A couple of weeks have passed, and Alex has been practicing her ass off non stop. I haven't heard anything from my mother yet, which is kind of worrying because she always gets back to me as fast as possible.

I stand in the doorway as I watch Alex practice her dance for the competition, and I smile at how focused she is. Once she's finished with her dancing, I start applauding her, and she's startled by me.

"Rian, what is it with you and scaring me?" She asks, and I laugh.

"What? I can't clap for my girlfriend and how great of a dancer she is?" I ask, being silly.

"Well, thank you." She says, wiping sweat from her forehead.

"How long have you been practicing? I ask, noticing her fatigue.

"All day, I need to do this perfectly so that our team can walk away with the trophy." She says, and I kiss her forehead gently.

"You will definitely win the trophy, Alex. I know that you will, there's no need to worry. You and your team are gonna do great. Think of the necklace that I gave you on Christmas as your good luck charm." I say, and we both look down at her neck.

"I definitely will, Rian. I love this necklace, but not nearly as much as I love you." She says, and I kiss her again.

"So can I get a sneak peak of the performance?" I ask playfully, and she shakes her head.

"No, you'll just have to wait and see. I want you to be amazed by my greatness." She says, flipping her long hair flawlessly.

"I can't wait to witness it, Alex." I say, and she smiles before kissing me again.

As I'm holding her, I'm realizing how faint she is. She's drenched in sweat, and she's producing bags underneath her eyes.

"Alex, go shower and get some sleep. You could use it."

"No, I need to practice some more." She says stubbornly, and I hold her waist to cage her in my arms.

"Alex, you've practiced enough. You look like you're about to pass out."

"I'm fine," she says, shaking her head.

"Have you eaten anything today?" I ask, and she looks down at her feet. "You haven't eaten anything, have you?"

"It's because I've been practicing all day, okay? I'll be fine." Alex says, and I sit her down on the bed.

"Wait here, I'll go make us some lunch. Okay?"

"Rian, no, I'll be fine." Alex says, and her insisting is becoming slightly irritating.

"Alex, this isn't healthy. It's okay to practice and exercise, but there's a limit to that. You need to eat and drink something or else you'll pass out, okay? I love you, and I'm concerned about you. That's the only reason why I keep telling you to eat." I say, placing a hand on her knee.

Alex smiles at me, and she leans in to kiss me, but stops midway.

"I love you, Rian. I really appreciate the concern, I do. I'm sorry if I'm not really listening to you, it's just that this competition means a lot to me. After dislocating my knee, I owe it to my team to be better than I was." Alex explains and I smile.

"Ah, competitive. I like that, Alex. But like I said, there's a limit. There's a difference between competitiveness and ruthlessness. There's a difference between training and wearing yourself out. I'd hate to see you hurt or in the hospital again, so that's why I'm worried about how you're practicing." I say, and I begin to stroke her hair.

Her chocolate brown hair is perfectly straight, and it falls to the end of her scapula. Her hair color matches perfectly with her eyes, and we smile as we press our foreheads together.

"Thank you, Rian. I'm lucky to even have someone concerned about me." She says, and her eyes turn solemn.

"Alexandrianna, I love you. Of course I'd be concerned about you."

"I've never had someone care for me besides my dad, and when he died I had no one." Alex says, and I see her lip begin to quiver.

"Alex, baby, don't try to think about that right now. You're basically digging yourself back into that dark hole you've escaped. You have me now, and you don't ever have to worry about me ruining what we've built over the past couple of months." I say, and she gives me a grin.

"You're right, digging myself back into my depression would do nothing. I don't want to dwell on it anymore, I have you, and you're all the matters to me." She says, and she finally presses her mouth to mine to close the space.

Our lips stick together like glue, and I grab her hips and pull her onto my lap, not caring about her sweatiness.

"Just promise me that you'll look after yourself." I beg, holding out my pinky.

Alex laughs loudly, and I smile widens as her eyes brighten and her smile is ear to ear. She holds out her pinky, and she wraps it around mine.

