Chapter 4 No.4

I have good news and bad news.

Good news.

Belleza made the volleyball team and I made the cheer team.

Bad news.

I'm already falling behind in math.

I came to the decision that I'm going to take Belleza up on her offer to tutor me.

"Aspen, get up" Avery says as she throws a random pillow at me

"Five more minutes" I groan out as I practically shove my face into my pillow

"Aspen, we're supposed to be at school in five minutes" she says with a dead serious tone which causes me to jump out of bed and check my clock

Eight twenty-five.

"Shit" I say as I hop out of bed and jog into my closet

I quickly pick out a grey long sleeved shirt and pair it with a navy blue skirt. I decide to put on a matching pair of grey socks and my navy doc martens.

"Three minutes" Avery says to me as I walk out of my closet

She quickly tosses me a navy blue beanie which I accept as I walk towards my bathroom.

When I'm in front of my mirror I tug my hair out of its bun only for my hair to be messily wavy.

Good thing she tossed me a beanie.

I place the beanie on my head and walk out of my bathroom. I quickly grab my backpack and my cheer bag before facing an amused Avery.

"What?" I ask with a tone of confusion

"Don't you think you're missing something?" She says as she points to her neck

I continue to look at her with a confused facial expression as I reach up to feel my neck only for my eyes to widen.

Shit.

My locket.

I glance over to my night table where my locket is laying. I walk over and grab it before slipping it over my head.

"Okay, lets go" I say.

-

"Aspen, you're drooling" Avery says with an amused tone as she nudges my arm

I quickly look away from a distracted Belleza and turn my attention towards Avery.

I reach my hand up and wipe the side of my mouth.

I blush and look down at my lap with embarrassment as I feel a slight wetness near my lip.

Ever since Belleza walked into the room, two minutes ago, I can't help but stare at her.

Belleza is wearing a black lace bralette that's covered by a navy blue tank top. She paired that with a leather jacket and a pair of black skinny jeans. Along with it she added black high top converse and curled her hair.

Can you blame me for staring at her?!

"Do you like what you see?" I hear someone tease from my left

I jump slightly as I turn to face the culprit.

Low and behold Belleza is sharpening her pencil and the pencil sharpener just so happens to be right next to me.

I find it weird that she's sharpening a pencil since she usually writes in pen.

"I- Uh- Um-" I say as I feel my cheeks warm up significantly

She smirks at me before walking back to her assigned seat.

Goodness gracious.

At this point I'll never get through third period.

-

As soon as school ended I made my way towards my locker.

I need to grab my math textbook so that I can study for the test tomorrow.

It's worth seventy percent of our grade.

"Aspen, where are you going?" Avery asks from our fourth period class

"To my locker, I'll meet you in the gym" I tell her as I turn around and start to walk backwards

See this right here was when I made a mistake.

I feel my foot trip over something before my balance fails me and I start to fall.

I reach my arms out in hopes of grabbing something only for my hands to catch air.

I suddenly feel someone catch me just as I prepare myself to hit the tile flooring.

I open my eyes to reveal a smiling Belleza.

"Is me catching you going to become a normal thing?" She teases as she helps me up

"I- I- Um-" I stutter as my eyes never leave hers

What is wrong with me?

I was able to have a normal conversation with her yesterday.

Why can't I today?!

I give her a nervous laugh as I walk away and head towards me locker.

I quickly glance over at the few people who watched that scene unfold.

Great, my fellow classmates have seen me act like a complete idiot.

I open my locker and quickly grab my math textbook along with my cheer bag.

As I close my locker I turn around and come face to face with Belleza.

She's currently giving me a look of confusion.

"Uh- Hi?" I say as I give her the same look

Finally.

I can form normal sentences.

"Is there something bothering you?" She asks with genuine concern

This is it, Aspen.

Ask her for help with your studying.

"No, but can I ask you something?" I ask with a nervous tone

"Yes, of course" she says

"Remember when you offered to help tutor me in math?" I question her

She nods her head with a smile on her face.

