by Dana Burkey
“Maybe it will come back.” Lexi was serious, but her tone betrayed the fact that even she didn’t think it was a real possibility. “It went away all of a sudden, it could come back just like that too. Right?”
“I guess,” Halley finally said. “But I’m not holding my breath.”
“Well, whatever team you make, we’ll be there cheering super loud for you at every comp no matter what,” I assured her.
“Thanks. Now no more depressing tumbling talk,” Halley decided for us. “Did you guys really hit needle double arounds?
With her simple question, the mood in the room changed. Enough so that we quickly decided once and for all that a movie wasn’t going to be enough to keep our energy at bay. So, instead, we headed outside to hang out in the hot tub. We talked about going into the pool at first, but knew we needed to keep the noise down for the neighbors around us. The hot tub was the better choice, and it really did help us chill and get rid of some of our energy. Sadly not all of our energy, since we still managed to stay up a lot later than we should have considering how early we needed to be up in the morning. A mistake we felt as soon as my alarms started going off way too soon after going to bed.
“I’m going to sleep the entire way to Florida,” Lexi sighed, zipping her suitcase after she was dressed to leave for the airport.
“Lucky,” Halley frowned. “Staying awake in school is going to be terrible.”
“Any chance your mom will let you skip?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“No way,” Halley assured me. “I’m missing too much next week for Summit so I have to go today or my parents will for sure freak out.”
“Well, hopefully the day will pass by quickly then,” Lexi tried again.
“I’m getting Starbucks on the way to school for sure,” Halley explained. “So much Starbucks.”
“If you need some coffee in the meantime I’m sure my dad has some ready.”
That was all the encouragement Halley needed. Quickly finishing packing up her backpack and overnight bag, she headed to the kitchen for coffee while Lexi and I finished getting our bags sorted out. Lexi had come with all of her stuff packed and good to go, but despite doing laundry earlier in the week I still had a few things to round up last minute. Shoving everything I had forgotten into my suitcase, I finally placed my bags at the door for my dad to load into the car. Then I went in search of coffee as well.
Filling up a cup, I took a seat at the table between my zombie-like friends and pulled out my phone. I only had a few messages from people on Nitro, most of them still struggling to wake up and get moving for the day. So, deciding to hop onto Instagram I came face to face with a post Nick had made since the last time I had checked the app. He announced his injury, surgery, and the fact that he wasn’t going to be in Florida. Only the post I saw wasn’t made by him. Instead it was screenshots of his post, reuploaded by an anonymous cheerleading account. That was common enough for our team and other Worlds teams in general. But, the comments were not what I was expecting to see. As I scrolled through them I saw person after person saying the injury just proved that much like NCA, Nitro was falling apart when it mattered most.
“What’s wrong?” Lexi asked, leaning over to look at my phone as well.
“Everyone has something to say again,” I sighed. “It’s not as bad as NCA yet, but if we don’t do good at Worlds it’s going to be even worse than it was after Dallas.”
“So then just do really good this weekend,” Halley suggested with a smile. “And don’t let those people get to you. It’s like when Leanne tried to bully you. People who take the time to post stuff like that about you are going out of their way to be mean. Them doing that says more about their character than their harsh words will ever say about you.”
“Wow,” I said slowly. “I need you to sit with me any time I log onto social media.”
“I’ll be available all weekend if you need to call me so I can talk you off a stress ledge,” Halley offered. “Besides if you don’t call me and keep me updated on every moment all weekend I’ll go crazy. Especially you Lexi. I need to know about every second of your first trip to Worlds. And there is no way I’m waiting until I see you at Summit.”
“Deal,” Lexi told her, and I nodded in agreement.
We finished up our coffee just in time for my dad to come in and let us know we needed to leave for the airport. That was Halley’s cue to head to school as well. Giving each other long enough hugs to last the whole time we would be apart, Lexi and I loaded into my dad's car and headed across town while Halley made a beeline for the nearest Starbucks. The ride to the airport was a quiet one, mostly since the coffee hadn't fully woken either of us girls up. Not to mention my brain was still thinking about the comments on the Instagram photo, even after what Halley had said about it.
“Well, here goes nothing,” Lexi said with a deep breath as we headed into the airport after parking my dad's car.
“Your first Worlds,” I nodded, my excitement growing as well. “It’s going to be the best.”
“Hey Max,” my dad interrupted. “Looks like you have someone waiting for you.”
Turning to where my dad was pointing, I was happy to see Jackson. He was making a funny face and waving, which made me laugh knowing he had likely been doing it for a while in hopes of catching my attention. As Lexi and my dad both joined in with my laughter, I skipped forward to give him a hug. He looked about as tired as I felt, a thin layer of stubble on his face since he clearly hadn’t bothered to shave that morning.
“Have you been here long?” I asked while untangling myself from him.
“Not really. Nina and I only got here maybe 10 minutes ago.” As he took my suitcase and began rolling it for me he turned to Lexi. “Getting excited?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “But also feeling a little nervous. This is a lot like going to Summit, but it feels different too.”
“Bigger, right?” I asked, having felt the same just a year ago when I was heading to my first Worlds.
