Sophie tilts her head in my direction. “Um, yeah, is that okay?”

“Oh, they’re great,” I explain.

“But really, Blue, I just got out of a bad break-up with my high school boyfriend of four years, and I guess I enjoyed the attention Lane gave me a bit too much.”

“You could say that again. I mean, he had you nailed less than two hours after meeting. You slut bag.”

Sophie goes pale and fumbles with the hem of Lane’s shirt as she tries to stand, not knowing how to take my comment.

“Gotcha,” I squeal.

She clutches her chest. “Oh my god, I thought you were mad.”

“Don’t mess with my cheer career or schooling and we will get along just fine.”

“Really?” she asks, clearly stunned.

“Really.”

“I’ll be right back.” Sophie cracks the door and rushes across the way to the bathroom, and I can only guess she’s cleaning up or stitching up. I’m not quite sure what you do after sex.

I, on the other hand, take the moment of solitude to wiggle out of my pants, trying not to rip off my bandages, and then cozy on up in an oversized cheer camp t-shirt and boy shorts and crawl back onto my bed. Just as I snuggle in, my stomach rumbles and I decide to pop a bag of popcorn. I mean, I need to eat something on the first night since my mom supplied me with enough food for an army.

Right as I climb in bed, Sophie comes back into the room. I pat the bed beside me. Since she’s already busted my bubble, I offer her some popcorn. I can tell she’s uncomfortable.

“I’m really not a slut, and the more time that passes, I feel awful.”

“Was his dick big?” I ask around a mouthful of popcorn.

I laugh at the shock on her face and inhale a kernel. I begin spastically choking and grabbing at my throat, indicating the internationally recognized choking signal. Sophie pounds on my back relentlessly, and then finally the kernel dislodges.

“Water,” I croak out.

She bounds from the bed and grabs the bottle of water I tossed at Lane and offers it to me.

“Who needs porn with these two?”

We look up to see Lane and Ethan staring at us from the doorway. I send both of them a “what the fuck” look.

“The door was cracked open and we heard some ruckus, and since we head up neighborhood watch, we had to investigate,” Lane says.

I point at Ethan. “You stay away. Stay far, far away from us. I don’t want your girlfriend to eat us for breakfast.”

They laugh loudly and clearly take it the wrong way, and most likely the perverts would.

“I’m serious. She already hates me.”

“Calm down, Blue, she just broke up with me,” Ethan says.

That’s it, I’m packing my bags tonight. First flight home. I’ll flip burgers before I endure the wrath of Stephie, AKA the Hulk.

“Are you freaking crazy? Now you’re in here?” I whisper-scream.

“Calm down.” Lane and Ethan both take a seat on Sophie’s bed.

“Get out now,” I demand again.

The men find it quite comical how upset I am.

“Really. It’s fine, Blue. She explained it was over, and we both kind of knew that last spring. It was just convenient.”

“Explain her threat then, Casanova!”

“Stephie is just a bitch,” Lane pipes up, and Ethan only nods.

“How long were you two together?” I ask.

“Most of high school and on and off through college.”

“And you’re going to be a junior, right?”

“Yeah, we both are.” Ethan signals between himself and Lane.

“She’s cheated on Ethan more times than Gaga changes at an award show.”

My eyebrows shoot up in surprise at how casually Lane just threw that out for us to hear.

“Whatever.” I finally throw both hands up in surrender. “Both of you out. We need to bond, and clearly I need to teach numbnuts here how to shut a door and lock the sucker.”

“Okay, one thing first.” Lane covers his chest with his hands, and I already know he has some sort of wild proposition for us.

“Be strong,” I whisper into Sophie’s ear, and she nods.

“If you two survive your first week at training camp, will you do us the honor of attending a summer party with us?”

Not even a millisecond passes before Sophie bounces up off the bed and wraps her arms around Lane’s neck screaming, “Yes.”

I roll my eyes at her and hold back my gags. Yes, I’ll admit I’m beyond excited for my first college party, especially with football players, but never would I bounce off the bed and squeal to high hell like a stuck pig.

“Out now, boys.”

Chapter 4

An alarm shrills before the sun’s up. Both Sophie and I do our best to ignore it. Rolling over, I see her huddled underneath her blankets with her pillow encasing her head.

“Sophie.” My voice can only be heard between the bleeps and blares of the alarm. “Turn off your alarm.”

“It’s not mine, jackass.”

She’s right. My brain registers it’s my phone making the god-awful noise as I sit up to grab it. When it quiets, I notice a text from my mom. Rubbing the sleep from eyes and squinting, I can barely make out her message.

Mom: Rise and Shine, love bug! I set your alarm for you today. You don’t want to be late for practice. Remember Coach Lindsey said 7:00 AM sharp. Eat and show up early.

“Remind me to stab my mother.” I snuggle back down into the blankets.

“Why did you set your alarm so early?” Sophie’s voice is muffled through the pillow.

“I didn’t. My mom did. She wants us to get up, eat, and show up to camp early.”

“Well, let’s go.”

I peek from under the covers as Sophie springs from her bed. She’s literally gone from slumber zombie mode to full-on Sophie in a few seconds. Her swift actions cause my head to spin and I groan a bit. But it’s not until she pulls the covers from me that I want to outright kick her in the lady locker.

“C’mon. Your mom is right. Let’s go shower—of course, not together—and then eat and head to the cheer gym. It will be good for us to show up early since there are fifteen new freshmen on the squad. You damn well know not all of them will make the second cut.”

“You’re killing me.”

“Let’s go.”

In an attempt to make Sophie shut up and possibly shower, halfway asleep I get up and follow her across the hall. She makes good on her promise and does let me shower alone. Thank the good lord. Horror stories of showers and girls’ dorms flood my mind.

The hot water actually does the trick of waking me up quite rapidly, and to my relief nobody joins us in the bathroom area. Sophie and I both get ready quickly and snag an apple and yogurt on the way out the door.

“Do you know the way?” I ask Sophie.

“Yes, that’s why I was so damn late yesterday.” She takes a large bite from the apple, letting some juices hang on her lips. “My ma and grandpa just had to make sure I knew where it was so I wouldn’t fuck things up.”

“Are you known as a fucker-upper?”

“That’s a convo for late night with lots of chocolate.”

“So, you’re basically saying you’re a fuck-up?”

Sophie cocks back her arm and chucks her barely eaten apple in my direction, and it gracefully nails me up the side of the head.

“What the hell?” I squeal.

“Just checking your reflexes. You suck.”

We continue to poke fun at each other the rest of the fifteen-minute walk and avoid deep topics at all costs. We pass the training facility for the football team, and of course a dreamy look covers Sophie’s face. I know what she’s thinking about. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scanning the grounds for Tuck. Hopefully, practice won’t kick my ass today and I’ll go for an evening jog at the same time in the hopes of seeing him.

As we enter the training facility, I see the familiar gym with mats covering the area. It’s the same place they held try-outs. It’s elite and has the best of the best equipment.