Chapter 23

"Is my bow on correctly?" A freshman asks from the corner of the room "Let me help you" I suggest as I walk over to her and pin her bow in place When I finish, I let her observe it so that she can decide if she likes the placement or not.

"Thank you so much, Aspen" she says gratefully "No problem" I reply with a smile as I walk back over to a mischievous looking Avery I notice her smirking at her phone as she continues to text someone quickly.

"Who are you texting?" I ask her with a curious tone of voice as I begin to lace up my cheer shoes She quickly jumps back when she hears my voice as she shoves her phone into her pocket.

"Jesus Christ, you scared me" she says as she places a hand firmly over her heart "You didn't answer my question" I joke with a smile I notice her facial expression appear to become conflicted.

"Avery, I was just kidding, you don't have to tell me" I reassure her She nods her head as she glances down at her phone.

"I need to go help coach move some mats, I'll be back soon" she says as she makes her way out of the locker room Okay, that was weird.

-

"You got this!" Avery and I yell at the same time as our eyes never leave Charlotte's team Our school has spirit week traditions.

During the pep rally the varsity volleyball players play against the teachers.

It's hilarious but it's also very competitive.

Some of the cheerleaders are stretching beside the bleachers so that they don't get hit in the face by a volleyball. The rest of us are standing in front of the bleachers since we're not allowed to sit in the bleachers with the rest of the grade levels.

Charlotte and our math teacher are continuously spiking the ball when they get the chance which is why Avery and I are on the edge of our seats.

Both teams are tied, whoever misses this ball loses.

Charlotte's teammates seem to be passing the ball.

As soon as the ball is within Charlotte's reach, she passes the ball too?

Seriously, what is she doing?!

"What is she doing?" Avery asks with confusion in her voice as her eyes never stray away from the game How am I supposed to know?!

I'm not a mind reader.

"I don't know" I decide to reply as a girl launches the ball over the net Some teachers scramble to get the ball as it lands in the middle of their team.

I hold my breath as everyone begins to cheer from the stands. Some teachers even clap their hands.

"Aspen, breathe" Avery says as she appears in my line of sight I nod my head before taking a breath of air.

The rest of the cheerleaders, that were stretching, come to join us with their pom-poms in hands.

Oh right, I need to go get those now since we're about to perform.

"Do you want me to go get your pom-poms?" I ask a distracted Avery She nods her head as she continues to look for someone.

"Sure" she says to me I just shrug at her as I make my way over to the spot where Avery and I left our pom-poms when we were in a rush to watch the rest of the volleyball game.

As soon as I grab Avery and I's pom-poms our principal decides to make an announcement.

"Can Aspen Bailey make her way to the middle of the gymnasium, Aspen Bailey" he says into the microphone What the hell.

I walk up to a now excited looking Avery.

"What is happening?!" I whisper to her as everyone's eyes land on me "You'll find out soon, go on" She ushers as she grabs the pom-poms from my hands and gently pushes me in the direction of the designated spot I swear, if something jumps out at me this school will not be a pretty sight when I'm done.

As soon as I'm standing in the designated spot a bunch of people gasp as others pull out their phones to record something.

Okay.

This is getting weird.

I look in front of me to notice Charlotte smiling innocently at me as she holds up a giant sign in her hands.

I bring my hands up to cover the lower half of my face.

Oh, my goodness!

She did not!

'Please Donut Reject My Offer.' The sign says in navy blue lettering as her other hand expertly holds a box of donuts that spell out the word 'hock?'.

I nod my head at her silent question as I grab the box of donuts from her hand, so that she won't drop them, and lean in to give her a hug.

I cannot kiss her since, one, it would be awkward to kiss her in front of the whole school. And two, a lot of people are already recording us so it'll be awkward to have it posted around everywhere.

"This is only half of the surprise" Charlotte whispers in my ear as everyone begins to cheer at my answer I laugh lightly as we pull away from each other.

"You're just full of surprises" I say with a smile She smiles back with a head nod as she leads me towards a blocked off table where we set my stuff down.

I wonder what the rest of the surprise will be.

-

Shit.

I forgot about the tradition where a cheerleader wears their significant other's jersey.

Our school favors volleyball just as much as they favor football so we have to wear the jersey to both sporting events.

"Congratulations, Aspen" a cheerleader thanks me as I walk into the gym for practice Ever since Charlotte asked me to homecoming during the pep rally a good amount of people have been congratulating me on getting asked by 'Bellisa'.

As soon as school ended Charlotte texted me to inform me that the video of her asking me to homecoming went viral.

Some of the articles are, of course, using this as a form of evidence to prove that we are dating.

"Thank you" I reply to her with a big smile as I make my way over to a confused Avery "What?" I ask her as I follow her line of sight to my black tee that I have one Oh.

She might be confused as to why I'm not wearing my cheer uniform yet.

I go to answer her silent question only to be cut off.

