Crushing On The Enemy (Crushing on You 1)

A sigh of relief escaped her lips when she found that her belongings were safe and undamaged. She placed her books inside and slammed it shut. Alyssa power walked to her squad coach's office, because she wanted a chance to talk to Mrs. Bowens before the rest of the girls. She was being branded a traitor for reporting a crime against the school and it pissed her off.

With each step Alyssa became more determined. When she arrived at Mrs. Bowens's office, the older woman greeted her with a frown.

“I need to speak with you, Alyssa,” she said.

Alyssa sat down across from her and took a deep breath. The tone in the older woman's voice didn't bode well for her, and she knew it. Alyssa could already feel everything she had worked for slipped through her fingers.

“Some of the girls say they have reason to believe that you helped vandalize the field and only called the cops when you became afraid you would be arrested,” Mrs. Bowens said.

“That's ridiculous, I love that filed! It's my second home,” Alyssa said feeling outraged.

“I don't think you were involved, but I do think the rumors will damage school spirit. You will retain your title, as head of the squad, Alyssa, but I'm sitting you out of the cheering next game. I can't help it, Alyssa, I won't have this damaging school spirit, too many futures are on the line,” the coach said.

“What about my future?” she asked, “What about me?”

“You'll be fine, Alyssa, this is only high school,” Mrs. Bowens sighed, “You'll get more academic scholarships.”

“You think I'm not going to cheer at the university?” Alyssa asked.

A feeling of betrayal bit into her belly and she feared that she would once again dissolve into tears.

“This scandal may damage your reputation, dear,” Mrs. Bowens frowned.

“This isn't fair! I didn't do anything wrong!” Alyssa snapped.

“Sometimes things aren't fair, but you have to make the best of them. You should have known dating a boy from the Rattlesnakes would have consequences, Alyssa,” the coach sighed.

She opened her mouth to say that she wasn't dating Jake, but then remembered what she had told Officer Bryant. Mostly, she had lied to him, because she wanted him to believe that his dead best friend's daughter was a normal happy teenager. Well, that and she sort of liked Jake. He had a redneck charm that appealed to her, even if it would make her mother cringe.

“Go change for practice, Alyssa,” the coach said, dismissing her.

Alyssa quickly changed into her practice uniform and headed out to the field. She was thankful that she was the first to arrive, because her eyes grew wide when she saw Jake and the other members of the Rattlesnakes' football team cleaning the field.

“That's how they got out of being arrested,” she thought to herself, “They must have made an arrangement with our school board. I wonder if they'll be banned from playing the rest of the season?”

Her eyes settled on Jake, who was working hard beside his teammates even though he wasn't part of the crime.

“I hope not,” she frowned to herself.

A couple of the boys noticed her and flipped her a bird, but Alyssa didn't respond. Instead she began her stretches without taking her eyes of Jake. Their eyes met for a minute and he flashed her a conspiratorial grin before returning to his task.

Her heart skipped a beat and she blushed. Alyssa's smile only faded away when Coach Bowens and the rest of the squad arrived on the track. With a sigh she resigned herself to three hours of torture.

Alyssa tried hard to lead the girls in their normal practice, but none of them seemed interested in listening to her. Instead they broke into small groups and practiced individually. Giving up wasn't something Alyssa was accustomed to so she spent the time practicing by herself and then ran laps for the last hour.

She left fifteen minutes early, hoping to avoid the rest of the squad, but they had already helped themselves to her belongings. The jeans and t-shirt that she had worn to school was now covered in red sharpie.

“TRAITOR!” and “SNAKE LOVER!” was written on every inch of her clothing. For a moment she considered telling the coach, but couldn't bring herself to admit how much their actions had hurt her. She walked to her car and avoided making eye contact with anyone. Jake smiled at her as she walked past, but she pretended not to see him.

Alyssa ran to her car, fearing they had vandalized it too, but thankfully there was only a small note tucked under the windshield wipers. She snatched it up and stared at it in disbelief.

“Keep on smilin'” the note said in big curvy letters and ended in a smiley face.

Alyssa's heart skipped a beat when she realized it was Mattie's writing. Was she aware of what was going on? Of course she was, most of the school had to be aware. At least Mattie seemed to still be in her corner, even if she didn't deserve it.

Alyssa didn't stop to pickup something to eat on the way

home, because she didn't want to take the chance of encountering someone else would sneer at her. She sighed in relief when she found that Cody's car was still not parked in the driveway.