I could feel the eyes on me, even though they were coming from behind me. Actually, I think that made it a little sharper, almost like the gaze from the eyes was trying to burn a hole in my back, or maybe just in my clothes, on the off chance that they might catch fire and burn off my body so that the owner of the eyes wouldn't have to see them anymore. I wasn't sure exactly who the owner of the eyes was, though I was pretty sure I could guess, given a chance or three.

I looked over at Jessie, who was standing across from me, and thus could see the owner of the eyes. She was close enough that she could have easily taken a step forward and pressed the full length of her body up against mine, not that she would, so I would be able to whisper to her without the owner of the eyes hearing me. "Lemme guess who it is behind me..." I said to her, my voice barely above a whisper. Unless the owner of the eyes was similarly close he (or she) would never hear a word of the conversation. "Is it Heath?"

Jessie shook her head ever so slightly, making it look like she was just trying to reposition the stray piece of hair that always flopped in front of her face, tickling it and driving her crazy half the time. "Okay then," I continued. "Ray?" This earned me a smile, which I took as a sign that my second guess had been correct.

Of course, I wasn't quite sure why I felt the need to figure out who it was without letting him know in the first place. Ray would know that I knew it was him, or at least that I suspected it was him. Ray would know exactly why I suspected it was him too, and it wouldn't make any sort of difference whatsoever whether he knew that I had figured it out for sure or not. It wasn't like we ever kept secrets from each other, though he would probably see that particular concept in a different light after that day, seeing as he hadn't known about the situation at hand.

I plastered my most winning grin across my face and then turned to face Ray. I couldn't pretend that he wasn't there, since he would almost certainly know that I knew that someone was watching me, even if I wasn't quite sure that it was him. Besides, I wanted to hear, from his lips, what he thought...even though I was pretty sure of the general idea, if not the specifics. I carefully put my hands on my hips and slouched to one side, looking at him with an expectant look on my face.

He frowned. "What the hell do you think you're doing dressed like that?" he asked me angrily.

I took my hands off my hips and gave him a little twirl, making the short skirt of my outfit flare out a little. "Helping out the cheerleading squad," I said. "They're short a couple of members at the moment, and thought I might make a good addition."

He just stared at me, not saying anything, though I could almost hear the thoughts running through his head at the moment. "Guys do not help out the cheerleading squad..." Or something like that. Of course, he was wrong. There were male cheerleaders, even if they weren't terribly common. He probably knew that as well, though I couldn't be sure of that.

"Besides, you have to admit, I look good in the outfit," I said cheerfully, twirling again. This, of course, earned me another frown, just before he growled low in his throat and then turned around to stalk out of the gym, a not-quite-real dark cloud of anger hanging low over his head.