Chapter Eight

Leah

I shift into a sitting position and wipe my tears with the backs of my hands at the sound of a knock on my door. I’m sitting here in an oversize sweatshirt and sweats as I showered and changed after Darius left me. I call out to whoever it is to come in. I’m not surprised to see it’s my brother. He takes one look at me and all his anger drains away, his face softens as he makes his way over to me and sits on the edge of my bed.

“I’m sorry about D, he can be a real–”

“Dick?” I supply, he chuckles and nods.

“Yeah. He can be, but he means well.” I scoff, which just earns me a stiff look from Corvin. “He shouldn’t have called you a hoe.” I balk at him.

“Out of everything from today that is all you picked up?” His brow furrows.

“Uh, what else was there?” I throw my hands up exasperated at how dense he is being.

“He carried me off the court and home like I am some errant child! Do you know how embarrassing that is?”

“Well, no.” I scowl at the idiot. “In his defense he only did it because he views you as a sister.” I fight the cringe that wants to break free. “Seeing you with Garrett and how you were… dressed.” I pin him with a look daring him to continue down that path, he wisely doesn’t. “Look, Garrett is a dick and is only using you to get at me.”

I roll my eyes; men are so stupid. “Garrett had no idea I was your sister when we first started hanging out.” That revelation seems to shock him. “Not everything is about you, Corv. I know the five of you are the kings of CHU, but that doesn’t mean everyone wants to use me to get to you.” His features harden.

“If only you knew,” he mutters beneath his breath, which piques my intrigue. We sit here silently for a few minutes lost in our own thoughts until he breaks the silence. “Why did you transfer, Leah?” My heart stops.

“I… uh, I got kicked out of the dance program,” I lie. He rolls his lips over his teeth, he knows I’m lying and wants to call me on but I know Corvin, he won’t do it.

“Yeah… that’s what Mom said.” I flinch at the mention of my parents. They are struggling now because of me. They wanted to retire and live their best life but now they can’t because paying for my tuition is eating all of their savings and I fucking hate myself for that, but they wouldn’t let me drop out of school all together.

I spent the rest of the night holed up in my room, I felt bad blowing Garrett off but he said he understood. I got up extra early to leave the house so I didn’t risk bumping into any of the guys. I make my way across campus and head toward the coffee cart to grab me, Cody and Katie a latte. With coffees in hand, I head toward their temporary dorm room. I take a deep breath and steel my spine, ready for them to lash out at me for ditching them yesterday. I knock twice and wait a minute before the door swings open and reveals Cody standing there. I expect to see annoyance at the sight of me in her eyes but when she breaks out into a full blown smile it throws me off kilter.

“Girl, get your ass in here and fill us in!” She drags me into the room and places a kiss to my cheek as she steals her coffee and drops into the desk chair in the corner. Katie sits on her bed and motions with her hands like a child for her coffee.

“Gimme, gimme, I need a caffeine hit pronto for this!” I smile and hand her the cup as I sit on the edge of Cody’s bed.

“Girl, spill now!” Cody prompts. I fill them in on everything that happened after Darius carried me off the court and all the way home.

“He is so into you.” I pin Katie with a look that I hope conveys that she is nuts!

“Darius hates me,” I huff out and drop back on the bed dramatically.

“Babe, if that is what hate looks like then I’mma need him and Beckett to hate me.” I turn my head and shoot Cody a playful glare, she puts her hands up as if surrendering. “On the real though, Garrett looked pissed when Darius went all caveman on your ass.” I rest up on my elbows and look to both my friends. Katie nods her agreement to Cody’s statement which pulls a groan from me.

“I told him I wasn’t looking for anything or even interested in dating right now.” Katie shoots me a smug look.

