"Man, I'm nervous," Bri spoke as she and Nayeli headed back down to the basketball court, where they had tryouts. It'd been two weeks since and they were just now getting results.

School had been good to her so far. She was really enjoying the change in scenery from Atlanta to Louisiana and although she missed her family, she was starting to enjoy coming into her own as an young adult. Her 19th birthday would be here before she knew it.

"Yeah me too," she nodded. They had just gotten out of psych, and both were done with classes for the day. She and Bri were cool, they had each other's numbers now and talked pretty often, she felt like she had made another friend.

On their way there, she got a message from Samara.

Lea🌸: you got this bitchhhhhh! rooting for you from my boring ass chem lecture 😚

: lmao! thanks roomieeeee 🖤

She smiled tucking her phone away, before they both entered the gym. The coach, captain and co captain and two other girls stood in the gym, confusing both Bri and Nai. There were more than fifty girls who tried out, so for only four of them to be stood here was a bit alarming.

"Welcome back ladies," the captain grinned. "If you forgot, I'm your captain, Tierra and this is our co captain Angel. Coach Key is right over there, hey coach!" Tierra called, making the coach shake her head.

"Now, if y'all remember, we had about fifty girls try out, and a hundred over two days. You four were the only girls from the first day that made it. We can tell you have some skill and we'd love to work on helping those skills grow," she said, making Nayeli smile slightly from her spot. "I'll warn you now if you didn't already know, cheer can be hell. So if you don't think you can handle it, we understand," she nodded, waiting on someone to leave.

"Hm. I like y'all. The girls from day two dwindled down to one. Welcome to the Grambling State Tigers, ladies," she smirked, and Nayeli couldn't help the grin that formed on her face. "Practice starts Monday at 7 am for early workouts and then again at 5. If you have evening classes, let me, Angel or Coach know," she informed them. They all nodded eagerly and then were dismissed from the tiny meeting.

The coach and captains left first, leaving the four girls just looking at each other with smiles on their faces. Bri was first to introduce herself to the other three, and shockingly, Nayeli went next.

"I'm Taya, y'all can call me Tay, nice to meet you," the lighter of the two spoke. Nayeli thought she looked like the poster child for cheer with her perfect posture and bright smile.

"I'm Jaslynne, call me Jas," the taller girl smiled a closed mouth smile and waved. She was the tallest of all the girls, and Nayeli along with Bri were the shortest. Tay was in the middle of them, about 5'7.

Although she was quite literally the spitting image of her father, one thing she didn't inherit from him was her height. She was only 5'5, but her legs made her look taller than she was. She was a little slimmer and was made up of all legs. At first she hated it, because her younger siblings had two tall parents, and she knew despite her being the oldest, they were gonna tower over her one day.

Once the girls exchanged numbers, Nayeli excitedly made her way back to the dorm to let her parents know she made it. She laid across her bed in her now fully decorated dorm and called her mom on FaceTime.

"Nayeli!" she heard once it connected, coming face to face with Sarai, who most likely had her mom's phone.

"Hey pooh! How are you?" Nai grinned, missing her sisters face.

"I'm fine, sister. Mama is in the kitchen, you wanna talk to her?" she asked

"Yes please, Pumpkin. Is daddy in there with her?" she wondered.

"He's always with her," Sarai giggled, making Nai laugh. "Mama! Nai is on the phone," she called. She heard her mom squeal and in an instant she was greeted by her huge smile.

"Hi Sweet Pea!" Nadira sang, before the phone was snatched from her and her dad came into view.

"Hey princess," he smiled.

"Gionni don't snatch my shit! Give it back," she heard.

"I'm talking to my child. What's up babygirl? How are you? Everything good?" he rattled questions off.

"Hi mama! Hey daddy, I'm good," she laughed. "Everything's fine. I called to tell you and mama I made the cheer team!" she said excitedly.

"Okay babygirl! I see you. Congratulations mamas," her father smirked, proud of his daughter.

"Oh yes ma'am! I already knew you was finna tear them tryouts up," Nadira nodded, now back in view.

"Thank you! I'm excited," she said honestly. "Their ballet here isn't as great as at home so I'm just gonna practice alone, if I can find something outside of campus I'll probably dance there. But if not, I'll be home for competition," she explained.

"No problem babe, whatever makes you happy," Nadira smiled. "Have you—"

"MAMA! Where's the—who's that? That's Nini? Can I say hi?" she heard Omari speak, making her smile widely.

"You said Nayeli on the phone?!" she heard both twins in the distance.

"Yeah, but I'm talking first," Omari grumbled.

"Uh uh! Ladies first," Amani spoke. Nadira simply looked in the camera and rolled her eyes, knowing this was about to backfire into an argument. Amani and Omari argued like cats and dogs.

Once Nayeli got off the phone with her family, she was left feeling a little happier than she was earlier that day, so she decided to do a little dancing. She changed into her black leotard and tights, slipping some sweats and a hoodie over it, and put her shoes in her dance bag along with her speaker.

She knew there was a mirrored dance studio in the creative arts section of the school, so she made her way there, AirPods in.

Once she made it there, she noticed that the culinary arts classes and the kitchens they used were also in here. They were a little past the large studio, and she stood by for a second, watching all the people in the kitchen do what they enjoyed. Whatever they were making smelled fantastic and she wanted to sneak in and taste it, but she was content with just watching for a little bit.

