Maykala's pov

Ugh, another day at school, another day acting like the best. It's not really going to school the problem, it's my life situation that's the problem.

My parents suck. They want to be the best I can be. They only see perfection in their eyes and a perfect girl.

My mom expects me to get married to the perfect guy and have children too. She also expects me to be successful.

It's no surprise that I'm the top cheerleader at school. Through, I hate cheerleading. I'm only doing it for my mom. She doesn't want me to do anything less than that.

In reality, I like running and training. I like being fit but my mom doesn't like that. She says muscles on girls aren't pretty and training is for boys. She wants me to have the perfect body for a model and that includes having the perfect feminine body. It's utter nonsense but it's not like I can do anything about it. I can't go against her as much as I'd want to.

So, it's no surprise either that my mom put me at the top of the social ladder.

Yes, I'm Makayla Shewell the top cheerleader and the number one most popular girl. Everyone knows me.

Anyways, I'm not only the golden girl, I have a mom who wants me to be the best. Though, she's a fake mom herself. She's controlling and so much more.

My dad isn't all that better. He expects me to be successful as well and be the perfect nice lady. He wants me to be the boy's favourite. 

Through, I'm not close to him by any means, even less so since last year.

Last year, there was a huge scandal about my family, precisely my parents. My dad had an affair with another woman.

Things were between my parents. They fought all the time and my mom kicked him out. Turns out my dad was still with that other woman.

They got an ugly divorce finalized a few months ago. What is worst is that my dad remained with the other woman and married her only a few weeks after his divorce. How sh*tty of him!

Regardless, my parents didn't really like each other all that much before the scandal. They were into a forced marriage.

Sure they had me and my younger brother but that didn't make it better.

So now, my family situation is horrible. My dad lives with his new wife Jessica and her daughter Ella. Ugh, gosh just thinking about her, disgusts me. She doesn't know that through.

My mom still lives in our big house. Yes, we are sorta rich.

On weekdays I'm mostly at my mom's and on weekends I'm mostly at my dad's.

Either place is horrible. I don't like being in any of those houses. When I'm at my mom's house, I always get controlled and have to be the perfect girl and at my dad's I have to deal with my new step-mother that I hate so much and her daughter Ella. Ugh, Ella.

At least, at my mom's I have my dog Myla. I love her! She's the only one that understands me.

Nobody understands, they see me as the golden girl but in reality, it's pure torture even if I have all the privileges. I don't get to be myself. That's what's not cool.

Every day, I have to act like everything is alright like I'm the best. I have to pretend to like cheerleading too and pretend I'm normal like the other girls.

Yeah, I'm not normal. I like girls...That's hard to accept but I accepted it even if I know I'll never get to come out and marry a guy one day.

As much as it's bad to like girls in my school, I can't deny it or help it. It's who I truly am.
People in our school are homophobic, unfortunately. They aren't open. I've never seen two girls happily dating each other at our school, even less two boys.

Nobody knows about me liking girls except one person, Maverick. I finally got the courage to tell him on Monday. I couldn't hide it anymore. Especially not from my supposed boyfriend.

It was a huge risk to take but I couldn't pretend that everything was alright and that I loved him. I do love him, just as a friend.

I was so glad when he took it well but I totally didn't expect for him to be gay too. He had been in the closet too, just like I did.

We broke and now we are just best friends but unfortunately, we can't officially break up. We still have to pretend in front of others we are dating. We can't bare having any suspicions on our backs.

Everyone wants us to be together and sees us as the perfect couple. We can't say we broke up.

As much as I hate pretending, it's for the best. Thank goodness, Maverick is on board with this.

Ever since I told him, he became my best friend. He told me some stuff and I did too. He's my gay friend. The only one that can understand me better than the rest.

Regardless, of all the drama, I have a crush. Yes, a crush! I know I'll never get a chance with her but staring at her from afar is better than nothing.

Her name is Emery. She has short blond hair, tied in a ponytail most of the time and beautiful brown eyes. She has a strong physique, unlike other girls. Yeah, she plays soccer, actually, she's the best soccer player in the entire school. She's that good.

I saw her play once when I was with a gang of popular kids and she was really good. She scored a goal that day. Her number is 20. Such a beautiful number. I wish I could go see her again but it's not like I can.

She's fierce, confident and independent. Everything I don't have. I wish she'd noticed me other than the fact I'm the golden girl.

If we don't consider my situation, I actually do stand a chance with her. I heard a rumour, she was seen kissing girls. Soccer girls are lesbians, right? But at our school...I'm not too sure.

