Friday, September 29

Danville High Gym/ Locker Room

Adyson

"Make sure to do this fast, girls. The ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders are already dressed and ready to go," Coach reminds us from the doorway of the locker room before disappearing back into the gym, where we practice our cheers for our upcoming football and basketball games that will be happening soon. We always try to change into our uniforms quickly, but for some of us, that isn't easy. I'm using the bathroom since I finished getting ready ten minutes ago, but it's pretty clear to me who is saying what even though their voices are muffled through the wall.

"Hold on, my ponytail's not tight enough. God, I hate this so much. Can I quit anytime soon?"

"Where's my dark pink eye shadow? No, not that dark pink, the other dark pink. Ooh, here it is! No, wait, that's not it. Maybe I need to buy more."

"I can't waste my voice trying to yell the way Coach insists we do. I have a cover of a song I need to record tonight, from Phantom of the Opera."

"Okay, seriously, even my dance uniforms aren't as tight as this shirt is."

In order: Savannah, Lilly, Vienna, and Katie. Not that that wasn't obvious.

I walk out of the bathroom stall after washing my hands and nervously look down at my stomach. Thankfully, it's still pretty much flat. Vienna's still the only person who knows, and I can't risk anyone else, especially not Ginger or Lilly or any other one of the gossips in the school, finding out. I'm not ready.

"Hey, Adyson," Isabella greets me from the bathroom sink, where she's wiping all of her makeup off so it doesn't get all sweaty. Smart. I did the same thing earlier.

"Hi, Isabella." I take the time to check my ponytail, which is nice and secure. "So this sounds lame, but is school okay for you? I know you don't have any classes with Phineas, so I was just making sure."

She sighs before shrugging. "Well, yeah, of course I miss him. Why wouldn't I? But it's not like we always had the same classes together for all of our school careers, anyway. And we're definitely going on different paths for college. He's going into engineering or something of that sort, and I want to be a journalist."

I nod. "Sounds cool." I suddenly realize what I said and backtrack. "For you, I mean, not your relationship."

She laughs. "No, I know what you meant. Ever since I wrote for the Fireside Girls gazette, journalism has always interested me. I can't explain it." She studies my face, and I try to look upbeat and excited about the upcoming practice, but truthfully, I'm not. Not that I'm ever excited for it, but this is the first real practice we've had all season since I found out I was, um…pregnant. I don't know if I'll be able to do all of the moves. "Something bothering you, Adyson? Something about you seems…off, somehow. I've noticed it since last Sunday when you didn't show up at Phineas and Ferb's for their latest project."

My eyes widen. Isabella must be more observant than I give her credit for. But she is right. I wasn't there, but that was because I was so depressed after V told me the pregnancy test said positive that I locked myself in my room for the next day and a half, sat in a corner clutching the old bear I had that I hadn't touched since I was six, and just cried. Cried because I was too young to be in such a situation, cried because Kyle had tricked me into getting serious with him, and cried because it just had to be me he met at that bar Mom took me to.

"Adyson? Adyson?"

I snap back into reality and blink a few times to see Isabella staring at me in concern, in which I give a nervous chuckle. "Oh, um…sorry. Just…thinking about…our upcoming practice!" I give a fake holler. "Whoo-hoo! Danville Lions! Yay!"

Isabella giggles before stepping away from the mirror and adjusting her long sleeved red undershirt worn under the tank top thing we wear over top. It's super tight, which is why I was so concerned about my stomach a few minutes ago. "Well, I'm glad to see that you're finally getting into the school spirit." She then claps her hands. "Girls, are we all ready, now?"

"No," Aubrey whines.

"There's like, no time to get into this uniform," Holly complains as she ties her sneaker.

"Seriously," Milly agrees, looking worriedly towards the doorway.

"I'd rather that Coach give us at least five more minutes." Emily adds with a frown. "It's not that difficult of a thing to do."

