walking beside her, blatantly telling her to check me out, and they both swivel their heads in my direction.
Busted. But really? I don’t give a shit.
“Isn’t that the girl who was giving you a lap dance at your house?” Ava asks, her voice steely.
Uh oh. She sounds pissed.
“Yeah,” I say warily.
Without warning, Ava grabs me by the front of my hoodie. Yanks me close to her. Presses her mouth to mine and kisses the hell out of me. I pop my eyes open to find her eyes are open too and she’s glaring at Josie as she continues kissing me.
Damn. My girl is fired up.
When Ava finally breaks the kiss, Josie is walking away with an expression on her face like she just smelled stinky shit. Her friends trail after her, their mouths flapping.
I’m assuming Ava and I will be the topic of their discussion for the rest of the night.
I rub my mouth with the back of my hand, staring at this furious version of Ava sitting next to me with a glower on her pretty face. My Disney princess is rockin’ the villain look. “Don’t think she’ll be giving me lap dances anymore.”
“She better not,” Ava spits out.
“Whoa, easy there, tiger. What’s got you so twisted up?” Reaching out, I push her hood down so I can touch her hair.
A ragged exhalation leaves her before she says, “I think I got kicked off the cheer team today.”
My fingers still in her hair at hearing what she said. “What do you mean?”
She turns her head so her gaze meets mine. “I got in trouble. Brandy asked me to leave practice.”
“Why did you get in trouble?”
Ava shrugs. Looks away. “It’s all Cami’s fault,” she mumbles.
“What did Cami do?”
Now Ava looks downright pained. “She said something shitty to me and I—I hit her.”
Shock courses through me, rendering me still and silent. All I can do is sit there and gape at her like a dying fish. My lips parting and then closing because I can’t come up with anything to say.
And I’ve always got something to say.
“What?” she asks after a few silent seconds. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” The words push out of me forcefully, like it took everything I had to say that.
Holy fuck. Ava actually hit Cami?
“No. I wish I wasn’t.” She curls her fingers into a fist and punches the edge of her steering wheel with so much force I lean away from her a little bit. “I hate her, Eli. I hate her so damn much. Maybe it’s a good thing I’m going to get kicked off the team. I’m tired of dealing with her digging comments and her shitty dirty looks. She’s a horrible human being.”
“Babe.” I reach out and rest my hand on top of her thigh and feel her trembling beneath my touch. Like she’s shaking with rage. “Tell me what happened. From the beginning.”
She explains it all. How she was talking with her friends when Cami approached with that psycho bitch Baylee, and she started in on her about dating me. Then said something rudely intimate about me, which sent Ava into a tailspin, where she effectively shut Cami up by socking her in the face.
Unbelievable. My girl is an absolute badass.
“…so I understand why Brandy had to send me home. I couldn’t be there with Cami. I just hit her. My coach is going to make an example of me, and my moment as a cheerleader at school is officially over,” she finishes with a sigh.
I give her knee a squeeze. “Are you going to miss it?”
She nods, looking glum. “I won’t miss the Cami and Baylee drama, but yeah. I’ll miss it. I like going to the games. Doing stunts. Cheer is hard work, though I know the majority of you guys don’t believe it.”
“Nah, that’s not true. Don’t lump me in with everyone else. I know you and your team work hard,” I say. She turns her head toward me, her expression flat out pitiful. “You look really fucking sad right now, and that breaks my heart.”
“It’s just that I don’t usually get in trouble,” she whispers, glancing down at where my hand is covering her knee. “I’m scared to go to the vice principal’s office tomorrow. I’m afraid of what Adney might say. Then my parents are going to find out and they’re going to be so pissed at me. And disappointed. God, I hate it when they use that line on me. I