by Dana Burkey
“I guess,” I began with a pause. “But I told Kyle and Peter they would get to help me narrow down the choices once we got to the animal shelter.”
“Why don’t you invite them to the showcase? Then they can see you cheer and afterwards we can all go to the shelter.”
I immediately wanted to protest, but then I remembered how cool Peter was with the whole cheer thing once he saw videos of the type of cheer I was actually doing. Sure, he didn’t think I would fit in with the girls on my team, but that was something that I would worry about later. Earlier in the week the idea of him coming to watch me cheer was terrible, but now it might actually be fun. And, if he said anything mean, then he wouldn’t get to help pick out a kitten, so that would hopefully keep him line just in case.
“I’ll ask and see what they think,” I nodded, and went into the living room to get my phone while my dad continued making dinner.
By the time I walked into the gym on Thursday for practice, I was feeling a lot better about the whole weekend of camp. My dad got an email from the gym saying that my tumbling class for Friday was canceled. Since everyone would be arriving at two o’clock to kick the whole weekend off, all classes in the morning had been canceled so everyone could get ready. I wasn’t sure what the weekend was going to consist of exactly, but had a feeling it was going to feel like an eternity before Sunday was over and I could get my cats.
“How’s your leg doing?” Connor asked, walking up to me the second I walked in the door. It was the first time I had seen him since landing on Matthew and injuring myself.
“Almost all better,” I smiled, turning my leg to show him what remained of the bruise. What had once been a massive patch of blue and purple was now a smaller area of mostly greens and yellows. It still looked kind of bad, but never hurt unless I put pressure on it, which I made sure to avoid doing.
“Well, hopefully tonight you can just work on more basics and not worry about any new injuries,” he grinned, walking next to me as I made it over to where Halley was sitting and talking to a girl on the team I didn’t know.
As I set my bag down in what was becoming my usual cubby, I realized that there were a lot more people than usual at the gym. Connor, Matthew, Leanne and Kelsee were all there, as well as a lot of other people in the teal team practice uniforms. Usually during Blast’s practices there were no other teams in the gym, just people working on tumbling or other skills one-on-one with one of the assistant coaches. But, as more and more people in both teal and red began to arrive to the gym, I knew something was different for the evening.
“Are you guys practicing tonight too?” I asked Connor as I tried to put my cheer bow in place.
“Yeah,” he replied. “We usually practice Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. But since we have camp all weekend, TJ decided we needed another practice to make sure we went over all the new changes. We just learned our dance section and a new part of pyramid and he wants it to really look good for the showcase.”
“We’re finishing learning our dance tonight too,” Halley commented as she stood up and fixed my bow for me. “We learned just over half of it a few weeks ago, and then haven’t worked on it at all since Heather left the team.”
“Looks like you have a busy evening ahead of you,” Connor said to all of us, although I noticed he was mostly talking to me. “I better go start stretching, but I can’t wait to see how the dance turns out.”
“Me too,” I said with a grimace.
I walked over to the mat we were using for the evening, and started stretching the same as I had before every practice. Knowing that we were going to dance made me a little nervous, but I focused all my effort on each stretch to keep my mind off of it. The idea of dancing was strange, and even after seeing the dances in the cheer videos I had watched with Peter, I wasn’t sure how it would feel to learn all the moves. I had just enough rhythm to count what beat to move this way or that way for tumbling and flying, but to actually dance was going to take a lot more ability than I was sure I had.
I was soon joined by Lexi and a few other girls in my stretching, each of them chatting with one another as they were working on different moves. Still focusing on my body and holding each move for a longer and longer period of time, I didn’t interact with anyone. They were sitting close enough that I could hear them discussing a show that I had seen a preview for. It was a rather dramatic looking show where the acting looked a bit over the top, even in the short commercials I had seen. As I listened to them, I could imagine Peter making comments about how little I fit in with the girls I was spending my evenings cheering alongside.
“Okay ladies, we’re splitting everyone up into groups for today's dance practice,” Nicole's voice called out suddenly. “Listen up for your name so you know where to go,”
I stopped stretching and sat waiting to hear my name. Nicole began calling out names, and sending people to different spots on the mat. As she was going through the list I realized that the Lexi I knew was one of three Lexi’s on the team. There were also a lot of names I had never heard, and even some faces I didn’t remember seeing. But I guess that’s what happens when I’d really only spent my time with my stunt group up to that point. After going through all of the groups, I was left sitting with Lexi D, the Lexi I met at the trampoline park, Anna from my stunt group and also a girl named Corral that I didn’t remember seeing before.
“You ladies ready to tumble?” Greg asked, walking up to our group sitting near the air mat.
“Aren’t we doing the dance stuff?” I asked in reply, instantly confused.
“Yes and no,” he said with a grin. “Nicole was talking with TJ and myself and we decided we wanted to up the difficulty on the routine this year with some tumbling passes during the dance. We’ve done a bit of flying in the past, but by adding in some tumbling as well with you ladies then it can help the routine be more competitive for NCA.”
