by Burkey, Dana
“Max, your turn,” Emma announced after a rather splashy entrance into the deep end of the pool.
“Fine, but this is the last one,” I said with a sign, then hopped into the water and swam to where the boys were waiting.
“Well then we better make it really good,” Connor grinned.
“Like what?” I asked as I got to the center of my friends.
“How about a kick-full-kick-full-kick-full,” Nick offered with a laugh.
“And how am I supposed to get enough height for that?” I challenged immediately.
“Easy,” Nick grinned, then turned to everyone eating at the table. “Jackson, come help us out.”
I watched as Jackson walked over to join us, complete with a cannon ball into the pool. When he got to us, the guys quickly chatted about how best to toss me, then had me climb onto the base they made by linking their arms together. Not knowing if throwing me super high with Jackson’s help would really work or not, they decided to do a test throw. It made sense, so I got ready as Connor counted down then pushed off with my legs as they launched me into the air. I waited until I was as high in the air as possible before doing a single front flip before turning the move into a dive right into the deep end.
“How high was I?” I asked as soon as I was above the water.
“It looked like twice as high as usual,” Logan said, his mouth all but hanging open in shock.
“Jade, you need to film this next one,” Connor called out as I swam back to the shallow end.
“I’m on it,” she assured him while jumping up and moving to find her phone as well as mine. Everyone else that was at the food table also grabbed their phones and found good spots to watch.
“That was crazy,” Jackson said to me with a grin as I got closer to him.
“It was so fun,” I laughed in reply.
I finished swimming into the shallow end then moved to where I needed to stand to be launched once again. While I waited for everyone to be ready, Jackson stood next to me, a grin still on his face from the test toss. We were standing close enough that our arms brushed up against one another, and I found it more distracting than expected. Thankfully, only a moment later everyone was ready for me to get in place once again.
“Here we go,” Nick said, an intense look on his face to match his serious tone of voice.
After counting down, everyone below me dipped lower for added momentum. I also bent my knees so I was ready to spring up at just the right moment. When the moment came I pushed hard with my legs, soaring into the air even faster and higher than before. I kicked my leg up and twisted around once as I was still on the way up into the air, giving me just enough time to repeat the motions two more times before landing in the water more or less feet first. Hitting the water left me with a little bit of a stinging feeling, but I had finished all three kicks as well as all three rotations. That made it instantly worth it to me.
As my head popped up from the water, I was instantly splashed as the boys who had launched me were now swimming toward me to celebrate. My hair was matted to my face, making it impossible to tell who patted my shoulder or even gave me a weird swimming version of a hug. I also couldn’t tell who made the big splash that left me coughing instantly.
“Sorry,” someone said wrapping an arm around my waist to help keep me afloat while I coughed and gasped for hair. I managed to wipe the hair out of my face, only to realize the person keeping me from slipping under the water was Jackson.
“You guys need to see this,” Whitney shouted over our celebrating. She was holding up her phone for emphasis.
We all moved to get out of the pool, Jackson keeping an arm around me until I had both hands on the ladder. Once we were out of the pool we all gathered around Whitney, still dripping water and panting hard from the celebrating. On the screen we watched as I soared through the air, spinning and twisting before making a rough but not horrible landing. The second the video ended, the cheering began again.
“Okay, what did I miss?” my dad asked, walking out onto the pool deck.
“Only the best pool basket yet,” Juleah replied.
Knowing that we often pulled stunts in the pool, my dad walked over to take a look at the video. He made her play it a few times, the shocked smile on his face growing each time. Finally, when he had seen it enough times he walked over and gave me a high five.
“That was pretty amazing Max,” he beamed. “I think now’s a good time to bring out some ice cream to celebrate.”
“Ice cream sounds perfect,” I nodded, my cheeks getting sore from the happy smile on my face.
“Is it like your birthday or something?” Jackson asked me as my dad headed inside.
“What do you mean?”
“The ice cream and the food and everything,” he began again. “Is it for something?”
“Nope,” I said simply. “My dad just can’t do anything halfway. He always does things a bit over the top.”
“What about your mom?”
I paused for a second, feeling almost bad at dropping the ‘mom bomb’ as Peter called it so soon. But, he was sure to hear it eventually from someone else, so I knew I might as well tell him the truth. “She died when I was little. I think it’s part of the reason my dad goes all out.”
“Oh, that sucks,” he said with a bit of a frown. “Well, your dad seems really awesome.”
Simply nodding in reply, I was thankful for how Jackson reacted. I was used to people telling me they were sorry or giving me looks of pity. It was nice that they cared, but at the same time having people treat me like I was some wounded animal got exhausting. Jackson didn’t do that though, and I found myself instantly glad he was on Nitro. Or at least was hopefully going to be on Nitro once TJ made a final decision. Even then, as I walked with everyone to grab the ice cream and toppings my dad was bringing out to the deck, I mentally crossed my fingers that Jackson’s spot on the team would be permanent soon.
