A Non-Blonde Cheerleader in Love

by Kieran Scott

  “I’m not saying he was a hundred percent right,” Jordan told me. “He shouldn’t have laughed. But cut the guy a little slack. He didn’t order the wings. He didn’t throw the wings. And he didn’t mean to hurt your friend’s feelings. And besides, he is completely dreamy. That should count for something in this world.”

  Slowly, I smiled. “You’re sick, you know that?”

  “Neece, everyone knows that,” Jordan joked. “Listen, I should probably get back. They’re gonna pick someone to be the princess soon and if I have anything to say about it, it’s gonna be me.”

  “Godspeed, fair maiden,” I said.

  “Right back at ya.”

  Out of nowhere, tears prickled behind my eyes. “Jor? I miss you.”

  “I miss you too,” she said quietly. “Bye, Neece.”

  “Bye.”

  I hung up the phone, took a deep breath and stared at the sun and moon animation on the screen. Maybe Jordan was right. Maybe I should call Daniel. Just one call and I could end this now. But even if I knew that Daniel wasn’t a hundred percent wrong and I wasn’t a hundred percent right, I still wasn’t quite ready to swallow my pride and apologize. I had to think about what I was going to say or it was all going to come out wrong.

  So as much as my heart was telling me to hit speed-dial 2, I fought the urge and shoved my phone into my pocket. Tonight it was just me and the cheese. I’d deal with Daniel tomorrow.

  Monday morning, I was back in SpaceyVille. (Actor Kevin Spacey, mayor.) After a full night of staring at my bedroom ceiling obsessing, I was not in the mood to deal with primping. So instead I showered, shoved my wet, short brown hair back in a tortoiseshell headband, put on my favorite light blue SDH sweatshirt and headed out for school. It was an unusually chilly morning and I even spotted frost on some of the flowers along the driveway. I was about to turn around and head back for a jacket when I saw Daniel waiting for me by the mailbox. I nearly tripped myself when I saw him standing there. Suddenly I was perfectly warm.

  “You okay?” Daniel asked, reaching out as I skipped a few steps forward to catch my balance.

  “Fine,” I said, striding right by him.

  My heart pounded crazily. On one shoulder, my angel screamed at me that I was being immature. Hello! Last night you decided to apologize, Annisa! While on the other, the little devil was just snickering.

  Heh. Heh. Heh.

  I would have reached up to flick the shoulder angel off if it wouldn’t have made me look totally insane. How could Daniel just stand there like nothing was wrong? Just seeing him brought the insult of Saturday night back full-force, washing all the rationality away.

  “You’re mad,” he said.

  I swung around. “Of course I’m mad! Why didn’t you call me yesterday?”

  “Uh . . . because I knew you were mad?” Daniel said, shrugging and biting his lip.

  Damn. Did he have to be adorable right now? I was trying to be stoic over here.

  “Oh, so, what? You just thought if you gave me twenty-four hours, I’d forget all about it?” I asked.

  “Didn’t work, huh?” he asked.

  “Nice try,” I told him. Then I turned and started walking again.

  “Look, I’m really sorry I laughed, okay?” he said, jogging to catch up with me. “It was more nervous laughter at first, you know? Like I knew you guys were going to explode and I just couldn’t help it.”

  I just kept walking. I knew about nervous laughter. A girl with my Class A klutz status was all about nervous laughter. But you didn’t laugh at someone else’s expense. And you certainly didn’t do it in her face when she was crying.

  “And you gotta admit,” Daniel said. “It was kind of funny.”

  “Ugh!” I blurted, whirling on him. He was grinning. Grinning right at my indignation. Infuriating. “You are such a . . . such a . . . guy!”

  Daniel blinked, his brow knitting. “Thank you.”

  Okay. Look. It wasn’t that I didn’t want him to be a guy. Of course I did. I probably wouldn’t have been dating him if he wasn’t a guy. But Daniel had never been this sort of guy. This sort of grunty, testosteroney, laugh-at-other-people’s-expense guy. What had happened to him? Where was sweet, sensitive Daniel? The one who played the guitar and sang in choir and always bought me one of the warm chocolate chip cookies at lunch. The guy who had skipped school to come down to nationals to show me how much he cared about me. I’ll admit it—this whole boyfriend thing was new to me—but were they always so . . . schizo?

  “That was not intended to be a compliment,” I told him in a huff.

  “Annisa, look, the point is, we all feel really bad about the banner. Maybe we didn’t react so well at the time, but no one wanted to make Jaimee cry.”

  This echoed what Jordan had said and I paused, feeling slightly guilty for turning the screws.

  “Even Terrell feels really bad about it,” Daniel said.

