The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 312: Chapter 312 - Worth the Ticket

By the time Roxie got to Briarwick on Saturday, the school barely looked like the place she had dragged herself out of after nine the night before.

The walkway leading toward the gym had been taken over by booths. Photography Club had built a Valentine themed photo wall covered in red paper hearts and ridiculous props, while Art Club was selling handmade cards, bracelets and painted keychains.

Culinary Club had two long tables packed with cupcakes, cookies, drinks and enough pink frosting to make Roxie’s teeth hurt just looking at it. Farther down, the basketball team had somehow ended up running a shooting game while another club had people throwing rings around bottles for cheap prizes.

Music was already playing outside even though Sweetheart had hours before it officially started, and students moved between tables carrying boxes, signs and decorations while teachers tried to make sure nobody blocked the walkway.

Roxie stopped beside Angela and looked around.

"Okay. This is actually cute."

Angela adjusted the box in her arms. "Photography Club already forced me and Caleb to take pictures."

Roxie turned toward her. "You’ve been here twenty minutes."

"I know."

Karen appeared from the gym doors carrying a clipboard against her chest.

Roxie immediately narrowed her eyes. "Why do you have that?"

"Performer check in."

Angela looked at Roxie. "She’s had it for five minutes and already yelled at three people."

"They weren’t listening."

Roxie laughed and took one side of Angela’s box. "You like having authority way too much."

"I like people following instructions."

"That’s worse."

Karen ignored her and headed toward another group while Roxie and Angela carried the decorations inside.

The gym looked different too. Streamers and paper hearts covered the walls, Student Council had finished arranging tables near the entrance, and the bleachers were already being opened completely instead of the small sections they normally used during practice.

The entrance was where the actual ticket sales were happening. One table had the list of people who had already bought Sweetheart tickets, while another handled walk ins, with a sign reminding everyone that tickets were twenty dollars and the proceeds helped send Briarwick Cheer to Nationals.

Noah was there with two Student Council members setting up cash boxes, payment codes and extra ticket rolls, but Roxie’s attention moved past them when she noticed people already gathering outside.

Some were helping with setup, but there were families too, along with teachers, football parents, students wearing Briarwick colors and basketball players arriving together. Roxie recognized two former cheerleaders from pictures on the achievement board, and several younger girls wearing cheer bows were walking toward the gym with their mothers.

One of them carried a handmade sign that read BRIARWICK CHEER TO NATIONALS.

Roxie slowed enough that Angela nearly bumped into her.

"What?"

Roxie nodded toward the entrance.

Angela followed her gaze and saw the little girl bouncing beside her mother while pointing excitedly toward the cheerleaders setting up inside.

Roxie smiled before she could stop herself.

More people were coming, and suddenly three hundred fifty eight felt completely different. Yesterday it had been a number, a huge fucking number, but still something written on Noah’s clipboard after an exhausting day of convincing people to hand over twenty dollars.

Now Roxie could see what those tickets actually meant.

Families were walking through the doors while students argued about which booths they wanted to visit first.

Former cheerleaders were coming back, younger girls were excited to see the team that had won State, and people were showing up in Briarwick colors because they actually wanted to be there.

Some would still come because of the rumors. Roxie wasn’t stupid enough to convince herself otherwise, especially after Bianca had practically advertised her as part of the entertainment yesterday.

But that wasn’t everybody.

A lot of these people had actually come for the team.

Her eyes moved across the gym until she found Coach Miller near the scorer’s table. He had been moving nonstop since she arrived, but now he stood still with one hand resting against the table while he watched the people coming through the entrance, his eyes lingering on the younger cheer girls, the parents and the students filling the gym.

Roxie smiled.

Coach Miller caught her looking.

"Jones, unless staring at me is part of setup, find something useful to do."

Roxie laughed. "Yes, Coach."

He turned back toward the scorer’s table, but she had already seen his face.

That was enough.

Karen called from behind her. "Roxie."

She turned and found Karen holding out a sheet of paper.

"Check this before I give it back to Noah."

Roxie took it.

Performance order.

Her eyes moved down the list, past a couple singers, Angela and Caleb, some comedy act she didn’t recognize, Kendall and her own name.

Then Mason’s Variety Performance.

Then Football Special Performance.

Roxie stared at both entries.

"What the fuck is this? Did somebody actually check these performances?"

Karen shrugged. "It’s their funeral."

Angela giggled.

