by Dana Burkey
Written By Dana Burkey
Edited By Brittany Morgan Williams
Copyright © 2016 Dana Burkey
All rights reserved.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is first and foremost dedicated to my amazing and talented editor Brittany Morgan Williams.
Additional thanks Jan, Karen, Tabitha, and The Zerbes family for your constant encouragement throughout this project!
A HUGE thank you to the Etsy shops MySIXChicks for creating the equally as amazing bows for the back and CraftyOhBows for creating the perfect bows for the book cover. More information for each of these shops can be found at the back of the book.
Finally, thanks to all of my friends and readers on YouTube, Instagram, Goodreads, and FierceBoards for your never ending support and enthusiasm!
“Continuing the awards for junior level 3,” a man onstage said into a microphone. He opened a piece of paper covered in scores and results. “In third place we have-”
As expected he paused to add suspense. It gave me a minute to look around at the girls sitting in a circle around me. They were all dressed the same as I was in a red, black, and white TNT Force uniform. Like me, they all had on thick layers of makeup, and piles of curled hair surrounding their sparkly cheer bow. Like me they had been at the competition all weekend, competing first on Saturday morning and then again Sunday afternoon. And, like me, they knew that once again we weren't going to finish in first place.
“From Wichita Falls, Texas,” the announcer finally continued, “TNT Force Blast.”
I stood up and cheered with the girls around me, trying to be proud of what we had done. We came in third. It was still one of the ‘top’ spots. But, with only four teams in our division to begin with, the win wasn’t as sweet as it could have been. But, as Nicole and the other coaches at TNT had taught us to, we graciously accepted our medals and banners, taking a team photo before leaving the stage as the other teams were called for higher awards. Girls around me stopped to watch and see who would take home first, but all I was focused on was finding my dad.
“Third place. Not bad,” my dad grinned before pulling me in for a hug. “Chin up Max. You did good out there, all things considered, sweetie.”
“Yeah,” I replied, knowing no one else could hear his little pep talk. “I just wish everyone else did too.”
“None of that,” he said evenly, obviously not happy with my mood. “The season’s still not over.”
I nodded while stepping back, showing him my best attempt at a smile. It was frustrating, not winning for the third competition in a row and all. But, he was right. We were trying our best to work through the changes in the routine. For Lexi and myself it was proving easy, but for some of the other girls the changes made the routine inconsistent and led to falls during competitions.
“Nitro performs in 40 minutes, so you have a little time until you need to be at the stage,” Nicole, the coach of Blast and one of the gym owners explained to me and everyone around me. The team had all finally made its way to the door of the awards room after the rest of our division was announced. “And great job today ladies. We have some things to polish this week, but next weekend is a new chance to show the improvement we’ve made since NCA.”
As Nicole began talking to some of the girls closest to her, I smiled as my best friends Lexi and Halley walked my way. They both were carrying their wallets, hinting it was time for us to go get bows. I handed my dad my bright red cheer bag then joined them as we headed out of the awards room. We walked to the back of the main auditorium where there were three tables selling bows. I didn’t really care about the bows as much as I knew Halley or Lexi did, but I had adopted their tradition weeks prior. If we won the competition, then we would sit with our team and celebrate, taking selfies with our medals and anything else we won like championship sweaters, trophies, or buttons. But, if we lost, we would buy a cheer bow to raise our spirits. And thanks to the inconsistencies in our performances, my bow collection was growing more and more every weekend.
“How about this one?” Lexi asked, holding up a blue sequined bow to the red TNT Force bow that was in place around her curled white-blond hair. The color matched her eyes and really made them pop despite the red glitter she had piled on her eyelids. This might have also been because Lexi was still skinny and short enough, much like myself, that everything looked ‘cute’ on her. She could pull off even the most girly and glittery looks and styles with ease.
“Cute, but what about this one?” Halley reached up to hold a different bow to Lexi’s hair, this one a glittery white bow with green words that read ‘Cheer Queen’ in glittery letters. The bow came complete with a little glittery crown in the center. If Lexi didn’t want it, I knew Halley would likely snag it for herself. Her hair was a shade darker than Lexi’s, but the same colored bows still looked great on her, and just about every color matched her dark brown eyes and tan skin.
While they went back and forth making suggestions, I began looking for my own bow. Looking by myself was always best since I knew I wouldn’t be choosing something with so much glitter. I had team bows that were covered in glitter and rhinestones, but when I was buying bows on my own, I always went for a solid color without too much decoration or writing. It made Lexi pout, but I always tried to explain that I couldn’t pull off certain colors with my light brown hair. Hot pinks and bright greens didn’t look as good on me as they did on both of my friends who were similar shades of bright blonde.