"She hasn't given you her jersey yet?" Avery asks with clear disappointment in her tone of voice Oh, that's what this is about.

"No, but it's fine" I reply Avery nervously nibbles on her top lip as she pulls out her phone and walks towards the locker room.

Okay.

That was weird.

"Aspen, can you help us with the routine?" The freshman girl that I helped earlier asks "Sure" I nod my head as I set my bags down and make my way towards them Great.

This is what I need.

A distraction.

-

"Aspen, have you seen my shoes?" Avery asks as she seems to be visibly freaking out I'm going to assume that she means her cheer shoes since she's wearing her normal shoes right now.

"No, I'm sorry. Do you want me to go find them?" I suggest as I notice her stressed facial expression "Please, I think it's in my locker" she says with a thankful tone of voice I nod as I tighten my ponytail and make my way out of the locker room. I'm forced to take the outside entrance as guests are starting to arrive.

The game doesn't start for another thirty minutes.

As I continue walk along the sidewalk, I hear someone quickly running up behind me. I move out of the way, last second, as they appear in front of me.

"Hey" she says cutely as she grabs ahold of my hand and laces our fingers together I roll my eyes at her randomness as I try to distract myself from how good her butt looks in her spandex shorts.

"What are you doing out here?" I ask her as I continue to walk alongside her Her eyebrows furrow as she looks down at me.

"Chasing the source of all my dreams" Charlotte says as if it's obvious I blush as I look away from her.

"Babe, that has to be the worst one yet" I say which makes her laugh We arrive at the side entrance of the school so that we don't cause a disturbance in the front part of the school.

"You love my pickup lines" she says as she holds the door open for me I thank her as I walk through the door and into the vacant hallway.

"Sure, you keep telling yourself that" I reply as I pat her shoulder She laughs at my joke as she suddenly stops me beside her locker, which isn't that far from mine.

She quickly unlocks her locker before opening for me and stepping to the side so that I can have a better view of it.

Oh, my goodness.

"Charlotte," I say with a breathless tone as I walk up to her locker Her long sleeved dark blue jersey is neatly folded in her locker alongside a cup of coffee.

"What's that?" I ask curiously as I point behind the volleyball jersey She smiles brightly as she takes it out of her locker and places it in my hands.

It's a hoodie, specifically hers.

"Since we can't be with each other tonight, like we planned, I wanted to give you another one of my hoodies" she says sweetly I look up at her with a grateful look as my eyes begin to tear up.

I'm dating a literal angel.

"I love you so much" I say as I wrap my arms around her waist A couple of seconds go by before I freeze as the words, I just uttered hit me in the face with full force.

Shit.

I just said that I love her.

It's way too soon for that.

Yeah, we've known each other for years but that doesn't mean that we've said the 'L word'.

She wraps her arms around me tightly as she places her chin on top of my head.

"I love you too, baby girl" she whispers huskily as she continues to hold me protectively against her body.

-

I was practically beaming throughout the whole game.

She said that she loves me.

"Aspen, the game is over" Avery says as she shakes me out of my daydream "What?" I ask her with obvious shock in my facial expressions as I look around her head at the leaderboard "Yeah, we won" she says as if she already expected it I glance over to the volleyball girls as they walk past us to get to the locker room. I look through the girls only to notice that my girl isn't in there.

I furrow my eyebrows as I pout.

"Do you know where Charlotte is? I want to congratulate her" I ask Avery as I turn to face her She's briefly glances behind me before her eyes find mine again. She answers my question with a head shake as a smile breaks out onto her face.

I'm about to tell her that I'm going to go change when I'm interrupted by a pair of arms wrapping around my waist.

"You said something about wanting to congratulate me?" Charlotte whispers near my ear which causes a shiver to run down my spine Avery watches us with an amused facial expression which causes me to blush as I avoid her eyes.

I turn around in Charlotte's arms so that I'm facing the breathless athlete. I gently place my hands on her upper arms since I don't know what to do with them.

"How do you feel now that you can relax?" I ask her as I refer back to earlier when she was stressed out about this game She shrugs her shoulders as she quickly glances around us to see if anyone is watching.

I highly doubt it since it is incredibly crowded in here.

"Great, honestly," she says with a relieved tone I smile brightly at her answer.

"Do you know what would make me feel better though?" She asks me as her eyes seemingly become darker Wow.

That's cool.

"What?" I answer her back I don't miss the way that she subtly pulls her bottom lip into her mouth and leans down so that she can whisper into my ear.

"If my incredibly desirable girlfriend were to come home with me and walk around my room in nothing but my hoodie" she whispers huskily against my ear I feel a shiver run up my spine, ultimately causing me to shiver in her arms as I dig my nails into her white volleyball shirt.

She slowly pulls away from my ear with a smirk.

I gulp as my eyes search hers to see if she's serious or not.

"I think that I might take you up on that offer" I reply breathlessly as I clench my thighs together to dull the throbbing in a certain area Gosh.

I used to be so innocent.

What happened?!