Dakota beat her palms on Andy’s door. “Wait for me,” I said calmly, joining her at the door.
Moments later, Andy stood in the doorway, a toothbrush gripped in his mouth. He looked from me to Dakota, noticing her angry expression.
“What did I do?” he asked, toothpaste dripping down his chin.
“Winter. That’s what. Were you with her last night?” Dakota placed her hands on her hips. “And don’t lie.”
“Wait a minute. Are you telling me some of my girls snuck out last night?” Coach moved closer to the door, face reddening.
Andy’s face reddened too. He pulled the toothbrush out of his mouth. “Yeah. I’m sorry. Some of the guys and I had plans to hang out last night. One of the guys has a family member who works for the Rainbow Lounge. Ashleigh and Winter came along, even though I told them not to…”
“Ashleigh, get out here!” Coach Davis screamed. Ashleigh’s head popped around the hotel door. She peeked out at us, nervous.
“I’m sorry, Coach,” she finally said, coming out of her room. She stood there with her hands clasped in front of her, clearly guilty.
“Winter, you get out here too!” Coach shouted.
We all looked at each other in confusion. “Is she is in there with you?” I mouthed the words to Andy. He shook his head at me, eyes widening.
“That’s the thing Coach,” I said, finally speaking up. I cleared my throat. “Winter appears to be missing.”
Chapter Eleven
“Someone, go grab Amanda! Hurry! Let’s hope they haven’t made it out of the parking lot yet!” Coach Davis ordered. We all looked at each other, unsure what to do.
“Go!” she shouted again.
“Going, Coach!” Lauren yelled, giving her a silly-looking military salute.
“Amanda barely knows the routine. And what about Winter? Shouldn’t we be more worried about finding her than finding a way to replace her?” My words came out louder than I’d planned. Coach shot me a warning glance. “Sorry, I’m just saying…”
“You girls are going to that competition. Ashleigh, you will take over Winter’s spot on the floor, since you know the routine better than Amanda. Stick Amanda in your old spot. We need her in the back for when she screws up.”
“Drive them there!” Coach ordered, tossing a set of keys at Dakota.
“But—” Dakota started to say.
“You’re the captain. You’re in charge. Now drive your teammates to the competition and grab Winter’s gear for Amanda to put on. Hurry now!” She was angrier than I’d ever seen her.
“But aren’t you coming, Coach?” I asked, my voice softer now.
“No. I’m going to find Winter. And when I find her, she’ll wish that I hadn’t…she’s in a whole lot of trouble,” Coach warned.
Chapter Twelve
I was the last one to reach the parking garage. Surprised to see the girls still standing outside the van, I hurried over to see what was holding them up. Someone had used spray paint to cross out the “Harrow Dragons” written on the bus. They’d replaced it with our well known nickname: “Horror High.”
The words were painted in red, dripping paint…to emulate blood, I suppose. I groaned. “We need to cover this up somehow.” I reached out to touch the paint. It was still a little wet, but not wet enough to wipe away. Someone had done this last night…probably one of the rival cheer teams staying at the hotel.
“We don’t have time for that! Everybody in. You heard what Coach Davis said!”
We rode to the convention center in silence, passersby pointing at our van and honking. I’d never felt so humiliated in my life.
Once inside the building, we felt lost without Coach Davis. The event space was huge, five hundred cheerleaders and coaches filling the huge open space, and that didn’t include the hundreds of spectators gathering around the edges of the carpeted spring floor.
We were used to practicing on a hardwood floor, and even though we’d discussed this with Coach Davis, the soft bouncy surface felt strangely foreign beneath my feet.
“I still can’t believe this.” Amanda stood with us in our small circle, clutching Winter’s uniform and pompoms. “Are you sure there’s no other way?”
“You have to!” Dakota whined. “If you don’t take her spot, we’ll be disqualified. We have to have a minimum of six girls to even get a chance to compete.”
