“Stephanie,” Bella said.

“Stephanie? Why?” Zane answered.

She sat across the table from him racking her brain, trying to come up with a reason why Stephanie would be behind the video scandal, but she couldn’t think of one.

Silence returned. Eventually, Zane returned to his best logical guess.

“It has to be Nikki.” He said.

“But why? None of this has ever been about her.”

“Except when she blabbed to Anthony and got me beat up. Then it was ALL about her, and the seniors let her know about it. She couldn’t be too happy about that. AND that was part of the video. That had nothing to do with you.”

“Hello! The video was OF me!”

“Not that part. You weren’t even there for that.” Zane answered

Bella sat and thought about that for a moment.

Silence again.

Bella and Zane had been meeting every morning before classes since school started, their Senior year, to try and figure out who the hell Funbunz69 could be. They couldn’t let this person be sending that video to anyone else.

Fortunately, as far as they knew, it had only been sent to three people. Julia, the morning after she had spent the night in Zane’s bed. The Cheer Coach, at the beginning of the summer. And Sara, after Sara had sent Funbunz an email asking for a copy.

Okay, sending it to Julia was obvious, that was meant to run her off from Zane. And it worked spectacularly. Julia dumped him the instant she saw the video and had refused to even acknowledge his existence since then. The next day she quit the cheer team and everyone knew why.

“But why would Nikki send it to the coach?” Bella asked. “That was more likely to get the entire squad disbanded than anything else.”

Zane shook his head.

“Well, ya know, she did get kinda screwed over by all this. She got totally screwed, literally, by the seniors. Then got snubbed in the Captains vote.”

“Yeah, she thinks Alexis only got it because she’s got big tits.” Bella snickered and smiled.

Zane smiled at that thought too. Alexis did have some great tits. He’d seen them, in his shower, and then some more as she was bouncing up and down on his...

“Well, well, well, what’s going on here?”

Nikki strolled up to their table and pulled up a seat. She was sure she had caught two new love birds having a secret rendezvous.

“Good morning, Nikki.” They both responded.

“Watcha talking about?” She asked.

Bella and Zane both looked at each other silently for a moment, seemingly asking each other the same thing, ya think? Could it be her?

“Nothing,” Bella answered.

“Come on,” Nikki said. “What’s going on with you two? You’ve been spending a lot of time together. Are you hooking up and trying to keep it secret? I won’t tell, I promise.”

Bella looked at Nikki quizzically, then at Zane, and an expression of pure revulsion fell over her.

“Are you insane? You can’t seriously be suggesting me, and HIM...”

“Hey, you’re both single, and everyone has seen you together every day since school started. And we all know you’ve hooked up before ... There’s gotta be something going on here.”

Bella didn’t even try to hide her disgust.

Over the next fifteen minutes, their little table became like Grand Central Station, everyone stopped by at some point. Alexis and Natalie were the first to find them, rounding out the senior squad of this year’s Riley High Cheer team. They joined right in with Nikki in suggesting that something going on between Bella and Zane. Bella continued to be repulsed by the idea. Zane found it hilarious.

Then Chloe and Riley came dancing over.

“Hey look!” Zane said. “It’s the Cooper twins!”

“We’re not twins!” They both answered in unison.

The whole group erupted in laughter and started to go on and on about how the two of them looked exactly alike, other than their hair and eyes. While Chloe mixed into the gathered crowd, only a couple of sharp eyes noticed Riley cozying up to Zane as close as she could with little giggles and touches. And while he didn’t seem to be encouraging her, he wasn’t pushing her away either.

Oh, how rumors got started in this school.

First Bell

First bell meant time to rush to class, with most of the group splitting to the north wing, while Bella, Zane, and Riley headed south. As they made their way to class, Riley was impressed that Zane seemed to know practically everyone in the school.

They stopped for a quick little greeting with Alyssa and Kassidy. It didn’t go unnoticed that just as Zane and Bella had Riley tagging along with them, Alyssa and Kassidy also had a cute little blonde tagging along with them. It was like everyone was adopting Freshmen, Although Alyssa and Kassidy both rolled their eyes as Riley laughed at every word he said. Funny or not.

