"You can't put someone on the cheer squad just because you're friends with them!" Brin shouted at Max during practice the next Monday.
"Hey, not only have me and Original Cindy had a very fruitful friendship over the past week and a half, but she's also a medal-winning gymnast," Max said calmly. "Besides, if it weren't for most of us - including you, Krit, Tinga and Asha - the squad would be a very different team."
"You're using a gymnast instead of a cheerleader?" Brin exclaimed. "That's like... tofu instead of chicken! The real stuff will always be better!" She put her hands on her hips. "What does she look like, anyways? She better not be one of those fugly-ass gymnasts you see on ESPN!" She gestured to her arms, "Popeye muscles here, and Serena Williams gams there," she pointed to her legs.
"You know what you call a cheerleader with no rack," Zane said from where he and Krit were reading a comic-book.
"Normal?" Krit asked, in one of his usual three-words-or-less sentence format.
"Asha?" Zack asked.
"No," Zane grinned, "useless." Max rolled her eyes.
"She's nowhere near the 'fugly' end of the scale, all right?" she said. "And she's our only choice. You saw yourself those off-balance weirdos that came up for auditions last year when Tinga was out! And we've only got six weeks until Regionals!"
"She's got a point, Brin," Zack said. "If we're one person down, we'll be staggering the whole season. Valerie picked everything out for us - including the number of girls."
Brin turned really, really red with fury before she finally uttered a small, "Fine," and walked to her place in the gym. Meanwhile, Original Cindy finally made her way out of the girls' locker-rooms (her face freshly made-over again) and took a seat next to where Joshua was sitting and eating pork rinds in the bleachers. She wanted to see what she thought of the squad before joining.
Max motioned to the rest of the squad ("Secret cheer hand signals," Joshua whispered to Cindy, "only for captains like Max.")
"Five, six, seven, eight!" Max yelled. The only problem was, about sixteen seconds into the cheer, Original Cindy walked out.
"Well, what are you going to do about this, Maxie?" Brin asked smugly. "Your BFF left us hanging and we're still a person short."
"There're six weeks until regionals, Max," Syl said quietly. "We can always rework the cheer to the number of girls we have. It would have taken a new girl too long to figure out the ropes anyways."
"Or," Joshua suggested from the bleachers, "Max can figure this bitch out by herself without Brin or Syl."
"I like that choice," Max decided quickly. "I'm going to go talk to OC and see what the hell's up. Zack, you take over for practice."
"No problem, Max," Zack said immediately.
"Thanks. Joshua!" Max gestured for the dog-suited senior to get off of the bleachers. "You said you know where Original Cindy lives, right?" Joshua nodded.
"Right next to you," he said.
Max whirled around on him. "What?" she demanded.
"Cindy live right next to you," Joshua repeated. "338 Waverly."
"That can't be," Max said. "Alec -" she cut herself off.
"But I get so lonely," Alec had complained to her. "All alone in my big, five bedroom house with only my lesbian sister and her lover to keep me company." He frowned. "Wait a second..."
"So, here's the plan," Max said to Joshua in a conspiratory whisper as they hurried up the steps to the house next door to Max's. "I'll knock on the door, and if Alec answers it, you distract him by taking off your head and I'll slip past him to go see OC." Joshua shook his head.
"Can't take mask off," he said. "Uh... face might get dusty."
Max frowned. "Your face might get... do I want to know?" Joshua shook his head again. "I won't ask, then." She rang the doorbell. There was the pounding of steps on the staircase, then the door opened.
A/N: I can't quite tell you what's going to be in the next chapter (since I'm not really sure, myself), but I can tell you this: eventually, Joshua's mask will be pulled off. Feel free to wonder what's underneath it and keep the reviews coming!