The real reason, however, was that I was still a tomboy all the way. Sure, I was on a cheer team and had to get all dolled up for competitions, but when I wasn’t at the gym I would never be seen in clothes with rhinestones or sparkles. A few people told me they were sure I would act more girly eventually due to the cheerleading influence, but in the months since I joined the gym I was still just as big of a tomboy as I was before I started to cheer. When I wasn’t at cheer I never wore makeup, spent any time doing my hair, or put any thought into what I was wearing. That was how I liked it though, and it helped me always feel comfortable.
“Look!” Lexi announced, grabbing a neon pink bow with glittery black letters. “We can get a matching set.”
Before I could interrupt and explain that I didn’t want a glittery bow, I realized what the bows said. It was a set of three bows, spelling out ‘Best ‘Friends’ ‘Forever.’ The letters were in black and had a silver sparkly heart behind the words, on either a pink, green, or blue neon ribbon. Despite the glitter, when I saw the bows, I couldn’t help but agree with Lexi. We bought the bows right away, although we knew we couldn’t wear them until after we left the competition arena for good. It was a TNT rule that we all stayed in our uniforms, makeup, and even cheer hair until the whole day was over. The bows would likely be worn if we had a slumber party or all went together to the indoor trampoline park where I had met the girls only a few months ago.
“Let’s go get something to eat before Nitro performs,” Halley suggested, done with shopping once we had all paid for our bows.
“Do you think they’re going to win today?” Lexi asked, linking arms with me and Halley as we walked back towards where we knew the r
est of our gym was sitting.
“They have a good shot,” I commented. “Their raw score has everyone else beat. So, as long as they hit their double around to tick tock then they should be fine.”
“You know their routine a little too well sometimes,” Lexi laughed, nudging me with her arm. “I mean, I know you practice with them sometimes on your flying, but I think if you watched Connor perform much more you could fill his spot in the routine.”
“I’m not watching them perform to see Connor,” I replied.
“No, but he wants you to be there to watch him,” Halley said before I could say anything more.
“I guess,” I shrugged. “He said it would be cool to be on the same squad one day.”
“And she is just as clueless as ever,” Lexi said to Halley, both of them laughing at my confusion.
Thankfully I was saved from more of their laughter or comments as I made it to my dad. He was holding out a bag of trail mix, knowing I was likely going to be looking for a snack. Like always he was wearing his bright red shirt that read “CHEER DAD” on the front and “GO MAX” on the back, all in glittery silver letters. He got odd looks from people around town when he wore it from time to time, but around everyone at the gym it was expected and loved. The shirt made it easy for everyone to find him, and when they did, he was always ready to hand out treats for those in need.
“Do you still have Twizzlers?” Halley asked, plopping down into a chair while drinking from her red TNT water bottle.
“You’re in luck,” my dad grinned before handing her a bag containing just a few final red candies. “The Skittles, Reese’s Pieces, and Oreos are all gone. It’s just the Twizzlers, the trail mix, and the beef jerky left.”
“We better save the jerky for Connor,” I commented, which of course caused Halley and Lexi to make faces at one another and giggle once again. I did my best to ignore them. “How long until they perform?”
“You have about 10 minutes,” he replied, after a glance at the schedule he was holding. “And then Bomb Squad performs just before final awards right at 5.”
I nodded then sat down to snack on the trail mix. Pulling my phone out of my backpack, I saw I had three missed snapchats from Peter. I knew there would be more if I didn’t reply soon, but I also didn’t feel like starting a conversation with him only to run off and watch Nitro perform. Peter was usually at my competitions to cheer me on, but since we were in Dallas for the two-day event, he and his brother Kyle stayed home. Although they were only my neighbors, they were also basically my brothers, so I knew I would have to update Peter before too long. I snapped one photo to upload to my story announcing we got third, hoping that it would keep Peter satisfied for at least a little while. Then, I found myself distracted on Instagram until Lexi spoke.
“We should go,” she announced to Halley and me, drawing my attention away from my phone. Since Lexi’s brother Matthew was also on Nitro, getting a good spot to watch the routine was always important for her and her parents.
Tucking my phone back into my bag I stood up and followed the sea of red, black, and silver uniforms that was heading to the front of the room to stand right in front of the stage where Nitro would be performing in just a few seconds. As I stood between Halley, Lexi, and the other girls on Blast I also spied athletes from the other teams at TNT. We were easy to spot since everyone in our gym wears the same uniform, the only difference being the stripes of color that matched our team bows. Blast was red, Bomb Squad was pink, and Detonators were lime green, just to name a few. As Nitro, the teal team, was announced and took to the stage, I ignored the people around me and focused on Connor and the other athletes preparing to perform. If my team couldn’t take home first, I at least wanted one of the teams from my gym to walk away winners. Since I couldn’t help them accomplish that directly, I instead put everything into cheering as loud as possible for the entire 2-and-a-half-minute routine. I knew it might make me lose my voice, but after losing the competition, I didn’t care too much at this point.
“Run it again ladies,” Nicole yelled out the following night at Blast team practice. “We’re going to do it until we hit everything.”