“Do you want me to help you get ready?” The question came from Ashleigh, who’d been strangely silent since we learned that Winter was missing.
“No, I can do it,” Amanda said, giving Ashleigh an odd, mistrusting glare. None of us trusted Ashleigh, not after she was involved in the harassment caused by Mariella Martin last year.
Amanda took off for the changing room, red-faced and upset about having to fill in at the last minute. But what choice did we really have?
“Where’s Winter Addams?” I turned around to see who was asking. A short girl dressed in a Crimson uniform was standing behind me. She was dolled up with glittery makeup, her short hair adorned with flashy clips and a bow.
She was a complete stranger to me.
“Who wants to know?” Dakota demanded, being a drama queen as usual. I think she was still a little heated from finding out about Andy hanging with Winter, his ex.
The girl with the hair bows had the prettiest skin tone, and I struggled to identify her ethnicity.
“Uhh…me. I want to know. That’s why I asked. Obviously.” She gave Dakota a strange look then turned to me.
“Where’s Winter?” she repeated, looking from me to all of the girls, waiting for an answer.
“We can’t find her,” I admitted. “How do you know Winter?”
“I’m Mia. We used to go to Crimson together. I saw her last night when we went to the Rainbow Lounge. I thought she was competing with you guys today.”
My eyes widened. “Did you see who she left with? She never came back to her hotel room.”
Mia chewed on her lip. “No idea. I was too busy spending time with Jordan. In fact, now that you mention it, I never saw her after we went inside.”
“Oh, hell no!” Lauren moved her head from side to side like a pissed off owl, taking a step closer to this new girl, Mia. “You better not be talking about Jordan Addams.”
“And why is that?” Mia asked, not backing down from Lauren one bit. In fact, she inched in closer, her eyes challenging. They looked silly; Mia and Lauren standing nose to nose, despite Mia’s smaller build and height.
I placed my hands on the back of Lauren’s shoulders. We couldn’t afford to lose another girl, and if she got into a fight, we’d probably all get kicked out of the competition.
“He’s my boyfriend,” Lauren said, clenching her jaw in anger.
Speaking of boyfriends…
Jordan ran up and scooped up Lauren, tossing her over his shoulder. “Off the mat, young man! This floor is for cheerleaders and coaches only!” a lady with a whistle warned him.
“Put me down!” Lauren demanded. Then she jerked her thumb in Mia’s direction. “Do you know this girl?”
Jordan looked over at Mia with a surprised, guilty look. “Uhh…we’ll talk about it after. I need to get off the floor before I get in trouble,” Jordan said with haste, taking off in a hurry toward the bleachers.
Uninterested in the newly unfolding drama, I followed after Jordan. “Jordan, do you know where Winter is?”
He turned around, narrowing his eyes. “She’s not with you guys?” he asked, suddenly looking panicked.
“No. She’s not. Coach Davis is trying to find her. She didn’t stay in our hotel room last night. She also didn’t stay in Ashleigh or Andy’s rooms. Where did you stay?” I asked, suddenly curious.
“Ronnie and I got a room down the street, the cheapest hotel we could find that didn’t come with cockroaches. Wait—why does that matter? Where the hell is my sister?” He was looking uncharacteristically worried now.
“Did you see her at the Rainbow Lounge?”
“
Yeah. We all went in together.” He stopped talking, thinking for a moment. “But after I went in, I hung out with Mia and a couple girls I used to know from Crimson. Andy went off too…the only person I saw my sister with was Ashleigh Westerfield.”
Staring across the space at where Ashleigh stood, his eyes narrowed. “Do you think she did something to my sister? I swear, I’ll kill her myself,” he growled.
“Honestly, I don’t know what happened to her. Maybe she met a guy or ran into more old friends from Crimson. She might have gotten drunk and slept somewhere else. No clue. But don’t worry. I know Coach Davis will find her.”
I headed back over to stand with the girls, a sinking feeling in my gut that I’d just told him a lie.
