by Daring Diane
As Christmas approached, Erin and Sally wanted to plan out the holidays. They had celebrated Thanksgiving at the Corcoran home. After some talk over coffee, they decided to have a nice formal dinner on Christmas Eve at the Connors and an easy simple dinner on Christmas day at the Corcoran’s house. They decided that if they were all friends next year, they would switch the order. Each year they would swap back and forth both for Christmas and Thanksgiving.
As the holidays approached, the families trekked to the local mall to visit Santa. Having passed on their desires, the kids excitement grew as they anticipated receiving their special requests from the man up north.
School let out a few days before Christmas. For some reason the Corcoran and Connor homes became the center of activity for all the children in the neighborhood. It seemed that all their friends were underfoot each day. Lunch at whichever home they were located included anywhere from one to four other girls or boys.
Christmas Eve, everyone dressed up for a very nice formal meal. Lee and Darby were not as impressed as they should have been with the steaks and other amenities. On the other hand, they were a little young to put too much effort into caring about meals. Once the kids were done, they were excused to go watch Christmas shows on TV. At an early hour, everyone headed to bed so Santa would have plenty of time to make his deliveries.
Each family was up early as the children seemed to wake with the sunrise. After they had explored the deliveries from Santa, each family had a special holiday breakfast before releasing Lee and Darby to spend the rest of the day playing with their newest toys.
Lee’s new GI Joe and Darby’s new Barbie doll had many adventures on their first day together. Lee and Darby switched off roles as they explored the relationships between the two new people in their lives. Mid-afternoon Holly and Cat from the neighborhood dropped by and everyone reported on their deliveries from Santa.
That evening the two families got together for a hearty soup with homemade bread. Everyone enjoyed the meal. The kids reported on their new toys and what they had learned from the neighborhood girls. Like parents all over the world, they reveled in the pleasure their children had gotten from the day and from time with family and friends. As soon as their food was consumed the children excused themselves to continue playing under the tree. The parents enjoyed some wine and talked about their own Christmases in the past.
After the adults finished getting the dishes into the kitchen and a quick cleanup, they went looking for the kids. They found the two kids clutching their new toys sound asleep under the Christmas tree. Pictures were taken and everyone headed to bed after a long couple of days.
Part 3 – Grade School Years
Over the following years, Lee and Darby became inseparable friends. They both participated in the typical sports. They played soccer, basketball, baseball and softball. They both went out of their way to attend all of the games each of them participated in. Erin wanted Darby to gain some flexibility and learn gymnastics. She signed Darby up for a gymnastics course in 7th and 8th grade which met twice a week. Lee joined the class the second week and the two of them enjoyed the sessions immensely.
Darby and Lee were friends with the girls in the neighborhood. Lee played ball with the boys from school and Darby usually came along and played with them. Lee and Darby were very flexible and played with whoever was available.
Darby was never a girly girl in grade school. Lee never felt the need to exert his masculinity. For school, even into later grade school, the two of them continued to dress similarly in pants/shorts along with a polo shirt. In later grade school, of course, Darby changed her underwear due to the need for a bra. Aside from that, the two of them maintained a similar look. Both maintained hair past their shoulder blades. Their mothers insisted they maintain their hair with shampoo and conditioner. Both children were taught to brush their hair and they developed maintenance methods to avoid tangles and an unruly look. Lee always wore his hair in a ponytail at school.
Other than having long hair, Lee was just another good kid.
Part 4 – Summer Before High School
The summer before high school, Lee and Darby had various discussions with their parents and each other regarding what was appropriate clothing for high school. Like most of their friends, they planned a wardrobe based on jeans and appropriate tops.
Darby’s mother tried to convince her that skirts and some more feminine tops might be appropriate. Erin did not understand her daughter’s reluctance to dress in more feminine clothes. However, she was confident that as high school progressed, her daughter would adopt a more appropriate wardrobe as some of her social focus changed to attracting boys.
Lee and Darby spent the summer after grade school at the pool and riding their bikes everywhere in town. Due to Darby’s desire to stay in shape and possibly tryout for cheerleading, she and Lee maintained a constant running routine throughout the summer. Lee pushed Darby and by the end of the summer they ran 3-7 miles 4-5 days a week. Every week or so the two of them would push a long run up towards 10 miles. By the end of the summer, Lee and Darby were in really good shape and had built up their endurance.
Chapter 1 – Week One
Lee entered high school intent on playing soccer, basketball and baseball. His first setback occurred when tryouts were held for soccer and it was clear that he was not one of the better players. His stamina from running had him in better shape than most of the other players. However, Lee did not have the ball control skills of many of the other players. Lee decided to concentrate on his running and practice basketball and baseball so he would do better when the seasons came around. In fact, he decided that no matter what, the one sport he wanted to excel at was baseball.
As a freshman, Darby tried out for the junior cheerleaders. The junior cheerleaders learned the school cheers and spent a lot of time practicing the skills needed to make the real cheerleader squad. Only freshmen were on the junior cheerleaders. Training sessions were led by members of the regular cheerleader squad. Unluckily, the regular squad cared little about the junior cheerleaders and usually assigned the least experienced and lowest skilled cheerleaders to lead the training sessions.
