by Dawn Doyle
Ok that was a lot of information at once.
I sat down next to her, placing my cup on the table.
“So, can’t the other girls just alter the routine?” I asked.
I hadn’t done cheer before, obviously, so I had no idea what they did when things like that happened.
“No. Carly’s our tumbler and flyer. The other girls aren’t trained enough yet, and they can only do so much. We do need to change the routine, but we’re worried that we won’t make an impact because we relied on Carly to do the stunts.”
Thinking about what Poppy had told me, I had a possible solution, but only if the other girls were willing to try it. Something shifted inside me, and I knew what I needed to do.
“I can help you, if you want.”
“You can? How?” Poppy asked, looking a little confused.
“I’m a gymnast. I can tumble and do stunts.” I said, with a shrug.
It wasn’t common knowledge, I’d always kept to myself, but maybe it was time people saw me. Saw me come out of the shadows and make people take notice.
“Seriously? You can do that?”
“Yes.” I chuckled. “What does Carly do?”
Poppy went into detail about Carly doing a series of back handsprings, splits, walkovers, and some stunts where they threw her in the air.
“That’s pretty basic, but I know that’s hard enough when you don’t train for gymnastics.”
“So, how good are you?” Poppy asked, intrigued. She placed her elbows on the table, staring at me intently.
“I used to compete professionally.”
“Really?” Her eyes widened. ”Why did you stop?”
I laughed again.
“I got taller and… I grew boobs.” I said, lowering my voice and looking round to make sure nobody could hear me.
“That would affect you?” Poppy asked, cocking her head to the side.
“Yeah. It’s better if you’re small, and if you have boobs they bounce too much. It affects your height when you somersault.” I explained. There was a lot more to it than that, but I wasn’t going to go into too much detail about having to relearn everything because weight distribution, and even a half inch difference in height affected the skills. It had taken me almost eight months to adjust to my growth spurt; hence, the end of my competition days.
“You’re really willing to help? After what Sian said?”
Sian got on my nerves, but it wasn’t just her in the squad. Besides, it affected the school too.
“I’m helping you. Anyway, Sian doesn’t even know me, and I’d like to wipe the smug look off her face.”
“Me too.” Poppy giggled. “I’ll call her now.”
Poppy lifted her pink phone and called Sian, telling her that she had some help. Arranging to meet up, I went home to shower before meeting Poppy outside the practice hall. It was a separate hall away from the school grounds. The squad rented the hall to keep their routines secret.
Poppy and I walked into the hall, where the other girls were waiting. Sian, Carly, with her leg in plaster, and the new girls, all turned to us as we entered.
There were four ‘junior’ girls, and four ‘seniors’. Poppy being the fifth.
Sian did not look happy to see me.
“Hi girls!” Poppy greeted them, happily. “Here’s our helper!” She bounced on her heels, excitedly.
“What? How the fuck can she help?” Sian said, almost snarling at me.
She looked me up and down, as I stood there in my track pants and long, extra baggy, black T-shirt. I kinda looked like a trash bag. I had to stop myself from laughing.
“I’m offering my assistance.” I said, trying hard not to snarl back at Sian.
“Assistance? Like how? We don’t need another base; we need somebody who can tumble. What the fuck can you do to help?”
“Chase can help, Sian.” Poppy said, as I opened my mouth to retort to Sian’s comment.
“Whatever.” Sian snorted. “I doubt it.”
“What the fuck is your problem?” I said, all the girl’s eyes widening as I answered back.
“My problem is that we need a fucking miracle to make this work, and then Poppy brings you in to help. What good are you?”
“Better than you think, Sian.” I narrowed my eyes and folded my arms in contempt.
“Prove it. Show us something.” Sian folded her arms too.
Without saying anything, I stood in the center of the hall. The other girls looked between themselves, as if wondering what I was going to do.
“Hang on.” Sian said, halting me before I could move.
“What?”
“Your clothes are too big for cheer. Take off your T-shirt.” She smiled, slyly.
I had a feeling something like this was going to happen, and I’d come prepared.
“Fine.” I said, and her mouth popped open. She hadn’t expected that.
I lifted the hem of my T-shirt and pulled it over my head, revealing my tight red vest. The strange thing was… I didn’t feel as self-conscious as usual.
Sian’s eyes bugged, and I heard the gasps of the other girls.
Yeah. Not such a fat boy now, huh? I thought.
“Holy hell Chase…“ Poppy said, as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“Let’s get back to it, shall we?” I said, and Sian nodded; not taking her eyes off me.
I moved my feet apart, sliding them further, and further until I was sitting in a box split. I placed my hands on the floor, directly in front of me. I pushed down, with my hands, and leant my weight forward. I lifted my legs, so I was in the same position, but only my hands were in contact with the floor, showing the strength in my thighs, hip flexors, and my arms.
