by April Marcom
“That’s true.” Lavender still looked partially petrified.
“Ready?” Miss Harkington came back holding a plate covered with saran wrap.
“Yeah, let me just grab my stuff.” Lavender and Poppy ran up the stairs.
“My mom’s going to pick up Lavender tomorrow morning,” Brittany said. “We might not get there at exactly the same time Mrs. Hemming usually does.”
“Is Nicole’s mom okay?”
“Yeah, we’re just trying something different.”
Lavender and Poppy came racing down the stairs, laughing about something.
“Hey, Poppy,” I said. “Do you think your mom would bring you over after school Thursday so we can go over the presentation? All of us should probably meet here.”
“I bet she will.” She waited a second for me to say more, because we hadn’t actually finalized anything about Ty.
“Text me when you get home to let me know, okay?”
“Sure, see you later.”
Poppy disappeared outside with Lavender and her mom. The rest of us went upstairs to get our purses and bags and stuff.
I grabbed my cell from my purse to send Poppy a quick text. Blaine had sent me a couple of texts, but I was too concerned with Ty to check them right then.
Can u just tell Ty I luv him so much & I promise 2 make it up to him & 2 plz plz forgive me? & txt if u have any ideas?
I texted Poppy.
“Come on, girls.” My mom waved for us to hurry up when we came down the stairs too slowly for her. We were a lot more caught up in talking about tomorrow than getting out the door.
I opened the message from Blaine as I got inside our Escalade.
Rodney said u broke up w/ Black?
“Mom!” I dropped my phone in my lap and slapped my hands over my ears when her favorite rock band CD burst from the radio.
“Sorry, honey.” She turned it down on our way out of the driveway.
“You’re so cool, Mrs. Cane,” Brittany said.
“You’ve gotta be the only mom who still listens to that stuff,” Zaniah added. “All my parents ever listen to is lame oldies.”
“Thanks, girls,” my mom laughed.
I thought silently about how to respond to Blaine during the drive. I wanted to say it was none of Rodney’s business. I wanted to tell Blaine it didn’t matter, because Ty and I would be getting back together. But I didn’t know how true that actually was, and of course, part of me still wanted Blaine, too.
“Bye, girls,” Stephanie said, climbing out of the seat behind me.
“Bye,” everyone called back.
A text from Poppy lit my cell.
Just got home. Mom says Ty left on his bike a few min ago. I’ll tell him when he’s home.
Thanx
I responded, then went back to Blaine’s texts.
My thumb brushed over his name. I was in the front seat and no-one would ever know. I was so, SO torn. Getting back with Blaine would have been so easy. Working things out with Ty might have been impossible.
“See you tomorrow morning,” Zaniah said when we pulled in front of her house.
“Bye.”
No-one spoke as we cruised through the night to our final stop.
I was surprised when a text from Nicole popped up on my phone.
How could u do this 2 me?
Do what?
I texted back, wondering which of my revenges she was referring to.
Turn the squad against me.
U turned them against u, & thanx 4 unblocking my #, ex-bestie.
My heart sped faster at talking back to her like that after being too afraid for so long, but not because of fear. The liberation of finally speaking my mind to Nicole was exciting.
“Bye, Hadley,” Brittany said when we stopped in front of her house. “Thanks for the ride, Mrs. Cane.”
“Anytime,” my mom said.
“Bye, Brit,” I added.
“Mom,” I said when Brittany had shut the back door.
“Yes?”
“What if Ty never forgives me? I’d give almost anything to take back breaking up with him.” The streetlight outside felt more like a spotlight pouring into the car all over me as we passed underneath.
“Well—I’m your mom, so you know I’ve got to remind you you’re only sixteen, and there will be other boys. But I also know because you’re only sixteen that won’t do any good… How serious about you do you think he is?”
“He looked like he was going to cry when I broke up with him, and he told me he loved me Saturday.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. He told you he loves you? Is there anything you and I need to talk about?”
