"You're moving to Los Angeles?" Eda and Farah questioned loudly over the phone.
Nicki was a wreck as she sat on her aunt's plush, leather sofa with her little cousin's teddy bears and a few blankets. She had tissues in her hand that were supposed to catch her tears, but she sniffled through most of them and the rest fell onto her thighs. Her hair normally gave her some comfort when her face was hidden, but she had to roll her hair for the night and keep her curls looking fresh for the rest of the week. Her mother paid 95 dollars for her hair to be styled as it was; she wasn't about to ruin a hundred-dollar style so her mother can wreak more havoc on her life. She was upset with the move as it was.
"You can't run for captain if you're gone to another state. The long-distance thing don't work," Farah said, realizing Nicki really lost her chance to run against Unique for captain now that she's moving. Spirit law states that a captain must be enrolled in a school that he or she has been enrolled in for at least two or more years and other running captain must follow this rule as well.
"I know, Farah, but everything is already packed," Nicki said through a weak voice. "I'm spending the night by my auntie house right now because it's closer to the airport. I can't just stay here with someone else with one pair of clean draws and some flip flops. Everything's on its way to Los Angeles, even my clothes. My mom already requested my transcripts from all of my schools to finish the process for my enrollment to another school."
"How long your daddy knew he got the promotion?" Eda asked.
"He didn't know until mid-June. Mama said his boss came in his office one day and spoke to him for a few hours about relocating cross country. I was already at camp practicing, and he was ordering moving vans and calling other relatives to help him move while he was at work. When daddy came home, he told mama he got a promotion and he had to move to Los Angeles," Nicki explained.
"Well, why you goin' if he the one that had to leave?" Farah asked.
"He's movin' to Los Angeles to stay there, Farah. He wasn't coming back," Nicki answered, sniffling.
"Oh, so your moms just said let's move the family?" Eda clarified.
"Without tellin' me, yeah," Nicki replied angrily. She looked at the wall clock hanging over the fireplace and said, "Well, look, ya'll I gotta go. I need to be awake to tell everyone bye in the morning. We gon be gone by 9:30."
"Wait, what airport ya'll gon be in?" Farah asked.
"The one by the Lakefront," Nicki responded, hooking her phone up to the charger. "We have to be on the plane by 10."
"We gon come see you one last time, okay? Don't worry," Eda tried, speaking in a soft voice. "We can stay in touch on Facebook at least, and you can tell us all about nationals."
"I don't want to go to nationals without the squad," Nicki whined.
"We gon go to nationals together then. You said we needed to raise the money about every two weeks," Farah said, optimistically.
Realizing that Farah, who was normally ditzy and couldn't come up with a decent plan on her own half the time, had a good point, Eda added, "Yeah, we can scrape up the money during the year while we practice routines that'll win regionals. Once that's over, we gon be in Los Angeles at nationals."
"Ya'll gotta try to convince Unique to do all that stuff, though," Nicki said, being realistic. "Unique is hard-headed; she don't listen to nobody except her sister."
"Who cool with you," Farah stated, smiling brightly. "We gon say you told us how to afford getting to regionals and we need to practice to get to nationals. Jody'll tell Unique what you said and Unique'll help the squad."
Nicki thought about Farah's idea and cheered up practically instantly. She was right. Jody and Nicki got along well enough for Jody to convince Unique to listen up, and she knew several ways to raise enough money each month to obtain rooms for a hotel in Houston for twenty people. It was going to take a lot of work and a lot of ideas and probably a lot of money to set up, but it would be worth it to get the team to regionals for the first time. Nicki smiled and got her confidence back once said, "You the truth, girl. You the bomb, Farah, baby. You got that."
"What kind of fundraiser can we do when school open, though?" Eda asked, not seeing many possibilites of obtaining close to 300 dollars a month. "We need 2000 by the end of February. That's only seven months."
