None Other Than You Read online

  "Let's not aim any direct attacks on my sister okay?" Ryan says.

  Allison sneers, "And you're hair is an awful color of brown—"

  "Can we all just agree that I'm not as pretty as any of you and leave it at that?" I ask, tired of the banter. I wanted to get some sleep I lost last night working at the Café after dance.

  "Fine with me." Allison says, "You're not a very interesting topic." She giggles, cuddling up with Patrick again. He stays silent most of the time when Allison brings up her rule over Oakridge. He's not very partial to her exploitations of peers, but he keeps quiet.

  "Whatever." Lily says behind us, sitting back next to another senior on the bus. They proceed to make out instantly.

  Before I realize it, Teigan's arm is around me again and he whispers into my ear, "You're more beautiful than any of the girls at Oakridge."

  I shrug his arm off. "Back off Teigan." He laughs.

  "What, afraid to hear the truth?"

  "I'm sick of hearing lies, that's all." I say, grabbing my book out of my backpack and sticking my nose into it.

  "So now you're going to ignore me?" Teigan asks after a few moments.

  I respond without taking my eyes off the book. "That's the plan."

  He doesn't say anything back.

  The rest of the bus ride is spent almost in silence. I think everyone can feel the tension between our few rows. It's about a four hour bus ride to get there and once we do, the cheerleaders head to their own room to warm up, and the boys head to the gym.

  Goody.

  Now I get to look forward to Allison yelling at me and telling me every little thing I'm doing wrong in my cheers.

  Did I mention her being the Cheer Captain?

  This is going to be one long, long afternoon.

  Chapter Nine: Quivering

  I glare at Allison as she talks in the corner of the gym with Patrick. I can't help but think he could do so much better than her. He's nice, shy, and the epitome of your modern chivalrous guy. He holds doors open for me all the time and he never sits down before a girl if she's in the room. (Ryan has learned much from him over the years.)

  Allison is the absolute opposite however. She takes people for granted and she uses them without a second thought. Her manners are zero to none and the only thing she seems to care about are clothes and what someone at school would think if she wore this or did that.

  They're polar opposites, yet they can sit there for hours cooing at each other happily. No one else seems to notice their differences, No one except little old observant me.

  "You know, if you stare hard enough at the back of her head I think you might just burn a hole into it." Emma says, sitting down on the benches next to me.

  "Yeah, well she deserves it." I say, folding my arms and slouching. "Did you see the way she kept trying to correct me?"

  Emma shakes her head, staring at the couple across the room. "You've taken dance for how many years and she thinks you can't do a turn right?" She laughs. "She's really after you for something today, Duke."

  "Yeah, but what? As far as I know I haven't done anything to piss her off for at least a month." I pause. "Wow, that's a long time. Think I should do something to her today just for the hell of it?"

  "Duke." Emma warns. I shrug. "You've got to ask her what's up. If you don't she'll just pester you the rest of the night. Who knows, maybe for the rest of the year."

  "She'll do it anyway. Besides," I say, standing up, "I don't want to have to deal with her blowing up in my face today. It's not worth it."

  "Better now than later." I shrug again. "Where're you going?" She asks as I move to leave.

  "I'm just gunna take a walk down the hall. It's too loud in here." I walk out of the gym where we had come for a break and into the halls of the school. We were at Berkley High, home of the Snow Leopards, and the other team out of four qualified for the state finals in the basketball tournament.

  I don't really care much about sports, or cheerleading for that matter. I'm not a very peppy, spirited kind of person. I'm in cheerleading because Emma asked me to be, and I would come to the games anyway because Ryan is my brother and I've got to support him.

  I walk down the hall further and further. There aren't many people around, just a few loiterers in the hall as they leave school. There hasn't been anyone since the first hour we got here and their school got out.

  Humming a random tune, I turn a corner and run straight into someone tall and extremely strong. How did I know they were strong? Because as I was about to fall back they caught me and pulled me back flat on my feet.

