Learning a Fathers love

Chapter 14

@insaneone247  Ask and you shall receive.

I want you all to know I know absolutely nothing about cheer. I gotta say this because the specialist police like to yell at people lol.

Micai POV

We made the cheer team. All four of us. It's been quite the experience. We're the only boys on the team, so they have to purchase us new uniforms. I'm not wearing a skirt. Instead they buy us 4 different uniforms. A sweat suit, a set with shorts and a top, and two pants suits. I'm honestly so excited for the uniform. It's gold, pink, blue, and white.

I've been on the team about two weeks now and it had been rough. The team is coached by the 8th grade captains and it's brutal. Serinity made us hold a plank until she finished eating an apple. I swear the apple was brown before we were able to rest.

Today after practice we received our uniforms. All four of them and a catalog. It had extra shirts and other things we could order if we wanted. I was so excited try mine on. Deante was too. We both walked out to the curb to wait on my dad. Deante keeps looking at the uniforms like he's scared of them. I don't say nothing though. "Hey, Cai do you think I could leave my uniforms at your house?" I was confused. "Don't you want to show your parents?" I laughed. He did not. Instead he looked at the xground. "Uh, no. My dad would probably beat me in Spanish if he saw this. I'd be a dead man and a stupid one, walking into my house with this. He just thinks we hang out and go to the weight room after school." Oh. Now I get it. He fears what I feared, but it's his reality.

I nodded and he handed me the packs of uniforms. My uncle pulled up at the same moment. Uh oh. I climbed in the front of his truck. "Uncle Anthony, where's my dad?" He laughed. "Well hello to you too nephew. If you're dying to know, Antrez had to make a stop on his way home. It's taking longer than he expected. He told me to pick you and your friend up. Take him home, then take you home. Any objections?" I shook my head no. The car pulled off. I wonder what stop he had to make.

When I get to the house I put my key in the door and went right to my room with my stuff. I'm screaming on the inside. I can't wait til Dad comes home and I can show him my uniforms. I pull them all out the packs and lay them on the bed. I'm in love with the sweat suit. It's amazing. I take a picture and send it to Ty. Her call game is weak, but her text game is strong. We send messages all day. I sit on the floor and wait for him to come home.

When he finally arrives he looks dog tired. I had already ate noodles for dinner. I waited just to show him my outfits. I led him to my room. He sat on the chair by my desk. He was struggling to keep his eyes open. He watched me walk around in each outfit. He clapped it up for me every time. I could feel it. This was a core memory. I was so excited. He even took my picture.

"What about those?" He pointed to the box on the floor. I glanced up at him. "Those are Deantes. He said his dad would kill him if he saw them, so he asked if they could stay here." Dad stared at the box, but didn't say anything. "I was kinda scared about that too. That you would not approve of my cheerleading choices. I was scared you wouldn't let me cheer,that it was too girly, that it was gay." I whispered the last part. I was now scared of what he would say.

He reached out his arms and pulled me into a hug and squeezed me tight. "Listen here, I don't give a damn what you do, as long as it's safe. You can wear what you want, do what you want, be who you want. I will love you all the same." I wanted to cry. Even though he never gave off that vibe, it was nice to hear those words.  Words I didn't know I needed to hear. "I wish Deantes dad was more like you." But unfortunately he's not.

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The next day at school Lawrence and Tabias, formally known as boy 1 and boy 2, ate lunch with me and my friends. Tj now ate with us too. No more jokes. Sometimes he comes over for dinner with me and Nova. Antrez be all in Nova's mom's face. Weirdo. Lawrence is a firecracker. "Guys listen. My cousin April is throwing a party. She's turning 16. We should go!" Now why would we do that? She's 16, we're 12. She's four years older than us. How would we even get there? How would we get home? Somebody has got to say something. "How would we even get there? Plus she's much older than us."