Espion | Book One

Twenty Two.

"Anna, oh my God!"

Anna sighed silently when she heard Mina's squeal behind her. She had forgotten she was there. She picked up a bottle of water from the small pile clustered on the ground – she had no idea whose it was – and sprayed a good amount into her mouth as Mina ran up to her, all smiles and excitement as she normally was.

Anna wasn't the expecting the slap on her arm. "Why didn't you tell me?" Mina screeched.

"Tell you what, exactly?"

"That you're so good at cheerleading! You were so epic! I had to admit, I could have sworn you were going to embarrass yourself. You should have seen me. I almost bit right through my lip, I tell you. But then you went and did that and ... oh my God, Anna!" Mina slapped her again, her voice reaching such a high pitch, Anna felt her ears close to bleeding.

"Stop that," she said, handing the bottle to a girl who had walked up to the pile. The girl glared at her as Anna walked away. "It's annoyingly loud."

"Can you blame me for being loud when you just made Angela eat her words? You should have seen her face!"

Anna did see her face. It irked her to realize how satisfied she felt when she saw the anger simmering under her features. "It's not as hard as you would think," she said.

"Not as hard? Anna, that was, hands down, the hardest thing I've ever seen any cheerleader do."

Same thing I was thinking, Anna mused. She wiped the sweat from her temple as she watched the school field slowly clear out. When she saw the routine they wanted her to do, the first thing she felt was flabbergast. Anna didn't like the feeling, and she definitely didn't like that she's been feeling it more often than not since she arrived to the school. But the feeling rose and grew the longer she watched them, comparing it to the image she had in her head: the usual image of cheerleaders on TV. This was nothing like she had seen before.

It didn't stop her from carrying it out though. Anna never stopped to wonder how she knew how to do it so perfectly, not until Mina.

How did I do it so perfectly?

The more she asked herself the question, the harder the pounding in her skull got. She had to hold herself back from grabbing her head in pain. Instead, she just shook away the thought and focused on something else. "What did you want to tell me?" she asked Mina.

Already she could feel the pain ebb. Mina perked up even more. "Oh, yes! You wouldn't believe what happened. Guess!"

"What?"

Mina pouted, slightly. "I said, guess."

Anna wanted to roll her eyes. The urge surprised her. "Your cat died," she said, grasping at straws.

Mina's shoulders slouched. "What? That's horrible! Why would I be so excited if my cat died?"

Anna wasn't even aware she had a cat. "How should I know? You're excited about everything."

"That's an exaggeration and you know it!"

"Is it?" she asked, quirking a brow. While she spoke, she had been looking at Jessi as they wrapped up their soccer practice, but she paused in her gazing to give Mina a cynical look.

"It is!" Mina exclaimed, but then she was already waving the comment off. "But anyway, that's not it."

Anna released another silent sigh. "Dan said hi to you this morning."