their torsos, come running, flipping and shaking their pom-poms into the middle of court. The girls are all jumping around as the Cougar, our mascot, comes flipping end over end until he’s center court right in the middle of the cheerleaders. The crowd goes crazy and starts chanting, Cougars, Cougars, Cougars.
Madison comes running into the gym cheering as she takes a seat next to me and Alexa. Madison and Alexa both start screaming at the top of their lungs, stomping their feet and clapping their hands to the chants of the crowd. The cheerleaders run over to the door leading to the guys’ locker rooms and form two lines, ten girls on each side.
Alexa and Madison both grab one of my hands linking our fingers together as the lights dim low, “Welcome Back” by Mase starts bumping from the speakers. The freshmen players are the first to walk out, followed by Junior Varsity and then, last but not least, Varsity. Every player is out of the locker room except the trio, who always make a special entrance worthy of a professional football team.
I squeeze Madison and Alexa’s hands knowing that any second Steven will be walking out for the last and final time. The crowd quiets down just a bit before Steven comes jogging out and then everyone explodes by screaming at the top of their lungs for him. Steven gets grouped up into the huddle of his teammates but not before he stops and points to Alexa.
“I love you, baby!” Alexa yells, although I’m sure he can’t hear with all the noise.
The crowd settles down again and we wait, and we wait, and we wait some more…for Landon. I can’t wipe the grin off my face. Leave it to Landon to make us all wait a little longer than necessary. Finally, he jogs out and everyone, including myself this time, screams for him. Just like Steven, he stops before he reaches his teammates and his eyes meet with mine. His piercing blue eyes steal my breath away. He mouths the words I love you, and I swear all of our classmates sigh. My cheeks flush and normally I would feel really uncomfortable and squirm in my seat from the attention, but not today. Today is a day that will be one of those memories we won’t soon forget.
I let go of Madison and Alexa’s hands and cup them around my mouth to yell, “I love you, too!”
Landon’s eyes go wide in surprise. He’s shocked I just yelled that I loved him in front of the whole school. He shakes his head at me laughing. His teammates gravitate toward him and soon he is swallowed into the huddle.
Madison squeals like a little girl in my ear as Cash, the star quarterback and my twin sister’s boyfriend, appears and the crowd that we thought was out of control a few moments ago now goes absolutely berserk.
“Take It Ta Da House” by Trick Daddy blares through the speakers. The guys all huddle together; helmets touching, arms on each other’s shoulders.
Madison bumps my shoulder, “Watch this shit.”
The guys break and do the dance that my sister taught them. I knew they were working on it for the last few months but I had no idea what to expect. She loves dancing and more so, teaching these guys this dance. We all start cracking up watching them shake their asses. Once they start thrusting their hips, every single girl in our high school stands and screams at the top of their lungs. All I can do is laugh and shake my head. Everyone absolutely loves this shit.
The song changes to “Like A Virgin.” I’m taking it all in…everyone standing up around the gym. This will never happen again. It’s a memory I’ll never forget.
“Oh my God.” Alexa laughs and points to the middle of the gym.
“Holy shit.” My eyes go wide and I cover my eyes to hide embarrassment. Landon is humping the floor, and in that short amount of time that my eyes left his, he has lost his jersey leaving him in just his shoulder pads.
“Is he like that in bed?” Madison asks me clearly amused by this.
My face is flaming red and I can’t even answer her because he is. He’s a fucking animal but I’d never share that with anyone. That’s something only Landon and I know and that’s the way it’s going to stay.
Madison stands as the song comes to an end and “The Time” by The Black Eyed