Learning to Fly (TNT Force Cheer #1)

by Dana Burkey

  “I saw you really picking up some moves at dance,” Connor commented after his description of stunt class caused him and Matthew to talk about a grip for one of the harder moves they worked on.

  “I guess,” I shrugged, still feeling like I was behind everyone when it came to my dance moves.

  “What do you mean, you guess?” Lexi asked. “You were doing so good. Tonya even said so.”

  “Yeah, but I think she just meant I was doing good compared to how much I sucked before trying for all of class to get it down,” I tried again, still not accepting that I was anything above decent at the dance we had worked on.

  “You have the dance Tonya taught us yesterday down,” Halley added.

  “That’s true,” I finally agreed. “I think I’ve done that dance enough times now that I won’t ever forget it.”

  Since the class was led by Tonya, she spent some of her hour and a half of time to go over the dance before adding more to it. The parts she added were a lot harder, and I still wasn’t great at some of the counts. But, by going over the opening part enough times, I finally could do the whole beginning section thing without messing up. And for me, that was a massive improvement.

  “You basically just described cheer to a T,” Lexi commented. “We spend all season doing the routine so many times we could sleepwalk our way through it and still hit every count and every skill. But then you start a new season and do it all over again.”

  “Since you already did some of the moves in the past season, the routine is easier to learn by the second year,” Amber chimed in. “And after you’ve been here for as many years as some of us, you could almost make up the whole routine for the coaches without much thought.”

  “How long have you been cheerleading?” I asked Amber, knowing that her pink shorts and TNT logo meant she was on Bomb Squad.

  “14 years now,” she smiled. “I started when I was four, and have been going nonstop ever since.”

  I tried to imagine Amber cheerleading when she was only four, but in my head I could only picture a shorter version of who she was now. She was one of the best tumblers in the gym, as I saw firsthand when I watched her team perform the day before. But not only that, she was also the most girly-girl I had seen at the gym. Her nails were painted a hot pink and her makeup was done flawlessly to show off her vibrant red hair and light green eyes. Not only did her appearance make her easy to spot at the gym, she seemed to be the person everyone was always talking to or spending time with. When she was four, I realized with a jolt, she was probably just like me though. New to the gym and trying to get a grip of everything, I doubt she was quite the confident girl I was getting to know. Sure, I was 9 years older than she was when she was just starting out, but it made me think about the fact that everyone in the gym, even Amber, had to start somewhere.

  It seemed to click at that moment that I was thinking about cheer as if I were staying. I hadn’t exactly made up my mind, but if I was honest, things were a little better since I opened up to Lexi and Halley and Tonya. Even knowing that I was able to talk to them and be vulnerable meant a lot, since that was something I didn’t even do with Peter or Kyle. The idea that I would likely have Lexi and Halley as friends even if I didn’t stay at the gym was a nice consolation to think about for a while. And it was easier than really considering staying after the weekend of camp concluded.

  “Anyone have any idea what we’re doing after lunch?” Matthew asked between bites of his burger.

  “Maybe a talent show?” Halley guessed. “We’ve done one the last two years, so it would make sense to do it again this year.”

  “I bet we do a field trip for ice cream or something,” Lexi pointed out. “I overheard TJ talking on the phone to someone about taking a trip for a surprise. And what could be better right now than ice cream. It has to be at least 100 degrees out here.”

  “My guess is we’ll have to do even more hard work before we earn ice cream,” I said with a small frown. “Something like that won’t just be given to us until after we’re sweating and half dead from some kind of terrible workout.”

  “You catch on quickly,” Anna laughed.

  “So Max,” Halley began as we were all finishing lunch. “Is your dad coming to the showcase tomorrow?”

  “Of course,” I assured her. “He’s been looking forward to it all week. My neighbors are coming too so they can come with me after it’s all done to pick out kittens.”

