Max

I loved to sleep. Loved it. So much that I often slept through my alarm clock and ended up with only minutes to get ready and get where I needed to be (good thing I was a night showerer). But the next day I woke up hours before my alarm clock, when the little green lights of my hotel alarm clock shone 4:33.

My stomach was rolling already, and I knew there was no way I was going back to sleep. Despite the fact that the Georgia Allstars weren't scheduled to perform until 1:42 in the afternoon (everything was planned down to the minute at Worlds) my nerves were already at their height.

I pushed my blankets off and went to the bathroom, taking a quick shower even though I'd taken one the night before. Afterward, I dressed myself in black spandex and a loose white V-neck, wrapping the towel around my hair. I dug to the bottom of my suitcase to get out my emergency bag of Funyuns. After years of competing, I knew how nervous I could get, and knew the exact science of calming myself down.

So I sat cross-legged at the end of the bed eating Funyuns and watching Mean Girls. Welcome, my friends, to the life of Max Martinez.

At six o'clock I unzipped a separate pocket of my suitcase and pulled out my uniform. I took a deep breath as I looked at it, and then I pulled it on. It took about an hour to get my hair to perfection, and the final steps were to add the bow and do our heavy competition makeup. (Full competition uniform, hair, and bow on my profile.)

I was ready to go at seven-thirty, and the team was supposed to meet outside by the fountain at eight o'clock. I ate a chocolate chip granola bar and, just before I headed out, looked in the mirror, thanking the lord for my metabolism and willowy figure. The fact that just this morning I'd eaten a bag of Funyuns and a chocolaty granola bar and still looked thin in a crop top uniform wasn't something a lot of people could say.

But trust me, my poor bases were so going to notice those extra few ounces when they had to throw my big butt up in the air. I'd have to apologize beforehand.

I grabbed my backpack, which had my name and team name on it, pulled on my cheer shoes, and headed down. I was twenty minutes early, but another flyer and one of my bases were already there. They welcomed me with smiles and offered me their leftover donut, but I shook my head.

My stomach was already rolling again, and I felt like I was going to puke.

When everybody was there we started to walk towards the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. Lissa, who'd been through many competitions with me and knew how I could get, found me and threw an arm around my shoulder. "Max," she said, "you've got this. Breathe."

"I can't." I shook my head slowly, and suddenly felt hyperventilation threatening. No way could I have another full-on breakdown like after Jamfest.

"Oh, yes you can," Lissa said, and I could hear the smirk in her voice. I looked at her to see that she was grinning, and I followed her eyes to see Nudge, a friend of hers, Iggy, and Fang. Nudge was holding up a sign decorated for our team, and Fang was smiling at me.

And then breathing came easier.

I broke away from the team and hurried over, where I hugged Fang.

"Nice uniform," he whispered as he squeezed me, at the same time Iggy wolf-whistled. Fang playfully punched Iggy, but it might not have been quite as playful as it appeared, because it left Iggy wheezing. He then got a light slap on the cheek from Lissa, who then stood up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

"Eep!" Nudge randomly squealed.

"But really," Fang murmured. He looked appreciatively down at my crop top and booty shorts, which were both bedazzled to perfection. "Nice uniform."

"Why thank you." With a sudden urge of bravery and daringness, I jumped onto my toes and kissed Fang's cheek. Immediately after my insecurities kicked in and my cheeks flamed. I grabbed Lissa's wrist and started pulling her way. "Sorry, guys, got to get back to our team!"

"Good luck!" they all chorused.

Today was just preliminaries. My team was in the senior large all-girl division, which was easily the toughest to be in. There were dozens of teams that would compete today, but only the top three would go on to finals tomorrow, where the world champions would be decided.

In the past our division had been dominated by the Maryland Twisters F5, Cheer Extreme Senior Elite, and World Cup Shooting Stars, but this year the Georgia Panther Allstars were stronger than ever. We'd placed third at Jamfest with multiple falls, so we had high hopes that if we hit our routine we could score a medal, possibly even a gold.

But no medals would be possible today if we weren't placed in the top three. Today was just as important as finals.

We watched the small senior all-girl division which included some amazing performances as well as some disastrous falls. There was an awful tumbling collision that resulted in one team's performance stopping so they could get the two girls who'd run into each other back handsprings out on gurneys.

And I was once again psyching myself out.

When it came time to head back to the warm-up room, I was humming songs and doing anything to distract myself. My stunts were shaky, but they always were when we were warming up. Then we were ushered backstage, where Lissa gripped my hand tightly. Our team's name was called and the crowd went insane, and we all skipped out, smiling and waving. I didn't let go of Lissa's hand until we absolutely had to get in formation.

Then the music started and my butterflies disappeared. (Routine on my profile.)

It was perfect. Flawless. But in a division as hot as ours, sometimes that wasn't enough.

Now all we could do was cross our fingers and pray that we were in the top three to move on to finals.