Glitz Gurlz on Deck

Ch. 3 - Pyramid Problems

Maddie opened her eyes and remembered where she was. She thought about letting Claud sleep in, but the day was too exciting.

"Get up Claud bear, it's vaca!"

Claudia yawned and stretched and sat up in the bed. Maddie stared bug eyed with her mouth open.

"What the hell Claudia"

"What Maddie. Do I have a zit, OMG. It's one thing after another isn't it?"

"You don't have a zit Claudia, your wearing Jessie's cheer outfit. And your chest is way too big for that sweater, your stretching its potential. Jess is gonna be pissed. Why are you wearing her clothes?"

Claudia looked down in horror. Her face turning first pink then paper white.

"I don't know. I don't remember putting it on. I don't think I got up last night, but I guess I must have. It isn't what I was wearing when we went to sleep."

Maddie frowned and then remembered frowns make wrinkles so she made an effort to smile instead. Sometimes Claudia was like a little sister. Honest mischief, but always doing something to make trouble.

"It's ok Claud. Maybe you were worried about her when you were sleeping. Your a worrier. You probably went sleepwalking to find her and ended up dreaming about being late for cheer and threw it on. Just rinse it in cold water. It needs to go back to size before Friday. And get that stain off the collar. Were you eating last night? God, you could have fallen off the ship!"

Claudia immediately pulled off the sweater and stared at the stain. It was dark and thick. She sniffed it and it smelled like wet copper. She could feel a thought trying to form in her head and pushed it away. No worrying on vacation!

"Your right! I could have been killed. And I will be if Jess finds out about this. I'll clean it now and we can go play on deck."

With the sweater hanging on the shower curtain after a good scrubbing both girls donned their bikini's and flip flops and headed off to the pool.

The other girls were all waiting in the hallway (as per their text message from Queen Maddie). Lined up together in their suits they looked like contestants in a swimsuit contest.

Holly, the newest member of the squad who wore a gold and black bikini with matching heels lifted a tentative hand.

"Umm, are we going to get breakfast, or do we have to wait until lunch to eat? I barely had dinner and I'm starving."

Maddie, always the kind leader patted Holly on the top of her bottle blonde hair and smiled. It was a mix between 'poor dear' and 'I will kill you in your sleep'.

"Holly, I totally appreciate your hunger. And your perfect choice of outfit. Your on fleek today. But, if you had read my text you would have seen that we have practice at ten. We don't eat before practice, we eat after. Otherwise we move like beached whales and our bodies get used to that. Next time, read the text. I have a perfect manicure and don't pound my nails on the keys because I like watching letters appear on screens."

The other girls laughed and headed for the deck. Once there in the blinding sun, it was volleyball and a cool off in the pool. Maddie noticed a team of uber fit boys on deck.

Multiple layers of muscle told her this was the best view she would have all day. Just as she was about to talk to Kayla about Jessie a beach ball hit her square in the side of the head. She turned angrily ready to spew venom but then saw the culprit and put on her best smile. He lifted his arms in surrender as he spoke.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry. I dived for it, but it veered. I'm Dean. Here let me get you a glass of water or something."

"No, it's fine. Really, I barely felt anything. Dean you say? I'm Maddie. Captain of the Glitz Gurlz. Who are you guys?"

"We're here from Fla. just relaxing for spring break. We're taking a break together because it builds team spirit. Lacrosse, that's what we play.  How about you girls?"

"We won the trip. It's a much needed break after finals, Nationals, and a magazine spread. We will be performing here on Friday evening but other than that, it's relax away!" 

The boys called Dean back into the game. He played with a little more force after seeing Maddie watching. She would remember to ask him for a dance tonight at the disco ball. So retro! 

The girls, changed into uniforms and ready to work out, showed up at the gym within minutes of each other. They started practice with their usual 'hello losers' cheer and then began stretching.

The place where Jessie was supposed to be was a big gap in the line. Somehow the days tempo seemed off and Maddie was silently cursing Jess and her selfish absence.

When the time for the pyramid extravaganza came, the girls tried to figure out how to rearrange it without Jess. She was a solid bottom structure. (Those large feet were great balance).  Kayla and Prada tried moving themselves further apart to hold the space, but it kept wobbling.

On the fourth attempt it started to look like a decent pyramid. They held position for a few minutes getting the feel and hoping to remember. When faces started shining with smiles that they had finally nailed it, a cracking sound vibrated through the gym and a light casing with bulb still inside fell from the ceiling.

Ree Ree, who was the flyer and smallest of the group, took the brunt of the light (conveniently located directly above the pyramid) and came crashing to the floor. Even as a lightweight flyer, the thud of her landing was loud.

The rest of the group came tumbling down on top of each other. The pile of arms and legs were each pulling against one another trying to break free. Finally, they stood in a circle around Ree Ree. Her arms were bent backward and her left leg was already turning a sickly shade of blue.

"Claudia, go to the Captains deck. Get help."

Claudia began grabbing her things. Maddie had to shake her to get her to pay attention. She spoke directly in her face at top sound capacity.

"Claudia, Ree Ree is in trouble here, leave your crap and get to the Captain!"

Claudia stared at Maddie and started shaking and crying. Soon all the girls were crying and Maddie was just getting ticked off.

"All right, we will all go. No one should be alone. Besides, we haven't even been to that deck and we don't need someone else lost. Losing Jessie was bad enough. Everyone line up!"

They lined up like traumatized pre school kids following their queen bee to safety.

When they returned about a half hour later (finding the Captains Deck wasn't easy, even for the fearless blonde leader). They found an empty gym. No sign of Ree Ree ever having fallen. Only the broken light lay as evidence on the mat.  Captain not so hot pants crossed his arms.

"Listen ladies, I know your excitable. But I'm a Captain. I have important things to do on the ship. If you broke a light, big deal. We will fix it. But inventing crazy stories is a bit over the top. I'll get a janitor to clean this up. Next time just tell me what you need and save us some time ok?""

The girls, all staring at the mat again, started their rhythmic bobble head nodding. Captain Chad left with a stern look on his face.

Maddie scowled, for once not thinking about the wrinkles.

"When I find Ree Ree I'm going to strangle her!  It's not like we want to be at practice either. But that's what we do. We are cheerleaders. We help people by not sucking at spirit. Maybe she's a better fit in the drama club, she would be great there, I almost believed she was injured myself. Let's go ladies. Meeting in my room. And Claudia, bring that basket of rice snacks from the desk. We have to rewrite our routine without the slackers".

With that, they got in their Madeline lines and two by two left the gym. Bobble heads and pony tails swaying to their step.

***********************
A/N- take no offense. This is just slapstick fun. No cheerleaders were hurt during the making of this book.

Feel free to hit the tiny gold star in memory of ReeRee. Leave a comment if you feel Glitzy!!