Reaching The Summit (TNT Force Cheer #2)

by Dana Burkey

  And it was true. There were so many things that I would have to think about and deal with once Summit was over. Getting onto a good softball team was important. But so was cheer. For a lot of different reasons. It was a lot to try to think about and take in, especially after choosing Summit over the pitching clinics already. Instead of stressing too long about it, I pushed all of those thoughts aside so I could focus on simply making it through the next few days. It didn’t matter what would happen come summer. What mattered was that I had to compete and do my best all weekend in Florida. Then, when it was all over, I could try to make a decision one way or the other. Hopefully.

  “Straight leg and you got this,” Halley said to me just before I was tossed into the air for my kick single.

  “Awesome Max,” Anna said as I landed, then moved into the next move.

  Their familiar words of encouragement helped me focus as we ran the routine backstage at Summit. We were just minutes from taking the stage, and for the first time in a long time I was feeling nervous about hitting the blue mat in front of the crowd. It was weird, but knowing that it could be the last time I performed with Blast was suddenly nerve-wracking. Thankfully, everything was hitting in our run throughs. That fact was helping me keep the nervous edge off. More or less.

  “Gather up ladies,” Nicole called to us as we finished our last run through. We all walked closer to her and linked arms as we made a group circle, a pre-performance ritual. “When you get out there I want you to be confident and have fun. You have worked hard these last few weeks, and I know you can do this. Take a deep breath, remember what we’re fighting for, and just hit everything one skill at a time. This could be the last time we perform this routine. Or, we can leave it all on the mat and prove to those judges we should be on that stage again tomorrow. Now hands in!”

  We all put our hands into the center and began the cheer that we called out before every competition of the whole season. “TNT, TNT, TNT, BLAST!” After bobbing our hands up and down each time we called out TNT, we threw our hands up into the air on BLAST and stepped away from the center. Then, as always, we hugged someone close to us and began the walk to the stage. As we moved I found Lexi and Halley, holding their hands and giving their fingers a squeeze. Every competition started like that, the three of us linked together. Finally, with a deep breath and a big smile, I walked onto the mat with them once again. I spotted my dad in front of the stage with the other TNT parents and dropped my friend’s hands to give him a two hand wave. Once he returned the wave I walked to my spot on the mat and waited for the music to start.

  The next 2 and a half minutes were a blur. I was in the air, tumbling across the mat, and basically just doing my best to hit everything. Around me, I could see the girls on my squad also putting everything they had into the performance. When we reached the final pose at the end of the routine the crowd was screaming so loud I knew it meant only one thing: we hit! We hit every stunt, tumbling pass, and dance move in the routine. I wasn’t sure in that moment if it would be enough to make it onto the next day of competition, but it felt good to know we had done everything we could and it was now all up to the score sheets.

  “That was amazing,” Lexi said, giving me a hug after we were backstage. “I think that’s the best we’ve ever done!”

  “Totally!” I agreed, turning away from her to hug more of the girls around me.

  Everyone had so much energy after how well the routine went, and the excitement and celebration only began again when we were greeted by our family and coach. There were hugs and even happy tears from some parents as we all made our way towards the viewing booth to watch the playback of the routine. When we were finally done seeing the perfect routine on the playback screen the energy was almost too much to handle. In that moment I felt like I needed to go run around just to be able to function without exploding.

  “Get a drink or something to eat then hang out close by,” Nicole told us all, a massive smile on her face. “They will announce in just a little bit if we get to go on to tomorrow.”

  “I’m so nervous,” Halley said to me, actually jumping up and down on the spot. “What if we don’t make it?”

  “We did our best, right?” I asked her, although I wasn’t really expecting her to answer. “As long as we did what we went onto that mat to do, then we’re golden. Even if the judges didn’t like our dance or pyramid or anything, we have points from all the skills to get us into tomorrow. And then tomorrow we just have to hit again to move through to Sunday.”

