Meet Me At The Mat

Chapter 5

Pic of Liz's uniform. They have the half top version. The video is of the routine.

Colton and I congratulate Ally on her win and then go find our team. All the teams are meeting up in the lobby so we go there first. We find our team sitting in a corner of the lobby chilling. The team mom AKA Kacey's mom is fixing girls makeup and hair with help from Coach Jessie. Coach James is making sure we behave since he can't do cheer hair. It's funny to see him try to do a pony tail.

Once the team has arrived we get our seats. We have some time to kill until our warm up. We watch a few teams compete and then we go to our warm up spot. We stretch, warm up stunts, tumbling, and jumps. Then we do a few stunt runs. We then get some water as we wait. It's now time to move towards the entrance of the  stage.

"Next up from Cheer Strike Allstars, their senior coed level 3 team... Green Lasers!"

We run on stage waving, blowing kisses, and acting like celebrities. We take are starting positions and wait. The  music starts. We focus on hitting everything perfectly. We say tight and on count. No stunts fall. No one is kicked by a flier. Some time in the routine my shoe came untied but it didn't come off so we are good.

As we move in to the final thirty seconds we are on a roll. As I hit my final pose and the music stops the crowed goes crazy. When we get off stage the coach is there to congratulate us. After that I go to find Colton's mom. We grab our wallets and backpacks. I put on my warm up jacket, because we are not allowed to walk around in just our half tops, then we go to get some food.

We go through the line then find a table. As we sit down Kyle, his mom, and his older sister join us. Kyle's sister is a Junior in high school.  His sister, Ashley, is on Atomic. They are the worlds team from our gym. They are extremely good. Our gym is a really good gym. Our gym is well known in the cheer world. Kyle, Colton, Ally, Ash, and I actually came to this gym for that team. There is a gym closer to our houses that has a worlds team this year but, it is their first worlds team.

"Hey Ash." I say.

"Hey Elizabeth." she says.

"I hate it when you call me that."

"Sorry Liz."

"Are you competing today?" I ask her because she is in her warm ups and her hair is in a ponytail.

"Yeah later today. You can stay and watch if you want and we'll take you home."

"Ok let me text my mom and ask."

I text my mom and ask. She says yes and asks where we placed. I tell her we haven't gone to awards. She wishes me luck. I show my phone to Ash.

"Awesome. I have my license and I drove here my self, so I will be driving you back."

"Cool, When did you get it?"

"Last month."

We get up and head back to the stage for awards. The announcer calls out some awards such as bids. Then he moves to placements.

"In third place we have ... Cheer Fusion .... Glam!"

"In third place we have ... World Cup .... Electra!"

"In second place we have ...Spirit of Texas .... Purple Sass!"

"Finally the winner of first place and a paid bid to summit is.... Cheer Strike Allstars .... Green Lasers!"

We jump and scream and hug each other. Two kids go get the trophy. We then exit the stage with the rest of the teams. A lot of the people leave but some have to stay for the next heat. After awards I get my stuff then find Ash.

"Hey congratulations on the win." Ash says.

"Thanks." I say as I put on my warm up jacket.

"So I talked to my coach because I didn't want to leave you alone while we warm up and compete, not because I think something will happen but to be safe you will be staying with the coaches so you get to see us warm up. "

"Cool"

"My heat starts at 2:25 and I compete at 3."

We walk over to the front lobby to wait for her team. When we see some people arrive we go over to where they are sitting. "Hey Ash!" her friends shout.

"Hey Gabby."

"Who is that?"

"This is Liz. She is on Green Lasers."

"Cool I heard they won."

"Yeah we did." I say.

"She is here to watch us compete." Ash says.

"Are you good?" Gabby asks me.

"I guess."

"Maybe you could be on the team one year."

"I have half to three quarters of the level four stuff and I can base level five."

"Maybe next season."

"Maybe."

At this time the coach arrives with a competition packet. Ash goes over and talks to him and then she waves me over. "Coach this is Liz."

"Hey Liz I am Coach Dave. "

"Hey coach Dave."

"I have no problem with you going to warm ups with us but you have to behave. You need to not distract my team or get in their way. You understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Oh, and you can call me Coach Dave or Dave."

"Ok Coach Dave." I say.

Ash and I head back over to her friends. We walk to the bathroom together where she puts on her bright red lipstick. Her friends do the same. We talk about cheer stuff like who has the coolest uniforms, best stunts, the best dance, and over all best routine. We do this for each of our levels.