I let out a long breath and got back to my place for the start of the routine. After a long time stretching and doing some conditioning, we ran a few parts of the extremely familiar cheerleading routine before beginning full outs. Full outs, as I learned when I first joined the gym, meant we ran the whole routine from top to bottom as if we were performing for an audience. Most practices we would do only 1 or 2 full outs towards the end of our scheduled time then call it a night. But, after yet another less than great performance at the competition in Dallas, we were going until we got everything hit, which is just cheerleading lingo for doing it all perfect. It sounded like an okay task when Nicole presented it to us, but after 3 full outs, everyone was starting to lose confidence. I found myself doubting we could ever perfect every skill even once.
“Smiles on everyone,” Halley said to me with an exaggerated facial expression.
“I doubt we’re going to have to run it again if I don’t smile,” I said evenly. “We’ll have to run it again when Lara can’t stay in the air.”
“Maybe she’ll hit this time,” Halley tried again, her smile fading a little.
Before we could discuss the issue any further, the routine started. I performed my opening back tuck and dance moves before moving to stand with my stunt group for my first flying skill. The girls in my stunt group were all a bit taller than me, which helped a lot in the moves we performed on the mat. Halley, along with Anna, Skylar, and Olivia lifted me into the air on one leg so I could hold my left foot next to my head in a basic move known as a heel stretch. Knowing I didn’t want to be responsible for not running a perfect routine, I faked a smile as the girls brought me back to the ground, just in time for me to do a round off and back tuck before walking towards them and stepping right back into their arms for my next flying move called a liberty. It was a move where I stood on one leg, with my other leg bent so my foot was next to the knee of my straight leg. It was an easy skill, but it was the moves that followed it that had me worried for the other girls in the air. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the other four fliers all holding the same pose as me. Then, as we all held our legs up near the back of our heads with both arms in a move called a scorpion, the stunt team below us turned us so we were facing stage right instead of looking at the crowd, I saw not one but two of the fliers fall into the arms of their stunt groups below them. It looked like we would be running the routine yet again. And possibly again after that as well.
“Should we stop and get ice cream?” my dad asked an hour later as we were driving home from practice. After sitting and watching from the parent’s lounge through the 5 full outs that still never managed to hit, he knew I needed a pick me up.
“Did you really have to ask?”
“Double hot fudge sundae with sprinkles?” he smiled, turning his truck automatically towards our favorite ice cream shop in town.
“I might need triple hot fudge after that,” I sighed, pulling my ombre red cheer bow out of my hair. I was too hot to pull on anything over my glittery TNT Force tank top or short red practice shorts, so losing the bow was going to have to be good enough for now. When the weather was a little cooler I would slip on basketball shorts over my practice uniform, but the Texas heat was too intense to worry about it just then. Even after three years I was struggling to adjust to the hot southern weather after moving from the Oregon coast.
“You did really great tonight Max,” he reminded me.
“I know,” I replied. “I hit 4 out of the 5 times we ran it full out. But if no one else can get it right then it doesn't matter.”
“Lexi got everything all 5 times,” he noted as he parked his car in the familiar parking lot.
“Yeah, but that’s only two of us really pulling our weight,” I spoke while climbing out of the truck, eager for the ice cream to boost my spirits. “I don�
��t think Jackie ever hit, and Brit bobbles so many times it might actually be a smaller deduction if she just dropped her stunt.”
My dad listened to my complaints as we walked up to the outside window to order. We waited in silence for the ice cream, which was thankfully only a minute or two. Then, as we took a seat at one of the picnic tables near the building, my dad began what I assumed was a long and thought out speech.
“If you’re only cheering to win, then I think you’re in the wrong sport,” he began, pausing to eat a large spoonful of his sundae. “Now I know some of the girls aren’t doing as well as you and Lexi, but I think some of that has to do with your extra classes. All the coaches have talked to me about how good your skills are, and how you're going to move up a level next year, and that’s great. But not all of the girls on your team are going to be moving up next year, and that’s okay too. Some of them are still learning and trying their hardest. So while you're on the team you need to understand that you can be encouraging them and cheering people on. If you want to be on a different squad next year, then you can do that. But until then it’s a team sport and you win and lose as a team. You’ve been on basketball teams that have lost almost every game and you made it through the season. I know you can do it this time too.”
“But when I was on a basketball team that was bad I could still do my best and score some points and feel like I made a difference,” I challenged him, annoyed that he had basically just called out my bad attitude.
“And you can do that while you’re cheering as well,” he replied immediately. “You and Lexi are staying in the air and doing all the moves, so that’s helping on the score sheet. And you and Corral tumbling is better than any team in your division I’ve seen all year.”
I was a little shocked to hear my dad explain various elements of our routine so easily. Just five months ago neither of us knew the difference between a heel stretch and a full. But over the past few months as I learned skills in my team practices and extra classes, my dad was chatting with other parents and understanding the various elements of all star cheerleading as well. Even still, as weird as it was for me to know all the ins and outs of the cheer world, it was even weirder to hear him talking about it so easily.