Tilting forwards, I raised hips higher, my legs lowering slightly with my toes pointing down, and my body leaning forward; I slowly raised myself up into a handstand, bringing my legs together. Not done, I parted my legs in a straight split, before lowering my rear foot to the floor. Keeping one foot in the air, as my back was arched, I transferred my weight to my foot, bringing my hands off the floor and lowering my other leg, I brought myself up into a standing position allowing my head to glance off my ass. The whole process looked like a manna into a forwards walkover.
“Holy shit.” Sian whispered, before composing herself. Too late. I’d heard it. “Ok. That was good, but Carly could do a round off, back handspring into a back somersault. Can you do that?” She asked, glancing to Carly who looked eager as she watched.
Poppy looked at me and we smiled at each other.
“I think I can manage.” I said.
Sian and the other girls moved out of the way, as though I was going to run up. I didn’t need to. From my standing position, I executed the moves with ease.
Sian’s mouth popped open in surprise.
“I told you.” Poppy beamed.
“Ok.” Carly said, looking at me and I could see she was thinking. “That was the limit of my floor skills. Show us something else.”
“No problem.”
As the girls watched, I performed a combination of aerials -a cartwheel with no hands-, forward aerials -a walkover with no hands-, and back handsprings.
Standing in the corner of the room, I then performed a round off into a row of straight leg back somersaults.
The girls applauded me. Carly had a huge grin on her face, and even Sian was smiling.
“Where did you learn to do all that?” She asked.
“Almost eleven years of gymnastics, actually.” I replied, and Sian’s mouth dropped… again.
“Chase is a professional gymnast. She competed for a long time.” Poppy said, proudly.
“Seriously? Can you dance?” Carly asked, hobbling over to me on her crutches.
“It’s part of the sport, so yeah.”
“Can you stunt?” Sian asked.
I laughed.
“Will you catch me?” I raised my eyebrow and Sian nodded, her red curls bouncing around. “Then yeah.”
Sian beamed, and I swear I’d never seen her so happy in my life.
“Welcome to the squad, Chase.”
“I’m just helping this once.” I said, my hands up.
“You’re our secret weapon.” Carly said, excitedly. “Girls, keep this to yourselves. Nobody is to know about this.”
Agreeing, the girls promised not to say a word to anybody. They didn’t want to let the other team’s squad know what they were up to. Hell, I didn’t know either, but I was about to find out.
*****
“Chase, wait up.” Sian called as we left the practice hall. “Look, I’m really sorry for being a bitch to you.”
I was taken aback. Sian never apologized, and here she was… apologizing to my face!
“Ok…” I said, more like a question.
“I really thought you were trying to be like a guy. I’m sorry.”
“You shouldn’t judge, Sian. Not everything is as it seems on the surface.” I knew that all too well. I really thought Logan cared about me.
Stop thinking about him! I chastised myself.
“Yeah, I know.” She replied, looking me over again. I’d put my T-shirt back on, but she knew what was under there. “You’re like, totally hot under those clothes.”
“Thanks, I think.” I laughed nervously.
“Is that why you wear that stuff? To hide away?”
“I feel more comfortable like this.” I said, telling her the truth.
“Girl, you shouldn’t hide. Oh my God. If I had that rack, I’d be making sure people knew about it.
“I guess you would.” I laughed, looking pointedly at her tight sweater and leggings. It wasn’t to be mean; I was just making a point.
“What can I say? I like to be noticed.” She said, shrugging a shoulder and slow blinking, before giggling.
This was a different side to Sian and I hadn’t thought she’d had a nice side to her at all.
“Anyway, don’t forget the schedule. We’ll need to change the routine and get you comfortable with the bases. The girls are strong, but they need to know how to catch you properly.”
“Sure thing.” I said, with a mock salute.
I expected Sian to turn and leave, but she stood still, glancing to her feet, down the street, and then back to me. I could tell she was nervous about whatever it was she wanted to say.
“Um… so, I wanted to ask you something.” She said, and I nodded for her to continue. “Has Logan ever mentioned anything about me?”
My stomach almost bottomed out and I felt the anger rise in me again. For the first time, in two weeks, I’d been distracted enough that I’d gone a few hours without feeling as though my heart had been ripped out of my chest. Now, I could feel the wound opening up at hearing Logan’s name.
Was Sian attracted to him? Not that I cared anymore. No, it was just a shock, and wasn’t she still dating Lex?
“No. Why?” I asked.
“Oh, no reason.” She said, and the relieved look on her face had me confused. I guessed she wasn’t into him, after all, but it was something else.
“I’ve seen him only a couple of times, the past couple of weeks, and you haven’t been there. He looked really sad.”
Sad? Really? All his own fault. I thought to myself, clenching my jaw.
“Did you guys fall out? Lex wouldn’t tell me anything.”
“It’s complicated, Sian.” I said, not wanting to discuss it with her. We may have put aside our differences today, but I wasn’t about to have a heart-to-heart with her.
There must have been something in my expression that shut her up because she nodded, said goodbye and left.
On the way home, I couldn’t believe what had just happened.
