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Chapter 2: Cheer Camp

:Narration:

"Cheer camp! I have looked forward to this my entire life and it's finally here! Cheer camp is the most amazing, fantastic and inclusive camp in the world, according to everyone from Seabrook at least…

But it's true, for the most part… The camp is even more sparkly and fabulous than I could have ever imagined! The entire squad, including the new recruits, has travelled to the Mighty Shrimp cheer center deep in the woods using the Mighty Shrimp team bus, driven by the one and only Shrimpy!

I'm Addison. I'm still human, still a cheerleader and my hair *sigh* is still white, well-conditioned and still drawing fire from anyone not accustomed to anything out of the ordinary… Other than that, it feels amazing to not have to hide who I really am for once and I can say with confidence that I am ready to fight for what I believe in!

As an already established member of the squad, I expect a lot of pressure to be put on my shoulders, especially regarding the new zombie members. I mean, I for one am so excited to work with them! Really, our team can only improve with them on it! Also, it's not really a secret to anyone that I in particular am very well acquainted with zombies…

I love cheer camp, I really do! It's just too bad that Zed can't be here with me… I do miss him a lot… Still, we promised each other that we'd write every day, and I believe that our relationship can only grow stronger after this time apart.

Aside from that, what I've always been told of cheer camp is that it's a place of harmony, where everyone belongs. We're supposed to be a unified squad, but I can't help the feeling that we're split up somehow… Only occasionally unified…"

:End of narration:

"Alright everyone, listen up!" Bucky yelled at the top of his lungs as he addressed the entire squad, currently packed together in front of the luxurious cheer center and murmuring enthusiastically. Everyone immediately quieted down after Bucky's order and looked at him expectedly. Bucky squinted and looked over the crowd, his eyes lingering on Addison, who stood next to Bree in the front row, a little longer.

"I don't know what you have all been told of cheer camp…" Bucky began, pacing in front of the group of nervous cheerleaders. "That it's where wishes come true… That it's a place where dreams are made of… That it's fun… All lies! Aceys, what is cheer camp!?" He shouted at his subordinates.

"A place of blood, sweat, tears and the occasional broken bone!" The aceys replied in unison, standing as straight as humanly possible behind their captain.

"Exactly!" Bucky roared, causing Addison and the rest of the front row to jump up slightly in surprise. "We are here at the luxurious cheer center and that is a privilege! We will not let this opportunity go to waste and we will train, train and train some more! We are in the middle of the woods, so there's no point in trying to escape or calling for help! You have all heard the stories of bloodthirsty monsters that roam these woods, right? Monsters that feast on innocent cheerleaders… Boo!"

No one reacted quite like Bucky had probably anticipated, but they did look at one another a little awkwardly.

"Those stories are just make-believe…" Bucky continued, not thrown off. "But you better believe that we're gonna break you down and build you back up into peppy little cheer machines like me!" He said, smiling broadly and spreading his arms.

Some of the people from behind Addison clapped awkwardly, and Bucky took whatever type of attention he could get.

"Make no mistake…" Bucky went on, seemingly trying to drag on his speech for as long as possible. "The monsters in the woods may not be real, but I am! I will be your biggest nightmare for the coming days! I will get in your head and scramble your brain to mold it as I see fit! A difficult task, in which I am thankfully not alone… For the duration of this camp, you will all obey the commands of… Lacey!" He announced, gesturing enthusiastically at the blonde girl at his right. "Stacey!" Bucky added, gesturing at the dark-skinned girl directly behind him. "And our most recent acey, Jacey!"

"It's Kevin, actually…" The boy replied in a soft tone.

Bucky shot him a glare, maintaining his pose.

"Right…" Jacey hastily corrected. "We changed it to Jacey, which I love by the way…"

"Long live the aceys!" Bucky celebrated, raising his arms as he took in the applause that had erupted from the crowd.

"He's still quite full of himself…" Bree mumbled so that only Addison could hear her.

"No surprise there…" Addison replied, causing her and Bree to giggle.

Bucky squinted at them before letting his eyes wander over the group as a whole again.

"Right, as you all know, the camp is mostly comprised of a challenge called the cheer camp cup…" Bucky announced with the air of TV-show host. "Our cheer squad will be divided into two teams. Aceys! You three lead the veterans, you'll be… the A-team!"

The aceys all cheered and jumped up and down excitedly as half the squad in the crowd moved to one side.

"Hmm…" Bucky pondered, stroking his chin as he examined the remaining squad. "Addison! Bree! You take the newbies! You'll be… uh, you'll be the Z-team!"

The aceys, as well as most members of the A-team laughed in a not so friendly way as they looked at the newly formed Z-team.

