The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 295: Chapter 295 - Who’s Performing? II

Angela laughed harder.

Roxie tried controlling her expression and failed because Karen was right.

Doing something deliberately provocative in front of the entire school had very little appeal.

Doing it while Zac had to sit quietly in the audience and pretend Roxie was still his ex girlfriend was fucking hilarious.

And doing it privately for him later sounded even better.

Angela leaned closer. ”You need the chair.”

Karen shook her head. ”She starts standing.”

”Then chair.”

”Then floor.”

Roxie nodded seriously. ”I like where this is going.”

”You two are terrible influences.”

Karen stared at her. ”You started this.”

Coach Miller appeared beside them.

All three went quiet immediately.

His eyes moved from Roxie to Karen to Angela.

”Why am I hearing the word floor?”

Roxie smiled innocently. ”Transitions.”

Karen turned away because she was clearly about to laugh.

Coach Miller’s suspicion deepened. ”Roxie.”

”What?”

”This is a school fundraiser.”

”I know.”

”I felt the need to say it.”

Angela made a strangled sound while Karen suddenly became fascinated with the participant sheet.

Coach Miller stared at them another moment before sighing and walking away.

Roxie waited until he was several feet away.

”So chair first?”

Angela lost it.

The conversation carried Roxie through the rest of the fundraiser meeting until she started noticing the students gathered near the gym entrance.

There were more of them than usual.

Some were obviously there because word about the Sweetheart participants had spread. Mason had already started telling people his performance was being censored before it even existed, which would probably sell more tickets than anything Student Council could post.

Other people were watching Roxie.

She caught one girl looking her up and down before whispering to the person beside her.

Roxie’s stomach tightened.

She knew that look now.

She had been seeing versions of it for days.

This time, though, she still had the participant sheet in her hand with one hundred eighty three tickets sold and nearly twice that number needed.

If people wanted to stare at Roxie Jones so badly, maybe they could start paying for it.

The thought settled strangely well.

She wanted this night to be fun.

She was tired of every hallway, practice and normal part of her day becoming somewhere people could whisper about Claire. If those same people were curious enough to come watch her at Sweetheart, fine.

They could buy a fucking ticket.

Coach Miller eventually called everybody’s attention back.

”Photography Club will release another promotional set tomorrow. Student Council is pushing the performer list online tonight. If you have something you want teased about your performance, get it to Noah before the end of the day.”

Mason immediately raised his hand again.

Coach Miller looked at him.

”No.”

”I didn’t even say anything.”

”I’m preventing it.”

The room laughed again, and soon after, Coach Miller cleared everybody except the cheerleaders from the gym so regular practice could begin.

The atmosphere shifted almost immediately.

Sweetheart could be stupid.

Nationals was work.

Once the music changed and Kendall moved into position beside her, Roxie’s attention narrowed to counts, formations and Coach Miller correcting the sections they had struggled with earlier in the week. She liked having that separation. Sweetheart could be where they embarrassed themselves and made people pay to watch. Nationals was the reason they were doing all of this in the first place.

For the next hour, Roxie had no room in her head for Claire, the rumor, Zac or an imaginary chair routine. Coach Miller restarted sequences whenever somebody missed a transition, Kendall argued about timing and Roxie threw herself into getting everything right.

By the time practice ended, her legs hurt and her shirt was sticking against her back, but she felt good.

Actually good.

She grabbed her water bottle and checked her phone while the other girls started packing.

A message from Zac had been sitting there for almost an hour.

Zac: Work until nine. Food when I get home?

Roxie smiled immediately.

Karen saw.

”Disgusting.”

Roxie ignored her and typed back.

Roxie: Yeah.

She stayed looking at the message for a moment after sending it.

She could go home, shower and find something to eat while she waited for him. That would probably be the sensible option after practice.

Then she pictured the bungalow, which will be empty for the next few hours.

And suddenly Roxie had absolutely no interest in going there yet.

She wanted to see Zac.

The realization came without any of the panic that used to send her running toward him. Nothing had happened. She wasn’t upset. She wasn’t crying or scared or looking for him to fix something.