"I want to take you up on that offer" I say

"Okay, when do you want to get started?" She asks

"After practice, if you're not busy" I request

"Okay, I'll see you after practice" she says before walking off to our school's second gym.

I think that went pretty well if I do say so myself.

-

We didn't really do anything in cheer today since it was mainly a team building day.

We had to fall back and trust that the person behind us caught us.

We also tried some three person pyramids.

Besides that we sat in a circle and got to know one another.

"Alright girls, we have a football game on Friday," our coach informs

Today is Tuesday.

"We'll start working on the routine and trying out stunt groups tomorrow" she says with a bright smile before releasing us

I glance over to Avery only to see her talking to one of the new girls.

I think her name is Amelia.

"Hey, babe" I hear Megan say as she walks up towards me

I turn to face her and look at her with a look of confusion.

Megan hasn't been at school all day.

"Can you please stop calling me that" I ask her

The word 'babe' feels weird coming from someone other than Charlotte.

Even though Charlotte hasn't called me babe yet.

Speaking of which, Charlotte still hasn't shown up. I'm starting to become worried.

"Sorry, I forgot" she says with an unapologetic tone

"Where were you today?" I ask

"I didn't feel like coming" she says with a shrug

"Is that why you weren't at tryouts yesterday?" I question her

She gives me a look of confusion.

Just as she's about to respond Avery and Belleza walk up to us.

Belleza stands close to me and places an arm around my waist protectively.

What the hell?

I suddenly start to feel butterflies in my stomach.

Woah.

I haven't felt this feeling ever since Charlotte.

Should I be worried?

"Aspen, are you alright?" Belleza asks we with a worried tone

Why is she worried?

"Yeah, I'm fine. We were just talking" I say as I give her a confused look

She lets out a breath of relief as Avery continues to glare at Megan.

Should I be worried too?

"Why?" I ask them

"No reason" Avery interrupts

"Um, I'll just go" Megan says seemingly getting the idea that she's not wanted

"Bye babe" Megan says with a smirk before turning away and retreating away from us

I inwardly groan at her.

Is she serious, right now?!

I roll my eyes before looking up at Belleza. Her grip slightly tightens around my waist as she glares at Megan's retreating figure.

I'll ask them about this later.

-

"Can we take a break?" I ask Belleza

"Aspen, you haven't even answered the first question" she says with an 'are you serious' tone

We've been studying for a total of five minutes.

Belleza is almost finished with her homework while I can't even understand what the first question is asking.

"I don't understand it" I say with a stressed tone as I flop back on my pillows

I feel her shift around until her face appears in front of mine.

She smiles down at me before grabbing my arms and pulling me up.

I smile at her as she intertwines our fingers together.

"All you had to do was ask for help, I'm here to help you" she says as her thumbs caress the back of my hands

I nod as I look down at our interlocked hands.

This weirdly feels right.

Like it was meant to be this way.

Wait.

Shit.

What am I doing?!

I'm not supposed to think like this about her.

I need to try to find Charlotte.

I can't risk falling for a celebrity.

I quickly pull my hands out of hers and awkwardly look down at my textbook.

If I don't look at her then maybe I won't feel anything.

"Show me what you're struggling with" she says as she gently places her hand on my arm

Shit, the tingles.

I can't ignore those.

"If 3x - y = 12, what is the value of 8x over 2y?" I read the question to her while avoiding as much eye contact as possible

"Well it's simple," she says as she leans over my shoulder

I feel her blonde hair lightly brush against my neck.

My breath hitches as I start to blush from our close proximity.

"Aspen, did you hear me?" She asks as she turns her head to look at me

We're so close that if I were to turn my head we'd be kissing.

"Earth to Aspen" she says with a slight laugh

"Oh, Uh- no" I say with pink cheeks

"Try to listen this time" she says lightheartedly before she explains how to solve the problem

I hope that this works.