Bailey was the it-girl. She was well-liked by everyone, and envied by those who were less fortunate to have less money than she, which was pretty much everybody. She wore designer jeans and ribbons in her hair, which was straight and blonde. She wore gray contacts. She always looked put together and neat, and everyone knew her name. She was in all the clubs at school, and on the captain on the cheerleading squad. This was Bailey Baker.

Logan was the pit-girl. She was well-liked by everyone in the marching band but not exactly envied. Her family didn't have much money. But she made up for it by wearing creative-looking thrift-store clothes. She usually wore black, wore a wrist-band, and wore worn and dirty converses. Her hair was black with red streaks in it, and she had glasses. She had been in the marching band for two years and was in the drama club at school. This was Logan Moore.

Bailey sat on her desk with her legs crossed, watching everyone in the classroom with lowered eyelashes and her nose turned up. She squared back her shoulders and sat as straight as humanly possible. She knew she was envied and popular, you could see it in her eyes and the way she carried herself.

"Bailey, I don't know what to do." A pretty voice said from her right. Bailey turned her blonde head and her eyes met with one of her best friends, June. "Ally has been talking all week about kicking off one of the cheerleaders. I have a feeling it's me..she looked straight at me when she first announced it. I'm so worried." Ally was the cheerleading coach. In her mid-twenties, she could pass for a high-school student.

"June, listen to me. Keep your composure. Don't let these people see you crying; your eyeliner will run. Take a deep breath and think about it: would she really get rid of you? You're our main base in all our stunts and you have the loudest voice. I'm thinking it's.." Bailey looked around the classroom to make sure no one was listening. "-Kelly Parsons. She knows half the cheers and when she does know one, she can't keep rhythm to save her life. Don't worry about it."

June smiled and her chest swelled as she took a deep breath. She took Bailey's manicured hand, softened by hundred-dollar-lotions and creams. "I don't know what I would do without you. You know you're great, you really are."

Bailey smiled showing white straight teeth. "I know. Come here, give me a hug."

June approached Ashley in the hall. Ashley was at her picture-decorated locker. There were thousands of photos of her and June and Bailey. There was a photo of the three girls at prom last year. They all had perfect smiles and looked so happy. Bailey was in the middle.

"Ashley, she's so oblivious. The girl is still trying to convince herself that it's Kelly Parsons. Does she not even see how we've all been treating her differently? She has her head so far up her own butt that she doesn't see the world around her. She is so self-obsorbed." You wouldn't think it, but it was June talking about Bailey. The smiles in the prom photo were fake. So was the happiness.

The truth was, the thing about everyone liking Bailey was in her own head. She liked to believe that everyone was obsessed with her and that all the guys wanted to have her. Bailey was in her own little fantasy world. Even her best friends didn't like her. The only person who liked Bailey was her own reflection.

"I agree with you. Bailey just doesn't see it. Should we just go ahead and make it easier on her and tell her that Ally is getting rid of her?" Ashley suggested, leaning up against her locker. June bit her lip and looked down, pulling her jacket tight around her.

"I don't know what the right thing to do is. We have responsibilities as friends, even if we don't like it and she doesn't even treat us like friends anyway. I think we should just let Ally spill it. She needs a shocker I think, once in her life. She's alays had it easy and taken the easy way out. We can't do that for her: it would be bad for her." June looked back up. "Come on, we need to get to practice. I'm not looking forward to it, either. Here goes nothing."

Ashley shut the locker door and the two girls made their way to the gym.

"Okay girls, I need you all to sit in a circle. Catharine, bring that tape player over here." Ally didn't look as composed as she usually did. She looked like she had been in a train wreck. "Alexis and Tammy, stop talking please. Where are June and Ashley?" She had her hands in her hair pulling it away from her forhead in frustration.

"We're here!" June and Ashley appeared from the doorway and made their way towards the circle of cheerleaders. Bailey waved them over with a naïve smile on her face. She had no clue.

"Okay, is everyone here?" Ally's shaky voice echoed in the large gym. It smelled like paint in there because it had just had reconstruction. It was all white with green bleacers. Green and white were there school colors. Everyone was quiet and stared at Ally, wondering what she was going to do.

Catharine arrived with the tape player and sat it down on the bleachers near the girls. It was already plugged in. That very tape player would be the ruin of Bailey Baker.

Ally took a deep breath, then dug out a pom pom from her bag. She carried it over to the circle of girls and handed it to Ashley. Ashley stared at it.

"We're going to play a game. I'm going to play our competetion music and you all are going to pass the pom pom around the circle. When the music stops on you, that means.." She couldn't bring herself to say it.

"It means you're kicked off the squad." Ashley said quietly, still holding the green pom pom. All the girls gasped in unison, something Ally was expecting.

"Ally, are you serious? You can't be kicking one of us off- it's halfway into the season-" Ally cut off Tammy. Tammy was the most talkative and most dedicated one of the group. She looked as if she were about to cry. Ally stiffened.

"That's enough talking, let's start the music."

And just like that, the music started and the pom pom began its journey. It passed from girl to girl, each holder with her face in a look of dread. As it reached Tammy, her lip quivered and she shut her eyes. Her fingers touched it and she held it for a minute then passed it to the next girl. She opened her eyes and let out a deep breath of relief, a small tear going down her cheek.

June took the pom pom with no worries. She knew who it was destined to stop on. She calmly passed it on. There were three more girls before it would reach Bailey, and June had her stomach in a knot.

One girl, two girls, ..it reached Samantha Rolston and she took it lightly and passed it on to Bailey. Bailey took the pom pom in her hand with no look of expression or fear in her face. She actually appeared to be bored. As she moved her hand towards the next girl in line..the music cut off.

There was silence. The atmosphere was so heavy that it was almost suffocating everyone. Bailey sat there holding the pom pom as everyone stared at her. It dropped from her hand and the sound of it hitting the floor echoed around the gym.