Ready, Set, and Cheer!

Chapter 13 (:

School let out for the day, at 3:10. Julie ran to her homeroom class, to see Ms. Cathy. She was filing the papers on her desk.

“Ms. Cathy, you said you wanted to see me about something, didn't you?”

“Ah, yes. Thanks for reminding. The end of November, well, there's this national essay writing competition. And a book report presentation. I was thinking of selecting you and Diara for the competition. How does that sound?”

Julie became excited. “OMG! Really, Ms. Cathy? I would love to go. I just love writing.”

“I figured. I'll just tell Diara tomorrow. And I hope burdening you with tutoring Laurent is okay with you.”

Julie was really excited, so all she said was okay, and ran out the door to tell her friends the news. 

Ms. Cathy looked at the door. My, girls, these days, she thought, smiling to herself. 

Julie bumped into Laurent at the school gate.

“My my, making a habit out of this eh? How was your day?”

Julie frowned. “Sorry! Yeah it was good. Have you seen Synthia anywhere? Something important popped up.”

Laurent said,“No, I haven't. I have football tryouts and practice today. They are going to see if I'm any good. So I'll be back only by 6:30. What about you? When should I pick you up?”

If Julie hadn't been paying any attention till now, she did, when she heard the last line.

Julie squealed. “Pick me up?”

Laurent's sniggered. “Yeah, pick you up. Not kill you.”

Julie started hyperventilating. The whole day was finally getting to her.

“Why do you wanna pick me up?"

"Cause we live right next door. And it's good to save petrol?"

"I go by bus," Julie said, smugly.

"Oooh, someone afraid she'll fall for me?"

"Ugh! 6:30. Bye." Julie said, 

Am I losing my touch? Why does she hate me so much, Laurent thought. 

Too many things were running around in Julie's head. But when she reached her cheer leading practice ground, she forgot everything except cheerleading. Her friends were already there. Diara was the only one who wasn't there yet.

She quickly told Synthia about the essay competition. Synthia freaked out. But Julie was really scared about how her cheerleading practice would go.

Julie looked at Mrs. Nina and she nodded at her.

“We will start right when Diara is here, okay, girls? Start stretching.”

When she saw what kind of stretches they did, Mrs.Nina's eyes widened.

“ Girls, what are you doing?”

Martha pipped up. “ Stretching, Mrs. Nina.”

“Stop, everyone. Stop. I'm afraid these stretches wont really help. I'll demonstrate a few that will really help with the routines I'm going to teach you. So by the end of today's class, tell me how it helped you.”

Mrs. Nina demonstrated a few stretches. They seemed easy, but they were really difficult. Diara came in the middle. Mrs. Nina explained to her that they were doing new stretches.

Synthia whispered to Julie, “ If Ms. Minnie was still here, Diara would have got yelled at, for being late.”

Julie sighed. “She's staring at you, girl. Watch it. She's our teacher from now on. We have to cooperate if we want to do well.” Synthia nodded, and continued with her stretches.

 After what seemed like eternity, Mrs. Nina finally asked them all to stop.

“Girls, I think by now, you all should be familiar with the stretches. Julie, come here.”

Julie went to Mrs. Nina, a little scared at what she was going to say.

“Now, this routine that we are going to start with, requires a partner. Watch Julie and I, and learn.”

Mrs. Nina started her routine, and Julie started catching up fast. Mrs. Nina seemed impressed.

“Awesome try, Julie. Keep it going.”

Julie beamed and then went and practiced with Synthia. Mrs. Nina looked at each partner, and corrected them. She told them how to keep their head up, how much to smile, where their hands should be, and how they should position their legs. Time flew by so fast, and at 6:30, when Mrs. Nina told them to call it a day, Julie was surprised that it was already time to go. She couldn't believe that she was already looking forward for her next session.

Maybe, just maybe, she might like Mrs. Nina after all.

Julie was so happy that she didn't get annoyed when Laurent teased her. Throughout the car ride, she went on and on about how her day was. In the middle she suddenly remembered it was Laurent's first day of school, and asked him how his day was. Before he could hardly utter the word yes, Julie continued talking. Laurent couldn't help smiling. So this is how she really is. She's so cute. I think I can put up with this.

“Hey, Julie?” Laurent said. He had to speak a bit loudly for her to hear him.

“When do we have our tutorial sessions? I have music sessions in between. I'm a really busy person you know?” Laurent said, smugly.

“Um, will 7 to 9 pm every other day be okay? Tuesdays, thursdays, and saturdays? Diara has to tutor you, too, right? You can have dinner at my house, if you want.”

Laurent pondered. Um, alright I guess. Yeah that would be okay. Shall we start today, then?”

“A lot of things happened today, Laurent. I hope you will understand if I say that I need some time to cool down a bit. We'll start from tomorrow, okay?”

"Okay."