The It Girl [COMPLETED]

Chapter 41 - "Cheer is stupid."

It was triumph that Courtney felt as she walked into the school's broadcast room. Victory was hers. A victory that no one knew about and was against the inanimate wires that lay across the floor but still! Victory was hers.

No longer would they be able to threaten to trip her and her crutches. Now she walked free and she'd won the battle. Take pleasure in the small victories to give strength to win the war.

What war she was fighting, she didn't know. The war of life? That just made life sound brutal. The war of high school? Less intense but still not encouraging.

She was thinking too much about this. She walked into the broadcasting room and claimed a spot at the wall without interacting with the wires on the floor. A small detail in her life but she still felt the relief of not having crutches.

"Feeling smug about your victory?" Miguel asked as he joined her.

Okay, so maybe her overly cautious steps with her crutches and the wires hadn't gone unnoticed. That was either gratifying or embarrassing. How stupid and timid had she looked?

"I am," Courtney said. "Life is a battlefield and I vanquished an enemy."

"A brutal view of life," Miguel said. "Also the wires are completely unaffected and so I hardly call that vanquishing your enemy."

"You're stealing my victory."

"And therefore making my own victory by doing so." Miguel grinned at her with a triumphant glint in his eye. Which was unfair, that glint was rightfully hers. "It's a good day."

"Go away."

With his stolen glinting eyes, Miguel walked off to talk with Shelby, who was giving off flustered broadcasting manager vibes. Safe in her place at the wall, the proverbial fly as one would say, Courtney watched as everyone went about their jobs, all aware of the clock ticking down to showtime. True it was only a high school broadcast but they worked with focus. Though Courtney was conscious of the whole team, only one member held her attention.

"Hey," Lynn said, coming to stand next to Courtney.

"Is it just me or are the cameramen more attractive than usual today?" Courtney asked.

Courtney sensed as Lynn tried to understand what Courtney was talking about as she scanned the line of camera operators.

"Cameramen or cameraman?"

"Oh definitely cameraman. I mean look at him. Is it hot in here or is it just me?"

"It's hot in here but you can still be feverish if you want to be."

Micah glanced over to Courtney and started at seeing her watching him. Someone next to him said something and he turned away.

"I mean look at him work," Courtney said. "Have you ever seen anything more attractive than a cute guy who knows what he's doing?"

"You're ridiculous?"

"Because I'm attracted to competence? I don't see how that's a bad thing."

Micah glanced over at her again and Courtney hooked her arm around Lynn's and rest her head on her shoulder, grinning unabashedly.

"Goodness me! He's cute."

At her sparkling eyes, because they definitely had to be sparkling with one of the overhead lights angled towards her, Micah ducked his head.

"One look and you have him flustered," Lynn said. "Either he's smitten or you're just that powerful."

Micah sent a look toward her and she waved.