She simply missed her boyfriend.

That was all.

Roxie shoved her phone into her bag. ”I’m getting coffee.”

Karen stopped packing, and Angela looked up at almost the exact same time.

Both stared at her.

Roxie frowned. ”What?”

Karen lifted an eyebrow. ”Really? You’re not even trying to hide it anymore?”

”I actually want coffee.”

”Sure.”

”I do.”

Karen slung her bag over her shoulder. ”Then I guess we’re getting coffee too. Let me guess where...”

Roxie stared at her. ”You don’t need to come.”

”I also enjoy beverages. Besides, what are you going to do? Sit there alone staring at your boyfriend like a creep? Absolutely not.”

”You’re such an asshole.”

Angela stood and grabbed her bag. ”I want one too.”

Roxie narrowed her eyes at both of them, but neither looked remotely ashamed.

Fine.

Having them there might actually make the whole thing more entertaining, especially when Roxie remembered the fake performance they had just invented.

Apparently Karen remembered at the same time because the second they left campus, she looked at Roxie.

”You’re telling him, right?”

Roxie smiled. ”Obviously.”

Angela moved to Roxie’s other side. ”Tell him it’s already approved.”

Roxie laughed. ”That’s evil.”

Karen looked at Angela approvingly. ”Good.”

”I’ll tell him Kendall helped choreograph it.”

Karen’s eyes widened. ”That’s worse. She’s a professional hooker. You literally couldn’t ask for a better coach.”

Angela giggled. ”Stop. This is why Kendall hates us.”

”Oh, thank God. I thought she was getting too chummy these last few days.”

Roxie laughed as they continued walking.

The more they talked about it, the more elaborate the lie became. Roxie could already picture exactly how she would do it. She would start casually by telling Zac they had finally discussed individual performances, mention that Kendall already had hers planned, then say Roxie had decided on something slower.

Let him react.

Then mention the chair.

Maybe the floor.

Maybe tell him Kendall personally approved everything just to make it worse.

She was already smiling by the time the coffee shop came into view.

Karen caught the way Roxie’s pace changed slightly as soon as she saw it.

She said nothing.

That somehow made Roxie more aware of it.

”Don’t.”

Karen looked innocent. ”I didn’t say anything.”

”You were thinking.”

”Apparently only Zac is allowed to do that now?”

Roxie rolled her eyes and pushed open the coffee shop door.

Her eyes went toward the counter immediately.

She found Zac within seconds.

He stood behind the register in his work apron, talking to a customer while one hand rested near the screen. He looked more comfortable there now than he had during his first shifts, and Roxie felt a small rush of pride before she could even think about it.

Then Zac looked up and his eyes found her.

His expression changed almost instantly, subtle enough that nobody else would probably notice. The smallest smile pulled at his mouth.

Roxie felt her own answering smile before she could stop it.

For a second she forgot everything else.

Then the word secret came back into her head.

She looked away.

Karen leaned closer. ”Very subtle.”

”Shut up.”

Roxie looked back toward the counter, already imagining the expression Zac would make when she told him about the fake dance.

That was when she actually paid attention to the customer standing in front of him.

A girl from Briarwick.

Roxie recognized her face even though she couldn’t remember her name.

Her drink was already sitting on the counter.

She had no reason to still be there.

Yet she leaned against the counter with her body angled toward Zac, smiling while she said something else. Zac answered, probably because he was at work and ignoring customers would be a terrible way to keep the job he had only recently gotten.

The girl laughed.

Roxie’s smile slowly disappeared.

She had spent the entire walk over planning exactly how she was going to make Zac jealous with a fake dance he would have to watch in front of the entire school.

Apparently she had forgotten one very important detail about keeping their relationship secret.

As far as every other girl at Briarwick knew, Zac Prescott was single.

Karen followed Roxie’s gaze toward the counter.

Then she slowly looked back at Roxie.

Roxie kept staring at the girl smiling at her boyfriend.

Well.

Apparently Zac wasn’t going to be the first one getting jealous tonight.