“So much bigger,” she nodded.
Then, spotting her mom and dad at a check-in kiosk, she headed over to say good morning to them. While she did, my dad took my bag so he could get us checked in as well. It left Jackson and I to head to security, passing a few members of the TNT Force gym along the way. Everyone from the gym's three Worlds teams were flying out over the course of the morning, on one of the two flights that were heading first to Dallas and then on to Orlando.
“You doing okay Max?” Jackson asked once we turned down a hallway just past the check-in counters.
“Yeah,” I said simply.
“It’s me Max,” he reminded me with a squeeze of my fingers. “Everyone else may be fooled, but you seem off somehow. You’re usually way more excited going into a travel comp.”
“I’m just kind of up in my head,” I finally admitted. “People are talking on Instagram and it has me worried now. We’ve had so much happen the last few weeks, and now I’m worried everything will fall apart and it will be like NCA all over again.”
“I get why you feel like that, but you can’t let it affect you like this right now,” he told me, stopping in our progress towards security to emphasize his point. “We’re all thinking about it, and worrying about it deep down. But we can’t let it control us right now. We have to just push it to the back of our minds and only do what we can when we can. Tonight and tomorrow when we have practice we can work hard at cleaning up all the little things and getting stuff to really hit. Until then we need to ignore the worry and what other people think and keep our heads up. I mean, I’m feeling shaky about it too, but until we’re on the mat I can’t let that consume me or I’ll miss out on all the fun of heading to Disney with all my favorite people.”
Even though I knew it without him saying it, I needed to actually hear someone talk me through it. Halley had helped a lot, but having it come from a member of Nitro, especially Jackson, helped even more. As his words sunk in, all I could do was
nod in reply. He flashed me a smile, which instantly made me aware of the fact we were standing in a fairly empty hallway in the airport together. I could feel the familiar nervousness, thinking he might take the moment to kiss me. It was a nice relief from the feeling of worry over Worlds, but still didn’t feel right all the same. For some reason, my eyes were drawn to his lips, and I could feel my heart speed up in mild panic.
“Here you are!” Lexi exclaimed, causing Jackson to finally tear his eyes away from me. “I turned around after giving my mom my suitcase and couldn’t find you two anywhere.”
“Sorry,” I told her, simply. Thanks to her I didn’t have to be put on the spot any longer about kissing Jackson, but wasn’t going to say that out loud.
“It’s okay,” she assured me. “I just heard from one of the Bomb Squad girls that there are donuts from a team mom at our gate.”
“In that case we better hurry up,” I said, turning and continuing the walk to the security checkpoint. “If I don’t get one with chocolate frosting the whole trip could be ruined.”
“Well, we can’t have that,” Jackson laughed, as they both hurried to keep up with my suddenly excited pace.
The flights to Florida were the same as usual when the gym traveled together. We all became more hyper and excited the closer we got to Florida, even me despite my weird mood at the start of my day. Everyone was swapping seats, trading snacks, and generally annoying anyone on the flight that wasn’t a part of the gym. Our flights from Dallas to Orlando had a handful of other cheerleaders also heading to Florida, which made for even more craziness, if that was possible. All of it made for the perfect distraction to get my mind off of anything other than enjoying the trip and start of the long weekend.
“Do you think we have time to go to the pool before practice?” Emma asked me as we were getting all settled into our hotel room.
“No way,” I frowned. I was sitting in front of the air conditioner, attempting to cool down. Just the heat from the walk to our rooms was making me feel super sweaty and exhausted.
“But I’m literally going to go swimming in my practice wear if I have to afterwards to cool down.”
“This outfit is too cute to just jump into the pool,” Juleah warned. “I think this is my new favorite.”
Juleah was sitting on the hotel bed surrounded by the contents of her goody bag. We had all received them when we got to our rooms and were given instructions to wear the new gym gear to our evening practice. The outfit for the girls consisted of a sports bra and cheer shorts in teal with a rhinestone black and silver bomb on the shorts. Across the chest of the sports bra was NITRO in the same rhinestones, making it a lot more sparkly than most of our other clothing for practice. The other items in the goody bags included a gold cheer bow with NITRO in teal glitter letters mounted in the center, a team tank top, and a black fanny pack with the gym’s logo on the front in silver and white.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I agreed with a sigh. “For real though, why is it so hot?”
“It’s going to rain,” Emma said, her eyes on her phone. “Looks like our practice might not go quite as planned.”
“Do you think TJ knows?” I asked, still not moving from my prime air conditioning spot.
“I’m sure he does.” As Whitney spoke she emerged from the bathroom wearing the new practice wear. “This is literally so adorable.”
“Okay, I need to change so we can get photos,” Juleah announced jumping up and slipping past Whitney into the bathroom.
Despite wanting to sit in front of the air conditioner until practice, I followed suit and also got changed. Then, I suffered through my friends attacking me with their makeup bags so we all looked ‘extra perfect’ for Worlds. As expected, once we were all in our matching outfits and our usual practice bows we headed out of our room to get photos. I noticed gray clouds overhead and again wondered if practice would be affected by the upcoming weather. But that was the least of my concerns as I was forced to take easily a few hundred pictures with my teammates.
