Chapter 21

My brothers had their 10th birthday. It was so hard to believe. Mom said in a few more years they might catch me in height. They never showed signs of powers, but they didn't mind. They were happy go lucky. Mom said it might be my children or even my brother's children that have the spark.

Dad's been teaching them how to play soccer to get them on their elementary school team. Justice seems like he's ready to play. He's already got a pair of cleats. He kicks the ball around outside no matter what the temperature. Now, Jesse he seems to be more reserved. He doesn't want to play. I've told Dad lots of times that Jesse doesn't want to play, but Dad doesn't really listen. He believes Jesse is just unsure. He hasn't been playing for very long; he just hasn't got the hang of it yet. Besides Jesse doesn't really make it clear to dad, that he doesn't want to play. He just follows Justice. I came outside one evening when they we kicking it back and forth. Dad was showing them all kinds of moves. Jesse, though bless him, was sitting in the grass drawing in the dirt. I walked over to him and kneeled down.

"Hey...Whatcha doin?"

"Just...sitting in the grass...watching Dad and Justice..."

"Jesse, if you don't want to play soccer you should tell Dad...Daddy would never make us do something we didn't want to do."

"That's easy for you and Justice..."

"Well...what makes it so hard for you?"

He looked up at me and tossed some grass away from him as he picked at it.

"You have powers, Justice is great at every sport he picks up...and now he's following behind Dad's footsteps...and you're following Mom's...who am I supposed to follow?"

Jesse had been in Justice's shadow his entire life, and they've both been in mine. I never thought of that before.

"Follow you..."

"Huh?"

"Don't be a follower Jess...be a leader...do what your heart wants you to do...be who you want to be...and Mom and Dad will be proud of you no matter what you decide...just have fun...and be happy."

He gave me a shy smile.

"I want to write..." He said. "Books...all kinds."

"Then go do it bubba."

He hugged me tightly. I hugged him back. He ran over to Dad.

"Dad, I'm not going to play soccer with Justice, I'm going to be an author!"

"That's great son!" Dad shouted. "Gwen could probably help you get started."

"Harmione said I could be anything so that's what I am!"

"She did, huh?"

"Cool bro, I'll be a soccer star and you can write about my adventures!" Justice screamed and kicked the ball. It flew toward me. I gasped.

"Harmione!" Dad called out. I used my mind to stop the ball, and it fell flat in the grass.

"Sorry sissy!" Justice hollered.

"It's cool, I'm alright."

I looked at Jesse. He smiled at me and ran inside screaming:

"Momma, I'm gonna be a book writer!"

I sighed heavily and beamed in the sunset. My family was so wonderful. The following Tuesday at school I was in the computer lap working on the sports page. I was given a list of all the players on the basketball team, I had to make sure all of the names were spelled correctly. As I was typing, Maci came in with a few other students.

"So I was thinking olive green for the cover...what do you think?"

"I would go with a more pale green." A boy said.

"No it should definitely be white with green lettering." A girl said after. I ignored them and continued typing. I accidentally typed their conversation. I scoffed and erased it. I hate when I do that. I looked over at Charlie, he was clicking away on his computer. He seemed really invested in it.

"Hey Charlie."

"Yeah babe." He said not looking at me.

"What are you working on?"

"The Drama Club page." He sighed. "The president of the club wants it just so-so, with certain colors and such."

"Having trouble over there?"

"A bit...you know we did three play productions this year and she wants me to fit it all on one page?"

"Well she might have to settle for two." I replied as I typed.

"She might." He replied back.

I looked at the clock.

"I got cheer practice."

"Okay, I'll meet you at your locker."

I saved my work on the computer, and picked up my backpack and my cheer bag. I walked over to Charlie and kissed his cheek.

"Love you."

"Love you too Har."

Since joining the yearbook staff, Charlie normally stays after school Monday through Friday to work on it, instead of just on Tuesdays. I have cheer practice at 4:30 everyday so I get in a good hour of work on the yearbook before I have to leave. I can get a lot done in that hour. I think what's taken the most time is putting together the classes, with a picture of every student. We have 1300 students enrolled from grades K-12. There are 106 in my grade alone. For our graduating class of 2036, we were going to have the numbers two, zero, and three; kinda small and out to the side on the cover. Then there would be a large panther head inside a large six. They were still discussing the colors and the design for the cover though. All in all working on the yearbook was a lot of fun, especially with Charlie.

We still had a little bit of senior year left to go yet. The cheer competition this year for example was going to be brutal. It was gonna be our last one so we really wanted to make it count.

We left that Saturday. Charlie came with us this time only he drove behind the bus. While on the bus the girls started chanting a few of our cheers. Deanna and I sat in the front of the bus with our knees up eating candy.

"So...what was it like again?" Deanna asked me. She wanted to know about more about my time with Charlie.

"I mean it was fine...it was a little awkward at first, but we got the hang of it."

Deanna blushed and sucked on a piece of her gummy candy.

"Charlie pretty big?" She asked with a devilish smile.

"Stop, shut up and eat your candy!" I shouted.

We sat in silence for a moment.

"Oh just tell me."

"What happened between me and Charlie is private Dee."

"Come on...no one wants your man...the girls and I just want to know."

"Why?!"

"Well Kim told us all about Adam...she wants to know if all guys are the same."

"I'm sure they are...in some way or another...and I don't like Kimberly telling us her sex stories...so I'm not telling you."

Deanna nodded and reached in our bag of candy and took out a sucker. I looked out the window, and glanced her.

"5."

"What?" She asked.

I turned and blushed.

