Unedited but enjoy!
The rest of her first day of school feels…subpar, at least compared to the eventful morning she just had. One of her teachers takes a selfie with her, and some sophomore has her say hi to his Instagram followers, but other than that, not much happens. The hype surrounding her dies down almost as quickly as it started, which is great because she can eat lunch in the middle of the cafeteria with Bree and only Bree and no one bugging her.
But, she really wishes she could eat lunch with Zed. Sure, they only talked for a few minutes, but ever since, she's longed for the moment she gets to see him again. Talking to Zed was a breath of fresh air in the monotonous, muggy, regular Seabrook air. He's nothing like the humans she was constantly surrounded with, or even the werewolves she hung around in the castle. And not because he's a zombie. He's different from anyone she's ever met, in the best way possible. He's funny and sweet, and so cute—but she's not crushing on him. Crushing on a zombie would be bad. Probably execution worthy! Her mother would kill her if she found out she liked a boy after ten minutes of knowing him, she can't imagine what she'll do when she finds out he's a zombie!
As much as she would like to get lost in Zed-land, she can't, and forces herself to focus on Bree instead. Though every time anything even remotely green crosses her line of sight, her heart rate picks up and she get butterflies in the hopes that she'll see Zed again.
When school ends, Addison gathers her belongings and meets her cousin in the gym. Her parents may have forbidden her from cheerleading, but they couldn't forbid her from watching practice. Mostly because her main mode of communication was the cheer captain, and she currently has no other way to get home, so she's stuck in the gym until he finishes.
She winds up being one of the last people to show up. She weaves her way through the crowd of over fifty hopeful students, all either stretching or jumping or anxiously talking with each other, searching for the only other person she knows there. It doesn't take long for her to spot her best friend, standing towards the middle of the crowd. Addison smiles brightly, waving. Bree returns the gesture, although her nerves are clear through her smile.
Before she can reach Bree, Bucky steps in front of her, a sly smile on his face. She knows that face. He only ever pulls it when he wants to seem nice and friendly but he knows he's going to say something she won't like, or something rude or mean. "Go sit on the bleachers until we're done here," he instructs. "You know the drill."
Addison nods. Just like her parents always told her, "Sit still, look pretty."
Bucky pats the top of her head. "Exactly. Hope you enjoy the show, Cuz."
Addison rushes across the gym to the bleachers. There are a dozen or so other students sitting there, eager to watch what they can't partake in. She sits off in the corner, where most people won't be able to spot her and she won't distract anyone from the tryouts.
Bucky blows his whistle and everyone trying out rushes to get into formation. The entire gym quiets down at once, and Bucky grins, his eyes scanning the crowd. "Welcome to cheerleading tryouts. It's nice to see so many...Wannabes." He chuckles, although it sounds very mocking. "I mean, we'd wanna be us, too, if we weren't already on the cheer squad." Yeah, he's definitely mocking them.
Bucky laughs, and the Aceys laugh, and although Addison doesn't understand what's so funny, she laughs a little too. As do the other students trying out. But as soon as they do, Bucky immediately stops laughing, and everyone in the gym stops and straightens up.
"You need to bring it, okay?" Bucky says. "Like my assistant captains. The Aceys!"
Everyone applauds, though Addison doesn't pay them much attention. After all, she's already met them! Instead of listening to Bucky's spiel, she gets up for her spot in the bleachers, sneaking over to a corner of the gym. She may not be able to try out, but she could still have some fun by herself, like she usually does.
"Today's tryouts are going to be easy," Bucky says. "The hardest thing you'll have to do is a back handspring, funky chicken, round-off match table split with a robot down powering finish."
That wasn't hard at all. Sure, there was the matter of whether the funky chicken was cajun or shake-n-bake, but he probably wanted them to stick to the usual move (shake-n-bake).
She does the moves at half speed while Bucky continues running through his try out instructions. Back handspring (easy), funky chicken, round-off with a match table split, and a robot down powering finish. And then again. If she were allowed to tryout, she would've slayed. But for now, she's fine with doing the moves from the corner.