“Did you feel that?” Lexi asked me while we stood watching as Emma took yet another photo with Whitney.
“Feel what?”
The second the words were out of my mouth a crack of thunder boomed overhead. Shocked by the sudden noise, I felt myself jump while I let out a scream. I was a little embarrassed that I reacted that way, although everyone else around me did about the same so I wasn’t all that noticeable. Then as the thunder gave way to rain, both my teammates and the other cheerleaders around us began darting around looking for anywhere to stand to keep from getting wet.
“Well, this is fun.” I made the comment while wiping a combo of both rain and sweat from my forehead after finding a dry spot thanks to walkways for the second floor of the resort overhead.
“At least it’s not as hot,” Emma laughed.
“Kind of,” I agreed. “Now what do we do?”
“I don't know,” she replied. “ But it looks like we don’t have to worry about practice after all. This weather isn’t supposed to let up for a while.”
“Do you really think TJ is going to cancel practice without even trying to find somewhere for us to meet inside?” I challenged.
Emma shrugged, then moved to find better lighting to get a photo with the rain falling behind her. I laughed watching the picture taking, then moved to stand with her so I could be in one of the photos as well. In doing so, I wasn’t paying attention, and had no warning when someone snuck up and wrapped me in a wet hug. As I was picked up and carried a few steps backwards so I was standing in the rain, I could tell it was Jackson as I heard his familiar laugh in my ear.
“Stop!” I half yelled, half laughed. “You’re going to mess up my makeup.”
“Who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?” he asked, finally letting go of me so I could run back to the cover we had been standing under.
“I take the blame on that one,” Whitney said with a little raise of her hand. “I made her put on mascara so we looked good in our photos, but I didn’t want to waste my waterproof just yet.”
“Yeah, but still,” Jackson tried again. “Anyway, are you all heading to the practice field?”
“Not much else to do,” Connor noted from where he was still standing partially in the rain.
Agreeing, we all started heading towards where we were supposed to meet. We walked under the covering provided as often as we could. When we were forced to be out in the open we ran, but managed to get pretty soaked still. A thing that Jackson was certain to point out once we reached where TJ and a few other teammates stood. They were all huddled under an awning with a crowd of cheerleaders from other teams and gyms who had likely been practicing when the weather took a turn for the worse.
“How’s my makeup now?” I asked Jackson with a grin as I tried to wipe away the hair stuck to my neck.
“Perfect.” He pulled me in for a wet hug, and added a kiss on the top of my head despite all our friends standing around us. “It’s more under your eyes than on your lashes, but who’s really paying attention.”
Pushing him away from me, I gave him an exaggerated eye roll before wiping off my face in case his words were true. Looking around I could see that a few of the girls had makeup running all over their faces, so I knew if I did look a bit of a mess then at least I was in good company. Not to mention the soaking wet hair we were all rocking made for quite a fashion statement.
“Alright Nitro, listen up,” TJ said over the sound of the rain and people all around us. “It’s looking like tonight's practice isn’t going to happen after all. But I want you all to still take some time to stretch and mark the routine as best you can on your own. The weather tomorrow is going to be nice and sunny, so we will still have practice at noon. Plan for it to be a long one.” He paused looking over the group. “But then again, what else is new? Get some rest, use the hair dryer in your room to get your practice wear looking good for some team photos tomorrow, and come ready to work.”
>
“Well, I guess we have a free evening now,” Juleah grinned. “That means we can go swimming as soon as the storm passes.”
“The weather is showing it’s supposed to be raining for hours though,” Connor noted. “Otherwise we would have just started practice late.”
“Whatever,” she frowned. “At least we can enjoy our first night in Disney without dying at practice.”
“Which means we will die in the morning,” I said simply, then turned to Jackson. “Want to track down nachos? I think I smelled them earlier.”
“You know it,” he laughed. Then, taking my hand in his, we set off to find enough melted cheese and chips to make us forget how hard practice would be in the morning.
“I really wish we had practice yesterday,” Jade whined.
“I told you it was going to be bad.” I was dripping sweat from just about every part of my body, and was standing with my hands on top of my head to help me catch my breath. It was even hotter than I thought it was going to be and practice was still only halfway over. “Do you think we’ll even be alive enough to go to the park later?”
Before Jade could answer me, TJ started counting and launched us back into pyramid once again. We had been running our routine section by section, making sure we got everything perfect before moving on. Pyramid was proving to be a difficult one for us, enough so that we had eventually given up, finished running the rest of the routine, and then doubled back to try it again. It made the current run number 19, and TJ was going from annoyed to angry and fast.
“Why isn’t this hitting?!” He yelled, instantly making the whole room quiet.
Knowing that the weather was looking a little iffy in the afternoon, TJ reached out to a few local gyms about holding practice inside. He came up short with all of the cheer gyms since they were already booked solid, but managed to find a gymnastics gym that let us use their spring-loaded floor for a few hours. They didn’t have classes, so the place was all ours aside from some older athletes taking private lessons. But, once TJ began yelling, most of them trickled out early.