Gray's rapid blinking signified that he was back to the present. I do hope that his little trip to the past wouldn't make him go back to Kelly and practically beg her to take him back.

Because I would not hesitate to knee him in the balls if he does.

I don't know about you, but I had to act as a mediator between these two. I went back and forth from talking to Kelly to talking to Gray until I finally got them to agree to just go on with their lives and forget about the whole thing.

Well, the irony is that I was the one who wasn't able to move on from that incident.

Finally releasing his hand, I took a step back as I looked around, ready to freaking massacre a whole team if they ever decide to pop out. Those idiots aren't really thinking when they do these stupid attempts, it's not funny nor is it safe for anyone.

Ticking me or Gray off separately was one thing, to do it at the same time was just asking for death.

"If they don't show up, I'm going to make them run those fifteen laps!" I said out of frustration, "I never asked for this."

"Weird," Gray spoke, looking down at me, "You were always game when we were left alone."

Turning to him, I lifted a brow, "Things changed, Gray."

Except my constant stubbornness to stay with you.

"Yeah, they changed," he sighed before looking over his shoulder, his gaze trailing along Kelly as she sat by the fountain, still chatting along with her friend, "They really did."

I followed the direction his eyes were pointed at and I frowned. The affection he once had for her was something I could never compete with. I understand though, it was his first time experiencing something like that, she was his first love as he was mine.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have never anything like this for any other guy. Just saying that line is enough to make me internally cringe, that is so fucking cliché.

Was I in the wrong for letting him take me to bad? Would things be better if I stopped him when he asked me to? Should I have just comforted him normally and platonically?

Looking back, what I did wasn't the smartest move, but I don't regret it a bit. The morning after, we were so awkward with each other to the point that I wanted to do nothing else but sneak out as if it was a sudden one-night stand.

But, he made me some instant oatmeal for breakfast and apologized a million times for losing control. The way he scrambled with his words was the one of the few times I saw Gray Martyn without his bad boy façade. I just had to laugh at his face, I would have never thought that he was capable of being bashful like that.

The compromising air just disappeared and we were back to talking like we usually did. Kelly wasn't mentioned even once during that morning.

And before I left his house, I kissed him on the cheek as goodbye.

That was the start of it all. The spontaneous night escapades, the regular goodbye kiss, and the mutual agreement to stay with each other.

"I feel like I took advantage of you back then," I admitted and his attention was back to me.

"I don't," he told me with a shrug, "It's been what? Two years and I still haven't said thank you."

"For sleeping with you?" I snickered.

He paused for a moment before giving me a sincere smile, "For being there when I needed you."

His tone was so soft that I could never imagined that it came from Gray Martyn himself. Maybe I craved for something too early, perhaps what we really needed was time. He was too caught up in his heartbreak to see anything else, and after finally seeing Kelly after years apart, he finally for the closure he needed.

Maybe that was the reason I couldn't get him, all he needed was a moment of epiphany.

"Kelly be careful!" a female voice screeched and our heads whipped back to the old cheerleader. Some of her things were on the floor but she was frozen on the spot, her eyes were trained on us.

It took my brain some buffering but I concluded that she was in her current disposition because she was actually observing us. Don't tell me after all this time...

Impossible, she made it clear before that she was over Gray. I could see from her social media that she wasn't hung up over him, the amount of guys that I've seen with her was enough of a proof. The only reason that I could think of is that maybe she was bothered that I was the one with him right now.

Never did she expect the girl she shaped up would be the one to take Gray away from her.

But let's be a little hush hush over the fact that we're not really going out.

She still has my respect as my senior, as my old captain, and as a cheerleader. She was the girl who gave me that nod of approval on the day of the tryouts, she stayed after practice when I begged her to teach me some of her moves, and I the countless time I was in her favor.

Slowly walking up to her, she was surprised when I bent down and helped her pick up her belongings, carefully handing them back to her, "You alright?"

"Clara..." she trailed off before taking a deep breath, "Are you disgusted by me?"

Was she referring to that moment I saw her in bed with her boyfriend's brother?

"No," I replied, standing up along with her, "I have many mixed emotion because of what you did, but disgust is certainly not one of them."

A queen knows when to let go and when to keep on fighting. Though, I can't let her off the hook for hurting Gray like she did.

Giving her one last polite smile, I turned around and approached Gray once again. Wrapping my hand around his, I dragged him along with me. He tore his gaze away from his ex as he followed my steps, letting me pull him away from the scene. I'm afraid that if he stays any there longer, he might just end up falling for her again.

