We're Seniors, Baby!

Chapter Seven

Unedited.

**

CHEERLEADING SUCKED BALLS.

That was all Piper could think of as she struggled to kick her leg higher into the air, like she was required to. She regretted ever agreeing to do this, even if it were for Gabe. Who actually willingly subjected themselves to this kind of pain?!

'Higher, Piper! And arch your back more, you look like a chicken!' Adrianna cried in her shrill voice, smirking at Piper, who was obviously struggling not to yell profanities.

It's better than sounding like one, like you do. Piper wanted to say, but she bit her lip and forced herself to keep quiet and endure the pain.

Piper would consider herself a wooden board when it came to flexibility. Maybe some muscles in her body were too short or something -  she couldn't do most forms of stretching that was required of the cheerleaders. While most of the girls around her were sliding into splits as easily as if they'd been sleeping in those positions all their lives, Piper's maximum split angle was a whopping 90 degrees. Note the sarcasm. It had taken her all of her inner strength not to curse at Adrianna when she laughed contemptuously at her inflexibilty when asked to do a split.

The sick thing about the situation? Adrianna knew all of this. She knew exactly what Piper could do and couldn't do. Why wouldn't she, seeing as they used to be such good friends.

Piper and Adrianna has been close throughout elementary school. Back then, Adrianna had been a much sweeter and encouraging friend, and they had taken dance lessons together. Piper obviously lacked talent in dancing due to her inflexibility, but still believed that she could make it with a little more hard work and passion. Adrianna had been a star in their dance class, and was always chosen as lead for dance performances.

They'd both had a crush on the same boy. While Adrianna had been too shy to confess, Piper had gone all out and had her heart broken by the boy who said he didn't like her back. Since that was the case, Piper supported her friend instead, encouraging her to talk to him. But unexpectedly, the boy had turned around and confessed to Piper that he did like her after all. Adrianna had gone all psycho and insisted that Piper has been betraying her and talking to him behind her back. Their friendship crumbled faster than a cookie entering a fat kid's mouth, and they had never spoken properly since then.

Piper had felt sad at first that she hadn't been given a chance to explain, but her heart hardened when they entered middle school and Adrianna had become popular and started blatantly ignoring Piper, even making fun of her with the other cheerleader girls once in a while. Piper had decided a long time ago that this type of friend wasn't worth the effort to get back.

She hated how she was now in this situation where she had to be ordered around by head bitch. Glancing around at the girls around her, she realised that most were also shooting her contemptuous looks, except Gianna, who was smiling at her encouragingly. Grimacing back, she stood just that much taller and tried to perfect the ending pose for the routine they had been taught.

SNAP!

Blinking at the sudden flash that went off right in front of her, Piper looked to see Juliet clutching her camera and scrutinising the tiny screen, rambling off about how it was a pretty good shot.

"Thank-you, that was a nice shot at a nice angle. You wouldn't mind if I used it for the school paper, would you-"

Piper grinned as she watched Juliet's eyes widen at the photo. Or, more specifically, at the subject of the photo. Just like in a movie scene, Juliet lifted her head up very slowly, her gaze travelling from the floor up towards Piper's face. The shock apparent on her face almost made Piper laugh, if it weren't for the fact that doing so would cause her to lose balance and fall on her butt.