  I look up to see Jake's inquisitive face peering down at me.

  Weird, why was I expecting it to be Teigan?

  "Expecting someone else?" His naturally low voice echoes through the hall.

  "No." I answer too quickly. He raises an eyebrow and continues.

  "What're you doin' out in the hall? I thought the cheerleaders went back to practice about five minutes ago?"

  "What?" I ask, my eyes going wide. How long had I been walking? I search the walls for a clock to tell me the time as he continues.

  "Yeah, I heard Allison yell for everyone to go back to the room you were in before I walked over here."

  "Oh." I huff, crossing my arms and staring down the hall, unsuccessful in my search for the time. "Well Allison can deal with herself. I know all the drills anyway."

  He laughs, a deep and honest laugh before throwing an arm over my shoulder (he has to bend down a considerable amount to do so) and turns me around to go back the way I came.

  "I'll walk you back none the less." He says steering me with force I don't think he knew he was exerting. "So you really despise Teigan, huh?"

  I glance up at him warily. "Where did that question come from?"

  He shrugs, his arm still around my shoulders as we walk. "I just thought that maybe you'd be like a lot of the other girls I've talked to around the school. Almost every one of them chose Teigan over Patrick in the poll of 'who's hotter'."

  I raise my eyebrow high onto my forehead. "What, do you have a gossip poll or something you're taking these for?"

  "Nope, just for my own amusement." Strange amusement.

  "Well what were you doing down the hall?" I ask, trying to change the subject.

  He glances at me. "You never answered when I asked you that same question."

  "The gym was to noisy." I say casually.

  "And I was trying to find a drinking fountain."

  "Well then, we both have perfectly natural reasons for walking down the hall."

  He leans closer to my ear and whispers, "You never answered my other question either…"

  I look at his face, inches away from mine and stop walking. "You'll find that I'm not like 'all the other girls' in Oakridge, Jake." He smirks, nothing like Teigan but cocky nonetheless, and takes his arm off my shoulder.

  "I think I've already figured that out. So have a couple of the other guys now that Darren's sparked an interest in you." Jake says with his grin stuck in place.

  "Come again?" I ask, confused. "What do you mean by 'sparked an interest'?"

  "I mean Ryan did a good job of protecting you from the assholes half the team is made up with. They never really noticed you until Darren started bringing you up constantly."

  I frown and fold my arms, narrowing my eyes. "You can tell Teigan that he can stop gossiping about me in the locker room. I don't like being in any kind of attention spot." And that is definitely an attention spot.

  Jake sighs and looks at me with soft eyes. "I think it's too late for that, Duke. He's got half the team wondering what you're like in--"

  "Don't… finish that sentence, Jake." He looks down and then back up at me.

  "Sorry, but it's the truth, Duke." He shoves his hands into the pockets of his shorts. "Just watch your back okay? It's all I can do to give you a heads up."

  I sigh and unfold my arms. "It's not your fault. Try not to participate in their perverted imaginations okay?"


  He laughs and nods. "Will do. I still see you too clearly as Ryan's sister to think of you in any way like that."

  "Thanks, I think." I say, laughing lightly myself. "Thanks for the heads up."

  "No problem." He says, walking a few feet forward to ruffle my hair.

  "Break a leg in the game, Jake."

  He winks back at me as he walks away. "You too, Duke."

  Somehow I think I just made a connection with Jacob Zidichowski that will immensely help when dealing with Teigan. I smile to myself as I walk head towards the room we had been practicing in since we got here.

  Just know that I never said I hated or stereotyped cheerleaders. Just because I don't like the majority of our little club doesn't mean I don't enjoy dancing or helping cheer on some of the games. (Some being the key word there.) Nor does it mean that I believe cheerleading is a stupid club to be in or that you have to be dumb and blonde to be in one.

  Just look at me for example. I'm brunette and brilliant. Yes, I know, watch the ego inflate.