After she got through with being nosy from afar, she hurried into the studio, and began stretching.

"Good work today Dixon,"  his professor smiled as he packed his things up to leave class. 

"Thanks chef," he couldn't help but smile back. He enjoyed his major a lot, and he looked forward to all of his classes, even the boring ones, like his hospitality lecture. From a young age, Armani stayed in the kitchen. With his mother, grandmother and aunts. Even when he was adopted, he loved learning how to make new things in the kitchen with Sofía. His sisters didn't even enjoy it as much as he did.

He and his father often bumped heads about as a kid, because he thought Armani could be doing more productive things than following his mother around in the kitchen but he didn't care. After many stern talkings to from his wife, Joseph eased up on his son and learned to let Armani expression himself the way he saw fit.

Even after basketball practice, or after playing on the court during the summer, his friends would be excited to go back to Armani's because he stayed cooking things for them, and making them try new things he thought up.

Nobody took his love for cooking as seriously as they took his love for basketball. They prioritized basketball practice, making sure he was on top of his grades so he wouldn't be kicked from the team. They made sure even after practice he ran drills at home until it was time for dinner.

In any other situation he'd be ecstatic that his parents did all these things for him, but in his case, it made him love basketball less and less. He didn't want to disappoint the people who basically saved his life, though. So he kept on.

Winning championships, making MVP, leading his team to undefeated seasons and bringing home trophies nearly every year.

He loved the game, and he loved his teammates but basketball began to feel more like a job than something he loved. That stood true even today. He had much more fun when he was just hooping around on the court with his friends and teammates. He loved the thrill of competition and the high of a win, but the thought of being drafted made him uneasy, and sometimes it made him want to stop playing all together.

As he left his class, he took out his headphones to start his walk to the gym and meet Duck, but he heard some music coming from the dance studio a little farther ahead that stopped him in his tracks. He knew there was a dance class before his class, he often saw them practicing on his way to class, but he never saw or heard anything from there after, and he was instantly interested.

Otherside by Beyoncé began to play from the speaker in the room, and he rushed toward the door, seeing only one girl in the middle of the floor, standing still. Once she began singing, the girl instantly fell from position and began to dance.

Armani was floored.

The song and lyrics themselves were beautiful, the violins and piano made her dancing seem even more pretty to see. He'd never really seen ballet in person. He'd seen it on tv like once, but it was never something he'd thought he'd enjoy.

But he was proven completely wrong watching this girl dance. The way she moved was perfect to him, it's like she'd been doing it her entire life. She stood her toes and spun, and she spun for a long time, keeping straight until she rested. Once she picked up the spin again, she stretched her leg straight up behind her back, and then let it go, holding it in position at her side, and spinning until the song ended.

As he watched her dance, he was reminded of a butterfly. Mariposa. That was one of the first Spanish words he tried to teach his baby sister when she was a toddler. As he was adopted into a spanish speaking household, he learned the language fairly quickly.

Mariposa was the only thing floating around in his head while he watched her float around the room. Just like a butterfly, she was moving beautifully.

He didn't even notice, but his mouth was slightly agape as she she took a breath, stretching out once she was completely finished. He didn't even notice, but it was the same exact girl from cheer tryouts, and from the restaurant.

He was in complete shock, she was extremely talented, he'd never seen anything like it. He was in so much shock at who he saw, that he didn't even notice she was staring right back at him through the doorway.

"Oh shit," he jumped. "My bad I didn't mean to seem creepy or nothing," he tried to defend himself. "I just heard the music and I uh...I guess no matter what I say I'll seem creepy," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I-It's okay," her soft voice spoke up as she wiped her forehead with a towel. He loved the sound of her voice, it fit her face to a T.

From the look on her face he could tell she was nervous and it clicked in his head that he definitely didn't know this girl.

"You were really good in there," he nodded towards the studio. Slowly but surely, a grin spread across her face.

"Thank you," she said. "I appreciate that,"

"Yeah, yeah no problem. Lemme uh, lemme get out your way," he said, moving to the side.

"Oh, thank you," she spoke, stepping from in front of him. She began walking in the opposite direction and stopped in her tracks for a second.

He felt dumb for not introducing himself to her, so that if he saw her again he could spark up a conversation. So as soon as she turned on her heel back to face him he did.

"I'm Armani," he called at the exact same time as she said,

"I'm Nayeli,"

They both chuckled a little bit and he walked up to her, holding his hand out. She was a bit hesitant but she shook his hand firmly, like her dad taught her.

"Nice to meet you, Nayeli," he smiled.

"Nice to meet you too, Armani," she said shyly, averting her eyes from his hazel ones. "Um...I gotta to though, thanks for the compliments on my dancing," she nodded, beginning to walk backwards.

"Yeah of course. See you around, Nayeli," he smirked. She waved again before disappearing around the corner.

Even on his way to the gym, he couldn't wipe that smirk off his face.

the ball has begun rolling 😈

lol we're learning more about armani in this one, and his family. more will be revealed as we go on 🙂

they finally met 🥰 and since nayeli's a cheerleader he's gonna be seeing way more of her. *wink wink*

lol leave me some thoughts!

till next time 💛