The rest of the night was a lot less exciting than the massive launch into the deep end. Once the excitement wore off I realized the side of my body that had landed into the deep end was a bit pink from the slap of the water. So I stuck to simply swimming and hanging out with everyone. After we ate our fill of ice cream we also spent a while talking about the TNT Force gym. It reminded me of when I first joined Blast and had questions about the gym and coaches and even other athletes. Only this time the questions all came from Nina and Jackson. Their questions lasted until they needed to head home, which caused everyone but Connor to leave as well.
“You’re going to open gym on Saturday, right?” he asked while helping me clean up dirty dishes and bring them inside.
“Of course,” I assured him. “TJ said I can only throw layouts on the mats for the rest of this week, so I figured that’s my first time to actually try some fulls. It’s technically after the whole week is over, so I’m basically still following the rules.”
“I should have known,” Connor said with a laugh. “Well, when you’re not tumbling maybe we can work on partner stunts. You’ll be good to do double around by then, right?”
“I think so,” I nodded. “Although I have a feeling TJ’s going to keep Jackson on my stunt team. We can totally still practice together, but I might need to start working with him on things too.”
“Oh, okay,” Connor agreed after a pause.
Connor stayed to finish cleaning up then headed home before it got too dark. He had biked home with me like he usually did, and was meeting his mom at the gym for the hour long drive home. It wasn’t until he left that I took a look at my phone for the first time since we posted the basket toss video to Instagram. Despite the fact that I should have expected it, I was shocked by the hundreds of likes, comments, and new followers the post generated. Ever since my social media accounts were shared by Leanne in hopes of making fun of me and getting other people to dislike me, I had a lot of followers and even ‘fans.’ It was strange to me at first, but now it was a part of life. Especially after
Worlds. Everyone wanted to follow my progress with getting back to the gym after my injury and surgery. Someone even created an account where they shared all my updates so people could follow along. It also meant companies sent me free things like bows, tank tops, and even a custom cheer bag once. That part of it was still a little odd to me, but my friends loved it since I always shared with them as well.
Scrolling through the new notifications, I did my best to reply to people or at the very least like their comments. I knew from seeing Lexi and Halley react when their favorite cheerleading star commented back or followed them that it was a big deal. I wanted to always appreciate the people who looked up to me, or, at the very least, followed my cheer career online. One of the people who went through and liked quite a few of my photos was Jackson. It was the first time I went on his account on my own phone, and I found myself scrolling through all of his posts. Even though I had seen them before I looked at each one before deciding to follow his page. Then, realizing I didn’t get a notification of him following me, I looked and saw he already was. I had no way to know when he hit the follow button, but since he knew who I was by the mention of my injury alone, I had a feeling he had been aware of my account for a while.
Reminding myself that knowing when someone followed my Instagram wasn’t all that important, I tried not to think about it as I got to work on some stretches before bed. Even after the long day of practice and swimming, I wanted to make sure I was keeping my body in its best shape. I was so close to where I had been before Worlds with my tumbling and flying that I didn’t want to mess things up all of a sudden by doing something silly like not staying flexible. With that in mind, I spent more time than usual stretching the following morning as well. Between cleaning my room for my sleepover and catching up on chores, I did a lot of extra cheer conditioning. By the time they arrived I was glad for a break and a chance to just relax.
“So, did Emma tell you anything else about camp?” Lexi asked as we sat tanning poolside, something we did more and more often as competition season approached.
“Nope, she said she’s not allowed,” I said with a sigh. I rolled over onto my stomach, trying to make sure my tan was even.
“I really wish they’d plan a carnival again,” Halley said in a dreamy tone. “I think that was my favorite thing we’ve done.”
“I don’t miss the mud pit though,” I quickly reminded her.
“I miss it,” Lexi announced. “That was the best camp ever. I mean, we got to be there for you, and then got to celebrate with you when you decided to stay at the gym. If it wasn’t for all the good things that happened that weekend, you might have left cheerleading forever.”
“True,” I nodded. “I really didn’t want to stay at cheer back then, but I can’t image all the things I would have missed if I’d decided to leave. Summit alone was worth sticking around for.”
“Not to mention Worlds,” Lexi reminded me.
“Yeah, that was pretty great,” I agreed. “Although if I can manage to not get hurt this year I think it will be even better. I mean, not winning was a bummer or whatever, but I just want to actually throw all my skills and do all my stunts without having to fight through pain.”
“Just don’t do anything crazy like showing off for live streams,” Halley suggested with a laugh.
“Forget live streams, what about the video from yesterday?” Lexi sat up and turned to face me as she spoke. “How did you get that kind of height and not die?”
“I smacked the water pretty hard,” I reminded her quickly. “The guys had Jackson help to get the height though. The test toss wasn’t as high so it was kind of crazy when it actually happened.
“That’s who that is in the video,” Halley said, the fact dawning on her suddenly. “He’s that new guy on Nitro you mentioned, right?”
