I got lifted onto everyone else's shoulders and I carefully, but still swiftly, stood up and ran the bell. I laughed at Bucky's loss.
"Z-team wins," he groaned. Everyone cheered as we ran back over.
The A-team walked up and Stacey whinnied to Bucky. "Aceys!" Bucky said sadly. "Disappointing! You can't be scared to get those jazz hands dirty!"
"Uh... wha..." Lacy stuttered, eventually dropping her "jazz hands" to her sides in defeat.
"The Cheer Camp Cup is yours." Bucky sighed and picked up the trophy, handing to to Addison, Bree, and I. We barely got to touch it when he drew it back. "Glad you enjoyed it, now let's make this victory about me."
"I've decided to be school president this year," Bucky went on. "Now, technically there's an election, but, come on." I scoffed as he continued. "Which means we'll need a new cheer captain while I rule the school."
The Aceys began to fight over who gets the spot. "What do you mean?" "It's me!" "Me, me, me, me, me!"
A few cheerleaders began to slowly raise their hands, including me. "Tae—" Bucky began to say, but was cut off by Bree.
"No, no, no, no, no. We... we need a captain that's going to build a united squad," she informed. "Someone like Addison."
"Thanks, Bree," Addison whispered.
Everyone began to chant. "Addison! Addison! Addison!" I reluctantly joined it, feeling my body grow cold.
•••
Cheer camp's over and we're finally heading home. I'm so exited to be back at my house soon. My thoughts were interrupted by someone yelling, "Yes! I got invited to prawn!" Everyone clapped.
"Well," Bree sighed. "Getting invited to prawn sound great, but Bonzo won't even look at me." We all turn and see Bonzo look down in his lap at something.
"No invitation to prawn for me, either," Addison sighed. "Do you think Zed forgot about me?"
"At least you both have people who like you," I mumbled.
"Saroogala!" Bonzo screamed and stood up, pointing out the window.
We all looked outside and saw signs unrolling. We all began to read out loud. "Addison... will you... go to the prawn..."
Bree gasped. "With?"
Ding! Lights flicked on, but Zed was on a ladder in the middle of the road. "Zed!" Addison and I both screamed and stood up.
Shrimpy, the driver, honked the horn right before hitting the ladder, causing Zed to tumble onto the top of the bus. He fell to the side of the bus next to Addison's window. "Zed!" she exclaimed. They touched hands through the window, and I tried hard not to gag.
Zed tumbled off of the bus as it drove out of control into the woods. The Forbidden Forest, I read off a sign. The bus crashed.
"Is everybody ok?" I asked.
Bucky looked at me once before running out of the bus screaming, "Nothing can happen to me, I'm way too important!" He leaped head first out of the bus.
Addison stood up. "Everyone, stay calm."
"Great leadership, Addie," Bree complimented. "Very 'future cheer captain' of you."
I grabbed my cousins arm and pointed out, "Zed!" We ran out of the bus, jumping over Bucky, and into the woods.
