Page 42 of Billionaires Don't Date Cheerleaders
I ran outside and down the walkway to his car before there was any chance of my parents looking out the upstairs window and seeing me get into the car. If they saw that it wasn't Jess picking me up, they would get suspicious, and I didn't need that.
Jude rolled down the passenger side window as I came up.
“Do you want to put your bags in the back?” He asked.
“No, it’s fine,” I said. I glanced behind me again. The curtains were all drawn upstairs, but Grace was still staring at me out the window, probably trying to get a glimpse of the boy picking me up. I did my best to block the view as I got into the car. “My sister thinks you’re my boyfriend.”
“Oh yeah?” We started down the road.
“I doubt she can think of any other reason why a boy would drive me to cheer practice.”
Jude laughed. “I guess I can’t blame her. As you might recall, I do have a thing for cheerleaders.”
“Oh, right,” I said. “I think I offered to find you a girl to date on the team, didn’t I? I better follow through on that promise.”
Jude’s grip tightened a little on the steering wheel. “Yeah,” he said. He sounded like he could barely get the word out. “I guess.”
When we walked into the gym, every eye was on us. Cate screamed in excitement. Kinsleigh choked on the water she’d been drinking. Eloise fell out of her handstand, crashing awkwardly into the mats that were waiting to be laid out on the floor. The only person flat-out smiling was Jess—who I’d explained the situation to the night before when she asked why I didn’t need a ride from her today.
“Evans,” Coach Bee said. She walked over to me, hands on her hips. “Need I remind you that this is a cheerleading practice?”
“No, ma’am,” I said. I wrapped my hand around the strap of my cheer bag. “I’m ready for practice.”
“Then why did you bring a visitor?” She looked at Jude briefly. “We’ve already hosted tryouts for the year.”
“Thank you, but I’m not here to try out,” he said.
“This is Jude,” I said as if there was anyone in this whole school who wouldn’t recognize him. “He was wondering if he could watch the practice.”
“Watch the practice?” Coach Bee repeated. “Why?”
“I like cheerleading,” Jude said.
“Well, I…” Coach Bee rubbed her forehead with her hand. “You can sit on the bench over there—quietly, please.”
“Sorry,” I said to Jude as Coach Bee walked away. “I forgot to warn you that she might not be… thrilled that you’re here.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jude said. “I’m used to the teachers annoyed with us being around.”
“Like Madame Dubois avoiding coming into class until after announcements?” I asked. Even though we were both saying it in joking tones, something in his face told me that it wasn’t all funny to him. “I guess that would get hard with time… If there’s someone who should be happy you’re at school, it’s your teachers.”
“Yeah, well…” Jude sighed. “At least I know most of the students are happy to see us. Can’t really complain about that, right?”
“I guess,” I murmured. If I were in his shoes, I didn’t think that would be enough. Feeling like you’re a burden to the faculty just for being a student… I could only imagine the ways that would start to weigh on a person after a while. “Anyway,why don’t you go sit down? I need to get my shoes on and everything.”
Jude nodded and headed for the bench. He hadn’t been away for more than two seconds before three girls descended on him, asking why he was there. I would have gone to save him and pull them away, except that I was also ambushed as Jess and Eloise grabbed my arms and pulled me off to where all the bags were.
“First, you’re tweeting with Jude, and now you’re bringing him to cheer practice?” Eloise asked. She put a hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. “Sloane, I need you to tell us the turn: are you two dating?”
“What? No!” She looked at me knowingly, like she thought I was just holding out because we were keeping it a secret or something. “We’re not dating! Honest.”
“You can say it all you want,” Eloise said. “But trust me, we all see the truth.”
“You clearly don’t if you think we’re dating!”
“Okay, girls!” Coach Bee clapped her hands to get our attention. “Let’s start warming up.”
Jess wrapped an arm around my shoulder and gestured around the room. “Forget it, Sloane. There’s no way you’re going to convince all of them.”