I nodded, suddenly feeling weird at even having his name brought up. The reaction was strange, but I tried to ignore it as I filled my friends in on more details about him and Nina. Since both Fuze and Glow had practice Friday just after Nitro was done, I assured them they could see him then. The open gym might have been a chance for that as well, but considering Nina was driving over two hours one way for practice every day, I assumed they would only make the drive when they really needed to.
“That long in the car would be terrible,” Lexi said with a frown when I explained that my new teammates lived in Aldine. “I wonder if they’ll move or something.”
“You mean like move with their families?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Lexi nodded. “That’s what Natalie and Jamie did a few years ago. Jamie made Detonators but they were still living in Oklahoma and the drive was a lot. So they moved just before school started so they would be closer.”
“Seriously?” I stared at Lexi in shock. “But weren’t there any gyms closer to where they were living in Oklahoma?”
“Probably,” she nodded in reply. “But it was after the season Detonators won NCA so they wanted to be a part of that. And after winning Worlds last year I’m sure Jamie would say it was worth it. Not to mention Natalie’s on Glow with me now too. It makes it worth it.”
Although I had cheered with Natalie when I was on Blast two season before, I never knew that about her. It was one thing that some of the athletes at the gym, including Lexi and Halley, drove over half an hour to get to practice each day, but to think of people coming from another state blew my mind a little. Then again, I had heard about people coming from other countries to be on big name teams in California and Florida. I had just never thought that anyone would do that for a gym like TNT Force. We didn’t seem big enough. Or at least we didn’t until winning Worlds with one team and coming in second with another. It was sure to get us a lot more attention from other gyms and athletes. Jackson and Nina were proof of just that.
“Okay, if I’m out here any longer I’ll start to shrivel up like a raisin,” Lexi announced, getting up from her deck chair.
“Same,” I said with a laugh.
“I brought nail polish with me if we want to do that,” Halley offered. She looked at me expectantly, knowing I wasn’t a big fan of the more girly activities during our sleepovers.
“As long as you help with my left hand I’m down,” I shrugged, much to Halley’s excitement. “Oh, and no pink this time.”
Agreeing instantly, I was happy to gather up our towels and phones and head inside. The Texas heat was a lot after so long in the sun, so I knew some time inside would be just what I needed. Not only that, but I hoped that if we started worrying about hair and makeup and nails then I could avoid talking any more about the new members of Nitro. Even thinking about Jackson made me feel strange, and I didn’t want to focus on him the whole night. Especially when I would have to stunt with him all Friday afternoon. I only hoped by then I could figure out what was going on, and find a way to get past it.
“Hold still or I’m going to burn you,” Lexi warned me, spraying another layer of hairspray on before moving the curling wand back to my hair.
I did my best to not move at all while reading the chat in our live Instagram video. After painting our nails, we decided it would be fun to go live for my followers as I got a makeover. Makeovers were usually a part of our sleepovers since it was the only time outside of cheer I ever did my hair or makeup. Or, rather, that I allowed my hair and makeup to get done. The only time I ever bothered doing any curls or glitter on my own outside of cheer was if I was trying out something new that would help during competition season. I had to do it before my trip to Summit my first year at the gym, and then once or twice to get used to putting on makeup how we were instructed once I joined Nitro. Not to mention, I worked on things some over the summer, determined to finally do my eyeliner without calling on a friend for help another season in a row.
“What’s your first comp?” I read aloud from the live feed chat before answering. “We’re going to CDE in Dallas. I think it’s the second weekend in December. Before that we only have our showcases which are next
weekend and then we have one the Sunday after Thanksgiving.”
“I think they do that to us so we don’t eat too much and stay stuffed all weekend,” Halley added. She was off screen for the most part, but leaned away from the makeup she was looking through to pop on screen and make her comment.
“Exactly,” I laughed before moving on to another question. “What team are we on? Well, I’m on Nitro again this year. Halley is on Fuze our senior 4 team, and then Lexi is on our junior co-ed restricted 5 team Glow. It’s a new team this year.”
“My Instagram is Lexi_Layne_TNT,” Lexi said, in reply to one of the other questions that popped up. “Halley’s is HalleyCheersTNT.”
“Is it weird that I’m the only one without TNT in my account name?”
My question was more or less rhetorical, but the chat flooded with a lot of replies right away. I was getting both no and yes answers, so it was hard to go off what they were saying. That’s how things usually were in my live videos though. Before Worlds it was a little slower when I went live, but my subscribers had doubled after my performance and my injury became big news in the cheer world. Now I had over 15 thousand followers, a number that was growing even more thanks to the video we posted from the pool the day before.
“Maybe I’ll add it one day,” I finally said simply. “But in the meantime who thinks Lexi and Halley should cut their hair like mine?”
As pretty much everyone replied with “yes” “omg yes” and even “yaaaaaas” I couldn’t help but agree. I knew the trend in cheer was massive ponytails, often created with extensions and added hair pieces. But, I preferred my half pony hail and bob while on the cheer floor. It helped that it meant I didn’t need to curl my hair or tease it much for that matter.