by Dana Burkey
“Do I get to come to at least one of them?” Peter made a show of giving me his best puppy dog face.
“Of course,” I said immediately. “Everyone’s so used to seeing you at competitions I’m sure you’ll fit right in.”
A strong gust of wind blew across our campground, causing me to immediately shiver. Across the fire from us, Kyle frowned for a second then went back to playing a game on his tablet. Clearly even cold weather couldn’t keep him from destroying aliens, or building cities, or whatever his game of the week entailed. Reaching my hands out and leaning forward in my seat in hopes of getting a little more warmth from the fire, I was disappointed as another even bigger gust of wind rolled through.
“Why don’t you get a sweater?” Peter asked, clearly having seen my reaction to the colder air.
“I forgot to pack one,” I admitted, trying to keep my voice down.
“How did you forget a sweater?” Peter ask, his voice much louder than I wished it would have been in that moment.
“That’s what happens when you pack after cheer practice instead of beforehand like someone suggested,” my dad replied from across our camp site. He was sitting at a picnic table playing a game of cards with Peter’s parents, and had clearly overheard. Thankfully, even through the dim light of the campfire, I could see he was smiling as he made the comment.
“You can borrow mine,” Peter offered, then stood up and went to his tent. He returned with a grey hoodie with ‘Cardinal Football’ written across the chest in red and white letters, complete with an image of the red mascot. “Here you go.”
“Thanks, you’re a lifesaver.”
“Someone’s got to look out for you Max,” he smiled, then brought up something I wasn’t expecting. “So, what’s going on with your Instagram fame all of a sudden?”
“Nothing,” I said, hoping he wouldn’t press the issue.
“You have a thousand followers more than me now,” Peter tried again. “That’s not nothing and you know it.”
“It’s all kind of weird,” I said with a sigh. “Connor posted a video of me doing some tumbling and suddenly it was shared by a few cheerleading accounts and people freaked out. It’s all been really nice and supportive so that’s been cool. But, I just wasn’t expecting all the follows and comments to start flooding in so suddenly. Especially after my kick double. Once it was posted I got a bunch of comments and a ton of direct messages. People were asking me for shoutouts and then this one lady who sells bows was asking me if I wanted to be a brand embassy.”
“Brand embassy?”
“It’s called something like that,” I shrugged.
“You mean an ambassador?” he asked, laughing when I finally nodded in agreement. “That means they want to send you free stuff since a lot of people see your posts. You should do it.”
“But I don’t get it,” I finally explained. “I’m not anyone special. Like, there are a lot of other people out there who can tumble and cheer better than me. Why does anyone care about me?”
“Maybe they see that you're different from everyone else.” Peter clearly saw my confused face and decided to continue. “You’re not like most cheerleaders. I mean, just look at this trip. You’re out fishing and cooking over a fire. I bet not many other cheerleaders out there do this in their free time.”
“I guess so,” I began slowly. “I’m still just getting used to all the attention.”
“Well, you better get used to it fast,” he suggested. “If people are this excited when you’re just starting the season on Nitro, they’re going to freak out even more when the season starts and you win NCA and Worlds.”
I was once again reminded how much about cheer Peter really knew. Bringing up the two largest competitions of the season was not something I was expecting from him. Although at that point it should have been no shock at all. He was my best friend and was always there for me, even about little things. It made me happy to know that he was finally going to be home for the rest of the summer, and that I was getting to spend some fun time camping with him before we headed back into the real world.
“Just remember me when you’re rich and famous,” Peter added, making me doubt instantly just how ‘real’ the world back home was becoming.
Friday morning we reluctantly packed up the rest of the camp site and headed home. It was a long drive, and I slept most of the way, still comfy and warm in Peter’s hoodie. I offered to give it back to him, but since it was just starting to rain as we left he assured me he would get it later. So, I climbed into the car, plugged in my phone to charge since it was dead, then fell right to sleep. Cars always helped me doze off, and knowing I would need energy for Nitro practice once I got back to town, I was glad for some extra rest.
