I woke back up again around lunch time. Eddie was gone and I could only assume he was in the living room. I slowly sat up and rubbed my eyes.
His uncle was home, and Eddie could not be heard. For him usually being loud and outgoing, he was quite silent. I could only hear cabinets open and closing from inside the kitchen, with a television tuning out most of the noise.
He quickly opened the door to his bedroom and came inside before I had a chance to get out of his bed.
"Good morning sunshine." He smiled in a sarcastic tone, "Glad to see you're finally up."
I sighed and rolled my eyes, "good morning to you too." I stretched and let out a groan, "what happened last night?"
"Last night...I don't know. We got high, I think?" He shrugged, "well, my uncles here. I'd love to have you stay here with me, but, I'm not sure if you should."
"What makes you say that?"
"My uncle he's..." he swirled his pointer fingers around his ears, signaling that his Uncle was a little crazy.
"Got it. I'll go then", I started towards the door.
"Wait...before you go.", he grabbed me and gave me a kiss on my hand.
I couldn't help but blush,"Bye, Munson."
"See you around, Wheeler."
...
I arrived at my house, Mike was outside with Dustin, grabbing their bikes.
"Good morning to you, how'd it go with Eddie?", Dustin immediately ran up to me as soon as I stepped out of the car.
"It was good. We just talked and...stuff."
Mike dropped his bike and ran over, "Mom is furious with you, Tammy. Be warned, one step inside the house and you will face the wrath of mom's anger."
"Did she know where I went?"
"No."
"Good. It'll stay that way. I was at Chrissy's house." I winked at my brother, but he didn't get it. He just looked at me like I had ten heads.
...
And with that, I slowly stepped inside my house to see my mom standing at the kitchen counter, watching the clock.
"Where were you, young lady!" She reprimanded me, "I was worried sick!"
"I'm sorry. I was at Chrissy's house. I told Mike, I figured he would have told you. It won't happen again."
"It better not! You're grounded. For 2 weeks. No leaving the house other than school hours. That means no cheer."
"What? No cheer? You can't do that?"
"I am your mother! I can do that!"
"So you're basically going to put me on house arrest?!"
"Go to your room, I can't deal with you right now."
I let out a loud groaned and stomped upstairs, slamming my bedroom door shut.
I grabbed my walkie and went to talk to Dustin.
"Mom grounded me", I frowned.
"You blew it. You had one job."
"What?"
"We told you to get us in with Eddie."
"Oh, I'm in with Eddie. Trust me."
"If you say so" he sighed and I swear I could hear himself roll his eyes.
"Give me to Mike."
A few moments passed by.
"Hello? Tammy?" Mike answered, sounding caught off guard.
"Mike, I'm grounded. If I don't go to cheer practice this week, I'm off the team. You need to tell mom that I was at Chrissys house last night and back me up. Get me un-grounded."
"Sorry Tammy, it's gonna be a risky task, I have to leave for the airport in a few hours. Feel better though."
"Seriously? Mike-" I then realized he turned off his walkie, "forget it...Fuck!" I whispered under my breath. My brother was seriously a bitch.
...
I sat in my room until I knew Mike left for the airport. My mom would be driving him, so she'd be out of the house. I walked downstairs to see my dad snoring in his recliner. Holly was playing with her Lite Brite, and I signaled for her to keep hush.
I grabbed the phone off the wall and dialed my coaches number.
"Hello? This is Tammy Wheeler. I really hate sending this message, but I can't make it to practice for a while. I'm grounded for 2 weeks. I hope you can understand."
I heard silence for a moment.
"You're off the team, Tammy."
"What? Why?"
"You skipped yesterday's practice, now you can't attend for 2 weeks. You know the rules. Unless you're deathly ill, no more than missing 2 practices in a row. You're kicked." My coach said sternly.
"Okay." I was holding back tears, "is there anyway I can get back on?"
"I would suggest trying out again next year, but, you're a senior."
"Okay. Thanks." I didn't know what else to say. I hung up the phone and started to silent sob.
I grabbed the phone again and dialed Chrissy's family.
"Hello? This is Mrs. Cunningham." A lady picked up.
"Hi. Can I speak to Chrissy? This is Tammy."
"Hello Tammy! Of course, here she comes now."
"Tammy!" I recognized my friends voice over the phone.
"Hi Chrissy. Bad news." I said through tears, "I'm off the team. I got grounded."
"What?! That can't happen?! You're one of our best members??"
"Beats me. I'm in complete shock." I wiped a tear from my face, "cheer was all I had. I don't know what I'm going to do now."
"Well, we're still gonna be friends."
"Yeah."
"Don't beat yourself up over it. It's gonna be okay."
After the phone call finished up, I made my way back upstairs. I had no idea what I was going to do. Cheer was my life and I would need to find something else to fill that void.
Nancy heard me crying, so she had came in to check on me.
"I would be surprised if you hadn't drowned in your tears by now."
"Shut up Nancy. I'm off the cheer team. I don't know what to do with myself now."
"You could always get a job... since you always love to spend dad's money, or find another hobby."
Ouch. She was right though, I should have gotten a job a long time ago. I also shouldn't have only spent my time cheerleading and put some of my energy into doing something else. I couldn't focus on that right now though. I was too upset. I couldn't be bothered.
I put on some music and get some thoughts out in my journal. I couldn't stop thinking about Eddie. Every time my mind went to Cheer, it quickly drifted back to Eddie. I couldn't get anything down in my journal, so I just wrote a bunch of little doodles and notes about him.
I eventually drifted off to sleep, my music on my Walkman becoming more slow paced and relaxing.
Until I was awoken at 1 a.m.