Chapter 7: More Than A Crush

Nicki

I walked into practice for the first time in two weeks and I sat with my crew. It felt good to have time off. Even thought I haven’t seen Aubrey since that night, we’ve been texting nonstop. I’m really falling for him. “I wonder what we’re doing today,” Blake mumbled.

“Probably run,” Nae rolled her eyes at the thought. Cassie walked in with her crew a few minutes later and she didn’t say a word to me. She didn’t even give me an eye roll.

“What’s up with her?” Carmel asked as we looked over at her. I shrugged it off because if her being hurt means I can have one less problem in my life then so be it. Shad walked in with Coach Chimere and looked at Cassie. He looked as if he had something to say but he kept his mouth close. Aubrey walked in as he glanced at all of us. His eyes locked with mine for a second before he spoke up.

“Today we’ll be doing more conditioning and we’re also going to be cutting two girls today. You guys can stretch and then go to the track.” He blew his whistle and walked away. His behavior seemed kinda off to me but I just thought nothing of it. After we ran for a while, we went back inside to learn a new dance move. Of course I nailed it while other people struggled.

“Cassie! Keep up!” Shad yelled at her. She stopped trying all together and flicked him off.

“My office now!” He stated and walked away pissed. She slowly followed behind him with a sigh.

“Good job Blakelynn and Jaznae. Nice Da-Xia,” Aubrey went on with compliments but he straight up ignored me once again. I was getting so sick of him and his bipolar ways. “Onika, you’re getting sloppy on the pop motion,” he told me in a monotone voice. I rolled my eyes and sat on the floor.

“Nic what are you doing?” Blake asked me while dancing.

“I’m sick of this. If he wants to treat me like shit then I won’t do shit,” I huffed as he walked back over to me.

“Did I just hear you say shit twice? Two-hundred pushups ladies.” He blew his whistle. I was beyond my breaking point right about now.

Cassie

I walked in and sat down in front of his desk. “What the hell was that out there!?” He yelled at me. If there’s one thing I hate the most is when people yell at me and Shad knows that.

“I couldn’t do the dance so I stopped,” I shrugged.

“That’s bullshit and you know it. I’ve seen you dance better than that every day since I’ve met you. That’s why I made you captain last year. I saw in your heart that you love dance more than anything in this world. Now I just don’t know if you have that same passion to be captain.” He calmed down a bit but looked at me as if he was disappointed.

“Then give it to Onika. You’re probably fucking her too,” I snapped.

“So that’s what this is about? Cause I fucked Meyshia?” He got up and stood in front of my seat.

“You didn’t even have the courtesy to stop when I walked in. You fucking came with me standing right there!” I yelled at him.

“I tried to pull her off of me but-,” he started to say but I stopped him.

“No I don’t wanna hear shit you have to say!” I got up.

“Are you mad because I fucked Meyshia or are you mad because I won’t fuck you?” He got closer to me. I pushed him as hard as I could and he stumbled back a bit.

“Go to hell!” I flicked him off and stormed out of his office. I grabbed my bag and was about to leave.

“If you walk out that door, don’t bother coming back,” I heard Shad say from behind me. I sucked up the tears that wanted to fall and walked out of the door, never looking back.

Drake

Everyone stood in shock as Cassie walked out without a second thought. I looked at Shad and Mere who looked just as shocked. Sure he said don’t come back but he was bluffing, no one thought she would actually leave. “Everyone get back in positions!” I yelled and blew my whistle. After practice, there was a light knock on my door. “Come in,” I said while looking through some of the girl’s background information.

“Can I talk to you for a minute Coach Graham?” Her soft voice filled the room. I looked up and nodded. She walked in and placed her dance bag on the ground. She sat down and stared at me.

“Why are you staring at me?” I asked her.

“I’m trying to figure you out. It’s almost as if you’re two different people and I’m not sure which one is the real you. It’s like I don’t know anything about you,” she stated in a monotone voice, similar to the one I gave her during practice.

“You know me Nic. I’m just different during practice,” I told her but she shook her head.

“No Coach I don’t know you.” She grabbed her bag and got up.

“I told you to call me Aubrey.” I moved closer to her and grabbed her hand.

“That’s just it. You treat me like shit during practice but like I’m a queen outside of practice.” She tried to pull her hand away from me but I tightened my grip.

“You mean something to me and I have feelings for you. I want to see where this takes us.” I pulled her closer to me by her waist. She just stared at me while I slowly moved in to kiss her but she placed her hands at my chest and pushed me away.

“No Aubrey! We are not doing this. I’ve had a crush on you since I saw you. You carried yourself in a confident way that was sexy. My crush has only grown since then. It’s grown to the point where it’s not even a crush, it’s more than that. I really like you so it’s going to kill me to say this. This, us, whatever you want to call it, has to stop. We can’t keep doing this. You have your career you need to think about and I have mine. I’m only seventeen and if anything happened between us, you could go to jail. Does that not bother you!? We need to forget anything ever happened between us.” She had tears in her eyes.

“You don’t mean that. Nicki you know we can’t just throw what we’re trying to build.” I shook my head at the thought.

“We have to Aubrey! We had great moments but that’s all they are. Memories that will be replaced by new ones. Let me move on and be happy.” She cried as I pulled her into a hug.

“Onika please just think about this.” I had tears in my eyes but I refused to let them fall. Even though we haven’t known each other that long, she’s been on my mind daily. I fell for her and I wanted to make her mine but now she doesn’t even want to be with me.

“I’m sorry Aubrey.” She stood on her tiptoes and held my face in her hands. She connected our lips and kissed me. I stood there trying to savor the kiss but she pulled away. Even though it was just a peck, it held so much passion in it. She grabbed her bag and quickly left out of the room. I balled up my fist mad at myself for letting a good girl go. She made me feel something I haven’t felt since my mom died.

“DAMN!” I yelled and punched the wall. I left a hole and my fist was bleeding but it didn’t amount to the pain I felt when she walked out that door.

Blake

I stayed after to wait for Nicki but I needed to talk to Shad first. I walked to his office and knocked. “Yeah?” I heard him say so I opened the door. He looked up at me and smiled slightly.

“Hi.” I smiled as he stood up and walked over to me.

“Hey Blake. What brings you by?” He asked as he stopped a few step in front of me.

“Um I actually came to talk about Cassie,” I sighed.

“Oh what about her?” His whole demeanor changed.

“I think you should let her back on the team.” I looked at him.

“And why would I do that?” He glanced over at me.

“You should do that because everyone deserves a second chance. She’s an amazing dancer and she’s a leader. Let’s face it, Cassie and Nicki are the dance team,” I explained.

“Why do you care so much? She’s never said a word to you in your life.” He looked at me strangely.

“I care because I know talent when I see it and you can’t just let someone like her walk out.” I tried to get him to see where I was coming from. He stepped closer to me and smirked a little.

 “I’ll let her back on the team if you do me a favor,” he said.

“Done, what’s the favor?” I asked. If he wants me to stay late to clean the gym then I will never try to help others again.

“I want you to go on a date with me.” He stared at me as my mouth literally dropped. He wants me to what?

“Wait what?” I scrunched up my eyebrows as he chuckled slightly.

“I want to get to know you better and I want you to get to know me better.” He took my hands in his. I weighed out my options. I wasn’t attracted to him on any level but I really wanted Cassie to come back so we could have a strong dance team and I guess a date with him wouldn’t be so bad. It’s just one date right? I moved my fingers and laced them through his.

“I would love to.” I smiled at him.