Isabella smiles the smile of a preschool teacher trying to make her students stop whomping each other with blocks. "Well, girls, that's not going to happen, unfortunately, due to the fact that the girls in the other grades got here more quickly than us. We're going to have to step up our game and just deal with the fact that we're not going to have time to reapply all of our makeup and put lotion and perfume on before we start sweating like crazy." She glares at Lilly as she says this, and the blond looks up from putting on her fake eyelashes.

"What?" she asks obliviously, and Isabella rolls her eyes.

"No time for that. My point is that we all signed up for this as freshmen, and because of that, we have to do what's supposed to be done to be a team. Gretchen, as you all know, quit…" For some reason, she bites her lip and looks away briefly, but then focuses her attention back on us. "But no one else is unless you feel that you can't be part of a team for one more year. Is that too much to ask for?"

My stomach lurches, since it kind of is to me health wise, but everyone else nods, some of us sheepishly. "Yes, ma'am."

Isabella nods in approval. "Great. So finish up whatever you have to do for the next minute. And one more thing." She walks over to Lilly, and without any warning, rips her fake eyelashes out, causing the blond to shriek.

"OW!" she cries, holding her hand to her eye. "What the hell-"

"Lillian Carlson, there's no reason whatsoever that you need to put fake eyelashes on during practice," Isabella scolds her, and Lilly rolls her eyes, or eye, since the other one is covered up by her hand. "It would be different if it were an actual game, but we're just practicing."

"Whatever." Now Lilly looks just downright pissed.

Isabella flashes her a fake smile before looking at the rest of us, who are all gaping in surprise by her acts, but the raven-haired girl just shrugs. "Hey, at least now I put my Ripping Things Out Quickly patch to good use. Let's go, girls."

Still stunned by what just happened and that Isabella was able to do something so out of character, we stand up from our seats on various benches in the locker room and follow her out the door, Lilly being last, and when we reach our destination, Coach smiles at us. "Great to see you actually made it out."

"It took some hard work," Isabella informs her, glancing again at Lilly, who does not look back at her. "But we did it."

"Good thing you did, too. I was seriously about to start practice without you." Coach blows her whistle. "Into positions, everyone! You know the drill from our individual practices where I separated you by grade. Captains in the front, the rest take the spots I assigned you. Go!"

We all scramble to get to our respective spots, me to the very left since I'm one of the tallest, if not the tallest, girls here. The smaller girls go towards the center of the long line we make since Coach believes it helps us stand out more. Whatever. I don't get it, but hey, she's the boss.

"All right, so girls, go through the routine I taught you individually. It's the same cheer, and the same moves, so it's no issue whatsoever. And when it's time for the pyramids, you now how that goes, one pyramid per grade level. Understood?"

"Yes, Coach," we all reply in a bored manner except for the captains, who all actually look energetic. How they do, I don't know.

She frowns at us briefly for a second, but then goes back to her fake smile. "Great. So show your moves to me that we're doing for the next game, and then I'll tell you what I think. Got it?"

"Yep," we reply with no emotion once again.

Coach ignores it this time. "All right. And…go."

We do some of our stupid hand and arm motions in the air as we start chanting the latest stupid cheer she wrote.

We are the Lions,

Hear us roar!

Let us win,

And let us soar!

Honest to God, could you get any more dumb? I wince even thinking of the ridiculous thing I just chanted. But I don't have much time to think about it, because we need to get into our positions for the pyramids we have to do.

Oh, and did I mention that I'm on the bottom of one along with Lilly, Holly, and Savannah? Believe me, I did not make that decision. The three of us just so happen to be the tallest ones, so…yeah. It sucks, but what are we supposed to do?

So I crouch down on my hands and knees, Savannah next to me, and Katie crawls onto my back and has her hand and one leg on my back. Aubrey is next to her, Emily next to Aubrey, and on top of them are Milly and Vienna with Ginger at the very top. Isabella, being the captain of the senior squad, gets to simply stand in front and do her own cheer with the other captains.

As she does this, looking far more superior and relaxed compared to the others in my honest opinion, I feel a quiver in my left knee. My eyes widen, and I glance down at it briefly and then nervously up at Coach. Luckily, she didn't seem to see it, because she's currently frowning at a girl named Courtney on the sophomore squad. Courtney is at the top of her pyramid, and it's pretty clear that she's struggling not to fall down.

