by Taylor Hart
Sammy
Sammy rushed toward the gym, unable to believe her luck. This was the best ever. She would save the cheer squad from competition annihilation; she could feel it. Just by looking at Zoey, Sammy could tell that she would be a good gymnast. She was smaller and…there was just something about the determined look on her face.
Nicholas. It would be interesting to see if he was good, but he looked strong. And the team could work with strong.
She got to the gym and pulled out her phone, quickly texting her mom. I’m back on the team! Staying for practice!
Her mom texted back. That’s amazing! Love you!
As she walked in, the whole cheer squad was gathered, and Sammy noted that Tiffany was there, too. She must have agreed to the conditions as well.
Megan glanced at Sammy and their eyes held. Megan waved her over. “Sammy! Over here.”
Sammy hesitated, then walked toward her. She couldn’t believe what a good person Megan was, even after Sammy had treated her so badly for so long. She remembered what Megan had said to her at lunch a couple of days ago, that she looked at kind people like they were doormats.
Was that true? She felt a pang of regret. It kinda was true.
Liz crossed her arms as she joined them.
Megan smiled at Sammy. “I’m glad to have you back.”
Ms. Montlake stood in front of the group. Sammy could tell that Ms. Montlake was just as excited as Sammy felt. It was apparent in the huge smile she wore and the spring to her step. “People, I have an announcement.” She clapped her hands together. “First, we are going to have Tiffany and Sammy say a few words.”
Tiffany went up front and said to all of them in a very snooty tone, “I am sorry for fighting. I disgraced the team. And I promise my behavior will be better.” Sammy wondered if she might challenge Megan’s authority as competition captain, but she didn’t.
Ms. Montlake gestured to her. “Sammy.”
Sammy walked out, wanting things to go back to how they’d been. But she could tell that wasn’t going to happen. She stared at Tiffany, who gave her a phony smile.
Instinctively, she phony smiled back. With a start, she realized Tiffany had never really been that great of a friend to her. She’d been thinking about her and Kira all weekend, and she couldn’t remember a time when there hadn’t been some type of drama between them all, usually because Tiffany caused it.
Sammy faced the team, regarding the girls like she was seeing them for the first time. She’d always seen everything through the lens of having Tiffany and Kira at her side. Now, she understood that she didn’t really have other friends on the team, and it was her fault. “Look, I never should have flipped Tiffany off. And…” She looked at Megan and Liz and Sadie and all of the other girls she’d called “puppy chow group” too many times to count. Unexpected emotion clogged the back of her throat. She’d gone through so much humiliation over the past couple of days because of Tiffany and Karl and all of her popular friends turning on her. “I want you guys to know that I’m sorry. And I’ve been horrible in the past and I want to change. I’m so sorry.”
Tiffany still glared at her. Kira glared at her, too.
Sammy faced Ms. Montlake, reminding herself that at least she could compete in the competition, even if she didn’t have her friends any longer.
Ms. Montlake nodded, moving back in front of everyone. “Okay, I want the team to know that fighting is unacceptable and Tiffany and Sammy will have a month of after-school detention, but they are going to be allowed back on the team.” She continued, “In a stroke of good fortune, we’ve had two new students move in who might be able to help us out for our state competition next week. I’m going to allow them to try out right now, and I’ll let you all vote and decide if we will add them to the team.”
Sammy hadn’t noticed Zoey and Nicholas sneak in and stand by the gym door. They both had changed into their PE clothes: T-shirts and shorts.
There was a stir among the cheerleaders. “Wow, he’s cute,” Liz whispered to Megan.
Zoey and Nicholas moved out to the middle of the gym. Zoey nodded to Ms. Montlake, who started some music: “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” It was clear from the get-go that Zoey had far more experience than Nicholas. She was hitting all the beats to the dance with precision. Nicholas appeared to be trying, but he didn’t have great form.
When they got to a point where Zoey was doing a line of tumbling tricks, roundoff to back handspring to back layout, the cheer squad went wild with clapping. Sammy’s heart soared as she saw the look of pleasure on Ms. Montlake’s face. Yes! This would be amazing. Zoey was exactly what the team needed.
