Disclaimer: Do I own twilight? Good question, do I? Oh wait, that's right I don't….but do I own a big fluffy luv sac? Hecks to the yeah!
Okay guys, so on my other account people are always asking 'you cheer?' and 'what's it like?' and 'Is it like it is on TV?' hahaha...no. Well, I've been wanting to do an AH (all human for those who have not googled it like I have XD) story for a long time, but I wanted to do it on a new account, so here we are! This has some of my experiences as a cheerleader, and as a dancer in one. If you guys like this, I think I will do a dancer's story too one day, but right now I've got 4 unfinished stories including this one….so I really need to get my act together….anyways….here we are!
"Any man can hold her hand,
Only an Elite can hold her feet."
Chapter 1: Meet the elite
"Do you have your water?" My mother asked, for what seemed like the thousandth time. I was on my way to cheer practice, and she was running down the list of things on her mental checklist. I almost wanted to roll my eyes, but I knew I'd be launched into a lecture about respect and other things my mother claims I lack.
"Yes."
"Snacks?"
"Yes."
"Workout outfit?"
"Mom, I'm wearing it. I don't have time to stand here and play 20 questions with you, Tanya's waiting for me out there." I complained, a hand popped out on my hip. She was acting like I was going to a competition, but really I was only going to try out for a new cheer company, and she wanted me to look professional, and make an impression. I'd been on a low key cheer company before, with low opportunities and poor coaches, but I wanted to shine, and my mom did too…through me anyways.
"Okay, make sure you thank Tanya." She sent me a look that said I raised you well, and let it show, and I only nodded in acknowledgment.
"I will, Mom, bye."
"Remember to stick it!"
"I said bye!" I shouted, slamming the door behind myself. "Hi Tanya, sorry I kept you waiting, my mom kept annoying me with her stupid questions." I laughed and rolled my eyes at my mom's stupidity. Tanya laughed with me, looking at my outfit.
"That's what they had you wear?" She said, with a skeptical eye. I looked down at myself. I was wearing black shorts with a red pin stripe down the side, that said cheer hard. My shirt was a company T that I had to tie back with a hair tie.
"Y-yes." I stuttered, knowing that if she deemed this inappropriate then so would the coach who was going to be monitoring my try outs. I liked the way they did it, based on the presentation. They were going to take each person individually and assess what they could and could not do, in the main area.
"Miss Jen is not going to like it…baggy T-shirts are worse than children starving in her book…good luck with that." Tanya replied, still looking at my shirt with a stink face. She was wearing a tank top and shorts, because she was going to practice while I went to tryouts.
Tanya had her try outs for Integrity Cheer Corps years ago, and made it in for 2 levels higher than the maximum for her age. She was in many ways, my idol. Tanya was a model cheerleader, with textbook perfect cartwheels, tumbling mastered and more flexibly than a pipe cleaner. She's mastered each space in the stunt group except for fronting, since her company doesn't use fronts, only backs.
Now, for those of you who are not cheer fanatics, let me enlighten you. Cheerleading, when you are in a company, is not that typical high school cheering, where you jump around and yell stuff about spirit. No, company cheering was intense. It consisted of Gymnastics, and dancing, and…well…flying. Flying is when there are two people, called bases, holding up a girl, called a flyer, in the air, usually with little tricks added in. There's also a back, who is usually tall and the strongest of the group, since the back holds onto the flyer and lifts most the weight of the flyer. There will be many other technical cheer terms we talk about, and when we get there we'll cross that bridge then. Sound good? Oh who am I kidding I'm not giving you a choice, sunshine so don't bother talking to the computer to answer me. Silly, keep reading and stop wasting your time on this.
"Well, I'm only trying out so maybe she'll go easy on me." I said, my voice barely above a whisper. I twiddled my thumbs in my lap, ignoring the strawberry blonde's stare. I wasn't sure why I liked Tanya, maybe it was because she gave me rides…she was quite cruel to me most of the time, constantly criticizing everything I did or said. She had a new boyfriend most every week, and bragged and went on and on about how this was the one…
"I don't think so…well I hope your back handspring will get you in, it's getting really good, Bella!" ahh, that was why I liked her. She could be coldhearted, no she was always coldhearted, but she had her moments where she was the most loving and caring person…that is if she's deemed you worthy first.
"Then we could be on the same squad! That'd be so fun." I agreed.
"Yeah…oh here we are!"
