A/N: I'm so sorry for taking so long with this chapter. As always, I'll try to get on a more regular posting schedule, but I don't make any promises. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy the new chapter
"Alright, ladies, let's take it from the top!"
Sansa hastily grabbed her poms and stood, rushing back to her spot just as Margaery started up the music. As the first beats filtered through the sound system, Sansa moved in time with the music, feeling herself settling into a rhythm. It had taken almost two months, but she finally felt comfortable with the routine. Margaery had made it more complex than anything Sansa had ever done before, even in her pointe classes, and with state cheer coming up in less than a week, Margaery had been pushing the girls harder than ever to make sure every last detail was exactly perfect. The last few weeks had been especially exhausting, once they'd gotten out the mats to practice lifts. More often than not Sansa had come home from practice with bruises all over her arms and legs from falling down and having other girls fall on top of her. Robb had jokingly pointed out a few nights ago that, for once, she was more beaten up than he or Jon were, which made her smile.
As Sansa moved into position for the first lift, she heard a loud bang from the back of the gym, followed by the sounds of laughter and boys' voices. Elinor jumped into her and Alla's hands, and Sansa and Alla hoisted Elinor into the air. The voices and laughter were getting louder, Sansa noticed, coming closer to the gym. She noticed a few of the girls around her, Alla included, looking toward the back of the gym where the noise was coming from. Sansa did her best to keep her focus on Elinor, who was doing the in-the-air cheers. As the music boomed around her, Sansa suddenly felt panic race through her stomach. I don't know what happens after in-the-air. Was she supposed to chant something? Where was she supposed to move? She looked back to Alla, who still had her eyes trained on the back of the gym, where the noise was almost at the same level as the music now. As much as Sansa wanted to glance back in that direction, she knew it would be a bad idea.
A black and white blur cut across Sansa's field of vision, and Elinor screamed, suddenly wobbling. Sansa locked eyes with Alla, who was finally paying attention to the lift instead of the noise coming from the back of the gym. But it was too late - Elinor listed to her right, and when Sansa tried to move to follow her, Elinor's foot came out of Sansa hand, and then the two of them were falling. Sansa slammed hard onto the mat, and Elinor's torso came down on Sansa's legs. Shrieks echoed around her, and Sansa heard Alla fall onto the mat a few feet away. The music cut off abruptly, but she could still hear the laughter and voices she'd been hearing for the past minute.
"Joffrey, what the hell?" Sansa heard Margaery's voice echo across the gym, and the noise stopped almost immediately. Sansa felt herself tense up. What would Joffrey be doing here? He hadn't seen her fall, had he? She sat up slowly, keeping her back turned and hoping he hadn't realized she was one of the girls who'd just fallen.
"Aw, come on, Marge, you can't possibly be sure I'm the one that caused that," Joffrey drawled, and even though Sansa was already hot from practice, she could feel her face flush, and she felt her stomach swoop with nervousness.
"First of all, you ever call me 'Marge' again, you'll live to regret it," Margaery snarled, and Sansa smiled in spite of herself. "Second, the soccer team may be full of the biggest jerks in school, but none of them have quite your brand of stupidity." The soccer team, of course, Sansa thought. They must have come inside for practice.
"Margaery Tyrell, you better not be injuring any of my players," a third voice said, rough and tired. Sansa risked a glance to her left and saw the soccer coach walking through the gym, toward where Margaery stood facing Joffrey and a few of his friends. All the soccer players were at least a head taller than Margaery, but most of them stood behind Joffrey, giving her uncertain glances.
"If I did, it'd be because one of them already injured three of my girls," Margaery spat back.
"Better not be, we've got a big game tomorrow."
"And we've got state cheer next week. Also." Margaery turned, rounding on the coach. "I have this gym reserved for another hour, at least. What's your team doing in here, interrupting my practice?"
"Thunderstorm," the coach replied gruffly. "Wouldn't have bothered, but school policy says we have to come inside if there's lightning." Almost on cue, lightning flashed through the window, and a particularly loud boom of thunder followed, making Sansa jump. They'd been practicing so hard, she hadn't even noticed the storm outside. Without the music on, she could just hear the sound of rain hitting the ceiling above her. "There any way you girls can go somewhere else, just for today? Tomorrow's the district championship."
"And we've got state cheer," Margaery repeated, crossing her arms over her chest. "Besides, there's no other place that's big enough to practice with the mats out."
Sansa glanced back to Joffrey, who, thankfully, hadn't seemed to notice she was there. She stood cautiously, not taking her eyes off of him. His normally bouncy curls were hanging limply down by his shoulders, heavy with water, along his clothes. He didn't seem to be paying attention to Margaery anymore - instead, he was kicking a soccer ball back and forth between a few of the other freshmen soccer players. A smile lit up his face, and she could hear his laugh from across the gym. She smiled to herself, remembering how it had felt earlier that day when she'd made him laugh like that in their English class. This morning, though, it had only been a small chuckle, a smile that played at the corner of his mouth. She wished she could make him laugh like this, a big smile on his face and his eyes all lit up in a way that twisted her stomach into knots.
