Not the most thrilling chapter, I'll grant you...but it was needed. I'm having difficulty with the next chapter...hence why this is another "one chapter" update. This story is getting long...lol...sorry if it's boring you! Oh well...I'm still entertained by it, so i hope you are as well! I can assure you that there will be more fluff, action, sex and stuff soon!

21. Alternate Reasoning

Yuna quickly walked to the girls' locker room to change and winced when she saw that no one was down there. Way to be late, Yuna! She said to herself as she quickly threw on her warm up clothes and practically ran to the gym floor. She looked around at everything that was happening in the gym and let out a nervous sigh. At least they haven't started anything yet...

The already existing cheerleaders were setting up a table and chairs for themselves so they could sit down and judge the girls who were auditioning. There were about twenty girls there to audition and they all were stretching nervously, waiting. Yuna sat down on one of the warm up mats and placed her water bottle next to her. She started to stretch and warm up her muscles so she wouldn't pull anything. Oy, it's been a while since I've done this! She thought to herself as she grabbed her foot and put her head down on her knee. She didn't find a new place to take gymnastics from in Zanarkand yet, so the last time she stretched like this was when she still lived in Bevelle.

"So, look who decided to show up," Rikku piped up happily as she walked over to Yuna. Yuna looked up at her and gave a nervous smile.

"Sorry, I'm so late," Yuna apologized as she looked over to the clock, praying that Rikku wasn't going to lecture her for being a good ten minutes late.

"Nah, don't worry about it." Rikku shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "So, are you nervous?"

"Maybe a little bit," Yuna admitted as she stood up and looked around. "There certainly are a lot of people auditioning for only one spot on the squad. Isn't it only a temporary spot too?"

"Yep, only until Calli's ankle gets better." Rikku motioned to where Calli was sitting down with a flick of her wrist. Yuna could tell that Calli was absolutely miserable sitting there, knowing that someone was going to take her spot. Rikku then sighed as she looked at all the girls who were warming up. "This is a pathetic turn out that we have today. Most of these girls don't have a snowball's chance in Bikanel to get the spot, but they know it's their easy ticket to popularity, so that's why they try out."

"Yeah, I guess," Yuna said as she continued to look around. When she looked back at Rikku, she saw that her gaze was frozen on her. "What's wrong?"

"So, um, Yuna, you never told me why you were late." Rikku's speech was drawn out as she moved her hands to her hips. Yuna was confused and Rikku was still staring at her. She started to notice that Rikku's bright green eyes started to burn, and it made Yuna uncomfortable.

"I was talking to Tidus," she said as Rikku groaned. Great, she's going to get mad now and there goes my chance of being a cheerleader...

"Talking?" Rikku asked with a fierce look still on Yuna. She wasn't looking in Yuna's eyes though, she was looking down and off to the side of her. My shoulders? My neck? What is looking at?

"Yes, talking," Yuna reiterated as she started to feel her shoulders to see if something was there. She didn't find anything, but Rikku's glare continued.

"Only talking?" Rikku asked again with another sigh.

"Yes, Rikku." Yuna said as Rikku rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Why?"

"Come here." Rikku grabbed Yuna by the wrist and dragged her into the locker room.

"Whoa!" Yuna cried out as she almost fell by the forceful way that Rikku was dragging her. "What is it?"

"That!" Rikku pushed Yuna toward the mirror and moved her head to the side so she could clearly see her own neck. Yuna groaned and made a face at what she saw: a nice sized hickey. Rikku took her hands off of Yuna and crossed them against her chest again. "Just talking, huh?"

"Oh..." Yuna covered her neck with her hand and grimaced, very embarrassed. Saying that he was teasing me isn't a good excuse, even though that's really what happened...Oh, there is no way that I can explain this one...She thought to herself as Rikku sighed and walked to her locker. "He was being a pain."

"Uh-huh," Rikku said, not believing a word Yuna said. She opened her locker, grabbed out her makeup bag, and found her cover up, green stick, and powder. She held them up to show Yuna and motioned her to sit down on the bench in front of her locker. "Just because I'm nice, let me help you cover that bitch up. I've gotten more than one, so I'm pretty much a pro at this."

Yuna sat down and let Rikku go to work. There was silence between them for a minute and Yuna thought that she should break the silence. "I can imagine just how hard it must be for you."

"What?" Rikku asked as she dabbed at Yuna's neck with her green stick.

"You know, having a guy like Tidus as your best friend." Rikku stopped what she was doing and gave Yuna a curious look.

"Why do you say that?" Her tone had an edge to it that Yuna wasn't expecting, throwing her slightly off guard.

"Well, mainly because he fools around with every girl that walks by." Rikku chuckled as she put the cap on her green stick and opened the top of her cover up. She put some of the liquid onto a sponge, shook her head, and started to apply it to Yuna's neck. "What's so funny?"

"The funny part is that it actually doesn't bother me at all," she replied as she closed her cover up. She grabbed her powder and started to put that on next. "I'm used to it. It's the just the way that Tidus is. Besides, if him getting laid every once in a while keeps him the same Tidus that I know and love then all power to him. There, I'm done."

