Prom Queen of Disaster (4 page)

Mr. June stood outside on the field; adjusting the straps on his wrist splint, scrunching his lips at the dirty beige fabric.

“Okay!” he said. “First game is this Friday, so we need to lock this routine down.”

Char took a spot beside Mr. June and clenched her hands together. “Seniors, this is our last year. While squad practice is tonight,
we
need a routine. We know Mr. June is an Olympic medalist, we cannot let him down, if you don’t feel like you’re up to the challenge tonight, or for the rest of the basketball season, then please, hand in your pom-poms.”

Mr. June laughed. “Thanks, Charlotte,” he said. “But, we won’t be cutting anyone from the squad, we don’t want anyone to leave, but I will say that if you do leave, the Lakeside Lions cheer squad will win.”

Char snapped her fingers twice. “Exactly, and Mr. June, please call me Char,” she said. “Charlotte was the name my parents called me when they were together, so it reminds me of that.”

Of course, that was a crock of BS she brewed to tell all the teachers if they
dared
call her Charlotte. I’d grown up with Charlotte before she was Char. Her dad had called her Char when she was younger, way before he split from her mom when she was 11. She still spent time with him in New York most summers, except for the past year when she was able to drive.

“Sure, so Char has prepared some routines, and we also have new uniforms coming, I know that was a huge
deal
for you, so for cheer practice this evening, I’ll be handing out the new uniform. And we have a new mascot on the team.” He gestured to the opening behind us.

Our mascot was a panda wearing a Mighty Marin Pandas top. He ran through, parting us to stand beside Mr. June. He gestured with a large grin. “Also, a new senior, who
according
to files was home-schooled up until this year,” Mr June said. “Say hello to our new Paddy the Panda!”

The student inside pulled the head of the mascot slightly, before tugging at it completely. “Well, looks like this is my life now,” he chuckled.

We snickered as he pulled at the costume, finally pulling himself free.

Kaleb
?

Kaleb didn’t say much, he smiled like he knew we’d be on the cheer squad. I’d probably told him about the school we went to or Char had let slip the wet dream about cheerleaders every guy had after he’d taken a seat at the bar beside me. He looked different in daylight, no bruising on his face and a boyish smile. It had been almost a week without a word from him. Almost like he’d forgotten about us.

I laid on the grassy track field, staring into the clear blue sky.

“He’s cute,” Ava said. “Thought he was older.” She threw her pom-poms at me.

“I told you he was our age.” I threw the pom-poms back.

“Is he staying for the game?” Libby asked.

I shrugged, pushing myself up on my elbows. “He still hasn’t said anything.”

Ava shot a hand in the air. “I’ll do it.”

“Make sure to ask why he’s here,” I said.

Char sat beside me. “Still talking about him?”

“What’s the deal with him?” Hannah asked.

He was in view, pulling himself from the costume. His hair stuck to the side of his face with sweat.

“He’s textbook creeper,” Char said. “Homeschooled until senior year. Who does that?”

Mr. June called us into the gymnasium. The basketball team was already in a circle on the court. Dylan had the basketball under an arm as he spoke to the team from the center. He stood with Coach Iñez. I’d heard his talk before; he’d practiced it with me to see how inspiring it was. He was a natural leader.

“Listen up,” Mr. June said, gesturing us to gather around. “The Lakeside Lions are headed our way. The game starts in 2 hours, so people, family, friends, will be arriving. We’ll need to pump up the crowd and amp up the team.” He placed a hand in the center. “Ready?” He nodded. “One, two, three!”

“We’ll do great,” Char said. “Now let’s stretch it out.”

Both groups stretched and warmed up on the court; slipping into splits to get every angle stretched out. I stood upright and stretched out my arms. Dylan grabbed at my waist from behind. He kissed the side of my neck.

“PDA,” I laughed. I turned in his arms and kissed him back.

“Looking forward to the dance tonight,” he said. “Got something special afterward.”

Conscious of the eyes on us. I giggled. “What is it?”

“Wouldn’t be special if I told you.”

The mascot bumped into us, catching the ball. It was part of a planned routine, not the bumping part but the ball catch. They didn’t have it quite down. Dylan pushed him away, mumbling something.

“Who’s that jackass?” he said, rolling his shoulders.

I shrugged. “New mascot.”

“Gotta be new.” He laughed. “Is he the home school kid? He’s in my English.”