  The mention of cats had everyone excited and asking me questions. I explained to everyone that our last cat died a few months before we moved to Texas, and I was only now ready to get a new one. Ruby had been 15 when she passed away, but after losing my mom it was hard to say another goodbye. I didn’t give them that bit of news, not wanting them to feel sorry for me. I also made sure not to tell them that I was getting the cats after my dad bribed me to stay at the gym. What I did tell them proved to be enough though, and everyone started sharing what pets they had and what pets they wanted to get or used to have. It was a fun conversation that passed the time as we finished lunch then headed inside and took a seat on the mats.

  “Listen up everyone,” TJ called out once everyone appeared to be sitting inside. “We’re going to be doing something a little different this afternoon, so make sure you’re paying attention.”

  Taking a piece of paper and pen from Nicole as she walked around handing them out, I was confused when I looked down at the heading on the page. ‘People Bingo’ was written along the top of the sheet, above a series of boxes. Things like ‘played hockey on a semi-pro team’ and ‘has never broken a bone’ filled in each of the 25 boxes. Glancing at the papers in both Lexi and Halley's hands, I realized that each paper was different. There were likely a few similar versions of the game going around, all of them made up of the facts we wrote down to start the morning.

  “Each of these facts only has one match,” TJ explained once most of the papers had been handed out. “Although there may be facts that apply to you, unless it is one of the ones you wrote down earlier today then it doesn't count for this game. Your goal is to find a match to all 25 facts, getting a signature in the box of the person who it describes. There were a few facts that were written more than once, so there are a few different people to choose from. For instance, about 30 people wrote that they’ve won Worlds. We didn’t put that one on there, but if it was on your bingo sheet then you could have gotten the signature of any one of those 30 people. Once you have all 25 signatures you can turn your paper in to me. The first few people to finish may receive a prize. Go!”

  There was a pause after TJ’s last words. Everyone seemed to freeze in place for a solid 5 seconds. Sure, 5 seconds isn’t a long time. But it felt like a lot longer. And then it was over. Everyone jumped up and began asking people around them about the facts on their paper. It was rather overwhelming, so I stepped away from everyone and took a minute to read through all of the facts on my page to help get my mind around the challenge. Once I was certain that none of them were what I wrote down, I walked back onto the mat and the questions began.

  “Have you gone to Disneyland?”

  “Do you collect Barbies?”

  “Is your favorite movie ever Princess Bride?”

  “How many digits of Pi do you know?”

  The questions were non-stop, and after each time I said ‘no’ in reply, the person speaking to me moved on and I was left alone to be asked by someone else or try to get a word out to those around me. It felt like forever before I finally landed my first signature.

  “Have you gone to space camp?” I asked a girl that was standing near me.

  “YES!” She all but yelled as she jumped up and down before taking my paper and signing her name on the correct square. “Do you know karate?”

  “No,” I shook my head.

  “Will you glance at my page and see if any of them apply to you?”

  I wasn’t sure if that was allowed in the challenge or not, but since I was so happy about actually get
ting one correct, I took the sheet from her and read it over. Right in the center was one of the facts I wrote: ‘I’ve never worn high heels.’ But before I could sign my name I realized that someone had already signed in that square.

  “You already got someone to sign for mine,” I told her, pointing to the one with the name Lacie written across it.

  “That’s funny,” she laughed. “That one's mine. Well, thanks anyways.”

  She turned and walked away, leaving me to find someone else to talk to. Thankfully, the luck from finding Lacie seemed to be infectious. I quickly found a few more people who were also on my bingo grid. I also signed my name on a few pages, both for the squares ‘I’ve never worn high heels,’ and ‘I’m afraid of spiders.’

  “There you are!” Connor called out to me, taking hold of my arm to get my attention as he held his paper out to me. “Is this one yours?”

  I read where his finger was pointing. It said ‘I’ve never gone to a cheerleading competition.’ I shook my head to let him know that although it was true, it was not what I had written. But I spotted the final statement I had put on my page in one of his squares and signed my name as Connor signed his name on my paper as well.

