Bring Her On

by Chelsea M. Cameron

  Echo was next.

  “I’m Echo and I’m the head coach of the NECC champion Bulldogs, and I was a flyer and a tumbler when I cheered.”

  No one could miss those passive aggressive digs and I could feel the steam coming from my ears. Dom reached out with his foot and pressed it against mine, and I bit down on my tongue to keep a yelp in as Echo’s assistant coaches introduced themselves.

  Brit, Dede, Cece, and Carl. I stopped myself from rolling my eyes as they went. Finally, it was over and the Bulldogs gathered up their things.

  Echo checked her phone.

  “Okay everyone, bus is here, get your stuff together and make sure you clean up your trash.” She clapped her hands again and I was starting to twitch whenever I heard that sound.

  Echo wrangled her squad and they headed out to the bus all chatting and making as much noise as they had when they’d walked in.

  And tomorrow we would do it all again.

  The minute the gym door closed and they were gone, I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “You need to calm down, right now,” Dom said, putting both hands on my shoulders and looking down at me.

  “I know, I know,” I snapped. I needed to get out of here and see my cats. “I need to go home.”

  “The same way we tell our squad to leave everything at the door, I want you to leave all of this shit here and not bring it home with you.” I had no idea how I was supposed to do that, but I wasn’t going to spend the rest of the night steaming about Echo.

  “At least they cleaned up after themselves,” I said. Echo hadn’t done anything overtly nasty, which made it so much worse. If she just called me out or called me a bitch or pulled my hair then maybe I wouldn’t be simmering in impotent rage right now.

  “Listen, this was the first day. Tomorrow will be better. They’ll keep to their side and we’ll focus on what we need to do, and then we’ll settle it at Nationals,” Dom said.

  “I’m going to need you to stop always being the voice of reason, or else I’m going to go to Cam and have her promote you to head coach.”

  He made a face.

  “No thank you. I have enough responsibility.” Every now and then when Cam was busy managing a tournament or something, Dom would step in and help. He gave and gave and gave to this school, and he gave and gave and gave to me. I needed to be better about reciprocation.

  “I am buying you the classiest stroller I can find,” I said, giving him a hug.

  “Can you make sure it’s a jogging stroller? I want to be able to run with the baby.” I could totally picture him doing that and it made me smile.

  “I can’t wait to see it.”

  We left the gym and Dom locked up and hit the lights.

  “Say hi to Heath,” I told him.

  “Say hi to the kitties,” he said to me.

  We parted in the parking lot and I headed home to my house full of cats, still hot and bothered about Echo.

  Five

  I was running late the next day because I’d taken my car to get serviced and had to wait forever for the mechanic to be done. By the time I got to the gym, Echo and her team were already there, busy setting up the curtain. Several of my kids were mingling with a few of theirs and I saw interest and wariness on both sides.

  I hoped that there wouldn’t be any hookups. I did not need to deal with that drama on top of everything else.

  Echo headed right for me as I set down my bag, and I braced myself for whatever she was going to say.

  “Listen, my team and I were talking and since we don’t have enough mats yet to go full on tumbling, we could have a tumble off. Everyone gets to show their skills and it will push them to go harder than they normally would have.” Her tone was brisk and professional.

  I completely fucking hated that idea. This wasn’t cheer camp. I needed my kids focused, not playing around with their rivals. Why couldn’t she just stick to her side of the damn gym?

  I couldn’t say that, though, or risk everyone knowing that she was getting under my skin. So I said, “sure, sounds like fun” and hoped my eye wasn’t twitching too much.

  Echo announced to the two squads what we were going to do and I had to admit, they all seemed excited about it. I’d had plans to video some of the stunts today, but that probably wasn’t going to happen. Echo had hijacked my practice, and I was going to have to make it clear this wouldn’t be happening again.

  Dom shared a look with me, basically asking non-verbally if I was okay. I shrugged one shoulder. What was I going to do? I had to be classy, not assy.

  The tumble off was fun, I had to admit. A few of my kids went for skills they might not have gone for during a regular practice and one, Amy, ended up landing her first standing double back handspring back tuck.

  “I knew you could do it,” I said, giving her a high five. “You feel good about putting it in the routine? I could use you.”

  “Yeah, definitely.” She beamed and her teammates grabbed her up in a huge group hug.

  One of the reasons we’d lost at New Englands was that our tumbling wasn’t as high-skill as Echo’s team. We made up for those points in other areas, but this was what happened when you didn’t have five coaches to work with your kids on tumbling drills all the time.

  There was a vote after everyone had tumbled and a guy named Timber from Echo’s team was declared the winner. I had to admit, I’d kill to get him on my team. Maybe I could call his parents up and convince them to move to a different school district.

  “They’re good,” Dom said in my ear.

  “Yeah, but our stunts are better.”

  He sighed and Echo clapped her hands.

  “Okay, enough of that, let’s get to work. Get the curtains up, divide the mats, let’s go.” And everyone moved their asses, including my team. They listened to Echo better than they listened to me.

  Having her here was like putting my coaching skills under a microscope and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like having my inadequacies shoved in my face.