I've gotten rid of the lamb, I don't need the former owner of the throne entering the picture.

"Clara," Gray called out, "We need to stop this!"

I paused in my movements and slowly allowed my hold to let go, turning to face him. My lips fell into a flat line as I gestured for him to elaborate.

What is it now, big wolf?

He opened his mouth before his eyes widened, looking around. His expression was puzzling, but it was as if he was shocked by the amount of people around us. It was as if he just noticed that we were in the middle of a busy mall.

If I have my pride, he has his as well.

And if there's one thing I got from being with him, it's that he was easy to read if you look at him close enough.

"After the game," I muttered to spare him the embarrassment, "Tell me after the game on Friday."

When he heard this, his shoulders relaxed, "You always know what to say."

May Friday be doomsday or not, I'll be prepared.

***

Monday rolled by and everything was back to normal after what feels like so long. Gray was back to the usual pushed up tables, I was the peppiest that I've been for weeks, and the balance of the world was back again.

Well, that was until Vivian came thumping towards the table.

"I can't believe you never told us," she accused as she shooed away the freshman sitting beside me as she sat on the spot that was now unoccupied. I gave her a quizzical look and she quickly took out her phone, tapping on the screen and sliding her finger across it.

The fact that she rushed here was enough to catch the attention of some other members of the group. She showed me the screen and the fork I was holding suddenly fell from my grasp.

Looks like Hallie finally uploaded those pictures.

I snatched the phone from her hand as I scrolled through. I skipped through the ones that was taken during the ceremony and those during the formal group shots. You remember when Evan helped me walk away after we took the pictures? Well, there's a freaking candid shot of us.

We were walking hand in hand with our backs facing the camera.

Going through the pictures, I stopped to examine two consecutive photos. The first one was when we weren't paying attention – champagne glasses in our hands as I stared up at Evan with his undivided attention on me. When my eyes stared deeply into his figure, I started to beat myself up for letting my guard down.

Maybe I should have listened to my cousin when she told me about the way that Evan looks at me.

Second, we were now posed for the camera as he had an arm around my waist and we were both smiling, having the time of our lives.

If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that I was looking at a couple.

"Not good," I mumbled under my breath, "Not good at all."

This is definitely a word to be passed around and I have to work quickly if I don't want this to spread like an epidemic.

"What's that?" Gray asked, peering over my shoulder.

I stiffened when I realized that he was sitting just there, ready to view what could possibly end up into something horrible.

To add more fuel to the flame, one of his teammates took the phone from me and looked at the pictures, whistling lowly before handing it back to Vivian, "Damn, Clara, our boy Gray wouldn't be happy about this."

Gray quickly stood up and shoved the guy away. This quickly silenced the other parts of our table and I blinked up at him, giving him a disapproving look.

"Dispel the rumors," I commanded Vivian, pushing away the tray of my half-eaten lunch, "I'm going to talk to Evan."

"Clara!" Gray growled, turning back to me, "You're not going to see him!"

Hell no, you're the wolf in a leash and I'm the queen with the free reign, I don't take orders from anyone.

"Yes I will," I said to him, matching his tone, "He's the other victim in this."

"Clara, please!" he yelled loudly.

At first, it was only our table that was quiet, now, it was the whole cafeteria.

He just loves fucking himself up, doesn't he?

Glaring at him, I stood up, grabbed my bag and started to march away. I heard Gray's frustrated groan as I could feel him following my footsteps.

The possessive boy is back again. And tell you the truth, I'm not quite sure if I'm enjoying it or not.

I walked out through the back door, if he wasn't in the cafeteria then he's definitely at the outside field.

Just like I predicted, he sat there with his group, acting as if they were the chilliest group in the school. They kind of were, actually. They weren't nerds, they weren't popular, they were average. They know a good amount of people but they don't really bother with getting dragged in with the big crowd.

A good representation of what Evan is actually.

Before I could make a move to approach him, Gray reached out and held my arm, "He likes you, you know."

Looking over my shoulder, I nodded at him, "Sadly, I turned him down."

For you, may I add.

And this may be the only time I'll admit it to anyone else. Gray deserves to know, because I felt how painful it was to be kept in the dark when the person you liked has someone else waiting for them.

Snatching my arm from his grip, I marched up to Evan and cleared my throat loudly. They all turned their attention to me and stared, but their eyes weren't focused on me, it was on the figure looming right behind me.

Ignore the guy, just pay attention to this beauty.

