It was the middle of sophomore year when cheerleading tryouts were announced, freshmen aren't allowed to try out so Riley had to wait a whole year before she could try out. After working with Coach Kelly during her last year of middle school, and even working harder in gym throughout the year she thought she would finally have a chance. Plus she wanted to be motivated about something after what had happened with her bullies, but when she pointed out the sign Maya rolled her eyes at her.
"No, not again," Maya said before walking away. "I'm not going through this again."
"But Maya, I'm better than I was in middle school," she said as she walked behind her best friend.
"Do I have to remind you of the ski lodge trip? You sprained your ankle just getting off the bus, and after that you couldn't do anything with us at all."
"I remember that trip completely different from you," Riley said smiling.
"That's because Ranger Rick was finally forced to admit that he liked you, and only kept the triangle going because he didn't want me hurt, because hurting me would hurt you."
"I know that but still, I've been real good about not falling this year, and when I did fall it wasn't really my fault," Riley said determined to state her case.
It was the end of the day and they were meeting up with their friends to go to Topanga's so they could do their homework. Riley walked up to Lucas and took his hand, smiling at him before Maya burst their bubble.
"Lucas, please be the voice of reason," Maya said as she stopped in front of him. "Tell her no to cheerleading."
"I think it would be a good idea and Maya hates the idea of me trying out because of all those years I forced her to try out with me," Riley sighed as she said the words. "But I'm not telling her to try out with me."
Lucas looked between the two of them before saying something. "I think it would be good for her to try out."
"For crying out loud," Maya said as Farkle joined them.
"What's happening?" he asked as he stood next to Maya.
"Cheerleading," Maya said. Zay laughed as he walked down the stairs to meet up with them.
"Riley again, really have you met the cheerleaders here?" Zay said and all Maya could do was point at him as her face screamed see what I mean.
"It's a good idea," Farkle said which made Riley smile.
"I have two for and two against," Riley said bouncing up and down. "Where's Smackle, she's the tie breaker."
They waited a few more minutes for Smackle to arrive, before explaining to her about cheerleading, the genius smiled at them.
"As much as I think that it's a terrible idea," Smackle said. "I think it's up to Riley to do what she wants. I will only support her because that's what friends do."
"Yes," Riley yelled jumping up and down around Zay and Maya.
"Fine whatever," Maya said. "I'll make sure we have ice ready for you when you end up falling."
"Thank you Maya," Riley said pulling her into a hug.
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Tryouts were a week away so Riley spent her afternoons with Lucas in the school gym working on her stamina and her strength. Since baseball season was still a month and a half away he wanted to stay in shape for when the season started. They worked until five before meeting their friends every day after school to study for two hours before she had to be home for dinner. Even after dinner she was working on handstands in her bedroom and anything else she remembered from Coach Kelly.
By the time she went to bed every night she was exhausted, but she made sure to write about what she was doing, she wanted to remember all of the effort she was putting into tryouts. She did that a lot lately, she wanted to remember the good memories because they outweighed the bad ones.
On the morning of the tryouts Riley could feel herself getting nervous, the moment she opened her eyes she just stared at the ceiling wondering if this was the right thing to do. She sat up and noticed something taped to the bay window, when she walked over and opened the window to get the envelope she saw Lucas' handwriting. When she opened it the note inside only said one line.
You can do it.
It was all she needed to get ready for school, she grabbed her sneakers and a pair of tights along with an extra-long sweater and got ready. She didn't want to have too much clothing on before she had to change, she could audition in her tights and her gym clothes. When she walked into the kitchen she could see the tension from her family but she just smiled and sat down at the table.
"Morning Matthews Family," Maya said walking inside the apartment. "Feed me."
Riley laughed as her mother put down Riley's favorite pancakes in front of her and placed a plate next to hers for Maya.
"Do they not feed you at your house?" her father said as Maya sat down at the table.
"Yes, but my mom went to the café early and my dad had an early morning assignment so he left at like five in the morning," Maya said. Each time she called Shawn dad Riley smiled, she was happy that her best friend had that influence in her life.
The five of them ate in silence until her father got up to go to school, Maya and Riley left not to long afterwards. Walking to school instead of taking the subway, because it was a nice day and they didn't want to waste the money on the train.
"Are you nervous?" Maya asked as they waited for the stop light to change.
"Not really, I mean I was a first but Lucas told me I could do it, and I worked so hard for this so I know all that's really left is standing up and actually showing them that I'm good enough to be on the team."
Riley could feel her self-confidence rising because she was doing something completely for herself, she was doing something selfish and going for what she wanted.
Her friends wished her luck throughout the day, Zay still thinking that it was a bad idea but wanting Riley to make her own decisions. Lucas sat in the bleachers being Riley's only moral support at the tryouts, since everyone else had club activities that they couldn't get out of. He was there sending messages to everyone in a group chat, with pictures of Riley in her gym clothes bouncing up and down.
