New Team, New Dream

Chapter 2

"Hello Summer! Welcome to Cheer Athletics!" A woman waved from the reception desk. I waved back and went into the room that contained the cubbies and lockers. I found an empty one that wasn't stuffed with coats and shoes and cellphones, and stuffed my own bag into it. Then taking a deep breath, I walked into the gym.

Wow. It was massive. All the trophies and banners were hung around the perimeter of the gym, and there were athletes stretching everywhere. The coaches noticed me, and beckoned me over.

"Summer Fields, yes?" One of them asked, checking my name off the list before I had even answered. I nodded nervously and walked over to a group of girls stretching in the corner.

"Hi! I'm Peyton Mabry," one of them said as she pulled a scorpion and stretched it into a needle.

Peyton. Mabry!

"Hi!" I said casually, as if it wasn't a huge deal to be talking to her. Then I noticed who else was in the group:
Jamie Andries, Reagen West, Ashley Wilson, Tina Burke, and Katie Keizer. I was absolutely freaking out. Here, out of all the people in the gym, I had walked right up to freaking PEYTON MABRY'S FRIENDS.

All the other girls introduced themselves and they welcomed me to stretch with them. I self consciously slid into my splits and held them for double the time I usually did- just to prove I could. Jamie Andries slid into her splits and propped her front foot onto a mat, easily staying in them for a good three minutes. Jealously, I jumped back up and pulled a bow and arrow.

Jamie's eyes popped a little when I did my tilt. I had been working on it for practically the whole summer, and when I finally got it I had freaked out. But I knew Peyton was really flexible so I wasn't surprised when she did a tilt with ease and held it for a while. After about ten minutes, the coaches called everyone over to the center of the mat.

"Welcome ladies! Let's begin with try-outs for level five!" We got into lines, and then the coach called out a tumbling pass to throw. If you could do it, you'd throw it. But if you couldn't, you'd throw your most impressive tumbling pass instead. I watched all the boys go first and was amazed by their tumbling.

When it was my turn, the coach called out, "Cartwheel full," which amazingly I could do. I shut my eyes for a moment and envision myself landing perfectly. Then I did my cartwheel and my full, except I didn't stick my landing. Instead, I crashed right into Jamie Andries.

"You were supposed to go after me!" She snapped, brushing herself off. Peyton ran over to help her up and I heard her whisper to calm down. I mean, it was only an accident. Did she really think I would try to hurt her or something?

Coach had us redo our tumbling passes and this time I made sure I was after Jamie. She stuck her landing and glared at me evilly. I nervously threw my pass and stumbled a little on the landing. I glanced at Jamie and she was smiling while Peyton on the other hand, was frowning and looking down.

After tumbling, it was on to stunts and jumps. Jumps took less time, so the coach taught us a quick sequence and then we preformed it a couple moments later. It was right hurdler double toe standing tuck, or the same to a standing full. One of the coaches hit a button on a radio that blared music throughout the gym and clapped his hand to the beat.

"A five-six-seven-eight!"

Hit! Hit! Hit! Pull! I threw my standing full and landed successfully. I was really proud of myself because I thought I would chicken out and end up doing a standing tuck. The coaches smiled and wrote something on their clipboards. Next was stunts. The coaches assigned each person with two bases and a back spot, and then an additional boy for one-mans. Unless you were a base, you were up.

"And Summer Fields... Your bases will be..."