Nicki thought of a few ways to get the money each month while maintaining a small budget from each member of the squad at a reasonable price. Finding one solution, she suggested, "Tell everyone in the squad to put up six dollars for a fundraiser. Sell some school supplies for about a dollar a bag. Make sure the bag has a one-inch binder, three notebooks, a pack of paper, pencils, and pens, some erasers, a mini stapler, and some highlighters. You might wanna put some index cards and pocket folders in the bag, too."
"Nicki, six dollars ain't gon cover the expenses for that," Eda said, being realistic. "You need at least twenty dollars for all of that. What about glue and scissors?"
"No, girl, listen. Walgreens and Walmart sell school supplies on sale from the start of August to the start of October. A pack of paper is probably 35 cents right now if you pick up some coupon books. Have every member of the squad put up six dollars and collect it. You'll have 90 dollars altogether. That should buy enough supplies to start off with. Make the coaches put up ten dollars, so you can have forty dollars to make extra bags or signs to advertise the sale. You can sell art supplies for like two dollars if you want. That way one student is like three dollars if they buy both bags. Give out some snacks for like fifty cents. Some people be hungry once lunchtime start but don't wan' eat the cafeteria food. If you keep that up, by the end of August you should have about 200 dollars. If fifty people get one bag and two snacks, they spent two dollars. Fifty times two is a hundred, so you got a hundred dollars. Even if it's just ten kids a day, you got twenty dollars a day. If you keep sellin' for two weeks and you get ten kids a day, you still get 200 dollars by the first week of September. Kids gon need new supplies sooner or later, so just keep sellin' the bags. Don't change the price for any reason. More people come to you when the shit cheap, you know what I'm sayin'?"
Farah grunted, turned up her upper lip, and then said, "I know that's right."
"I like that," Eda said. "We gon do that idea first and ask the coach what she think."
Nicki giggled a bit, breathed deeply, and felt her stress lift from her. She at least gave her team a stepping stone to make it to regionals, but if she wanted to see them she would have to make sure they made it to nationals and that she herself could get there. That meant she might have to buy tickets, which might not be possible since she wasn't a family member or invited friend, or join another squad and compete. Not wanting to do that, she sighed then said, "I'm a miss ya'll."
"We gon miss you, too, girl," Farah cooed.
"Alright, well, I gotta go. I need to finish rolling up my hair."
"Ugh! I can't believe you leavin' me," Eda said, pouting.
"Promise to call us every night," Farah said.
"I will, Farah."
"Oh, Nicki, what about the squad? We the only ones who know you leavin'," Eda said, just realizing this fact could make the squad cry. "Daryl don't know either."
"Oh shit! I don't have time to call everyone now. I'm gon have to call 'em when I'm in Cali and let 'em know then."
"Let us tell 'em," Farah said. "That way you ain't gon cry."
"I'm gon cry right now, girl. I don't wan' say it now," Eda said, waving her hand to fan her tears away.
"Can you do that for me, ya'll?" Nicki requested.
"Yeah, I'm a tell 'em. You go on to sleep for your flight and don't cry no more alright?" Farah said, tilting her head a bit.
"Alright," Nicki whispered. The girls hung up and went about their own business.
All passengers report to Flight 62 for Los Angeles, California at Gate 26B. All passengers, please report to Flight 62 for Los Angeles at Gate 26B.
"Fly like a butterfly," Eda chanted.
"Sting like a bee," Farah added.
"Let's hear it for the girl," some of the Suns' squad members chimed sadly. "Supa tricky fly girl, Nicki Brini."