Lee noticed that the varsity cheerleaders all wore similar outfits for practice. The practice outfit consisted of a tight pair of shorts made of a stretchy material that had an inseam of less than 3 inches. On top, the girls wore a tight t-shirt. The clothes were selected to avoid exposure as the girls did cartwheels, tumbling and different physical activity.
During the first week, most of the junior cheerleaders had different outfits of shorts, cropped pants and a variety of types of tops. Each day, more girls adopted clothing similar to the varsity cheerleaders.
After school, Lee would observe Darby and the rest of the squad as they worked out. The pair would walk home together after practice. They ran together on the weekends and two mornings a week before school. Before the end of the first week, it was clear to both of them that the girls training them were not doing a very good job. While walking home or doing their homework, they reviewed the practices and discussed alternatives.
Lee took time to watch the regular cheerleaders, noted their training routines and the different cheers. He also took time to investigate videos from the library and other books and magazines on the subject. He and Darby discussed what he had learned. On the first weekend, the two went out into the backyard where Lee put Darby through her paces. He showed Darby all of the regular cheers and the two of them went through the entire regular cheer squad workout routine. Darby was stunned by Lee’s ability to quickly learn and be able to assist in teaching her the routines.
Chapter 2 – Week Two
On Monday afternoon of the second week, all but one of the girls had adopted the tight workout shorts that protected their modesty and they all had tight t-shirts instead of loose ones which exposed their sports bras. It quickly became clear to everyone that Darby already knew the cheers and they had already determined she was in better s
hape than anyone else. Several girls talked to Darby after practice.
During lunch on Tuesday, where Lee and Darby ate with a mixed group of friends, several girls made it a point to come up and ask Darby about how she learned the cheers so fast. Darby explained how Lee had helped her over the weekend.
Most of the girls on the cheerleading squad knew Lee from school. At the end of the day, several members asked if Lee might be able to provide some assistance to the others in the group.
Lee wanted to be helpful but he wanted to avoid the expected harassment from bullies in the class who might target him. Darby and the other girls insisted they really needed his help. On Wednesday, Lee came down from his perch in the bleachers and sat in the front row. When the girls had gathered, they explained to their trainers that Lee was working with Darby on a new fitness routine and that they wanted to let him help with that portion of the practice.
While reluctant to give up their perceived power over the newbies, the fact that the two trainers really did not want to be there at all swayed them to allow Lee and Darby to direct the initial workout. Several of the girls initially regretted this invitation due to feeling wiped out at the end of practice. But, Lee kept saying, “I’m not a cheerleader and if I can do it, surely you guys can.”
The two older girls could see that the workout was certainly more rigorous and was similar to what the varsity squad did. By Friday of the first week, Lee decided he needed to change into shorts and a t-shirt and the two older girls had joined in with the squad on fitness training. Lee suggested that the girls consider going for a run on both days of the weekend to maintain their fitness.
The girls were all given two quick-dry workout tops which identified them as cheerleaders and these were the tops everyone would wear during practice going forward.
On Saturday morning, Lee and Darby planned to continue their cheer practices after their run. Lee was surprised when their neighbors Holly and Cat along with Ann and Barbara showed up to watch. It seemed Darby had mentioned her practices with Lee to some of the girls. Lee encouraged them to join in. Like Darby, the girls were astounded to realize that while they were still learning the cheers and associated physical activity, Lee seemed to know what to do and could show them their faults.
Chapter 3 – Week Three
By Wednesday of the third week of school, Lee and Darby led the fitness portion of the practice and Lee helped the older girls with suggestions on learning the cheers. The older girls were surprised to see that several of the new girls already seemed to have learned many of the cheers.
By this time, Lee was unofficially the Junior Cheerleading manager. This was a title usually given to someone who could not be on a team but who helped the coaches and the team with the little peripheral issues. Lee was acting as more of the coach.
Darby talked to the cheerleading coach and got several of the workout tops which she gave to Lee. Lee balked at wearing the stretchy top. Darby pointed out that as their manager he needed to look like part of the group. In addition, she explained that when demonstrating the different cheers his loose t-shirts made it harder to see his form. Lee talked to his mother to get her advice. Sally explained that a shirt was a shirt and that if he was helping the group and was their manager, he should consider wearing the shirt for practice. If it was a problem, she would help him find an alternative. Knowing that he would only wear the top during practice, Lee finally agreed to try wearing the top for a few days.
On Thursday when Lee wore one of the new tops, several of the girls complimented him on taking his manager position seriously. Lee found the top comfortable and it did make the group look consistent and like a team.
The teacher assigned to coach the varsity squad typically allowed the junior cheerleaders to do their own thing in a corner of the field until she had the Varsity team working well. Starting in the third week, the junior cheerleaders got together with the varsity squad for cheer practices on Friday of each week after their fitness training.
Miss Steiling was intrigued when she noticed the hard fitness training the new girls were doing. By the end of the third week, the girls were clearly getting in better shape. On Friday, when they had the joint practice it also became clear that several of the girls were really coming along well at learning the cheers. In past years, few of the girls learned the cheers till late in the football season.