"I promise." she says, and we both try to suppress our laughter, but it comes out in hysterics as we bust out laughing.

~~~

I make my way to the bleachers and find a seat near the front so I can have a good view of Alex as she's performing. I take my phone out and decide to text her, so I can encourage her before her team goes out.

Alex: I'm so nervous babe omg

Rian: don't be, you're going to be great.

Alex: I don't want to let you and my team down

Rian: babe, don't think that. You've practiced your ass off, and it'll definitely show when u kill it out there.

Alex: thanks so much for the support I'm shaking like crazy back here 😰

Rian: deep breaths in and out baby 😏

"Hey Rian!" A female voice says, and I look up to see Xiu and Savannah standing right in front of me.

"Hey ladies, how're you doing?" I ask.

"I'm doing great." Xiu says, and she parks next to me. Savannah does the same.

"I know Alex is gonna slay!" Savannah says, and I smile.

"Yaaaaaaasss!" Xiu says loudly, and I start laughing.

No wonder Alex became friends with them. They're...interesting. Jocular.

"Okay, okay! Everybody welcome to tonight's cheer competition! The first team is native to this school, so let's welcome the whole team!" A man says over the intercom, and everyone starts cheering.

I see a group of girls run out, and I see Alex among them, and I start clapping.

"First we have LuLu Evans!" The man says, and a short blonde girl waves to everyone.

"Naya Hill!" A biracial looking girl does a backflip, and people cheer and clap.

"Olivia Hunter!" A girl with brown hair and a body so short that she could look like a little girl waves to the audience.

"Phoebe West!" A girl with waist length black hair and tan skin smiles like she's in a beauty pageant, and claps for herself.

"Chelsea Walker!" A girl with dark skin waves to the audience, and everyone goes crazy.

"Raechel Atkinson!" A girl with blonde ombré hair smiles before doing a kick in the air.

"Shannon Greene!" Another tall woman with dark skin smiles brightly to the audience, and I hear a few air horns go off.

"Skylar Roberts!" A girl with black hair and brownish red highlights smiles.

"Jordan Murphy!" A girl who has long red curls waves to the crowd, and people whistle.

"Zariah Campbell!" She does a few waves here and there, and she smiles.

"Morgan Simpson!" Another redhead smiles and waves.

"And after a serious knee injury, she's finally back and better than before. Alexandrianna Hawkins!" The man says, and I start clapping and cheering with Xiu and Savannah.

The rest of the cheer team claps for her, and she smiles before doing a bow.

"What are we?" Alex shouts.

"Unstoppable! U-N-ST-OPP-ABLE!" They all about in perfect harmony while clapping.

"Let's go! We won't be defeated! Let's go! We came to win, we came to fight! We won't ever lose! L-E-T-S G-O, let's go! L-E-T-S G-O, let's go!"

They repeat the chant a few more times, waving their pom poms in the air before an upbeat pop song blasts through the speakers. Alex stands in the center and they perform a rigorous dance routine, and everybody is cheering and clapping for them. I take out my phone and I record Alex, and I watch with a smile on my face as she hits each move flawlessly.

"Go Alex!" Xiu and Savannah yell in unison, and she smiles before waving and continuing the choreography.

After a couple of minutes of dancing, the song changes and the girls all run into separate groups, and I see Alex in the air doing a pose similar to the Statue of Liberty. We all clap and cheer when she does this, and she shouts a part of the chant again with the other girls who're in the air. Alex takes her foot and extends it to behind her head. The girls underneath catch Alex, and I release the breath that I didn't realize that I was holding. Alex dislocated her knee because they didn't catch her when she fell from the air, so I'm glad she didn't get hurt again.

I watch Alex as she dances and does multiple back flips in a row, and the cheering gradually gets louder and louder. She does a pose afterward, and the song changes again and Alex lines up with a few other girls while the rest are doing flips and other stunts. Alex and the girls she lined up with hold onto each other's waist like a chain and they all bend at the waist, and I hear a few whistles and whoops.

"Slay me, Alex!" Savannah says, standing up and clapping.

Alex smiles, and they all bend at the knees and whip their hair before slowly rising back up, and Alex stares me straight in the eyes as she does this.

"Control yourself, Rian." Xiu says playfully, and I laugh.

The music increases speed as the song changes, and Alex looks fatigued but keeps dancing to her best ability. They all run together, and six of the girls form a pyramid, while the other six pose. The music stops, and everybody stands up and cheers for them. They all grab hands and do a bow, and I hear the air horns going off again.

"Go Alex!" I shout, and she smiles brightly at me.

"I love you." She mouths while pointing at me.

"I love you, too." I mouth back.

As they're walking away, Alex's pace slows down, and she looks dazed and disoriented. I see Shannon turn around and walk back to Alex, and she holds onto Alex's shoulder while they walk.

"What's wrong with Alex?" Xiu asks.