"Wouldn't you rather see him happy in a relationship?" Yuna was curious of these questions, remembering what Paine said the previous week. She said that Rikku gets jealous easily...To her surprise, Rikku froze. "What?"

"Did he talk to you about anything?" She asked as Yuna lifted an eyebrow. "He does like to run his mouth sometimes."

"About what?" She asked as Rikku nervously laughed.

"Uh, never mind," she said as she cleared her throat. Yuna was confused, but decided not to let it bother her. "Go check out your neck."

Yuna walked over to the mirror to check out Rikku's work. "Wow! It's gone!"

"Well, it's not gone, I'm not that magical," Rikku said as she threw everything back in her locker. "You just have a shitload of make up on it. I just hope you don't sweat too much at practice today and have it run everywhere."

"Thanks, Rikku," Yuna said with a sincere smile as they started to walk back up the gym floor. She completely ignored my question...I wonder why...

"Of course, that's what I'm here for." Rikku smiled as she sighed as she noticed that everyone was waiting for her. She put on her cheerleader smile, clapped her hands once, and when everyone was looking at her, she said, "Okay everyone! Let's get started!"

What am I doing here? Yuna asked herself for the fifteenth time during auditions as she watched the clock. She knew that she never considered herself being a cheerleader, yet there she was. This better in no way be connected to Tidus...Nowadays everything I do seems to be connected to him in some way, shape, or form…She watched the girls do acrobatics as she waited her turn. They all seemed to have a routine ready and Yuna sat back in her chair when she realized that she didn't have anything prepared. Well, I'll have them throw on a song for me, I'll do a bunch of flips and stuff, and that'll have to work...She thought with a sigh. By the bored look on the existing cheerleaders faces proved to Yuna that they weren't impressed by anyone. She then realized that she had the same look on her face as the girls auditioning had poor form with back flips and back handsprings. She wasn't sure how they managed to land safely on the ground with a form like that.

"Thank Yevon that's over." Rikku muttered Naida, who was sitting next to her. She looked slightly relieved when another girl was done and looked over at Yuna with a smile. "Okay Yuna, you're up!"

"All right," Yuna said, realizing she was the last one to audition. She walked closer to the table up to Rikku and fibbed, "I, um, forgot the cd that I was going to use, so can you guys just throw something on for me?"

"Yep, that's no problem!" Rikku grabbed a cd out of the cd case she had in front of her and threw it in the cd player. "I like this one, so go for it. "

The music had a very fast beat to it, and Yuna took about ten seconds to get used to it and then 'went for it' like Rikku told her to do. I hope I don't kill myself...Yuna thought as she did a couple of back handsprings in a row. She landed perfectly and had a smile on her face. Like riding a bicycle...For a good minute and a half, she impressed the cheerleaders with the way she could move. Yuna actually forgot how fun it was to do gymnastics, and she really enjoyed herself. When she was done, she was slightly panting and lightly sweating. What a workout...

"Wow!" Rikku exclaimed as she stopped the music and smiled widely at Yuna. "That was awesome!"

"Nah, it was nothing." Yuna was smiling as she motioned with her hand. She was still heavily panting, but tried not to make it obvious. "I'll be honest with you all, it's been a while since I've done that."

"Hmm, coulda fooled us," Rikku said as the rest of the squad nodded in agreement. "All righty, I think we found our replacement!"

"Huh?" Yuna narrowed her eyes at Rikku as she stood up and folded up her chair. "What do you mean?"

Rikku chuckled as she pointed to Yuna. "You. On the floor right now. Let's go."

"I got in?" Rikku vehemently nodded and Yuna smiled. She then looked around at the disappointed looks on the faces of the other girls who auditioned. She felt bad, yet in a way she didn't. Nah, I won the spot fair and square! Besides, it's only for a couple of weeks... The other girls quietly picked up their things and left as Rikku walked over to Yuna to congratulate her.

"Okay, so now we have...oooh..." Rikku looked up at the clock to see what time it was, "about two hours for you to learn the routine for tonight."

"Tonight!" Yuna asked with a gasp. "Oh my Yevon, I didn't know I had to learn it by tonight!"

"Well yeah, it's the game against the Duggles and we have to have someone fill in Calli's spot during half time! This is practically the most important game of the season besides homecoming!" Rikku giggled as she patted Yuna on the shoulder. Oh no, I'm gonna freak out tonight! Yuna thought as she felt her heart practically beat out of her chest. "Don't worry, you're a smart girl, you'll catch on in no time."

"But...but...I don't even have a uniform or anything!" Yuna exclaimed, still flabbergasted that everything was happening so quickly.

"Well, you're about the same size as Calli, so don't worry about it," Rikku said with a shrug as she watched the girls move the table out of the way so they could all practice. She looked back at Yuna with a huge smile. "Ya ready?"

"Um, sure," Yuna replied as one of the girls turned on the music and everyone else got into formation. What did you get yourself into, Yuna? She asked herself as she sighed and walked over to them.

More soon! (As long as i like the way the next chapter ends up! hee hee)