BRIGHT

Chapter 4- Peyton POV- The Tryout

School was now over and my day had gone well. I had made quite a few friends and even found a guy I kinda liked a little bit. I obviously understood everything going on in my classes, but the social part had gone better than I ever expected. But now, it was time for cheer tryouts. I was super nervous, especially considering I had never cheered before.

    I changed my clothes in the locker room. Erin walked in, wearing tight shorts and a sports bra.

    "You got this, okay?" she asked. I nodded. I walked into the gym and noticed all the cheerleaders from the previous year were lined up at a table with judging sheets. One tall, fit lady with dark brown hair was in the center. She wore a crisp, athletic jacket and matching leggings, both in black and royal blue. I assumed she was the coach. There were about 15 other girls there to try out. The lady stood up.

    "Hello, ladies. My name is Coach Quinn. Today, I'm looking for girls to fire up our already championship team. I'm looking for killer skills, loud vocals, and just all around flawlessness. I will be taking up to 7 new cheerleaders today. Good luck," Coach Quinn explained crisply. I began to get nervous. 7 out of 16? The odds of me making it were slim. Erin stood up and demonstrated a combo we would be trying out with. After a few tries, I could execute it well. We then were told that it was time for the tryout to begin we all stood at the back of the gym.

    "Up first, we have Miss. Peyton Emerson. After you finish your tryout, you may go. Results will be posted my office first thing tomorrow," Coach Quinn announced. First? I was nervous enough already, but to set the bar extended my nerves to a whole new level. To top it off, now I had to go first! I saw Coach whisper something to one of the girls. Erin gave me a supportive smile.

    "Let's see a straddle jump," one of the cheerleaders said. I prepped and pulled my legs up as far as they could go. I continued to execute the skills as they announced them. Finally, I had to demonstrate the combo I had learned. I didn't make one mistake, which made me feel confident. I guess all those years of gymnastics really paid off! After I had finished, I was proud of myself and Erin gave me an approving smile.

    "Quite impressive, and very well done. I know this isn't usually a part of the tryout and it won't be scored, but I just need to see it for peace of mind. Carly, Danielle, and Jessica get out there please," Coach announced. I began to get nervous. I had met all three of these girls at lunch and they were all super nice.

    "She's going to have us do a lift, so just go with it. Be confident, we got you," Carly whispered in my ear. A lift? I had never done a cheer lift before.

    "Okay, I need to see how high you girls can get her, so show me a prep, okay?" Quinn instructed. A prep? I had no idea what that was.

    "Arms in a high V once we lift you, okay?" Danielle whispered. I nodded. I put my feet into Jessica and Carly's hands and Danielle grabbed my wrists. I felt as high as the sky and surprisingly confident. I put my arms in a high V as Danielle had instructed me to.

    "Let's see you guys throw her out of it," Coach Quinn added. I began to lose a bit of confidence, but I knew how this was supposed to look.

    "5,6,7,8" Jessica yelled. I flew in the arm with my feet together and luckily, landed perfectly in their arms.

    "That was perfect," Jessica whispered in my ear.

    "Well done girls, you may exit now Peyton," she instructed.

    "Thank you," I said and left. I left the gym and took a deep breath. It couldn't have gone better, but I was still nervous considering the fact that I had never cheered before. I heard the door behind me open. It was Erin, Jessica, Danielle, and Carly.

    "Oh my gosh, that was incredible!" Erin exclaimed, giving me a big hug.

    "I hope it was good enough," I said nervously.

    "Well obviously I can't make any promises, but you left Coach Quinn speechless, and that never happens," Carly said.

    "Well thank you, I will see you guys tomorrow," I replied. After they left, I squealed I was so excited. I raced to Meredith's car.

"How did it go?" she asked me.

"Good I think, the coach complimented me so hopefully I make it. How about you?" I asked her.

"I got an offer to play varsity!" she exclaimed.

"Oh my gosh, that's awesome! Congrats!" I replied excitedly. I hugged her.

"Alright, let's head home, girl," Meredith pepped. We drove out of the school parking lot.

"How was it socially? Meet some new friends?" she asked me.

"Good, well the girl who showed me around today was a cheerleader and convinced me to try out. All the cheerleaders hang out together and I met some of them at lunch. They were all super nice to me. How about you?" I asked her.

"Well, the girl who showed me around was a basketball player, so I met some of her friends and they seemed cool. One was a volleyball player and she made varsity too, so yeah. I also met a guy who was like super sweet. His name is Josh," she said.

"Oooh, Meredith? A guy already?" I asked teasingly.

"I don't know, I mean we are just friends now, but you never know!" she exclaimed. I laughed. "What about you? Any guys steal my baby sisters heart?" she asked teasingly, turning into our subdivision.

    "Well, there was this guy in my Calculus class. He's a junior. He was like totally talking to me and was like so adorable," I spilled with a laugh.

    "Peyton? That's so cute. And a year older? Girl, you're going all the way in. What's his name?" she asked.

    "Greyson," I said.

    "Oh my gosh, Josh was telling me about him. Apparently, he's like insane at football. Like, starting varsity as a freshman," Meredith explained.

    "Yeah, he mentioned that. But he was modest about it. He's a Seahawks fan," I said with a laugh.

    "No way," she exclaimed. We laughed together. She pulled into our driveway. Of course, neither of our parents were home. It had been tough with this transition from spending every minute with them at the lab to rarely seeing them. But I was sure Meredith understood. Her experiment ended a couple years ago and she started public school in Iceland. It was okay for me though because I had Meredith. She was the best older sister out there and I loved her so much. Meredith stopped the car and I hopped out. I went into the kitchen, grabbed an apple to snack on, and went up to my room. I laid on my bed and pulled out the history worksheet I had gotten for homework. I clearly knew all the answers to the worksheet took me about five minutes.

Around six, I felt my phone vibrate. I checked it and I saw I had received a text from Greyson. Hey, totally struggling with Calc, could you help me? I replied. Sure, do you wanna facetime or something? He texted back. Yeah sounds great! Thanks so much for helping me!

He was so nice, unlike the other guys I had met. My phone began to vibrate and I noticed he was requesting to FaceTime. I answered and he popped up on the screen.

    "Hey," I said.

    "Hi, thanks so much for doing this," he replied.

    "Of course! So where are you stuck?"