For a few seconds, all that Max and Joshua heard was the pounding of feet on the steps, then some raised voices. The door still didn't open.

"Maybe they're not home," Max said undecidedly.

"No! No! No!" someone said from inside. The door swung open and both high-schoolers were greeted by the sight of a petite, curvy blonde girl holding a beer can.

"Who are you?" she asked nosily.

"Um... we're here to see Original Cindy?" Max said. "Who are you? Or does Alec have another sister?"

The blonde girl grinned. "Oh, no, I'm Alec's girlfriend -"

"She's not!" Alec yelled from inside of the house. "Go away, Flo!" Flo pursed her lips and shook her head.

"He's in a bad mood. I'd better go back home before his parents come back," she said in a lowered voice.

"Stay home!" Alec shouted. Flo grabbed her jacket and fled the house.

"What was that all about?" Max asked, entering the house with Joshua close at her heels. Alec was crashed on the couch, in front of the television.

"Some girls just can't take a clue," he said blankly.

"Is Original Cindy here?" Max asked. Alec grimaced.

"No, she moved back to Wyoming. Said something about "goddamned cheerleaders" or something..." he looked over the back of the sofa. "Hey, you're a cheerleader, right?" he asked.

"This isn't funny," Max said. "We've got to find her! We need her on the team!"

"Is her substance abuse issue going to be a problem?"

"Well, my step-mom's the principal of the school and she's a former cheerleader so..." Max put a finger to her chin. "No."

"What about her lesbianism?" Alec asked.

"Alec," Cindy said from the top of the stairs. "Shut up." She looked at Max and Joshua. "Hey."

"Why did Original Cindy leave?" Joshua asked. Leave it to the dog-man to get straight to the point. "Everybody was angry."

"Look, I'm just gonna put this straight out," Original Cindy said. "I can't join the squad. I'm no copy-cat - hear the name: Original Cindy."

"What are you talking about?" Max asked. "Those cheers are one hundred percent original! Count the trophies. We wouldn't be able to compete if we had stolen cheers!"

"Well, your trophies are bullshit because all of ya'll are liars," Cindy exclaimed.

"Sweet. Chick fight," Alec breathed. "And me without my video camera - damn!"

"Shut up!" Max and Cindy both chorused.

"Show us!" Joshua said finally. Cindy looked up at Joshua.

"What?"

"If squad is really stealing cheers from another team, then you show us the other team to see their cheers," Joshua said calmly. "Cindy shows us."

"Yeah," Max said, her gaze also on Joshua. "That sounds like a great plan. Cindy show us."

"Cindy show us," Joshua repeated.

"Can't," Original Cindy said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"And why the hell not?" Max shouted.

"Because she got her car privileges taken away after she totalled the last one," Alec said from his spot on the couch. "Did you ever wonder why she rides her bike all around? She wrapped her old 'Benz around a pole."

"What about you?" Max asked, spinning on her heel to face Alec. "What is your car status?"

Alec gulped.

"You can't make me drive you all the way down to Gillette to watch cheerleaders," he said with a hint of fear in his voice.

"Two girls and one six-foot-five man in a ninety-pound dog costume against one eighteen-year-old boy?" Original Cindy nodded. "Yeah, we can."

"Well, if we're heading into the dirty part of Wyoming, we better not take the Jag." He sighed and grabbed his car keys.

Alec and Original Cindy's parents loved them so much (ie: spoiled them so much) that...

They had their own cars.

Six of them.

Each.

Well,seven if you counted Alec's motorcycle.

All of this made for one big-ass car garage.

"Hey, hey, hey," Alec said, carefully lifting Max's hand off of his lime-green motorcycle. It wasn't that bad - give it a paint job and upgrade it, and it would be a decent ride. "Go touch Cindy's cars, why don't you?"

"None of them are motorcycles," Max grumbled.

"Hey, Alec, let's take this one!" Cindy called, gesturing to Alec's sapphire blue Cadillac STS. Joshua was already in the driver's seat.

"Why don't we just cut off my arm and drive that there?" Alec asked sarcastically.

"Because it won't help the economy," Original Cindy replied dryly. "Max, come get in. Joshua, you know how to drive, right?"

"Uhhh..."

"I'll take that as a 'Yes, Original Cindy, I do know how to drive. How responsible of you to ask.'"

Six minutes later, they pulled over so that Alec could drive.
A/N: To answer a few questions: Biggs and CeCe will be showing up eventually. I've got the chapter with Biggs (and Dalton as well, for that matter) all written up, I've just got no place to put it at the moment.

Alec and Original Cindy are step-brother and step-sister (I know, I'm a dirty rat with that trick). Ben may or may not be showing up, and Normal definitely will be showing up as one of three things that I haven't decided yet. And look out for Rafer, as well.

In the next chapter: The trip there and the trip back. The West Gillette Chameleons!