  “You get pedicures once a month?” I laughed, reading where Connor had signed his name.

  “Yeah,” he sighed. “My mom took me once after my sister went off to college, and it wasn’t bad. I mean, a foot massage and some relaxing time in those chairs is pretty great. I just get clear nail polish though. And when I’m in there I see other guys getting pedicures too.”

  “I guess pedicures can be for anyone,” I nodded. “I just didn’t think you would be someone who got them.”

  “Speaking of things I wasn’t expecting,” Connor said motioning to his paper. “You’ve gone skiing in Switzerland?”

  “Yeah, I lived there for a few months when I was little,” I nodded, causing Connor's eyes to go even wider than I thought possible. “My dad was there doing research at a lab so my mom and I got to spend all day skiing and going around town and doing all kinds of fun stuff like that. I was only 5, but it was where I learned to ski. Or rather learned to fall while wearing skis.”

  “That’s awesome,” he grinned. “I don’t think most people would guess that about you.”

  “Here’s hoping, right?” I replied with a smile before turning and walking off to find more matches.

  With fewer and fewer squares to find signatures for, I started to struggle to match each one with a person. Finally, I had only three left when TJ announced the first winner. Knowing I wasn’t going to win the top spot didn’t matter though. I still wanted to complete the challenge. So I started not only asking people if the spots I still had unsigned were theirs, I also made sure to slowly make my way towards TJ so as soon as I got the last signature I could turn my paper in quickly.

  “Max, can you see if any of these are you?” A voice asked. I turned and was shocked to see Paige talking to me. “And hey, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” I shrugged, trading papers with the other girl.

  “No, it’s not,” she said with a sigh, looking at me instead of the paper in her hand. “I was a jerk. Plain and simple. I let trying to have the best dance number get in the way of actually treating you how I should have.”

  “I forgive you,” I said, looking at her and truly meaning it. “We all make mistakes sometimes.”

  “Well, hopefully this will help,” Paige smiled handing me my paper with one less square to fill in. “And if you ever need help with any dance moves, let me know. Even if you’re not on my squad I want you to do good while on those mats.”

  “Thanks, I just might take you up on that,” I replied, giving her the paper I had been holding.

  Turning away from Paige, I couldn’t help but smile a little bigger as I walked around to find the last few signatures for my paper. It might have been a little thing to some people, but I got the feeling that Paige wasn’t someone who admitted she was wrong often. Not that she was mean or a jerk or anything. I just had the feeling that usually when she pushed people the way she pushed me, they rose to the occasion. Usually if she got under someone's skin they would work harder and use her nagging as motivation to get it right. But not me. I broke down, and I think for once Paige saw that not everyone at the gym would react the same to her antics. Or maybe it was just something that clicked for me the moment I truly forgave her. With a smile, I turned to continue my search for someone who was homeschooled until middle school and someone who owned over 100 pair of shoes.

  “That bow is adorable,” Lexi said for about the hundredth time as we sat on the mats stretching as instructed.

  “I’m serious, if you want it I can totally give it to you,” I replied, for also about the hundredth time.

  “No way, you won that fair and square.”

  I had a feeling she was going to mention it again soon enough, but it didn’t bother me too much. Mostly since I knew she was right. Everyone else in the gym had their team bows in their hair, but myself and the other two girls that finished in the top 5 were all wearing our prize bows. The boys that came in the top spots were given gift cards to Starbucks, but us girls all got bows. Keeping with the theme, they were a Starbucks themed bow with the white and green logo on the bow, along with the words ‘I cheer a latte.’ At first the bow and the attention it drew made me uncomfortable, but aside from Leanne who was still giving me glares, people seemed to be really happy for me. Sure, some of them were likely glad I did better at the bingo game than the dance performances, but I had a feeling others were just admiring the bow.

