Lyd’s Life

Chapter One

"Alright girls, I think you've had more than enough for today. Go get changed and I'll see you all here early tomorrow morning." Coach Gregg grabs her things and starts heading towards the exit, clearly in a rush. Her daughter gets out of school 15 minutes after practice is over, and she has to drive there to get her. I wipe my forehead with the back of my hand and start walking out of the gym and to the locker room. I bump shoulders with Kennie purposely and she glanced over at me with a tired smile.

"That was brutal, especially with the morning practices it is horrible" I shrug, Kennie stays up late, and she eats bad. She drinks every couple weekends, and she likes to use her energy somewhere else. But of course only few reliable people know that.

"I have never been f****d so hard in my life Stace, I thought he was gonna break me. But in the best way possible" Candice, one of our teammates gushes while changing her clothes.

"Tell me about it, he gave me the best night of my life. He hasn't looked at me since" Perry responds from across the room.

"Who?" Another girl asks, her name is Makayla. She tends to be on a little more of the naive side. Which is not a bad thing and some times I wish I were.

"Asher Calloway"

"Ew, you guys seriously are talking about my brother with me in the room" Kennie grimaces next to me. I throw my shirt on over my sports bra and chuckle. Kennie loves hooking up with men, she loves hearing about any hookups of her friends but in no world would she want to hear about her brother in the sack.

"Sorry Ken" Candice gives her a pity smile.

Candice is truly a sweet girl, truth be told every girl on our team, we get along with. It's rare but we are lucky.

Every couple weeks we hear about new bedroom adventures of Asher. He makes his away around. Slowly but surely, not just the squad, they just hear it and gossip in the locker rooms because truthfully it's the only safe place we have. Bathrooms are infested with the catty girls that we have all made a pact to avoid until graduation. That's what is best when you are working together, is making decisions as a team. No one seemed to object to that suggestion.

"You really have to go? The week isn't even over"

I frown as Kennie and I walk through the parking lot to get to her car.

"You know I do Jo, but it's not that long ok? 7 days. And I told Asher he needs to bring you to school in the mornings, and pick you up after cheer. So that is figured out, and if you need anything you can call me ok? I'll be back it's just a quick tre-a quick quick trip ok?" I nod, it's gonna suck not having her here, but every couple months her parents take her on a business trip so she can learn more about running their family business when she graduates in a couple years. I'm really proud of her for stepping up and taking that role. My parents, well they're always working. On sundays we sit down and have the family meal of the week. But they work at a big law firm in town. I have one estranged older sister she's 25. She has her own life, own kids, own family. We don't speak much but it's ok. I have Ken, I've always had Ken.

"Text me when you land? I love you be safe"

I hug her before hopping out of the car and running up the stairs of my house. The door slams shut behind me, then silence. The usual sound of my home. I soak in the warmth of the heated house and shrug my coat of. Time to start my evening ritual of grabbing a snack, then running upstairs to change and go out for my run. Let me tell you, when I was a kid I couldn't run. I have asthma, or I did. Since I started cheering and working on making my body healthier my asthma has significantly decreased, probably once a week do I use my inhaler and it's typically after a hard practice. Running clears my mind, but it didn't always used to be that way, quite frankly I hated it. But now it's the air I breathe.

"Hello?"

I say after answering the phone, halting from my speed and taking a breather

"Hey baby, dad and I are going on a business trip Friday, we are gonna be gone just a couple days but since we get in so late I knew I wouldn't be able to catch you. So no Sunday dinner this week, but we will make it up when we get home. Ok darling?" "Yeah sounds good mom, are y'all ok? Do you need any dinner, or anything?" I ask

"Oh no honey we're ok, thank you for asking. We will be sure to put some money in your account for groceries since I won't be able to do it"

"Ok ma, I'll talk to you later then. Love you"

"Love you too darling, be safe and careful while your out" I hum and then hang up. They don't go on trips too often but when they do it sucks. Cause at-least when I'm asleep I know they are home, if anything happens they will protect me, but I have to be actually alone in our big house. My best friend, and second set of parents are out of town, and my actual parents are going out of town in a day. This sucks. Normally I can convince Kennie to stay with me but, well we all see where that is.

"Hey!"

I hear shouted from behind me as I walked up our driveway. I turn around to see Asher outside in a pair of basketball shorts, nothing else. His body on full display. "Be outside tomorrow at 8, I'll give you a ride" I walk over to the fence that separates our yards while shaking my head. "No I have to be at practice at 6:45, we have to leave at 6:30. Didn't Ken tell you this?" His brows furrowed.

"No, she definitely didn't. I wouldn't of agreed if I knew I'd have to wake up at 6:30" I cross my arms over my chest. "Asher c'mon, I need your help please, you know I don't drive. Coach will be livid if I miss practice tomorrow" He rubs his large hand over his face. "Alright whatever, I'll see you at 6:30" I nod, turning around to head back to the house. He's normally not so easy to convince, maybe Kennie did talk to him and he was just trying to pull a fast one so he would actually have to wake up early. Who knows with Asher. I realize I haven't heard from Ken since she left earlier, that's not like her so I pull her up in my contacts and let it ring, no answer but she sends me a quick text telling me they just landed and she can't talk tonight. Well then. Here's to a great lonely night.

To Be Continued