The tryout routine ended with Zoey doing an aerial and Nicholas catching her, then twisting her by lifting her into the air and walking around with Zoey in a cupie lift.
Once again, the squad went crazy.
“Go, Lions!” Nicholas shouted at the end.
“Go, Lions!” everyone shouted back.
Ms. Montlake hugged both of them. “Okay, I’m just going to make this informal. Zoey, Nicholas, will you turn around for a vote by a raise of hand?”
As they turned around, Sammy caught Zoey’s eye and gave her a thumbs-up.
Zoey winked at her.
Ms. Montlake continued. “Everyone who thinks they should be on the team, raise your hand.”
Everyone raised their hands.
Ms. Montlake laughed. “You’re in!”
Zoey and Nicholas turned back to face them, and Ms. Montlake put her arms around their shoulders. Neither of them looked like they liked that. Interesting.
“This is going to rock!” Megan threw her arms around Sammy.
Sammy was surprised, but she hugged her back. “Yes, it will.”
“You’ll help them learn it, right?”
It meant a lot to Sammy that Megan would include her. “I would love to.”
Liz moved to Megan’s side, rolling her eyes. “I guess we’ll forgive you.” She sighed. “’Cause you need us.”
It didn’t matter if Liz wanted to hold a grudge; Sammy felt too happy to care. “Thanks.”
Other cheerleaders from the puppy chow gang came to her side, hugging her and telling her they were glad she could compete.
Ms. Montlake called out to them. “Listen, we’ll make adjustments to the routine and commence with practice at six tomorrow morning!”
Sammy watched Zoey and Nicholas talking to Ms. Montlake, and she couldn’t help but smile. Yes, they could do this. They could make this work.
Tiffany walked in Sammy’s direction, a glare on her face. Kira tagged along. When Tiffany was close enough, she bumped Sammy’s shoulder with hers. “This isn’t over. You can’t just become the belle of the ball again, you know. You’re still not competition captain. Plus, I still have your boyfriend.” She gave her a mock smile.
It hurt to see such vehemence on Tiffany’s face, and it hurt even worse to have Kira just follow along. She turned to watch her two best friends walk away, and then her heart sank further when she noticed Karl standing by the gym doors, waiting for Tiffany. Tiffany threw herself at him, and then they were in a tight lip-lock.
Sammy blinked to push away all the fresh hurt of Karl’s betrayal. Dang. How could she have not seen that?
“You okay?” Zoey stood next to her, concern on her face.
Past her, Nicholas was talking to all the cheerleaders, including Ms. Montlake. It appeared she was asking him if he could hold certain ones up. Yes, that would be valuable to their state competition coming up.
“Sammy, are you alright?” Zoey asked again.
Sammy still stared at Tiffany and Karl. “Yeah.”
Zoey turned and followed her gaze. “Brutal. Clearly she stole your boyfriend, right?”
Sammy tried to refocus. “You guys were amazing.”
“Thanks.” Zoey gestured to Nicholas. “The ladies love him.”
They did indeed. Sammy bit her lip as she watched them chatter, and she tried not to t
hink about Karl and Tiffany.
Zoey searched her face. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Sammy stormed toward her bag, which she’d left by all the other bags.
One of the cheerleaders, Trisha, walked up to Zoey. “Nice routine. I’m glad you’ll be joining the team.”
Sammy eyed Trisha, who was part of the “other group.”
Trisha hesitated, then nodded at her. “Glad you’re back.”
“Thanks.” Sammy smiled a little.
“Sammy, Zoey, Megan!” Ms. Montlake called out. “Will you guys come over here? I want Sammy and Megan to start helping Zoey and Nicholas learn the routine. If we’re going to have a chance at this, they need to know the routine inside and out.”
As they headed over, Sammy nudged Megan. “What do you think, Meg? Can we do this?”
