Crushing On The Enemy (Crushing on You 1)

“Gladly!” Jake shouted and stomped off to his room.

He changed into his pajamas and crawled under the blankets. Anger kept his thoughts churning inside his brain. He loved his dad, but he didn't know how much more of this he could put up with. When sleep finally claimed him, his hands were still clenched into angry fists at his side.

Chapter 3: Alyssa

Alyssa's spirits were lifted as soon as she walked into school. The building was decorated with the school's colors and a lot of the students were wearing their school pride shirts as well. A grin spread across her face as she walked into the cafeteria. Her eyes darted quickly around in search of Ryan, but she couldn't find him. She sighed and made her way to the table she shared with the rest of the squad.

The day passed in a blur and soon she was in her uniform waiting for the time to go out. Her hands shook with anticipation and she could hardly stand still. She had spotted Ryan in the halls a few times, but hadn't been able to talk to him. Her mind played at what they might talk about over dinner after the game.

“Look at that,” she heard Chelsea say to Lisa.

Her head snapped in the direction the other girl was pointing and her heart dropped into her stomach. Ryan was playing with one of Katie's perfect curls and grinning like a fool. What could they possibly be talking about?

The coach yelled for Ryan to get his butt into the locker room and Katie rejoined the squad. Alyssa wanted to ask her what they had been talking about, but the noise of the crowd in the stands above them was too loud to allow for conversation. She had no choice but to push her fears out of her mind and put on her school spirit smile as they ran out to take their spots.

The crowd roared in appreciation as the squad appeared and Alyssa was instantly taken to the happy place that only a roaring crowd could provide her with. She waved to the crowd focusing on the faces she recognized. For a moment she felt a pang of guilt when she spotted, Mattie.

Mattie had been her best friend through middle school and her freshmen year of high school, but since then they had gone their separate ways. Mattie and Alyssa had tried out for the squad together, but Mattie hadn't been chosen. Almost instantly their friendship had fallen apart. Now, Mattie sat alone at the top of the bleachers watching as her once-best friend cheered on the team.

Alyssa felt her smile falter for a second and forced herself to look away. She allowed herself to hide behind the smile and spirit that had gotten her to where she was now: lead of the squad.

Alyssa and the other

girls cheered until they were hoarse. The Panthers made touchdown after touchdown, but the Rattlesnakes were keeping up. Her heart pounded in her chest as the clock ticked down. There was only thirty seconds to go and the Panthers were ahead by one touchdown. The game had already gone into overtime and if the Rattlesnakes scored another touchdown, the teams would be forced to call a tie and have a rematch. Alyssa sighed, because that wouldn't be good for morale.

The Rattlesnakes' quarterback was in possession, but the boys were quickly gaining on him. The squad had long ago given up on their regular cheers and turned to shouting encouragement. Alyssa let out a loud purr the girls had adopted, because of their feline mascot.

“YES!” she yelled out as the boys tackled the opposing quarterback just before the buzzer sounded.

A loud rain of cheers sounded from the crowd and she hugged the other girls. She couldn't quit screaming out her glee even though her throat was already sore. Her grin became even wider when she spotted Ryan running off the field, surely he was running out to her so they could celebrate the victory together. She broke free of the hugs and squeezes of the other squad members and started towards him.

Alyssa froze in her tracks when he pulled Katie into his strong arms and laid one on her. She watched in horror as their lips met and she saw his tongue dart into the other girl's mouth. How could they do this to her? Katie knew how much she liked Ryan! Oh! Ryan had even asked her out? Had it been a joke?

Her grin turned into a frown as reality overcame her. She could feel several sets of eyes watching her, wondering what she would do. Alyssa took a deep breath and gathered her discarded pom-poms into her arms. She grinned at the other girls and walked calmly out of the stadium. As soon as she was around the corner and out of sight, she threw her pom-poms to the ground and ran to the parking lot. She was nearly to her car when her silent tears turned into heaving sobs. Alyssa could feel her perfect makeup running down her face, but she didn't care. It didn't matter. None of it mattered. Ryan had not only hurt her, but he had made a fool of her in front of every person on the squad. Him and his teammates were most likely in the locker room laughing at her right now.

Alyssa sank to the ground and leaned back against the front of her car. She struggled to breathe as the sobs kept coming.

“Pull it together,” she cried to herself, “I can't let Mom and Cody see me like this, I have to pull it together.”

Alyssa managed to get to her feet when she saw one of the Rattlesnakes' players carrying her pom-poms. The anger that she had managed to suppress burst from her belly and she couldn't believe that he would dare even touch her pom-poms! He wasn't even from her school! This jerk had no reason to touch anything that belonged to the Panthers.

She sprinted across the parking lot and snatched them away from him.

“Those are mine!” she shouted.

“I found them back there and was going to leave them so they could be found...” the boy tried to explain.

“Sure, whatever,” she said and turned to walk away.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“That's none of your business!” she turned and shouted, “Don't you have a pity party to get to? I'm sure you snakes are used to losing by now though,”

Alyssa didn't give him time to answer before she got into her car and drove away. She turned on the radio to drown out her emotions, but it didn't work. For a moment she considered stopping for a burger, because she had been too nervous to eat before the game, but changed her mind when she realized everyone would soon be there.

“I could go to Mattie's,” she sighed, but before the words were even out of her mouth, Alyssa knew she wasn't going to.

That friendship was history.