They also attracted some attention when they passed the gym, and the coach’s office. Lauren, better known as Coach Rivers, looked up just in time to see Bella, walk by with Zane, and who was that with them? One of her freshman girls? Her temperature started to rise instantly. There was no way she was going to allow that to happen again. She jumped out of her chair and raced into the hallway to grab the three of them and have a little chat. Unfortunately, she was too slow. Before she could get to them, they all stepped into their separate classes as the second bell rang. It would have to wait.

Lauren stepped back into her office and steamed. The last thing she wanted to see was that boy with ANY of her girls. What the hell did any of them see in him anyway? He’s not tall. He’s cute, but not especially handsome. It’s not like he has a huge dick. She knew that because right now the video was running through her head again. Bella bent over a pool table and Zane hammering his average-sized cock into her from behind. Over. And over.

Okay, he is pretty sexy, she had to admit. And damn he can fuck forever. She’d watched him go from Bella to Sara to Ashley. He’s got stamina, that’s for sure. Of course, that could just be good editing. But why would anyone want to be with a guy who’s fucked half the girls in the whole damned school? That is just so skeevy.

In her head, he was now balls-deep in Carly and pounding away. Wait, was that in that video? Well, it didn’t matter, she knew he had fucked her too. And Julie, and Natalie, and Chloe, and probably the rest of her entire squad. She was not going to allow him to get his hands on any more of them. She sat there for the rest of that period with scenes from that video running through her head.

Second Bell

At the next bell, Lauren was standing in the hall waiting. She planned to grab Zane and Bella as they came out of their classes and drag them into her office for a little chat, but when he came out he immediately turned the other way, and she found herself staring at his ass as he disappeared down the hall. That image of him naked and just about to mount another one of her girls popped into her head again when Bella emerged from her class.

Lauren grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the coach’s office, closing the door hard behind them.

“All right Bella, what’s going on with you and Zane?”

Bella was caught completely off guard.

“What? Nothing.”

“Then why do I see you walking down the hall with him? And Riley! What’s in that video is bad enough already, I don’t want to see any more filling my inbox.”

“I haven’t done anything with him I swear! We’ve been trying to figure out who sent that video, that’s all. And then all our classes were at this end of the building so we were just walking together, that’s it. I swear. Trust me nothing is going on,” Bella answered.

“There’d better not be. And I don’t want to see him near any of our girls. I’m making it your responsibility to keep him the hell away from the team. If I see him with any of our girls, I will cut you. Do you understand?”

Bella was dumbfounded. She didn’t know what to say. She felt the same way, actually, but how the hell could it be her responsibility to keep him away?

“But how am I supposed to...”

Lauren cut her off, pushing her out the door.

“Go now, you’re going to be late for class.”

To the Rescue

Zane turned down the hall for his next class, and around the next corner came upon a sight that made him both smile in delight, and sigh in frustration. Two freshman girls, at their lockers, surrounded by upperclassmen on the prowl. He knew they were freshmen because he knew these girls. He knew the boys too, juniors, real dumb jocks. Those poor girls. He had to rescue them.

He casually strolled up to the group, completely ignoring the boys, and smiled.

“Hey girls,” he said.

Samantha’s face turned into a huge grin as she recognized him.

“Heyyyy! How are you?”

“I’m good,” he answered. “Having fun?”

He could have meant, are you enjoying your new school? Do you like your new classes? But Samantha knew what he meant, are you having fun getting hit on by these apes who only want to get in your pants?

“Well, you know,” Sam answered. “Still getting used to everything.”

He turned to the pretty blonde, who still hadn’t said a word yet.

“How about you Joey? Everything good?”

She shrugged, and smiled, but still didn’t say anything.

He turned to the boys then.

“How ‘bout you guys? Off to a good year?”

But he didn’t wait for them to answer, because he didn’t care. He turned to Sam for a moment, then to Joey.

“Hey, am I still giving you a ride home tonight?” He asked.

Joey hesitated, then glanced at Sam, who was nodding her head at her with big wide eyes.

“Ummm, yeah...” Joey answered.