I beckoned for Evan to go down the bleachers and he exchanged some looks with his friends. Huffing, I crossed my arms over my chest and waited impatiently for him to do so. Thankfully, Gray was quiet and unmoving.

Plus he acts as the perfect shade against the blaring sun. That's a win-win.

Evan stood up and grabbed his bag, muttering something to his friends before he went down the steps. He stopped just in front of me, his gaze not leaving Gray.

Oi, stop the stare down. You're completely ignoring the star here.

I cleared my throat once again and Evan looked down towards me, "Need anything?"

"Yeah," I told him, taking out my phone and showing him the set of pictures, "This just spells trouble."

His eyebrows shot up as he took the phone from my grasp. Glancing up at me, then back to the phone, he gave me a quizzical look, "What should I do?"

"Just warning you," I said, grabbing the phone back, "I told the girls everything and they're making sure no misunderstanding happens."

His eyes flashed towards Gray for a quick second and it was enough for me to understand what it meant. He knows that I love Gray and he's also aware that I'm giving the bad boy the cold shoulder for now.

The main root of this problem was the fact that I didn't want Gray to think of any other thoughts like I was actually interested in him or that Evan and I are in a relationship. That, and I don't want to drag Evan into this, even if he indirectly announced that he was willing to get sucked into this screwed up rumor train.

"You alright?" he questioned, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Yeah," I showed him a small smile before repeating the inquiry to him, "Are you?"

Maybe I'm grateful that I had this completely untouchable impression when it comes to sincere emotions. It prevented any guy from actually going forward with honest feelings, it's just usually some kind of horny disposition. That way, I didn't have to hurt anybody.

I don't know about you but I can easily knee someone in the crotch with no problems but once I play with someone's heart, I feel like I want to die in shame.

That's why I felt like the earth was suddenly knocked out of its orbit when Evan admitted that he liked me.

I felt how harsh it was to be played by someone else so I don't want to do the same thing to others.

My thoughts were then cut off by Evan, but only this time, his hand didn't make contact with the top of my head, but he leaned down closer so whatever he would say wouldn't reach Gray's hearing, "If you space out like that, I would have no choice but to chop your head again."

"I did tell you that I need you to do that most of the times," I whispered.

"Distance," Gray warned from behind me.

He retreated and stood up straight once again, glaring at Gray, "You were an ass to Clara, you're being an ass to my sister, and now you have the audacity to act like that. No wonder you have to keep switching, you can't even keep a girl even if you want to."

Can I say burn? Because damn boy, that was savage.

Gray didn't take this lightly, his hands were now balled up into fists at his side. I was the only one standing between Evan and his painful punch.

He won't do anything, I trust him.

"We'll get going now," I said to Evan, "Call me if anyone gives you trouble."

He nodded before speaking, "Same to you."

I snapped my fingers in front of Gray's face to stop him from giving Evan such a nasty look. Waving goodbye to the other man, I started to walk with the wolf right behind me, "How did you two become so close anyway?"

Same question I have about you and Erin.

"He was there when you weren't," I explained, "Got it?"

He released a sigh as he opened the school door for me, "I really am sorry."

"Just call me bitterella then," I gave him a tight-lipped smile as I walked past him.

Play hard to get, ladies, especially if your man has been fucking you up.

"You'll still cheer for me," he said just as we stopped right in front of my next class, "Right?"

I blinked up at him and a very soft answer escaped my lips, "Every second."

Like every game, you would do your thing in the field and I'll wave the pompoms for you. Not once will I stop.

I'm still the bad boy's cheerleader.

--------------------------

Well, I acted like a complete bitch during the whole dance practice for the birthday party of a girl I didn't know and everybody found out in the end that I was just hungry. I asked for ice cream before they started and they didn't give me ice cream, now look what happened. That was my week, how was yours?

So we're basically moving forward and the more I write, the more I'm left undecided about the number of chapters we're going to put out. But I keep posting previews of future chapters on my social media so you guys know what's up.

Question: Okay, I think one of the most difficult things when monitoring the comments is the fact that I have to delete those who are tactlessly advertising their stories. So here, I'm giving you a free pass on advertising them in the comments.

Dedicated to SecretVampA for the cover. I can tell, this one has been with me for a while because I already know her username.

I'm afraid that's everything. Don't forget to comment, vote, and follow. I love you all and I shall see you next chapter.

P.S. I'm joining this season's #WattpadBlockParty and you can head onto KellyAnneBlount's account for more details.