Center Stage (TNT Force Cheer #3)

by Dana Burkey

  I nodded, but couldn’t shake the thought that if I had worked a little harder in the air then I might not have fallen, and he still would be on the team. From the second I knew someone’s grip on my foot was wrong, I should have said something. I should have stopped my flying post and told my team to bring me back down. Then I might have given all of us a better shot at succeeding at the stunt, and kept myself and Juleah from getting hurt. I knew blaming myself and dwelling on it wasn’t a good idea since we still had a lot of Nitro practice ahead of us for the day, so I tried to shake it off and just focus on practicing for the time being.

  After our usual conditioning, we once again worked on our stunts. We did about single and double arounds to both prep and extension level, but then began working on harder moves while we rotated stunt groups as needed. There were a few fliers that worked with the same people repeatedly, but I noticed that myself, Leanne, and Mary were trading groups after almost event stunt. I thought it was a little strange since we were all the lightest girls and any stunt group would have no problem keeping us in the air, but tried to only focus on doing my best on each skill. We stuck with doing a double around on the way up into the stunt, then TJ had us try heel stretches, scorpions, and even needles before either cradling down or even trying a kick single down. It all left me tired, but also extremely happy when TJ told me the good new at the end of practice.

  “Okay we’re going to leave Max with Juleah, Matthew, and Addison,” TJ said before turning to the rest of the athletes on the mat. “Leanne and Mary, let’s try something a little different.”

  I could tell that Leanne was a little bummed, since she had been on a stunt team with Matthew and Addison the year before, but I was too excited to think about it much. Not only was I in a stunt group with two of my best friends on the team, I could already tell Addison was a great base and I was excited to get to know her through the season. Although last season was only her first time trying to base after years of flying, she clearly had been putting in a lot of extra time and was giving each stunt her all at every run through. All in all, I was super happy for the season knowing I had a great team under me for our elite stunts and baskets.

  “We should do a stunt group bonding time,” Juleah suggested as the four of us sat on the mat waiting for our next instructions from TJ. He was still talking to Leanne and Andy’s groups, and running a few stunts with them.

  “Pool party at Max’s house?” Matthew asked with a big grin.

  “Of course!” I laughed. “Maybe we could have a Nitro team party or something.”

  “You mean like all of Nitro?” Addison asked. “That’s kind of a lot of people.”

  “Why not?” I shrugged. “I know my dad would be happy to have everyone over. He told me yesterday he loves when I have friends over to our house since it gives him the chance to cook all kind of new things and play in the kitchen. I think he misses when him and my mom used to have big dinner parties with their friends in Oregon.”

  “Well, just let me know the time and I’ll be there,” Addison noted.

  While the other groups worked with TJ, it allowed my new stunt group a chance to chat. That, in turn, also gave me a chance to continue to get to know Addison. She was really skinny, but was pretty tall. In fact, she was one of the tallest girls on the team. Thanks to her recent growth spurt that started half way through the cheer season before last, she went from flying on Bomb Squad to being a base for Nitro. She loved Nitro though, and even when we were working hard and it was super hot inside the gym she had a big grin on her face. In fact, she even had teal bands put on her braces so once we began competitions she would match her uniform. Addison’s braces were the second thing you noticed when you first saw her though, thanks to her long grey hair. It had once been rainbow colors, and hot pink at some stage as well, but now it was a silver gray that looked great against her tan skin and grey blue eyes.

  After a few minutes sitting and chatting with my stunt team, TJ called everyone to their places. He wanted to see how everything looked with the stunt teams he had just changed, and try a little bit of what would later become our elite stunting section. We all stood up and were waiting for our next instructions when TJ made the announcement I never saw coming.

  “Alright Max, I need your team to trade spots with Leanne’s team.”

  “What?” I heard someone near me ask, but was too confused to figure out who it came from.

  “But that’s center,” I reminded TJ, as if he didn’t know.

  TJ simply nodded, then waved his hand to indicate we needed to make the trade. As I finally turned and began moving from my spot a bit back and just right of center, I saw Leanne and her stunt group move as well. The look on Leanne’s face was confused and almost hurt, but she still walked to the new place on the blue mat. She had been on the center, or point stunt, for two years, always being the flier representing the team the most prominently. But suddenly, I was given the position while she was basically demoted’ to a less featured spot. I had seen the drama it had caused when a similar thing happened on Detonators the year before, but being a part of it made it worse. It was bad enough to know that Scott was no longer on the team after he made a mistake while in my stunt group, but then to know I was also the cause for Leanne not being on point stunt was a lot to take in all at once. So much so that when practice was finally over, I raced straight over to talk to Leanne.

  “I’m really sorry,” I said immediately. “Maybe it’s not TJ’s final decision.”

  “No worries,” she assured me with an even smile. It was a side of Leanne I was certain I would never have seen even a few months prior. “It makes sense really. You’re super tiny so your group can throw you really high and pull some good stunts. You’ll look best right in the center. Just enjoy it while you can.”

  “I’ll try. I just feel bad,” I explained.