Anyways, I have to forget about my silly little crush it won't go anywhere.

I arrive at school and instantly notice Maverick with a group of guys. I join him.

"Mav!" I say happily.

"Look who's there, Makayla." One of the guys says.

"Oh, your girlfriend is here. We should leave you two some space." One of the other guys says.

"Good idea," Maverick says as he forces a smile.

They leave.

They think we want some space to kiss but we both know, we only want to be free to act like friends and to talk about our crushes. Speaking of which, I think I figured out who's his crush.

"Mav, I know who you like."

"What?" He says worried.

"It's Charlie isn't it?" I whisper that part.

"Oh..." He blushes slightly. I knew it!

"I knew it!"

"How do you know?"

"I saw you two talking yesterday and besides I've seen how you stare at him."

"You saw us?! Makayla! No one was supposed to see us!"

"Oops, I guess I saw you two together when I was waiting for you."

"Maykayla...please don't tell anyone..."

"I promise I won't. Nobody can know anyways."

"Thanks"

"So, what's the deal with the two of you?"

"Oh, yesterday I accidentally stayed in class after the bell rang and overheard Ms. Lessings ask Charlie to enter the art exhibits. We also had a project, to paint one of our classmates and I saw that he painted me! It was so beautiful! It's not done yet but still..."

"Wow, seems like the feeling is mutual."

"You know I can't make any moves on him."

"Why not?" I smirk.

"Makayla! You know why!"

"It doesn't bother me that you try to make some moves on him. If you can't date him, you can still befriend him!"

"Makayla...are you sure it's a good idea?"

"The guy seems to like you too."

"You think?" He says all hopeful.

"Yes"

"So, can I tell him that I'm not really dating you?"

"Are you kidding? No!" I say loudly.

Others stare at us confused but it's only a brief seconds.

"He'll get the wrong idea of me. He already does."

"Mav, we agreed to not tell anyone. It's dangerous."

"You said I can befriend him, if I do so, can we trust him?"

"I want to talk to him first."

"Fine..."

It remains silent between us for a few seconds, then Maverick talks again.

"Hey, what about you? Didn't you say you had a crush?"

"I do, why?" I say confused.

"Why don't you try to befriend her too?"

"I can't."

"Bullsh*t, of course, you can. You have all the power in the world and every girl would want to be your friend."

"She wouldn't like me."

"Stop making excuses. It's not like you. Are you afraid?"

"Yeah...I'm scared someone will find out."

"Well, I'm sure everything will be just fine. People still think we are together, so you have nothing to worry about."

"If you think everything will be alright..." I say hesitantly.

"Come on, befriend that girl! I can tell you like her."

"You really think it's a good idea?"

"Yes, if I can do it so can you."

The bell rings.

"Oh, let's go to class now."

We get inside and take our things. Then, we get into chemistry class.

As usual, I sit down next to Maverick it's tables for two also for lab partners, which we are.

As Ms. Samson starts explaining our tasks for today, I can't help but stare at Emery. She's sitting next to another soccer player. I remember.

I wish I could sit next to her and talk to her. She's so pretty. Too bad she doesn't notice me.

"Hey, why are you staring intensely at Emery? Is she your crush?" Maverick teases in a whisper.

"Um...yeah she is actually."

"For real?"

"Yeah...." I say nervously.

"No way, you like the best soccer player. She's really good you know?" Maverick says.

"Yeah...I wish I could see her play again."

"You want to see her play? We can go check the game tomorrow. I don't have a game as it's tonight and the Spirits play tomorrow."

"I can't, I have cheerleading practice tomorrow."

"You can ditch that at least one time."

"Are you crazy? No!" I yell too loudly and everyone looks at us.

"Ms. Shewell, you better refrain from yelling in my class again. If you do so again, I won't hesitate to make you go to the principal's office."

"Sorry mam..."

Crap, I can't risk my perfect reputation and my mom would kill me if I missed cheer practice even if I hate it. Through, it feels nice to see Emery finally look at me, even though, she seemed annoyed and unbothered.

Maybe Maverick is right, I should definitely try to talk to her.

———————

It's lunchtime and I figured out thanks to some people, that Emery likes to practice her soccer skills during lunchtime. I'm too scared to go along, so I asked Maverick to tag along even though, he wanted to talk to Charlie.

So, we head outside and find her all alone doing tricks with a soccer ball. We approach her.

"Hey, cool tricks Emery," Maverick says ecstatically.

She suddenly stops doing her tricks once she sees us. She has a look of annoyance.

"Yeah, thanks. What are you two doing here?" She glares at the both of us but mostly me...

