Loving Knight: Book One of the Cresswell Series

4. DEION

Saturday finally approached, the sweltering heat from the August weather was making me sweat under this helmet, but the sun practically melting me didn’t stop me from crashing into the blocking sled as hard as I could. I could hear Coach clap from the sidelines.

“Good work, Deion,” he complimented.

I jog over to the bench and take off my helmet before grabbing my water bottle. I take a swig of it, letting out a breath once I was done. I slip the bottle back into the pocket of my duffle bag as I felt a towel being thrown over my head.

“Coach likes to see you push yourself, doesn’t he?” Theo sits down beside me and takes off his helmet as I take the towel, wiping my face before draping it around my neck.

“He likes to see all of us push ourselves,” I say. “Especially when we have our first game of the season coming up.”

“And here I thought cleaning the entire field was a workout in itself.”

“Yeah? Imagine what Coach is gonna do to us. Why do you think he has us getting up at the crack of fucking dawn for practice?”

Theo chuckles, using his towel to dry his hair before putting his helmet on, patting me on the back. “Back to suffering.” He gets up, jogging back onto the field. I put my helmet back on my head before following him back onto the field. After three more hours of vigorous practice, we finally left the stadium, me saying goodbye to Aaron and Theo before parting on our separate ways.

I headed through the middle of the campus, fixing the strap of my duffle bag on my shoulder. I continue on my way, walking past other students when I spot the familiar back of someone’s head. I jog up to my little sister and tickle her sides, causing her to yelp, turning to me.

“Hey, baby sis,” I say, draping my arm around her shoulders.

Kira moves my arm, wiping off the back of her neck and shoulders. “Ew, get off me. You’re all sweaty.” She continues on her way, me following next to her.

“Where are you going?” I ask.

“None of your business,” she answers.

“Oh, come on. You’re really not gonna tell me?”

Kira shakes her head. “Nope.”

I move in front of her and block her path, pouting. “Tell me.”

“No.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Pleeeease?”

After my continuous pleas, Kira lets out an annoyed sigh. “Fine.” I move out of her way, continuing to walk alongside her. “Dance team tryouts are today.”

“You don't dance,” I tell her. “Why are you going to tryouts?”

“I’m not trying out, Deion. Aliyah is,” Kira says. “Jennie told me to meet her at the gymnasium before they started.”

“When do they start?”

“Literally right now, so we gotta move.” Kira takes my arm and drags me along with her as we both race to the gymnasium. Soon enough we reach the big building, heading inside. Going up the stairs and through the brown double doors, we step inside the gymnasium. The seats of the bleachers painted black and yellow, the middle of the gym floor covered with the head of a cobra. Off to the side were the girls I’m assuming were trying out for the team, Aliyah among them.
“Come on.” Kira heads over to the other side of the gym, going up and sitting with Jennie in the bleachers. I tail behind, sitting next to her.

Jennie smiled once she saw her. “You made it. They’re about to start.” She leans up, noticing me. “Oh, hey, Deion. What’re you doing here?”

“Just decided to come here,” I say. “Take a look at what’s going on.”

“Aka, he saw me walking to the gymnasium and practically begged to come with me and would not stop begging until I said yes,” Kira corrected, side eyeing me. I roll my eyes at her playfully in response before watching as the girls form a line, a redheaded girl pacing slowly in front of them.

“Welcome, girls, to the Cresswell all stars tryouts. I’m Brooke, your captain,” she introduces. “Don’t think that things will be easy just because these are tryouts, because this is just the beginning.”

Brooke continues to talk as my eyes wander, landing on Aliyah. She stood there with the rest of the girls in a black sports bra and leggings, her curls up into a ponytail. I didn’t know what it was, but something about the way she looked made it a little difficult for me to look away from her. Aliyah then spotted me, my sister and Jennie, giving us all a small wave. We all wave back, my eyes still on her. That was until Brooke clapped loudly, causing me to avert my eyes.

“Alright. You girls know the rules. Watch the choreography, learn and pick it up quickly because I’m not going over it again. You’ll be called out individually to repeat the choreo. And don’t mess up. There is no room for mistakes.” With that, Brooke switched on the music and started the choreography.

Next to me, Kira points to Aliyah, who was watching Brooke’s moves carefully. “Aliyah really knows how to pick up choreography, doesn’t she?”

“Of course she does,” says Jennie. “She’s basically been dancing since she was in diapers.”

The music ended, Brooke turning back to the rest of the girls. She called all of the girls one by one, calling out Aliyah last. “You. Aliyah, was it?”

Aliyah nodded and stepped up as the rest of the girls sat in the first row of the bleachers.

“Hopefully like the rest of the girls, you have what it takes to become a Cresswell all star.”

Aliyah responded to Brooke’s statement, not an ounce of nervousness in her voice. “I do.”

“Prove it.” Brooke takes a seat with the rest of the girls, starting the music from her phone. Aliyah released her hair from the tight prison of her scrunchie and took her position, and before I knew it, she was matching Brooke’s moves completely.

Out of all the girls, something about the way she moved to the music was different. Somewhat mesmerizing. The way she moves her body. Her hips. Her hair. No guy would be able to take their eyes off of her, and god knows it was hard for me to.

Claps rang throughout the gymnasium once the music ended. Aliyah ran a hand through her hair, panting and smiling.

Brooke stood up, facing the girls. “Okay. That concludes tryouts. The list of who made the team will be posted later today.”

Jennie, Kira, and I all got down from the bleachers, heading over to Aliyah. Kira and Jennie both pulled her into a hug.

“Oh my god, Aliyah. You were amazing!” Jennie exclaimed.

“You definitely were,” Kira agreed. “You’re bound to get a spot on the team for sure.”

“Hopefully,” Aliyah says, tying her hair back up.

“We’ll wait for you outside,” says Kira before she and Jennie leave the gymnasium.

I follow Aliyah as she grabs her backpack. “You did good, Alicat. Really good.”

“Thanks,” she said.

I tilt my head a bit, grinning at her a little. “Not gonna berate me for the nickname this time?”

Aliyah shakes her head. “I’ll let it slide this time, mister Knight.” She then leaves the gymnasium, the grin on my face growing as I follow behind her.