I had last period with Lex. Last period was Art and our Art teacher was super chill. As long as you behave and submit the projects on time, then you're free to do whatever you want.

"So how did it go with Jess?" I ask her

Chase told me about his plan. I was a bit upset that he didn't count me in but I guess Jess wasn't even my friend.

"It was amazing!!! Jess said yes and Chase was super happy. Jackson and Harrison turned out to be amazing at the guitar and in singing. They were sooo good." She says. I tried my best not to roll my eyes.

"Oh hey by the way I've got soccer practice later today." I say

"Oh okay. I'll walk home. I don't have work today cause it's my day off in both jobs. Thankfully." She says

We rarely get to spend our afternoons together because I always have soccer practice and she always has work. Lately I've been practicing even more because we had an upcoming game with a school that had a really great team.

"You should come to the practice!!! Come watch me!!" I say excitedly

"Seriously?"

"Yeah!!! It's a great idea!!" I say

"I mean...I guess..." she says hesitantly

"Well either way you're going. I'm not taking no for an answer." I say firmly

"Fine fine fine." She says

After Art, we made our way to the soccer field. Most of the team was already there. They were watching the cheerleaders do their warm ups. Ariana was a new cheerleader but she acted like the head. The captain of the cheeleaders didn't really mind or care. Ariana had gotten to the top of the popularity chain in the girls division.

I didn't pay one glance at those girls and continued talking with Lexi. She suddenly started waving at someone. I looked to see her waving at Chase. Chase came running at full speed towards us.

"MY TWO BESTEST FRIENDS." He yells as he practically squeezes the life out of us.

"Dude let go" I manage to say. He does as I say and looks at Lex happily

"This is so amazing!!! You're here!!! You're never here!!!" He yells

"Cole dragged me." She simply says

"Good job Cole." Chase commends me

"Now you get to watch my awesomeness." Chase boasts

"What awesomeness?" Harrison says jokingly. Chase glares at him but Harrison just smiles innocently.

"Hey Alex" Harrison grins at Lexi

"Heya Harry" She grins back at him

"Hello princess" Jackson gives her a charming smile

"Hi Jackson" Lexi giggles.

Well hello jealousy, it's been quite a long time.

"Anyways. Let's get to practice boys." I speak up. They all say bye to Lexi and we all run to the changing room. Lexi calls out to me and I stopped and look at her.

"Do you have your inhaler?" She asks. A huge smile makes it's way on my face.

"Yeah it's in my locker." I say

"Don't push yourself Cole." She says firmly.

"I won't. But I'll make sure to show you my amazing skills." I wink at her

"I'm looking forward to it." She says. I grin at her and rush to the changing rooms. I changed into my uniform. My mind was hell bent on impression Lex. I wanted to show her why I'm the team captain. A sudden boost of motivation made me feel energized and ready to start the practice.

We all rushed out to the feild. Coach instructed us to do our drills and we obliged with no protests. We heard a voice cheering and looked to see Jess yelling crazily while Lex had her head down in embarrassment. We all chuckled and laughed at Jess' craziness. Lex hits her in the head and mouths 'sorry' to the coach. Coach smiles warmly at her and nods as if saying it was fine. We all look at Coach with our jaws dropped 6ft under.

Coach was a guy who doesn't smile often. If he does smile it's usually just for pictures and it's always forced. When we win a game, Coach doesn't smile. He smirks as if he knew we were gonna win. If we lose, he smiles ever so lightly. The smile though was barely there. When he smiled at Lex, it surprised us because it wasn't forced at all. It was a genuine smile and it reached his eyes.

He looked at us and his smile vanished. He barked at us to hurry and do the drills. We snapped out of it and qickly did the drills. Like I said earlier, I was super motivated and energized that I finished doing the drills faster than anyone. Coach was impressed and nodded at me. I waited as everyone finished up and looked at Lex. She was already looking at me. She gave me a thumbs up and big smile. I smiled back and waved.

