By the next morning, I had slept very little. My thoughts had been entirely consumed by Coach’s ultimatum: either Asher grovel in apology for disrupting the swimsuit contest, or I was off the cheerleading squad.
I knew I needed to talk to Asher about it, but I worried about what he would say. If he would agree, or if he wouldn’t… I wasn’t sure which option was worse. I didn’t want to see him lower himself. Not even for me.
But if he didn’t…
I shook my head. I couldn’t worry about this now. I had a few hours before practice. I hoped that would be enough for me to think of a different option. There had to be something I hadn’t considered.
At eight am, I called Nicole.
“Morning, Cynthia. It’s great to hear from you,” Nicole said, sounding perkier than I had expected her to. “When Asher c