“Dylan!” Coach Iñez called out, blowing his whistle. “I’m sure the cheer squad needs her more than you right now.”

Dylan left, and an amble-footed mascot walked over. He pulled the head from the panda costume to reveal the sweat down his face. “Sorry,” he said, combing his hair back. “It’s hard to see in this thing.”

“That’s fine,” I said, cocking my hand on a hip. “Weren’t you gonna say
hi
?”

He laughed. “You wanted me to?”

“Well, we wanted to know why you’re here.”

“My brothers gave me school books and every few months I took tests at some crappy half-way school,” he said.

“And?”

“And after you guys were served, I told them I wanted a real school. Besides, the main reason was my older brother’s DUI,” he laughed, “my other brother is always too focused on the bar anyway.”

“So, they won’t be here tonight?”

“Hope not.”

“But they’re such fun to have around.”

He grinned. “Nah. The weekend is big business.”

“Zo!” Char screeched. “Get your butt over here.”

I shrugged. “Please make the basket tonight.”

Char pulled me into the crowd by an arm. “No,” she said, “we don’t need him to know about us.”

Ava grabbed at my other arm. “But he’s pretty cute,” she said. “Introduce me; I wanna see how much of a bad boy he is.”

“Just speak to him,” I said.

“Or not,” Char added. “He’s the mascot, and you know who gets with the mascot? The band geeks.”

“He can’t even make the basket,” Libby said.

Quentin wriggled into the conversation. “Just be glad we’re not made to wear that stupid costume,” he said. “God knows my uncle had some whacked up shit planned.”

At least that much was true; it would’ve been one of the guys made to fill out the costume, mainly because it was too roomy
for any of us girls to fit in. Or an unsuspecting freshman would jump at the chance be in Paddy the Panda’s sweat locker.

Before long, the gymnasium was filling out at either side. Half for the home team, the other for the Lakeside Lions. Already they were cheering. It’s where the competition began.

“
1-2-3-4 the Pandas are back, better than before,

Unstoppable, unbeatable,

The best team on the court!

Go Pandas, go!”

Encored by the beat of feet on the floor.
Boom, boom, boom
. We rolled our pom-pom hands, raising them high and clapping.

“
Our team is backed by pride,

We’ve got Lions on our side,

Stand up, shout; we won’t hide!

Go Lakeside Lions!
”

I always paid a little more attention to the other team, and if Char caught us, we’d be visually daggered. We were in charge of keeping pep and team spirit, if they noticed us looking away, they’d look away. It was hard to stay so focused when there was so much going on, especially the knot of nerves, wondering if my mom or dad would attend. I knew neither would, but the knot stuck with me whenever we went out on the court.

A voice pulled attention over the speaker. “If you’d all like to take your seats while we welcome both teams to the court!” Both cheer squads descended to line the sides. We shook our pom-poms as the teams came from the changing rooms. “In yellow, we have, all the way from Phoenix Lake High School, the Lakeside Lions, who only recently retired their mascot from the
beloved
namesake Phoenix. And in blue, we have home team heroes, from Marin County High School, the Mighty Marin Pandas!” The crowds became ecstatic, stomping their feet and clapping their hands. “Give it up for your teams!”

The gymnasium was alive with brash voices and cat-calls for their favorite team. Pre-game was in full force as each cheer squad had a five-minute routine slot.

We went ahead with our chants, twirls, jumps and handsprings, getting the crowd to clap with rhythmic stomps.

“
You lions may have pep,

You lions may have pride,

But when it comes to slaying,

You lions run and hide!
”

The crowd roared as we repeated the chant, ready for the finale. Kaleb came out in full costume, dribbling the ball and headed to jump. He jumped and faked the first shot, and around he went again. We pumped our fists to amp the crowd. The second time around, he threw with one swift hook, the ball went in. We screamed in support and shock.

“He did that?” Char laughed.

“Someone’s taking lessons,” Ava said. “Might ask him to the dance.”

“Still a mascot,” Char said.

“Thought your goal was a guy on the team.”

Paddy the Panda,
Kaleb
ran from the court. I didn’t realize until a few moments later when he ran back on the court with Dylan, high-fiving in the panda costume. “Like what I did there?” Dylan asked, tugging at my side.

“Huh?”

“You believe he did that,” he laughed.

Char hooked her arms around us. “It was you?” she chuckled. “I knew he couldn’t be that good.”

“Saved us embarrassment.”