“No, mom.” I threw my head back in exasperation. “I’m not having sex.” I turned to stare out the window, feeling heartbroken. “He put up with so much to be with me. I think he meant it when he said he loves me.”
“Hadley, if he really loves you, he’ll come around eventually. Just try to give him some space. The worst thing you could do is come on too strong. Guys hate it when girls seem desperate.”
“But I broke up with him, Mom. If I just stand back and do nothing, we’ll never get back together.”
“I’m not saying do nothing. I just mean don’t do anything too obsessive, like calling him every hour and showing up between all his classes. That wouldn’t do any good, either.”
My phone buzzed with a text from Blaine.
Miss u, Hads.
I sat up straight and stiff when we turned onto our street. The tail end of a dark motorcycle was turning off our street at the other end. Oh my gosh! I wanted to call Ty so badly and tell him to come back. But what if it wasn’t him? I didn’t get a good enough look to be sure. I decided to take my mom’s weird advice and try to brush it off.
I kept my phone with me at all times once I got home, waiting for Poppy to text me back, but the text never came.
31
My phone was ringing off the hook. Half-asleep, I kept blindly hitting buttons to shut it up. Who on earth was calling me this early?!
After the fifth or sixth call, my mom came running into my room. “Hadley, we overslept.” She shook my arm back and forth. “Come on, get up.”
“Huh?” I rubbed my eyes, sitting up on an elbow.
“I forgot to set my alarm, honey. Brittany’s mom’s already outside.”
“What?!” I threw my blanket off and climbed out of bed. “Can you go tell her what’s going on?”
“On my way,” my mom said halfway to the door.
I ran to my closet and grabbed my absolute-favorite, cutest shirt ever. It would have to compensate for the time I’d been robbed of for doing my hair and makeup. I grabbed a pair of jeans and made a dash for the bathroom. I barely got my clothes pulled on and squeezed toothpaste on my toothbrush before someone was pounding at the bathroom door.
“Just a sec. I’m going as fast as I can,” I called to my mom.
“Hey!” Brittany said. “Let us in.”
“We’ll have you beautified in no time,” Stephanie added.
“Oh my gosh!” I opened the door to find both of them plus Zaniah standing in my bedroom.
“I’ll take care of her hair,” Brittany said, reaching for the big pink hairbrush beside the sink.
Zaniah pulled my makeup bag out of the designated drawer. “I’ll do her eyes.”
“I’ve got the bronzer covered.” Stephanie reached into the bag Zaniah was holding.
“Thanks, girls,” I laughed. I brushed my teeth the best I could as they all speed-beautified me.
Brittany pulled my hair into the rarely-seen-outside-cheer-activities ponytail. Then she put my white and silver cheer bow in my hair and sprayed it with glitter. Zaniah drew out my eyeliner a little longer than I would have liked and went way too heavy on the smoky shadow, but I couldn’t complain. They got me headed for the front door in two minutes flat! Then we were climbing in Brittany’s mom’s white van.
“Hadley,” my mom called, running across ou
r front yard.
I stopped with one foot still on pavement and looked back.
“Don’t forget breakfast.” She handed me an apple and a blueberry muffin. “Love you, honey.”
“Love you, too.”
She gave me a quick hug. Then I resumed climbing into Brittany’s van and we began driving away.
“I’ve got a surprise,” Brittany turned around in the front seat to tell us. “Stickers!”
“Stickers?” I asked when she held up a brown lunch bag.
“Yeah, everybody put one on.” She took out a few and passed them to Stephanie. I was sitting in the back, so I got one last.
They reminded me of those circle buttons people pin to their bags, with cool pictures or logos. These were white, maybe three inches across, with a black diagonal line across the middle, separating it into two parts. The top half said TEAM HADLEY with a tiny silver star sticker next to my name. The lower half said TEAM NICOLE and had an X drawn over it.
