Wings of Fire As Humans

Cheer Up-Kinkajou

A/N: Before anyone comes for me, I KNOW that Australian schools don't have cheer teams, but I'm taking creative license. Also PLEASE comment and vote if you're enjoying this :)

Kinkajou was in the girls bathrooms, quickly freshening up for cheer tryouts. She really wanted to make it back onto the team this year and she thought she had a decent chance. After all, she was strong, energetic and flexible, and small enough to throw. Besides, she had a really loud cheering voice, and more than enough enthusiasm. And she'd be able to go down there, as soon as she could get her hair to actually stay in place. She'd spent most of her life not having any idea what to do with her hair, as both at her old orphanage, and with her old foster family, she'd never had anyone who knew what to do with hair as coily as hers, so she'd always worn it cut very short. When she'd arrived at The Hands Of Peace, Glory, even though her hair was nowhere near as curly as Kinkajou's, had been happy to help her figure out exactly how to take care of her hair, and now her hair was much healthier. The really frustrating thing was that Kinkajou was, in general, really good at hair. The girls in the orphanage would come to Kinkajou to have her braid their hair or do other pretty things with it, which made it even more frustrating that she could barely do her own hair. Kinkajou clipped the final section of her hair down with one of her trusty butterfly hairclips, and did a few little jumps on the spot, partially to warm up her leg muscles a bit, but mostly because she was super excited. Then, to her slight embarrassment, someone else walked into the bathroom. 

"Oh, hi!" Kinkajou waved, stopping her bouncing promptly, especially when she noticed how pretty and sophisticated the other girl looked. "You're Anemone, right?"

"I am. And you are..." Anemone trailed off as though she didn't really care about Kinkajou's name. She was applying her gloss in the mirror and seemed more focused on that than the conversation. 

"I'm Kinkajou," Kinkajou said, "I really love your hair. It's, like, such a pretty pink! Did you dye it yourself?" 

"Oh, I had it done at this place called Salon Jolie," Anemone responded, "It's probably out of your budget, though." Um, RUDE! Kinkajou's brain yelled, but she tried to stay placid on the surface. 

"You're Tsunami's sister, right?" Kinkajou asked, "That's cool. I love Tsunami...although I'm not as close to her as I am to Sunny or Glory, because, you know, she'd already left the orphanage by the time I turned up. But still—she's kind of an icon!" 

"Oh, yeah, you're that girl from the orphanage," Anemone said boredly, "Anyway, I need to go."

"Are you trying out for the cheerleading squad too? So am I!" Kinkajou said excitedly, "What position are you usually?"

"I'm a flyer, of course," Anemone tossed her hair.

"SAME!" Kinkajou exclaimed. Maybe they could get over their initial rocky beginnings, and Kinkajou would finally have not one, but two proper friends. 

"Really? You?" Anemone raised a perfect eyebrow doubtfully, "Wouldn't you be a little...big for that?" Now Kinkajou was properly mad. Yes, she was curvy, but considering that her weight was very proportional to her height (which was not tall), she wasn't that heavy. Besides that sort of thing was totally NOT ANEMONE'S BUSINESS TO BE COMMENTING ON! But Anemone had already gone flouncing off, leaving Kinkajou fuming. What is it about rich people, that makes them always think that they are better than everyone! Anemone is just...the absolute worst, and even Winter, who is freakin' gorgeous is so...judgy! UGH! Turtle seems okay though...although he's really shy and quiet. Maybe that will change when I get to know him better. Kinkajou however, decided to ignore the negativity, and skipped down to the gym, turning a couple of cartwheels as she went. When she arrived, she saw Coach Kestrel (I.e. the PE teacher from hell) sitting there, looking bored. There were girls of various ages mingling.

"Hey, girls!" There was a shout and Kinkajou saw this year's cheer captain, Liana Flowerdew calling for attention, "Who is excited for this year's cheer competitions? Because I am! So, it's time for us to find out which of you gorgeous babes are making this year's team, and who isn't." Liana started them off by leading them through a routine, which Kinkajou was able to keep up with, and she thought that she'd probably given a good showing of herself. Anemone certainly had too, and Kinkajou couldn't help remembering that Anemone was supposed to be a high diving star. Individual auditions were a little more of a problem though. 

"Name and year group?" Liana asked, as Kinkajou came over. 

"Kinkajou Bright, Year 11," she replied. Liana quickly wrote this down, with a pen with a big fluffy pompom on the end. Kinkajou now really wanted a pen like that, and she knew what to do with her next paycheck. Well, it depends on how expensive they are, she thought. This thought reminded her of a concern.

"If I make the team, I might have trouble affording a uniform," she said. 

"Oh, we can help you out if you have money problems, don't worry," Liana said. 

"Yeah, thanks," Kinkajou sighed, "I'm in the orphanage, so I don't have a lot." 

"Oh, you're in the orphanage?" Liana raised an eyebrow, "There's a girl in my Law and Politics class from the orphanage too."

"Glory?!" Kinkajou asked. Glory was basically the closest thing to a sister that Kinkajou had ever had, and Kinkajou aspired to be like her, although she knew that she definitely was not as pretty as Glory, and she definitely couldn't do Glory's cool don't-carish attitude, when it was really obvious that Kinkajou cared about absolutely everything, "She's basically my best friend." 

"Really?" Liana's whole expression had changed, and her wide cheerleader's smile had been replaced by a sour face, "Practically your best friend..." Liana doesn't like Glory, Kinkajou figured, probably because she knows that she'll never be as stunning as Glory, or be able to command instant respect like Glory can. And she definitely doesn't have a hot boy with a skateboard who is desperately in love with her, because why would Deathbringer have any interest in Liana, or anyone else for that matter, when Glory is right there?

"So, show us what you can do, Kinkajou," Liana said. Kinkajou could see an evil glint in her eye, and knew that she would have to really do her best, and impress Liana, because she didn't trust that Liana wouldn't let her feelings about Glory affect how she treated Kinkajou.
Suddenly she was really glad that she'd spent so much time practicing her flips and tumbles over the summer, even though her grumpy gymnastics instructor Bromeliad had gotten very tired of her. By the time she finished her routine, Liana looked grudgingly impressed. 

"Well done, Kinkajou!" she cooed, "Just one more question: If you make the team, you might have to cheer at interhouse events, so which house are you in?" 

"Burn!" Kinkajou replied. Liana smiled, holding up a red and green ribbon around her wrist. At Pyrrhia High, there were three houses, Burn, Blister or Blaze, who would compete against one another at interhouse competitions. Kinkajou and Glory were both in Burn, as were Clay and Peril. Moon had been put in Blister when she started, with Kinkajou thought was a bit disappointing, and Turtle and Anemone had been put in Blister as well, although that wasn't a surprise, since Blister was Tsunami's house, and siblings were always put together. Winter, however, had been put in Blaze, with Qibli, which was going to be funny, because it was clear that they were shaping up to have a very competitive frenemiship. 

"Well, we'll be in touch with you," Liana said, plastering on the cheerleader's smile, as Kinkajou walked away. I really hope I'll make it, and then maybe people will finally actually like me. Maybe this is the opportunity that I've been waiting for when I can finally show people that I am actually TOTALLY AWESOME, rather than just a hyperactive, annoying child. Kinkajou had actually made one friend this year, which seemed like a good sign that this year would be different. This would be the year when everyone would finally see the real Kinkajou Bright.