“Didn’t want to make an ass out of himself,” Dylan said. “I’m a great shot.”

We hadn’t realized the other cheer squad perform their routine until half-way through when two girls were flipped. Ava’s fingers to her lips as she watched them perform, almost in prayer to ruin their routine.

“
Mighty Marin Pandas,

We see you over there,

Where’s your trophy at?

Oh, we get it, winning’s pretty rare!
”

The chant was in poor taste; we’d won most of our games. We soft clapped them away. It was a great attempt, and even though we didn’t care, we were good at pretending.

“That’s a crock of shit,” Char said.

Libby blew a gum bubble. It popped across her nose. “Is that all they got?” she said, gathering the chewing gum with a finger. “If the basketball team doesn’t win, I know we did.”

Dylan had gone back to his team. “Don’t let Dylan hear you say that,” I said. “It would kill him.” Nerves banged in my chest.

“Please take your seats!” The fuzzy voice crackled through the speakers. “You have 5 minutes until the game begins!”

We whirred in motion again, motivating the crowd, getting them to stand and chant with us. They stomped their feet and clapped their hands. Game time had buzzed, and the referee’s whistle blared through the atmosphere. The mascot rushed off with Ava closely following. I tried to grab her arm.

“Ava?” I threw my hands up.

“The bathroom,” she said, “why?”

“Hurry then.” I gestured to the court, watching Dylan arch his body, leaping with the ball, throwing from the three-point arc.
Three points
, the scoreboard screeched, and the backboard flickered with the change.

We pulled together in a line. “Go Dylan, go, go! Go Dylan!”

With the first quarter almost over. 12 – 8 to us. I had to take a bathroom break. I walked through to the locker rooms. Kaleb pushed passed me, almost stumbling to his knees. I grabbed at the matted costume. He tore away and rushed back onto the court. I held myself up on the wall trying not to burst my bladder in the skin tight cheer outfit.

Ava didn’t look too impressed once I was back on the court and the buzzer timed out for the first quarter.

“So it’s okay for you?” Ava said.

“What?”

“To go.”

I rolled my eyes. “Didn’t say that. Only asked where you were going.”

Char called over to us from the whir. She held her hand up and gestured to the center court.

The mascots were in the center, tugging on a long piece of rope. There was a playful pull, back and forth. The team from the other side had joined before we engaged them in the game.

My upper body strength couldn’t fail me now. I grabbed rope after Libby, right at the end. A
fun
game? The red in Char’s face said otherwise. I’d been to summer camp were tug rope was less competitive. “And pull,” Char said. “Pull.” We jerked the rope hard before it became slack and the opposition fell.

“No more brick shots,” I heard Dylan tell the others on the starting squad. The coach hovered around before pushing into their circle. “Coach Inez, any words?”

“We’re winning right now. Like Dylan said, let’s try and get some more shots from the three-point line, and
no more
brick shots. Benny, you’re tall, use it,
block
like it.”

The ref blew his whistle again. Already on the offense the Lakeside Lions were aggressive; pushing the ball to our side, making fouls the ref wouldn’t call; they were another five points up before we scored a point from the foul line after delivering a foul to Mack, our small forward, an aggressive guy.

Mack was taken off the court and changed for sophomore, Denny. Brianna jumped around on the side of the court; the secret of them dating was under wraps, or at least it had been. We cheered alongside her.

Neck and neck with points as the second quarter came to a close. It was halftime. The players went back to the locker rooms while we cheered. Scores were tied up at 22 – 22, I imagined Dylan’s pep talk to the players, the same he’d practice with me when we were alone. He
needed
this, the first game, the first win, it was his passion.

“Sorry,” Ava said. “I know you’re looking out for the team, and I’m—” She threw her arms at her side and huffed. “PMSing right now.”

I smiled and pulled her in my arms. “Shut up.”

“And I’m taking on water like a whale.”

Char threw a pom-pom at us. “She’s taken,” she said.

“Not a lesbian,” I said.

“But if we were,” Ava said, grinning. “We’d be together.”

Char raised an eyebrow. “Tough competition.”

The music finished for the Lakeside Lions cheering squad. The crowd was tame, they stood and clapped, not too enthusiastically. “Now for the Mighty Marin Pandas!” the voice boomed.

We took positions, almost like we’d rehearsed it in our sleep, our feet moved with swift automatic precision. One-by-one, giving everything for the half-time show. The routine was short, following the teams back on the court.