  “And that is why you're my best friend,” Halley laughed. “Just keep reminding me of that if I get any crazier.”

  “Will do,” I promised her.

  Walking over to my dad I took my red glitter cheer bag from him and pulled out my phone. I had one missed text along with a few snapchats and other notifications. Opening the text, I was happy to see it was from Connor.

  “Great job Max. You ladies looked amazing out there. I would be shocked if you don’t make it to day 2!”

  It took me a second to realize that Connor had clearly been watching live online, the way I had watched him at Worlds. Based on the time difference back home he must have been in school, which was a little confusing. Did he go to the bathroom to watch? Was it between classes at the moment? Either way, I was so happy to have his support. Even if he wasn’t there in person, knowing he was still thinking about me and following along felt great.

  I replied to his text, then began a conversation about our division. Connor had watched all of the other teams we were up against, so he was letting me know how things were going in the division as a whole. Apparently, a few of the other teams had some stunt bobbles or tumbling falls, so that made me feel even more excited for awards. In fact, spending some time talking to Connor and relaying all of his messages to my friends made the time pass quickly. Before long we were ushered on stage to sit and wait to find out if we made it through to the next round.

  “I feel like I’m going to die,” Lexi said with a nervous laugh. She was sitting on one side of me, holding my hand in a death grip. Halley was on the other side of Lexi, and based on the look on her face she was also dealing with some painful hand holding.

  “Well, if you don’t, my hand might,” I said to her, causing her to loosen her grip immediately. It only lasted a few seconds, but I found that squeezing her hand in return made it a little better.

  Onstage, they were announcing the names of the teams making it into the semi-final round. I knew I would be performing the next day no matter what, but I wanted to be able to perform two times. Once with Fuze, and once with Blast. The longer the list of people making it through went on, the more the suspense was building. And, as the suspense was getting more intense, so did the vice grip Lexi had on my fingers. Before I could remind her to stop, the woman on the stage reached the end of her list.

  “And the final team making it through to tomorrow's semi-final round is TNT Force Blast from Wichita Falls, Texas!”

  I jumped up and started yelling and hugging my friends so fast I didn’t even realize that it was happening. I felt like I was going to fall over from the sudden head rush of jumping up, cheering, and also screaming but managed to stay standing somehow. Part of it could have been the other girls on the team who were all crowded around me as they also hugged anyone they could reach. The chance to move on and really compete was the first step in getting to the finals, and it felt great to have the opportunity.

  I could feel my phone buzz from where it was tucked into my cheer skirt. But, in that moment all I cared about was my team. I would have time later to send a text back to Connor, who was likely the one who texted me. In that moment the only thing that was important for me to focus on was the girls around me. Thanks to the 29 other members of Blast, we had another chance to prove we deserved a top spot in our division. And sure, we had another performance to make it through before we would find out if we made it to finals, but I was suddenly so confident in my team. It felt like we were rea
ching our peak at just the right time, and it felt amazing.

  “Does this look weird?” I asked Lexi as I got ready Saturday morning.

  “Add a little more red to your left eye,” she told me, then walked back into the bathroom to finish curling her hair.

  I sat on the floor of our hotel room in front of the full-length mirror mounted on the wall. My makeup was spread out around me, and despite the practice runs I had done at home, I was trying a brand new makeup plan for the day. After I had done my hair and put in my red cheer bow, I applied my silver eyeshadow like always. Then, instead of layering on red glitter to go with Blast since I was performing with them first, I applied a mixture of purple and red glitter. This way, I figured, I wouldn’t need to take off my makeup and put it back on before I performed with Fuze. Instead, I would just need to change my uniform and bow. It was still going to be a lot, but I was too excited for the whole day to worry about little things like changing between routines.

  “We have to leave in 20 minutes,” Lexi’s mom announced through the open door that connected our room to theirs.

  “Got it,” Halley said as she walked out of the bathroom all ready to go. “Do you need me to do your eyeliner?”

