Chapter 5

"Why are we running?" Cindy asked as I kept pulling her through the school's hallway.

I glanced at her over my shoulder and smiled, "we're running from your brother." 

She rolled her eyes at me, "seriously, only a few hours have passed since y'all made up and you're back to your ridiculous antics," she told me.

"It's not ridiculous, it's fun," I told her while I pulled her into the gym.

I let her hand go, walked to the bleachers and sat down, she followed me and sat right next to me.

"Why are we here?" she asked me while looking around. 

The cheerleaders were practising their pep rally routine for tomorrow's welcome back ceremony.  I chuckled at their movements, all their tumbles and flips.

"What's so funny?" Cindy questioned.

"Nothing really, I just remembered that Stacey wanted me to join the squad when I came here. She literally came up to me and said that I had the body of a cheerleader and that I should join," I told Cindy, chuckling a bit as I thought back to that day.

"So you didn't join?" She asked.

"Oh no of course not, I didn't want to, not that I don't think it's a sport, well I really don't know about that aspect of it but they are serious athletes and I had a lot to deal with so I didn't want to take on a huge responsibility and let them down," I told her while I watched the routine.

"So why are we here then?" she asked.

"I sometimes help them out with their routines, point out mistakes, fill in if one of them is sick, support Stacey as she's captain. Oh, we're also hiding from your brother and it's the perfect place to talk about your relationship with Cedrick," I told her, my focus still on the cheer squad but I felt when she froze and heard her intake of breath.

"H....how did you know about......." she started.

"About your relationship?" I faced her, looking into her eyes, my face serious.

"Before you say anything, I know that I shouldn't be dating him but he's just so sweet and really nice to me," she stated, her hands shaking as she tried to reason.

"Why would I tell you not to date him?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.

"Because he's in a gang and Nuca's friend and that you d.....," she paused to look at me. 

Her shoulders sagged as she relaxed when she saw the smile on my face. I giggled at this and smirked.

"Cindy, please I'm not gonna tell you not to date him, one because it's your decision, not mine and two, he's a good guy, a really good guy. He's not really Nuca's friend, he hates him, like really hates him but he stays close in order to inform the police about Nuca's involvements," I told her, she looked at me shocked.

"How did you know?" she asked me.

"I found out when I was dating Nuca, I was a bit curious about his disappearances and he was always on his phone or laptop, so I hacked it, found out that he was a police informant and confronted him. He was ballistic when I told him that I knew but he knew that if I told Nuca that it would be the end," I paused wincing at that memory, I was so "in love" with Nuca that I did whatever it took to keep him from getting in trouble.

 "So I made him a deal, he gets to keep his life as well as his family's lives if he doesn't tell them that Nuca was involved and he did it, he wasn't happy about it but he kept his end of the deal and so did I well until my parents died I did," Sighing I looked towards the cheerleaders before facing Cindy.

 "But he always warned me about Nuca as well as protected me from when they made deals with other gangs, so I know that he's not bad whatsoever," I told her while smiling.

"Oh, and to the second part of your question, the constant texting from both ends as well as the stolen glances and the fact that you rejected and ignored Steve throughout lunch, most girls give in to his cheesiness," I told her.

"Oh you can't forget the death glare Steve got from Cedrick," A voice said.

"Oh yes thanks, that too," I told Cindy before looking at Raiden.

"You found me," I told him smiling.

He returned my smile, "I'll always find you."

Gazing into his eyes I knew that he meant it but it was a bit different from our usual inside joke, it felt different also.

"Hey guys," I broke myself from his gaze to smile at Stacey.

"Awesome practice Stace, Rebekkah was a little slow on the turns and Abby keeps missing the part to tumble so she comes in a bit late but overall it's looking great for tomorrow," I told her as I walked down the bleachers.

"Okay, I'll see about it tomorrow in the early morning practice. Are you sure you don't want to make it official, you're practically on the team already?" she said whilst we walked through the doors.

"Wait you want Wick to join the cheer squad?" Raiden asked before bursting out into laughter. 

I stopped to look at him, he's literally laughing so hard, his face is all red and he's wheezing a bit.

Glaring at him, "What's so funny about that Rai?" I asked a bit angry that he laughed at the idea of me being a cheerleader.

"No," he stated glancing at my face, his laughter stopped when he saw my expression, he stood up and walked closer to me, I took some steps back, my back hitting the lockers, he kept coming closer until I saw the freckles on his face. 

"Hey look at me," he said taking my face into his hands titling it up so I could gaze into his eyes. Those chocolate brown orbs that make you melt when they sparkle in the light. They were darker than usual as he looked into my grey ones.

"I know that you would be the best cheerleader if you decided to join, you would do your best, give your all and worry about if that is good enough, you would wonder if you're letting them down or if you should just quit but you don't because you're not a quitter and you never give up," He took a deep breath before continuing.

"So you'll continue to do your best and find ways to improve until someone most likely me, " he said causing me to smile, "comes and stops you from overworking yourself and reminds you that not everything has to be perfect and that you already are perfect with all your flaws and insecurities," he told me his eyes never leaving mines. 

"So why did you laugh?" I asked my voice coming out small and breathless.

He took a few steps back before smiling at me, I let go of a breath I didn't know that I was holding, folded my arms and waited for his answer.

"I laughed because I remember you said that you would "never become a narcissistic witch that only cares about her looks and what boys are drooling over her, someone who looks like a hooker with tight and gaudy dresses with cheap makeup caked unto their faces" yeah those were your words exactly," he said before turning to Stacey. 

"I mean no offence to your or your team," he said quickly causing me to laugh.

He smiled at me before stating, "God, I missed your laugh." 

I stopped turning my attention to him while walking closer, I placed my hand on his cheek.

"Hey look at me," I said and he did, his eyes filled with regret for that day.

"We made mistakes in the past but we're fixing the ones we made that damaged our relationship, okay, you're not gonna lose me again and I'm not gonna let you go, never again, it was the worst thing I did and now I have another shot and so do you, we're gonna make it," I told him, my eyes still trained on his own, letting him know I meant every word. 

 I'm not gonna let you go Raiden, never again. 

"Is it weird that I really want them to kiss right now?" I heard Stacey tell Cindy causing me to break my gaze on Raiden and look at her confused. 

"What?" I asked.

"Well you guys we're awfully close there and right now, " she pointed to the lockers where we were standing at before and then to where we were standing right now, "and he clearly knows a lot about you and vice versa and he's also still in a daze," she said before pointing at Raiden.

"Huh? What?" He asked shaking his head then looked at us.

"No, we're just really good friends Stacey and you know that I like Luke and I'm going on a date with him," I told her, though a piece of me felt weird when I called Raiden my friend.

"Yeah, we're just friends," Raiden said. 

Why do I feel like I hate that word when he says it?

Because you like him, dummy! My conscious screamed at me.

No I don't that's silly, we're just friends and I like Luke, I really like Luke. 

Sure, you keep saying that, just go on denying your true feelings, it'll go away.

Whatever, I know it's true, Raiden and I are just friends nothing more. I told myself one more time.

"See, told you so," I told Stacey smiling at her, "now come on, it's getting late and I really need my dose of Stiles Stilinski, it's long overdue," I told them and walked towards the school's entrance.

Author's Note

What do you think of the plot, writing style, characters? Point out grammatical errors or places where I need to show instead of telling, please and thanks. Anything that seems that needs to fix please let me know, I'm open to feedback and criticism.