On Saturday of the third week of school, Lee and Darby went for their normal hard run. They would typically have a cooldown period, get something to drink and start the cheerleading practice. Lee and Darby changed into their practice tops and Darby added her cheer shorts.
As they walked out of Darby’s house eating a couple of power bars, Lee was surprised to see the entire junior squad waiting for the cheer practice. It was clear a number of the girls had been out for a run this morning.
Stunned to find the entire squad here, Lee looked to Darby. She shrugged and smiled. Everyone moved to the backyard and practice began. Lee was wearing his running shorts which were briefer and tighter than normal shorts he wore. He liked them because they gave him more freedom of movement.
Lee was more interested in teaching the choreography of the cheers than worrying about the words. His position was, anyone can yell out a cheer but few can do the moves necessary to gather the crowd’s attention.
Lee had isolated the major gymnastic moves involved in the cheers. He and Darby concentrated on learning and mastering these different moves. From their gymnastics courses, both of them were familiar with many other moves. Cheerleading involved tying various challenging moves into a type of dance which culminated in a motivating excitement they hoped to convey to the crowd. The practice dragged on and everyone was getting visibly better. Lee suggested that everyone work on mastering the pieces and then they could put them together. The girls were astounded to see Lee doing cartwheels and forward and backward walkovers.
Since it appeared that these sessions would become a more regular occurrence, Lee quickly laid out a series of skills needed in his mind. With that list of skills, Lee began working on basic skills.
Lee stressed that successful cheerleading squads needed to all do their cheers in the same way with the same timing. Therefore, he wanted everyone to learn the basics and the timing for different moves.
All the girls were convinced they knew how to do cartwheels and that seemed like a simple place to start. Everyone demonstrated their cartwheels while the other members watched. Lee then demonstrated how he thought cartwheels could be done in multiple ways to add variety to the program. The girls all ran and did quick cartwheels during the demonstration phase. Lee asked if anyone could do a slower cartwheel. Darby did a slow rollover where she slowed things down, brought her legs up slowly, held them together at the top and then brought her legs down on the other side. Many of the girls were impressed.
Lee then went into a cartwheel run, landed on his hands and stopped. He held his legs together up in the air, then split them out into a T and held that position. He then pulled his legs back up to the top, sprung his arms and landed on his feet. All the girls were cheering. When one of the girls asked what the most important thing to learn was, Lee jumped onto his hands and started walking around with his legs in the air. “Walking on your hands will teach you the balance needed to do this skill. So, we have plenty of time. Let’s start with holding a hand-stand and then we will see if we can all get a few steps on our hands. Everyone pair up. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”
Erin and Sally sat sipping coffee as Lee and Darby led the cheerleading practice in their back yards. It was amazing watching what Lee was capable of. But Sally was much prouder of the way in which Lee was able to impart his knowledge and encourage the girls to learn and do better. Even in this one session, every girl had made drastic improvements and learned several new skills. Sally and Jack had been disappointed when Lee dropped out of soccer. But, now Sally knew that Lee was clearly doing something he loved and he was developing new friendships.
> It was clear that the girls while tired were learning and having a good time. Several girls asked if Lee could have a session on Sunday to continue training. After, conferring with Darby, they decided they could have a shorter afternoon session on Sunday. Lee encouraged all of the girls to practice handstands and walking on their hands. He insisted that the balance and strength would help them in some of the other moves. Sally and Erin had prepared snacks and fruit for the workout crowd and after a long practice, everything was inhaled in moments. Erin kiddingly observed, “Sally, if they are going to keep working out here, we’re going to need to stock up on fruit and snacks.” Sally added, “We’ll ask for volunteers from other mothers to help out in snack preparation.” In truth, the two of them loved having all the kids around.
After the girls left Sally sat down with Lee in the kitchen. “Lee, Erin and I were very impressed with your session. The girls really seem to be looking to you as their leader and coach.”
“Thanks mom.” As usual, Lee was uncomfortable with the praise.
His mother continued, “But, Lee we need to talk about something. You are growing into a young man. I noticed that all the girls including Darby have adopted the tighter cheer shorts which are comfortable, stretchy and protect them from exposing themselves. However, while your running shorts are comfortable for running, I think that when you start doing cartwheels and handstands, you need to consider a different style of shorts which will ensure that you are not exposing yourself to a group of young ladies. You are not a little boy anymore and you need to consider these things.”
Lee was embarrassed. He did not want to expose himself. “Mom, I don’t have any tighter shorts. I can’t do the moves wearing long pants or anything loose. What do you think I should do?”
Sally nodded, “I talked to Erin about it while you were all practicing. We think you should just get some of the same shorts as the girls wear. Certainly, I am not suggesting anything in pink or some other glowing color. I can get you something in black. But the shorts the girls are wearing are specifically designed to allow the flexibility and protection you need. Shorts of this type are not boys or girls. They are just shorts. No one needs to know what brand they are or where I bought them. I will remove all the tags. We have to do something, because you cannot do hand stands and walk around on your hands where a group of young girls are staring at your manhood.”
