Cheer Squad Practice (OPEN)

[Lark Lowell]

To say Lark was present in the gym was a bit of a misnomer.

She initially stood beside the bleachers staying back far enough to be able to watch or duck and hide with equal ease trying quite hard to be relatively unobtrusive. But, after practice began she seemed to relax enough to lean against them and take out a notepad to awkwardly jot some things down. When that proved to be a failure, however, Lark worked up the courage to walk as quietly as her heels would allow to sit on the bleachers to watch near Mia. Once settled it took her almost no time to start asking whispered questions about this or that or making some quiet joke that at very least Lark herself found amusing.

The most notable thing outside from questionably hidden presence was Lark's iphone, up and recording steadily as she wrote - every so often she would take it and zoom in on something and then go back to writing again.

[Flicker]

Cheer practice was canceled on Monday, and Peyton wasn't much looking forward to it now either. Back home when you pulled a muscle or you wanted to sleep late, the motto was 'suck it up and press on.' That's exactly what this week would be.

Homecoming had come and gone, making her more homesick than ever. Then came the loss of the Jets. Truth be told, she knew when she posted what the outcome would be. She wanted in the worst way for them to think of her as the same Peyton and after 6 months, it just wasn't happening. It was time to cut her losses and say goodbye, but it still hurt.

Even here, she was about set to throw in the towel. Coach Armstrong had let her know they were considering getting a faculty member to coach cheer squad. Something about recent actions and having no control over the team. Peyton nodded, she understood. She wanted to argue and convince him otherwise that it was an isolated incident, but between that and her recent underage, she could understand the school board's decision.

Besides, she rationalized, this would be better. She didn't mean that at all, but it made her feel better to keep repeating it. This was for fun. Let's have fun with it.

She arrived early and jogged over to the far end of the field. She was still getting used to Henry's powers, what they could do. No reason to take chances.

Practice itself was light. Sondra was there, bright smile warm as the summer sun making Peyton happy that she got the best roommate there was to get at Westbrook. She smiled despite everything, even despite her boyfriend now having snake skin and being venomous. She smiled like she didn't have a care in the world, and Peyton loved her for it. Mia was there, but distracted, and not this time by Wyatt who was absent. Peyton didn't expect him to show. He was having a hard time with his mutation. At least people stopped giving him crap about being held back by a group of girls. Ar on the other hand had gone full emo from what she'd heard. Just a shell of his former cyborg self. She wanted to check in on him that first night, but with everyone running around and all the commotion, she would have just been underfoot for the medical staff. Even though he uploaded the video - he was still a good guy. Probably. Most likely. They had moments. She'd hang onto them. Jeanette looked great. She'd gotten JD's powers, and managed to not microwave anyone. Peyton made sure to work on a routine to Katy Perry's Hot and Cold in her behalf. It got Jeanette to smile more - and that was completely worth it. And Lauren? Lauren was outstanding. She picked up the new routine so quick that Peyton after a bit let her take front and center with it. She copied it right down to the cheesy head nod Peyton threw in for emphasis. It was almost eerie.

But overall? They did great. She'd meant what she said. They weren't perfect. Not even now, with Lauren holding her thumbs out. But they were good, and they gave it their all, and they were the best people she ever worked with. Her squad. Not some outside coach's. She hoped the school would reconsider.

"Awesome practice, guys!" She said clapping her hands for them. "There's yogurt smoothies in the cooler. Help yourselves."

[Flicker]

“Let me get this straight.” Lorne asked raising both eyebrows as Peyton cocked her hand on her hip. “You want me to take my hand, and put it where? And then do what?”

“Now you get why I’m on cheer squad?” Wyatt drawled with a smirk and knowing nod, patting Lorne on the shoulder as he crossed to the other side of Sondra.

“Beginner move. It’s called an L stand into a chair extension.” Peyton explained.

“She has a boyfriend!” Lorne whispered.

