A/N: FINALLY THEY LET ME UPLOAD THIS!!! I've been trying for two days and I keep getting a "Processing Error" message. Ugh. So annoying.
ANYWHO: This is expanding on an idea I first posed in my oneshot "Dirt"--that Kairi was a cheerleader only because she was the only girl at their school who could do a decent back-hand-spring. (I used to be able to do one of those, btw. Keyword:used to, but still.) I should mention that I am in no way trying to make fun of cheerleaders. I am simply expounding upon the idea that not all of us have the peppyness and energy to be one. Goodness knows I don't. The fact that Kairi is the only gymnast on their school's team should tell you somehting about the quality of their school's particular cheer squad, not cheerleaders in general.
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Glee
The pep rally hasn't even started yet and Sora is already trying not to laugh. Not that Sora particularly likes pep rallies; on the contrary, he thinks they are rather ridiculous. He is aware that the purpose of these events are to rally school spirit and all that jazz, and he thinks that they could even have the potential to be fun, if done properly. However, Hibiscus County High School is not renowned for its pep rallies being very good at accomplishing this goal.
However, Sora considers these pep rallies to be particularly entertaining because of a certain redhead who is currently sulking in the corner of the gymnasium with the other cheerleaders, and, from the look of it, contemplating gagging herself with her own pom-pom. Or perhaps she is contemplating how she could shove the pom-pom down the cheer captain's throat and still get away with it even though it would be in front of a gym full of witnesses.
One way or another, she looks like she wants to strangle someone.
Everyone is seated, so the band starts playing to serenade the cheerleaders' entrance onto the main floor of the gym. As the cheerleaders take center stage to begin whatever spirit-infused routine they have planned for today, the band trails off rather awkwardly. Kairi pins on a plastic smile and falls in place shaking pom-poms and putting her arms in whatever angle is required for each syllable of "Let's go DOLPHINS!"
This is about when Sora loses it; he chokes back the laughter, of course, since it would be neither kind nor indicative of sanity for him to burst out laughing in the middle of these teenage girls' moment of stardom.
He watches Kairi's eyes look his way, and he nearly suffocates trying not laugh as she manufactures an eye twitch. They have finished the regular rah-rah-rah routine with one last bit of free-form individual jumping up and down and screaming. Kairi just sort of bounces on the balls of her feet, clapping her hands a little. Next they move on to the part where they start standing on each other's shoulders.
All except for Kairi, who has started doing various flips and other feats of gymnastics across the floor as the other girls hold up signs and try to get the student body to yell a little louder.
He watches the other cheerleaders start to rearrange, and it doesn't escape his notice that Selphie nearly falls flat on her face due to a certain redhead purposefully back-flipping across her path.
He takes it that Kairi hasn't forgiven her then.
It started innocently enough—Selphie complaining that since Ashe had graduated, the team was out girls who could do much more than cartwheel—then Kairi casually mentioned that she'd done gymnastics for several years when she was younger.
Next thing she knew—drafted.
Not that Kairi wasn't bubbly or spirited; she just didn't have the kind of peppy nature required of a cheerleader. She just wasn't hyper enough. Of course, it didn't help that she could care less about whether or not the Blitz Ball team made it to Regional's. She didn't care how the football team played; why should she care if the school was pepped up for the game?
But when the school offered to let the cheer squad count as a Physical Education credit, thereby getting her out of her current—and very much despised—P.E. class, she'd decided that maybe cheerleading was the lesser of two evils.
However, it turned out to be even worse, and as she quickly discovered, the Hibiscus County High School Cheerleading Squad was like Hotel California—you check in, but you don't check out.
It had been really funny her first pep rally, when she'd still been steaming over being forced onto the team. She'd complied like a good little girl up until the human pyramid, when she had simply sat down cross-legged on the floor with her arms crossed, flat out refusing to take her part on the pyramid. The other girls, not knowing what else to do, had attempted to make the pyramid without her.
Frankly, it was a miracle no one got seriously injured.
Kairi had actually felt a little guilty about it; at least until she saw the video—then she just thought it was funny.
Of course, the next day when the Cheer coach made a speech to the school saying that the whole thing had been planned as a skit to show what happens when one part of a team doesn't support the rest and that therefore the whole school must stand together as one, Kairi just abandoned all guilt and set about spreading the word that she'd done it on purpose.
They've stopped doing acrobatics and started dancing. At least, it's supposed to be dancing. In all actuality it's just a lot of angling arms different ways and shaking hips in ways that really don't seem appropriate for high school.
And now Kairi just looks bored. Not that Sora can blame her. The 'dancing' that these girls are doing is cripplingly simple compared to what Kairi thinks of as dancing. After all, she's had what, Sora thinks, ten, eleven years of ballet? Plus eight years of tap dancing.
She'd played Clara in the Nutcracker; her tap dancing got her lead roles in the local community theatre three years and running. As well as lead roles in school musicals since she was twelve. As far as dancing goes she'd been considered a prodigy. A director at the Destiny Islands Ballet had let slip to her that the directors had high hopes to cast her as the Sugar Plum Fairy in a few years. No wonder she looks bored.
Finally the 'dancing' ends and the pom-pom waving resumes. One more attempt to get the student body to look excited about the big game tonight and the light-blue and white clad energy fountains are done. The first of the fall sports coaches takes the floor to start introducing this year's football team members and the cheerleaders are allowed to resume sitting with their friends.
Sora's sure he's ruptured something trying to hold back the laughter by the time Kairi finally makes it to where he is sitting. She tiredly plops down beside him and gives him a look that displays all her aversions to the sport she is forced to take part in. A sport that could keep her from participating in this year's school musical, Kairi doesn't mind pointing out—although she's not particularly worried about that. The cheer coach won't let her quit the squad and the theatre director won't let a bunch of pom-pom waving take away one of her stars. If it comes down to a fight between them, Kairi knows the theatre director will win.
Sora gives her a look of amused pity and wraps an arm around her shoulders.
"Kill me now," Kairi mutters bitterly.
"It's not all bad," Sora murmurs back.
Kairi raises a questioning eyebrow. Sora grins cheekily, ignoring the part of his brain that tells him he's going to get slapped for saying this.
"You look great in the mini-skirt."
gimme an E gimme a N gimme a D
Disclaimer: I own naught but the name of Sora and Kairi's high school. I've decided that there is probably more than one high school on the islands. Hence theirs being named after their county.
A/N: I've always pictured Kairi as a dancer, but never as a cheerleader. Once again, sorry if I've offended any cheerleaders. Not trying to. Although, the thing about the dancing, I have to say, since I was in the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie, I've never been impressed by my school's cheereleaders' dancing. Maybe that's just our squad, though.
Let me know what you think! I don't think it's one of the best; it came out mostly a character study on Kairi. Constructive criticism is always appreciated!
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