Chapter 9: Facing the Facts

CeeJay’s P.O.V.

I walked up in the gym and immediately regretted it. Now this fool better not be doing what I think he is. I looked at the place my crew usually sits but I only saw Cassie. “Cass, what’s going on?” I asked her as we looked around the gym.

“I don’t know. He told the rest of the girls to stand over there,” she shrugged. I’m really getting annoyed of Coach Graham.

“He so did not!” I heard Nicki laughed extremely loud while talking to Nae.

“I think he did!” Cassie yelled and Nicki flicked her off.

“I swear you like getting on Nicki’s nerves,” I laughed at Cassie.

“Hell yeah I do. It gives me something to do,” she shrugged.

“What ever happened between y’all? Didn’t you guys use to be best friends?” I asked. It seems like every time I ask this question, she shuts me down.

“We were never friends,” she shut me down once again. I’m gonna find out what more happened between them cause believe it or not, Cassie isn’t mean to people. She’s only mean to Nicki and now Meyshia for obvious reasons. I knew the basic reasons why they aren’t friends but she never went in dept.

Drake’s P.O.V.

I knew the girls were going to kill me for what I was about to do today. Nicki was trying to get me to tell her but I had to make today fair. Plus I think she’s going to hate me after this but she’ll get over it. “Good morning girls,” I smiled at them. They all scrunched up their face from how nice I was being. I looked over at Nicki and winked. I told her I would try to be nicer.

“I bet you all are wondering why we have a bunch of weight lifting material around the gym,” Shad said as they all said yes.

“Today we paired you up with a partner and you guys are going to be lifting weights the entire time. We paired you up with who you are most like. Dancing is so much more than just dancing. In order to dance on this team, you have to be a team. In order to be a team, you have to trust each other and we’re starting on that today,” Mere explained. I locked eyes with Nicki and she gave me a knowing look. I knew she would catch on soon enough.

“Okay so we have Maxine and Carlynda, Zhaleh and Carmelina, Blakelynn and Jaznae, Onika and Cassandra, Bethonia and Cenedra. . ,” Shad read off name after name. When I looked up, I noticed Nicki shooting me a death glare.

“Okay so go to your assigned place in the gym and just sit there until we come over and teach you how to work the machine,” Mere said as they all scattered off.

“You know Nicki and Cassie might kill each other right?” Shad looked at me. He thought I was crazy for putting them together but maybe doing this will help them see past whatever issues they have with each other and move on.

“I know,” I shook my head as I walked over to them.

Nicki’s P.O.V.

I hated him for doing his. I knew he was hiding something but something like this? I glanced over at Cassie who sat down with a huff. Drake walked over to us and looked nervous. “So I bet you two know why I put you together,” he chuckled.

“What makes you think she’s anywhere near my level?” Cassie rolled her eyes.

“Bitch you wish you could get on my level,” I snapped.

“For the circumstance of this situation, I will let that curse word slide but don’t let it happen again,” he looked at me.

“Of course Coach Graham,” I blinked a couple times and tried to look innocent. He licked his lips unknowingly and eyed me up and down. Good thing Cassie was looking off the other way because he was practically eye raping me. “Aubrey!” I hissed in a whisper so Cassie wouldn’t hear. He snapped out of his trance and chuckled. I playfully rolled my eyes as Cassie looked back at us.

“What are we doing here?” She asked him.

“Well one of you is going to lay on the bench while the other one will be holding up the weight bar. You will have to support her the entire way. Neither of you should let go of this bar,” he looked in between us.

“Yeah, she’s definitely going to be the one lying down because I don’t trust her,” she looked at me in disgust.

“And you think I trust you?” I looked at her like she was crazy.

“Maybe this was a bad idea,” Drake mumbled.

“You think!?” We both snapped at him.

“Just don’t hurt each other or you will be immediately off the team,” he threatened before walking away. I laid down first because I knew she was going to be stubborn about it.

“If you drop this one me, I will personally kill you,” I snapped my eyes to her.

“Now why would I want to do that?” She smiled sarcastically as she got behind me to hold the weight. She held it down to me and I latched on as she supported me throughout the way. I was personally shocked because I would have thought she would have dropped it by now.

“Thanks I guess,” I mumbled as we switched places.

“Whatever,” she dismissed me and we lifted the weight in silence.

Cassie’s P.O.V.

I was glad she decided to shut up because she was really getting on my nerves. I know I said I didn’t trust her but I trust her at least with this. I personally know she wouldn’t hurt me this way. She would hurt me mentally and sometimes physically but not damaging me. I was relieved when Coach Graham blew his whistle and told us to huddle up.