I nodded as if I understood all that he had just said, but was quite lost by a few of the terms he used. But, doing the tumbling meant that I didn’t have to do as much of the dance, and that was definitely something I preferred.
Greg instructed first Lexi and then Anna on what he wanted them to do. They would each start in the back corner of the mats and tumble forward at the same time. Corral and I would be crouched down on the front corners of the mat and once Lexi and Anna made it to us we were both going to tumble across the front of the mat. While that was happening, there would be a dance going on behind us, with some of the girls doing a back handspring that would land them right when both Corral and I were landing the final back tuck after a series of back handsprings. Greg explained that it would take a lot of timing for both Corral and I to land our four back handsprings with a tuck just in time with the rest of the team, but he assured us that it was going to be really easy with a few weeks of practice.
Taking turns practicing on the air mat as well as on the tumbling track, I only needed to try everything a few times before my body could do the whole series of flips without much thought. After working on fulls and even harder stunting, the idea of just doing a few back handsprings was pretty amazing. Corral was having a harder time getting it then I was, but I noticed part of this could have been the black brace on her knee.
“Did you get hurt?” I asked her, gesturing to her knee brace as we took a quick water break.
“It hurts sometimes when I land, so I wear the brace just in case,” she explained. “I fell last year when I was flying and hurt it pretty bad, so now I try to do anything I can to keep it from getting hurt again.”
“You still cheer even after an injury like that?” The question was more of a statement, but Corral just smiled at me and nodded.
“I really love cheerleading, and I know that as long as I’m careful then my knee will be okay,” she grinned. “I don’t fly any more since I’m too tall, and that’s really helped me to heal better. If I made it onto a senior level 3 or 4 team next year then I might try to fly again, but I’m okay with jus
t tumbling and being a base for a while.”
“That’s really cool,” I said honestly. “I broke my arm one season in soccer and played the rest of the year while wearing a cast. So, I can totally understand not wanting to quit just because you’re hurt.”
“Exactly,” she agreed. “I’m not going to go out of my way to get hurt again, but I might as well enjoy myself doing what I love until something happens and I can’t anymore.”
After the brief conversation with Corral, I went back to tumbling. When I paused to let someone else use the air mat or walked back to try the tumbling pass again, I watched Tonya teaching the dance to the rest of the squad. They were kicking and jumping, moving their arms and rolling around on the floor at a fast pace as she counted for them. I was instantly glad I didn’t have to learn that part of the routine, since it looked really hard. Sure, kicking and spinning around now and then was easy enough, but the girls all seemed to move their body in a way that made it all look exciting and high energy. I was certain if I was the one doing the moves it would have looked awkward and confusing.
“Everyone gather around,” Nicole called out. I looked at the clock in the corner of the gym and was surprised to see we had already been hard at work at practice for a half an hour. “We’re going to walk through it and mark everything to see how the overall spacing works. No tumbling this time, just jog it out and then we can see where we need to fix things. Got it?”
As girls around me nodded and moved into place, Greg walked next to me as I headed for the front corner of the mat. I thought he was going to ask or tell me something, but it quickly became clear he was just making sure I understood what to do. He stepped off the mat right in front of me before reminding me that I needed to squat down and rest my hands on the mat until Nicole counted us off and Anna had made her way to me. Once Anna was closer, I stood up as Greg motioned for me to get up and then jogged across the mat, passing Corral as I went. Standing in the other front corner, I turned back to see everyone else either holding a pose or just coming out of holding a pose.
“Let’s mark it again,” Nicole called out and everyone moved back to the start of the section. This time Greg stood in the front center of the mat, keeping an eye on me without following my every move.
We ‘marked’ the motions two more times before running it with dance moves twice. While the other girls danced and jumped around I once again jogged to my place, since Nicole didn’t want tumbling still. It gave me a chance to watch the dance a little, and it was pretty cool to see how everyone moved at the same time to make the dance look even more intricate and exciting. Finally, after it looked like the spacing and timing was good, Nicole announced that we were going to try it with full tumbling. It was my moment to finally see if I could do the tumbling pass on the mat, and also see if I could land when Corral did. I pushed with my legs and arms as we ran the dance portion, determined to land the whole tumbling pass.
“Good job, but let’s try it again,” Nicole said as soon as we were in our final positions. I looked over and saw that most people weren’t in their ending spots. Instead most people were looking at me while standing somewhat near where they were supposed to be. They reluctantly got focused on what they should be doing and went into their places to start the sequence once again.
“What happened?” I asked Lexi as I walked back to my starting position fast enough to get her attention.
“You landed everything,” Lexi said simply. “Corral only did one back handspring then had to jog out the rest since she balked.”
“Balked?”