  “We’re all on the same team here Max,” Leanne went on. “As long as we make it to Worlds and finally take home those rings, I’ll be happy.”

  I wanted to believe her, but Leanne still looked a little defeated despite the smile on her face. “Do you have time to work on tumbling for a little bit today?”

  “No,” she said with a shake of her head. “But I’ll be at the open gym tomorrow.”

  I wanted to apologize again, but before I could, Connor ran over and gave me a massive hug, picking me up off the ground and spinning me around. Despite still feeling bad about taking Leanne’s spot on the floor, Connor’s hug had me beaming.

  “Center stunt? Are you kidding me?”

  “Yeah, it’s pretty great,” I laughed, trying to regain my balance once he set me down. When I turned to look at Leanne she was already gone, now standing near her cubby looking at her phone.

  “First this, and tomorrow you’re going to land your kick double,” Connor quickly reminded me. “You know, if you weren’t my best friend I would be mad at you for making the rest of us look bad.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Matthew said walking over and making a show of flexing his arms above his head. “I look amazing.”

  With a laugh, I walked with Connor to get my things. I was getting a ride home with Matthew because of the sleepover I was having with Lexi. Despite this though, Connor carried my cheer bag for me to the car before giving me another hug goodbye. It was common enough, but also a little odd. I assumed it was simply him showing me how excited he was for me to be placed on point stunt.

  “I’m really glad we’re on the same squad this year,” he told me after the embrace.

  “Me too,” I grinned. “Last season was awesome, but I’m already getting excited for Worlds.”

  “Between your tumbling and having you on point stunt I think this might finally be our year,” Connor said. “See you guys tomorrow.”

  I echoed his goodbye as I closed my door. Then, I began to buckle up as Matthew started the car and let out a laugh as Connor finally walked away.

  “What?” I asked him, certain I had missed something.


  “You still don’t get it, do you?”

  “Get what?” I asked, even more confused.

  “Nothing,” he replied putting on his sunglasses. “You’re just too adorable Max.”

  Although his comments were confusing, I shrugged them off as I waved at Connor out of my window. He waved back then walked into the gym. As he did, I noticed Leanne was exiting the gym, looking pretty upset. I tried to give her a wave as well, but she was focused on her phone, her fingers typing furiously. Knowing she was likely more upset about being taking off center stunt than she let on, I made the mental note to work with her a lot at the open gym. If she wasn’t on point flyer anymore, I was determined to help her get her tumbling to a higher level. Hopefully it would help soften the blow of the position change, as well as make me feel a little less guilty.

  “How do you guys manage to do this?” I asked Lexi and Halley as we sat in Lexi’s bedroom later that night. We were all sitting on the floor painting our nails for the open gym. I had protested at first, but then decided it might be time I learn how to do my own nails for a change. It would be helpful come competition season, not to mention it was easier than trying to reason with my friends. Sure, I could head to the salon with Tonya closer to Worlds like we had done going into Summit, but that wasn’t something we could do before every competition all season.

  “Just go really slow, and make smooth and even stokes,” Halley explained, although it was mostly hopeless. Painting my left hand was pretty much impossible since I was a lefty. It ended up looking like I just stuck my fingers in the bottle. “Here, I’ll help you with this hand.”

  I felt a little bad for still needing help, but was pretty proud of how good my right hand looked. I only got a few spots of color on my skin, and the uneven brush strokes could be covered with glitter. Lexi had given me that piece of advice and I was thankful that months of cheer made me okay with the idea of putting glitter on my nails. After wearing glittery makeup, uniforms, and cheer bows, my whole bedroom seemed to have a constant light dusting of glitter. So, having a little more on my nails didn’t really seem like a big deal.

  “Are you wearing your Nitro practice wear tomorrow?” Lexi asked as Halley finished fixing my left hand.

  “I think so,” I shrugged. “But, I brought a few options just in case.”

  “What if we all wore our matching Summit shirts from last season?” Halley suggested. “I have mine in my bag.”

  “I don’t have mine though,” I said with a frown. “But maybe we can match bows?”

  Blowing on my nails to help them dry faster, I watched as Halley grabbed her overnight bag to see what bows were attached. There were quite a few that I remembered her buying during competitions last season, as well as a lot with the familiar TNT Force logo on them. Moving to compare her bows with the ones I had on my backpack, I watched as her face suddenly lit up.

  “We can wear our neon best friends forever bows!”

  At Hallie’s suggestion Lexi jumped up and raced to her closet. She came back holding black chevron tank tops that perfectly matched the bows. Clearly her obsession with the pattern the season before was a good thing. There was a pink one for Lexi, a green one for Halley and a blue one for me, each matching the colors of our bows. Lexi handed them out to each of us, although she was careful to keep our freshly painted nails from getting smudged in the process.

  “I might need to wear another tank under this one,” Halley commented, holding the tank up to her body.

  She was only a little taller than Lexi and I, but she was not as thin as us. The tank top looked like it would work, but it would be a bit of a tight fit. Halley wasn’t fazed by it though, and immediately opened her bag to look for something to wear as a layer under the green tank. Holding up a black thin strap tank top she proudly announced that the plan was a go.