“Great practice today girls. Chaslyn can you meet me in my office after practice. We’ll see the rest of you tomorrow,” he dismissed us and Chaslyn followed him to his office. I guess she was getting cut. I told my girls that I’ll meet them by my car and started walking over to Nicki. She was about to say something to me but I held up my hand.

“I’m not here to talk to you fake ass Barbie,” I shut her down.

“Who you calling a-,” she started but I cut her off.

“I don’t have time for this. I need to have a moment alone with Blake,” I shooed her away.

 “Anything you have to say to my cousin, you can say to me,” she stood her ground. I looked at Blake who hadn’t uttered a word.

“Nicki, it’s cool,” she assured her. Nicki nodded and walked off with Nae.

“I just wanted to say thanks for getting me back on the team. Not many people would have done that for me and you barely know me so it means a lot,” I said sincerely. She smiled as she listen to me talk.

“It’s cool. I’m just that type of person who can’t let one of the best dancers walk out like that. I want to be on the best dance team that this school can have and in order to do that, we need the best dancers that this school has,” she explained.

“Well thanks again and even though Nicki and I aren’t cool doesn’t mean we can’t be,” I smiled at her.

“Thanks Cassie,” she returned the smile before walking off to Nicki. I grabbed my dance bag and was about to walk out when I felt a grip on my elbow.

“Lemme talk to you for a minute,” his voice filled my ear.  I turned around and looked at Shad. I was so over talking to him.

“No Shad you can’t. I’m very busy and I actually have places I need to be,” I lied and tried to walk off but he pulled on my elbow again.

“Come on Cass, just give me five minutes,” he pleaded. I weighed out my options and thought if I hear him out, I could finally tell him to leave me alone for good.

“You have four,” I sighed as we walked to his office.

Drake’s P.O.V.

“I’m sorry,” I said to Chaslyn as she walked out the door. We had to cut someone and it just got harder every time. There was a knock on the door a few moments later. I smirked as I told her to come in. Nicki dropped her dance bag on the door and locked it. I leaned back as she came and sat on my lap.

“I should hate you right now,” she pouted.

“But you don’t” I mumbled as I kissed on her neck.

“You paired me with the one person I have issues with,” she sighed and I pulled away from her neck.

“Why don’t you like her? She seems really nice,” I looked at her. She shifted her eyes and opened her mouth to say something but then closed it. It seems like she was thinking of a lie to tell.

“She is, she’s nice to everyone but me,” she finally replied. I could tell she didn’t want to speak on the subject anymore so I decided to change it.

“My birthday is coming up,” I smiled at her.

“Really? I would not have known considering that you told me a million times last week,” she giggled. I pulled her so that she was straddling me.

“Well you gotta give me something good,” I kissed on her neck again.

“Mmm, what do you want?” She closed her eyes and let my lips relax her.

“You,” I whispered in her ear and I felt her shudder under me. I pulled back so I could look at her and she finally opened her eyes. We stared at each other for a while as my hands rubbed up and down her thighs. I thought she was going to get nervous and stop talking but she surprised me by slowly grinding against me. My hands found their way to her waist as she leaned in by my ear.

“How do you want me?” She said with her voice full of lust. It just crossed my mind that I never asked her if she was a virgin. I mean when she’s dancing, she appears to be a virgin but when she’s with me, her actions show that she’s not.

“I have a question,” I pulled her back so she could look at me.

“Shoot,” she smiled as she leaned back a bit and fully sat up straight.

“Are you a virgin?” I felt her immediately tense up and her eyes shifted away from me. I could tell that she was experiencing a million of emotions at once from that simple question. “You don’t have to tell me,” I told her as she looked at me again.

“No, I think you have a right to know. My last boyfriend was my everything for the longest time and I wanted to give him my virginity. I was planning to give it to him one night but I caught him cheating on me. We started to argue and he tried to rape me but when he hit me, he knocked me out so I guess he gave up. I woke up and found him screwing some girl in front of me but he had taped me up so I couldn’t move. It was the worst experience of my life. Some guy broke the door down and beat him up but I was so in shock that I didn’t even notice. Yes he tried to rape me but no he didn’t. So yes I am a virgin,” she explained and I immediately wanted to kill the guy that did that to her.

“I want to kill him,” I mumbled but she rubbed the sides of my face making me relax.

“Doesn’t matter. It’s over and I’m here with you,” she whispered before kissing me. I kissed her back as I pulled her even closer. Learning everything that she’s been through has made me see her in a new light. She’s even stronger than I thought and it just made me fall for her even more. It seemed like at that moment, all the air was knocked out of me as we pulled away. I rubbed my thumb across her cheek and she smiled making my thumb sink into her dimple. I think I love her.