"The Mighty Shrimp don't think small," Bucky says. "Cheers until it hurts."
She didn't know what she expected, but definitely not her cousin being a strict, unmoving, cheer dictator. He moves fast from one move to another, and the Aceys observe all the tryees, pulling people off for the tiniest of mistakes. Some people get cut for being even one second off, some get cut for smiling too much, others get cut for smiling too little.
The first half hour is spent doing basic cheers that most people learn in middle school. The next hour is all lifts, stunts, and tricks. People fall, or their high-V stretch doesn't cut it, or their form is entirely off. It makes Bucky and the Aceys' jobs of slowly bringing the group of over fifty down to five much easier. And Bree absolutely kills it! Her timing? Flawless. Her enthusiasm? Infectious! And her funky chicken? The funkiest. Bree is sure to make the team, and Addison is sure to cheer vicariously through her bestie.
When Bucky finally gathers the final five, Addison rushes to the stands to cheer for Bree. After all, there's only one more test before Bucky selects the three new cheerleaders. But when she looks, she can't find Bree.
Addison scans the crowd for her bestie, eyes scanning for the familiar sleek black ponytail and pink glasses. Bree couldn't have left the gym yet, and she's not down with the other cheerleaders, which only leaves those who didn't make the squad, and the crowd of people who came to watch cheer tryouts. It takes a minute, but she finally spots Bree hiding behind a very tall senior, number 14, who'd been cut early on in the tryouts.
Addison rushes to her best friend's side, ignoring her cousin already starting the final phase of the tryouts. But ignoring Bucky proved to be harder than she thought, especially when he's so loud, and terrifying, striking fear into the eyes of the poor tryees. "You guys got moves. But can you win over a crowd? Get them to worship you, like they worship me!"
Addison rolls her eyes. They were at the last part of tryouts, the freestyle routines. Each person would go one at a time and try to hype up the crowd. Succeed, and you won one of the three silver pom poms. Fail, and you'd end up on the bench with everyone else who screwed up.
No pressure, right?
"Bree!" Addison whispers harshly. Bree spins around, panic clear on her face. Addison runs over, crouched low to the ground so as to not draw attention to herself.
"What are you doing?" she whispers.
"Who am I fooling? Bucky's never gonna let me on the team, he'll clip my wings. I'm never gonna fly." Bree runs off before Addison can say anything, hiding away in the bleachers.
Addison starts for Bree, determined to do something to make her change her mind. She can't force Bree to try out, but she knows Bree would make the team. And what kind of future queen was she if she couldn't inspire her own loyal subjects! She can't do nothing while Bree gives up while barely even trying!
The beginnings of some half baked speech float around in her head, until the Aceys discouraging words to tryee number six catch her attention, giving her another idea. Not reverse psychology, because frankly Addison never really understood how it even worked. Bucky presents the second pair of pom poms to girl number sixteen. There's one more set left, and Bree should be the last one to go. She may be too terrified to go up there, but Addison refuses to let her spirit die because of a few mean words from her cousin. She struts to the center of the court, determined to do the one thing she knows she's good at: cheering.
"Addison—" Bucky scolds. But she ignores him.
She runs up to the bleachers and starts cheering. "We are the Mighty Shrimp! It's time to show you now!"
She climbs up and onto the bleachers, ignoring the confused and shocked looks of the people before her. Like Bucky said, just cheer until it hurts!
She pumps her arms, and although it's not as precise as it should be, it works in her attempt to hype up the crowd. They follow her moves while she cheers, "We got the stuff to light you up, it's getting hotter now!"
"We're getting hotter now." She turns around to face Bucky, who looks rather displeased to see his baby cousin cheering against both her parents' and his wishes, not that she cares. "It's getting hotter now!"
She finishes her little stunt with an aerial cartwheel off of the bleachers. It's the final cherry on top to hyping up the crowd, all the people who got cut jumping up excitedly. Even Bree runs over to her, amazed and more hype than Addison's ever seen her, which is really saying something.