  I crossed my arms over my chest and held on. It actually helped warm me up a little. “All right then,” I said. “What’s he going to do about it?”

  “What’s who going to do about what?” Daniel asked.

  I rolled my eyes. “The sign! What’s he going to do about it if he feels so bad?”

  I had never seen Daniel look so blank before. I might as well have just asked him to divide 3477 by the square root of 13.

  “What can he do?” he asked finally.

  “Well, gee, I don’t know,” I said sarcastically. “He could help Jaimee make a new banner. Seems pretty obvious to me.”

  Daniel blew out a scoff. Honestly, if I didn’t love him, I might have stomped on his foot. I was being serious here and he was totally blowing me off.

  “Come on, Annisa. You know that if the guys walk into the lobby and see some ‘Snag the Dolphins’ sign that Terrell helped make, he will never hear the end of it,” Daniel said, throwing in some facetious air quotes.

  “How would anyone ever know that Terrell helped make it?” I asked.

  “Do you even go to this school? These things kind of have a way of getting out,” Daniel replied.

  Oh. Now he was getting sarcastic with me? I don’t think so!

  “Look. If you guys didn’t want to be cheerleaders, then maybe you shouldn’t have tried out for the squad,” I said.

  There. I said it. Take that.

  “Geez, Annisa, what’s wrong with you?” Daniel said. “You sound like Tara Timothy.”

  My jaw dropped so fast, it made a gouge in the asphalt at my feet. How dare he compare me to Tara! He knew that was hitting below the belt. Was this what we had come to?

  “That’s it. I’m outta here,” I said, turning and striding toward the football field, which we cut across each and every day.

  “Annisa—”

  “No! You stay at least ten paces behind me, Healy,” I said, throwing a hand up behind me as I speed-walked. “Otherwise, I cannot be responsible for my actions.”

  Nice! My shoulder devil cheered as my nostrils flared.

  The angel shook her head and sighed. This is going nowhere good.

  It wasn’t until much later that I realized I had never had a chance to apologize for saying he had no feelings. Once again, Annisa Gobrowski talks before she thinks.

  Shocker.

  That afternoon we were supposed to work out in the weight room before a light practice. The guys got there before us and commandeered the good weight benches in the rear corner of the room. Joe was on his back shoving some ridiculous amount of weight up and down above his chest while Terrell spotted him and Daniel and Steven hovered. While Joe worked, the guys muttered amongst themselves. And when we arrived, they turned their backs to us. They couldn’t have made it any clearer that they wanted to have nothing to do with us.

  “Where do they get off acting like they are ignoring us?” Tara said under her breath, grabbing a couple of free weights off the rack. She dropped them on the floor, then put her foot up on the barre to stretch, trying to act like nothing was
amiss. The rest of the girls gathered around one by one as they trailed through the door. “They’re the ones who screwed everything up,” Tara added.

  I couldn’t have agreed more. Maybe I was turning into Tara Timothy.

  Uh, no. Didn’t want that. Both because it would be scary and because it would prove Daniel right. I hooked my arm behind my head and held on to my elbow, stretching out my triceps.

  “Maybe we should have given them a chance to apologize on Saturday,” I said, taking a cue from Jordan and playing testosterone advocate. Anything to keep from going over to the dark side.

  “We would have if they hadn’t cut and run,” Chandra reminded me, holding on to the barre as she stretched her quads.

  “They were totally immature about the whole thing,” Phoebe agreed.

  Well. They had me there.

  Sage strode into the room with her gym bag and walked right by the rest of us girls. Our heads all whipped around as one, following her progress. She narrowed her eyes at me as she passed by, dropped her bag on the floor near the guys and unzipped her white-and-blue sweatshirt, revealing the pink tank top underneath. She grabbed a pair of ten-pound free weights, dropped down on the weight bench next to Joe’s and started in on biceps curls. No one looked more surprised than Terrell when she said hello and started chatting.

  Moments later, Lindsey and Karianna broke off and followed Sage’s lead, gathering around the guys. Then Michelle and Maureen did the same. Where had that come from?

  “Real nice,” Phoebe said.

  “Guess we’ve officially chosen sides,” Chandra added.

  Jaimee just looked at her feet, miserable. I wondered how any of the girls who had cheered with her for so long could side with the guys who had sent her into hysterics. Guys who, by the way, had yet to apologize to her.

  The door opened and slammed and Coach Holmes paused near the shelf full of stability balls. She wore a hot pink sweatshirt with white-and-yellow trim that was so bright, she could have been spotted from space.

