Coach's Daughter

30.

Before I start, I just want to start off by saying THANK YOU! This story has reached 10,000 votes! THAT'S CRAZY!! It blows my mind that people actually want to read this story. I remember being happy about just getting one vote, and now this story gets over a hundred votes in one night. It really just blows my mind, and I want to thank you all for reading and voting on my story.

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Chapter 30.

Thanks to Madison's science tutoring, I walked into lunch the next day fairly confident that I had aced my retest. In fact, I was so grateful to her that I had invited her to eat lunch with us. Since Cassie and Nixi had started eating lunch with me, she had been kind of shut out by her best friends, and I felt guilty for that. She wasn't as cruel as I had thought, and in fact, I could sort of see myself being friends with her.

What I hadn't anticipated was just how much Kelsey hated Madison.

"Umm... what the hell?" Kelsey asked as Madison set her lunch tray down at our table.

"Lilly invited me to sit here," Madison said meekly, avoiding eye contact with Kelsey. Based on the wrathful glare Kelsey was giving her, I didn't blame her for being a little quiet.

Kelsey turned her glare towards me. "I repeat. What. The. Hell."

I shrugged. "I just aced my science test because of her. She's really helped me, and I wanted to get to know each other better. I thought we could all be friends. It makes sense. After all, she's already friends with Cassie and Nixi."

"No," Kelsey spat. "We can't all be friends. Ever."

Picking up her things, she stormed out of the cafeteria. I stared after her for a moment, shocked, then hastily went after her.

"Kelsey," I called, sprinting to catch up to her. She ignored me, so I grabbed her arm. "Talk to me."

"How could you?" she snapped. "You know that I don't get along with Madison. Why would you think we could all be friends?"

"I was just trying to be nice."

"Madison's not nice. She's the devil incarnate, and now she's gone and won you over too. I thought you understood. You were the only person in the school who understood."

I shrugged. "Help me understand. What did she do that was horrible?"

Kelsey let out a strangled sounding cry of disbelief. "Seriously? She was awful to you! She tried to turn Luke against you, tried to get you kicked off of the cheerleading squad. She's been downright cruel."

"Well, in all fairness, I was trying to steal her boyfriend. So she had plenty of reason to be jealous of me. Besides, yes, she did all of those things, but she also shows glimpses of being a nice person. She helped me with my hair and makeup before my first game, and she's the reason I'm passing science right now. Plus, Cassie and Nixi are friends with her, and I trust their judgement."

Kelsey angrily slammed her books into her locker, gathering up the one's she needed for her next classes. "So that's it then? You're taking her side? You're taking Cassie and Nixi's word over mine?"

I let out a long, slow breath, trying to find the right words. "Kels, I need you to help me understand why you hate her so much. What did Madison do to you?"

Kelsey looked at me a long moment, then sighed. "She tried to keep me off the cheer squad."

"When? Why?" I asked. It wasn't too much of a stretch to imagine that being true, given Madison's history trying to get me off the squad.