Nicki waved goodbye from the plane's window as the vehicle started to move. She took out a piece of gum and put some in her mouth to ease the pain that was going to come soon once the plane reached its angled take-off. Once she started chewing, she heard a "psst!" sound and looked up to see a guy smiling at her. He had dried clumps of mucous in his nose and acne that looked like a rash covered his face. He was white and had really oily hair that made his acne glow from the sunlight. His teeth were okay, but they were yellow and he smelled of cigarette smoke. Nicki decided it was best to ignore the boy and proceeded to put headphones on her ears to listen to reggae music. Luckily, there were magazines in front of her, so she opened one and proceeded to read. The boy wouldn't give up, though; he liked Nicki's lips as they showed her working the gum through her teeth. He wouldn't have minded if she worked those lips doing other things. The boy reached out to tap Nicki's magazine and wave a hand in front of her pretty face. Once he gained her attention again, he smiled at her and asked silently...
"What's your name?"
Nicki was pissed, so she decided to show it. She put her magazine down, stuck a finger in her mouth, and then twirled the gum around the finger and smiled seductively. The boy seemed to like that and bit his lip as he watched Nicki flirt with him. She crept closer to the boy's face then stopped flirting entirely and shoved her gum in the boy's nose and right ear before smacking his head. She iffed at him to completely scare him then went back to what she was doing. This was going to be a long flight.
"Excuse me, miss," a flight attendant called. "Would you like something to eat or drink?"
"Honey-roasted peanuts, Oreo cookie yogurt, and a grape juice?" Nicki asked. The attendant retrieved what she asked for pulled her eating tray out from the back of the seat. Nicki paused her reggae tunes and asked, "One more thing. Do you have any hand sanitizer?"
"Hello, Los Angeles, this is your DJ, Ian Schiek the Shriek on FM radio rock station 95.9. We've got a young band named Stagnant Pulse from Nivaldo Gillian High, home of the purple knights, playing for us this morning as well as guest appearances from Green Day and Avenged Sevenfold to promote the punk rock benefit concert traveling all around California to support young artists from poverished backgrounds. It sounds like a very promising event, isn't that right, Danny?"
"It sure does. For the struggling artists and for surprisingly cheerleaders."
"That's right, word on the street says the promoters and supervisors of the benefit concert are holding a competition for cheerleaders to perform with the bands and tour with them to a few cities for gigs," DJ Shriek announced. "It's all for the cause for these kids; most of them are in schools like this new band coming up and live with struggling parents and with the music industry being you know what they find it hard to sell much."
"Things seem to be looking up for kids all over Cali. Let's quit talkin' and get the rock band from Nivaldo Gill, Stagnant Pulse."
Outside of the recording studio, six teenagers dressed in some article of black clothing were sitting next to the door of opportunity. One of the boys holding drumsticks in one hand was rubbing his stomach as it twisted and turned in ways he was not liking. He wore a blue mesh shirt and black chained cargo pants with black and blue Converse. He wore leather arms bands with blue spikes on them and a blue nosering. His hair was cut short on the sides and gave him a mohawk look. He was bouncing his leg up and down, trying to fight off his nervous tension but that wasn't working very well.
"Man, I don't think I should've eaten that biscuit this morning," one of the bandmates said.
"Dude, I swear to god if you puke on me, you're going to wish you never ate," another bandmate threatened.
The threatening presence next to the drummer was wearing a Slipknot t-shirt and regular denim jeans with Nike tennis shoes. His hair was spiked and he wore leather arm bands with a green skull in the middle. He was probably just as nervous as the drummer, but he didn't want to show it in front of the girls that were supporting the band. The guy next to the threatening kid chuckled a bit, making the leader of the group. The guy who laughed was wearing a shredded purple shirt with a black plaid fadora hat and black plaid chained vest. He wore black skinny jeans and converse with leather arm bands that had purple chains going horizontally across his wrist.
"Don't be so nervous, Allen. You'll look vulnerable," the hatted boy said, sarcastically.
"Stagnant Pulse, you're up!"
"Yeah, I'm gonna start heaving," the drummer remarked, now feeling his stomach lose itself.
