Note: Thanks to all who read the prologue, and particularly to gerbilHunter, CajunBear73, daccu65, MrDrP, Maeph93, Patriot44, and Sentinel103 for reviewing.

Disclaimer: All cheerleaders in this chapter are property of others.

Later that night, Jessica's bedroom

"Jess–i–ca..."

The dozing teen began to rouse herself at the sound of the mysterious, distant voice calling her name.

"Jess–i–ca…"

As far as she could tell, the voice emanated from a shifting, multicolored ball of light located just in front of her bedroom closet. She turned on her bedside lamp and sat up, rubbing her sapphire blue eyes.

"Jess–i–ca Sunnnnd–strummmmm…"

The strange talking ball of light slowly resolved into the figure of a girl. A blonde girl in a short red skirt and a midriff-baring cheer top emblazoned with RCH in block letters.

Jessica recognized her instantly. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and got to her feet as the girl began to speak. "Be not afraid, Jessica Sundstrum. I mean you no harm. I am —"

"You're Torrance Shipman from the original Bring It On movie!" Jess said excitedly. "I love that flick! Oh, this is gonna be a fun dream, I can tell!"

"You are not dreaming, Jessica Sundstrum. I have come to give you a great gift. I am … The Cheerleader of Forever."

"Really? 'Cause you sure look like Kirsten Dunst in the Bring It On poster on my closet door."

"This form is one of many that I take, yes. But in fact, I am —"

"You can change your form? Cool! What else you got?"

"I chose this form because I knew of your affinity for the famous fictional blonde cheerleaders of film and television." The Cheerleader of Forever rapidly morphed herself into doubles of Hayden Panettiere as Claire Bennett from the TV series Heroes, then Cassie Scerbo as Brooke from Bring It On: In It to Win It; then Sarah Michelle Gellar from the season one "Witch" episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Aly Michalka as Marti Perkins from Hellcats; Hayden Panettiere again, this time as Britney Allen from Bring It On: All Or Nothing; then Tara Monroe—

"Wait a sec, why take Tara's form? I mean, sure, the girl's got a sensational form. But Tara's not fictional; she's my best friend. She's as real as I am."

"Oh … right. What was I thinking?" the Cheerleader of Forever said awkwardly. "You and Tara ... totally real." The Tara lookalike changed back into Torrance Shipman and remained that way. "Why don't we just get to the purpose of my visit to you? This scene is starting to drag a bit."

"Okay, I'm game."

"Jessica Sundstrum, I present you with—"

"Y'know, we could move along quicker if you dropped the last name and just called me Jess."

The Cheerleader of Forever rolled her eyes. Well, Kirsten Dunst's eyes. Or her representation of Kirsten Dunst as Torrance Shipman's eyes. Assuming "her" is the correct pronoun for a timeless being with no gender as we humans understand it. Whatever.

"Here, Jess, take this." The Cheerleader of Forever—maybe we'll just call her Torrance from now on—held out her hands, and an object materialized in them. A long, slender cylindrical object, multicolored and decorated with ribbons and sequins. It seemed alive, shimmering and sparkling with otherworldly energy. Jess reached out and took hold of the object.

"A Spirit Stick! Wow, what an honor!"

"That is not a Spirit Stick, Jess. You hold in your hand the Tempus Fustis Vigoris."

"Um, let's suppose I'm not a Latin scholar."

"Well, basically it means Time Spirit Stick. It grants you the power to travel through time to any point in your cheer career and observe it. Or — but I certainly don't recommend this — try to change it for the better."

"Cool! Just like what my friends and I were talking about at the food court tonight. I guess that explains why I'm having this dream."

"I repeat: you are not dreaming. This is really happening."

"So, I could go back as far as the day I made the cheer squad? First day of freshman year?"

"Correct. Or forward, to the end of your cheer career."

Jess looked down at the object in her hand, then cast her gaze toward a framed photo hanging on the wall behind Torrance. "Okay, I hate to look a gift time travel device in the mouth, but what if I needed to go back further? Say, about ten years?"

Torrance shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry, Jess. I understand why you're asking and I wish I could help you, but the power of the Tempus Fustis is limited."

"So you know about the accident? Well, duh, you're just part of my dream, of course you know."

"Again, Jess, this is all real. I swear, if you say the D word one more time I will take back the Spirit Stick and give it to another cheerleader."

"No!" Jess cried, hugging the Stick close to her chest. "I can most def put this to good use. If there's no hope at all for a ten-year jump?"

"I'm afraid not. A far more powerful artifact called the Tempus Simia idol could have helped you, but unfortunately that object no longer exists in any known timeline."

"Again with the Latin. So, how does this thing work?"

"You simply think about the time and place you want to revisit, and then wave the Tempus Fustis Vigoris in the air like so." Torrance mimed the action.

"There are a couple more things you need to know. First, you must not let go of the Stick at all."

"Every cheerleader knows it's bad luck to drop a Spirit Stick."

"Yes, but you mustn't even lay it down gently or let another hold it. Starting from the moment you took possession of it."

"But have to get dressed! I can't go to Middleton High like this! I've had dre– uh, nightmares where I was at school like this, and they just never go well."

"Do not worry, the Stick will dress you appropriately. And you need to know you will only be in your past for a short time."

"How short?"

"That is difficult to say. It depends on various factors including the flow of temporal energies around certain Singularities forming in far-distant nebulae. Expect say, thirty to sixty of your 'minutes'."

"Okay, should be plenty of time. And then I return here?"

"If you simply observe, you will return here, and I will retrieve the Tempus Fustis. If you interfere with the past—which, again, I do not recommend—you might join your altered life in some other time and place."

"Got it. So, has any cheerleader ever gone back and just observed, like you recommend?"

"I would rather not answer that."

"I'll take that as a 'no'."

"Please, Jess, I urge you in the strongest terms to take care: it is very dangerous to—"

"Yeah yeah, I've heard the lecture: dangerous to fiddle with the Time Stream. But c'mon, what could happen? It's not like getting a couple of fifteen year olds to hang out is gonna make the Nazis win the Korean War or something."

"One can never predict which seemingly inconsequential changes to the past will have disastrous effects on the timeline."

"Well, I'm ready to take the chance to make my first few years at Middleton High a lot better," Jess declared.

She waved the Tempus Fustis in an arc overhead and watched expectantly as tiny flickering particles formed in its wake. The particles wafted down over her and soon obscured all traces of her familiar bedroom and the current date.

When her vision cleared, she saw she was now standing in the cheer squad locker room at Middleton High.

to be continued...