Arabella's POV:
That Sunday I went to Etowah High to watch the cheerleaders practice their routine to perform next Saturday. I won't get to see the competition but at least I get to see their routine. I bring Chandler with me just because.
After Zoë drives us over to the school, we help her bring in the signs and the megaphone. The mats are already laid out. The minute I see Coach Storm I go up to her and hug her.
"Arabella? Haven't seen you here in months!"
After everyone gets there, it's sort of like a family reunion. Minus Hollie.
Ten minutes later, when Kylie shows up, she has a cast on her entire leg. I see Coach Storm get really upset. "We can't do the routine without you, you're one of our flyers!"
"I'm sorry Coach Storm... Oh, hi Arabella!! Can Arabella take my spot then?" she asks. Really... Coach Storm contemplates something and says, "I don't know..."
"I'll do it!" I say. I miss cheering with this team.
Zoë tells me what I have to do.
"So in the first part, all's you do is go up, they bring you to a full. They walk you up to the front stunt and you hitch over to Amanda on the third 8- who will be at a half- and then we full-down cradle when the music stops. After that, you grab the "L" sign and... Uh, remember the first cheer we learned? The tryouts one?"
"Yeah."
"That's the one we're doing. Bri will call the cheer, and then we all do it. I'll tell you what to do from there."
"Sounds good. Regular counts?"
"Yes. The entire routine is regular count. Think you can do it?"
"Yep."
So I get ready and in my spot. My bases are Bri, Ally, and Haylee. The music starts. I count in my head. I go up into the stunt with my left lib. I count in my head. My stunt walks closer to the front of the mat. On the third 8, I hitch my right leg over into Amanda's hand. "Cradle 1-2!" Bri whispers and I do what is, in my opinion, one of the best full-downs I've ever done. I didn't see myself, but the way I twisted on the way down felt phenomenal.
I walk up to he front and pick up the "L" sign.
"Go, Eagles, Go!" Bri projects her voice.
"E-A-G, L-E-S! Go, Eagles, Go!" The team shouts and smiles. We repeat the cheer three times.
Zoë tells me what my next step is: the pyramid.
I'm not sure how the pyramid will look, but all I do know is what I'm doing.
So Ashley will be at a thigh stand, and she will extend me to a one-man. I will connect to two people on either side of me who will both be at a full. There is another stunt on either side of them, but I have no clue what they do.
So we do it. I was a little nervous, but it went so much better than I thought it would.
Zoë tells me the tumbling part of the routine. She tells me the counts, the steps, the tumbles in perfect detail. I remember every bit of it.
We re-do the pyramid because it leads right into the tumbling process. The stunts went along well, once again. I get to where Zoë told me to go, and do a roundoff double-backhandspring, full across the mat on my correct count.
After the tumbling is done, Coach Storm pauses the music. "Arabella you are doing so good! The only freshman on the Varsity team!"
"I'm a sophomore. I'm supposed to be a freshman."
"Right."
Zoë comes up to me. "Arabella, you still have your needle, right?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Luckily you wore sweatpants today, because it's almost impossible to do it in jeans."
It takes about 20 minutes for me to learn the entire dance routine by heart. I memorized everything: the counts, the numbers, the motions.
Now time to do it with the music.
I do the dance part along to a superhero-themed mixup of songs. I frequently hear "Go Eagles!" throughout it. Our jumps were right on time. I messed up a little bit here and there on the dance, but not a lot.
Coach Storm looks pleased. "Girls, go take a water break. You deserve it."
I'm surprised there aren't any male cheerleaders on the team. I'm not complaining, I'll tell you that. It's just that there were before I left. It's odd.
I walk up to Chandler, who looks impressed. "Bravo, Arabella. That was amazing."
"Thanks!" I smile.
After our short break, I go back onto the mat. "See if we can do the entire routine, non-stop?" Coach Storm asks. She seems so excited.
So we attempt to do it non-stop. And we succeeded. I didn't even think it would be possible! We practice the routine several more times until I got it, without messing up.
Coach Storm stops me before I leave. "Arabella, if that's all right with you... Would you like to take the place of Kylie?"
HEY GUYS.
SO I JUST PUT UP MY NEWEST STORY, PLEASE CHECK IT OUT. SINCE ITS JUST SEASON ONE, ITS PROBABLY KIND OF BORING, BUT I PROMISE IT WILL GET BETTER AS WE EDGE CLOSER TO RECENT SEASONS.
I LOVE YOU ALL, AND I HAVE A DARE OF THE WEEK:
I DARE YOU TO GO UP TO A RANDOM PERSON AND ASK: "EVER HEAR OF THE WOLF WHO CRIED "BOY"? COMMENT THEIR REACTION!
HAVE A BLESSED LIFE