"You can do it"
Today was the day of the first big pep rally and Jackie was nervous. After weeks of begging, she had finally gotten everybody to agree to come and see her cheer. Usually, the gang skipped pep rallies and went to go smoke behind the gym, but today? They better have their butts in the bleachers or heads would roll. She didn't have the chance to personally get them to their seats; the cheerleaders had to get ready in the locker room.
"So Jackie, I saw you talking to a major hottie in the hallway today," Veronica, one of Jackie's fellow cheerleaders, giggled.
"Michael is dreamy," Jackie agreed, pulling on her sweater.
"No, not him!" Veronica widened her eyes. "That scruffy guy with the shades….Steven Hyde!" she exclaimed, happy to have remembered his name. Jackie froze, mouth wide open in shock.
"Veronica, you think Steven is a hottie?" she asked incredulously.
"Yeah," she nodded, tying one of her shoelaces. "He's such a rebel….it's so hot!" She stared dreamily off into the distance, then snapped out of it. "So what were you two talking about?"
Jackie stifled a laugh. That "dreamy" conversation she had been having with Hyde was her giving him some cash for some…..film. What? She had her own stash, too! The conversation had soon turned to Jackie herself, as it always did.
"Being this small sucks," she pouted. "They use me as a flier, which means they're gonna throw me up in the air! What if they don't catch me and I break something? I mean, Josie is such a bitch, I wouldn't put it past her."
Hyde leaned up against the lockers. "Don't worry about it, short stuff." Jackie punched him in the arm before he continued. "If they drop you, it'll be the best pep rally of all time." He grinned, but the smile soon vanished; Jackie kicked him as hard as she could in the shins and flounced off.
"He's friends with Michael," Jackie finally settled on a response, then looked up at the clock. "Oh, we have to get going!" As she and the rest of the cheerleaders filed into the gym, jumping up and down and trying to work the crowd into a peppy frenzy, Jackie scanned the bleachers, trying to find her friends. Yep, there they are. Donna and Fez were the only ones clapping and cheering half-heartedly. Eric and Hyde were snickering about something, and Michael was ogling all of the bouncy cheerleader boobs. Typical. But thoughts of her friends quickly disappeared; the routine was hard and Jackie had to concentrate.
The moment Jackie had been dreading came entirely too soon. Brenda and Sarah, two stockier members of the squad, lifted her up, holding on tightly to her feet.
"Go! Fight! Win!" Jackie yelled between clenched teeth. Any minute now, she was supposed to jump into the air and just trust that the girls below her would catch her! As she pumped a fist in the air, her gaze came back to her friends. Michael and Fez were clapping along like idiots, Donna and Eric were making out (surprise, surprise), and Hyde….Hyde was standing, hands cupped around his mouth.
"You can do it!" he yelled, flashing Jackie a grin and a thumbs up. People in the bleachers turned around to stare at him; Steven Hyde didn't come to pep rallies and he didn't shout encouraging things.
Jackie couldn't contain her smile. And as she launched herself upwards, she realized she wasn't afraid anymore.