“Shyeah! And he’ll be awful mad if you drop her.” Peyton whispered back. “So pay attention.”

“I’m not comfortable with this.” He decided, holding up both hands. Peyton rolled her eyes.

“Fine. Sondra? Can you switch with Lauren please?” The two girls switched places, Lauren now getting ready to step up on Lorne’s thigh as he held a lunged position. “Better?”

“No, not really.” He groused, adjusting the collar of his poly blend Westbrook shirt.

“Don’t be such a baby.” Peyton groused back.

“You want me to grab her butt?”

“No. I want you to hold your hand like this under her butt. Grabbing might get you slapped.”

“Besides, we’re all wearing shorts under the skirt.” Lauren assured him.

“They’re called Spankies!” Ar mocked from where he was handstanding.

“Not helping!” Lorne sarcastically replied, gulping overdramatically as Lauren stepped up into an L Stand. “Peyton? I think I’d like to recant my stance on synchronized shouting!”

“No can do.” Peyton laughed, as Lauren extended one leg over his head to form an L, doing the same with her arms. “ I promised you we wouldn’t do any cheers, chants, or yelling. No attack the crowd drills.” she assured him with a smile, tapping Lauren’s foot to remind her to not point her toe as her leg extended over Lorne’s head. “That’s only *part* of cheering. The easy part actually. What’s the other part?”

“Being around pretty cheerleaders all the time.” Wyatt chimed in with a lopsided grin. Mia quickly swatted him in the arm.

“Someone besides Wyatt.” Peyton asked.

“Working hard while making it look like you’re having the time of your life!” Sondra answered.

“Dang straight, let’s see that smile, Lorne!” Lorne held a painfully awkward smirk on his face. “Now this hand goes under her behind there, and lift up, like she’s sitting in a chair.” The smile left Lorne’s face as Wyatt gave him two thumbs up and another smirk. “On the count of three.“

“I think I'd be better at chanting.”

“One....”

“Go Mustangs?"

“Two...”

“Boom Dynamite?”

“Three.” Peyton and Jeanette spotted until both Lorne and Lauren had their bearings, Lorne balancing Lauren on one hand.

“All the time!” Wyatt repeated in a sing-song voice to Lorne as he went to help Mia stretch for dance practice.

“I’m not looking up!” Lorne promised, squinting his eyes shut tightly.

“You have to look up. Otherwise, how will you know what you’re doing for the dismount?” Peyton asked.

“I’ll see up her skirt!” Lorne complained.

“I’m wearing shorts!” Lauren reminded him.

“They’re called Spankies!” From Ar again.

“Still not helping!”

Lorne took a deep breath and pushed Lauren forward, off his hand, watching carefully where he placed his hands on her waist to gently set her back on the ground, recoiling almost immediately after she did.

“See that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Peyton asked, giving his back a quick rub and continuing with two claps so he couldn’t answer.

“First time out Lorne, you’ll watch, then you’re gonna mimic Wyatt and Ar. So what do you say, Mustangs? Are we ready to work?” Most of the squad clapped and hollered to signal they were ready. “Then let’s shake-shake shake it!” Peyton pressed play to start up Metro Station’s “Shake It.”

((Huge thanks to Lorne for letting us steal him for a practice- he was a great sport about it! Cheer squad owes you a Zombpocalypse!)

[Flicker]

“All right, Aglakti, like I said, we don’t have formal tryouts or anything. You said you can dance?” Agatki nodded.

“Yeah,” he said, stretching as he spoke, “On patrol, to call my incorporeal buddies. But uh don’t worry.”

“To call your...” Peyton looked puzzled again. “Like spirits and stuff? Rain dancing?” Aglakti grinned, nodding again.

“Yeah. Totally like spirits and stuff. But like I said, don’t worry, that only happens if I want it to.”

“All right! Let’s not do that in here, on account of Coach Campbell will have kittens if I go and ruin her gym floor by making it rain. So what do you say? You want to play a little echo, or do you want to show me what you got?”