  Walking through the door to 'our' room I hear the music suddenly grow quiet and all eyes are on me.

  "Um, sorry. I got lost in the hall." I blurt out the first thought that comes into my head.

  Allison, hands on hips and lips pressed into a hard, thin line, glares at me with all her might. "That's no excuse. You've been on my nerves all day and this is no time to test it. Get into formation now." She says sternly.

  I think she believes she intimidated me. Simply because of that thought, I reply smugly. "No." Screw any earlier ideas of trying not to make Allison blow up at me today. She's asking for it now.

  Her eyes widen and her look is incredulous. "What did you say to me?"

  "I said no. You've been on my back all day for no reason. So, no."

  "You've been getting on my nerves!" She shouts in retort.

  "How exactly?"

  She falters. "You haven't been doing any of the moves right!"

  I snicker and see Emma hiding a smile near the corner of the room. "Right." I draw the word out. "I think I have the routines down just fine. What else is bugging you?" I ask taking a seat in one of the padded chairs we had pushed to the edge of the room.

  "Don't play with me." She fumes. I can see her face growing more and more flushed with each response to her statements.

  "How does that make you feel?" I ask mockingly.

  Another shade of red enters her face. "This is not some kind of therapy session, Knight."

  "Then just tell me what you're problem is with me, we'll sort it out, and I'll do whatever you say." Better to call a truce than anything else.

  She sucks in a huge breath and holds it before letting it out slowly. "Follow me outside." She mutters through clenched teeth. Her hands balled into weak fists, she storms out of the room. I shrug, get up and follow her out. She slams the door shut behind me and backs me into the lockers on the other side of the hall. "Listen up, Knight, because I will say this once and only once."

  I raise my eyebrows and wait and she glares two inches from my face; an attempt of intimidation.

  "You may think you're better than me but you aren't. Just because you've taken dance for… however many years doesn't mean you know how to do anything better than I do. I'm the cheerleading captain and if you are going to be a part of this squad then you damn well better start listening to what I say and doing what I say or I will turn the entire school on you."

  "Like you can do that."

  "Just watch me." She hisses, her lips curling back in a sort of snarl.

  "I honestly think that the tables would be turned." I continue before she can open her pretty pink mouth. "I have Ryan on my side. You may not think that's much but he's friends with the majority of the quote unquote 'ruling elite' of this school. Yeah you're part of that," I say, cutting her off again, "but you don't realize how many of those people you call your friends would love to see the school turn their back on you."

  There, I said it. My moment of pure bitch has been laid out before her eyes. I told her the truth, she can take it or leave it. The entire time our conversation endured I kept my face calm, revealing nothing except for the fact that what I said was the truth.

  Allison simply stares, dumbfounded, in the middle of the hall. After a minute she scowls. "You're lying."

  "Believe what you want."

  "Patrick would never turn his back on me and he's got just as much influence as you're brother."

  "If you decide to drop the bomb then we'll just have to wait and see won't we."

  "What happens if the tables don't turn then? What happens if the entire school turns their backs on you, Knight. What will you do then?"

  "Just as I always do 'cause you know what, they're backs are already turned. Now if you don't mind we've only got an hour before the game starts and if you want our boys to win then we better practice." I grin. "Isn't that you're idea of how the game works, Allison? The more the girls flaunt it the better the boys play right?"

  "You think you're amazing don't you, Knight."

  "No more than you."

  "Obviously you already realize the student body has no interest whatsoever in Duke Knight. What makes you think you're so great? Don't answer that. Just know that I despise you, and if you continue to piss me off in your oh-so-subtle damn-the-world attitude I will bring you down."

  She walks across the hall and throws open the door, at least three platinum blonde heads trying to pretend as though they weren't eavesdropping. "I'm quivering in my boots, Allison. Just Quivering."

  Chapter Ten: I Hope You Dance…

  "Way to go, Genius." Emma whispers to me as we wait to hear our name above the soft bustle of the restaurant.