Addison grabs her bestie's hands, pulling her to the middle of the court. Bucky may not see everyone's intense cheer spirit, but she was going to show him.
"We were made for this, there's nothing we can't do!"
He raises his eyebrows, watching Addison redo the cheer he had taught everyone in the beginning. Except now it was more in their own styles. Addison doesn't have to tell them much of what to do—they all catch on to her call and response moves quickly, remixing Bucky's moves and adding their own flare.
She finishes off with a high stretched V, only slightly out of breath. She's going to feel the spontaneous cheering in the morning, but for now, absolutely no regrets! She cheered! In front of actual people! And they loved it! And, by the look of Bucky's face, he loved it too!
The girl next to her—she thinks her name is Izzy—turns to her, a wide smile on her face, "Woah, your royal highness, you killed it!"
The entire gym erupts, everyone around her telling her how good she did or how she should be on the team, all that and more. If she wasn't so thrilled to have actually cheered, she'd be insanely overwhelmed by all the noise and attention. A lifetime locked away in the castle, only rarely making public appearances, made her very nervous around loud and energetic crowds. But she can't feel anything besides ecstatic! Like she could do a flip! Even a backflip, which she's never done before!
Bucky approaches her, smirking and clapping. Which makes her even happier. If Bucky approves, then she knows she did a good job. "That was…pretty impressive, Cuz," he says. "You are definitely Mighty Shrimp material."
Addison's grin quickly fades. As much as she'd love to cheer, she can't go against her parents, the king and queen. She was already defying her mother's wish by crushing on Zed (though she won't actually date him, so it should be fine, especially if no one ever found out about it). But cheering was asking for too much.
Bucky steps closer and whispers, "I bet with a little convincing, I can get your parents to let you cheer. Maybe only once, if you'd like."
A smile that'd put the sun to shame breaks out over her face. Was he being serious? Like, actually, seriously, going over her parents', the king and queen, heads and letting her cheer? Even though it was just once, once is still something! She throws her arms around her cousin, unable to contain her joy. Bucky laughs, hugging her back. "Welcome to the Mighty Shrimp, Cuz, we wear our colors with pride." Bucky says. She squeals. It's always been her dream to be one of the Mighty Shrimp. It may just be for one day, but it didn't change the fact that her dream was coming true.
She lets go of Bucky, about to turn and run to Bree and celebrate. Except it hits her that Bree didn't make the team. A ton of people didn't, actually, but they also got cut for a reason. Even if she thought Bucky's rubric was a little too harsh, it wouldn't change everyone's cheer team positions. But Bree deserves to be on the team! She got discouraged, she lost faith. It was unfair!
"Bucky," she whispers. "My friend Bree over there has great moves and serious pep."
Bucky looks over her shoulder, presumably towards Bree. He sighs. IThough he still smiles, despite it being creepy and unsettling. As if he were smiling without passion, just to keep up a calm and happy facade. "Seabrook is all about precision," he tells her. "Perfection. You can't hide under a wig, like some people." He pats her head for effect.
Her hand goes to her hair, worried someone might have overhead him or her wig got skewed. It always seems like someone is listening, no matter where she is. If word got out she was wearing a wig, that she was harboring such a big imperfection in a society that placed so much value on perfect, and no one knew, all hell would break loose in Seabrook. They probably wouldn't let her be queen!
She nods, knowing he's right. Except, she can't see his point about Bree. She's nice, friendly, full of pep, and more bubbly than a bubble machine! She'd be perfect for the cheer team!
Addison clasps her hands together, pulling out her best pout. No one, not Bucky, not even her parents, could say no when she gave them the puppy dog eyes. She reserves it only for special occasions, when regular logic and begging fail. The rareness makes it so effective. She can already tell Bucky's resolve wavers, and when she adds, "Pretty please?" she knows she breaks him.
Bucky frowns, and for a moment, she fears she may have lost her touch. Then, "Bree!"
Addison turns, watching her best friend nervously walk towards them. Bucky ushers her closer, until they're all standing in a tight knit triangle. Addison does her best to keep a plain face, trying not to give away Bucky's big news.
