BOOK TWO OF THE SCARLETT CHRONICLES |
After being kidnapped as a young child, seventeen year old Scarlett Grey found her way home to her family. For months, she struggled to find a balance between the girl she'd left behind and the girl she had beco...
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THANKS TO THE generous donations of a handful of prominent families, Summer Grove Academy was home to a state of the art auditorium. I'd been inside only a few times for various school assemblies, but I'd never seen it as decked out and spirited as it was that Friday for the athletic awards.
Various garnet and silver banners were strung through the rafters, with a particularly large "Congratulations Royals Athletes" one hanging directly above the wide stage. The seats were packed with students, the entire student body in attendance. Anyone on a team was sporting their own jacket labeling them as such, while the rest of the students remained in uniform.
By some miracle, Aurora had decided against making us wear those god-awful team uniforms we'd worn to home games when we cheered. Instead, we all wore matching black athletic shorts and red Summer Grove Royals hoodies that we had cropped ourselves the night before.
Violet, who seemed to be taking on the role of my personal hair stylist, finished pulling my hair into a half-up ponytail. "I gotta say, you're hair is a lot easier to work with now."
I laughed. It was still frizzy and wild on my best days. But my blonde hair fell just past my shoulders, and was neatly waved thanks to Violet insisting the night before that I keep it braided in twin plaits until she could get to it.
While I took out my tube of mascara and carefully swiped it over my lashes, Aurora bustled about our dressing room, making sure everyone knew the game plan.
"So we have the honor of opening the assembly today. Let's try not to screw anything up, okay?" Aurora finished, clapping once to signal she was done.
Most of the team chorused their acknowledgment, save for the few in the corner gossiping with Madison.
Having given us our unofficial ten minute warning, everybody finished up getting ready and started to stretch. We'd run through this dance more times than I can could count, and I felt honest saying I knew the choreography well. There weren't any judges in the audience, but Aurora still wanted us to be at out best calliper today, given the immense opportunity we'd been given to show off our skills as more than a fill-in cheer team.