  "It's not my fault." I whisper back. "How was I supposed to know I was going to be in a group with Allison for the dance?"

  "Because you're with me, who is with Ryan, who is friends with Patrick who is going out with Allison. It should all lead to the same conclusion." I sigh, slouching a bit in my seat and holding my coat tighter around me. The restaurant is extremely cold and it's going to be a while before they can make a spot for us. Our group is probably the largest in the place at the moment with a whopping fifteen people.

  That's seven couples, and me.

  I did get asked, but I didn't want to go with anyone. I didn't even want to go to dinner beforehand -- just show up to the dance -- but Emma insisted on dragging me with her, which included of course, Ryan's group.

  Ryan's group consists of a number of people of whom I would rather be avoiding at the moment rather than sharing a meal with said friends of my brother. That certain group includes medusa herself, a one Allison Hawley. Heh, Medusa, that's fitting isn't it? Snakes coming out of her hair and turning people to stone with a simple look. She glares at me again and I laugh, picturing the serpents.

  Laughing is a bad idea. The sound makes several people look at me that I definitely don't want looking at me.

  One of those select few is Anthony Thompson. All decked out in his pinstriped suit and hat with a pink tie to match Jenny Kaphrey's dress. He actually took my advice and asked her and (apparently) she said yes. I just hope she's ready to tell him to shove off tonight, because he will try something. With Anthony it's inevitable. I'll have to warn her before the dance is over and done with. She looks timid and shy against our peerless group.

  It seems as though Jake's date is already warning Jenny so I won't have to worry about that. I don't' know her name, but she seems nice enough.

  The second person's attention I captured with my laughter is none other than Darren Teigan himself. Of course he's with Ryan's group, it couldn't be avoided, but I could have done without seeing Lily shove her tongue down his throat repeatedly since they arrived at the restaurant. Any public place should be sporting signs saying "NO PDA" in giant red letters, just as common as "No Smoking" signs.

  Teigan watches me as Lily talks animatedly to Allison while sitting on his lap. She's bouncing around and flipping
her hair trying to get his attention. She turns around to kiss him every once in a while, and then returns to her talk with Allison as casually as ever. Once I turn my gaze on him and he realizes I'm looking, Teigan turns to listen in on Allison and Lily's conversation. He's avoiding my gaze. Since he and Lily arrived, he's been doing that; watching me and then looking away as soon as he realizes I'm watching right back.

  I guess it's to be expected after everything that happened Friday night. I sigh just remembering the events of the away game. My encounter with Allison hadn't been the only one.

  * * *

  Twelve seconds remained on the clock. Standing on the sidelines behind our team's basket I could see everything happening very clearly. All the cheerleaders and the entire audience of the game were out of their seats with anticipation. The teams were tied and Darren Teigan had the ball. They were headed toward our basket and Teigan dribbled then passed the ball to Ryan. The ball went to Tyler after that, and back to Teigan who shot it from the three-point line with three seconds left. Right before he shot it however, I couldn't help but notice how his eyes darted at me, and he gave a slight smile before tossing it in the air.

  Time seemed to slow and everyone's breath still as the ball drifted through the air and, as the buzzer rang, swished gracefully into the hoop.

  The gym erupted with cheers from the fans in black and blue as they swarmed the court in a frenzied euphoria. The cheerleaders did the same and, as I was pumped with adrenaline from the game myself, I joined them all in hugging team members.

  I ran up to the first white, black, and blue jersey I could find and tackled him. I know all of the team members so it wouldn't be a surprise to find me congratulating them. The boy picked me up however and spun me around and looking down, I found myself staring into the face of none other than Darren Teigan. We stared at each other for just a moment, and then his face broke into a grin.

  "We won." He stated, his voice horse and shaking with joy. He gave me a full blast of his signature Teigan grin.

  My heart was racing. I gulped and said, "We sure did. And you got the last shot."

  "You helped."

  "How?"