"Guys, come on, we've practiced this a dozen times. What's there to be nervous about? We've been together since middle school; no one's gonna kick anyone's ass for heaving a few chunks of biscuit. We have each other's support no matter what. Just see yourself giving it your all and you can't fail. Alright, guys, let's go," the leader said.
He was the most calm out of the group. Vacious Ubersax, otherwise known as Vicious, was the vocalist and frontman of Stagnant Pulse; in fact, he was also the founder of the band and its mates. Since he was just a young boy growing up in Alaska with his little sister, Lara, he wanted to be an American rock artist like Chad Kroeger, Scott Weiland, Kurt Cobain, David Grohl, Axl Rose or even Dave Mustaine. There was always a sense of community and energy when he listened to rock n' roll and all of its content. He wanted to be a part of that. He and his band practiced for days, getting their songs perfect for this performance, and nothing was going to break them down now. They knew what they were going to open their gig with, and they only had three songs to get right. So Brian, the band's drummer, might heave some biscuit, at least he'll get back on his feet and play the rest of the way. If not, Colin, the bass player, could replace Brian at the drums. That's what they were prepared for since they were accepted to play on this station.
The plane had finally landed in Los Angeles, California. Nicki was more than happy to get off the cursed plane and away from everyone on it. Her father, Mark Cabrini, was busying himself with pulling the bags out from above her head while her mother pulled her into the aisle to retrieve the small bags. Everyone got their bags and left out of the plane. Nicki followed her parents into the airport's lounge and noticed a woman holding a sign up high above her head as she looked about. The sign said Mark Cabrini and family. It seemed like the smallest things were going to remind her about her cheerleading squad back in her hometown. Farah used to hold signs up all the time because she was so tall, and she or Eda would stand next to her shaking their pompoms or cheering loudly to get the crowd's attention at the pep rally. What was that legend about cheerleaders and spirit sticks again? Oh, if it dropped, you'd be cursed for life, right?
"Daddy, that lady got your name on her sign," Nicki said, trying not to think about cheerleading legends and curses that follow.
"Hm?" Mark questioned, looking up to see the woman with the sign. "Oh! Hi, I'm Mark."
Nicki watched her father run to the woman with blonde hair and waited with her mother. The woman came over to them after a few moments and directed them to a pick-up van in the parking lot. Los Angeles was a pretty city when you took a step back and just observed the surroundings. The palm trees were really full and tall as they reached toward the sun. Nicki got inside of the van with her family and just enjoyed the ride to her new home. An hour passed before the van finally stopped in front of a rather large two-story home. It was definitely larger than the small house they lived in back home. The house was a soft blue color and the windows were long and cut to perspective. The palm trees were small but nice. A little more landscaping and the house would be perfect.
"This the new house?" Nicki asked, pointing to the ground in a circular motion.
"I guess so," Mark answered. "I hope the rent is as nice as the house."
"You better hope the house note is nicer than the house," Nicki's mother, Geneva, commented.
"With you being new residents, we understand you're going to need some time to adjust to your new house," the woman said. "Also, the utilities won't be on and working until five o'clock. Your furniture is in a storage facility right now and won't be moved here until another hour, so I'll give you a tour of the house and show you a map of the area."
"That's not too bad," Geneva said. "It's after three now. Mark, show Nicki to her new school. I'm a stay with the lady."
"You sure, Jenny?"
"Boy, go 'head. I'm a be alright," Geneva said, waving him off. Once she turned to the woman, however, she balled her hand into a fist and punched her open palm. She said, cracking her neck, "Ain't that right, ma'am?"
"Yes, we'll be fine," the woman said, terrified of death from a black woman from the hood. "James, be a doll and show Mr. Cabrini the school he enrolled his beautiful daughter in. I'm sure you know where Nivaldo Gillian High is, right?"
"Yes, Ms. Sanders," James answered, directing Mark and Nicki to the van once again.
"Alright. Come on, baby," Mark said, draping his large arm around his daughter's shoulders. "We goin' to the school house!"