Oh…my…god. This place was huge! At first sight it looked as if it was a theatre or something higher priority than a practice gym, but the big letters on the building that named it as "Integrity Cheer" told me otherwise. There were about 5 cars in the lot only, but I assumed this was because most children's parents drop them off rather than waiting 5 hours in the gym with them. I swallowed my pride and went into the gym. I scribbled my name onto the welcome pad under the tryouts section. "Where do I go?" I whispered to Tanya, who was already setting down her things and putting her bag in order.
"I don't know, there should be someone here when it's your time to tryout…when did you schedule this for?" Tanya hissed, barely sparring me a glance.
"One Thirty."
"Well it's only one right now, so just go upstairs and wait for someone to come up." Tanya ordered, pointing to the staircase. Stairs? My cheer studio had only one level, I can't imagine a second. Even still, I did as I was instructed and headed upstairs.
When I got there, there was one long hallway, and, not knowing where to go I entered the first door. The label on the door was warm up area, so I figured other girls may be in here. Correct I was, in fact there was about 10 other girls waiting, one who interested me in particular.
"Rose?" I asked, looking at the busty blonde in the corner stretching her splits. She was in the same attire as me, only her hair was in a ponytail on the top of her head where mine was in a bun. She had her company shorts on, though, instead of a T she had a tank…she must have found out from someone.
"Oh, hi Bella; I didn't know you were trying out too." She said giving me a smile. She was my back in the old company, since she was so tall. We'd never really bonded, but we were close enough friends so that we both knew we were there for each other.
"Yeah, you know Tanya from school, she said here was the best place to go." I said, getting down to stretch with her. The other girls were practicing jumps and cartwheels fit for 10 year olds, and I had a hard time not snorting in their faces.
"My cousin goes here, and he was getting better than me…couldn't let that happen could I?" She laughed; Rose always wanted to be the best. It wasn't in a superficial way, but more in a perfectionist way. She had no problem admitting that others were doing good, or that others were actually better than her at something.
"No, not the famous Rosalie!" I rolled my eyes and laughed with her.
"I'll be the next Maddie Gardner." She beamed, thinking of her idol clearly. Maddie Gardner is a cheerleader on an all-star team, who has extreme flexibility and tumbling skills.
"You already are, Rose, and you know it." I said, pushing her over a little bit. I checked my phone in my bag, and it alerted me it was one twenty five, so I didn't have long now. Rosalie saw this and gave me a questioning look. "I'm at one thirty, you?"
"One forty five." She nodded, going into heal stretches on the ground, which is basically when you hold your foot in your hand , your knees locked. It's all about height with heal-stretches, how high you can pull up your foot really.
"Why're you here so early?" I asked-I knew my reason, but I couldn't configure hers.
"I told you already; my cousin goes here…she's the same age as us." Rose looked at me like I was crazy and not listening to her, and nothing made her upset better than people ignoring her.
"Oh, I figured she went to school with us for some reason I thought your cousin was older because you never mention her."
"Him, actually, didn't I say he was a he?" Rose corrected, looking rather offended.
I was momentarily shocked, but I was good at hiding that. "Guess it just slipped my mind…I've got nothing against male cheerleaders I think they're awesome, remember I dated Mike for some time back in Jr. High."
"Yeah, because he was your friend and you wanted to prove to people that he wasn't gay." Rose rolled her eyes "I'm not offended though, Bella, don't worry."
"Oh, good, didn't want to get you mad." I said before I thought about it.
"Oh? Why would that be?" Rose challenged, but before I could answer my name was called from behind. I gave her a look of apology before hopping up to follow the coach.
"T-shirt…coach Jen wouldn't be happy." A blonde, semi chubby woman who appeared to be in her mid-twenties told me. Before I could offer an apology (which I seem to be doing a lot) she smiled, revealing a perfect set of non-smoke affected teeth "But luckily I'm not coach Jen today, that's only on the weekends." She joked, laughing at her own joke. I nodded eagerly as she led me into a room with blue padded floors, with a little bounce to it like most cheer or gymnastic gyms have.
"Okay…Isabella, wait no-Bella, what can you do?" She asked, looking at her clipboard.
Luckily, I was prepared for this. At my old gym, we were trained to get cheering jobs, probably because they knew we'd be leaving them at one time or another. I knew the questions she'd ask, how to make her laugh and that the answer to most questions are yes, unless the right answer is no.
"Everything." I smiled, and got the expected response out of the nameless assistant coach. She bent over in laughter, placing down her clipboard seeing that I was not a typical cheerleader.
"Okay, can I see a cartwheel?" she asked, I raised my eyebrows and held back a snort that was forming in my throat. I did a cartwheel and landed without a sound, waiting for her response.
"Textbook, Bella, perfect!" Oh nameless one amused. "Okay, can you do a handstand?"