  Thankfully, Lexi only mentioned my bow once more before we were put into our teams and given no instructions other than to keep stretching. No one was sure why we needed to stretch, but as the coaches slowly began to call teams outside into the parking lot one at a time, the anticipation was building.

  “Blast and Nitro, time to go,” Tonya said, standing near me on the mat.

  Walking outside, we saw a big yellow school bus was waiting for us. After climbing on board we spent the ride guessing where we might be going, making the short trip feel like it took an eternity. All of the guesses were proven wrong as soon as we pulled up to a wooded area that had a large wooden sign that read ‘Operation: TEAM.’ To say we were confused as we unloaded from the bus was an understatement. But, before I could ask Lexi or anyone else if they knew what we were doing, Nicole stepped in front of us and started talking.

  “Welcome everyone,” she smiled. “You are all here for some team building challenges. Every team will be rotating through a series of stations for the next few hours. Your team captains are going to get a map of the grounds and a schedule of where you will be at what times, so please make sure you are on time for section in order to make sure you can get through each activity.”

  Once Nicole was done speaking to us and had given Anna and Lexi the map, Halley turned to them and asked, “Where to first?” I didn’t know until then that the two girls were the team captains, but I was more interested in finding out what we were going to be doing now that we were in the woods.

  “Peanut Butter Pit,” Anna read slowly. “Whatever that is.”

  After a short walk down the path that we found on the map, we arrived at a cleared space where two logs separated us from a bog of mud. In the middle of all of the mud was a small platform, and between the logs and that platform was a hanging rope with a loop in the bottom big enough for someone to slip their foot inside. Standing on the log to greet us was a girl wearing a TNT staff shirt, and as some of the girls greeted her, I caught that her name was Bailey.

  “Welcome to the Peanut Butter Pit everyone,” she grinned. “Your goal is to get from where you are to that platform over there. This will be timed and, yes, your whole team must be on the platform for it to count. If even one person steps in the mud, you must all start back behind the log again.” She paused and then added, “And only girls who have been on the team for three years or longer a
re allowed to talk.”

  Everyone looked around themselves, clearly doing the same thing I was. We were looking for the people who were allowed to talk. I assumed Lexi and Halley both would be able to, but when I looked at Lexi she was looking around the same as me. Finally, Halley, Corral, and a girl that I soon learned was named Kate, stood together and began chatting strategies. I was both thankful and annoyed that I couldn’t voice my ideas or opinions. Not that I knew what to do exactly. I just didn’t like the idea of not having a say in getting from one spot to another. But, I tried to stay positive and listen as Kate turned and addressed the group.

  “Okay, we’re going to try to hold onto someone while they reach out and grab the rope,” she explained. “Who’s taller, Jamie or Shannon?”

  There was a lot of pointing back and forth. Finally, the two girls stood back to back and it became clear that Shannon was at least two inches taller. It meant she would have a longer arm reach, so she was pushed up towards the logs.

  “Skyler and Kami, help Halley and Corral hold onto her,” Kate directed. “Shannon, try to stay completely still and keep your core hard so you can reach.”

  Shannon tried to keep her body straight, but it was clear that even with the support she was getting from the girls, she was not going to be tall enough to make it. The rope was at least 8 feet away, and there was just no way her arms were going to grab ahold of it unless she started to magically grow all of a sudden. Realizing this, Kate instructed the girls to bring Shannon back. Unfortunately, pulling her back in was a heck of a lot harder than leaning her out towards the rope, and their grips were not enough to keep her stable. With a squishy and sloppy sound, Shannon fell into the mud.

  “Back behind the log,” Bailey announced from where she was sitting on a low tree branch a few feet away. “You’ve wasted 3 minutes so far.”

  “Okay, we need to try something else. We can’t reach it on our own,” Halley sighed as Shannon walked back to us, trying to wipe the mud off of her as much as she could. I had a feeling she was wishing Jamie was taller than her at this particular moment.