Chapter Thirteen
We spent the next hour running through our routine, trying to get Amanda on board with the steps. She struggled. Not only did she not know the routine, but she was out of practice and out of shape. She hadn’t jumped or tumbled in months.
“All we can do is our best, guys! We only have a few more minutes, so let’s get it right this time.” Dakota clapped her hands together, trying to lead our team in Coach Davis’s absence. But Ashleigh was spaced out from her hangover, Lauren still looked pissed because of the Mia incident, and Amanda was confused in general. The only person who seemed to be on point was Gabi.
“Are you excited?” I asked her, lining up to practice the routine all over again. Gabi was the youngest on our squad and she was the designated flyer, taking over Dakota’s old spot.
“Totally excited,” she said, flashing a happy lip-glossed smile. We all looked great in our new black and gold uniforms, our hair primped and makeup perfectly applied. Too bad we don’t get judged on our hotness, I thought, forcing back a smile.
But then I thought about Winter with her pretty blonde hair and seductive smile—please let her be okay. I don’t want any repeats of last year.
I can’t lose another teammate.
Before we knew it, whistles rang out, and we’d miss our last chance to do a run through.
The competition was underway. The six of us made our way to assigned seats in the front row. We were competing in order of the first letter of our school name. We were ‘H’ for Harrow High—or Horror High as we’d come to be known. I thought about the blood red letters on the van, flinching at the memory of it.
With nearly twenty teams in front of us, we had a little while before we took our turn on the mat. I used the opportunity to review the steps to the routine in my mind, silently mumbling the words to our chants. I felt confident I could do this…but I wasn’t sure about the other girls, especially with Amanda out of practice…
For the next forty-five minutes, we sat in silence, watching our competitors perform.
Some of the teams were better than others, and some had six members like us, while others had almost fifteen.
It was Crimson County’s turn, Winter’s old school and one of our regular rivals. With only six members, their team reminded me a little bit of ours.
But as soon as “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore started playing, I knew we were in trouble.
Their dance moves were sexy but athletic, all in sync and perky as hell. They’d been practicing…and it showed. I had to remind myself to close my mouth as I watched them. They’d really improved since I’d seen them last.
Once the music stopped and the cheer chant portion began, I noticed at least three girls on the squad who’s tumbling skills mirrored our best tumbler—Lauren.
“Damn,” Dakota whispered from beside me.
One of the best tumblers on the team was Mia. She landed a standing back tuck then immediately stepped into a stunt, the bases lifting her into a full extension. They used a cradle toss to let her down, and then she and her teammates got the crowd involved in a catchy chant I’d never heard before.
“They make up their own stuff, or so I’ve heard,” Gabi said, appreciatively watching our rivals.
At the end, I clapped for them, and all of the other teams. But my mind was somewhere else, thinking again about the masked intruder, or “phantom,” in my house. He or she had warned that one of us would die, and now one of us was missing. We needed Winter today. Where the hell was she?
We should be out there looking for her. Not in here trying to win a plastic trophy. This is ridiculous.
“Syd!” Dakota hissed. “They’re calling our name. Get your butt up!”
I jumped up, smoothing my skirt, and then I took off for the center of the mat, all the while feigning a smile and raising my hands excitedly.
Just get this over with, I told myself. And then we can go find Winter.
I took my place on the floor, caddy corner to Lauren, and directly across from Ashleigh. Dakota glanced back at me from over her shoulder. It was time for our routine to start…
“Five, six, seven, eight…” Dakota commanded. She nodded at the girl on the sidelines who was in charge of the music.
The music started—a compilation of hip hop and pop. The first song was “No” by Megan Trainor. We danced, picking up the beat as the song transitioned into two different songs by Drake.
For a moment, I was lost in the music and the movements, hoping my moves matched the confidence portrayed in the songs.
A rush of adrenaline surged through my body as I performed the motions flawlessly and without any sort of thought.
