Page 54 of The Cheerleader is Off Limits

“I’m Mack,” he tells me with a smile. “Well, Alex Mackenzie, but everyone calls me Mack,” he says. I wish we were meeting in literally any other setting so I could actually feel like I could speak. I nod again before returning his smile. “Don’t worry about it, it’s no big deal, okay? You look like you’re scared.”

“Mr. Mackenzie!” I hear River’s exasperated voice from the front of the class, and I feel my heart start to pound. His voice is light, but I know I’m somehow about to get blamed for this.

Shit! I just wanted to be invisible.

“Sup!” He raises his hand, and the whole class snickers.

“How about we focus, alright?”

“You got it!” He points at him before leaning back in his chair and pulling his phone out under his desk.

River’s eyes pan to me, and I try to sink even lower in my seat. “You’re late and disruptive? Are we going to have a problem?” His gaze is still hard, and I’m sure he’s angry that I’m still in his class when he had demanded I switch out.

“No,” I whisper.

“Hey, she’s new, and the school is huge. Give her a break. And I started talking to her first.” Mack interjects, and I want to cry at the thought of him standing up for me.

River’s face softens but only slightly before he continues. “Both of you, let’s keep the side conversations to a minimum, if you don’t mind.”

I nod in response, and Mack rolls his eyes the second River turns back to the board. “I don’t know what’s crawled up his ass. He was a bear at practice yesterday,” he mumbles under his breath. “Must not have gotten laid enough this summer.” He chuckles, and I give him a weak smile before keeping my head down for the rest of class.

I feel like I’ve been holding my breath the entirety of class when the bell finally rings, dismissing us, and I’m out of my seat instantly.

“Hey!” I hear someone calling after me, and then Mack follows me out of the classroom, where I finally feel like I can breathe again. Now that we’re standing, I can see how tall he is, and I have to crane my neck a bit to look at him. “You good?”

“Hey,” I respond, my voice much lighter and like my normal self. “Yes, I’m just not… used to school and… being chastised. That was new for me.”

“I get it. Being new can suck. I transferred here two years ago because this is the best football program in the county, so my parents moved into the district. So, I was the new kid for a while. But being the starting quarterback helped.” He grins before nudging me gently. “I’ll catch you later, but don’t stress about that, alright?” he says, nodding toward River’s classroom. “Being late and talking in class? Believe me, that’s the least of a teacher’s problems. Chin up, new girl.” He smiles before taking off down the hall without another word.

“Ummm cuh-ute!” I hear next to me, and then Delaney has an arm wrapped around my shoulder. “I’m so here for whatever I just saw,” she says, pointing down the hall in the direction Mack went. “And why have I not seen you like all day?” she asks as we begin walking. I’m not sure where her next period is, but at least mine is this way, so I can count on not being late.

I raise an eyebrow at her. “I don’t know, you’ve been busy with Cole.”

She smacks her forehead and squeezes her eyes shut. “Ugh, please don’t let me be that girl! Do you want to leave school for lunch?”

“Are we allowed to do that?” I ask, thinking about the hard time the security guard gave me earlier when I tried to leave the building.

“Of course.” She shrugs before pulling her phone out. “Meet you by the side exit after next period?” she asks before grabbing my chin lightly with one hand and squeezing before giving me an air kiss.

“You’re so quiet. You, okay?” Delaney asks as we sit at a picnic table in a shopping center not too far from the school. There are at least a half dozen places to eat here, and the place is crawling with students. Evidently, juniors and seniors are allowed to leave for lunch, but honestly, since I’m over eighteen, I’m technically allowed to leave whenever I want.

“Yeah,” I say before taking a bite of the chicken Caesar wrap I’d gotten. “Just getting acclimated.”

She pushes her sunglasses up onto her head, pushing her hair out of her face before giving me a soft smile. “I get it. I can’t imagine just starting school as a senior… and at nineteen. It must be so weird. But it gets easier. You’re not nervous for tryouts today, right?” Tryouts for the cheerleading squad are today and tomorrow, and while I was excited before, now I’m worried about what that means for the proximity to River. Being on the varsity cheerleading team meant we traveled with the varsity football team in the fall and the basketball team in the winter.

The last thing I wanted was to see River outside of school as well.

But if I tried to back out now, Delaney would know something was wrong, and it would only be a matter of time before she got it out of me.

“No, not nervous.” I shake my head.

“You’ve been acting really weird the past two days. Almost like you’re worried about something. It’s just high school. No one is going to bite you, I promise. Half the guys I know have been asking me about myhot cousin.” She smirks.

“Well, tell them I’m too old for them.”

“Most of them are eighteen! Including Mack, by the way.” She raises her eyebrows up and down excitedly. “How’d you guys meet anyway?”

“We have a class together.” I take another bite of my wrap, hoping she won’t ask me any follow-up questions.