  “Yes please!” I grinned at her through the mirror. “I just need to do my bronzer first.”

  Brushing on the bronzer how I had been taught to apply it by my friends months ago, I looked at myself critically in the mirror before adding a little more blush.

  “So are you ready to perform twice today?” Halley asked as she sat down next to me. I turned her way and she began applying the thick sweep of eyeliner.

  “I think so,” I replied, trying by best not to move while she worked. “It’s kind of weird that the first time I even get to perform with Fuze is super important. No pressure or whatever.”

  “You know it’s no pressure for you,” Lexi interjected from her spot in front of the bathroom mirror. “You’ve hit everything in their routine from the first practice on.”

  “It took me a few days to get the dance,” I said, trying not to move as I stifled a smile.

  “But you stay in the air all the time,” Halley finally said. “You don’t need to stress. I mean, even if you did drop a stunt or miss a tumbling pass, the pressure isn’t as big. You being on the team is helping them and making up for Cassidy being gone, so they will be happy you’re there at all.”

  “No,” I said actually pulling back from Halley. She was thankfully not applying eyeliner at the time, but still gave me a bit of a scowl. “If I drop something then I wreck what they have been working on all year. They’ve had a great season, and if I ruin it for them, it’s all my fault.”

  “You’re not going to ruin it for them,” Halley assured me, her annoyed face totally gone. “You’re going to go out there and hit your routines and be awesome. It’s what you do Max. You may still need help with things like eyeliner, but you are a cheerleader through and through. When you hit that mat today, you’re going to kill it. You’re going to kill it for Blast and you’re going to kill it for Fuze!”

  I didn’t know what to say in response. I more or less just nodded, smiled and then let Halley go back to finishing my eyeliner. Her comment was just about the nicest thing anyone could have said to me at that moment. Mostly because it was true. I cared about cheerleading and wanted to give it 100% all of the time. But thinking that way made me also think back to softball. Could I ever feel as good about any sport as I did about cheerleading? The idea was a strange one to have popped up like that, and I did my best to keep it out of my mind. After all, I had a lot of other important things to focus on. Like getting to the arena and performing not once but twice.

  “Your makeup looks perfect,” Lexi said to me as she finally came out of the bathroom followed by a cloud of hairspray. “The glitter looks really good.”

  “Thanks,” I grinned as I stood up and grabbed my cheer bag. I checked it once more to make sure I had not only my usual backpack items but also my second uniform and bow. Once I knew I had everything I needed, I slipped it on and turned to my friends who were also dressed in their matching uniforms. “Ready to go?”

  “Yup. Let’s do this!” Halley replied, her face both determined and excited at once.

  That was just what we did in fact. After making it to the area in time for some stretching in the hallway, we headed into the warm up room and were the same team from the day before. We were landing stunts and tumbling every run through, and the energy was building and building. But, as we walked onto the stage, the energy was starting to run dry. The routine we had been landing perfectly in warmups without even thinking about it was suddenly harder than ever. We were keeping everything in the air, but the energy on the mat was strange, to say the least.

  “Straight leg and you got this,” Halley said in my ear, and I found myself glancing at her in that moment before being tossed up for my kick single. She had a strained look on her face that almost made me forget to lock my body while in the air. As it was, I landed a little odd, but thankfully was caught and lowered to the mat like every other time we did the stunt.

  When the dance portion of the routine came the energy picked up a little. This was likely because we knew we hit every element and skill we planned, and we also knew the routine was almost over. Being on the stage was somehow super stressful though, and until we hit the final pose it seemed like everyone in the audience was holding their breath and just waiting for everything to fall apart.

  “We did it,” Anna said giving me a smile as we walked off the mat. “Somehow we did it.”

  “We hit, right?” I asked her and the other athletes around me.

  “I think so,” Halley shrugged. “But I feel like we were trying to move through glue that whole time.”