"First round," the head cheerleader said, before explaining what they had to do. The basic cheer was simple, Riley had been to enough pep rallies for Lucas that she had always admired the cheerleaders. She worked on the cheer while Lucas watched all week long, he constantly told her where she should put her feet so that she wouldn't trip, or making sure she didn't trip. He always encouraged her to work a little harder and it paid off when she did it with the rest of the girls trying out because she didn't trip or mess up at all.
As they called out the names of girls moving to the next round Riley remembered the encouraging email she had received from Coach Kelly. She had sent it to her telling her that she was going to audition for cheerleading. Her former Coach wrote back, Show them your spirit, it's where you shine brightest. Riley hadn't expected those words but they had made her want to show the cheerleaders at Abigail Adams that she had what it took to be a part of their team.
Riley moved into the second round, and when she smiled at Lucas she noticed that Farkle and Smackle had joined him. They all gave her the thumbs up and waved before she had to move to the second round. This was the hardest part of the tryouts because she still hadn't grasped tumbling, the most she could do was a split, a handstand, a cartwheel, and a backflip but that's because she had practiced with Lucas so much that it started becoming normal.
She was surprised that she had made it to the third round because of that, but she realized that it was because a lot of the girls couldn't do as much. It made her sad but it also made her want to try harder for the girls who didn't make it on the team. This time when she looked over at her friends Maya and Zay had joined them, both of them sporting team Riley signs. Even though the both of them thought it was a bad idea, they still came out to support her.
The third round was the final round, they had to do a routine with the team, and then the names of who was picked would be announced the next day. Riley's leg were tired, the tryouts had already lasted two hours, but she was determined to finish. The girls that were left, watched the team do a specific routine, each of them were given a specific team member that they were going to have to replace when it was their turn. Riley watched the team the same way she took notes in class, she couldn't look away because one mistake would ruin the cheer completely for everyone else.
They called them up and placed them in their positions before blowing the whistle for them to start. Riley made sure to pay attention to not only her own steps but those of the people surrounding her so that if one of them messed up she could continue without making it seem like the other person had done something wrong. For some reason she had never wanted something so much in her life, because even though she doesn't know what her talent really is she knows that if she could make people happy it would make her happy.
When the tryouts were done she sat down on the floor grateful that she had been able to get through it all. The current captain told everyone that the new team members would be announced in the morning and they should all go home and be proud to have gotten through the day with smiles on their faces. Lucas was the first to walk over to Riley only to make sure that she was alright. Riley smiled as she watched him come over, he was the reason she had the stamina to finish the whole routine.
"How's my girl?" he asked as he sat down next to her.
"Exhausted, but happy that I made it this far," she said with a grin on her face. The rest of her friends rushed over and piled on top of her in one giant group hug.
"Well sugar, I didn't think I would ever say this, but I take back everything I said about you not being able to be a cheerleader," Zay said smiling as he pulled away. "You were a star today."
"Riles, you did great," Maya said smiling.
"And she didn't even break a bone," Smackle blurted out making everyone laugh, while Farkle just looked at her shocked that she had said it. "Oh please you were all thinking it."
"But we didn't say it," Farkle said to her.
Riley couldn't help but laugh as she listened to Farkle and Smackle argue with each other about what's appropriate to say to a person. Even through her tiredness she was happy to watch her friends banter and laugh around her. They all walked back to her house after Riley had changed, still laughing and smiling. When they left her on her door step Riley had gone up to her room and fell asleep without eating dinner, because she was tired only to wake up two hours later hungry. Her mother gave served her some food before telling her to shower and go back to bed.
The next morning the dread from the day before had returned only because she didn't know if she was going to make the team. Maya showed up, with Lucas and Zay, to walk to school together, they wanted to be her moral support. They walked into school and saw the bulletin board at the end of the hallway, the list was already up and Riley's heart was pounding in her chest.
"Do you wanna go look for me Peaches?" she said to Maya but the blonde shook her head.
"You have to do this Riles," Maya said pushing her forward. Riley looked back at her friends with each step she took before closing her eyes and standing in front of the board.
"Count to three and I'll open my eyes," she said her eyes tightly shut.
Lucas started counting, "Okay, 1...2...3..."
Riley opened her eyes and looked, right there on the board at the top of the list was her name. She was shocked, she didn't move which only made everyone else nervous so they rushed the board and looked.
"I made the team," Riley said once the shock wore off. They all started cheering and hugging her, but all Riley wanted to do was fall to the floor in relief because she had done something she had always sought out to do.
"Riles you're a cheerleader," Maya said hugging her.
"I'm a cheerleader," Riley screamed from the top of her lungs.