Me, The Cheerleading Captain, Refusing To Be The Football Captain’s Mate Chapter 07

Me, The Cheerleading Captain, Refusing To Be The Football Captain’s Mate Chapter 07

Lyra’s brother, Caelan, stood under an umbrella and gave me a gentle smile. “Willa, I’m here to take you home.”

Ronan looked at me, then at Caelan.

Then he suddenly laughed like he had lost his mind. “Willa, so that’s what this is.”

“I was wondering why you suddenly wanted to break our mate bond over something so small. So that’s it. You’ve already found another potential mate. Who is he? When did you start messing around with him?”

I rubbed my forehead, feeling the whole situation getting more and more difficult.

I did not want to keep arguing with Ronan, so I walked toward Caelan, took his hand, and tried to get out of there as quickly as possible.

But Ronan rushed forward and tried to grab my other hand.

“Willa, you’re not leaving. Explain this to me.”

Caelan blocked him and shielded me behind him, raising an eyebrow. “What is there to explain? Didn’t you already guess?”

“I’ll go overseas with Willa. From now on, you can chase whoever you want as your next mate. No one cares whether you hide your Luna or not.”

With that, Caelan and I left together under the umbrella.

Ronan let out a heart-wrenching howl and collapsed to the ground.

On the drive back to Lyra’s house, I glanced at Caelan several times. I opened my mouth more than once, but I could not find the right words.

In truth, Lyra, Caelan, and I all came from the same Pack. We had grown up together. Back then, whenever he bought Lyra a gift, he would always bring one for me too.

In my heart, I had always thought of him as an older brother.

“Caelan, thank you for bringing me an umbrella today and helping me get out of that mess. When did you get back?”

His fingers tapped lightly against the steering wheel, and he looked as if he were focused on driving.

But the tight line of his mouth made it obvious that he was upset.

“Yesterday. I came back as soon as I heard you rejected Ronan.”

I felt a little awkward. “Yes. I rejected him.”

“Then why did you quit the cheer squad because of him?” Caelan continued. “All the girls were waiting for you to perform.”

I said, “I don’t want to cheer for them.”

“This isn’t just your stage. It’s the final performance before graduation for the cheer squad you led. You’re an idol to a lot of freshmen. In the end, they won’t get to see you at the final game. And when they find out later that you refused to perform because of mate-bond drama, what do you think they’ll think?”

“Even the queen of cheer can be brought down by mate-bond drama. Is that the reputation you want?”

“Enough,” I said. “I understand. Lyra sent you to convince me, didn’t she?”

Caelan looked at me through the rearview mirror.

Then he said, “It’s what I want too.”

…

At halftime of the final game, the moment the lights dropped, I led my squad onto the turf.

“Five, six, seven, eight!”

The music exploded, and our pom-poms flashed silver in the night. We moved with the beat, shifting formations, lifting, spinning, and landing. Every motion was as clean as a blade slicing through the air. When the final high stunt locked into place, I stood at the top and smiled toward the stands.

The entire stadium went silent for one second.

Then the cheers nearly tore the stadium apart.

“She’s incredible!”

“That is what a cheer captain looks like!”

“She’s brighter than anyone else tonight!”

When I landed, my teammates rushed over and hugged me. In the distance, Ronan stood at the front of the football team with his helmet hanging from his hand. His gaze stayed locked on me, full of regret, as if he had finally realized what he had lost.

But I only looked away calmly.

I had once screamed his name from the sidelines until my throat went hoarse.

Tonight, the entire stadium was cheering for me.