Our Little Secret

Cheerleader

Marissa comes over to my locker waving a hot pink flyer in my face. "We HAVE to do this!!!!"

"What is it?" I snatch it from her hand so I can see it. It's a flyer for cheer tryouts. She's been talking about it all summer. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes!" She's practically bouncing. "But I'm not doing it by myself."

I shrug my shoulders and close my locker door. "Guess you're not doing it then." I walk over to where the boys are at their lockers.

"Come on, Zakiyah." Marissa whines, following behind me. "You said you were gonna do it."

"And now that I think about it, it's not made for me." I see that the boys are huddled over a paper. "What y'all looking at?"

Michael turns it toward me. "Football tryouts."

"Can y'all tell Kiyah that she has to do this with ne?" Marissa shows them the cheer paper.

"Why won't you do it?" Aiden asks.

I shrug. "I'm not cheerleading material."

"But you CAN be." Xavier grins at me. "It'll be just like gymnastics."

"You talking from experience?" I size him up. Sighing, I turn to Marissa. "I'll do it, but if I don't make the team, you gotta get me into every game for free."

"Yayyy!!!" She hugs me and jumps up and down. "Thank you!" She pats Xavier's cheek and runs down the hall.

"This is gonna be so cliché," Michael goes. "We're gonna be football players and y'all are gonna be cheerleaders."

"IF we make it," I remind him. I take Aiden's hand in mine just as the bell rings. "C'mon. Let's get to class."

+++++++++

We sit in our usual spot during lunch. "So I signed us up for the team," Marissa is telling me. "But we have to come up with our own cheer and routine." She hands me her notebook to show me What she got so far.

Go, go, go, go, Panthers.
Fight, fight, fight, fight, Panthers.
Win, win, win, win, Panthers.
Go, fight, win!

"Um..." Xavier goes over my shoulder. "You could do better."

"Yeah, it's kinda basic," I agree. I take a pen from my bag and start writing my own cheer.

Don't wait.
Don't hesitate...

Xavier tales the pen from me and adds his own line:

...For the battle has just begun.
Intimidate and dominate...

I take the pen back and add a final line:

...For the Panthers are number 1!

I read it over and smile at Xavier. "Looks like you ARE good for something." He holds his hand up for a high-five and I slap it.

Aiden takes the notebook from me and the three of them read it. They nod in approval. "Now we just need a dance routine. Shouldn't be too hard."

I stir my spicy hot ramen. "I hope not. How long do we have to get it right?"

"Like a week." Marissa sips her apple juice. "Tryouts begin next Thursday." I groan and lean my head on Michael's shoulder.

"Can I have some?" Aiden asks, already forking some of my noodles into his mouth.

"Sure, Aiden," I go sarcastically. "Help yourself to some."

"So you wanna start practicing tonight or wait until the weekend?" Marissa asks me.