"Well, we saw you doing some tricks and we thought it was cool." I manage to say as I smile. Seems like it only worsened her glare on me.

"Ok? You two never do that usually?"

"No, seriously Emery. Makayla is right. Your tricks are quite cool. I bet you'll score plenty tomorrow."

"Ok, what do you really want from me, captain?" She says annoyed and Maverick gets surprised by that.

"Don't need to be so hostile. We'll leave if you like your precious practice time that much. I know how important practice is." Did he literally forget I do cheerleading practices too?

"Hey! Don't forget me!" Maverick laughs and Emery stares unamused.

"Don't worry, I didn't forget you, princess." He laughs even more and I fake a glare before laughing.

"I don't want to be mean but I didn't ask to be the third wheel today." Crap, she's really annoyed. I can't screw up my only chance. What do I say?

"Sorry, you think that Emery. It wasn't my intention."

"Sure it wasn't. Everyone thinks that." She says coldly and annoyed.

"Hey, Emery, you don't need to act so rude you know."

"You two are the ones that came to bother me first."

"Still not a reason to have a crappy attitude," Emery stares coldly at Maverick. Crap, they can't fight!

"Mav stop it. Emery is right. We bothered her first."

"Still..."

"Just leave geez. What's hard to understand."

"That's not how you talk to the basketball captain," Maverick says pissed off.

"And does it seem like I care?" Emery says equally annoyed.

"You're just the best player on the Spirits. That's it."

"That's dumb but ok."

Crap...this is getting ugly fast...

"Come on Mav, let's leave."

"Fine"

We leave and Emery shoots us a killed glare.

"You sure she's worthy of being your crush?"

"I know she doesn't have the best attitude but yes I still like her. She just doesn't trust us."

"Yeah, right. Good luck with that because I'm not helping you with that."

"Mav! You said you'd help me!"

"And I'm sure you can do it by yourself. Makayla, you're the golden girl, the most popular girl. If you and I came into contact it's because you made the moves first." He says pissed off. Oh...

"You know how much I hate being golden girl," I say hurt.

"I know but I'm not the one with a crush."

"You do have a crush!"

"Oh, you mean Charlie who's shy and nice? Emery? I'm sorry but she doesn't pass the vibe check."

"Mav!"

"Deal with this on your own because I won't."

He leaves me there all alone in the schoolyard.

I guess I need to go to my other friends even if my feelings or hurt and I don't want to.

If there's one thing that I know though, is that I need to prove Maverick wrong!

———————

For the first time in a while, I get to class without Maverick by my side. Everyone looks at me confused. Oh great, now they think we broke up. We did but they can't know that.

I walk and notice that there's an empty desk in front of Emery. Yes! English class is so helpful! I get to share classes with Emery and sit in front of her!

I sit down in front of us and glares at me.

"Why are you sitting there? Go sit with your boyfriend."

"As you can see he doesn't want that right now." I smile sadly.

"Sure, don't bother me." She says annoyed.

"I'm sorry about earlier," I say apologetically.

"I don't care."

Ugh...why is she so rude?

"You good at English?"

"What are you getting at Makayla? Want to you want?" She says coldly.

"I just wanted to talk to you."

"I don't believe you."

"Is it so hard to understand I just want to be nice and talk to you?!" I yell. Everyone looks confused at us, even Maverick, Charlie his crush, Ms McLeod too.

"Ms, Shewell! This is not a class to yell! To the principal's office!" Oh no! My reputation! My mom!

"Mam! Please don't! It's not my fault!"

"Cut it off, mam, I made her mad. I won't do it again." I stare at Emery dumbfounded and everyone does too.

"Ms. Shewell, you're lucky today. Next time you won't get this lucky."

"I promise I won't do it again."

Ms. Mcload starts her class and I think about Emery. Why would she do that? She doesn't like me but she saved me.

"Thank you" I whisper to Emery

"You're lucky this time. I won't do it again."

I turn around and listen to the class as I smile. Emery helped me! It's maybe not hopeful after all!

———————-

It's the Spitfires' game which means I have to do a cheer routine today. I'm forced to cheer for every men's team. Sometimes I wish I could cheer for Emery's team, the Spirits, even if I hate cheerleading. I just want to see her play even more so now.

I get ready and join the girls. The game is moments to start, so it's our time to do our routine.

"You ready girls?" I gave out a fake smile.

"Yes!" They were their pom's poms.

We start our routine and I'm the head of the team. Everyone cheers for us and the basketball players watch us too.

We complete our routine after a few minutes.

Even if everyone is cheering at us, I can only wish to be with Emery instead.