  “Hello, everyone,” she said, looking from the boys to us and back again. “What’s this all about?” She continued to eye our two factions as she walked over to the desk near the wall and placed her portable stereo down on top of it. “You guys were supposed to bond this weekend, not disband.”

  A thick silence blanketed the weight room, almost as thick as the permanent stench of sweat and feet that always clung to the air. I felt like some giant hand was holding a magnifying glass over us, trying to fry us with a beam of sunlight. Very soon I found myself staring down at my sneakers, as if not looking at Coach Holmes would make her unable to see me.

  “Anyone want to tell me what’s going on?” Coach said.

  I saw Tara’s feet move and looked up as she stepped forward. Apparently she had been more than serious when she’d told us she was ready to tattle on the guys. And that had been before the banner debacle.

  “Here we go,” Chandra said.

  “We believe that the guys, but especially Terrell, owe Jaimee an apology,” Tara stated firmly.

  My heart felt like a sheet of paper being crumpled in someone’s fist. This was not going to be pretty.

  “And why is that?” Coach asked, looking at all of us.

  “Because Jaimee spent all night making this amazing banner and then Terrell threw a bag of hot wings at it,” Phoebe replied, glaring at the boys.

  “Hey! No way!” Terrell cried, walking around the weight bench. “That is not how it went down! I threw the wings, yeah, but not at the banner. That was a mistake.”

  “So you admit you ruined Jaimee’s hard work,” Coach said.

  Terrell let out an indignant squeak and shifted his feet. “Well, yeah, but not on purpose.”

  Coach Holmes nodded and moved away from the wall, standing between our two groups. “I think I understand. Truluck, will you come over here, please?” she said.

  Terrell hesitated. My stomach turned.

  “Now,” Coach said.

  Terrell sighed audibly, but strode over to Coach Holmes’ side, his sneakers squeaking on the rubber-padded floor. He stood there, legs apart, arms crossed over his chest, as if daring Coach Holmes to punish him. My skin pulsated to the beat of my heart. I might as well have been witnessing a high-noon standoff. That’s how tense I felt.

  “Jaimee, you too,” Coach Holmes said. No one moved. “Come over here, please.”

  I glanced at Chandra and she and Felice parted so that Jaimee was visible to the entire room. Her face was as red as a hot coal as she glanced timidly at Terrell and stepped forward. She looked like she was going to burst into tears all over again. For someone who spent a lot of time in the spotlight, she clearly didn’t relish this one. Terrell clenched his jaw, but dropped his arms.

  “I’m really sorry, Jaimee,” he said firmly. “I didn’t mean it.”

  “That’s okay,” Jaimee said weakly.

  I let out a breath of relief. That was easier than I thought it would be. Terrell turned to go back to the comforting company of his cohorts, but Coach Holmes stopped him.

  “We’re not done here,” she said. Terrell tipped his head back, fed up, and turned to her again. “I think you need to help Jaimee make a new banner.”

  Hey! That’s what I said!

  “Come on, Coach,” Terrell said.

  “We need a banner. We had a banner. You ruined the banner. I think it’s only fair you make a new one,” Coach said.

  Tara smirked and Chandra laid her hand out for me to slip mine across, which I did. Aw, yeah. That’s how we roll.

  “No way,” Terrell said. “Not gonna happen.”

  “Excuse me?” Coach asked. The vein in her forehead started to throb.

  “If I wanted to spend my time doing artsy-fartsy crap, I would’ve joined the art club or whatever,” Terrell said. “I am an athlete. An all-state athlete, in case you didn’t hear. I’m here to do stunts and gymnastics and have fun. Not to play Martha Stewart.”

  “Nice,” Joe said.

  Holy full-twisting layouts. Did these guys not understand the power of the throbbing vein?

  “Where’s Coach Rincon, anyway? He’d back me up,” Terrell added.

  Coach Holmes took a deep breath and massaged her forehead with her thumb and forefinger. “Coach Rincon won’t be joining us for practices anymore,” she said, earning an audible gasp from the room. I glanced at Chandra. Damn. Had we broken them up? “Come on, people, it’s not like you’re never going to see him again. He will be here for the pep rally. Said he wouldn’t miss it,” she added.

  Phew. Okay. At least that was a good sign.

  “Great. Now we’re down one man,” Terrell said. “The odds around here just keep gettin’ worse.”

  Oy. Did this kid enjoy digging himself holes?

  “I’m sorry if you don’t like your odds, Truluck, but from here on out you deal with me and only me.” Coach took a few steps closer to Terrell. He didn’t back down an inch. “And I must say, I am sick and tired of your attitude. I asked you all to plan an activity to promote squad unity and clearly you didn’t bother to take my request seriously—”

  Terrell rolled his eyes. “Coach—”