The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 294: Chapter 294 - Who’s Performing? I

Coach Miller had barely finished gathering everyone into the gym before Roxie realized the Sweetheart fundraiser had gotten completely out of hand.

What had originally sounded like a cheer fundraiser had somehow turned into half the popular students at Briarwick volunteering to embarrass themselves in front of the school for money. Football players filled one side of the bleachers with basketball players beside them, Student Council occupied several rows closer to the floor, and dancers, cheerleaders and students from clubs Roxie barely paid attention to were scattered throughout the rest.

Noah stood beside Coach Miller holding a clipboard thick enough to make Roxie nervous.

Coach Miller waited until the conversations finally died down before looking over the group. ”Before anybody starts asking about performances, we need to talk about numbers.”

That got everybody slightly quieter.

Roxie sat beside Kendall while Karen and Angela settled behind them. She had assumed the fundraiser was already doing well considering how much everybody had been talking about Sweetheart for the last few days. Students kept asking about the individual performances, discussing who was going with whom and trying to figure out what the voting system would look like.

Coach Miller looked at the sheet in his hand. ”Advance ticket sales are currently at one hundred eighty three.”

Several people reacted like that was good.

Roxie almost did too.

”We need more.”

That killed the excitement quickly.

Kendall leaned forward. ”How many more?”

”For this fundraiser to make a meaningful difference toward transportation, lodging and registration for Nationals, I want at least three hundred fifty paid attendees. Four hundred would put us in a much better position.”

Roxie stared at him.

One hundred eighty three suddenly sounded terrible.

Apparently everybody loved talking about Sweetheart. Actually paying to attend was another thing entirely.

Coach Miller continued explaining the pledged donations and what they expected to earn from voting during the event. Several parents had already offered larger contributions, which helped, but the school wanted the fundraiser to involve more students instead of depending on a handful of families willing to write checks.

”We need participation,” Coach Miller said. ”Which means every person sitting here has a job this week. Promote the event. Promote your performance. Give people a reason to buy a ticket and another reason to vote once they’re inside.”

Mason raised his hand.

Coach Miller stared at him. ”I already regret calling on you.”

Several football players laughed.

Mason looked offended. ”I haven’t even said anything.”

”That’s why I’m worried.”

Noah lowered his clipboard slightly to hide a smile while Coach Miller sighed.

”What?”

”Are there restrictions on choreography?”

Roxie immediately looked at Karen.

Karen looked back.

Something was wrong.

Coach Miller narrowed his eyes. ”What exactly are you planning?”

”Nothing inappropriate.”

”That answer made me significantly more concerned.”

Noah cleared his throat and looked down at the registration sheet. ”According to his form, Mason is doing an athletic freestyle dance.”

Roxie frowned.

Karen reached for the participant sheet being passed down their row and scanned it until her eyes suddenly widened.

”Why is Mason doing Magic Mike?”

Roxie whipped around. ”What?”

Half the cheerleaders started laughing.

Coach Miller’s entire expression changed. ”He is absolutely not doing Magic Mike.”

Mason threw both hands up. ”I never wrote Magic Mike.”

”You wrote athletic freestyle dance,” Noah said.

”It is athletic.”

Coach Miller stared at him.

Mason stared back.

”No.”

”Coach.”

”No.”

”You haven’t even seen it.”

”And I intend to keep it that way.”

The gym erupted.

Roxie laughed hard enough that she had to lean against Angela while Mason started complaining that everybody was unfairly judging choreography nobody had even seen yet.

Kyle’s performance somehow made things worse.

He had registered for a lip sync performance with four other players, which felt random considering Kyle was probably the least social one out of their entire group. Half the time Roxie saw him in public, he looked like he was silently judging everybody around him.

Completely different from Mason, who apparently believed every room needed more Mason in it.

Karen looked down the list. ”What song?”

Kyle leaned back against the bleachers. ”It’s a secret.”

”That means it’s embarrassing. Hope you already bought your bunny costumes.”

Kyle grinned. ”I’d wear that. Privately, with you.”

The football players immediately lost their minds.

”Oooooh.”

Mason shoved Kyle in the chest. ”What? You planning on stealing my girl?”

Roxie started giggling while Karen rolled her eyes.

”I’m not your anything, Mason.”

”That’s only because I still haven’t asked.”

Mason high fived one of the guys beside him while Karen looked ready to climb across the bleachers and physically remove his ability to speak.

