I sit on the sidelines after practice and wipe the dripping sweat off of my forehead. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. I am so exhausted. My body was not ready for that grueling practice at all. I didn't see that coming.

I am not cut out for this at all.

Doing all this just to prove a point to Logan seems a bit ridiculous now that I am covered in my own sweat and probably several bruises from stunts gone wrong.

Leigh jumps over and smiles, squatting down to join me on the rough turf. "How are you feeling tiger? You looked so great out there!"

"Not good. I'm not cut out for this." I reply honestly, struggling to catch my breath after that very intense practice. I have never done anything like that before in my life.

"Oh come on! Today was only your first go at it!" She shakes her pompoms at me. "You'll get better!"

"Yeah, and my first go at it was enough to make me decide that cheerleading just isn't for me." I shrug my shoulders.

Leigh stands up and places one hand on her hip. "You can't possibly be serious."

"I am. I'm just not cut out to be a cheerleader. You guys work so hard. You picked the wrong girl." I stare up at her. "I've got no work ethic."

Leigh scoffs. "I don't make mistakes Avery." She states clearly. "Never have. Never will." She crosses her arms over her chest.

"Well you made a mistake yesterday by picking me to join your team." I reply. I'm not trying to hurt her feelings, I just want to be honest with her.

"You are going to regret saying that to me." Leigh shifts her weight into her other foot.

"Leigh, listen. It's really nothing against you or the team at all. You guys are great. I just really can't handle all of the work that needs to be put in to do what you guys do so well and I don't want to be the one to drag the team down." I reply. I don't want her to hate me but I can't pretend to be something I'm not.

My dad has been doing that for years. I do not want to be anything like him.

I'm not the cheerleading type. I'm just not.

Leigh scoffs. "You know," she squats down to be on my level. "I have the ability to make your life a living Hell if you quit on me now. And I don't mean just here at school. I mean at work, at home, and anywhere else you might go. You want to make friends? Good luck doing that after I send out one quick text message." She glares at me, feeling as if my next move is to cave into her. "So what'll it be?" She pops up to a standing position and smiles as big as she can, shaking her pompoms for dramatic effect.

I stand up so that she does not have the option of looking down on me. I want her to see me as an equal not as a lesser. "I'm not afraid of you Leigh. I don't know why you think I would be. You're just a teenager like me." I laugh. "Plus, my life is already a living Hell. You can't possibly make it worse than it already is."

Leigh looks over my shoulder, past me. "It looks like your daddy showed up to watch you practice. It's a shame he's not going to get to see you since you decided to do the cowardly thing and quit on your first day."

I shake my head. How does she know what my dad looks like, I turn around to see if she is bluffing or not. Over in the distance, I see Logan hanging on to the fence that borders the football field, watching.

I clench my fists and decide to deal with his obsessiveness later. "He's not my dad and you can't convince me to stay just because he is here watching." I fold my arms over my chest to show my position.

"Aren't you going to keep going for him?" She pouts. "It looks like he really enjoys seeing you in that little skirt that covers just enough to keep a man's attention." She smirks as she tugs on various pieces of my cheer uniform to straighten them out. "Boys are wildly into cheerleaders you know. They just can't seem to keep their hands off of their bodies."

"Neither can you apparently." I smack her hand away from my skirt. "He's not my boyfriend." I step away from her. "And he's not going to be the reason I change my mind about quitting the team either."

"So you don't think I could go over there and get him to convince you to stay?" She asks. "Is that a challenge? I love a good, friendly competition."

"Be my guest." I smirk as she hops over to where he stands. The joke is on her. Logan doesn't want me anywhere near this team in the first place. He will be thrilled when she tells him I quit.

"Logan?" Leigh squeals upon getting closer to him. "Is that you Logie? Oh my gosh! Ah!" I drop my hands at my sides and watch as she leaps into his arms. The pair share a very passionate embrace as he catches her in his arms.

I'm not sure but this might actually be more disturbing to my eyes than watching my dad and evil Hillary make out in the kitchen. It might be a close tie.

I grab my things and stomp across the field. I push on the metal gate and exit. I throw my bag on the ground at Logan's feet and pull her off of him. "Okay, this reunion is over."

Authors note: what are your thoughts on what happened in this chapter? and what do you think will happen in the next one?

This was a super long chapter to show my appreciation for you guys!! Did you like all of the pictures and gifs I added?

I just want to say a quick thank you to all of my readers. Today marks one month since I have posted this story and I am still shocked at how many reads it has gained over the last four weeks. This is by far the fastest I have gotten reads of a story in just one month. Thank you all for reading, commenting, and voting. It means the world to me.