“You may not be looking but it sure as hell found you, baby cakes.” When they both begin to laugh, I drop back against the bed and groan. Fuck my life. The one guy I want more than anything won’t give me the time of day. When we were together, Darius treated me like I was his world, He taught me to view myself in a way no one ever had before. He was the first person to believe in me, that I could make it in dance. I’m eighteen and all I have ever wanted was to dance on stage.

“You okay?” I lift my head from my book and peer over at Garrett. We have taken to sitting next to each other in class now. I’ll admit, I have been a bit awkward today, with what the girls said earlier playing on my mind. Garrett is a really nice guy but he isn’t the guy for me.

“Yeah, just tired,” I lie.

“Want to meet up after school and grab a coffee?” I furrow my brow confused.

“Aren’t you meant to be at training?” He shrugs.

“You’re worth blowing it off for.” Oh God, there it is. I need to distance myself from him or risk him getting the wrong idea. I’m not the type of girl who leads a guy on.

“I have dance practice after school.” His face falls, and I feel like shit when he nods and turns back to face our professor. I try to tell myself that I’m doing the right thing but guilt is a bitch and that is why I tack on. “Raincheck?” He snaps his gaze back to me and beams.

“Yeah, of course, I shouldn’t miss our first training anyway.” How he can go from sad puppy to happy in a split second stuns me but I don’t comment. I wave bye to Garrett as I head across campus to meet with the team, excitement thrumming through me and my body starts to vibrate with the need to move. Dance has always been an escape for me. It helped me deal with the darkest time of my life. I round the science building and smack into a wall–correction, not a wall, just Darius. He glares down his nose at me like I purposely ran into him. Not wanting to ruin my good mood, I try to step around him but he blocks my path.

“What’s your rush?” Taking a deep breath I crane my neck back and look at him, I hate that his eyes can still hold me captive, they’re like a vortex that can suck you right in.

“I have class,” I mumble.

“Hm, going to shake your ass, why am I not surprised?” I bite down on my tongue and count to three to try to calm myself but it doesn’t work.

“Coming from the guy who loved it when I shook it for him?” I scoff to drive my point home. Darius strikes out so quickly I have no time to prepare. He grips my arms, then spins us until my back is against the building and he is crowding my space.

“ Used to like it, now all I can picture is the amount of cocks you’ve had inside your loose cunt.” My eyes widen and my jaw unhinges at his crass words. I shove at his chest but he doesn’t freaking budge and that causes my ire to grow.

“Leave me the hell alone, Darius!” I snarl.

“Transfer the fuck out of my school and I will. How trash like you got in here, I’ll never fucking know. Open your legs for the dean and he may just put in a good word for you at your new school.” I don’t know what comes over me but one second my hand is at my side and then in the next, it’s cracking across Darius Lockhart’s cheek. We both stand here with wide eyes, shocked that I would ever dare lay my hand on him—I’ve never hit anyone in my life! He bends down until he is right in my face, he is so close his lips ghosts over mine, his brown eyes are so dark they look almost black. “You’re gonna pay for that, you washed up has been!” He pushes off me, causing me to smack against the wall harder, turns and storms away, leaving me standing here swarming in my own anger.

Fine, he wants to play this game, then I’ll play it better. I’ll show him what it’s like to play offside before I score the final touchdown . I decide here and now to put a plan into motion that ensures Darius will be the one stunned the next time we encounter each other. I’m going to make him eat out of the palm of my hand. I just need to keep my heart out of it because it won’t survive being broken by him a second time.

I manage to keep up with the team for our first official practice but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t beat. My body is aching and my calves are burning from the workout they were put through. I look over at Chelsea and it grates on my frail nerves to see her smiling and standing at attention ready to go another round, the girl is a fucking robot.

“Into positions,” Coach Telford shouts. Cody and I groan as we drag our sorry asses over to the others and prepare to run through the routine one final time. Coach told us that the school is considering allowing us to headline the halftime show for the finals of the football game if we make the finals. This would be the first time in CHU history that the cheer squad wouldn’t be headlining the event.