  “Yeah,” I nodded. “Everything felt really nerve-wracking out there.”

  Girls around me nodded as we walked around to where our families and friends were waiting for us. They gave us hugs and assured us we did great, but we all knew the truth. Just doing the skills and moves on the mats wasn’t good enough. You needed to sell the routine and show everyone you were having a great time; something we failed to do during our performance. Watching the playback of the routine a few minutes later was almost painful in fact. There was just something lacking on the mat. Or maybe it was that something was there. And that something was nerves.

  “It could have been a lot worse,” Nicole assured us as we gathered up after we were done watching the playback. “If we make it to tomorrow we need to put our hearts into the whole routine. I know you can breathe life into everything, we just need to pray we get through to the finals and get that chance. You are all dismissed until Fuze performs in about an hour. Max,” she said as she and the other 29 girls on my squad all turned to look at me. “You need to change and get ready for warm-ups. Fuze heads backstage soon.”

  The reminder was a bit shocking in that moment. I was still trying to wrap my head around what had just happened during Blast’s performance, and now I needed to get backstage and ready to take the mat for a second time. With everyone watching me, looking so proud and excited for me, I felt about as nervous as I did while we were onstage moments before. But I didn’t have time to focus on that. Instead, I just gave Nicole a nod and smile, then went to find my dad.

  “You’re going to be amazing sweetie,” my dad told me as he handed me my cheer bag so I could go get changed.

  “I hope so,” I said in reply, not feeling as confident after the lackluster Blast performance.

  “You don’t need to hope,” he said pulling me in for a big hug. “Just remember to take a breath and go out there and have fun.”

  “I’ll try,” I assured him, noting that I was hearing that same advice a lot lately.

  “Now go get changed,” he finally added. “Time to get purple.”

  With a laugh, I turned and headed towards the nearest bathroom. As I walked into the white tiled room, I wondered how many other athletes at the compe
tition were changing clothing and performing for two teams. Were there a lot of us? Or was I the only one going back onstage just after getting off of it? There was no way to be sure. But, as I stepped into a stall and began changing I did my best to do what my dad said and just breathe. If I could put the performance I had just finished out of my mind and focus on what was next, then hopefully I could bring the energy to the Fuze performance that was missing for Blast.

  To a lot of people, it might seem like there is not much of a difference between one cheer team and another. For me, in fact, it took a long time to understand that different team levels meant different stunts and tumbling. For instance, I was only allowed to do a back tuck with Blast since it’s a level three team. But, since Fuze is a level four team, I can throw layouts and whips while tumbling. And, if I were to move up to Nitro or any other level five team, I could end tumbling with a full. The rules for flying and basket tosses are even more detailed and confusing, so I mostly rely on my coaches to let me know what I can actually perform. Not to mention, on top of all of that, divisions have age restrictions as well. I may have been an ‘older girl’ on Blast, but I was the second youngest on Fuze.

  All of these things can make a huge difference for a team. And all of that was evident the second I began warming up with the purple team backstage. Just an hour and a half before entering the warm-up room in my Fuze uniform and bow, I had been in there with Blast. With Blast, we would encourage one another to try hard while getting ready to perform, but we would also still laugh and play around. It was like we weren’t taking things super seriously. Don’t get me wrong, we still worked hard warming up the routine. But it was still more of a fun atmosphere than anything else.

  The second we began warm-ups with Fuze I realized it was time to be serious through and through. Girls around me didn’t joke around or act silly between stretches, and they never made funny faces at one another while waiting to take their turn warming up their tumbling. I didn’t know if it was because people were older and somehow more ‘mature,’ but either way, it took me a second to hop on board. At first, I found myself feeling like I was going to scream if someone didn’t do something silly or crazy. But then, the fierce and extremely focused attitude caught on and I found myself getting pumped to go on stage in a whole new way. I was ready to go out and perform, but also show everyone watching that I was tough and so much more than just a girl in a skirt and a lot of glitter.