“Hey Max?” my dad's voice said, waking me after what felt like only a few minutes in the car. When I mumbled nonsense in reply to let him know I was awake he continued. “You might want to wake up, we’re almost home.”
Sitting up, I stretched and let out a big yawn before looking out the car window. Through the light rain that was still falling I could tell we only had a few blocks left to drive. I knew that trying to get another few minutes of sleep was pointless, so I picked up my phone and was shocked at what I saw. I had dozens of missed texts and calls from Lexi and Halley, as well as a few from Matthew, Connor and Emma. I tried to scroll through them, but nothing they were saying made sense.
A few of the messages mentioned Instagram, so I pulled up the app and had more notifications waiting for me than ever before. I had friend requests, comments, photo likes, and a few dozen private messages. All of it was a lot to process, so as our car pulled into our driveway I decided it could wait. Whatever was causing the excitement would still be there after I unloaded the car, showered, and got ready for cheer. Besides, I had uploaded a video of my attempts at the Arabian before leaving for camping so the new notifications were probably about that.
“Want a ride to the gym?” my dad asked once I had put on my running shoes and was loading an extra protein par into my cheer bag.
“Sure,” I grinned, happy for an excuse to avoid pedaling across town.
“Do you plan on wearing that hoodie during practice?” he asked as we climbed into the car.
“No,” I assured him. “I just want to stay dry and warm until all the running begins.”
“Maybe you’ll skip the run because of the weather,” he offered, which I quickly shut down.
“Future World Champions don’t get worried about a little rain,” I said simply.
“Good point,” he agreed with a laugh.
My phone continued to go off as we made our way to the gym, but the texts, group messages, and notifications were overwhelming. Knowing I was going to see most of the people trying to contact me shortly, I put my phone on silent and slipped it into my gym bag. It would be there when I was done with practice, and for the time being that would have to be good enough. Or so I thought.
“Did you see my messages?” Connor asked, walking out to greet me the second I climbed out of the car. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you all morning.”
“I was camping,” I reminded him, giving my dad a quick wave and goodbye before closing the door. “My phone was dead until I charged it on the way home, but I was taking a nap that whole time anyways. I didn’t get much sleep last night. After we made marshmallows Peter and I decided to stay up late and watch for shooting stars. We saw this one that-”
“What about the posts?” Connor quickly said cutting me off.
“Posts?” I asked.
“Yeah, the Instagram stuff?”
“Oh that,” I said with a smile. “Peter and I talked about it and he was thinking it would be cool for me to accept some of the bows and stuff people are offering me.”
“Bows?” Connor echoed. “What bows?”
“A lady wants me to be a brand ambassador for her bow company now,” I explained. “I guess it’s because of all of my new followers.”
Conno
r stared at me with a rather confused and frustrated look on his face. I wanted to ask him what was going on, but my dad and I had arrived at the gym a lot later than we were planning. With only enough time to put my stuff away before practice was set to begin, I raced to my cubby and pulled off Peter’s hoodie. I was wearing a shirt sleeve Nitro shirt on under it, knowing the rain would cool me off enough that I wouldn’t need to wear just a sports bra.
“Something smells like campfire,” Addison commented from her spot standing near the cubbies as well.
“That’s my hoodie,” I told her instantly. “Well, Peter’s really. But the smell is from camping.”
“Max,” Connor said, reaching out to grab my wrist to get my attention again. “You really need to see this.”
Before I could take a look at what he had pulled up on his phone, TJ called out that it was time to begin our usual three mile run. Connor slowly let go of my wrist with a long sigh, then turned to put his phone away. I knew something big must have been going on, but right as we were beginning practice was clearly not a good time to chat. There would be plenty of time to look at what he needed to show me later, so I turned and followed the sea of teal clad athletes outside. The rain was still coming down evenly, making it a slower start for everyone. Even fast runners like myself and Matthew were moving slower than usual to get used to the slick cement under foot.
