Page 27 of Quarterback Crush
Rose, who was retying her bun, poked my elbow. In the reflection, Savannah and Kelsie were approaching.
“Ewww,” Savannah said loudly, “what’s that?” She sniffed the air, her nose scrunching in disapproval. “Smells like old lady scent.”
Kelsie laughed. “Ick! Someone borrowed their grandma’s lotion.”
I lowered my head, discreetly inhaling my skin. It was a soft floral fragrance, hardly offensive to anyone. Though it had been a gift from my grandmother on my last birthday.
“Oh, hey, hi Rose,” Savannah said as if she’d just noticed us, “Hi Maya.”
“Hi Savannah,” Rose said. “How are you feeling?”
“Much better, thanks.” Savannah smile dissipated as her gaze flitted from Rose to me. Her stunning blue eyes roamed across my face like she was conducting an inspection.
“Yeah, welcome back,” I said, forcing my lips to curl up. “Uh, the squad missed you.”
I was genuine in my sentiment—as captain, Savannah inspired all of us—but her glossy lips glowered at me as she said, “You know, your hair would look better in a bun. The ends look a littledry.”
For a split second I was lost for words, my mouth gaping before I reached up to touch the ponytail I thought I’d tied to cheerleader perfection. “Oh.”
“Maybe use a concentrated bond builder,” she said, showing me all of her gleaming white teeth.
My throat tightened as I had no idea what a concentrated bond builder was. “Oh, yeah, sure.”
“It helpsdullanddamagedhair,” she said, tripling her volume so everyone in the locker room could hear, before breezing away, saying, “You’re welcome.”
My fingers worked quickly as I tore the scrunchie from my ponytail and gathered my hair into a tight bun, all the while sniffing my arms. No one had ever complained how I smelled and I’d worn that lotion all season.
My timing was a little off, or so Savannah pointed out on several occasions. Well, yes, I was rather distracted, self-conscious that my scent was possibly repulsing everyone and my hair was in lackluster condition. I now dreaded getting a ride with Oliver. What if he thought I smelled bad too?
Our session wrapped up with Savannah taking the stretches. My flexibility had never been questioned previously, but Savannah urged me to go deeper with my splits, even though I was lower than most of the girls.
“Okay, great work everyone,” she said finally. “See you all tomorrow.”
Before being dismissed, we huddled into our compliment circle, the usual way to end our training. Everyone had to give a quick compliment to the person next to them about their efforts. It was just a simple thing to end on a positive note:great leaps, awesome chant, full of enthusiasm, cool hair.
Today, I was between Harlow and Rose, but as we were about to start, Savannah barged in the middle of me and Rose. Meaning she would be complimenting me.
“Um, Savannah’s flexibility is amazing,” Rose said when it was her turn.
“Thank you,” Savannah said, before nudging me. My chest tightened as she hesitated, seeming to struggle to find something nice to say.
“Uh, um,” Savannah faltered, “um...I know...Maya has good taste in boys...”—she flashed a sarcastic smile at me—“she’s dating my ex.”
My lungs seized. Okay, granted we weren’t friends, but as fellow cheerleaders, we treated each other with respect, and that certainly wasn’t a compliment. Savannah had mocked me and now everyone was laughing at me.
I had to laugh too, pretend it was funny, that I was fine with it. And as Mrs. Foster had wandered away, there was nothing I could say.
“Harlow, your tumbling was awesome,” I squeaked out in haste, my face red hot and my chin trembling, wanting the circle to hurry up and finish. Already, Sammy’s words were reverberating in my head.
“What if Savannah doesn’t like the idea of Oliver dating you? What if she gets upset with you?”
Oh yes, it seemed my friend was 100% right. Savannah was obviously not happy that I was dating Oliver.
Feeling dazed and confused over this development, I didn’t register Oliver looming behind me after the circle broke up.
“Hey, Maya!” Only when he called my name did I stop, looking over my shoulder to see him thundering toward me like a bull on a rampage. “I was calling for you to wait up.”
“Sorry, I didn’t hear you,” I said.
