Chapter 5

Cheyenne POV

“GIRLS! GIRLS FOCUS!” Coach was trying to yell over all of us to get everyone’s attention. Everyone started to quiet down and we were all focused on coach. “As you all know, this is one of most important games of the regular season. In the past, whenever we’ve played our rival team, the game gets pretty nasty. So watch each other’s backs out there.” I look to Kira questionably by what she meant by having to watch our backs. We were well off the field on the sidelines and never had an issue before. So I didn’t understand why we would have to watch our backs now.

“For our first-year members, you will be in the front row for this game only. It’s only as a safety measure as our veteran members know what to expect. Returning members, PLEASE let’s not have a repeat of a few years ago!” Coach pleaded and all the upperclassmen had nodded and said ‘Yes ma’am’ in unison. “Ok let’s go out there and give it your all. Remember we’re here to keep the spirits up and winning attitudes.” With that coach walked out and one by one we followed out behind her. Kira was behind me, and I slowed down so I could be by her side.

“What happened a few years ago? What was coach talking about?” I asked quietly.

“During the rivalry game, one of the players got tackled so hard they came sliding all the way into the cheer lines. Ended up taking one of the girls out and snapped her knee.” Kira kept staring straight forward while explaining it. Just the thought sent a cold chill down my spine. I haven’t shifted yet, so I didn’t have the rapid healing gift. If I got hurt, I healed slowly like a regular human. No wonder why coach wanted us first years in the front line.

The game was going good. We were in the 2nd quarter with only 2:37 to go and we were up 21 – 13. When the 2-minute warning was sounded, coach called us over to go over the half time routine. We grabbed our signs and poms and started to get in formation. After the field was clear, we headed out to give the best performance that we could. Me being one of the smaller girls, made me prime candidate for flying in 99% of the stunts. Our routine ended with the girls throwing my ass in the air and me twisting down. As I was loading up to be thrown, I caught sight of the players lining up in the tunnel to come back on the field. I paid it no attention and focused on what I had to do, when that uneasy feeling came back and settled in the pit of my stomach. Before I could think about it to much I was flying in the air and had to hurry and twist myself before I faceplanted into the other girl’s chest. We finished pumping up the crowd and then got off the field before the players came rushing back in.

“Hey, you ok? Looked like you lost it there at the end.” Kira nudged me while we were getting a quick water break.

“I got that uneasy feeling again right as I was loading up.” I looked at her worriedly. I was glad that I told her what was going on. It was definitely better than keeping it bottled up and driving myself crazy over it.

“You going to make it through the 2nd half of the game?” She now had the same worried look on her face to match mine.

“Yeah I should be fine. Like you said earlier, just stressed.” I shrugged it off and started to jog back over to our spot. Kira followed behind me. She looked like she had more to say but I didn’t give her a chance.

The rest of the game I kept getting that feeling that someone was watching me again and no matter what I did, I just couldn’t shake it. The knots in my stomach were just twisting tighter and tighter. During a quick water break I got my phone out and sent a text to Ty:

‘Hey can you pick me up after the game? I’m not feeling well.’

I put my phone back in my bag before he responded back and got back in line. The game was almost over and we were still kicking ass on the field. Four of the opponent’s players had to taken out of the game due to injuries just since half-time. There was just over 6 minutes left of the 4th quarter when we all hear someone shout “LOOK OUT!” We all turned just in time to see the ball flying in our direction along with 3 huge guys barreling towards us. One of the girls must have been in a state of shock or something because she wasn’t moving and she was right in the line of fire, for lack of better term. Without thinking about it, I take off sprinting towards her and tackled her out of the way just a split second before the 3 ogres were about to crush her. After realizing what had just happened and what I just did, I jumped up to check on the girl I just tackled to the ground.

“Hey. HEY! Look at me! Are you ok?!” I’m trying to remain calm and get her attention by lightly tapping on her cheek. She shakes her head and immediately her eyes fill up with tears and the water works begin.

“Thank you! You just saved my life!” She cries as she throws her arms around my neck.

“Holy sweet mother of baby Jesus.” I thought to myself. I didn’t do the whole crying thing. I didn’t know what to do so I wrapped my arms around her and picked her up off the ground. By then all the other girls and coach had come running over to check on us.

“Sammi are you ok?!” Coach is right by our side checking both of us out. “Cheyenne you ok?!”

“I’m fine coach. Thanks. But Sammi is pretty shaken up. She should probably sit out the last few minutes.” Coach nods in agreement and takes Sammi from me and walks her back towards our bench. As we’re walking back over to our spot, everything starts going blurry and I get lightheaded. I hear a voice next to me and feel hands on my shoulders but I can’t make out who it is or what they’re saying. Next thing I knew I was falling to the ground. I fought to stay awake but it was getting harder and harder; my head throbbing like jackhammer on concrete. The last thing I remember was those big bowls of swirling honey looking down at me.