“Hey Max, welcome back,” Leanne smiled, falling into step beside me.
“Thanks,” I replied, blinking hard to keep water out of my eyes.
“I came to the gym yesterday and landed the full on the mat,” she grinned, her excitement bubbling over.
“That is so awesome,” I replied, and honestly meant it.
“I only landed it once though,” she admitted. “Maybe at the pool party on Sunday we can practice together on the air mat.”
“Great idea,” I agreed. “I would offer to stay today to help you but between camping and the party I’ve got a lot to do.”
“No worries,” Leanne replied. “How was camping by the way?”
I was a little surprised that she was asking, but at the same time was excited for what felt like a real bonding moment. Leanne wasn’t interested in camping, but was willing to listen to my stories about finding animal scat and collecting fire wood. Much like I had told Peter while out in the woods, my once chilly relationship with Leanne was warming up little by little.
“You can go ahead,” Leanne said after we were rounding the corner down the street from the gym. “You’re never going to beat Matthew if you stay with me the whole time.”
“Thanks,” I grinned. “I’ll see you back in the gym.”
Leanne clearly must have seen me keeping a tight eye on Matthew while beginning to speed my pace up ever so slightly. It made me feel a little bad, but it wasn’t as intense as my need to finish before my friend and stunt partner. Picking up my pace immediately, I put all of my focus on catching up to Matthew so I could leave him in my dust. So much so, whatever it was Connor needed to show me wasn’t even a thought in the back of my mind.
I pushed myself for the rest of the run, enjoying the way the rain cooled me down as my body heated up. Around me I saw other athletes frustrated about the rain, or at least I did until I passed them all. Matthew made a comment about taking it easy as we began the final lap around the block, but I ignored him and pushed on. I knew finishing meant getting out of the rain. Not to mention I wanted to make sure to once again complete the miles before Matthew. Slowing down to push open the door and enter the gym, I glanced back and could just see him turning the corner down the street. The rain had helped me run faster, while slowing him down at the same time. Allowing the door to close behind me, I reached a hand up and felt my now soaking wet hair and bow. With a scowl, I walked to the closest mirror to get a better look at the state of my hair.
“Hey Max,” TJ called out, pulling my attention away from my hair. “Go ahead and start conditioning, then warm up tumbling. We have a lot to go over so we’re going to rush through everything as much as we can.”
“Got it,” I said with a sigh, stepping away from the mirror. My bow wasn't sitting how I wanted it to thanks to my floppy wet hair.
“Is everything okay Max?” he asked, raising an eyebrow over my exaggerated sigh.
“Just mad at my hair,” I said, pointing to my bow. It was sitting crooked on my head, all while dripping water down the side of my face. “Not to mention, I feel like I swam the three miles today instead of running them.”
“Well, you must be part mermaid then,” TJ joked. “Your running time is just getting better and better, even with some rain thrown in to trip you up. Matthew is going to need to work a lot harder to catch you.”
As if on cue Matthew entered the gym panting harder than usual. He was immediately followed by a few more athletes, and it became clear they had raced the last stretch of the run. I flashed them a smile, glad I still came in first, then went to the mat to begin conditioning. Despite dripping water onto the blue floor under me, I wasn’t tired from the run. So, while everyone else took a few minutes to rest or get water before joining me, I was able to get quite a bit ahead. By the time Jade entered the gym around the middle of the pack, I was doing pushups in the corner. She made a beeline for me, looking tired but extremely determined at the same time.
“Did Connor talk to you?” Jade asked as soon as she was closer to me.
“A little,” I said, confused by her hushed and serious tone. “I got here a little late thanks to camping.”
“Do you know?”
I looked at her standing in front of me in her damp practice wear. Although the rain slowed down as I was finishing my three miles, Jade was pretty soaked. I was glad to see her bow looked like it was in the same wet condition as mine, but that wasn’t too important. As I paused in my pushups to sit on my knees, I looked up at her trying to figure out what she could be talking about. Clearly something more than just a few new Instagram followers had happened while I was enjoying some time in nature.