Aglakti stammered for a second and Peyton snickered, pressing play so Stereo Hearts began to play.

“Okay, we’ll start with echo. I’ll count it out, 4 beats, then you follow. I’ll up it to 6, then 8.” This time it was Aglakti that wore a puzzled look. Peyton smiled. “Follow the leader. Watch me then give it a go.”

“Got it!” He replied with another grin.

He picked up the routine pretty quick. Peyton stopped a few times to show him that clapping was more clasping your hands than slapping them together, but he quickly had the hang of locking arm movements. He had strong arms and could keep the routine clean and tight - just like Ar. Of course, Ar had the advantage of having cybernetic joints that could actually lock, but with them being the same height relatively, she could put the much taller Wyatt in the center and the group would look symmetrical. Give the guys a bit of center stage.

“You're pretty good! Do you break?” She asked after he nailed an 8 count on the song’s chorus.

“Break... what?” He asked apprehensively, and Peyton laughed.

“Break as in.... “ She shook her head, and showed him a few uprock steps.

“Careful!” He said, shielding his head. “That brings sleet!” Peyton stopped in her tracks, checking above her with a worried glance. Aglakti laughed.

“I’m kidding.” He said, almost apologetically as a blush rose to his cheeks. Peyton let a smirk cross her face and she cocked a hand on her hip.

“You’re also gonna be running laps.” She laughed in return.

Aglakti groaned good-naturedly, rolling his eyes with an exaggerated “Ooookay.” Peyton laughed again, and shook her head.

“Speaking of breaking - How about we take a break from echo - you show me a bit how you just dance?”

“All right, can do.” He said with a grin, and she started the song again from the top. Aglatki closed his eyes for a moment listening to the beat of the song. Keeping them closed, he nodded his head for a moment before his feet seemed to catch up with him after the first chorus. The song had a strong beat, not quite rap, but definitely something you could dance to. You could tell he didn’t have any ‘formal’ classes under his belt, if he did they weren’t any style Peyton recognized, but still he was fluid in moving. Her hip hop classes would have called it Toprocks, Apache stepping and a six step thread combo that looked polished enough to have been practiced a dozen times. If she could get Wyatt on board with it, the three of them would look great. If she couldn’t, she’d have Wyatt in the center doing his own thing. A smile crossed her face, the squad was really coming together.

After a bit, his eyes opened and he looked more like he was having fun with it, even throwing in an air swipe as the song came to a close. Peyton, Sondra and Lauren hollered and clapped, one of them throwing in a whistle, and Aglakti quickly climbed to his feet, another blush rising to his cheeks, turning his ears red for good measure.

“That was great!” Peyton assured him, Sondra and Lauren nodding in agreement. “You’re going to do a-may-zing on the squad. But.... you’re still running laps.” She swirled her finger in a circle for emphasis - pointing to the track on the top floor. Aglakti groaned again, but chuckled as he jogged towards the steps.

"Laps already?" Sondra asked.

"Slavedriver!" Lauren taunted and Peyton snickered.

Basketball season was going to be great!

[Arthur Rawlings]

I can do that. It was a common enough thought while watching someone else show off. His legs could do that, though he'd have no trouble kicking higher. He could hold that longer. He could get at least one more spin out of that. He could definitely hold that longer. Aglakti was pretty good, all things considered. He'd worked on this, practiced, and he obviously enjoyed it. He'd never need to know about the rest.

Perched at the top of the bleachers, Ar caught himself grinning and quickly toned it down to a smirk when the dancing boy opened his eyes.

[Wyatt Wyborn]

Wyatt watched Aglatki's moves. A few weeks ago, Wyatt had danced like Michael Jackson across the football field. Now he was back to tripping over his own feet. He almost wished he still had the agility and natural grace that he had had when he and Lorne had switched powers. Almost. The fur was a deal breaker.