Roxie looked toward the bleachers almost automatically and spotted Zac sitting with Dylan, Kyle, Jace and a few other football players. His hair was still slightly messy and he was wearing his football hoodie, looking so good that Roxie forgot about the stupid performance list for a moment.

His eyes found hers almost immediately.

A small smile appeared.

Roxie smiled back.

Zac lifted his eyebrows slightly, like he was asking what she was staring at.

Roxie shook her head and turned around before she kept looking at him like an idiot.

By the time Sweetheart officially started, the entire area around the gym had transformed.

People moved constantly between the club booths outside and the entrance. Photography Club already had a line for pictures, Culinary Club was running out of cupcakes faster than they expected, and the basketball booth had attracted enough people that one of the teachers had to tell them twice to stop letting the line block the doors.

The ticket table was still selling too.

Whenever Roxie passed the entrance, somebody else seemed to be walking up without a presale ticket and handing over twenty dollars. Another student came in, then another family, and the number they had worked so hard to reach yesterday kept climbing while the bleachers inside filled enough that Student Council eventually had to drag out extra chairs.

The performances started soon after, and within twenty minutes Roxie realized Sweetheart was going to be complete chaos.

A sophomore girl sang surprisingly well and got a huge reaction. Two basketball players attempted some kind of dance that clearly had choreography until one forgot everything and started copying his friend. Somebody performed a breakup song while the girl who had apparently dumped him sat somewhere in the bleachers, which caused enough screaming that Noah had to remind everyone to let the poor guy finish.

During the breaks, people moved between the gym and the booths outside, coming back with cupcakes, photo strips, stuffed prizes and whatever random things they had bought from the club tables. The whole thing felt more like a school festival with performances mixed into it than an actual talent show.

Roxie liked that.

Then Angela and Caleb were announced.

Roxie immediately moved beside Karen. "Oh, this is gonna be disgusting."

Angela heard her while walking toward the court and flipped her off.

Caleb was already waiting with a guitar, and the moment Angela joined him, his whole expression changed.

Roxie groaned.

Karen looked at her. "They haven’t even started."

"I already hate it."

The music began.

Unfortunately, they were good.

Angela lived up to her name because the bitch had the voice of an angel. She looked nervous for the first few lines, but Caleb stayed with her on the guitar, and within a minute she settled into the song enough that the gym actually quieted down to listen.

Then Caleb looked at her.

That look.

The ridiculously sincere boyfriend look that made it seem like he had forgotten several hundred people were sitting around them.

Someone near the back yelled, "Get a room!"

The gym exploded.

Angela broke immediately, laughing through the next line as she turned her face away from Caleb. Caleb tried staying serious, which only made everybody react harder, and another group started booing dramatically every time the two of them looked at each other.

Roxie was already laughing when they reached the end.

Caleb finished the last chord, leaned toward Angela and kissed her quickly.

The gym erupted into exaggerated disgust.

Roxie grabbed Karen’s arm because she was laughing too hard. "Fucking gross."

Karen laughed. "You’re jealous."

"Of that?"

Angela walked off the court smiling and immediately pointed at Roxie.

Roxie blew her a kiss.

Then Caleb looked over.

Their eyes met, and the pharmacy aisle flashed through Roxie’s brain so quickly she almost choked on another laugh. The condom section, Zac standing there and that stupid emergency contraception bag came back all at once.

Caleb’s expression changed just enough for Roxie to know he remembered too.

She immediately covered her mouth.

Caleb looked away.

Then Mason’s name was announced, and whatever was left of that memory disappeared because Mason walked onto the court with four other boys wearing dress shirts, ties and undershirts.

Roxie stared.

Karen slowly lowered her clipboard. "Oh, fuck."

Roxie looked at her. "What?"

"I have a bad feeling."

Music started.

Mason grabbed his tie.

Roxie’s mouth fell open. "No fucking way."

He started dancing.

The gym lost its mind.

It took Roxie maybe five seconds to understand what he had done. Mason had somehow convinced four popular boys to perform what was basically a school safe Magic Mike parody, and while one guy was already laughing so hard he could barely stay on beat and another kept looking toward the side like he had suddenly remembered his parents might be somewhere in the audience, Mason was completely fucking committed.

He loosened his tie.

Girls screamed, and then the guys in the bleachers started screaming even louder just to be obnoxious.

Roxie was bent forward laughing when Mason reached for the first button of his shirt.

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