Cheer Angels

Practice

"Roll Call."

Florenece and the team were back in the gym of Sidney High School once again. After doing the daily roll call, she starts to discuss some issues, or at least Jackie started it for her.

"We can't stay here and practice forever."

"I know Jackie, that's what I was thinking too. But, we are putting that to the side for now. We have competition in a month, a whole month from now. February 7, we are going to Comet Cheer and Dance in Trenton, New Jersey. This is not just any competition, we are competing as a superteam, and the competition is going to be way more tough than anything we have ever competed against. All eyes will be on us, and we can't let everyone down."

"What's the routine like?"

"The song we are doing is called Jump by Simple Plan. With this competition, it was weird because they made a song list that you had to make a routine to. Nonetheless, it will still be a routine with a lot of flair."

Florence turned the song on and demonstrated the center part.

Once she was done.

"I'm actually going to change the center for the routine. Anna, I want you to be the center."

Anna was surprised, Ai was relieved.

"Thank god, it was so nerve wracking to be the center."

"I'm the center?"

"Yeah, you fit the energy of the song."

"Are you sure?"

"Once you learn the routine, you'll get the hang of it."

The routine was full of jumps and simple moves, the routine took only an hour to learn. Even Florence was surprised at how little time it took to learn the routine.

When they learned it at first, it was pretty messy. The moves were easy, but the team wasn't too clean on the moves. Toes were not pointed, arms weren't straight, it just seemed kind of off.

This was one of the first times when the team couldn't make it through the first 30 seconds of the song,

"Again."

"Again."

"Point your toes."

"Straighten your arms."

"Oh my god what am I watching?"

It took a while before Florence almost exploded. She calmed herself down quickly.

"Let's just pretend I'm a judge, judges at competitions in general are super harsh, and they will notice everything. Everything. If Wendy's toes aren't pointed, boom, points deducted. If Olivia doesn't move her arms the same way as everybody else, boom, more points deducted. If the routine is sloppy in general, you know what happens next, our score will drop to the floor. We can't do that, we can't make mistakes. At least, don't make mistakes on purpose or big mistakes. I know the routine is easy, but don't be lazy about it."

Florence whipped up an again. Over and over and over.

After about 3 hours, she told the girls to take a break. Florence left the gym to get a breath of air and to calm down.

The whole team was dead silent.

"Did we really make her that upset?"

"Probably."

"But how could we have?"

"We have a huge competition and we have to place well, if we don't, then all of our dreams will be crushed and Florence will be a mess. Don't just think about yourself, think about everyone else."

10 minutes passed.

"Florence has been out for a while."

"I don't have a good feeling about this."

Lisa dropped her water bottle and looked at the team, there was a slight anger in her eyes.

She called attention to herself and told the team to stand in the center.

"Florence didn't leave for no reason, she wants us to practice even harder, she wants to see what we do if we're alone because when she's in the room, clearly we can't do anything right. We need some order in this team. As your team captain, I need to be firm. Sheila and Cristina are the co captains. We can't just stand around and do nothing. That doesn't make us cheerleaders, what makes us cheerleaders isn't just the uniforms, or the teamwork, or the outfits. It's our spirit and energy. We need some of that, trust me, it's only going to get harder from here. All girls, let's practice the routine, and we won't stop unless we get it 100 percent correct, clean, and precise."

The team scattered to the center of the floor, Lisa watched from Florence's point of view as the routine started along with the music.

"No wonder Florence told you all to repeat over and over. This routine looks like a teenage boy's room. Again."

Once again, the music started and stopped within a moment.

"Stop. Point your toes, they look like bricks."

And again.

"Oh jeez, this is a mess."

And again.

"Anna, it seems like you are struggling as the center."

"Well, yeah...."

Ai stepped up to Anna.

"Being the center for the first time is nerve wracking, I know, I've been there. No matter how much confidence you have in yourself, just do you, dance like a wild child, or a hula at a rodeo. Do whatever. At the end of the day, I didn't let all of the eyes faze me, I just focused on me, and that is the key to confidence."

Lisa took Ai's advice to heart.

"Just focus on yourself, and let the moves come naturally, forcing them could make them sloppy. It's just like life, forcing things in life and not going with the flow is slop. Just be yourself, no need to be stiff."

At that moment, everyone took a few minutes to practice the song by themselves. Whether it was going in a corner, in the center, or by a wall, everyone was practicing their part.

After about 5 runs of the song, Lisa decided to get the team together to do the routine together,

"Up, up. Down, down, swing, swing."

"JUMP!"

Everyone had felt satisfied.

"How does it feel to do the routine now?"

Everyone whooped.

"I think I understood the problem here. You first had to take the smaller pieces and fix them. Then you had to put it together. Do you all want to do it again?"

"YES!"

"Let's do this!"

As they were doing the routine, Florence sneaked in. Holding some papers, she watched from the sidelines as the team perfected the routine.

"JUMP!"

Florence started walking over and clapping her hands.

"Wow! I am so surprised by how good it looks! I actually have a surprise for all of you."

Florence unfolded one of the papers.

"We are moving to West Des Moines! And we're going to have our own cheer gym too!"

Everyone cheered, except for Tina.

"What about Sidney?"

"Sidney will always have a special place in my heart. I'm keeping the house here. We will mainly be in West Des Moines, but we might pay a visit here once in a while."

Florence nodded her head.

"Who's ready for their own cheer gym?!"

"YAYYY!"

Everyone hugged Florence, a new journey, a new chapter in the story of the Angels.