This was going to up the ante. He was going to have to find time to practice more, unless he wanted to wind up just standing still in the middle of the cheer squad like some redneck human Maypole.

Wasn't there a dance studio near Lou's House of Kung Fu and Chinese Buffet in King's Row?

[Flicker]

The flu was still going around. Aglakti was sick, Lauren was becoming a germaphobe, even Wyatt Wyborn, who never gets sick got hit with it. It was better to just hold off on practice. Still, Eric said he was interested in joining, so Peyton asked him to meet up in the morning, not so much as a try out as to see what all he was good at. She smiled as he entered the gym at 5:30, giving him a little wave. He already wore the uniform, and his sneakers squeaked slightly against the polished wood floor.

“Hey hey, all set to be cheer boy already.” She complimented, stepping down from the bleachers.

“I figured I’d look the part.” He replied, smoothing down his tank top.

“Well, it looks great.” She told him with a nod. “And okay, I’m not meaning to be rude, but how does the whole cold n’ flu thing work?”

"I make a liquid that causes people to get a range of generally unpleasing symptoms. Basically you feel like you have the flu in most cases. There are worse stuff, but that takes a lot of work to cause. In a nut shell I cause people to feel unwell for a couple of hours after contact with my power. I do have to say though, you don't get sick from touching me normally."

“So I can promise the squad that there won’t be any sort of Eric epidemic? The only cheer fever will be the good kind?” He smiled easily probably used to the question by now.

"Yeah, no random illnesses. Well, I can't quite say none completely. The possibility is still there, but I'll remove myself before I start causing problems. Which should be very rare. So, no problems in most cases."

“You won’t have to remove yourself from nothing, more than willing to find you a place if need be, so no worries. All right, since you never cheered before, we’re gonna learn a few basics. How to stand, clap, jump, I’ll throw out some moves and terms and stuff so when I call it out you can follow along.Then we’ll throw in some music, see how you move. Sound good?”

“Sounds good.” He replied. Peyton lead him through a few drills. He was good, he followed along well, and he was definitely athletic. He could handspring and walkover, teaching him a backtuck wouldn’t take long at all. He had a lot of upper body strength, but pairing him off might be a little problematic, just because deep down he was still the kid who could possibly get you sick. But it gave her an idea for him, Wyatt and those great big Mustang flags locked up in storage. Both had great upper body strength - it’d make for an awesome display. Peyton snapped back to the task at hand.


“Gonna play some follow the leader. I’ll show you the moves, you follow me, then we’ll try them together. All set?” She pressed play on the stereo to the opening notes of We are Young.

He was good, he followed along well, and he sure as anything could dance, but didn’t break like Ar and Aglakti. Still he was on par with Wyatt, they’d be a good match up for tumble passes if they were both willing to work on their timing. She could tell he was an athlete, and he spent half the time with his brow furrowed trying to catch and mimic all the moves.

She snickered as he near crashed into her during a step change turn combo.

“Smile!” She reminded him. “This isn’t soccer or hockey or some easy sport like that. You’re supposed to look like your having fun, not hard at work. Now, one more time, from the top, and then we’re going to get your handsprings a little more polished. Shouldn’t take more than an hour, two tops.” Eric’s painted on smile faded.

“I’m kidding.” She said, shoving him on the shoulder, making a mental note to buy more hand sanitizer. “It’ll take way longer than that. Let’s get started!”

[Aglakti Hale]

Aglakti wasn't sick any more! He totally wasn't. This lingering cough he had was nothing, okay, shortness of breath, yeah better to stay in the stands. At least his temp was normal now. Still, he'd come out "in force" to support Eric, as much force as he could manage in a thick sweater with a cup of cocoa anyway. The squad was almost even male and female now, totally awesome.

He bobbed to the music a little, wishing he could run down there and dance as well. Setting his cup down, he clapped and cheered for Eric, cheer breaking into a cough. He swore to himself to have this thing totally kicked by next week.

