Abomination

Chapter 8- Cheer Camp Cup

We ran through the paper, flipping toward the house. We would be there for a few days.

"Cheer camp!" Bree squeaked. "Even more sparkly than I dreamed."

Bree took my hand, and we ran off. Addison stared at the building.

"Split up!" Bucky shouted. He blew his whistle, separating us into a path. He flipped to the end.

"Yay, Bucky!"

He silenced the applause. "You've all heard the stories of bloodthirsty monsters who roam these woods. Feasting on innocent cheerleaders."

The Aceys scared Bree and Bonzo, causing them to hug in fright. I rolled my eyes. Of course, Bucky was talking about werewolves. Like the monsters we were painted to be. "Well, those stories are just silly make believe. But you'd better believe we're gonna break you down and build you back up into peppy little cheer machines like... Lacey! Stacey! And our most recent Acey, JC."

He flipped in front of us. "I'm Kevin. Right. We changed my name to JC, which I love, by the way."

"Long live the Aceys!" Bucky cheered. "You three lead the veterans. You're the A-Team. Addison, Bree, (Y/n). You take the newbies. You're the, uh, you're the Z-Team. Zombies, this is obviously your first cheer camp. Now, I'm not anti-change. I'm just pro keeping things the way they are, because you don't mess with success. This week, the veterans and the newbies will compete for the Cheer Camp Cup to see who is more cheertastic! The veterans have always won the Cheer Camp Cup, right, Aceys?"

"Right."

"We'll see about that," I challenged.

"To the cheer course! Addison, get those pom-poms pumping."

"Let's show 'em that we got this," Addison said.

The zombies and newbies cheered with the girl.

We went through multiple cheer-based courses. Bucky, whenever he could, sabotaged our course and made us fail. I wanted to growl right in front of him. Show him what we could do if he hurt one of us again.

"The last day of Cheer Camp. And our final challenge!" Bucky announced. "Zombies, your unique squad would have to crush the course record to win. So not happening." Bucky blew his whistle.

"Yeah. We are different, Bucky," I reasoned.

"But that's what makes us stronger," Addison added.

"Yeah!" Bonzo lifted her onto his shoulders.

"Way stronger!"

Bucky blew his whistle. The A-Team's routine was very basic. Like what we've been taught over the years. Bucky blew his whistle, and they entered the obstacle course. Of course we could beat that.

Addison and I lead, as always. We made it to the climbing wall. I helped the others up. We had each other's backs. We ziplined over the other team. There were two pyramids on the sides of the big one. Addison and I rang the bell, signaling the end of the game.

We cheered as we got down, running over to Bucky. Addison had her arm around me.

"Aceys, disappointing. You can't be scared to get those jazz hands dirty," Bucky scolded. "The Cheer Camp Cup is yours."

"Whoa," Addison and I said, noticing the heft.

"Now let's make this victory about me." Bucky took the cup back from us. "I've decided to be school president this year. Now, technically, there's an election. But, come on. Which means we'll need a new cheer captain or cheer co-captains while I rule the school. So who's worthy to lead?"

The Aceys spoke up, talking like kids trying to be picked on in kindergarten.

"What? No, no, no, no." Bree got everyone's attention. "We—We need captains that are going to build a united squad. Someone like Addison and (Y/n)."

"Thanks, Bree," we said in unison.

"(Y/n)! Addison! (Y/n)! Addison!" They kept cheering our names.