Cheer Squad Practice (OPEN)

[Flicker]

“Come on Mustangs, grant our wish,
All we wanna hear is swish!
Run, Run, Run the floor
Raise, Raise, Raise the score!”

“From the top!” Peyton called out, straightening one of Aglakti’s arms to form a better K.

“Jeanette good extension on the heel stretch, but even though you can, try not to touch your ear to your knee. Keep an eye on how Sondra does hers. Lauren, that was a fantastic double twist, but we’re going for kick twist on the basket toss. Eric, you did great on the throw itself, just remember when catching Wyatt won’t have the super strong gene. Powers are suppressed, lock arms with Wyatt for the landing, and Mia - we switched it to libs, not torches after run, run, run. Ar, your herkies need work.”

“No they don’t.” He replied. They didn’t, his cyber thing made it easy enough for him to get the right height and extension, but she had to critique something.

“From the top.”

“Come on Mustangs, grant our wish,
All we wanna hear is swish!
Run, Run, Run the floor
Raise, Raise, Raise the Score!”

“Better! Much better! Looking awesome!” She clapped her hands for them. It was mostly true. Eric near took a shoe to the face but he didn't seem to notice how close that came. Lauren at least was less germaphobic about being around him, and once again, the squad was really shaping up. “Next practice we’re going to learn a new floor routine - features Springsteen, you can all either thank Wyatt or beat him with socks filled with bars of soap, but remember - he’s a tank, you’ll be wasting your energy. Speaking of, grab yourselves a vitamin water if you want on the way out, get some of those electrolytes that we worked off back. See you all on Thursday.”

The squad started filing out of the gym, but Peyton hung back, she still had to pack up her Macbook and gear, plus she wanted to give the new routine another dry run.

“Hey Peyton?” Aglakti asked tentatively after the others had left. “You have a second?”

“Nice thing about being super quick is that you get tons of extra seconds.” She said back with a smile. “But even if I didn’t? I’d make time. What’s up? You’re not quitting, are you?” Aglakti smiled back, shaking his head.

“No, nothing like that. It’s about Derrick.”

[Flicker]

“Hey hey Mustang.” Peyton called out when Natalia walked into the gym, not too long after school had ended. It was long enough that Peyton was able to put a few mats down for tumbling. Nat had mentioned she kept up with gymnastics, this would be the perfect way to build a little confidence before getting started with routines.

“Welcome to cheer 101. We’re gonna start out with a few basics, then get to some tumbling, all right? And don’t worry - if you have any questions, ask them, you need anything repeated I’m not as bad as they say. Mostly.” Natalia half smiled. “There you go. First rule of cheerleading. No matter what you got going on - you look like you’re having the time of your life. Second rule - focus, keep your head in the game. Cheerleading has more injuries than any other sport, and I don’t want anyone getting hurt. So anything that can throw your game off, we leave it at the door. And while we're on safety - nothing you do can hurt any of us? Power wise? We cheer on a power suppressed surface, but we practice here." Natalia shook her head.

"If I wore my gloves, perhaps, then I may give off a shock, but without them, it is safe."

"Awesome. And third rule," Peyton held up a third finger, loosening up and smiling. "Have fun. I won't lie, it’s hard work, cheerleading sure enough isn’t easy, but it’s meant to be fun. Relax, smile and enjoy it, okay? You're gonna do great.”

“Da.” Nat answered quietly. Peyton chuckled and shook her head.

“Loud and proud, you’re a cheerleader now. Gimme a you bet.” Peyton pointed to her. Natalia giggled softly.

“You bet?”

“You bet!” Peyton yelled.

“You bet!” Nat echoed, just as loud.

“There you go!” Nat was a quick learner. They covered the basics, lunges, candlesticks, buckets, and stances. She kept her thumb side out, but she reverted some back to gymnastics, holding her hands open instead of in fists.

“That’s gymnastics.” Peyton said, closing Nat’s hand into a fist. “This is cheerleading. Gymnasts say ‘look at me, I’m done!’” Peyton exaggerated a girly voice, holding her hands open and sticking her backside out like a gymnast. “But Cheerleaders? We say ‘look at us. We’re just getting started.’” She balled her hands into fists in a V motion, leading into a toe touch. Nat giggled again, but smiled, this time a genuine smile which Peyton returned. "Mats are all set up, let me just hit some music, and you can show me a few tumble passes, okay?”

“Da....” Peyton cocked an eyebrow, and Nat giggled again. “I mean, you bet!” Peyton started up the music.

“This is a little … faster that I’m used to.”

“Cheering! I don’t care how inspirational it is. No one gets pumped by a song with a beautiful melody. You need a song with a beat. “ Nat nodded in a agreement. “Let's see what you got. Natalia sprinted on the mat, executing a roundoff back handspring, back tuck without needing a spotter. Peyton clapped. “Holy cow, that’s great, Nat! You’re doing awesome. Let’s try it one more time. Only try step, step roundoff. We usually only get two to three steps, seeing as you’ll be sharing the floor. And not so serious! Smile - time of your life, da?” Peyton made dimples in her cheeks with her fingers and overemphasized a smile. Nat laughed.

“You bet!” After another great execution, Lauren and Sondra filed in, Peyton waved them over.

“The other way we differ from gymnastics is that cheering is a team sport. What you can do isn’t as important as how in sync you can be with the 8 other people on this team. So what we’re going to try is a back tuck, but in sync. This time, staying in sync with me, Lauren and Sondra. When we nail this, we’ve got a brand new routine to work on.” Lauren mock groaned.

“What was wrong with the one we were working on? I mean, yay! New routine!” Lauren laughed, correcting herself before Peyton could even get out a warning about laps.

“Back tucks.” Peyton replied. “All set?”

“You bet!”

[Flicker]

“From the top! Up up, down down, up up, circle circle... Wyatt! This ain’t Australia. We circle clockwise. Focus. Keep your head in the game.” She smiled and tapped his forehead as she walked through the three lines of cheerleaders, clapping in time with the beat of the song, letting it get a bit further this time before stopping it. “Nat - don't second guess yourself, you’re doing fine. Go with it. Eric - don’t sickle your feet on the handstand. Nice and straight this go round. Mia, fourth count - hands down here, not your waist. Shake it like you mean it. Never gonna break me down, gonna break me down. Good! Ar!” He cocked his hand on his hip and glanced over. “Square off your hips on the tick tocks.”

“Square your own.” She snickered as he over exaggerated the way the girls shook their hips while the guys we're supposed to alternate one handed handstands.

“Going again, from the top. Five, six, seven, eight... Up up...”

They had the spacing just right and nailed the sync’d up back handsprings while Ar and Sondra criss crossed a tumble pattern in the front. Lauren kept her leg straight for the kick flip basket toss. Eric was right in there, it wasn’t all Wyatt doing the throwing. The dance itself would take a little practice, there were a whole group of new moves in there a bit on the advanced side, but they were pulling it together. It needed polishing, but they’d get there.

Peyton clapped as the song came to an end, her eyes almost watering a bit. No one could call them startup anymore.

Just as quick, she took in a deep breath and took her spot just to Sondra’s left. “From the top!” she called.