"Come on, girls, let's get these mats moved," Margaery's voice snapped Sansa out of her daydreaming.
"What are we supposed to be doing?" she asked Elinor quietly as they walked to the edge of the mat.
"We're moving up onto the stage. Coach insists there's no other place for them to practice." Elinor rolled her eyes, and Sansa muttered, "Ugh," as she picked up an end of the mat, but she smiled once they began moving the mat. She would be able to watch Joffrey for the rest of practice.
After ten minutes of struggling to push the mats onto the stage and a bit of help from some of the senior soccer players (whose toned arms made Sansa blush furiously), cheer practice finally resumed, although most of the intensity that Margaery had been trying to build over the last two months had disappeared with the intrusion of the soccer team. Even Sansa couldn't make herself take the routine as seriously as she had just half an hour ago. She finally remembered what came after the first lift (the star position, duh, how could she have forgotten, she thought to herself, they'd practiced that transition for almost an hour one day last week), but as she went through the routine, she found her eyes wandering to where Joffrey stood off on the sideline as the varsity team ran through their drills. She noticed his curls drying in wild directions, sticking up in places she'd never seen before. It made her giggle a bit, but she also thought it was adorable. She wished she could go over and try to make the flyaway curls lay down. She knew she should be concentrating on making sure her moves were exactly in sync with her teammates', but she couldn't make herself look away from Joffrey. She'd had a crush on him for as long as she could remember, and things had only gotten worse when her mother had said a few months ago that she hoped they could "work something out" with the Baratheons. Sansa didn't even want to think about how many hours she'd fantasized about standing in front of the council with Joffrey at her side as he announced to the rest of the council that they'd be promised to each other. It was something she'd wanted all her life, and now it seemed like everything might fall into place.
"Hey, Sansa!" Margaery called as Sansa was packing up her bag after practice. Sansa glanced up and saw Margaery walking her direction. She felt her stomach tense up. She'd hoped Margaery hadn't noticed that she wasn't really focused at practice, but maybe she had.
"Hi, Margaery," Sansa replied nervously once Margaery had made her way over to where Sansa sat with her bag. Sansa stuffed her cheer shoes into her bag, her fingers fumbling over the zipper. She'd almost forgotten how much more intimidating Margaery was up close. "What's up?"
"I have a question for you. Well, a proposition, really." Sansa stood, looking at Margaery. The stern face of Margaery the Cheer Captain that Sansa was used to had been replaced with something else - a more curious, prying look. Sansa felt her stomach clench again. "My duo partner graduated last year, and I've been looking for someone to replace her. I heard through the grapevine that you were interested in joining the forensics team, so …"
It took Sansa a moment to process what Margaery was implying. "Wait you're - you're asking me to join the speech team … with you?"
"I know it's a lot to ask, but I think you'd be really good at it. Plus, your brother said something in Psych the other day about how you wanted to be an actress -"
"Robb talks about me in class?" Sansa interrupted, feeling her face get hot.
"Oh god, I'm sorry," Margaery replied, reaching over to give Sansa's shoulder a squeeze. "I didn't mean to make you upset - that probably wasn't the best way to phrase that." She smiled weakly, and Sansa wondered absently if she had ever seen Margaery this frazzled before. "I know it's kind of a big thing to spring on someone, but - would you at least think about it? I really think we'd work well together."
Sansa opened her mouth, then closed it when she realized she didn't know what she wanted to say. She still wasn't over the initial shock of Margaery Tyrell wanting her to be her duo partner. Margaery had gotten second place at the state forensics meet last year, and she wanted Sansa to be her new duo partner? Sure, she'd shown up to the informational meeting for the forensics team a few weeks ago, but she wasn't sure if she really wanted to be on the team - Jeyne had said just today at lunch that the forensics teams was full of nerds and joining was practically social suicide. It hadn't been for Margaery, though, Sansa realized. Margaery was in a lot of things that most people considered to be lame, and she was still one of the most popular girls in school. "I'll think about it," Sansa said finally.
Margaery smiled widely. "Okay. Just let me know. We'd probably have to get cracking as soon as state cheer is over, so that's when you'll need to make your decision." Sansa nodded. Five days. That would be plenty of time, she thought. "Well, I guess, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye!
Sansa smiled back at her. "See you tomorrow," she said softly, turning on her heels and walking toward the back end of the gym, where Robb would be waiting for her outside in his junker of a car. She couldn't decide whether she wanted to tell him off for even mentioning her in a class full of seniors, or hug him for the next week for giving her the chance to work with Margaery Tyrell.