Entry 9: He Saved Me At Cheer Practice

Dad had to take me to school today. It was the worst, most uncomfortable experience of my life. And I'm the girl whose nudes were leaked and Drake tried to sexually assault me last weekend.

Leah had an early dentist appointment and mom had to go pick up my grandma from the hospital. Since I'm not registered to ride the bus, that left dad in charge of my transportation.

When I say that ride was never ending, I mean I thought I'd become an octogenarian before we ever reached the school. The second I got there, I scrambled for my things and climbed out of the car. My dad didn't say a single word to me before peeling off out of the parking lot. I'm pretty sure he just didn't want anyone to see him.

It felt lonely walking to my locker without Leah. It was the first time I had to do so in a long time. But to my pleasant surprise, Preston was waiting for me at my locker.

"What's up," he said, leaning over to twirl my hair in his fingers.

"Why do you always do that?" I asked.

Of course, he just shrugged.

"It's soft."

I smiled to myself as I unintentionally touched my hair too. I snapped out of his trance and gave him a funny look.

"What are you doing here? You have a study hall on the other side of the school."

Preston furrowed his brows and I immediately realized what I had just said.

"How do you know that?"

I cleared my throat and shut my locker.

"I gotta get to the gym for club. The girls are probably waiting for me."

"Are you stalking me?" He asked, refusing to change the subject.

He smirked at my uneasiness as I tried to run away. Preston quickly grabbed my wrist and spun me around. He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before dropping my hand and walking away.

It was the first time he had ever approached me at school. I noticed a couple of girls whisper after witnessing our encounter and it gave me a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was like anxiety. I started to wonder and worry that Preston might not be around for long. With the way people talked about me, it would be a matter of time before they started talking badly about Preston for associating with me.

My fears only grew when I went to cheerleading practice after school. As I walked from the locker rooms in the main building, Leah ran up behind me and knocked into me.

"Parker! Spill right now! Are you and Preston like a thing now?? Officially?"

"Maybe.... Why?" I asked skeptically.

She basically told me about how there are rumors that Preston and I are in a relationship now. Some girls are saying he's only going out with me because he knows I'll put out. The guys were giving mixed reviews on Preston's decision. In reality, nobody knew anything for sure. Not even me.

Watching the football players take the field for practice, I glared at them. I almost threw up at the thought of what happened at the party. I pulled my hair back and made two low messy buns at the back of my head. After pulling two face framing hairs forward, I walked towards the other girls on the track.

The captains had us run a mile today. I hate when we have to do that. It makes me feel so sweaty and disgusting. I started my first of four laps around the track. I was wheezing before I even made it halfway around. I glared back at Leah who was coming up behind me on her second lap.

"Come on Parker! You got this."

Ugh, I wanted to tell her to fuck off.

The football players were watching us run instead of paying attention to their practice. I should've known that Drake would find some way to annoy me. When I ran by the defense, he threw a ball at my legs. I tripped over my ankle and fell hard on the track. The other players all laughed while their coach did absolutely nothing.

"Ah," I sucked my teeth as I realized my leg was bleeding.

"Are you okay?" I heard Preston's all too familiar voice approaching.

I looked up at him and he looked so unphased. I couldn't tell if he felt sorry for me or angry at the football players. But I watched as he picked up the football.

"Preston, throw it here, man!" One of the senior players called.

He took the ball in his hands and threw it so far, it flew beyond the goal post and into the woods behind the track.

The football players were in shock and awe. I was even impressed by his arm. No one was more impressed than the football coach who threw his shades off his face and looked at Preston in disbelief.

"Who the hell is that kid?! Why don't you play for us, son?" He called out to Preston.

Preston's face never changed as he leaned down to help me up.

"I don't play with assholes," he called as he picked me up.

Preston walked me to the physical trainer to get my leg cleaned up and bandaged. I sat on the table and he sat on a rolling chair. I had never seen him behave so childishly. The way he was rolling back and forth, spinning around, it made me giggle.

"You feel better?" He asked.

"Yeah," I reassured him. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"You told me cheerleading practice is 3-5"

"Yeah but why did you come?"

"To keep Drake and them from messing with you. Sorry I was late."

I was pleasantly surprised. Preston seems to genuinely care about me. He shows it more and more with every interaction we have. Like he's finally comfortable with showing a softer side. He's always so stern and hard to read but I could tell now. Preston doesn't want to sit in the bleachers and watch a bunch of girls practice cheerleading but that's exactly what he did.

He sat through the whole thing. I'm sure he would much rather be practicing with his band or working on cars for money. Instead, he sat there for 2 hours to watch my practice, escorted me back to the locker room and even offered to drive me home. After moms freak out the other day, I had to decline the offer. If she saw him around the house again, she'd give him the third degree for sure. I didn't want to scare him off with my psycho parents.

Before I got in Leah's car. I waited for her to come outside and stood with Preston while he smoked a cigarette.

"You shouldn't smoke those." I judged.

"I know." He blew the smoke away from us but continued smoking anyway.

"Why don't you play football?" I asked curiously.

"I don't have the lung capacity," he stated, holding out the cigarette for reference.

"Okay, but you sing just fine. More than fine actually. Your voice is kind of like the best thing I've ever heard."

Preston couldn't hide his smile from me.

"You think I'm a good singer?"

"The best. Better than your lead. But don't tell him I said that."

Preston laughed. I mean actually let out a real laugh.

"I won't."

"What's your band's name? You never told me."

Preston took a long drag from the cigarette and smirked.

"Eyesore Lenore."

The name brought back memories.

Lenore.

I thought back to last year's school president, Lenore. Her gaudy glasses, unfortunate unibrow, terrible ratty brown hair and braces that would be working on her quarter munchers for years to come. I immediately made the connection.

"Lenore McMillan!?" I asked with a gasp. "That's terrible."

"I didn't pick the name," Preston threw his hands up in defense but by the way he laughed, I knew he thought it was just as funny as the rest of his band did.

"You could've fought harder against it...."

I shook my head stifling my own laughter. As mean as it was, the band name was kind of cool and a bit funny.

Preston threw his dying cigarette on the ground and turned to face me.

"You and I are going to the movies this weekend."

"Okay," I smiled.

"What do you want to see?" He asked.

"Why don't you pick since we did my thing last weekend."

"Cool," Preston said as he walked toward his car. "I'll see you around."

I was actually really upset when he left.

It felt like our kiss the other day meant nothing. I felt like he should've kissed me again.

I wanted him to.

BADLY.

When he didn't and just left, my heart sank. I'm trying to stay positive cause I'm actually really excited to go to the movies with him on Saturday. It almost feels like our first real date. That night at the club and diner felt like a 'hangout', the party was an absolute fiasco so as our third time going out together, the movies should statistically go perfectly. Right? Third times a charm?