Chapter 117

Asher pulled me out onto the dance floor. Slowly, I pressed into him as one of his arms wrapped around my waist. The other was wedged between us, where he held my hand against his chest, over his heart.

Closing my eyes, I rested my temple against his chin. I savored his closeness, soaking up as much as I could.

Too soon, I knew the music would stop and our final date would be over.

The magic had run out. To save Asher from accidentally binding himself to me forever, we had to let this end. Even though I hated it.

He held me tightly as we gently swayed in a tiny circle. To the rest of the world, we likely looked like a couple deeply in love.

To me, my heart was breaking.

Eventually, as much as I dreaded it, the music wound down. And so did our final night as fake boyfriend and girlfriend.

Asher, ever the gentleman walked me home.

“How should we break up?” I asked. “We could make a big scene.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Asher said simply. It felt too easy. I wanted to draw it out, give us a reason to keep seeing each other. But if Asher said he’d take care of it, then he would. There was no use arguing.

At my door, Asher and I stood facing each other, both avoiding looking at each other. Neither of us seemed too excited to part. I knew I was reluctant, taking my time retrieving my key from my purse.

“I guess this is it,” I said, when I couldn’t justify lingering anymore.

“Yeah,” he said, frowning. Odd, for a briefly moment, it seemed as if his icy façade slipped, and the emotion that slipped through was… sadness. But when I blinked, it was gone as if it had never been there at all.

“Goodnight, Cynthia.” He turned from me and started down the hallway.

“Goodnight.” I waited for him to glance back from the door to the stairwell, but he didn’t.

With him gone, my whole heart shattered to pieces. I couldn’t open the door fast enough, to hide before the tears started falling.

Breaking up had been my idea, but I hated it. I wanted to call him, or chase after him, and take it all back. But I couldn’t.

This was for the best.

The next day at cheerleading practice, I felt like I had a dark little storm cloud hovering above my head. I tried to be perky for the sake of my teammates. Today was our first practice since reporting Coach’s behavior to the faculty office.

Yet I couldn’t help but drag my feet, and sigh more often than was strictly necessary.

Coach, at least, was absent from the gymnasium. Small victories.

Instead, one of the trainers had taken over.

“Coach is on mandatory suspension while the investigation is ongoing,” the trainer said. “I’ll be leading the practices for now – oh. Nicole, there you are. We’ve been expecting you.”

The other cheerleaders and I all turned at once as Nicole walked into the gymnasium, a big smile on her face.

“Nicole!” I jumped up onto my feet and hurried toward her. I pulled her into a hug. “Does this mean what I think it does?”

Nicole nodded. “I’m back on the squad! A security officer called me right away, when they found out Coach had kicked me for refusing to do the photoshoot. They told me to come today.”

“And we’re glad to have you back,” the trainer said. Everyone agreed.

One of the girls raised her hand with a question. When the trainer called on her, she asked, “Any updates on finding our photos?”

The trainer frowned. “The ones Asher had turned in will be destroyed. The others, unfortunately, are proving difficult to track down. Coach hasn’t exactly been forthcoming with whom he sold them to.”

The girl wrapped her arms around herself. “Oh.”

“What about the money?” Elena asked. “Coach said he was selling the pictures to fundraise for us.”

The trainer, looking grim, shook her head. “Unfortunately, as best we can tell, any money he earned is long gone. Our coach has quite a few gambling debts, it seems.”

“I don’t understand,” I said. “If everyone knows all of this, why hasn’t he been fired?”

The trainer sighed. “Unfortunately, the coach is well-connected. Even with the evidence, a mandatory suspension is the best we can do for now.”

The ‘for now’ added some hope, but the rest was quite disheartening. Just how well connected was this guy, to avoid the worst punishment for everything that he had done?

Not for the first time, I missed our old coach. He never would have let something like this happen on his watch. How unfair for him to be fired, while this new guy got to stay…

“Now, enough questions. Let’s see some stretches,” the trainer said. “We need to stay in top form no matter who is in charge here.”

After practice, the other cheerleaders and I were in the locker room. We’d managed to work up a sweat during practice, which had helped take my mind off of things.

However, now that I had showered and changed, my lonely heartbreak was beginning to creep back into the forefront of my thoughts. Even Nicole, who had been otherwise chipper, noticed, her good mood dropping as she stood beside me.

“Is everything okay?” she asked me.

I wanted to confide in her. But I didn’t know how to tell someone that I was upset because my fake boyfriend and I broke up, and my heart was acting like it was for real. I felt ridiculous even thinking it.

I didn’t have to say anything, in the end.

Elena did it for me. “Cynthia, I heard that you and Asher split up. Finally.”

Whatever neutral ground we had managed to find in the past few weeks while dealing with the new coach turned to ash in an instant. Elena was the same as always, looking for ways to knock me down when I was the most vulnerable.

“Is that true?” Nicole whispered to me.

I looked at her, then nodded.

“Oh, Cynthia. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I mumbled, even though it wasn’t. Even now, I wanted to go to his dorm room and beg him to take me back. Couldn’t we continue to pretend, just a little longer? He might not say no. He hadn’t seemed like he’d wanted to quit at all.

But how could I? When this had been all my idea to start with.

“Nice of you to set him free,” Elena continued. She strut around in just a towel, showing off her generous cleavage. I slumped in comparison, feeling self-conscious. “I’m not sure what he ever saw in you.”

One of the other cheerleaders laughed. “Don’t be so green with envy, Elena. Just because you never stood a chance…”

Elena shot that girl a sharp glare, and her laughter quickly stifled.

“Sorry,” she whispered, but Elena only glared harder.

As the other girl slinked into the showers, Elena returned her attention to me. “It was maybe the stupidest thing you’ve ever done, though. Probably the biggest regret of your life.”

I wouldn’t tell her how right she was. How I already regretted everything.

“After all. A lot of girls are already making plays for Asher at this very moment.”

My stomach dropped. At this… moment?

“Come on, now,” Elena smirked. “You can’t honestly think that a catch like Asher coming back on the market is going to be ignored?”

She shrugged. “I’m willing to bet that as we speak, there are a ton of girls throwing themselves at his feet.”

My insides twisted. I had no right to be jealous, yet…

“Why don’t you go see for yourself?” Elena asked.