  When I’d come to Corsica to coach, the Tigers had already been winners. Their head cheer coach had been here for twenty years and had built the program from the ground up. Then the torch was passed to me, and I had never coached a high school team before. I’d helped out with peewee kids, and at gymnastics camps, but I didn’t have any high school coaching experience. Somehow, they hired me anyway, and I spent every damn day trying to prove that I could live up to the legacy I’d inherited.

  I breathed a little easier when Echo’s team was on the other side of the curtain again.

  “Okay, are you all ready? We’re going to do two stunts at a time, and yes, there will be video.”

  Dom had brought out the projector that I could use for my phone, as well as the white screen. Best investment I’d ever made as a coach.

  There was a little grumbling, but I shut that down and made everyone who wasn’t in the stunt spot. We counted out each stunt as a group and I started to have a bad feeling about this practice. Sometimes they were on, and sometimes the vibe was just off and falling became like a virus. One stunt would go down and it would get in the other flyer’s heads and they’d psych themselves out and every stunt from then on would be shaky, or would go down.

  This was one of those nights.

  “Lock your leg!” I yelled as Ciana stood with a completely bent leg, trying to save a stunt that wasn’t going to be saved if she didn’t get stable and lock her damn leg. She didn’t listen to me and came crumbling down, but was caught by the bases.

  There were a few whispered curses from the bases and Ciana looked like she was about to cry.

  I stared each of them in the eyes. “You have two options. You can let this stunt defeat you, or you can go for it again. If you really think you can’t hit it today, I’d rather have you tell me that now so we don’t keep slamming our heads against a brick wall all night, or have someone get injured. It’s up to you.”

  I liked to put the power in their hands, because it was. It was
up to all of them to work together to keep Ciana in the air.

  “You can do this, C. You’ve got this. You could do this stunt in your sleep.” She nodded and turned her head from side to side, cracking her neck. She made eye contact with her bases and everyone else started pumping them up, letting them know they had this, and they could do it.

  Ciana went up the in stunt there was a little wobble, but enough of us gave her verbal support that she dug in and finally hit the stunt sequence, coming down with a huge smile on her face and high fives from her bases.

  “That’s my girl,” I said, pointing at her.

  “Thanks, Coach,” she said, blushing a little.

  We moved on to the next group, and I almost forgot about Echo.

  Almost.

  Her voice kept piercing the silence, along with the voices of her assistant coaches. Sounded like we weren’t the only ones having a rough night. Her voice volume kept rising, and it got so bad that I actually ducked my head around the curtain.

  “Hey, can you just lower the volume a little?”

  She whirled on me and I almost took a step backward. I’d never seen her have such an intimidating look on her face. Add to the fact that she had a tank top on that put all her muscles on display, and I had to remind myself how to breathe. Her hair glinted with gold highlights under the harsh gym light.

  “Fine,” she snapped and turned back around. Okay, guess I was dismissed. Her squad looked red and sweaty and done. I wondered what they were having issues with.

  It didn’t matter. They were my competition. If they were doing poorly, it was to our advantage. Less than three weeks to go before we all got on a plane and headed to Orlando.

  The last half of practice was spent with the video, going over each and every tiny thing. Championships were won and lost on fractions of fractions of points. Everything had to be on point.

  I brought everyone together to end practice and let them know what we were working on tomorrow.

  “Tomorrow we’re going to just pyramid. Once we get the mats, we’re going to start doing at least two full outs in every practice, and more on the weekends.” I heard whining, but I didn’t care. This was what it was going to take. I wasn’t asking anything of them that they couldn’t do.

  “Do you want to look polished and good, or do you want to look sloppy and bad? It’s up to you.” The grumbling subsided a little.

  I had to stay after for a little while with Dom to talk to a few parents that had questions about the travel arrangements and chaperones and all manner of other things that sports parents wanted to say to the coaches of their children’s team. I think I was very lucky in terms of cheer parents. I had a group of moms who were total booster club rockstars, and if I needed money for new uniforms, they had a check in my hand before I could say pom poms.

  Every now and then we had an issue, but overall, they were great.

  The bus for the Bulldogs was late and they were all antsy to leave, clogging the entryway to the gym. Dom and I couldn’t leave until they left, so I hung back in the gym messing on my phone instead. I had a few funny texts from my mom and an invitation from Katie and Penny for a pajama wine party that we tried to do a few times a month for girl’s night.

  “Hey,” a voice said, and I looked up before I had time to process that it was Echo who’d spoken.

  “What can I do for you?” I said, my voice dripping with sweetness. I didn’t think anyone was paying attention to us right now. She walked across the gym floor, as slinky as a panther. I hated how good she looked all the time.

  She didn’t speak until we were standing with only a few feet between us.

  “You don’t have to be so hostile, Kiri. It was ten years ago.”

  I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of blowing up.

  “It was more than that and you know it. Just go, Echo. Just go.” I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead.

  She stepped closer. “Why are you letting a little competition get in your way?”

  “I’m not letting anything get in my way, least of all you,” I said.

  “I mean, you already kinda did. Who won at New Englands?”