Not only had I had a friendly conversation with Sian, I’d agreed to become a cheerleader for the homecoming game. Which, I knew, would involve wearing a lot less than I was comfortable with.
I realized that I was changing. Whether it was for the better, I didn’t know.
What have I just agreed to?
Getting home, I went to my room and looked through the sheets of paper Carly had given to me. It was a list of all the stunts she did during the routine. They weren’t difficult, but I had to look up some of them on the internet.
I had no idea what a ‘basket’ was until I Googled it. Fortunately, I was confident in everything that she could perform. I even had a few ideas of my own. I just had to make sure that the girls were confident in catching me as I landed.
This was going to be the weirdest experience of my entire life. I just hoped I could pull it off.
“Chase, do you need anything from the store?” My Mom asked, popping her head into my room.
“No thanks, Mom. I’m good.” I said, not looking up.
“What’s all that?” She asked, noticing the papers with the diagrams on.
“Just something I’m helping Poppy with.” I said, gathering the papers together.
The last thing I wanted was my Mom finding out I’d joined the squad, even if it were only for the one day. She’d make me talk about why I was doing it, and start analyzing why I’d done a complete one-eighty, going from tomboy to girly in just a few hours. Not that that was true, I just didn’t want to get her hopes up.
“Ok, honey. I’m going to get a few things for Bren, and I’ll be right back.”
Bren.
I felt guilty that I’d not gone shopping for her. Just as well really. My Mom told me that she saw Logan there the first time; as if he were waiting for me to turn up. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.
My Mom didn’t tell me whether she’d spoken to him or not, and I knew I had my Dad to thank for that. He didn’t want to upset me after I hadn’t even come out of my room for the first week.
I heard my Mom leave, and I quickly searched for the songs that Sian had listed as new possibilities for the routine. I cringed when I heard the tinny pop music coming through the speakers, although there was one song that caught my attention. It was hip-hop, not my usual tastes, but it was kinda fitting for what Sian, Carly, and even Poppy had in mind.
Smiling to myself, I listened to the music. I stood in the middle of my room and moved about to the beat, getting the feel of the rhythm to match my moves.
Stripping off my T-shirt once more, I watched myself in my mirror, checking my form. I saw how I looked as I moved in time with the beat. I corrected myself when I didn’t look right doing a certain move, and wrote down suggestions of my own.
After a short while, I smiled, satisfied that I could pull this off.
Suddenly, I felt as though I was actually looking forward to the event, which was an alien feeling to me. I snorted a laugh at the irony.
As strange as it was to myself, it was certainly going to be a shock to others who knew me.
Well… the old me.
Chapter 11
Logan
The day I’d waited for was finally here; my eighteenth birthday.
Chase’s too.
I’d been excited to share this day with her for such a long time. We were supposed to be spending the day together. Happy and laughing and enjoying our time in each other’s company. I should’ve been kissing her and giving her the presents that I had made especially for her, along with the one I’d bought.
I’d wished, and wished, that she would’ve given me a chance to explain by now, but no matter how many times I tried… I couldn’t get to her.
I’d tried texting her, but I still didn’t get any response from her. Even my calls wouldn’t go through, and I realized that she must’ve blocked my number.
Larry, her Dad, had told me not to go to the house, and after the time I’d spoken with him last, I’d listened.
I’d even turned up to the store, on the usual day she shopped for Bren, I’d seen Laura, her Mom, instead.
I’d asked her how Chase was, and she sucker punched me with the single word that came out of her mouth.
“Coping.”
Lau
ra had walked away from me, not saying another word.
That was all I got from her. ‘Coping’.
Chase was coping. I had no idea what that meant, but it didn’t sound good at all.
Fuck! I wasn’t coping! Not in the slightest.
I hadn’t been able to eat, able to sleep properly… I’d even locked myself in my room as I cried. Holding my pillow over my face, I’d tried to drown out the sobs so that my parents, and Matt, wouldn’t hear.
I was a mess.
I hadn’t been around the guys all that much, either, because I couldn’t stand the pitiful looks they gave me. They’d asked me how I was doing, and after a while, they stopped. They knew, to an extent, how much I was hurting.
Carl especially.
At first, he looked happy that Chase wasn’t around anymore, but this week, he seemed a little pissed.
I’d found out, from Sian, that Carly had fractured her ankle, but he was more concerned with Poppy. Yeah, I’d gotten that wrong. He had a thing for her, not Carly.
When Pike had asked about their squad, Sian had shrugged and said they were having to change their game plan, but it was going to be amazing.
Carl, being the prick that he was, asked Sian if the girls wanted to hang out with us. Sian laughed and asked if he were joking.
He wasn’t, which only made Sian laugh louder. Carl wasn’t happy about it. So much for his theory that Chase was his problem.
Sian had said that even though the girls were busy with their ‘secret’ practicing, they had no interest in hanging out with us.
Sian was only there because of Lex, and even though I knew her big secret, she hadn’t broken up with him.
