Cheerleaders Don't Cry

21

Albert Cooper

I spent my entire spring break at my desk in my bedroom, making review guides for my AP classes. I turned my phone off and hid it under my mattress, to be completely distraction free for the week. Occasionally, my parents would call me down for dinner, or Miranda would knock on my door to bug me - but other than that, I was laser-focused. I finished all of my review guides by Thursday night, with extra time for textbook quizzes and practice problems.

Friday morning, I woke up - not to the sound of my alarm, but to a stream of sunlight on my face. Miranda was sitting at my desk, in her pajamas, on her phone. An envelope was resting on her lap. She looked up at me, and smiled.

"Morning, sunshine."

"What'd you do?" I immediately accused, scanning the room. All of my textbooks were in the same place they were yesterday. Maybe she stole money.

Miranda shrugged. She looked younger without the layers of heavy makeup, and the several piercings donning her face. "Took the batteries out of your alarm."

I looked at my nightstand where my alarm clock rested, the screen dead and unlit. "What time is it?" I asked.

"11:30."

I sighed and layed back down, my head hitting my pillow in defeat. For the past week, I've gotten up at 7 am so that I'd have the maximum amount of time in the day to be productive. It was a successful routine. Today I'd planned on a complete overview of all of my classes to be prepared for the next month, and for the upcoming AP exams. I'd already lost four and a half hours.

"Mom asked me to," Miranda explained. "You've been super high-strung for the past ... well, since you were born, but whatever." She yawned. "Also, your friends are downstairs."

I rolled over, facing her. "Friends?" An image of Marcy flashed briefly in my subconscious before I forced it away. One of the primary reasons that I'd turned off my phone was to keep from texting her. She had looked stressed at the pep rally, even before she'd fallen from the pyramid. I'd never seen her fall before.

"Oliver and Kathy?" Miranda clarified. She leaned forward in her chair, folding the envelope over and over in her hands. "Wait, so let me get this straight. You're perfectly okay with the fact that your ex-girlfriend is dating your best friend? Because that sounds just a bit off to me."

I sat back up and got out of bed, getting behind Miranda and tilting her chair until she was forced to leave the seat.

"Hey!" she objected.

"Get out of my room."

She rolled her eyes and took a few steps towards the door, before pulling the envelope out from under her arm and handing it to me. "Oh, and this came for you."

"Out."

"Fine. Jesus." She closed the door behind her.

I barely looked at the envelope, and tossed it on my desk. Knowing Miranda, it was probably something stupid. I got dressed, throwing on a white shirt and jeans. As I was walking towards the door, I caught the logo on the envelope from the corner of my eye.

Immediately, I snatched up the envelope and tore it open, scanning the enclosed letter until I found the words 'congratulations' and 'admission'.

"Coop!" Oliver was seated at the dinner table next to Kathy, both with forks in front of a plate of pancakes. "You're alive! You weren't answering your phone, so naturally we assumed that you had either secluded yourself in a study hole, or that you were dead - "

I dropped the letter on top of the pancakes. "I got in."

Kathy plucked the letter off of the food and took a second to look at the logo on the back. "You got off the waitlist?"