Megan looked shocked, then recovered. “Well,” she said, and Sammy could see that she hadn’t been ready to be asked. “What if we had Nicholas throw her extra high in the middle of the routine, and instead of just have her go into a basket toss, we have her do a full back layout?”
“Yes.” Sammy put out her knuckles to fist bump her.
Megan stared at her hand for a moment before returning the fist bump.
Ms. Montlake looked between them for a second, then grinned. “I love it.”
For the next hour, Sammy, Ms. Montlake, and Megan helped Zoey and Nicholas work on the basics of the routine. Zoey was a natural and clearly better than most of the girls on the team—maybe even better than Sammy—and she caught on quick. Nicholas needed more work, but what he lacked in technique, he would make up for in strength and willingness to learn. Megan was amazing, helping Nicholas focus on his technique while she dove deep into the routine with Zoey. If Zoey could get the routine down, then she could help Nicholas, too.
Sammy got a text from her dad, informing her that she was still in trouble and needed to get home and explain things to them. “Gotta run, Ms. M. My parents want to talk to me.”
Ms. Montlake nodded.
As Sammy left the gym, she allowed herself a moment of hope. This could really work. Once she’d rushed out of the building, though, her eyes fluttered and the pressure of everything just hit her all at once. She couldn’t stop the tears from misting her vision. Her whole life had flipped in a matter of days. She’d lost her friends and her boyfriend, but Megan—a girl she’d been awful to—was willing to be her friend. She didn’t deserve it, but she was so grateful. She laughed, running for her car in the parking lot.
As she neared her car, she was taken aback to see that Tiffany was standing next to it, kissing Karl.
Sammy growled. Enough was enough. “Get away from my car!”
Tiffany pulled back from Karl, and they dropped their make-out position.
“Sorry, Sammy. I didn’t mean to kiss her right here,” Karl offered, looking mildly baffled that they were next to her car.
Tiffany sneered. “Oh, sorry.” She flashed her patented fake smile, then nudged Karl back and held out a bag for Sammy. “Oh, I just wanted to give your stuff back—some makeup, some clothes.”
Blood whooshed in Sammy’s ears. “I don’t want them.”
Tiffany dropped the bag as if it carried a deadly disease. She grabbed Karl’s hand and turned away. “I do want my stuff. Bring my Sadie Hawkins dress, the one I loaned you, to school tomorrow.”
“Hey, Tiffany,” Sammy called out. When Tiffany turned back, Sammy flipped her off. “Just stay away.” She got into the car, trembling.
As she peeled out of the parking lot, Tiffany was laughing.
Sammy breathed sharply through clenched teeth as all of the pain rushed back. She’d lost her friends. She’d lost Karl, who she’d thought she might actually love. How could he have turned on her so quickly?
She stopped the car at a city park, letting the tears fall. Today was supposed to be better since she had just pretty much saved the cheerleading squad. But no. She parked and let herself fall over the steering wheel, hating herself for being such a loser. She banged the wheel and cursed a string of swear words. How could everything go so right and then so wrong at the same time?
Her thoughts flitted to how lucky she’d felt when she’d met Zoey and Nicholas earlier that day. She’d been so proud when they’d totally nailed the audition. The fact that they had shown up was a miracle.
Her phone buzzed, but she just kept her head on the steering wheel. It was probably her father, demanding she get home.
But then she thought of @hunterlives.
Tugging the phone out of her bag, she saw that Hunter had left twelve or so DMs. She let out a squeal of delight and started reading through them.
How are you today? Did the b$#@% get over it yet?
She laughed, happier and lighter than she’d felt all day. Finally, someone who understood her. Someone who cared.
There were more pictures with goofy faces, followed by one where he had his shirt off and he was posing with his muscles flexed. Like that?
The center of her chest got tight for a second, like she was seeing something bad, but then she decided she liked it. Hey.
You like that pic. Admit it. He sent her another picture. It was of his calf muscle.
Butterflies erupted into her gut, and she imagined other body parts. But wasn’t this one of the warning signs, some weirdo sending pics to young girls?