"You have some real…" Bucky strains against his words, "potential." Well, that's one way to put it… Bree looks at Addison for clarity, clarity she doesn't give, mostly because she's attempting to hide her own confusion. She asked Bucky to let Bree on the team, not slightly offend her.
Bucky rolls his eyes. "You made the squad. As a stand-in."
Bree gasps, turning to Addison. The two of them share an excited smile, barely able to not bounce up and down.
Bucky let's them go on for another minute, then blows his whistle. All the returning cheerleaders fall in line, and so do the three new cheerleaders, and Addison. "Baby prawns," Bucky announces. "We've got a pep rally tomorrow afternoon, so I hope your families aren't waiting for you. We will run our routine over and over, until it is perfect, like, well me."
He smiles deviously, scanning over the crowd. "Any questions?"
Addison's cheer dreams only last the better part of an hour. The remaining two hours are gruesome, painful, and downright exhausting. Three hours with only a few breaks, doing the same routine over and over again, proved s…challenging, to say the least. If she wasn't having fun making new friends and cheering, she probably would've thrown in the towel after the second time Nick, Julian, and Kaden dropped her.
They finally wrap up practice at seven thirty. Seven. Thirty. Her exhaustion set in an hour ago, the fact that she hasn't been home for almost twelve hours making her miss her double king bed and porcelain bathtub, and rose scented body wash. She can't wait to get home and relax.
She lays on the bleachers while everyone packs up and heads home for the day, sweaty and gross and absolutely exhausted. And she's not even going home soon. Bucky and the Aceys need her and the other "baby prawns" to try on their cheer uniforms, which could take anywhere from fifteen minutes to another hour.
Although her eyes are closed, she feels the shift around her as one or two people suddenly stand over her. She really hopes it's not the Aceys, for obvious reasons. Although they're Bucky's 'crew,' they remind her of people who'd push children out of the way to get to the front of a crowd just to see her. In all honesty, they probably are those kinds of people.
But, she has to remind herself that these are Bucky's friends. Something about them makes them special enough to be in Bucky's inner circle, which means she can't write them off just because they overwhelm her. Everyone deserves a chance, no matter what preconceived ideas surround them.
"Princess Addison!"
She opens her eyes, squinting up at all three of the Aceys looming over her.
"We were thinking of making you an honorary Acey!" Lacey exclaims. "You'll already have a practice and performing uniform."
"An Acey jacket would pull it all together!" Stacey says.
"Picture it! 'Casey'…" Tracey pauses, then asks, "what's your last name?"
Addison sits up, frowning. One thing about being well known was…well everyone knows her, and her name. And she's pretty sure her name is not Casey.
"You can just say Wells...but you guys don't have your last names on your jackets," she answers. "And also…Casey?"
All three of them nod enthusiastically, and Tracey says, "So you'll be an Acey! Stacey, Lacey, Tracey, and Casey."
Addison nods meekly. "But…I can't change my name." She honestly thinks it might be illegal. Or a very long process. Official personal business was much more difficult to change as royalty, unless she was getting married and adding on a last name.
"I did! My real name is," Lacey looks around nervously, afraid someone might hear her, and whispers, "Jenny."
Stacey and Tracey shake their heads sadly. Addison still doesn't get what the big deal is. "Jenny, is a great name. As is Addison." Lacey frowns, but before she can say anything, Addison adds, "Just spitballing here. Why do we have to change our names?"
All three of them pull a baffled face, but before they can think of an answer, Bucky blows a whistle. Addison looks up, seconds before a pink gym bag gets hurled at her face. She barely manages a squeak before it hits her chest, her arms fumbling to keep it from falling and hitting any one of the Aceys.
"Listen up baby prawns!" her cousin shouts. "People love cheer. That's what makes me so important and I hate to see that change. Change is upon us now that zombies have entered our school. Cheer is being threatened."
Someone in the front row gasps.
Bucky scans their faces, brooding. "C-H-E-E. Are you ready to protect it?" He pauses for a second, then grins slyly. "Let the cheer initiation begin!"