Stay

“Thanks.”

Lauren’s gaze was on the field. “Did you see the new guy? What a surprise. He’s so good, and he’s hot.”

Mia smiled at Alexi. “Yeah, Alexi’s great.”

“Not him. Quinn,” Lauren said.

Quinn stood out on the field, tossing a soccer ball between his palms. He was pretty good; who’d have thought? Rock star and soccer star. He was going to do well at this school. Plus, Quinn could rub his eyeliner down to his cheeks and reduce the sun’s glare. She smiled at the idea of him offering his eyeliner to the other players. Quinn smiled at Mia from the field and waved. Mia returned the wave. Alexi glared. He was a possessive kind of friend.

“Leave the cheerleaders alone and get back to practice,” Coach Ameen yelled from the grass, so Alexi and Jake jogged back to the other guys.

Maddie retied her hair bow. “I miss the red bows.”

Willow made a no-go gesture with her pompoms. “Uniformity is what matters. How’s the crowd going to cheer if we don’t look the same?”

Maybe because they were standing in front of them waving pompoms.

“It’s stifling.” Maddie scrunched her face as she made her bow tight. “I don’t think we all have to have our hair the same.”

Was that what she was doing to Alexi? Stifling him?

“You’ll learn.” Willow motioned for them to form a line. Clap, clap. “Pyramid.”

The bases took their positions.

Mia wasn’t short, but she had great balance, so she tended to get shoved to the top of each stunt. She took a hand up from Lauren, who served as the base for Willow. Putting one foot on Willow’s thigh then one against Maddie’s, she let go of their hands and lifted her arms into the shape of the letter V for victory.

Three tall. Awesome. Up this high there was almost a breeze.

“Sell it, girls. Smile. Spirit. Attitude.” Willow’s leg shifted under her foot, and Mia looked down. Willow was glaring backward toward the soccer field, her smile totally gone. Then she turned her head toward the parking lot. The only thing unusual in the lot was the limo. Willow’s thigh straightened, causing Mia’s foot to shift.

Mia waved, but couldn’t stay up. Lauren grabbed for her and held her a second, then Mia slipped.

Weightless.

The pyramid toppled.

Chapter 15

Lauren and Maddie grabbed for Mia, somewhat slowing her fall, but she landed flat out on the track, winded. The track was hot and hard and her hair pulled under the weight of someone’s tennis shoe. Mia lifted a hand to push at the ankle.

“Oops, sorry,” Willow said, and the pressure on Mia’s head eased.

They hadn’t had such an epic tumble since they first formed a squad, back when the bases would just hold her toe and heel, rather than her whole foot, keeping it steady. She’d grown too confident.

“You did that on purpose,” Lauren shouted at Willow, while picking herself up out of the tangled mass of arms and legs. Mia tried to say it was an accident, but she had no breath.

“Give her room,” Maddie said, making the girls back up. All of them did except Lauren and Willow.

“Mia needs to work on her balance.” Willow had her hands on her hips and she used her bossy captain voice. “She needs to increase her attention on the squad, not just focus on the guy she’s living with.”

Lauren threw out her arms. “He’s her brother. Well, step-brother. Well, he’s her sister’s brother.”

Next she saw tan guy legs. She tilted her head, relieved it didn’t hurt to make that move. Alexi stood over her in his soccer uniform. He must have left practice. Sweet. But maybe not the best time.

Alexi knelt, ran his hands down her arms and legs, a fleeting, glancing check of her unbroken limbs. “Don’t move.”

A couple more guys from the team got there next, then Coach. “I’ll call the nurse,” Coach said.