up, bitch. It’s competition day!” Serenity's overly excited voice has me groaning and rolling over, pulling the blanket up, covering my head. I’m not a morning person.

“Nope.” She grabs the blanket and yanks it down.

“You better watch yourself, Ren,” I huff, shooting her a glare. “I know where you sleep.”

“You do. But no one's sleeping right now. Let’s get our makeup and hair out of the way, then we can go grab something small to eat.”

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