Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn The Cheerleader

The Grand Finale

Dicky tumbled down the stairs, head over heels. He bruised his arms, legs and the left side of his ribcage turned into a splotchy mess of black and blue. His crutches clattered down after him, the metal sticks making a racket on the metal steps of the gymnasium bleachers. Everyone on the bleachers gasped and partially stood to get a better view. The players on the court turned around to see what was happening.

Dicky landed in an injured heap at the feet of his basketball team on the court. Miraculously, his sprained ankle was okay-or as okay as a sprained ankle could be. However, his other ankle, the one that was previously perfectly fine, was twisted in all the wrong directions. Zeke and the rest of the guys immediately forgot about their basketball victory and rushed to the side of their friend.

"Dicky! Are you okay?" Zeke said concernedly, kneeling down on Dicky's right. Dicky was lying on the court, the breath knocked out of him and his limbs splayed out all over the place. The hearing device crackled to life in his ear.

"Tell him you're fine, but that you were so excited about the win that you tried to rush down the stairs and slipped." Ricky's voice instructed. Dicky sat up slowly, wincing. He only used muscles from the waist up--everything waist down hurt too much to even think about.

"I'm fine, Zeke," He grimaced. His forearms were scraped, and whenever they came into contact with anything, even plain air, they stung him. "I was just so excited that our team won, and when I tried to get down the stairs to congratulate you--I slipped."

"Come on, we'll help you up." The team stood around him and grabbed him by the shoulders, trying to lift him off the ground. Dicky flinched and cried out in pain. The immediately let go.

"What's wrong?" Asked a boy from the team. His name was Matt.

"My ankle." Dicky said through gritted teeth, pain spasming through his bones.

"Your sprained one?" Zeke asked.

"Both ankles." Dicky clenched his jaw. "I think I broke the other one."

Ricky spoke through the hearing device again.

"Tell them you need to see a doctor at the hospital to get it checked." He said. "Make it clear you don't want to go alone."

Dicky glanced up at his friends, his eyes squinting in pain. "I need to see a doctor at the hospital." He said. "You know, to get it checked." He paused, then added, "I'm making it clear I don't want to go alone."

Up in the bleachers, Nicky, Ricky and Dawn all face-palmed.

"It's okay, dude, we'll come with you." Zeke promised. Dawn grabbed the mic from Ricky and spoke into it. Her voice crackled over the hearing device and into Dicky's ear.

"Remind them about the movie." Dawn instructed.

"But what about the movie?" Dicky asked, "You can't possibly want to miss it for me. Even though, you know, I am your best friend and may be very seriously injured in every part of my broken body."

"Nah, don't worry about it." Matt said. "Bros before... movies at the mall. That's what they say, right?"

"That's not exactly what they say, Matt..." Zeke said.

Dawn looked at her remaining brothers and nodded. They all rushed down the stairs and broke through the crowd of sweaty, popular basketball players to get to their injured brother.

"Ohmigod, Dicky!" Dawn squealed, "Are you alright?! You shouldn't have been running down those stairs so fast!"

"Mom and dad are out of town," Ricky added. "Who's gonna take you to the hospital to get your ankle X-rayed?"

"It's okay, guys." Zeke told them. "My parents can drive him. And look, the nurses are bringing in a wheelchair so he doesn't have to walk on any of his ankles."

Zeke gestured at the gymnasium doors, which swung open as two medics from the school clinic rushed in--one pushing a wheelchair and the other hurrying over to the injured patient to evaluate the situation.

Ricky discreetly plucked the microphone from Dawn's pocket and whispered into it; "Ask them to go to the hospital with you. To keep you company and all." The earpiece crackled in Dicky's ear and he proceeded to do as instructed.

"Could you guys come with me to the hospital? I'd really feel better if my team was there with me." Dicky glanced up at his teammates, making sure to try and fill his eyes with as much painful emotion as possible. The expression worked--his teammates were immediately filled with the need to support their injured friend.

"Of course!" Matt exclaimed. "We wouldn't think about ever leaving you alone in this state of pain. We're a team, aren't we?"

Dicky smiled.

"Alright, that's great and all," Nicky began, as a sly smile began to spread across Dawn's face. "But what about the movie? It's the last game of the season and this is probably the last time you'll be willing to let anyone that has a ticket tag along even if they weren't originally going to be in on the plan--and you'll all miss it if you bring Dicky to the hospital!" He made sure to raise his voice so across the court, Kayley would hear.

Kayley has been eagerly looking forward to her movie date with the popular kids. Now she was completely unconcerned about Dicky even though he had fallen down the metal stairs and had been injured quite badly. But at the news that the movie plan might not even push through due to this disaster--only at that was she concerned.

Kayley rushed over and pushed through the crowd to get to Dicky and Zeke. She held the glossy movie ticket in between her fingers and waved it in front of Zeke's face.

"What!? You can't just call off the movie! I've been looking forward to it all day!" She demanded, "You are NOT bringing Dicky to the hospital and you are NOT missing the movie!"

Zeke turned to Kayley and looked at her coolly. "Dicky is our FRIEND." Zeke said. "And you should be making sure he's okay and coming to the hospital, too. Aren't you his girlfriend? Shouldn't you be even the slightest bit worried about his wellbeing?"

"Me? Worried? About that loser?" Kayley barked a laugh. She had that crazy look in her eye. That crazy, ridiculous, desperate look. Dawn smiled. Kayley was about to play right into their hands. "The only reason I dated him was to get to you guys!" Kayley snapped. "You realize you're the most popular guy in the school, right? This movie was my last chance to get close to you--to make you see how amazingly gorgeous and fun I am. Then I would dump Dicky and get with you guys--and slowly I'd be integrated into the popular crowd and Dicky would slowly fade from the social roster. So gods help me, WE ARE NOT MISSING THAT MOVIE."

Kayley stood, the mad glint slowly beginning to fade from her eye. She was breathing heavily. Zeke and Matt and the rest of the team were staring at her, shocked. The medics helped Dicky into the wheelchair. He glanced at Kayley triumphantly. Nicky, Ricky and Dawn had the same triumphant look on their faces.

Zeke took a deep breath. "Listen, CHEERLEADER," he screamed, and he proceeded to yell in her face. Kayley cowered under Zeke's gaze. After a few minutes of screaming, Zeke's voice grew hoarse and he stopped. Kayley drew herself up to her full height. She snapped her fingers and her two cheerleader friends fell into step behind her.

"Whatever." She sniffed, tears welling up in her eyes. "It's not like--it's not like I needed you anyway. Let's go. Let's go, girls." She spun around on her heel and strutted off. Her tears drew two solid black lines down her cheeks--apparently she'd put on way too much makeup before the game.

"Well." Matt said after a few seconds of silence. "Let's get you to the hospital."

Zeke took the wheelchair handles from the medic and wheeled his friend out of the school to the car. Behind them, Nicky, Ricky and Dawn glanced at each other and grinned.

Operation Cheerleader had been a success. Who would think about messing with the Harper quads now?

The three slapped hands and walked out of the gymnasium. They stopped by the hotdog cart.

"You want one?" Ricky asked.

Dawn grinned. "Or four." She said.

Nicky smiled and handed the money over to the vendor.

THE END