3 Chapter 2

Whitney

"Mine!" I yelled, lurching my body forward to hit the ball. I watched the volleyball fly into the air and over the net, the other side scrambling and failing to receive it.

"Good job, Montgomery," coach Larson praised, walking over to pat me on the back. "Thanks, coach." I replied, still a bit out of breath. I took a seat on the bleachers, grabbed my water bottle and relished the cold liquid flowing down my throat. I let out a tired gasp, wiping the sweat off my forehead.

"Nice work back there, Whit," Lola, my friend and one of my teammates, commented as she took a seat beside me. "You continue to outdo yourself every year."

"Thank you, and I kind of have to being the team captain." I replied, reaching for my duffel bag to get my towel. I wiped off the rest of the sweat on me, aching to take a shower.

"You don't have to, Whit. You want to."

I sat up and made my way towards the bathroom, stripping the jersey and my shorts off, leaving me in my underwear. I stared at myself in the mirror, scrutinizing every part of my body. In spite of our intense work-outs, I still wasn't satisfied with my body. I drastically lost weight when I first joined the varsity, however the need to keep losing still remained.

I tore my eyes off the mirror before my thoughts got carried away and got inside one of the stalls. As soon as the hot water landed on my skin, a sigh of relief passed its way out my lips. God knows how long I stood there alone with my thoughts, but I snapped out of it when someone knocked, wondering why I was taking so long.

"Sorry!" I squeaked, twisting the ends of my hair and squeezing out the remaining water. I took the towel I brought with me and got out of there as fast as I could.

-

"Hey Whit, the other girls and I are heading to the mall to grab a bite, wanna join?" Lola hollered with a few of my teammates by her side. I bit the inside of my cheek, mentally scanning through my dad's schedule. He wouldn't be home until eleven, so what could go wrong?

"Alright." I hopped in the car gifted to her by her parents for her Sweet Sixteenth and sat beside Amara, the girl I recognized to be Delilah Santiago's sister. She was quite popular, being blood-related to the best friend of Belleview High's head cheerleader.

Blair Westwood and her family were a whole different story. I didn't know the girl personally, but from all the stories that I've heard, she was not one to mess with.

"Hey you guys, my sister just texted saying that the Knights won for the third time in a row!" Amara announced, a prideful smile on her face knowing that her sister was part of the team.

"That's expected. Like Blair would ever let anyone else take the trophy away from her," Lola sneered, "Stealing that from her would be like taking a bone from a dog."

"A big, scary dog." another added, causing ripples of laughter to fill the air.

The ride to the mall took barely ten minutes. Lola pulled in a vacant parking spot, turning the engine off as we all got out. The distinct sound of a car locking was heard as we all went inside.

Being a Friday, students from our school took over the place. It was the usual hangout where most cliques went to with their friends.

"I would kill for some sushi right now." Lola groaned, practically moaning at the thought. I seconded the statement, only realizing my craving for the dish when it was mentioned.

"Would anyone else like to object to that?" Lola asked the group, receiving positive head-shaking from the other girls, "Great! Japanese it is!"

Hal's Sushi was a well-known restaurant in the town, serving one of the best sushi platters in Belleview. Not only was the food mouthwatering, the ambience was amazing as well. It was one of my comfort places that I carved a special room in my heart for. I absolutely loved it there.

When Lola pushed the door open, our eyes met the members of our school's cheerleading team. Even if their table was placed all the way at the back, one could never miss them. They were automatically the center of attention without even trying.

"Table for how many?" it seemed that all of us were in a trance because we snapped back to reality at the same time.

"Ehem," Lola cleared her throat, speaking for the rest of us, "For five, please."

"This way." we followed the footsteps of the waiter, hoping and praying that we wouldn't end up near their table. Luckily, we were sat at a good distance away from them, but that still didn't put us at ease.

"You guys, why are we so afraid of them? They're just cheerleaders, for crying out loud." Lola asserted to all of us.

"Because Blair Westwood is there!" one of the girls replied in a hushed tone.

"Exactly. I mean, I'm related to her best friend, but the girl strikes fear into my heart." Amara articulated, peering over at them to make sure they weren't looking. It was ridiculous how they scared us so much, but I had to agree that Blair's presence made me uncomfortable.

"Why don't we just pretend that they're not there so we can eat in peace, sound good?" I asked in attempt to coax the group.

"Are you crazy? One cannot simply ignore Blair Westwood." I heard one of them berate me lowly.

"I'm sure that behind that Great Wall of hers is a regular human like the rest of us." I told them, turning my head to glance at their table. For a minute, Blair actually seemed pretty normal until she caught my gaze and I then understood what people meant when they said her eyes could cut through you like a knife. I gulped, looking away so fast I was surprised I didn't snap my neck.

"What's wrong? Why are you blushing so hard?" Lola questioned, noticing my state, "Did something happen?"

"W-What? No- no, nothing happened." I dismissed, flushed, hoping that that would make her stop.