Cry Pretty || Mike Chang

Chapter Six

Scraping her hair back into a ponytail, Jordyn glanced around the gym, unsure what was going on. Her class had been separated, seemingly by size, by a woman with short hair and a voice that grated at Jordyn's sanity. Bringing the megaphone to her lips, the woman made Jordyn cringe once more.

Stretching her arm behind her, Jordyn smiled at Tina, who was walking towards her. Both girls were wearing the McKinley mandated gym uniform, but Tina seemed to have incorporated her own style into it.

"What is Gym even like here?" Tina questioned as she saw a group of girls walking around in polyester skirts and tops with the WMHS on. They all seemed to be walking like a machine, their matching ponytails swaying in time with their steps.

Raising her shoulders, Jordyn glanced round once more, not recognising anyone but Tina. Letting a sigh leave her mouth, Jordyn murmured, "I think it is a case of the sport teams do things, we don't."

"Why are we separated?" Tina asked, obviously rhetorically. "I mean, she just called me Asian Teen."

Rolling her eyes, Jordyn replied, "I was called Red Riding Hood. Though, I will give her a point for creativity, I haven't heard that one before."

Before either girl could say anything more, the woman with short hair had called everyone into the centre. Running over quickly, as they were both slightly terrified of the woman, Jordyn and Tina shared a look of confusion.

"Most of you girls are going to sit at the bottom of the school pyramid." She declared, looking at a group of girls who were huddled around each other. "However, a small amount of you will make my Cheerios claiming your spot at the top."

"I don't see what this has to do with us," Tina whispered to Jordyn, who nodded her head. "I was actually looking forward to gym."

"You! Quit talking while I am giving my speech!" The woman cried, snapping the duo's attention back to the lesson. "As I was saying, very few of you will make it onto the Cheerios, but those of you who do will have infinitely better high school careers than those who don't."

Shaking her head at the teacher's clear hatred for the general school population, Jordyn seemed to catch her attention. Glaring back at the woman, who she had assumed was Sue Sylverster, Jordyn watched as she narrowed her eyes.

"Red Riding Hood." She cried, pointing at the girl. "You go first."

"What if I don't want to be in the Cheerios?" She queried, surprising herself with her confidence. "As you can see ponytail don't suit me. Neither does red polyester."

Narrowing her eyes once more, Sue nodding her head as she smirked at the girl, "I like your attitude. Go!"

"But I have literally no skill, I can't even do a cartwheel." Jordyn lied, adamant that she was not going to be part of the cheerios. She wanted to merge into the background and not draw attention to herself. However, apparently, talking back to Sue was gaining her more attention than anything else.

"You are the guidance councillors niece, aren't you?" Jordyn nodded in response, wondering what the relevance was. "Well, she had spoken to me about your gymnastics skills. Given the fact that you are a Pillsbury, you may have lost every ounce of talent you supposedly had."

Gritting her teeth, Jordyn stepped forwards, stretching her hand above her head. She hated being told that she couldn't do something, especially by someone like Sue. So, as the coach watched, Jordyn took a few steps at a quickening pace before pushing off the ground with her left foot. Twisting in the air twice, Jordyn hit the floor, wobbling slightly from the length of time she had been away from the springboard.

After stretching her arms above her head, Jordyn turned to face the coach and class. Each of which were gobsmacked. Tina was smiling at her while silently clapping, causing Jordyn to smile slightly.

"Is that enough proof that I haven't lost my talent?" Jordyn questioned her voice dipped in sass.

Suddenly, any adrenaline that had been in her blood stream evaporated so she walked past the coach and picked up her bag. The confidence that had wrapped around her performance had begun to suffocate her and she now felt as though her chest was compressing.

Unlike the rest of the class, who thought her storm out was in spite, Tina had noticed the colour spill from her face. As the ed haired girl walked, her legs began to shake in time with her hand. She clasped them together, hoping that no-one would see the tremor. However, Tina had, so she followed her out.

The coach had called something after them, but neither of the girls were listening. Jordyn was trying to keep tears from cascading from her eyes and Tina was trying to keep up with the girl.

Jordyn didn't stop until she had reached an empty part of the school. Without realising it, her feet had taken her to the room she had found the day before. Taking in a shaky breath, she turned back to face Tina.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, looking down at her feet as she felt her tears overflow from her eyes. "I don't know what came over me, I think I had an adrenaline high and then came down."

"I'm just glad to get out of that gym," a smile filled Tina's face, "it smelt distinctly of feet."

Both girls chuckled at the sudden realisation that Tina had spoken the truth. They hadn't realised it when they sat in there, but, looking back on the moments previous, it really did smell of feet.

"How did you know this room existed?" Tina asked, looking at the large mirror before them.

Sucking in a large breath, Jordyn realised she wasn't ready to tell the truth about her dancing yet. Instead, she answered, "I didn't. I saw it was empty as we approached it."

"Oh, it's a nice room." Tina smiled. "It doesn't smell of feet."

Once again both girls laughed before walking out of the room and back towards the locker room to change out of their gym clothes. Jordyn just hoped she didn't have to see Sue Sylvester again for a while.