He DMed again. I just finished my weight-lifting workout, and my legs are burning.
Oh. Okay. Right, he was into lifting. That explained all of his flexing pics.
What is up?
Nothing. What is up with you?
Awesome, I’m killing it, but school is such a drag. Hey, let’s run away together.
That would be nice. She longed to just get away from it all.
He sent her a gif of the ocean. To the beach. Cali, baby.
She wished for the relief of sitting on some beach. She’d been to California two times and loved the feel of the ocean water beneath her feet.
Send me a pic.
Her heart rate picked up again. It felt like another red flag, so she didn’t respond.
C’mon, I’ve seen all those amazing cheer videos and the pics from Insta with your friends. Send me a pic of your gorgeous face right now.
She’d been crying. She looked at her face in the rearview mirror. Oh no. She reached for her makeup. When would she ever meet Hunter? It wasn’t like he was that far away, only about two hours. But her parents never let her drive outside of the radius of her house and school and to her friends’ houses.
She put some base around her eyes, lightly patted it, then got out her bronzer and fixed it. She brightened her lips with red lipstick and smiled in the mirror for practice.
An idea popped into her head, and she did a selfie showing half of her face, like the one on his profile. She was nervous. He could be a creeper, right? Should she send it? She hesitated.
He sent her a picture of the sky with a lightning bolt pulsing through it. It looked Photoshopped, but the words on it said, “You light up the night.”
He sent a following text. This is how I feel about you.
What? Did he like her that much?
I can’t stop thinking about you.
Did she like him the same way? Could she like him, even after Karl? She struggled to untangle all these mixed emotions. The funny thing, she realized as she stared at the phone, was that she’d told him more about her situation with the cheer team and school than anyone else.
Are you there? Did I scare you off?
She replied. I’m here.
Picture.
Right at that moment, her mother texted her. Dinner’s ready.
Sammy wasn’t comfortable with this. No, sorry. Her thoughts were jumbled as she started the car. It felt so strange that he would want her to send a picture. He was so insistent.
No. She’d seen all the workout pictures that were posted on his Instagram. He wasn’t a creeper; he was just lonely too. @hunter
lives was just like her—he was looking for reasons to live.
Before she could lose her nerve or change her mind again, she pushed send on her half-face picture, then took off for home.
Chapter 14
Zoey
Zoey rushed out of the girls’ gym. They had been captured by Ms. Montlake for the whole evening, and she’d gotten them so involved in the routine that Zoey hadn’t been able to leave when Sammy left.
Nicholas pushed the door open behind her. “Hey! You can’t just leave me in there!”
She paused to glare at him, then ran toward the midnight-blue beat-up Ford he’d driven them to school in. It was a pretty cool car, but she was in no mood to appreciate it. “We lost her.” They needed to talk to the captain and see if the people monitoring her Instagram account had gotten more information.
It made her sick to think that Sammy could already be gone. Of course, it wasn’t likely, but it hadn’t been likely for Zoey to leave either. She’d been so stupid then, but she’d been vulnerable. And so was Sammy.
Once they’d gotten in the car, Nicholas started it and backed up. “Look, I’m worried too, but she seemed like she was doing okay. And did you notice that she and Megan were getting along?”
She scoffed. “Yeah, but we both know how quickly all of that can change in a teenage girl’s life.”
Nicholas grunted and took off, driving fast. “Yeah, I do. Well, no, I don’t in a teenage girl’s life, but it’s okay. If it weren’t okay, we’d already be getting a warning from Cap.”
He took a sharp turn, making Zoey cling to the handle. She hissed through her teeth. She was nervous about losing Sammy. From personal experience, she knew that teenagers did irrational things without much explanation.
“You were great today. You really are an amazing tumbler.” He laughed as he whizzed past several cars. “Guess ‘the Tumbler’ really fits you.”
“Thanks.”
“So I know you were in gymnastics, but you must have been training for something big.”
“What about ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’?”
Nicholas shrugged in disinterest. “Whatever.”