This was me on autopilot—cheering and doing what I loved. Forgetting all the things I didn’t…
We did some silly steps to a videogame theme song, and then lined up to start our cheer portion of the routine.
“Five, six, seven, eight!” Dakota began.
And then we started to chant:
“Dragon pride! Dragon pride! We’re the best so step aside!”
I ran to the front of the mat and grabbed my two signs from the edge of it. I had the letters D and R, Dakota had A and G, Gabi had O and N, and Amanda had S. We lined up with our letters and lifted them up and down, chanting our Dragons pride.
Ashleigh did the splits and chanted in the front while Lauren took off across the floor, performing a flawless double full. I could almost hear people gasping in the crowd.
Our routine was perfect!
All we had to do was get through our final lift. I couldn’t see Amanda, but I prayed she was hanging in there and not too out of sync with the rest of us.
I got in formation to lift Gabi, Ashleigh across from me, and Amanda in the back spotting.
“One, two, down, up,” Dakota led us, spotting in the very front. We lifted Gabi to our chest level and then with another count, we did an extension prep.
Dakota turned to the crowd and we all started chanting, while Lauren continued to blow everyone away with her gymnastics in the front.
“We are the Dragons, the mighty, mighty Dragons!”
“We can’t be beat!”
I looked up at Gabi, making sure she was stable, then I looked sideways at the crowd. I smiled at the onlookers as I yelled the chant in unison with the other girls.
This is going better than I ever could have imagined…
But that’s when I saw him. Standing in the back of the crowd, a hood covering his head, shrouding his face in darkness. He’s here! The person who broke in my house! I thought, my heart racing.
I squinted, struggling to see the stalker’s face. But he stood in the back…silent. Motionless.
My lips were no longer moving.
Where were we at in the chant?
For a moment, I felt lost, and I barely missed Dakota’s count for the cradle toss.
All I heard was “…eight!” Ashleigh released but I was still clutching Gabi’s foot.
Quickly back in the present, I moved in to break her fall. Gabi, staying poised, quickly tried to catch herself.
Her body didn’t hit the ground, but our landing was sloppy.
Brushing it off as best she could, Gabi stepped forward with her arms in a V. All of the girls raised their arms for
the final pose…all but me. Instead, I scanned the crowds, looking for the crazy stalker.
But he or she was gone, just like the figure I’d seen the other night.
Chapter Fourteen
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Dakota practically growled at me through clenched teeth as we made our way back to the bench.
“I’m taking a break,” I said, leaving the girls at their seats while I ran off to the restroom. I had to process all of this. Even though the event space was huge, I suddenly felt claustrophobic, trapped.
Was I really losing my mind? I just screwed up our routine!
In the bathroom, I doused my face with cold water. Then I stared at my reflection in the mirror. My face looked strange, skin taut and eyes fearful. What is happening to me? I’ve been totally out of it lately.
I thought about the person I’d seen. Was it the same person, or just a person in a hooded sweatshirt standing at the back of the crowd? Was my mind playing tricks on me?
After a few minute breather, I made my way back out. But I didn’t go inside the competition area. I stood outside the restroom, listening to a nearby group of concessionaires and ticket takers complaining about the event.
“This crap is so boring. Who cares about stupid cheerleaders, anyway?”
“Yeah, cheerleaders suck.”
If they saw me listening, they didn’t seem to give a damn. They kept on talking and I made my way out through the double glass doors, sucking in deep breaths of cool Tennessee air.
I’m going to wait out here until this thing is over…I can’t go back inside. Not now.
Plus, they’re all probably mad at me…
The sun was shining, hot but with a light breeze. It seemed wrong—the sky so pretty and blue while inside, I felt ugly and scared. I’m not over the trauma caused by Mariella Martin. Not only was I still angst-ridden, I was actually having hallucinations now! Real honest to goodness hallucinations, Sydney!
I needed to see a psychiatrist.
Killer Moves (Horror High Series Book 3) Page 4
