Loving Knight: Book One of the Cresswell Series

7. ALIYAH

“One, two, three, four! Five, six, seven, eight!”

I was getting tired, but I managed to keep up as Brooke went over the choreography. We were two hours into practice, and now I knew what it was like to keep up stamina with sore limbs and sweat dripping down several parts of my body. Another hour later, practice was finally over.

“Alright, ladies. We’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow,” Brooke tells us before grabbing her stuff, leaving the gymnasium. As some of the other girls leave, I see Deion coming in.

“Hey, Alicat,” he says as he comes up to me.

I pick up my backpack. “Aren’t you tired of that nickname already?”

“Never,” he grins.

“What’re you doing here anyway?” I ask. “Our practice is over.”

“I know that,” he says. “I came to take you to lunch.”

I tilt my head a little in confusion. “Why? Don’t you usually go to lunch with your friends?”

Deion slips his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. “Yeah, but I thought I’d switch things up for a change.” He starts to head back for the entrance of the gymnasium, turning back to me. “You coming?”

I was still confused, but I eventually followed him. We make our way out of the building, heading on the path to the cafeteria.

“How’d your practice go?” Deion asks me.

“It went well,” I tell him. “Although it is pretty hard to walk with sore legs.”
“I could carry you if you want,” he suggests.

“Pass,” I say.

Deion hums. “Yeah. You’d probably be too heavy anyways.”

I scoff, shoving him.

Deion laughs. “I’m kidding! I’m kidding!”

“Yeah, you better be,” I say. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

“Please. You could never hurt me, Alicat.”

“Don’t be so sure about that.”

“Oh, I am very sure about that.” He gives me a grin, making me roll my eyes.

We soon reach the cafeteria, entering behind a few other students.

“You can go ahead,” I tell Deion. “I’m gonna use the bathroom.”

“Want me to wait for you?”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll meet you at your table.”

“Alright then.” Deion goes ahead as I make my way inside the bathroom.

I wash my hands before checking myself out in the mirror. From the corner of my eye, someone else enters the bathroom as I fix my hair. “Hey, Aliyah.”

I turn my head, seeing Brooke. “Oh, hey, Brooke.”

She stands in the mirror next to me, reaching into her bag. “Practice went well today, didn’t it?”

I nod. “Yeah, it did.”

Brooke takes out a tube of lip gloss, applying it to her lips. “I saw you come in with Deion.”

I take some paper towels out of the dispenser, drying my hands. “You did?”
“Yeah.” She drops the lip gloss back into her bag. “You and him seem to be pretty close. Something going on between you two?”

I throw the paper towels in the trash bin with a small sigh, turning towards her. “Look, Brooke. I really don’t want this to turn into a ‘Deion’s my man so back off’ kind of thing.”

“What’re you talking about?”

“Deion and I are just friends,” I say. “I like him, but not like that. He’s my best friend's older brother, so nothing could ever happen between us anyways.”

Brooke went quiet for a moment before letting out a laugh. “You think I like Deion?”

“Well, don’t you?”

Brooke shrugs. “I mean, yeah, he’s hot. Very hot, but I’m not into him.”

“Oh.” I didn't know why, but I felt a sudden wave of relief run through me. “Sorry for assuming.”

“It’s alright.” Brooke fixes her hair in the mirror before turning to me. “But just because I’m not into him, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be wary of the girls who are. Be careful.”

I watch as she leaves the bathroom, the words ‘be careful’ sounding like a warning as they start to run through my head. Her words shouldn’t be bothering me. Deion and I weren’t together, and I knew that we never will be. Shaking off Brooke’s words, I check myself out in the mirror one more time before exiting the bathroom.

****

Saturday night finally approached.

I sat on my bed, watching as Jennie rummaged through her clothes. “God, I seriously should’ve gone shopping before I left.”

“I think you have enough clothes, Jen,” Kira said as she did her makeup.

Jennie giggled a little. “Please. You can never have enough clothes. Speaking of which…” She turns to me. “What’re you wearing, Aliyah?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. Probably some shorts and a tank top.”

Jennie sits down next to me, holding my hands. “Aliyah, sweetie. You are my best friend and I love you dearly, but you are not wearing shorts and a tank top to this party.”

“Why not?”

Jennie gets up and goes over to her bed, going through her things again. “This is our first college party, so we need to go all out.” She continues searching until she gasps, pulling out a piece of clothing. “And I just found the perfect outfit for you.”

“It’s not anything see through, is it?” I ask her.

“Nope. Even better.” She turns to me, holding up a red satin spaghetti strap dress.

“Jennie, I don’t even own anything like that,” I said.

“I know,” she says. “Which is why I’m giving this to you. I never got around to wearing it, but I will be damned if I let it go to waste.”

Kira turns in her chair as Jennie hands me the dress. “I think that dress would look perfect on you, Ali. It’s definitely your style.”

Jennie nods, smiling. “She’s right. You should try it on.”

I glance between the dress and my best friends. “Are you guys sure about this?”

Kira gets up, putting both of her hands on my shoulders. “Aliyah, if you can muster up the courage to try out for the dance team, you can muster up the courage to wear this dress.”

Jennie turns away from me. “We won’t even look, okay?”

Kira turns away from me as well. “Just tell us when you’re ready.”

I look at the dress in my hands one more time before finally putting on the dress. Once it was on, I turned to Kira and Jennie. “Okay. You guys can look.”

They both turn around, gasping once they saw me.

“Aliyah, you look amazing!” Kira exclaimed.

“You really do,” Jennie agreed. “The dress looks so good on you.”

“It does? It feels a little tight.”

“You look awesome,” said Kira as she led me over to her desk. “I’ll do your hair and makeup.”

I sit down at her desk, taking a look in the mirror. My first college party, and there was only one thing on my mind.

This was gonna be one hell of a night.