Angela caught her arm. ”The only upside is more people will come just to watch this disaster.”

Coach Miller pointed toward her. ”That is the first intelligent thing anybody has said in the last five minutes.”

Roxie laughed and went back to the participant sheet.

A basketball player was singing. Someone from Student Council played guitar. One of the dancers had registered a contemporary solo.

Then Roxie found Dylan.

Her eyebrows rose. ”Dylan plays piano?”

Several heads turned toward him.

Dylan immediately looked irritated. ”Why is everybody acting shocked?”

Mason looked at him. ”Because you look like you punch pianos.”

”I’m dropping out.”

”No, you’re not,” Noah said without even looking up from his clipboard. ”Your name is already in.”

Roxie grinned at them and checked the names again.

Karen glared at her. ”Looking for another name?”

”Seriously, fuck off.”

Karen laughed before looking farther down the sheet. ”Zac probably only knows how to throw a ball. I wouldn’t expect him to be there.”

”And he throws good,” Roxie said, biting her lip as she smirked.

Karen slowly turned toward her. Exactly the reaction Roxie wanted.

The disgust on her face made Roxie laugh.

Angela looked between them. ”I feel like I missed something.”

”You’re better off,” Karen muttered.

Roxie moved farther down the sheet before she somehow embarrassed herself worse.

Kendall’s performance already had a song and choreography note because naturally Kendall had figured everything out before half of them had even chosen what they wanted to do.

Roxie’s entry was still blank.

Angela noticed. ”You still have nothing?”

Roxie looked at her. ”What? Yours is singing with Caleb. That didn’t require a year of planning. Plus, I like to surprise everyone.”

”You like to procrastinate.”

Before she could answer, Kendall walked over with her arms crossed. ”Jones, you need to actually do your work.”

Roxie sarcastically held up the blank sheet. ”What do you want me to do? Post something scandalous so people get interested?”

The words left her mouth before she thought about them.

Her smile disappeared.

Something scandalous was already attached to her name.

She did not need to invent anything.

However, the ever straight-laced Kendall tilted her head like she was actually considering the idea, and Roxie immediately sighed.

”Oh, fuck off. I’ll post a sneak peek tonight.”

”You better.” Kendall tapped the paper. ”We’re going to Nationals, and I intend to win.”

Roxie rolled her eyes as Kendall walked away, but the excitement around the gym was getting harder to resist. Decorations were already going up, the bleachers were full of people arguing about performances and the sheer number of students willing to participate made the whole thing feel much bigger than Roxie expected.

For the first time, she could actually picture Sweetheart being fun.

Zac being there would make it better.

Her eyes moved around the gym automatically before she remembered he wasn’t there. He had probably already gone to work.

Too bad.

He would probably be entertained watching her practice something.

The thought immediately dragged her back to the last time Roxie had shown him a few moves in private.

She bit her lip.

Angela leaned toward her. ”What are you thinking?”

”Nothing.”

Karen noticed immediately. ”You are thinking about something nasty that starts with Z.”

”No!” Roxie muttered, even though the heat crawling into her cheeks completely betrayed her. ”I was thinking about what to perform.”

That was possibly the worst defense she could have chosen because she still had absolutely no idea what she was doing.

Karen stared at her. ”What?”

Roxie ignored the question and looked toward the empty section of floor. ”Maybe something slower.”

Angela’s eyes widened. ”Slow?”

”Yeah.”

Karen’s expression changed as she started understanding exactly where Roxie’s imagination had gone.

Maybe Roxie would never actually perform something like that in front of Briarwick, but thinking about it was suddenly entertaining. Something slower. Something confident. Something Zac would have to sit there and watch while pretending Roxie was still his ex girlfriend.

”Maybe a chair,” Roxie said.

Angela covered her mouth.

Karen shook her head. ”No. Floor.”

Roxie looked at her.

Karen grinned.

”Both.”

Angela started laughing.

Kendall, who apparently had not gone far enough away, stared at all three of them. ”You’re actually doing this?”

”Maybe.”

”You won’t.”

Roxie’s competitive instinct immediately kicked in. ”Keep saying that.”

Karen leaned closer. ”This has nothing to do with fundraising.”

”Yes, it does.”

”This is about Zac.”

Roxie looked at her. ”Everything isn’t about Zac.”

”You’re literally smiling like you’re planning his funeral.”