A little uncommon in cheerleaders, but still I nodded and stood on my hands for 10 seconds before coming back down, again without a sound.
"Standing front flip?" Challenged the coach with a raised eyebrow.
"Certainly." I said, breaking out in probably the most challenging thing I've ever learned. I could still do it though, and I did.
"Back?"
Nailed it.
"Front handspring?"
Nailed it.
"Back handspring?"
Nailed it.
"Layout?"
Nailed it.
"Toe touch?"
Nailed it.
And the list goes on and on, and here was my favorite part-the stunting.
"Okay Bella, now three other coaches are going to come in and we're going to see how you do in each of the eligible areas you have for stunting. We're going to say you can either fly or base. Do you have any experience in these areas?"
"Yes, I frequently-well I used to-base and fly all the time." I admitted, hoping to impress.
"Very good, do you mind my asking where you cheered?"
"Cheer Hard Inc." I said with a sheepish voice.
Apparently whoever this blonde coach was knew of our reputation-or lack of one-because her head snapped up and she had a surprise stricken face. "Really? But you're…good…no offense."
I laughed, "I'm not offended, I knew they were bad, that's why I'm here."
"Okay, well here's the coaches…hi girls…Bella's going to base first for you Kirstin." She informed, the girls, and I assumed my position parallel from a brunette who's face looked like she smelt something bad. I listened to the back count out '5 6 7 8…' and held Kirstin's white sneakered feet tightly in my hands.
"We're going to a full extension." Warned the original coach who I was welcomed to, who was fronting to watch me mostly. I listened into the counting, and brought my arms high above my head.
"Cradle. Ready? 1 2 3 4!" The back shouted and I did as told.
"Great Job Bella! Now we're going to put you in as a flyer, okay? So Kirstin, you're going to change places with Bella so she can try her hand at flying now. Bella, your back is going to be Trish."
I knew why she felt to introduce me to my stunters. It made the flyer more trustworthy, knowing a little about the people who were literally about to take your life in their hands. It didn't bother me, though; I had gotten over my trust issues years ago on my own.
"Okay Bella? Ready, 5 6 7 8!" Shouted the back, and then I jumped into the hands of my bases. They were sturdy under my one hundred and twenty pounds of muscle. I locked my knees and made sure my donuts on my hands were pointing out, waiting for them to go into a full.
"Bella, go into a full extension now." Instructed nameless one. I kept my balance as my bases lifted my above their heads, shaking very minimum. "Cradle! Ready? 5 6 7 8!" I kept my legs tight and tried not to wince as my bear legs slapped into my base's muscular arms.
"Okay Bella, your tryout is done, you've made the squad!"
I was speechless. I'd been told that I wouldn't be aware whether or not I made it into the team for weeks, perhaps a month and now here she was, telling me instantaneously that I had made it into the squad?
"I thought I wasn't supposed to know for a month?"
"You, Isabella are better than half the girls on my own team, and we have a competition in a week in a half. I need you now, not in a month. You are too valuable Bella! You'll do great…if you can I'd very much like it if you'd go downstairs and practice with the girls now, Bella. OH! I never even told you my name, I'm Chrissie. Please tell me you'll go downstairs now?" Begged newly named Chrissie.
"Sure, I was planning on staying and waiting for my ride to finish cheering anyways, I can most definitely go. Thanks Chrissie!" I said on my way out, skipping down the halls in excitement. I read over the note she had handed me to give to the coach downstairs, and smiled as I did so. It read 'Dear Jen, This one is a cheerleader who just tried out, and she's too good for us not to have her on our team. Please let her practice with the girls today, you won't be disappointed.' I smiled to myself and felt overjoyed as I grabbed my bag from the room in which I had left it and skipped back out to the hall.
My newfound confidence was shattered when I turned my head to wave at Rose in the hall and tripped over my own feet since my attention was elsewhere. She looked away and snickered, and I was left on the ground blushing a furious shade of red. I got up and walked down the rest of the hallway and to the stairs, looking at my feet and taking great care in their placement. The bottom floor was one huge, padded gym with mirrors as walls and bubblers spotted all around. I walked into the gym and spotted a tall, slender brunette clapping and shouting out counts (1234567812345678 counts only go up to 8,don't ask me why). Her tank top announced her as Coach Jen, in flown letters. Her shirt made me remember what Tanya and Coach Chrissie had both told me, my T-shirt was going to be a problem. I walked over to her quickly and purposefully, outstretching my note.
