Mermaids, Trigonometry, and Everything In Between

The 18th Thing

 "Pom poms?" Gen asked.

"Uh, check." I shook the shiny-ribboned balls in my hands.

"Tennis shoes?"

"Check."

"High Ponytail? Sport skirt?"

"Check and check."

"Smile?"

I cracked my lips into an unnerving smile, "Check?"

Gen sighed, "Close enough. Okay, we're ready."

Gen and I stood in line with a slew of young, bright-eyed girls. Not all of us looked like real cheerleaders--Gen was definitely over-shooting it with the eye makeup--but we all looked hopeful. At the end of the line stood Meridia and a lot of the girls I saw at the party and the breakfast table today. They definitely looked the part. I didn't doubt for a minute that Meridia would get in.

A group of upperclassmen cheerleaders stood in a circle, probably discussing how tryouts would play out, while we stood awkwardly on the field.

Eventually, the group broke up and the girls made their way to us. One of them was the girl with the megaphone at breakfast. She had her megaphone now as well.

"Welcome to cheer tryouts, ladies!" Megaphone-girl said in her amplified voice, "Here's how today's going to work. We'll give each of you a list of moves to perform, and we'll rate you. At the end of practice, we will select ten of the most enthusiastic and skilled performers to join the cheer team.

The girls looked around at each other, excitedly and nervously.

I knew I should have felt excited and nervous too, but oddly enough, I only felt nervous. The whole thing reminded me of the first day of Archery, as the Coach rated each and every one of us. I didn't like that feeling of being judged.

Nonetheless, I stood my ground in line, watching as, one by one, each girl was told what to do and then left to the music. It was the same routine. It had these wide sweepings of the arms, followed by some twirls, a few jumps, and finally ending in a kneeling position.

As the last one in line, I probably had the greatest advantage, and to be honest, it was weird how some of the movements seemed to mimic the dance routines for the synchronized swims at my old finishing school.

I'd never been the showstopper at one of those swims, but I had an inkling that with this on my side, I'd probably be one of the better performer todays.

While I waited, as each girl did their own rendition and then spent the next five or so minutes getting educated from the team leaders about what they could do better.

Finally it was Gen's turn.

"Wish me luck!" she said, and I smiled. As she walked over to the front, I glanced over the field.

On the other end, a rather large group of boys were practicing. Soccer, it looked like.

"It's the Boy's Soccer tryouts," said an eerily familiar voice in my ear.

I jumped and turned. There, beautiful as ever, was Meridia. At some point she had left the table to take a stroll towards me.

"Yeah?" I asked, trying to keep my tone nonchalant. She didn't seem like she was itching to start a fight, at least not yet. Still, I kept my guard up.

"Yeah." She said, voice flat, "They take their tryouts very seriously. Kind of like us. Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from their captain, Asher Rossi."

"Oh," I said, "I think I saw him. You know, at that one party at the beginning of the year."

Meridia blinked, "You mean Caulfield's party? His party brings in all the most important people, and considering how the Soccer team is the largest organization of Werewolves on campus, I'd say they're one of the most important. And hottest.

"Of course," she sighed, "I'm partial to the vamps. Who doesn't love a hot football player? Still, I'm keeping an eye on them. I hear Asher has a younger brother, bit of a runt but I suppose that can be blamed on his age, who's supposed to be halfway decent at the game. Sebastian Rossi I think is his name. Anyway, it should be interesting to see if this advancement will help or harm the team this year."

I shrugged; there wasn't much to say. I half wondered about this Sebastian Rossi...if he was the same Sebastian, and I considered it likely since both were werewolves, then maybe that explained his vindictive personality...I had thought it was me in particular, but perhaps there was more to his story. I wanted to get to the bottom of it, either way.

I also wondered if perhaps all popular people were generally mean and uncaring.

Case and point, Meridia.

Just as soon as she finished her spiel, she gave me a death look, "What i'm trying to say is that sports are everything here at Brecker Heights. Even if you manage to finagle your way onto this team, you'd do best to remember that, when you're on this field, you're mine. And that puts you in a very precarious position. Understand?"

I nodded, teeth gritted, "I understand."

"Good," Meridia smiled as if we were old pals, "Best of luck."

Best of luck, my tail. I fumed over the conversation until Gen came back, at which point I forgot my anger.

I wanted to hit myself...I had forgotten to watch her perform.

"How did I do?" she asked, absolutely glowing.

"You were great." I said, hoping I sounded convincing.

"You think so? Even when I messed up that one twirl?"

"It was fine," I said, "Really. Don't stress."

Gen smiled, "Thanks, Elly."

My smile faltered, "No problem."

Then, it was my turn to perform. When I got up, my eyes lingered on Meridia, who had returned to watch me--hopefully--fail.

But I was determined to show her up.

I put in every last bit I had into the swings and the twirls and the jumps, just how I had remembered in finishing school. And then I finished, panting and smiling, on one knee. Just like everyone else, only I got several pleased looks from the team leaders.

Meridia looked unimpressed, but at least she wasn't smirking.

When I stood up, waiting for my feedback, Meridia stood up as well.

"Good." she said, "But not great."

Then she sat down. And that was all I got from them. As I walked back, now that tryouts were officially over, I felt a pressure lift from my shoulders.

"Wow!" Gen beemed, "You did great! Better than average!"

"Thanks," I said.

To myself, I hoped that in trying out, I hadn't just made the worst decision of the year.