* * *
As we wake up and wipe the sleep from our eyes the next morning, Becca and I giggle while looking around my room. We can't help but notice the empty pizza boxes, napkins, paper plates, and Coke cans scattered all over the floor. There's even a plate at the foot of my bed, which actually received its very own thirty seconds or so of laughing, pointing and conversing about. The place looks a bit like a college dorm room after a night of heavy partying, loud music, dancing, drinking, and possibly even doing something we now regret.
"Last night was fun," Becca says, her laugh fading.
"Yeah, it was," I reply. Then we briefly reflect in silence. "I'm glad my mom didn't get mad at me about the whole Phil issue."
"Please, she was thrilled about it when she came up here and talked to us last night. How did she say your dad explained it to Phil again?"
"He told Phil he and I were coincidentally discussing frivolous lawsuits the other day," I remind her. We both laugh again.
"That's hilarious," Becca says.
Another silence follows.
"So?" I finally say, sitting up and giving Becca a suggestive look. "What's the deal with Brian?"
I'm dying to know all the juicy details. Last night we stayed in Carson's room until about midnight, then headed back to my room, gobbled up the last bit of pizza, then fell fast asleep. She talked to Brian nonstop, so I know she has a ton to tell me. But instead of being crazy-excited like I thought she would be, her eyes drop and her expression turns serious.
"He has a girlfriend," she says quietly.
That sucks, big time. I feel for her.
"Oh," I simply reply.
"But he did say it's not going well, and he doesn't think it's gonna last." She looks up, her face brightening.
I look up as well and crack a smile. "He definitely seemed to be into you," I assure her. And I'm not just saying that, he really did seem to like her.
"You think so?"
"Definitely. It was obvious. I'll get Carson to keep me posted on what's going on with him."
A look of relief washes over her face as she smiles and nods. "Cool, thanks."
8
Cheerleading Horror
The next few weeks were a nightmare, to say the least, regarding my little cheerleading endeavor.
Aside from the fact that Summer was announced co-captain under Alison the Monday after I signed up, my extreme lack of coordination immediately began wreaking havoc on the squad. And even though this came as no surprise to me whatsoever, the level of my embarrassment was not diminished in the slightest. I'm just lucky that due to the small size of the student population, there were no try-outs?or perhaps I'm unlucky in that sense. I've yet to make a clear decision on that.
But I still waited in fear for them to tell me to leave--and possibly even hand me a restraining order--with each passing incident.
As if it wasn't enough when I lost my grip on one of my pom-poms during a cheer, nearly taking off the girl's head in front of me--I also straight up punched the girl next to me right smack in the neck when I inadvertently inched too close to her during our "Fight Grizzlies Fight" cheer.
But without a doubt, the almighty king of all horrific moments came when I accidentally tripped Alison, our senior captain, as we were running to the middle of the floor to set up in formation, causing her to fall and badly sprain her ankle.
However, what happened as a result of that accident really put the "most horrific" stamp of approval on that moment. Alison showed up to school the next morning, wobbling around in one of those strap-on walking casts which stops about four inches below the knee, and announced she wouldn't be able to cheer for a while. Possibly even for the rest of the season.
I was mortified. And even a little terrified, quite honestly. Not only had I roughed up one cheerleader and almost decapitated another with my pom-pom missile, but I've now successfully taken out our leader. And believe me, when Alison walked into the gym with that cast on her foot, I wanted to either hide under the bleachers, quit school immediately and run away from home, or make a mad dash to the bathroom to dye my hair then change my name. But since none of these solutions were really practical or even possible--only because I had no hair dye in my bag--I just turned away immediately and inched as close as I could to Becca, just in case an angry mob came charging at me.
Despite all this, believe it or not, the situation managed to get even worse. Not knowing when or how this information would come out, I was so busy trying to hide my face and avoid everyone, especially Bryson and the squad, it never even dawned on me until I was walking to practice that evening that when a leader goes down, their second-in-command takes over. And sure enough, once again making my dream a reality, Summer became captain of the squad that day. But to my surprise, despite my fears of her bullying me and making my life completely miserable as captain, she actually kind of left me alone the following two weeks.
She's made some general comments to the squad as a whole, such as, "Some of us need to get our act together so this squad isn't embarrassed on game night," and "If you can't get the hang of the moves, you should leave. Cheerleading is not for everyone."
I actually couldn't agree with her more. I would love to leave, but obviously I'm here for a reason.
Summer's unwillingness to direct those statements to me--even though everyone knows who she's talking about--or to even look me in the eyes at any point is surely due to the fact that Becca makes random pit stops to the caf, which is where we practice after school since the boys have the gym. She looks in on us, sometimes even pacing back and forth with her arms crossed as she watches, as if she's a professional choreographer and we're one of her many squads she pops in on during the day.
Another reason might be because of my budding friendship with Holly, who is now co-captain of the squad. I don't think I would have made it past that first week if it wasn't for her. She's been coming to my house every other night or so during the week to help me practice the cheers and get the hang of all the moves. And strangely enough, I'm getting much better. Which is a good thing since our first game is only four days away.