"Guys, guys, stop." She ordered. "Hold on." With that she looked at me, then my note she smiled as she read it. "So, you impressed Chrissie, huh?" with her tone, I almost wanted to reply YES SIR! With as much vengeance as I could muster, but her smile reframed me from doing so. I only nodded in response. "Okay guys! Look at her, this is," she paused and I whispered Bella in her ear. "Bella. She's going to be joining our team just in time for the next competition. She's better than most of you guys, so I want everyone to watch her." Coach Jen was certainly growing on me right about now.
She stopped shouting at the team long enough to turn to me. "Chrissie is one of the hardest tryout moderators. She looks for perfection, but I can see she's overlooked a single detail." She said, plucking at the bottom of my shirt. "Take it off." She ordered.
Take it off? Was she kidding? "I uh…I'm not wearing a tank top underneath." I whispered.
"So? You've got on a sports bra that much I know for sure. Just take it off, look how many girls are only wearing sports bras right now." She said, overcasting a look to the girls on the team.
I slipped of my shirt, not wanting to argue any further, revealing a neon orange sports bra. It wasn't so much that I was embarrassed, because I used to only ever wear a sports bra to the gym, but it was that she made me take my shirt off.
"Good. Now, team, we're going to practice our stunts. We're going to throw Bella in as a flyer for Edward, Tanya, and Lauren. The rest of you go to your normal stunt groups."
I saw him. I saw Edward. He…was…beautiful…and….he was checking me out? Whoa. His out of control, penny colored hair was hanging in front of his mildly sweaty face, making his green eyes bug out in comparison. He smiled at me, and I smiled back, walking over. I didn't know who was doing what, but when Edward put his hands on my hips to back me I had been hoping it had nothing to do with cheerleading. She was wrong though as she heard Coach Jen start to shout out counts. Bella pushed herself and made sure her arms were tighter than usual, her balance was better and her face had no evidence of any of her work.
"Full extension! Ready? 1 2 3 4-" began Coach Jen, and I was fully ready to go up above their heads, but my attempt was put on hold when Lauren's hands crumpled beneath me. Tanya made no move to catch me, which left only Edward. He swiftly moved his hands fro, where they had been resting at my ankles (which happened as we were about to do our extension) to catch me as I fell. He wasn't high enough, though, and only my leg was held by him and the rest of my body hit the ground with a dull thud.
"Bella! Why did you do that?" Tanya screeched, mirroring Lauren's expression.
"I didn't do anything, it was Lauren. She decided not to hold my foot, I guess." I said, wincing as I registered the sharp pain where my back had connected with Edward's knee.
"No it wasn't! Well…actually…you were too heavy for my little arms!" complained Lauren, which was far less than a valid excuse. I rolled my eyes at her, trying to make it go unnoticed.
"LAUREN! You cannot just drop a flyer because she's too heavy, and she certainly is not! If you can't handle this, then leave but I cannot have a cheerleader that I have to babysit, so either get back in your stunt or leave, NOW!" Coach Jen screamed. I realized Edward's glare had gotten heavier on the side of my head, and as I turned to thank him Lauren ran out of the room crying. Coach Jen rolled her eyes and took one of the assistant coaches and placed her in Lauren's spot.
"Let's get down to business team, we're burning the electricity bill!" I bit my cheek to hold back a laugh, something I knew would not be tolerated here.
"Ready?" started Jen, and we were up in an elevator, which is like a full but the base's hands are only at chest height. We went into an extension next, and I knew was all too easy. "Okay guys, now we're going to do a reload, then the flyer is going to do a flip, land back, another reload and then a full-is this okay for everyone…Bella?" Coach Jen started again.
"Yeah I'm good." I said, nodding. Coach Jen smiled at me, and we started to do the reload as I got down on my knees. I did a front flip, assuming mainly that's what we were supposed to be doing. Edward's grip on my hips got tighter as he threw me up in the air to do a serious of spins which is named a full in cheer.
"WOO! That's what I'm talking about girls! Did everyone see that? Heck-did I see that? WOOO that was ah-mazing!" Jen cheered, laughing and smiling. It seemed to have slipped my notice while I was in the air that we'd been the only one to complete the stunt without a hitch, fall or wrong action taken.
Jen got out her video camera, looking at us expectantly. "I want you to do it again so I can video tape you…you guys are going to be my s.s for this competition. I'm so happy with Chrissie right now."
This week's vocabulary-
Stick it-land erect
Reload-really? You don't get it….wow…google it babe.
s.s-star stunters
A/N: There you have it! The first installment of OAE (shortened version of 'Only an Elite can hold her Feet') Like it? Hate it? Got no words for it? Review babe and make my new year! I'd like reviews more than you'd love Edward to catch you ;)