king and queen

twenty-four

Alexa's POV

I walked into lunch next hour and I couldn't find anyone I knew. I looked around for a bit and sighed.

"Alexa!" Someone called out.

It was a females voice. I couldn't recognize it, though.

"Over here." The same girl yelled.

I turned around to a group of girls. "Wanna sit with us?" Another one asked.

"Oh, yes please. I sat down at the edge and placed my bag on the floor. "Thank you. I was so clueless."

"Glad to help. Are you new here?"

"Yeah, I just moved here. From New York."

"Oh, so that's how you know Dallas."

"Dallas? Oh yeah. I've known him forever."

"Really? Is he why you came down here?"

"Uhh... yeah. I guess so."

"You two got a thing going on?" The blonde asked.

"What? Oh, no. We're just friends." The brunette laughed. I faked laughed along with her. "What's so funny?"

"Well, it's just, Dallas doesn't have "just friends." He was "just friends" with that Sylvia chick for a while and they eventually got together. Was always cheating on each other though."

"Really?" Dallas was mean but I don't think he'd ever cheat on someone.

"Yeah. They ended things a couple months ago. Oh, I'm Lauren, by the way." The blonde said. "This is Kara, and that's Cindy." She said motioning to the other two.

"Oh, well it's nice to meet you all. I'm Alexa, but I can only imagine you already know that." I said with a laugh.

"Oh yeah. We've been hearing about ya all morning."

That was reassuring.

"Hey, Lex." Someone said from behind me.

I turned around because I recognized the voice. "Hey, Johnny."

"Do you wanna come sit me with me, Steve, and Ponyboy? We got an extra spot."

I looked at the girls and back and Johnny. "Uh, yeah I think I will. Sorry, I hope y'all don't mind." I sighed as I picked up my stuff and walked away. I looked at Johnny. "What is everyone's deal? I don't understand what's going on."

"Everyone's just talking about someone new and especially since you walked in with Dal. He's not seen around here too much."

"I've heard. I've just never seen anything like this be a big deal. I mean if someone was new in New York, someone would eventually say "Hi" and they'd be friends. Everyone here is just more... judgy from afar."

I had to repeat to myself all day to be nice to others and they'll be nice to you.

I went through my next two classes and I was thankful I had my last class with Dallas. I went through the same spiel again and said hi to the teacher and took a seat.

My last hour was just study hall. I took out my science book go read that chapter and I finished it pretty quickly.

I looked around and Dallas still wasn't here yet.

Speaking of the devil.

He walked in the door and slumped down at the desk next to me. "How nice of you to join us, Dallas."

"Yeah, I'm real glad to be here." He muttered. He shifted towards me. "Hey, Lex."

"Hi, Dallas. Have you been late to every class today?"

"Hey, I'm sure the school is just grateful I showed up."

I laughed. "I guess so. Are you going home after school?" I asked.

"Nah, I was gonna go to Pony's."

"Oh."

"Why?"

"I gotta head back to get clothes to change into before tryouts."

"Oh, yeah. I mean I can walk ya there if you want."

"No, it's okay. I was just wonderin'."

"Whatcha tryin' out for?" Some girl said from behind us.

I looked at her like she was crazy and back at Dallas. She was leaning over the desk waiting for my answer.

"Back off, Celia." Dallas finally said.

"Oh, I'm just wondering."

"Cheer." I finally said.

She laughed. "Good luck. We've got a tough team. What's your position?"

"I... uh, base and fly."

"Good luck. I joined the team last year after a lot of determination. We aren't really looking for new senior girls."

I sighed as she sat back down. Dallas looked at me with empathy. "It's okay. No spots are guaranteed for anyone. That's what Maya said. So I've got just as much of a chance as anyone."

The day ended and I wasn't feeling to confident about the whole thing. I got home and changed into my workout clothes and went back to the school.

I got to the track outside and I was the second one there. "Hi." I said going up to a girl.

"Hi. Are you here for cheer?" She asked.

"Yeah. I'm Alexa DeVos."

"Cherry Valance. It's nice to meet you."

"You too."

Some people started showing up and then the coach finally came.

"Everyone gather around!" We all got in a circle and waited for her to start talking. "I'm Coach Mia. Nice to see y'all again, nice to meet some of you. Can we go in around the circle and introduce ourselves?"

Everyone went around. Cherry went first with a girl named Marcia next to her. Then Kylie went and then some more girls. My turn.

"I'm Alexa DeVos and I'm a senior. I've been in competitive dance for fourteen years and competitive cheer for seven."

"Competitive? Haven't had a girl with that much experience yet." The coach said.

I laughed. "Umm... this is actually my first day of school. I just moved down here from New York. My school was always goin' around for nationals."

"Interesting."

The circle finished and we warmed up together.

"Alright. First off, improvising . I'm gonna play some music and you're gonna show me a dance routine. Please try to incorporate some cheer moves into it. Alexa, you're up first. Let's go."

I sighed as I waited for her radio to get started up.

Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley started playing.

I used to listen to this all the time! I did a dance to it years ago in a local competition.

"You have one minute!" Coach Mia yelled. "5,6,7,8!"

I started off with the basic choreography I remembered from dance I had previously done. It may have been cheating, but it was a skill. Incorporate cheer. Smile!

Goodness.

I started to try some cheer things. I pulled out my aerial into a back tuck. I kept myself super tight and I kicked my right leg up to the side, nodded my head, and smiled.

I used that to start my pirouettes and I kicked my leg up all the way to the top as far as I could and grabbed it before I pulled out my final flip.

She stopped the music. I cleaned and put my hands on my hip. Everyone clapped. "Wow! Awesome. Next!"