Music started to play and the cheerleaders started doing...whatever it is they're doing. I don't really pay attention to the cheerleaders during the games. I'm always too busy trying to make up a plan to beat the rivaling team.

Ariana caught me watching and winks at me. Their routine showed how sexy they are. They kept bending down or kicking their legs up so high that you could see under their short ass skirts. All in all they looked sexy but slutty. All the guys had finished their drills and were looking at them with lust in their eyes. I roll my eyes and my gaze ended up on Lex. She was fake smiling and laughing at what Jess said. Jess looked relived, but I don't know why. I kept my eyes on her until finally she looked back at me. I rose my eyebrows at her but she just shakes her head.

She looks at me for a while but then shakes her head and goes back to talking to Jess. I replayed that moment when she looked at me and that's when I realized. I saw it in her eyes. She was insecure again.

I found myself walking towards her. Her eyes widen and Jess stops talking. She looks back and forth between her and I. She mumbles that she needs to go to the bathroom and quickly rushes off. She sends me a thankful glance before taking off.

I sat where Jess previously sat. Lex looks at her fingers, avoiding my gaze.

"Talk." I say

"Cole...it's nothing." She says

"Lex...you shouldn't feel insecure." I sigh

"How can I not? Look at them!! They're gorgeous." She scoffs

"They're not gorgeous." I say seriously

"Liar." She says

"I'm serious. They're not gorgeous. They're slutty. Meaning they look sexy and are only good for a fuck. That's not gorgeous." I say "Gorgeous is someone who is naturally beautiful. You don't want to just fuck 'em. You wanna hug them, kiss them, be with them and just love them. That's gorgeous."

"Slutty or gorgeous, they're still attractive." She says

"And you're not?"

"Have you SEEN me"

"Yes I have, everyday actually." I say "and everyday I see a beautiful and amazing girl who is struggling with her life but manages through it. Everyday I see a beautiful and broken girl who needs someone to help her with these struggles. Everyday I see a beautiful girl who helps me with my struggles even though she has her own. Everyday I see a beautiful girl who is so beautiful that you can't describe it or else you'll get it wrong. Because her beauty is out of this world. She's beautiful inside and out."

She looks at me with tears in her eyes. I quickly pull her into my arms and hug her. She sniffs but no tears come out. I could tell she was holding them back. I glanced at my team to see them about to start practice.

"Go." She says

I open my mouth to protest but she covers it.

"I'll be fine Cole. I'm sorry but I think I have to skip this practice. I'll ask Jess to take me home." She says

"...are you sure" I purse my lips

"Yes. I'm fine. I just wanna go to sleep." She says

"Okay...get some rest." I tell her

"I will, don't worry. Do your best in practice but don't overdo yourself." She says

"Don't worry about me. You'll be too distracted. Don't think about my well being. Think about how I'll be expecting you at home to tell me that practice went really well." She continues

"Heh. Okay okay."

"Go!!" She exclaims. I smile at her and run back to the team. Coach doesn't acknowledge the fact that I kinda went away for a bit. We start our practice and I can definitely tell Lex that it went well.

After the practice, Coach came up to me.

"Hey coach, what's up?" I ask

"You should bring Alexa to the practices and games." He says

"Uhm...why?" I ask curiously

"She's your lucky charm, Cole. You seem to do really really well when she's around or when she tells you to do your best." He explains

"What do you mean?" I ask, still confused

"She told you something before she left, right? Whatever it was, it made you play really well today. Then while she was here, it was like you could 5 more of those drills. You had so much energy." He says

"Bring her over for the next few practices but on Friday, don't bring her. Then bring her to the game on Saturday. Try to observe yourself and how you play when she's there and when she's not there." He instructs

I nod, telling him I would do it. He pats my back and gives me a small grin.

"I like that girl. You better not drive her away."

"I don't plan to." I smile widely

And that was the truth

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It's my Birthday!!!

Happy birthday to mee happy birthday to mee.

Happy birthday happy birthdaaaayyyyy.

Happy birthday to meeeee