A Non-Blonde Cheerleader in Love (5 page)

“I want you to make the cheerleading squad,” I said.

Daniel smiled. “Done.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” I said.

“Is this going to be another knock on my ability? Because I don’t think my ego can handle it,” he said.

“No. Not at all,” I told him. “It’s just . . . Coach Holmes takes the cheerleading squad seriously.”

“I know,” he said.

“
Very
seriously,” I added.

“I know.” He was getting a little impatient. “I think we all know that after this afternoon.”

“So that stuff Terrell pulled today? That was not good,” I told him. “And you guys laughing?”

“She didn’t even hear that!” Daniel protested.

“Yeah, but Tara did,” I told him. “And she is very anti-male.”

“Tell that to Bobby Goow,” Daniel said with a smirk.

Tara and Bobby had been going out since before puberty set in. How she, with her volatile temper, handled the big doofball, I will never know.

“That’s not what I mean,” I told him. “She’s anti-
you guys.
And if you think she’s not going to tell Coach Holmes every single thing you do, then you don’t know her as well as I do.”

“Girls,” Daniel scoffed. Like we were all such huge gossips.

“Hey! Don’t lump me in with her,” I said. “The point is, you guys have to at least
act
like you care about it or Coach is going to pull the plug on the whole thing. Trust me.”

Daniel just looked at me with a blank expression that made my stomach turn. He was getting irritated. A couple of little kids ran toward us, then parted around our legs and kept running, headed for Santa’s throne. Daniel softened slightly and smiled as he watched them shriek and squeal.

“I’m just trying to help,” I told him.

“I know.”

“Well . . .
do
you care about making the team?” I asked him tentatively.

“You know I do,” he said. “I had fun today.”

“Well, then maybe you should tell the other guys to chill a little,” I suggested. “Or she won’t take guys at all and that’ll be that.”

Daniel finally nodded and relaxed a little. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll talk to Terrell. He really wants to be on the squad too, you know. He was just being Terrell. But afterward he kept talking about the stunting video Coach showed us and he’s actually pretty psyched.”

I smiled. “Good. He’d be fun to have around. If he could, you know, control himself.”

Over the past few weeks I’d had plenty of opportunities to hang out with Terrell, thanks to his friendship with Daniel. He was kind of a spotlight hog, but luckily he was also very funny. My stomach always hurt from laughing after we got together. But every once in a while he took his teasing too far. So I figured one of two things was going to happen. Either he’d be good comic relief from Tara, or he’d drive us all insane. I was hoping for the former.

“Don’t worry about it. He’ll be fine,” Daniel said casually as we started walking again. “Hey, so, you know that chair-sit thing? Have you ever done that before?”

His enthusiasm was too cute. “No, actually. I’ve never done partner stunts before. I guess we’re all gonna have to learn new stuff.”

Daniel blew out a sigh of relief. “Good. Because it looks like those guys basically grab the girl’s butt, you know? And if some guy did that with you—”

“Uh, hello?
You
might be grabbing some
other
girl’s butt!” I cried, laughing.

Daniel blanched. So did I. We both stopped walking. My stomach fell so fast, I thought it was going to plop out onto the ground.

“Oh. Right,” Daniel said. “Well, I guess if I make the squad, we’ll just have to be partners.”

I blushed. The very thought sent my pulse racing. “Well, it’s all just in the name of sport, right?” I said.

We stared at each other for a long moment. Suddenly all I could think about was him tossing Sage. Looking up at her to keep balance and seeing up her skirt. Her falling and him grabbing her as she came down and his hand landing on her—

“Yeah. We’re just gonna have to be partners,” we both said at the same time.

Then we turned and got back to the much less stressful activity of Christmas shopping.

My friends and I stayed away from practices for the rest of the week. If Daniel didn’t get through to Terrell, I didn’t want to witness another standoff—or know exactly what he was doing—so that I wouldn’t hold it against him later. The less I knew, the better. Ignorance was bliss.

But whatever happened in those two days, it apparently hadn’t resulted in Coach Holmes having a total mental breakdown or rescinding her decision to go coed, because when Friday evening rolled around, Daniel was waiting out in the gym lobby with the rest of the unnerved hopefuls, getting ready to try out.

And I was sending him good vibes from the center of the bleachers inside the gym. The entire squad had turned out to watch the tryouts and cheer for the newbies. Most of the wrestling and basketball teams—both guys and girls—were there as well. The air was thick with the scents of shampoo and soap since they were all freshly showered after their own practices. The guys’ b-ball team had gathered mostly at the tip-top of the stands and were laughing and whispering and generally acting like little kids on a field trip. I knew they were all hyped up to see the guys’ auditions. I could practically feel the drip of their saliva on the back of my neck. I just hoped they didn’t mock Daniel too hard or I might have to kill them all.

“Hey, Annisa,” K. C. Lawrence said, scooting over to sit next to me.

“Hey there, rock star,” I said. “How does it feel to be undefeated?”

“It’s only been three matches.”

“Uh, and three pins,” Mindy reminded him, leaning forward so she could see him.

K.C. blushed. “Yeah. Okay. It feels sorta good, actually.” He flipped his long hair over his shoulder. “So, you nervous for Daniel?”

“Kind of,” I said. “I just hope they don’t get on his case or try to mess him up,” I added, glancing over my shoulder at Daniel’s brother and his friends.