[Flicker]

Peyton thought long and hard about cancelling practice again. First it was the flu, and now Derrick, but maybe people wanted something to do to keep busy, to keep their mind off things. It'd probably help Lauren, she seemed all sorts of shook up. So Thursday's practice was optional. Anyone who wanted to show up, she'd be glad to hold practice for, and anyone who wanted to skip out she wouldn't make run laps. It was probably the most fair thing to do.

In the meantime, to keep herself busy, she dragged the gym mats to the far side of the court in case anyone wanted tumbling practice. The near side of the court would be used to practice the routine they'd been working on.

[Flicker]

In Peyton’s eyes - Westbrook had a tenacious ‘show must go on’ policy. Classes were rarely canceled, not through freaky power swaps, psychic attacks, ghosts, or the death of a former classmate. Welcome to Westbrook. Stuff happens.

Cheering didn't always share that mentality. It was the benefit of not being competitive. She’d cancelled practices for the flu or for one crisis or another, but with Cork, at least hitting the court would give people something to do. Practice was completely optional - show if you want, and no harm if you didn’t. They’d just be going over routines they already knew. It’d make practice less stressful, and it’d help newcomers like Aglakti and Eric catch up.

Cheering on a court was different than on a field. Not the cheers themselves - sideline cheers were sideline cheers, but half time stuff. Somethings would be easier - getting Ar and Aglakti breaking, for example. Tumble passes would be less intense, seeing as there is no give on a hardwood floor. They’d still include a basket toss, Peyton spent too many hours with Lauren practicing kick turns to not have at least one, and luckily she and Wyatt were leaving things off the court as far as she knew.

As for chants, she smiled, thinking back to Lorne and how he wished he’d chanted, she and Aglakti were working on a couple when Mia and Wyatt walked in. They dropped their gear and fell in formation, picking it up midcheer, both with great precision and timing. Practice was completely paying off.

“Dominate the court,
We own the floor,
Mustangs, Mustangs raise that score.
Give it all you got,
Make that shot.
Go Maroon!
Go Gray!
Mustangs all the way!
Go Maroon!
Go Gray!
Mustangs all the way!”

They broke it down nice and slow, but Aglakti was a fast learner. Step, clap, lunge, together. Candlesticks, clap, K.... he picked it all up, and he made it look good while doing it. Plus he had an easy smile, she knew the crowd would love him.

Eric, poor Eric watched from up in the stands looking miserable and sneezing often. Peyton was glad she left an extra box of tissues for him. Still, miserable, sick and all - he showed. He had heart. She put him in charge of the stereo for practice. Give him something to do and help her out a bit at the same time.

Lauren was the last to arrive, she looked tired lately but put on her game face for practice, and Peyton smiled over at her encouragingly as she fell in next to Peyton. They repeated the cheer again, picking up the pace, and Aglakti had no trouble keeping in step, keeping in time. They were awesome. All of them.

“How about some dynamite!” Peyton called out, drawing out the long ‘i’ sound. Lauren whoooped at the call and Wyatt gave a hearty ‘boom boom’ in response as Mia clapped along. Peyton nodded to Eric and on cue he started Taio Cruz’s Dynamite. It was hard to be down when listening to that song. Even harder when dancing to it.

She laughed when Aglakti stepped left instead of right, crashing into Mia. He looked sheepish and immediately apologized, Mia went to do the same but instantly clapped a hand over her mouth.

“I didn’t say it!” She protested with a smile of her own, and Peyton gave her a mock "I'm watching you!" sign.

“From the top!” She called, spinning her finger in a circle as a gesture for Eric to replay the song. He sneezed from his vantage point in the bleachers and complied.

“Slavedriver!” Lauren yelled out with a smirk of her own. Peyton laughed.

They could all feel guilty about laughing and having a good time later if they wanted, but for the hour they were at practice? That’s what they’d do.