“Awe-some,” Steph sang as she peeled her sticker and stuck it on her shirt.
“Yeah, these are perfect.” Zaniah put on hers, too.
Brittany was watching me when I looked up at her. “This is really nice, Brittany, but are you sure I should wear one?”
“Why shouldn’t you?”
“I don’t know. What if everyone thinks I’m all stuck on myself or something?”
“Hey, this is war,” Zaniah said, grinning. “It’s clash of the cheerleaders. It’s not about being stuck up; it’s about winning the war against Nicole. You should totally wear it.”
Stephanie nodded to me.
“That bag’s not full of these stickers, is it?” I asked Brittany. The bag in her hand was obviously full of something.
“Of course it is. I printed like a hundred last night and used my mom’s scrapbook puncher to cut em’ out. We’re going to pass these out all over school.”
Her mom shook her head, but didn’t say anything.
“Okay,” I laughed, putting on my sticker. “You’re having way too much fun with this, Brit.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said. “But I’ve always thought it’d be so cool if I was some black sheep politician’s campaign manager someday and went totally outside the box with it. This is good practice.”
I hadn’t thought about that. She had always wanted to fight for some great big thing one day, flip the tables on an issue and make a real difference. Brittany was always so sugary sweet; I couldn’t believe she’d been heading up this whole ‘Clash of the Cheerleaders’ idea. It made more sense now.
The purple drapes hanging over the window beside Lavender’s front door fluttered when we pulled into her driveway. We barely got in park before she was out the door running our way. “Morning, everybody,” she said as she climbed in beside me.
It felt SO good to be riding to school with my girls again, not that riding with Ty was bad, either.
“Pass this back to Lavender.” Brittany handed Zaniah a sticker, and Zaniah handed it to Lavender.
“Team Hadley?” Lavender read it out loud. “Are we supposed to wear these today?”
“Yep. People will be wearing them all over school by second hour.”
“Okay.” Lavender seemed a little unsure, but stuck it to her shirt.
Brittany bit her lower lip. “I can’t wait to get to school and see what Underground wrote.”
“Who’s Underground?” her mom asked.
“No-one knows for sure, but he’s this reporter covering the whole Clash of the Cheerleaders thing.”
“Well, you won’t have to wait long. We’re almost there.” Brittany’s mom turned a corner and pulled up in front of Silver Wing High—right behind Nicole’s mom! “All right, girls, have a good day.”
“Oh my gosh!” Brittany said, pointing to the van in front of ours.
“No way,” Steph said.
Everyone must have been feeling some form of anxiety, good or bad. It was mostly bad for me.
Brittany climbed out of the van and opened the side door to let us all out. Nicole and I locked eyes when I got out last. Her whole face went full-on hateful. She turned and opened the side door of her van to let out the trivials. I could hardly believe it.
“Wow,” Zaniah said. “Equally divided. This really is turning into a Clash of the Cheerleaders.”
Brittany grabbed my arm and squealed. “So exciting.”
I don’t know if I agreed with her, but it sure was better than nine against me all alone.
Nicole flipped her hair over her shoulders as she spun around pompously, and led her new BFFs into Silver Wing High. Tabitha put a hand on her hip, and Kerry and Angeline had an exaggerated swing to their hips.
The football guys standing out front were watching Nicole differently than most mornings. Their usual fascination was more of scrutiny. Most of them were holding half-sized slips of pink paper.
32
Brittany stuck her hand in the paper bag and started handing out stickers to people as we walked past them toward the school. “Here, wear this. You support Hadley, right? Because that so scandalous junk is all made up,” she was saying. She held out a handful to each of us. “Help me pass these out.” She stopped when she got to me and winked. “Don’t worry, I won’t make you do it.”
“Thanks.” I was grateful, because I was scared people would only hate me for bashing on Nicole to build myself up. Friday would be a different story… hopefully.
One of the school’s front doors opened for us once we’d reached the top of the entrance stairs. I was third to walk in, since the girls were keeping me kind of in the middle. It was nice, like being protected from all sides.