Not that I blame her. I'm starting to feel the same. My knee keeps on randomly wobbling, and I'm struggling not to let it collapse. But then, in a split second, it happens.

My knee goes down, which causes me to fall down, which causes Katie to shriek and fall down on top of me, which causes Emily to fall down on the other side, which causes Aubrey to scream that this is fun, which causes Ginger to roll her eyes at her as she also falls, but on top of Milly and V, who collapse onto Savannah, Lilly, and Holly.

The other girls have all stopped their routines and are staring at us, a few of them snickering. Isabella looks shocked, hand over her mouth, and Coach is scowling at us, particularly me.

I don't think I've ever been more embarrassed in my life.

Coach then blows her whistle. "Let's take five, girls," she commands, and the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors quickly get out of their pyramids with no problem and start chatting with each other. Ginger and Holly hurry out of the gym to go to the locker rooms for some freshening up, Aubrey starts playing ponies with herself, and Savannah, Katie, Emily, and Milly chat amongst themselves. All the other seniors, though, are looking directly at me. A few of them are frowning.

"What the heck was that, Adyson?" Lilly demands, tossing her blond ponytail over her shoulder. "You could have killed us."

"I'm sorry," I protest. "I just-"

"Sweets, you know better than that," Coach informs me while shaking her finger and using her nickname for me. "No quivers in the knees, or you're going down. I've told you that before."

"I know, I'm sorry. But is it really that big of a deal?"

"Excuse us for a moment, please," Vienna interjects, quickly steering me off to the side. When we're out of everyone's listening range, she begins speaking, but even then in a whisper. "Adyson, what was that? I know you hate cheerleading; so do I. But that doesn't mean you can mess up practice like that-"

"I'm worried," I interrupt, shooting a worried glance out at the team, but no one seems to be listening. "About…um…you know."

She looks confused for about half a second, but then it dawns on her. I can see it in her oval-shaped green eyes. "Ohhhh. But you're not even a month along-"

"I know." I look down at my stomach, which I'm sure looks exactly the same but to me looks bigger. "But that quiver wasn't my fault. My knee just kept on shaking for no reason, so I fell and-"

"Adyson!" Isabella rushes over, clearly not knowing that that she's interrupted our conversation. "Could I please speak to you for a moment? Perhaps in the locker room or bathroom?"

I give Vienna a momentary look, but she just nods.

"Um…sure."

"Great." We walk out of the gym, past a group of giggling freshmen girls that look so much younger than us, and directly into the bathroom located inside the locker room. Holly appears to have gone out, as has Ginger, so Isabella starts talking to me.

"You do know I'm not blaming you for that knee quiver, right?" she asks, and I have to fight myself not to smack her. What is really that big of a deal? It's getting annoying, and plus, it was a frickin' accident.

"Uh, sure?"

"Because I understand how hard it is to be on the bottom of the pyramid, as I was once, too." Her voice suddenly grows more stern. "However, you're a senior, and have been a cheerleader for three years now. You've never had trouble with any of the moves thus far, therefore I'm having trouble comprehending the reason as to why you're just now messing up."

I bite my lip and look away from her. I can't tell her. I just can't, at least not yet. "I'm sorry-"

"No, it's okay. I understand that." Her tone then goes back to normal. "Again, I just don't get it. Why are you just now messing up?"

I shrug. "Maybe because I grew yet another two inches over the summer?" I chuckle nervously. "You know, five feet eleven inches is pretty tall for a girl-"

"Lilly's five eight and Savannah's five seven, not much smaller than you. Adyson, please." Isabella now sounds concerned. "What's really wrong with you?"

"Nothing," I say quickly. Too quickly, apparently, because now she's looking at me harder. Damn it. Damn it damn it damn it. I'm vaguely aware of the fact that I've started to sweat.

Isabella takes a deep breath. "Adyson, I'm serious. Is there something seriously wrong with you medically or anything like that? We can talk to Coach about it if you feel that you can't be on the team and give your best effort." She gives me a facial expression that could pass as a small smile. "I mean, we'll miss you, but if you feel it would be best-"

"I'm pregnant," I blurt out.