  “What shorts should we wear?” I asked, going over the options I had in my bag. “I have the black ones from tryouts, my teal pair, and then my red shorts from Fuze.”

  “Black for sure,” Lexi nodded, then walked back into her closet to find her matching pair.

  With our matching outfits figured out I happily began adding the glitter coat to my nails. Halley come to my rescue to on my left hand, applying a shimmery silver glitter over my teal nails. I realized a different shade of blue would have matched the bow better, but it was a small thing. I knew the polish would only stay on for a few days with the amount of time I was in the pool. Not to mention as soon as it started to chip a little I couldn’t help but pick the rest off immediately.

  “Do you want your phone?” Lexi asked me, picking it up from its spot on her bed. “You have a lot of missed notifications.”

  “Sure.” I took my phone, careful to not mess up my nails. Unlocking my phone with my fingerprint I was shocked to see I had well over 300 missed notifications on Instagram. “What the heck?”

  “What’s wrong?” Halley asked as both her and Lexi moved closer to me.

  “I’m not sure,” I said honestly as I began to scroll through my notifications to see what happened since I last checked my phone.

  The first few dozens of notifications were all announcing people who were now following me. I was used to getting a few here and there, but never anything like that unless it was right after a big competition. I had a lot of new followers and activity after winning Summit, for instance. But, as I scrolled down further I saw that people were mentioning me in comments, saying things like: “You’ll get it next time” and: “So close, keep trying!” There were so many of the comments that it was hard to keep track of them. Finally, I was able to make it down far enough to see that everything seemed to stem from one post. Or rather one video.

  Clicking on the image, I watched a video of me trying the kick double on the blue mat earlier in the week. It was one of the videos Connor had filmed and then uploaded to social media. Watching it, it was clear that the video showed one of my worst attempts. In the short clip, I landed on my feet then pitched forward, taking two steps then falling first to my knees and then also smacking my hands on the ground as well. My face was close to also hitting the ground, but thankfully I stopped myself in time.

  The confusing thing about the video was that people were not commenting on it thanks to a video posted on Connor’s page. Instead the video was posted by a handful of different cheerleading accounts. One was dedicated to cheer fails, and another few were just cheer updates. They had all simply posted the video, but it was another account each time that tagged me in a comment, letting anyone seeing the photo know who it was they were watching fail at the skill. The account that tagged me every time was one called Cheer_Spotlight_TX.

  “Have you heard of this account before?” I asked to my friends who were watching in shock over my shoulder.

  “That one yeah,” Halley said. “They’ve shared some of the photos the gyms’ account has posted. I don’t know all of the other accounts though.”

  “I follow that one I think,” Lexi added, pointing over my shoulder at one account’s name. “They do uniform reveals a lot in the fall.”

  “I don’t get it,” I said, my brow furrowed in thought. “Someone took the video Connor posted and put it up on their pages too?

  “Looks like it,” Lexi nodded, a frown also on her face.

  “Connor’s account isn’t private,” Halley reminded us. “Anyone can access what he posts. Someone must have seen it and reposted it. In fact, a lot of other accounts might have also posted it and you’re just not tagged in it yet. Who knows how many more people put this up on their page besides these ones.”

  Staring at my phone I was a little worried, but then I saw that the accounts all had a lot of posts of other cheerleaders also falling. The posts were often the same across accounts, either because someone sent everyone the videos, or they were shared content. The one thing I noticed that really made me happy though, was that not many people were saying mean or negative things. Sure, I fell in the video, but they were being
extra encouraging and supportive. It made me feel a little better about the whole situation.

  “It’s kind of cool,” I finally said. “Sure, a lot of people saw the video of me fall. But, after tomorrow they can see a video of me finally landing the kick double.”

  “That’s a good way to look at it,” Lexi replied, although she didn’t look convinced. “But I still don’t think I would want a video like that of me all over Instagram.”

  As Hallie agreed I saw even more notifications popping up on my phone. The new people following me were watching tumbling videos I posted, liking photos, and commenting all over the place. In just a few hours I went from having less than 400 followers to well over 1,000. Not to mention the people following me were actually checking out all my different posts. It was a little weird to wrap my head around, so when my phone rang and I saw it was Connor calling, I was happy for the distraction.

  “Hello?” I asked, surprised that Connor was choosing to call me instead of just send a text or snap.

  “I’m so sorry Max!” He said quickly. It was clear he was talking about what I had just seen myself.

  With a laugh, Lexi went back to setting out her outfit for the open gym and Halley added a glitter coat of polish to her nails. I, on the other hand, had to tell Connor over and over again that I wasn’t mad at him, that everything was okay, and that there was no need to be sorry. Sure, it wasn’t really my plan to have all this attention suddenly, but it was still kind of cool to see people so interested in all my posts about cheerleading. One of the videos I posted of Blast’s pyramid sequence during Summit was getting a lot of attention. People were even commenting how funny it was to hear my dad singing along to the team’s music while filming.