“Don’t worry. They say anything, I’ll take them down,” K.C. said.

“And we all know he’s good at it,” Mindy put in under her breath.

“Thank you,” I said with a smile. “I’m sure Daniel would appreciate that too.”

“Yeah, well, I gotta hand it to the dude. He’s got guts,” K.C. said, looking across the gym. “I’d rather wax my eyebrows off than get out there and do this.”

“Now there’s an image,” I said. Maybe he and Bethany should get together and compare notes.

“Okay, everyone,” Coach Holmes called out, standing up next to the judges’ table, where five volunteer teachers and guidance counselors sat with their clipboards. Usually Holmes sported trendy track suits or comfy sweats, but today she was wearing jeans and a black turtleneck and her hair was pulled back in a no-nonsense bun. Who knew a hairstyle could be intimidating? She looked up and addressed the crowd. “We’re about to get started and we’re going to bring in the guys first.”

“Whoo-hoo! Bring ’em on!” some loser shouted from the top row, earning cheers and catcalls.

“Hey! Quit it!” K.C. grumbled over his shoulder.

“Thank you, Mr. Lawrence,” Coach Holmes said as she leveled the culprit with a glare. “Now I expect you all to treat each and every one of our hopefuls with the respect they deserve,” she said firmly. “If any one of you people so much as coughs to cover a laugh, I will kick you out of here so hard, you’ll be nursing a tread burn for a week, you got me?”

Silence. Damn, this woman was good.

“All right then,” she said.

Coach Holmes turned and walked across the gym, her sneakers squeaking on the shiny wood floor. My heart pounded so fast, it had me looking around for the defibrillator. Thanks a lot, Daniel. I was supposed to be all chill this time around. Instead I felt like I
was
trying out again. Coach swung the door open and we all heard her call out the first name.

“Daniel Healy?”

Oh, God. He was
first
?

Giggles trickled down from above. K.C. shot the guys a derisive glare and shook his head. I was liking this guy more and more by the second. Eventually the door slammed behind Coach and Daniel. The laughter was cut short.

“Are you okay?” Mindy whispered in my ear.

All I could do was nod. My throat was so dry that if I had talked, I might have coughed and then I’d be Coach’s first victim. And that whole tread-burn thing did not sound like a good time.

Daniel walked right to the center of the gym, wearing the outfit I had helped him pick out the night before—long SDH Football shorts and a clean white T-shirt. He stood at attention with his hands behind his back, his chest out and his chin up, looking every bit the perfect cheerleader. Someone really
was
taking this seriously.

Daniel smiled at the judges and then his eyes scanned the crowd. When he looked at me, I gave him an encouraging smile and tried really hard not to barf. Barfing might sort of throw him off.

“Okay, Daniel. Whenever you’re ready,” Coach Holmes said.

Daniel nodded quickly. His feet shifted and he cleared his throat. He was visibly nervous.

You can do it,
I thought.
You can, you can, you can!

“Let’s go! Ready? OK!” Daniel shouted in a low voice.

And I almost lost it. A laugh gurgled up in my throat so hard and fast, I almost choked myself trying to hold it back. Mindy grabbed my arm and squeezed and I knew she was two seconds short of a breakdown too. I’d love to say that it was just the nerves—and it was, partially—but it was Daniel too. It was just totally bizarre watching him call a cheer like that. All alone out there in the middle of the court. I mean, he was a
guy.

Oh my God. Maybe I was sexist!

“S! D! H! S! Let’s go, Crabs!” Daniel shouted.

I have no idea how the guys were controlling themselves. Statistically, they really do have a harder time with that than girls do, I think. I glanced at K.C. He was the picture of perfect concentration. Was he trying to send Daniel good vibes too, or was he just focusing really hard on not cracking up?

“S! D! H! S! Let’s go, Crabs!” Daniel continued.

“He’s pretty good,” K.C. said under his breath.

And actually, he was right. Once I really started critiquing Daniel, I realized he had it down. His arms were solid and his clasps were perfect. He even sort of looked like he was having fun. As much as anyone who’s that on display can look like they’re having fun.

“Sand Dune fans, let’s hear you shout!” Daniel cried.

“Let’s go, Crabs!” we all cheered along with him.

It was a huge relief to shout. Huge, huge,
huge
.

“Let’s go, Crabs!”

“Let’s go, CRABS!”

By the end we were screaming. Giddy and screaming and trying really hard not to laugh from the tension and the silliness. Instead we all cheered and clapped and shouted for Daniel. Chandra and K.C. pounded the bleachers with their feet as they applauded and everyone joined in, shaking the whole room.

Even the guys on the top bleacher, who were probably peeing in their pants by this point, cheered like crazy. I hoped that now that they had seen it, they understood that it was not easy to try out, especially not for a guy. Maybe they even respected him a little bit for it. I know I did.

It was a great moment. Daniel stood there calmly as the judges jotted their scores and I was so proud of him. He hadn’t messed up the moves once. He’d stayed composed even as the rest of us were totally losing it. He was the first guy ever to try out for the Sand Dune High cheerleading squad and he’d pulled it off. And pulled it off
well.

I saw Mr. Dumera, the physics teacher, and Mr. Cuccinello, my guidance counselor, exchange an impressed look. An extreme thrill shot right through me. Unless I was mistaken, Daniel and I were about to start seeing a lot more of each other.