"Maybe 5 and a 1/2 inches...but don't you tell them that!" I whispered loudly. "Don't tell anybody, not Kim, or Irene or Lacey or Jaynie, don't even hint to Charlie that I told you!"

"I won't chill out girl...what about you did he just fall over dead at your A cups?"

"Stop it!" I yelled back and covered my chest. Deanna laughed.

"Deanna, your bugging me stop it."

"I'm just playing with you girl...it's just nice to have someone...you know I haven't dated anyone since...Peter."

Deanna looked down somberly. I nudged her shoulder.

"Hey, don't let it get to you...you'll find someone."

"Yeah...and Charlie better know I come first in our relationship."

"Duh, of course!"

We hugged each other and listened to music on the bus ride there. Once we got to gymnasim, it was the same as last year, only this time we were seniors. There were a lot of other squads there that weren't there last time. Newbies surrounded us.

"Looks like we got our work cut out for us this year, look there's Charlie." Deanna said and pointed. He waved and made his way over to us.

"Hey girls."

"Hi Charlie." The rest of the squad said in unison and laughed. He blushed.

"Dee, Har...you ready?"

"Ready as will ever be, but we'll have to be really smooth with our transitions...have you seen the other squads here it's insane." Deanna replied.

"Aw, you'll be alright...you girls worked hard for this...and if not I'll still buy you both a cherry coke."

"Thanks Charlie." I mumbled. He got behind me and pointed.

"I'll be right there...so you can see me."

I smiled.

"Good luck." He kissed the side of my head. "Dee, good luck." He then punched her shoulder.

"Thanks, you weirdo." She punched him back.

"Hey Sierra!" Charlie yelled. Sierra turned around as she tightened her ponytail.

"Good luck cuz!"

"Thanks Char!" She yelled back. Charlie gave us two thumbs up and went off to find his seat.

"Go Panthers!" He screamed. "Whoo!"

Deanna and I just busted out laughing. We were number 15 this year. We had a little bit longer time to practice. There was a bit where I went up in the air and kicked out my foot. We've practiced that part over and over and over again.

"And this is number 15, Bellwood High School Panthers, lead by head coach Tina Monty, with cheer captain Jaynie Hudson and co-captain Kimberly Pierce!" The announcer echoed out onto the gym floor.

"Panthers are you ready?!" Jaynie yelled. The crowd cheered. We did a routine where you take side steps to the right and clap. We had two signs in the routine, one said Green the other White. We had one person with the green sign jump up into the hands of three of our girls on the right side; and the another on the left side with the white sign.

"When we say right you say, green, right!"

"Green!" The crowd cheered.

"When we say left you say white, left!"

"White!" They screamed at us. I was glad we were number 15, the crowd was pretty fired up.

"Right, left!" We yelled.

"Green, and White!" The stands echoed.

The girls with the signs jumped down and tossed them to the side.

"Let's go green and white, we're here to fight tonight!"

We did a few claps and turned. The judges couldn't take our eyes off of us. The music portion of the routine started up, we were ready for it. Right on the downbeat of it, we hit or marks. As the music continued I saw Deanna do a few flips with Tyler out of the corner of my eye. With more members we were able to do more elaborate stunt work. I gathered up my nerve and jumped up on on the hands of my fellow cheerleaders. It was a 2 by 4 count that I'd stick my leg up.

However, when I finally got up in the air I noticed that I was leaning more towards the left. I kicked my leg out but then toppled forward. The girls had my ankle but it was my head that hit the floor first.

"Oh!" I heard the crowd gasp.

The team helped me to my feet and continued the dance. I couldn't walk in a straight line and I began to feel disoriented. I staggered to my place and tried to do the dance. The music felt slow to me. I saw Charlie in the stands, he quickly leapt from his seat and jumped the hand railing. Before I knew it, I hit the mat, falling backwards. The music stopped and the crowd got real quiet.

"Harmione, Harmione it's Tina." I heard my coach say. She was on her knees near me.

"And a pair of paramedics are making their way over to the gym floor." I heard the announcer's voice call out over the loudspeaker. It was a little fuzzy but I could see the other cheerleaders, and my friends looking down at me.

"Harmione!" I heard Deanna scream. The paramedics brushed past them and began touching my body for broken bones.

"No, she hit her head, it wasn't her arm." One nurse said to the other. He lifted my head up and touched my chin.

"Sweetheart, do you know who you are?" He asked sweetly.

"Har...Harmione." I mumbled.

"That's right...do you know where you are?"

"A gym...a cheer competition." I replied. My breath was shallow.

"That's a good girl, my partner and I are going to take you off the floor now."

They lifted me up slowly. Charlie quickly pushed past them.

"I got her."

"Sorry son, we-"

"She's my girlfriend."

I felt Charlie pick me up bridal style. I turned toward my squad and waved shly.

"It looks like she may be okay, we're moving on with number 16, number 15 will have a chance to continue their routine later in the day. Might want to change up that middle section in the mean time, here we go number 16 Ridgemont High School!" The announcer exclaimed.

I was taken out into the hallway. Charlie took his hoodie off and placed it under my head. A paramedic sat by the wall near me and placed an ice pack on my head. I hissed.

"She might have a concession, or even a spinal injury."

The squad and Ms. Tina met me in the hall and they all began talking about me at once.

"Harmione are you okay?!" Deanna cried.

"We didn't mean to drop you Harmione!" Gabbie piped in, she was in tears.

"Ladies...accidents happen...what's important is that Harmione's okay and if not that she gets better." Ms. Tina interrupted them. I then tried to speak.

"I am...I...I'm-"

I had gotten the breath knocked out of me so it was hard to speak. I then fainted.