Her look of concern immediately transforms into a look of horror. Her eyes widen, and she puts her hand over her mouth. She then backs into a wall, breathing slow, steady breaths. "W-W-What-"

"It's not Django's, though," I inform her, and her eyes go even wider. Before she can say anything regarding that, I continue. "I'll explain the whole story later. But…yeah. That's why my knee was quivering insanely." My voice then lowers to a whisper. "You're only the second person to know. I've already told Vienna. Or, um, actually, she told me. I took a pregnancy test at her house."

Isabella stares at me harder, lip quivering that I can see since her hand is now down at her side instead of over her mouth. I can tell that she's struggling really hard not to cry. "Oh…my God…"

Great. Now she's getting me to tear up, too. "Isabella, it's okay. I'll quit the squad, I promise. Even if I don't like cheerleading, I don't want the team to look bad-"

"Forget the team, Adyson," Isabella cuts me off again. She grabs a ratty brown paper towel from the dispenser and blows her nose. "I just…can't believe it. You're only eighteen, and you claim that the baby isn't Django's."

"That is correct. Again, I'll…explain later." I glance towards the doorway. "And remember, you can't tell anyone. Not Phineas, not Ferb, no one. You and Vienna are the only ones that know."

She looks up at me after sniffling again, eyes wide. "What about Django?"

"I'll tell him when I'm ready," I say, my heart sinking at the mention of my boyfriend. The boyfriend Kyle tricked me into cheating on. "I'm not yet. Besides, I'm not even a month along."

She nods. "I...guess that makes sense." Her gaze travels down to my stomach. "You know you're not going to be able to hide it for much longer, though…"

"I know, and I'll tell people when I'm ready. I've said that several times now."

After hesitating for a brief moment, she nods again. "That's…understandable. I just can't believe it. That you're…in this situation."

I shrug. "Well, to put it short, I got tricked into doing it. I don't believe in abortion, so I'm stuck carrying this kid." I chuckle and look away. "For nine months."

She shakes her head. "I know…" Glancing quickly towards the door, she starts to walk towards it. "You know, we should probably get back out there."

"Makes sense," I agree, following her.

"And…just so you know, you can quit. I don't care." When I catch up to her and look at her in surprise, she shrugs. "You can't be a cheerleader under your conditions, Adyson. It's not safe for you or the baby, even if you're as early in as you are. But don't worry, I'll support you, and I'm sure everyone else will when they find out, too."

I smile at her. "Thanks, Iz," I say quietly, since we're now stepping out of the doorway into the gym. "Really. I'm going to quit after this practice."

She smiles back. "No problem," she whispers. "You'll be fine, I promise. Now let's get back to Coach. She's probably wondering where the heck we are."

I nod. "Yeah, we better. Race you!" I jog to the other side of the gym, making Isabella laugh and run after me. The other girls all look at us strangely when we walk up, but I just plain don't care. I've dealt with worse things in my life.

Ginger

Who knew hiding in a bathroom stall could be so beneficial to learn new gossip? Apparently, Adyson's pregnant. But should I actually tell people when she made it pretty clear she didn't want people to know? Hmm...

Next Chapter Preview: Holly goes over to Aubrey's, but after something unexpected happens, a huge argument between the two unfolds, making something even MORE unexpected happen. Can anyone guess what that will happen to be?


Oh. No. So Isabella knows about Adyson's pregnancy and is okay with it, but apparently, Ginger, a.k.a. the biggest gossip in the school, was hiding in a bathroom stall and heard their entire conversation. Gee, this sure looks good. Not.

And I'm sorry for any possible delays in updates or whatever, but I'm already busy with school. By the way, yes, it's going okay for me. I just can't get on a computer as much anymore thanks to homework and all that crap no one cares about.

But anyway, I'm excited to write the next chapter. Something truly shocking happens in it, and you all know how much I love to write shocking events. XD There are still plenty more to come in this story, trust me.