Page 41 of Billionaires Don't Date Cheerleaders
Because my sister refuses to go to school that early
Jude
I’ll drive you
So she doesn’t have to go out of her way
Sloane
You don’t even know where she lives
Jude
That’s irrelevant
Sloane
I’m 90% sure she lives closer to me than you
Jude
As I said, irrelevant
Be ready at 6:30
ten
“But you normally meet herat 6:40,” Grace said. I sighed and ran down the stairs, hoping she wouldn’t follow. I threw my cheer bag and backpack by the door and slipped on my warm-up jacket as I headed for the kitchen. I thought I might have shaken Grace off my tail, but I only had a moment of peace before she came barging in after me. “What’s going on? You’re being so secretive.”
I poured some coffee into a travel mug and grabbed a banana to eat after practice, then brushed past Grace to head to the front door. It was almost seven, and I didn’t want to make Jude wait. Though, I did have a feeling he was going to be a little late since he hadn’t actually been to my house before, and it might take him a minute to find it.
“You’re not meeting Jess, are you?” Grace asked.
“What?” I tried my best to sound flippant, but it was hard to hide anything when I was talking to Grace. “Why would I be meeting anyone else? I have cheer practice.”
As I picked up my bags—which was difficult considering everything I was juggling in my hands already—Grace dove in front of the door so I couldn’t leave. She looked up the stairslike she was checking we were alone, then whispered, “You’re meeting a boy, aren’t you?”
If she hadn’t sounded so excited by the prospect, I probably would have continued to deny it. I would have insisted that it was Jess picking me up and that she was acting crazy. But as it was, I couldn’t lie to her. I knew Grace hated our parents’ no-dating rule as much as I did, so me going anywhere alone with a boy was an incredibly exciting prospect for her. Like I could pave the way for her to be able to get a boyfriend one day.
I glanced behind me to make sure my parents weren’t there and then bit my lip and nodded. I didn’t want to give her too much information, lest she accidentally reveal it to my parents, but I could tell her that.
Grace smiled and stepped aside. “Have fun.”
“I really am just going to cheer practice,” I said. That muchshouldhave been obvious from my outfit of workout shorts and a ratty t-shirt. I didn’t want her to get ahead of herself and think this was any more than it was. “He’s just coming with me. To watch.”
“No boy has ever driven you to cheer practice before,” she said. “You like him, don’t you? That’s why you invited him.”
“Invitedmight be a strong term,” I muttered. More like I said I would be there, and he went ahead and invited himself. “But… yes. I think I do like him.”
If only she knew who we were talking about right now… she might scream.
A shiny blue sports car pulled up outside our house, almost vibrating from the music spilling out of it. Grace’s eyes locked on it through the window, and her jaw dropped.
“Is that… for you?”
“I think so,” I uttered slowly. I guess it was my fault for not realizing when Jude said he would drive me that he would pullup in a car like this. I opened the front door. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Yeah,” Grace mumbled, her gaze locked on the car. Funny—I’d never thought of her as someone who cared about cars at all.