“Great. I’ll be waiting at the pool entrance.” He said.

He grinned again at the three boys. You could see their dreams of nailing either of these two go up in smoke. These girls were Zane’s friends so if they tried anything stupid he would know about it, and that would probably not be good.

“Anyway, I gotta get to class,” he said, nodding his head in the direction he was going. “Anyone going this way?”

The girls quickly shut their lockers and fell in step with him. The boys abandoned all hope and faded into the crowd.

Before dropping the girls off at their respective classes, told them he wasn’t kidding.

“I really will be happy to give you a ride home, by the way. We can stop at Starbucks, my treat.”

“Really? That would be great!” Sam said. She was loving this. He had saved them from the goon squad, and now he was going to treat them to Starbucks. Sweet.

Finally, Joey spoke. She smiled back at him and answered, “Okay, thanks.” And she flashed him that beautiful smile.

“Pool entrance, three o’clock,” he said.

Then he turned and headed off to class.

Lunch

Finally, time for lunch. The cafeteria was about much more than lunch. It was the social heartbeat of the school. If there was gossip to be spread, it spread there. If there were secrets to be whispered, they were whispered there. It was worse than the internet. This is where rumors got their wings.

As he walked in, sitting at the very first table he passed was Sara’s little brother Nick. Zane gave a wave and Nick nodded back in return. Then a brainstorm stopped him in his tracks.

During the summer, Sara and Zane had totally embarrassed poor Nick when they ran into Samantha and Joey in Starbucks. Literally. They had noticed Nick staring at Joey and completely zoned out of the conversation. Ten minutes later, they had Sam and Joey sitting at their table, with Nick sandwiched right between them. The poor kid could barely speak. His part of the conversation consisted of mumbles and one-word answers until they all finally left.

As it turns out, Sara wasn’t really a monster of a big sister, and in later, more confidential conversations, Nick revealed that yes, he was completely smitten with Joey. Sara found the whole idea of her little baby brother with a man-sized crush so adorable, that she promised to make Zane do anything he could to get them together. And this was his chance.

Zane swerved quickly to the freshman table, pulled up a chair, backward, and leaned in to whisper with Nick.

“You need to meet me by the pool entrance after school. I’m giving you a ride home,” he said.

“I have practice after school, I’m not going right home,” he replied.

Zane hesitated for a moment, then said.

“You remember our friends from the coffee shop, Sam and Joey?”

Nick sat up a little straighter, his eyes grew wider, his attention fully on what Zane was saying. His friends leaned in a bit more to hear as well.

“Yeah?”

“Well, I’m giving both of them a ride home today. Don’t you think you might need a ride too?”

Nick sat, thinking, how could he do this? He couldn’t skip practice; he’d get in trouble.

“I’ll go!” One of his friends volunteered.

Zane glanced at the other boy, then shook his head in surrender.

“Okay, your choice. But this is a perfect opportunity for you. I promised them we’d stop at the coffee shop too.”

Nick was still trying to think but was now also getting the third degree from his friends around the table who had been listening. Which didn’t make it any easier.

Zane waited...

Finally, he patted Nick on the back and said “Figure it out. Pool entrance, three o’clock.”

Zane then stood up and walked away, pulling his phone out to text all the details to Sara. She’d want to know all about it.

Making his way over to where his friends were sitting, Zane stopped for a moment at the cheerleader’s table. All of his girls were there. Bella, Nikki, Natalie, Alexis, Chloe ... and someone new. Who was this?

This girl was stunning. Bright green eyes. Light olive complexion. Light brown hair kissed blonde by just enough sun to say, “I spent my summer in Aruba.” And she noticed Zane too. Her eyes lit up as much as his did, and she offered up a thousand-watt smile of pure white that shone at him like a spotlight.

Bella and the rest of the girls watched this little exchange and knew in an instant what was happening. They both seemed to lose all knowledge of anyone else at the table. Alexis and Natalie laughed. Nikki rolled her eyes in disgust. Bella was concerned, she had been warned already to keep him away from any of the cheer girls, and she truly believed coach Rivers would throw her off the team if she didn’t.