“I don’t think so,” I finally told her, which made her let out a long sigh. I couldn’t tell if the sigh was made in relief or not. But, with a quick nod, Jade turned and moved to the other side of the mat to begin conditioning.
As she walked away, I saw Connor catch her eye and give a little shake of his head. It was strange, but I knew worrying about it wasn’t going to do any good. So, I put all my effort into finishing my conditioning and then working on warming up my tumbling as TJ had told me to. I was eventually joined by some other athletes, all of us throwing passes that were a medium difficulty. It allowed our bodies to get ready for harder stunts, and thankfully seemed to give me a chance to dry out a little more.
“Ready for some pyramid work?” TJ asked me as I finally took a break in my tumbling to grab my water bottle.
“Of course,” I nodded, causing him to laugh. “What?”
“Is there anything in this gym you’re not ready and excited for?” he asked simply.
“Running,” I said instantly. “Three miles is enough running in the rain for today.”
“Okay, no more running,” he assured me. “Just pyramid work.”
Once I hydrated, I walked over to the mirror to look at my bow again. It was pretty much dry, but still looked a bit of a mess thanks to my hair. Removing the bow, I ran my fingers through my hair a few times before attempting to style it once again. But, as I was pulling my hair into a super high half ponytail, I was interrupted by Leanne as she came up behind me to help.
“Let me,” she offered, taking the bow from my hands.
Moving to stand in front of me she quickly twisted my hair into a bum before expertly putting the bow in its place. I had never made my half ponytail a bun how Leanne had, but instantly loved how it looked. My black and teal bow was sitting perfectly, no longer affected by the small amount of water still in the fabric.
“You need to teach me that some time,” I told her, having a hard time taking my ey
es off my reflection suddenly.
“Sure,” she nodded. “You helped me a lot with my full so giving you help with the girly stuff is the least I can do.”
Before we could continue our conversation, TJ called everyone together in the center of the mat. We had worked on the pyramid some, but it was clear the afternoon would focus on just that section of the routine. It meant that everyone had to try the same thing over and over again, and that meant I was constantly being thrown in the air. As the shortest and lightest person, I tried skills time and time again, each of them getting harder and harder as time went on. TJ was clearly trying to see just how far the choreography could push the envelope and raise our raw score for competitions. Thankfully, we made sure to have everyone on hand to spot and base new moves so none of the fliers hit the ground. I was especially thankful, as was Juleah. After all, the bruising on her nose and around her eyes had just faded almost completely away.
Running the same section for what felt like the dozenth time, I was happy to end the Nitro practice time with the completion of a really hard sequence. Standing between Emma and Leanne who were also lifted by their team of bases, I held their arms as I was thrown high for a front flip that landed in a split. Although flips weren’t allowed in level 5 flying, since I was holding onto both of the other girls for it, the move was allowed. But, as soon as I was caught in the split I was dropped back down to prep level while I prepared for the next part of the choreography.
As soon as I had completed the assisted front flip, Addison was lifted up to prep level with her back to the audience. Reaching forward, we linked hands, both of our arms crossed over one another to allow for the final skill. Once we counted into the move, I was launched above her head as I kicked my leg up then spun for a kick double down. Granted, all of this was done while also flipping over Addison's head. We held onto one another until a group of bases caught me, allowing me move so I had my feet both cradled and ready for more. I let out a quick breath, then was finally tossed straight up for a toe touch, only to be caught so I was held up by both feet nice and high. Once I had my balance, I reached out to either side to grab Emma’s outstretched foot with one hand and Leanne’s with the other. Two more fliers were also in the air, and based on the reactions from our coach it looked like everyone stayed in the air. In all, the whole series of skills took a matter of seconds to perform, but was exhausting to say the least.