Worth It

Part 1 - Nothing damaged but my pride

Naomi POV:

"Bracers, you need to pull up more. And if you're falling, don't drag someone else down with you." Orby let out a frustrated groan as I stood back up. "Go get some water," he told us, pinching the bridge of his nose. We didn't need to be asked twice, and we all eagerly ran off the mat.

"Hey, you okay?" I put my water bottle down after getting a drink and turned to face Tyler. Tyler was a tall, dark-skinned boy who was new to our team this year. He was a few months older than me and used to cheer for Brandon All Stars in Florida before he moved to California over the summer. He was in my stunt group for both the elite stunts and the pyramid, so we'd become pretty close throughout the season.

"Yeah. Nothing damaged but my pride," I laughed. During our pyramid, Susanne, the flyer to my left, had started falling backwards, which wasn't good since she was in a backless stunt(which means her stunt had no backspot.) She hadn't let go of my arm, but by the time my backspot(Tyler) had realized I was falling too, he had already held out his arms to catch Susanne, and my back had hit the mat.

Honestly, falling flat on your back isn't that bad compared to a lot of other ways you could fall(i.e. On your neck.) I had barely even felt it, despite the large thumping sound I made when I hit the floor.

"Sorry about that. I didn't realize you were falling too," he apologized. I waved him of with a flick of my wrist.

"Don't worry about it. Worst case scenario, I die and don't have to go to school tomorrow," I joked. Despite my status as a nerd, school was my least favorite place in the world, and me and Tyler often bonded over our mutual hatred for anything school-related. Tyler let out a hardy laugh at that, nodding his head in agreement.

Aside from the usual joking about how it was invented by satan, I do a pretty good job of completely separating school from cheer. Neither of them have anything to do with each other, and so far, it's gone perfectly. It's sort of a "nerd by day, cheerleader by night" sort of thing. And I intend to keep it that way. I don't want any part of school or the people in it seeping into my cheer life. No one from my cheer team goes to my school, and although it would be awesome to have some of my closest friends with me while I am rotting in hell(or, well... school,) I'd rather not get them mixed up with the kids at my school.

"Oh God, don't remind me about school. I have a biology test tomorrow, and I don't even know what it's on," he said. "I think I'm just going to drop out and become a cheer coach like Orby. You don't have to go to college for that, right?" he asked, causing us both to burst out laughing as we walked back on the mat.

"Okay, everybody sit down, we have to talk." Orbys voice interrupted our laughing, and we sat down near the front of the mat, thankful that we didn't have to do the pyramid again.

"How many days do we have until worlds?" he asked. He looked at all of us, but nobody raised their hand to answer. "We leave on wednesday, and we compete on friday. Today is sunday," he said. "We leave in three days and we compete in five. That's five days for us to fix our routine. That's not a lot of time," he reminded us.

"Get it together. If you want to be world champions, you have to work for it. If you don't want to put in the effort, just leave now. You're just wasting everybody's time, including your own." Nobody said anything as he looked each of us over. "So? Does anybody want to leave? If you're going to do it, do it now." He waited for someone to move, but everybody stayed still.

"Okay, then. So all of you are going to stop goofing around? Because we compete in five days!" he said. We all nodded. "Okay, it's eight thirty. Everybody go home and get some rest. I expect you all to be ready to hit at practice tomorrow," he said. With that, we all got off the mat again, grateful that we finally get to go home. We had been here since noon, and I don't think I could do one more jump without dying on the spot.

"Jeez, somebody's in a mood," Jenny said, coming up beside me. Jenny, a fellow flyer like me, was just as tall as Tyler, but still skinny as a stick, which is why her bases could lift her so easily. She had long black hair and pale skin. I'd known Jenny since I first came to this gym at six years old, and she and I have basically gone through the entire journey together. She was adopted from China when she was a year old by a gay couple who insist I call them "John and Jack" instead of "Mr. Maguire and Mr. Maguire." They're both extremely nice, and it's definitely worn off on Jasmine because she's even in a good mood on mondays.

"He's just frustrated. We all are." Jasmine defended as she came up on my other side. Jasmine was kind of chubby, but was still pretty. She was a mixed race, half white and half black, but her skin was more on the darker side. Her hair was usually in braids, and she had just gotten them done with a reddish color. Her eyelashes were like fans and her skin was always perfect. I'd say she was one of the prettiest girls I know.

"I have to agree with Jenny," I said as I took off my Nfinitys and replaced them with a pair of adidas. "I really want our routine to be perfect." I threw on a sweater jacket over my plain white sports bra and black spandex so that I didn't freeze to death as soon as I walked out the door. "We've worked way too hard all year just too fail. We have to hit."

Sorry it's so short. I promise next chapter will be better, I just wanted you to meet a few of Naomi's teammates and get a glance at what practice is like. Next chapter you'll see her at school. Btw, Nfinitys are cheer shoes for anyone who didn't know.