Chapter 1 The Pep Rally

I wake up with a start. Oh no, what time is it?! I rub my eyes and try to see those red numbers on my digital clock through blurring eyes. 7:10! Oh no, I'm going to miss my bus...again! I rush to take the fastest shower I've ever taken in history, get dressed, grab a pop tart, shove it in my pocket and run out the door. I look around and up at the sky. I wish I could just take my time and enjoy this beautiful spring day morning, but there's no time. I sprint to my bus stop only to find no one there, which includes my best friend, Douglas.

I waste no time running as fast as possible without drawing suspicious unwarranted attention. I'm going to have to cut through someone's yard at some point! All these roads heading north are nothing but dead ends! Good thing I know exactly where I am. I see the old spooky yellow house with the scary old lady that always sits on the front porch marking the next bus stop on our route. She has a tall privacy fence in her backyard that I make short work of climbing over it with ease. I hope no one saw me do that. I almost trip on a garden hose and sprint the last 6 steps in time to see familiar faces from our bus. Three heads whipped around as they heard me scamper up...trying to catch my breath.

"That's the third time this month!" Joey says with a goofy grin while he shakes his head. "You're so lucky you made it. By the way, how did you run so fast? That's like six city blocks!" "I am on track, remember?" I quickly added. "Oh yeah, well, it's a good thing you are," says Joey as he can't stop laughing. We spot the bus turning the corner before Joey can finish laughing at me. We all climb up the three giant steps onto our bus. I catch the wide all too knowing grins of my fellow bus stoppers as I walk down the aisle to sit next to my buddy Douglas.

"Bro, you are something else...you know that?" Douglas says while he chuckles. "It's the last day before spring break which should be a cakewalk, and I know you don't want to miss the pep rally. After all, you have the biggest crush on Emily, who should be the next cheer captain after your sister."

Oh, Em, why can't I stop thinking about her? I sigh and say, "Why do you think I ran so fast?! It's her first pep rally, and I wouldn't miss it for the whole world!" How did I make it in time? Did I use any one of my powers without even thinking about it? I've been so careful not to reveal any of my many secrets. Douglas, my most trusted friend, doesn't even know what I am capable of. What power I can wield in just the palm of my hand.

Our school comes into sight, and the conversations pick up louder in anticipation of getting today's school done to start spring break. I met back up with Douglas at our neighboring lockers. Yes, I know...we sit together and have lockers next to each other. I am a master at persuasion. "So, is your sister excited about going to the spring formal with Christopher Taylor?" "Don't remind me," I say as I shake my head. "I don't know what she sees in that guy. Only because he's the first Sophomore to be the starting QB in the school's history, it's such a cliché.``'' We should break them up somehow then." Douglas mumbles. "Everyone knows, including my sister, that you have the biggest crush on her...including herself. You don't exactly hide it, you know." I say with a laugh. "One day, she'll realize what a great boyfriend I would be to her and how much of a big jerk Chris is. I would do anything for her."

"Why are we talking about my sister?!" He looks up in time to see my face and stops with his mouth wide open to speak but doesn't. "Anyways, I'll race you to homeroom!" I shout as I turn around and sprint to class.

I can't wait for 3rd-period biology to sit by Emily, I think to myself as I look up at the clock. I glare at it through narrow slits. Wish that was one of my powers to speed up time. Douglas raises an eyebrow at me as he catches me smirking to myself.

"I'm just excited to see Emily." It seems like he bought it. I sigh in relief. The following two classes seem to drag by, and the bell finally rings, signaling our break for lunch. Douglas, Joey, Nick, and I always sit together at the same table for lunch every day. We have our own little gang of 14-year-old freshman kids. "Hey, what's up, my man," Nick says as he reaches his hand out for our secret shake. I replied, "Yo, What's up, guy?" "I heard about your race to the finish line this morning. Coach Gise would be so proud." This makes everyone laugh aloud as I take my usual seat next to Douglas and across from Joey. "I don't know how I made it. I just put my head down and ran like my life depended on it." I say in time to hear Joey laugh as he says, "Yeah, I'm sure you were thinking of seeing Emily in that cheerleading uniform for the first time while you were running." This brought another round of erupting laughter that had half the cafeteria looking our way. I can feel my cheeks heat up as I smile and look down in embarrassment. "Dude, she's like the hottest cheerleader we have, bruh," I answer right back to Joey. "Nah, your sis..." Before he can finish, he sees my glare and quickly looks away, trying to hide his smirk. Off across the cafeteria, we see my sister holding hands with Chris. At the same time, they both carry their trays of food to their 'popular' table. "Hey," I say as I lightly tap his open jaw, "Are you trying to catch a fly with that thing?." Douglas holds his stomach as he laughs more than he did for Joey's joke. Which brings a massive smile to my face that almost makes my eyes water in laughter. The 15-minute warning bell rings, and we all empty our trays.

Finally! I think to myself. 3rd period. I walk past Emily. "Hey, Em." She smiles and says, "I heard about what happened this morning from your sister." "You too!" I say while I groan, which brings a laugh out of her. "Wish I was there to see how you made that run-in time. You'll be making the first string varsity in no time with wheels like that, Mr. James." "Well, I can't have you be the only Freshman starter in our class, now can I?" We exchange smirks as we take our spots at the lab bench, which we share together. Since it's the last day before break, I get the whole hour to talk to my crush. Mr. Winters just sips on his coffee mug while he reads the school's latest Claw edition, our school paper, which is coincidentally written by my one and only sister.