“Hey—”
I looked up when the guy holding the door grabbed my arm, the same guy who’d held it for me the day before.
“Sorry about yesterday,” Sid said. “Maybe I could take you out some time to make it up to you.”
“Thanks.” I ran a hand through my hair timidly. Hot seniors asking me out? Underground’s article must have been good. “I’ll think about it.” Although I was already thinking probably not, after what he did to me yesterday.
“Here, have a sticker.” Brittany held one out to Sid. Then she took my arm and walked me away from him down the hall. “This is so—much—better—than yesterday.”
“OMG, yeah it is!” I said back.
“Hey, wait,” Patty Free said when Lavender handed her a sticker. “Can I have another one for my boyfriend? We’re totally on Team Hadley.”
“Sure. Take three more, just in case.” Lavender handed her the stickers.
“You know we’re running kind of late,” Steph said. “We should probably go ahead and split up for our first classes.”
“Sorry, girls,” I said, since it was totally my fault.
“No worries. Let’s meet at my locker for lunch. It’s the closest one to the cafeteria.”
“Okay.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Zaniah and Lavender broke away from us. Their lockers were practically next-door neighbors. Stephanie walked with me about halfway to my locker, then left for hers. My pulse raced, hoping to see Ty, but he wasn’t there.
I jammed my backpack in my locker and took out my English book and binder. Blaine leaned against the right-side locker next to mine. “Just tell me one thing, Hadley. Did you really break up with Black?”
I shut my locker door and turned to face him, nodding without expression.
“Let me take you out for ice cream after tumbling today. We really need to talk.”
Yeah, I wanted to melt into him and let him walk me all over school like I was the lucky one, but I couldn’t just fold. Not if there was any chance of getting back with Ty. “I swore off you before I ever went out with Ty.”
“Because I was such a jerk, I know. So let me just take you out one more time. Let me prove I can be a better boyfriend.”
I looked behind him when I saw Ty’s dark hair over his shoulder. He glanced at us. His jaw t
ightened and he turned to walk in the other direction without even touching his locker. My chest burned like fire.
“I’ll think about it,” I said.
He smiled. “Where’d you get that sticker? I must have already seen twenty of them today.”
“Brittany made it. Here, you can have mine.” I took it off and stuck it to his chest. He put his hand over mine and held it as he leaned down to kiss my cheek. A sudden shiver went through me.
“Wish I could walk you to class, but I found this for you in a stack by the water fountain.” He handed me a slip of pink paper and walked past me.
The anticipation was killing me as I carried it through the hallway toward my first class. I waited until I was in Mrs. Lee’s class, sitting at my own desk, to read it. Same title as yesterday. New date. Still no author’s name.
* * *
SILVER WING HIGH WEEKLY, UNDERGROUND
Clash of the Cheerleaders, Part II
Hadley Cane has decided not to share secrets regarding Nicole. She has also asked that I state she wants nothing to do with any of this. Lucky for us, another cheerleader has stepped up with plenty to tell. I won’t drop names, but she has informed me that nothing Nicole printed about Hadley on The Smokin’ Six website is actually true. Three other cheerleaders, excluding Hadley, have also confirmed the entire ‘So Scandalous’ story was a lie. And, get this, Nicole’s the one who dared Hadley to ask out Ty Black. Who’s scandalous now?
I’ve put together a website, clashofthecheerleaders.com, for those of you who want to keep up with the drama. I would also like to let all the cheerleaders of Silver Wing High know I am happy to post their video or written comments if they submit them to the website. So check it out for more ‘Clash of the Cheerleaders’, and be sure to watch for tomorrow’s edition of Silver Wing High Weekly,
UNDERGROUND.
* * *
“Good morning, class,” Mrs. Lee came in the room. “Today you’ll be reading a short story and writing an essay on why you think the heroine made such poor choices.”