“She didn’t have the force behind her tumbling to make it through everything and end up in her final spot on that try,” Lexi tried to explain. “She kind of gave up on the tumbling pass and just wanted to get to her final spot and go from there. But you did it perfectly. Not just the movements, but in the exact timing. It was perfect, and I don’t think anyone expected to see you hit everything. We all know you're good at tumbling, but this was like the next level.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond to her, so instead simply nodded, then walked over to my corner of the mat and got ready to go again. Something about me being so good on the first try that it shocked people, made me want to show off like I did the first day when the team was impressed by my tumbling. But then I remembered TJ telling me I wasn’t allowed to do moves I wasn’t instructed to while at full practice. It wasn’t that I shouldn’t work on throwing them, just not when it wasn’t a part of the routine. So, with a slightly less determined smile I listened to Nicole count out the routine and then turned to start my tumbling when the time came. I again landed on the right count and glanced over to see everyone else made it to their spots as well.
“Much better people,” Nicole encouraged us. “Let’s do it again.”
Walking back across the mat I was glad everyone else also seemed to have done everything right so the spotlight wasn’t just on me. I saw a few girls glancing my way, but I just focused on getting to my corner so I could get ready to do it all over again. A quick peek at the clock told me that our practice time was almost over. If I could just make it through the tumbling pass a few more times, I could head home and have a cheerleading free evening. Free of both doing cheer and also being watched by the girls on Blast.
“Do I really, really have to do this dad?” I tried one last time as I sat in my dad's car, watching kids walking into the gym with their cheer bags stuffed with clothing for the whole weekend.
“Yes you really have to do this,” he replied with a laugh. “If you want those cats, you need to get in there and work on all your flips and jumps. Then on Sunday I can cheer you on while you cheer, right before we go to the animal shelter.”
I opened my mouth to try a little more begging, but decided instead to just give him a kiss on the cheek and climb out of the car. Making sure to glance back and flash my dad a smile and a wave, I entered the gym and was immediately overwhelmed with how many people were inside. Despite the fact that everyone was wearing their practice wear, I struggled to find anyone else with the red letters on their chest or on their bow. Instead I saw pink, orange, green, teal, and purple all around me. Thankfully, the second teal team member I noticed happened to be Connor.
“Hey,” I said with a smile, walking up to him instantly. “What’s going on?”
“Not much, how about you?”
“No, I mean, what’s going on here right now?” I tried again. “This place is a zoo.”
“Oh, right,” Connor said with a nervous laugh. “You can go check in by the office and then people just hang out for a little. Once everyone’s been checked in then we’ll get started. I can walk you over there if you want so you have someone to talk to in line.”
“Okay,” I nodded, then turned and headed back towards the office and the table that was set up just outside its doors.
Walking through the gym, I saw a few girls wearing red, but none that I knew by name. Since arrival was between 2 and 3, I wondered if it would have been better if I had waited until 3 to show up. I was thankful I had Connor with me as I walked up and got in a rather long line. There were two tables set up with Nicole, Greg, and a woman I didn’t recognize all checking people in. But, even with the three of them, the lines were moving slowly. Glancing in the parent viewing rooms, I was surprised to see them not filled with parents for once. I knew there was going to be a few parents on hand to help with the weekend, but for once no one would be sitting and staring at us practicing on the mats. Thankfully I had ignored them while I was in practice the last two weeks, but I knew moms were watching me any time I walked into the gym. My dad was never able to make practice due to his work schedule, so the room was always filled with other people's parents that I could feel sizing me up non-stop. It was nice to avoid that feeling for once.
“So, are you excited for this weekend?” Connor asked as we stood in line.
“I guess,” I shrugged. “I don’t know enough about what we’re going to be doing to really feel on
e way or the other.”
“If it makes you feel any better, none of us knows what the weekend will be like,” he said in reply. “This is my fifth year at the gym and I still don’t know exactly what to expect. We usually do squad comps Saturday morning and t-shirt designs Friday night, but other than that, it’s always a toss-up as to what we do all weekend.”
“At least you know that much,” I frowned. “I don’t even know what squad comps are, let alone if I’m going to be any good at them.”
“You’ll do great,” he smiled. “Trust me. I don’t think you know how to be anything but good at stuff at the gym. I mean, you may be new but you fit in here like people who have been on teams longer than me.”
“Hey Max,” Greg said to me from behind the table before I could respond to Connor.
“Hey,” I replied, honestly happy to see him. Greg always had a new tip or trick for me to help me land my tumbling, so seeing him was always great.
“Here’s your shirt, wristband, bow, and number for the weekend,” Greg explained while handing me a TNT tote bag full of everything he had just listed and more. “There are also some snacks and drinks in there. If you run out, you can get more from the table near the water fountain any time. We’re getting started in about a half an hour so just find somewhere to put your stuff and put your number and wristband on for now.”
“Come on,” Connor said after seeing my look of confusion as I turned away from Greg.
Connor put an arm around my shoulders and walked me over to where a lot of the gym bags seemed to be placed. I noticed most of them had cheer bows with names on them, making it clear whose bag it was. Mine had nothing extra on it, which helped just as well to identify it. Connor took the tote bag from me and took out the wristband and number. I slipped on the purple wrist band as Connor stood behind me to pin the number onto my back. Part of me wanted to ask him what the number and wrist band could be for, but I had a feeling his answer wouldn’t help much even if he had any clue.