  Oh, this was just ridiculous. I was about ready to scream at her when one of her assistants called out that the bus was there.

  “Just something to think about,” she said, reaching out and drawing a finger down my arm. I flinched away from her.

  “Fuck you,” I hissed.

  “I’m sure you’d like to,” she said, turning around. “See you tomorrow, Kiri Kentwood,” she called over her shoulder.

  “I MAY HAVE TO MURDER her,” I said as Katie poured me a glass of wine and slid it across the white granite countertop. It was a good thing I adored both Penny and Katie enough to come over to their gorgeous house because it gave me the worst house envy I’d ever had.

  Penny shared a look with Katie before speaking. “Is there a history with her? You know, other than her team beating yours? Because murder seems a little extreme, unless she’s really that annoying.”

  Crap. I’d said too much. I’d let my irritation get the best of me and hadn’t been in charge of what was coming out of my mouth.

  “She is really that annoying,” I said, hoping that would work and almost choking on a gulp of sauvignon blanc, and spilling a few drops down the front of my new pajamas that I’d bought specially for tonight.

  Katie pulled a huge tray of nacho fries out of the oven, and we descended on them as if we’d never eaten food before.

  “But you’re not going to sabotage her or anything, right?” Katie said, almost unhinging her jaw to fit as many fries in as possible in one bite. I admired her commitment.

  “No, I would never do anything like that. I mean, I’ve thought about it in my wildest fantasies. I’m not a total bitch.”

  “You have to be a little bit of a bitch. Otherwise we wouldn’t want to be friends with you,” Penny said, bumping my hip with hers.

  “Damn right, let’s toast to that.” We each picked up a fry and tapped them together before chomping down. “Thank you so much for having me over. I really needed this.”

  We moved from the kitchen to the living room, and I stared having anxiety about dripping salsa all over their white couches. Seriously, who had white couches? Not me. I had three cats.

  “So, we had an idea,” Katie said, as Penny absentmindedly stroked her hair and I tried not to be jealous because Katie had someone to absentmindedly stroke her hair and I didn’t.

  I’d been in a dating dry spell for longer than I’d like to admit. Sure, I’d been on a few here and there, but there wasn’t a whole lot of a lesbian scene in Corsica. If I wanted to really quench my thirst, I’d have to head out for a night in Portland, and I was usually working or too tired for that. My last serious relationship had ended before I’d moved to Corsica, and I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to dive into something serious and get my fucking heart broken, again.

  “We wanted to go on a trip, along with a few of our friends. Somewhere tropical, where we can sit on the beach and get drunk and read, and we want to invite you to come,” Katie said.

  I had to set my wine down so I didn’t spill it in excitement. “Everything you’re saying right now is making me happy.”

  “Great!” Katie said. “It’ll be us three, and then one of Penny’s friends from work, Stacia, you know her.” I’d met her at their various wedding festivities almost two years ago.

  “And then my sisters, and Oliviana.” The last was Penny’s sister. I’d met and adored them all. It was a great group.

  “Have you decided where we’re going yet?” I asked.

  Penny messed around on her phone for a few seconds and then my phone popped up with a notification.

  “There’s a group chat. Get your suggestions in now!”

  Even though I was sitting right there with them, I started adding to the chat, basically calling out any warm place I’d always wanted to go.

  “Oh, Hawaii. Can we go to Hawaii?”
Katie said, pouting at Penny.

  “Do you have any idea how long it takes to fly there?” Penny shuddered. “No thank you, I can’t stay trapped in a tin can with other people for that long.”

  “Dammit,” Katie said.

  The others joined the chat and we discussed the pros and cons and finally settled on Key West, since we wouldn’t have to deal with leaving the country, and we’d still feel like we were getting away.

  We toasted again and finished the rest of the nachos, moving on to the gluten free chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting that Penny had made.

  “The only thing that would make this better is if a hot girl was giving me a neck massage,” I said, licking frosting off my finger.

  Katie and Penny shared another one of their looks and then came at me, wiggling their fingers. I laughed and ducked out of their way.

  “No, that’s not what I meant! Not that both of you aren’t hot. I want my own someone.” They fell back on the other couch as we all laughed together and I poured myself a second glass of wine.

  “I need a new hobby for when cheer season is over. I usually just stay in my house and work myself into the ground, but I don’t want to do that this year.” Once Nationals were over, I had most of the summer off from coaching while my kids were on their summer break. Tryouts couldn’t happen until September, so I’d spend most of my summer prepping for the new season, but there was only so much I could do without knowing who was going to be on the squad the next year.

  “You should join our book club. It’s basically like this, but with more people,” Penny said, leaning back against Katie. They were a very expressive couple, and were always wound around each other. It was lonely sitting on the loveseat perpendicular to them by myself. They didn’t even have an animal that I could force to cuddle with me.

  “What kind of books do you read?” If I was joining a book club, then I was actually going to do the reading. I’d do the talk shit and drink wine, but I also wanted to discuss books.

  “We vote on it every month. It’s been mostly new stuff, with a few classics mixed in. All genres,” Penny said.