~~~

I'm sweating like crazy, and the sound of everyone's cheering is almost deafening. I hear Rian cheer for me, and I smile at him. Having him here and wearing the necklace was good luck because my team killed it. There's no way that we're going to lose this competition.

A clammy sweat starts on my forehead, and it travels to the rest of my body before we start walking away. I hear a faint ringing in my ears, and my vision is spotted and becoming more and more blurry. I see Shannon's distorted body in front of me, and she wraps an arm around me to help me out.

I feel a sudden weakness in my knees, and my lightheadedness just gets worse. I feel too lightheaded to even stand up. The room spins relentlessly around me, and my legs buckle, and I feel Shannon and another set of hands guide me out of the gym.

"Alex!" Rian calls out, and it sounds like an echo.

My vision is dimmed like someone is turning off the lights in the room, and before I know it, everything goes black.

"Why'd she faint? What happened to her?" A female voice asks.

"Probably dehydration, someone needs to go get her something small to eat and something to drink." A male voice says.

"I'll go get it!" Another female says, and her footsteps get further and further away.

Am I in the hospital?

I open my eyes, and my vision is still slightly blurred. I see the team surrounding me, along with Xiu, Savannah and Rian.

"Alex, are you okay?" Rian asks, crouching down in front of me.

"What the hell happened?" I ask, very confused.

"After we performed you fainted. Shannon and I carried you back here." Raechel informs me, and I notice that we're in the hallway next to the gym.

"I have her water. Here, drink this." Olivia says, and she hands me the water bottle.

"Thanks Olivia, and I'm sorry for being so rude to you a few weeks ago. I just didn't want to let you guys down."

"Are you kidding me? You killed it!" Xiu says, and everyone agrees.

"I just wanted to make up for missing so much after I dislocated my knee. I was just so determined for us to win and I overworked myself, so I'm sorry. Especially to you, Rian. You told me that over practicing was bad for me and I didn't listen to you. You being the doctor and all, I should've—"

"Alex, it's okay. You probably passed out because you were dehydrated. So I suggest you drink your water." He says, giving me a smile.

"You're not mad at me for completely ignoring your advice?" I ask, and he kisses me in front of everyone and they all swoon.

"I wouldn't have done that if I was mad at you, Alex." Rian says, and I smile at him.

"I still feel really bad. I probably ruined our chances of winning, didn't I?" I ask, not wanting to look in their eyes.

"They haven't announced the winner yet, the other team is performing now." Savannah says, and I take gulps of water.

"Oh, okay."

We all sit in silence, and everyone is on their phones texting, or anxiously waiting while I continue to drink the water. Rian holds my free hand, and he strokes my thumb carefully while keep his eyes focused on my face.

"Don't ever scare me like that again, promise?" Rian says, holding out his pinky and I smile.

"Promise." I say before kissing him again.

The man speaks over the intercom again, and I can't hear him well. Whatever he just said must've been important because all of the girls are chattering nervously.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"They're about to announce the winner." Rian says, and winks at me before returning to the bleachers with Xiu and Savannah.

"Both teams displayed great teamwork, and great energy and spunk. The winner of this competition is-" He says, but before I can get the chance to listen, everyone around me starts screaming and cheering in celebration.

"We won!" Chelsea screeches, pulling me in for a hug.

"Oh, my God! We won?" I say, and Chelsea nods her head.

We all run out again, and Morgan is the first one to get to touch the trophy. She takes it from the mans hands, and we all cheer and admire how gorgeous and shiny the trophy is. I see a man with a camera, and we all do a pose where each of our hands is touching the trophy, and my smile is so wide that it feels like my cheeks are shaking. More pictures are being taken, and I look over to see Rian doing the same. He puts his phone in his pocket, and begins to clap and bow while I look at him, and I'm on the verge of happy tears.

I know I did him proud, and it's the best feeling in the world.