*Mystery Guy POV*

I was coming off the field when I spotted her. Damn she’s a cheerleader? She’s been here the whole time and I did not smell her? I thought to myself.

“Surrounded by sweaty nasty fucks plus she’s down wind. Come on now.” Maddox rolling his eyes at me.

“Shut it before I block you out.” I warned him and he puts his paw up to head and pretends to faint, falling backwards on his back with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. “Drama queen.” I mutter to myself as I roll my eyes at him.

Back in the locker room, coach was praising us on the good work we’ve all been doing. Then the room got tense. We all knew the serious talk was coming. It was pretty much the same thing every game, but this one seemed more like a warning. He, along with the other coaches, warned all of us of how the other team likes to get brutal during the 2nd half of the game especially when they’re losing. We heard the stories about players being taken out and even a damn cheerleader a few years ago. At the mention of the cheerleader being taken out, Maddox perked up and was watching threw my eyes. I could feel him inching forward.

“We can’t let anything happen to her!” Maddox growled

“No shit Sherlock. We’ll find her when we go back out and just have to keep tabs on her. Meanwhile we’re taking out everyone we can on the other team that poses a threat.” I thought if I could distract him with taking the other guys out, he wouldn’t be so focused on that runt and I wouldn’t be going home with a headache by the end of the night.

“Agreed!” He says and he gets in his pouncing position. I just have to chuckle and shake my head. We were lining up in the tunnel to head back out. I was scanning all the cheerleaders on the field looking for her when I finally found her. She was being thrown in the air by 3 other girls and I thought Maddox was going to lose his shit! She came down gracefully and only when her feet were safely on the ground and she was standing on her own did Maddox finally relax.

“This girl is going to be the death of me.” Maddox huffed as he paced back and forth.

“Hey focus! We know where she is now. Just focus on the game and make sure no guy gets close to that sideline.” I warn him and he immediately perks his ears up and is in “go-mode” as he called it. We ended up taking out 4 guys that were making comments about any of the cheerleaders on our side. Humans were so weak, I almost felt sorry for them. We were just over halfway through the last quarter and we were kicking ass and taking names.

We were on defense and had set up to blitz the quarterback. Once the ball was snapped, we charged straight for him throwing whoever got in our way down to the ground. The quarterback, in a panic just threw the ball randomly way over all our heads. I was already in the air in mid-tackle by the time he released the ball. I heard a bunch of whistles going off and some girls screaming, and I jumped up to see what was going on. I saw a mass of people over by the cheerleaders and 3 guys on the ground. Shit! I thought to myself. I started heading over in that direction when the 3 guys got up and all walked away. I stopped by my team when I saw her pulling another girl off the ground. Her coach and rest of the team were running in their direction. I was getting a drink as an excuse to keep an eye on her. I hear her tell everyone she was fine but the other girl needed to sit out. Everyone started walking back over to where they were when she stopped.

“Something’s not right…” Maddox watching her intently. Just then the wind shifted and the scent hit us like a brick wall and one we were both all to familiar with. Blood. We see her blonde headed friend run up to her and grab her by her shoulders. Maddox was right that something wasn’t right with her. Even though her friend was holding her, she still collapsed to the ground. I dropped my cup and ran over to her and knelt by her side. I could smell the blood stronger now, but I couldn’t see where it was coming from. Yeah, she had some scrapes, but it wasn’t enough to cause the strong scent. Her eyes were fluttering like she was fighting to stay awake when they closed and didn’t open back up. I carefully rolled her over and there was a pool of blood on the ground under her head.

Maddox was freaking out and I had to block him out so I could focus. He was trying to force the shift and I knew we couldn’t do that, at least not right here. I yelled for the paramedics who were rushing over with the stretcher. By now we were surrounded by her coach and all the other cheerleaders plus other football players on our team. I seen a couple of our players over by the bench where the other girl was still sitting. I carefully picked the runt up and put her on the stretcher.

“We got it from here. Thanks.” One of the paramedics told me as he slapped me on the shoulder. I couldn’t let her go though, at least not alone. I looked around and spotted her blonde headed friend that I’ve seen her with multiple times before.

“Do you know her family?” I ask her hurriedly. She looks at me with tears in her eyes trying to get herself under control.

“Yeah. Where are they taking her?” She asked trying to hold back the water works.

“Grab her shit and go with her. Call her family on the way and let them know where she is and what is going on!” I order her.

“O…o…ok” She stutters and runs back towards the fence line and grabs 2 bags and then takes off running after the paramedics.