"So, are you nervous? Let me know if Sis gives you a hard time." I say as I raise a balled-up fist towards her. "oh, I will." She says with a jokingly sarcastic smile. We both chuckled together. "Has anyone asked you out to the spring formal yet?" "Yeah, Brad did, but he's such a goofball." "Hey, what do you have against goofballs anyhow?!" which brought more held-back laughter from us again. We both peer up to see if Mr. Winters is looking at us over his coffee cup and sigh when he isn't as we meet each other's eyes and smile. "Dave Cunningham asked me too. I mean, he's cute and all, but that's not who I want to go with."

My heart raced at the thought of her referring to me. "Come on, don't leave a man hanging in suspense." "Well, I don't know if he would like a girl to be the one doing the asking, and what if he already has a date?" "Did you ask his friends or ask around?" "I can't because someone will run up to him and tell him I've been asking." "Well, maybe hearing this will give him the courage to come and ask you." "Hmmm, when did you become such a romantic, Alexander James?" "Guess it just runs in the family. On top of my sister being a cheerleader, aspiring to be a writer, she's also in drama! I swear I have no idea how she does it all. But hey, I'll tell you what, if you can't find a date, I don't have one. We can go together. I mean..." "Hey, you two can at least whisper while you talk all period long! You're distracting me from my reading!" Mr. Winters looks slightly irritated as we both say in unison, "Sorry, Mr. Winters." He gives a satisfying nod and continues reading. "We don't have to, just a thought." I quickly whisper to her and see her shake her head yes as if she's pondering the idea in her thoughts.

I spent the rest of the day wishing I was a bit more forward in asking her to the spring formal, but honestly, I was so nervous. Maybe I can tell Sis to put in a good word for me? Yeah, I'm sure I'll never hear the end of that one! The 4th period is over in a flash. Before I realize what time it is, the bell goes off. Douglas and I meet up at our lockers and follow the wave of students herding us to the auditorium for our after-school pep rally. I can't wait to see Em. I hope she isn't nervous.

I look around at our First-year class sitting area on our side of the bleachers and rush over to get close to the bottom as possible. Douglas and I find a seat on the third row. Not too bad, I think as I smile. "So our last football game is on Friday, our spring formal on Saturday. Busy weekend don't ya think?" Douglas sure is right about that. I have to go to the game tonight with my family to cheer on a cheerleader, such a drag. It makes no sense to me at all, but what can you do? "Yeah. My Dad is making me go with them, but hey, Emily will be there." I say as an afterthought. Then Douglas says. "How long have we all been friends? Since 6th grade, right? And you've felt this way about her during this whole time. One thing that always made me curious is that she's never dated anyone either. Maybe she likes you too. Has that thought ever crossed your mind?" "Now that you mentioned it, believe me, I have noticed, but I didn't want to think about it for some reason. She's so perfect, ya know? If I tell her how I feel and I'm wrong, what then?" "This isn't the first time we've had this talk, my man. Soon she'll think you really don't like her." I ponder over what he's saying while I rub my hairless chin.

As I sit there thinking, I start hearing the crowd roar as the football team runs out onto the court and the makeshift stage. The cheerleaders file in after them and trot over to their respective classes. The cheerleaders stand out on the court in front of their classmates during every pep rally, which gives me an excellent view of Em.

I swear we meet eyes, and she covers her mouth to hide a smile. My eyes are glued on her throughout the pep rally unless she catches me, and I quickly look away. If I notice her looking at me ten times, I'll ask her out right after this is over. I must have said that out loud because Douglas said, "Ok, I'll count." I was getting nervous when he got to eight. Dang, maybe he has a point. She keeps looking at me, smiling. I turn around to make sure she is looking at me for the ninth time, and I find myself looking at a group of girls sitting next to each other. How much longer is this pep rally? I'm totally screwed. It was time to see which class was the loudest to earn the spirit stick. Each class has to chant their grad year the loudest they can to get it. I catch her looking at me out of her eye as she chants with all of us. Douglas hasn't seemed to notice yet...maybe I. "Bruh, that's ten! Better get your speech ready." Damn, what a drag. I'll just tell her how I feel.

The pep rally was over but not in time before Douglas' counting was 13. "Do I have to do it right now?" "Hey man, this is your idea." Dang, why did I have to say that out loud! We finished stepping off the last row, and Em was raising back up after picking up her pom-poms and turning around to find herself face to face with me. "Hey Em, you looked great out there. Nerves of steel." She gives me this half shy, half awkward grin that I've never seen from her before. Maybe she's been thinking about what I said to her during the 3rd period. I quickly asked her. "Are you hanging out with my sister after the game tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm coming over right after. A couple of other girls from the squad are." "I guess that's one of the benefits of having a sister in cheerleading. You always get a house full of them after games." "Aren't you the lucky one?" We both break out in nervous laughter. "Could we talk then...you know, at my house?" she pauses before saying. "I mean, duh, we'll need to talk about what to wear for tomorrow night!" My eyes must have lit right up when she said that, and I started getting butterflies in my stomach. "Sounds like a plan, Em." "I like the sound of that. You've never called me Em before." I didn't realize I had said that out loud! What is wrong with me tonight! "New beginnings, I guess." She had this bright smile which was another first I've gotten from her. "I'll see you at the game tonight Em," I said as Douglas, and I turned around to catch the bus. "Ok, Alex, I stopped mid-step, looked back, smiled at her, and waved.