Chapter 4

It had been a long day. They'd had more than their share of childish hate mail. Whispers and mean words had followed them everywhere. Lunch had started out painfully bad. Paige stood in the entry way, for the first time ever not enjoying every pair of eyes on her, and only walked in because Alex did. Downtown Sasquatch soon came to their rescue though. They were grateful for friends.

When the bell rang at the end of the day, Paige leaned over to Alex and rested her head on her shoulder. "We made it," she said.

"Don't you still have Spirit Squad?"

"Yes," said Paige, not making any effort to move.

"Come on," said Alex laboriously, forcing her to stand up and sigh. "I'll walk you there. Mind if I stay and watch?"

"I don't, but they might," she said, pointed her chin at Hazel, who was busy staring and whispering to another member of the squad. Hazel shot a hateful look at the couple.

"You don't honestly care, do you?"

"Hazel's my best friend."

"If she were truly your best friend, she could have, you know, been your friend today. She seems to be going out of her way to make it clear that your friendship is over," Alex said, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Paige studied Hazel, searching for something in her eyes that still spoke of friendship. Hazel turned away and left the room.

"So, can I stick around?"

"Of course, of course," said Paige, hiding her look of uncertainty from Alex.

Alex nudged her. "See what you've turned me into? The girl who'd rather drink poison than watch cheerleaders is now begging you for permission to go to Spirit Squad practice."

Rehearsal was bad from the beginning. There were more stares and whispers, but they were so much more apparent given that there were so few of them in such a large space. Paige tried to get them to attention but was having little success. She looked back at Alex, desperate for some kind of help, even if it was just a reminder of what she was doing this for, and noticed a certain boy sitting in the stands.

"Chante! Is there something in particular that is so important you can't focus?"

"No. I'm concentrating," replied the girl with an air of derision.

"Oh, so you're not busy staring at my girlfriend and whispering about it right in front of me – in earshot, no less?" Paige walked up to her, staring her down the whole way. "Would you like me to ban significant others from rehearsals?" she asked, turning to look at the boy in the stands – Chante's boyfriend. "Because I'll do it. You know I will."

Chante stood there in steely silence for a while before looking down in defeat.

"If you can't pay attention," Paige continued, addressing all the girls now, "then you're not going to learn the routines. And if you can't learn the routines, then you're off the squad. Do I make myself clear?"

"Does this only apply when you actually have routines for us to learn?" asked Darcy, eager for a confrontation.

"Yes," replied Paige, refusing to fight her. "Any more dissention in the ranks?" The girls shook their heads. Darcy glared. "Good. Let's try that again."