Addison herself took a few careful breaths, trying her best to not show the anger she felt at the moment. Sure, Zed and she had made strides in the zombie-acceptance movement, but she imagined that it would take a while before the to her such maligned forms of prejudice would completely disappear from Seabrook. Bucky, being his pompous self, had never been the most sensitive to others, a trait that Addison had hoped would have disappeared by now. Her hopes were apparently in vain.

"This week, the veterans and the newbies will compete for the cheer cup to see who's more cheertastic!" Bucky went on, flashing his white smile. "Now, the veterans have always won, right aceys?"

"Right!" The aceys replied in unison.

"This year, however, is a little different from previous ones…" Bucky said, rubbing his hands. "As you all can clearly see, we have been joined by some of our 'esteemed' zombie friends from the other side of town…"

Everyone looked back to see the group of zombies, no more than ten, standing at the back of the crowd. Addison had to repress a smile when she saw Bonzo enthusiastically wave at everyone, but Bree in particular.

"Zombies!" Bucky clapped his hands as he addressed them. "This is obviously your first cheer camp! Now, I'm not anti-change… I'm just more pro-keeping things the way they are… Because you don't 'mess' with 'success'…" He finished, waving his jazz hands in front of his face.

Everyone on the Z-team looked at each other a little uncomfortably.

"That doesn't mean that you'll be treated differently though!" Bucky tried to reassure them. "No, you'll have the same opportunity to win as the A-team, it's just that no one expects you to…"

"We'll see about that…" Addison mumbled, mostly to herself.

"Well… Without further ado, to the cheer course!" Bucky shouted as he preceded the rest of the squad to the large terrain surrounding the cheer center.

"Z-team! Go!" Addison yelled at the people gathered behind her, who all followed her as she ran off.

The cheer course was large and was comprised of several different sections. Even from her position at the center, Addison could not see all the different parts.

"A-team, you start!" Bucky yelled before sharply blowing a whistle and gesturing at a genuinely enormous tumbling track.

"Watch and learn, snowball…" Lacey sneered as she somewhat roughly pushed herself past Addison, followed by a snickering Stacey and Jacey.

"Don't mind them." Bree encouraged her as she joined Addison at her side.

"I won't…" Addison replied as she watched the first members of the A-team begin performing stunts on the track.

"The only way, the best way to get back at them is by beating them for the cheer cup!" Bree went on.

"Then that's what we'll do." Addison said in a confident tone.

Addison proudly stood upright, chest still heaving up and down in excitement as she looked back at her teammates. To her immense satisfaction, she saw identical smiles on each of their mud-covered faces. Bree and Bonzo stood in the front, alternating between staring enthusiastically at Addison or at each other.

Next to them stood the A-team, covered entirely in mud and identical frowns on each of their faces. They glared at the victorious Z-team from the out of the corner of their eye, arms crossed and impatiently tapping their feet. The aceys stood in the very front, trying in vain to wipe some of the mud from their clothes and faces. They uneasily looked over at Bucky, who stood in front of both groups with a large trophy at his side and an almost livid expression on his face.

"Well…" He began, his hands on his hips. "It appears we have quite an upset…"

The aceys all squealed as Bucky stared daggers at them for a second.

"Aceys! Disappointing… The veterans have always won the cheer camp cup… You just can't be scared to get those jazz hands dirty…" Bucky commented, making some exaggerated gestures.

None of the aceys or anyone on their team spoke up and they all lowered their head in shame.

"Z-team…" Bucky continued, though with seemingly all the possible reluctance. "The cheer cup is yours… Congratulations…"

Addison began cheering loudly, and so did the rest of her team as they crowded around her and raised the large trophy over their heads. They jumped up and down, shouting and singing as they celebrated their victory. Really, Addison could not find it in herself at the moment to feel any compassion for the other team. After all, they had been the ones who had ridiculed the Z-team and Addison herself from the very start. Right now, Addison simply enjoyed the situation with the team she had led to an unexpected victory.

"You clean yourselves up!" Bucky ordered the A-team with visible disdain. "We have time for a small afterparty before heading back and I have a few more announcements to make… So get moving!"

The A-team trudged back to the cheer center, their shoulders hanging. Addison and her team stayed behind for a couple more minutes, simply to admire the trophy and complement each other on their achievement.

"Addison, we did it! You did it!" Bree squealed before hugging her.

"Zitski-Temski!" Bonzo happily shouted as he hugged both Addison and Bree tightly.

"Good job, guys! Really…" Addison grunted in the tight embrace. "I'm so proud of you! Of everyone!" She added once Bonzo released her.

"Three cheers for our captain Addison!" Bree called out, after which all the members of Z-team applauded her.

"C'mon Bree… You are my co-captain." Addison replied, blushing a little.

"But I could never inspire anyone the way you did, Addie." Bree smiled.

"I beg to differ." Addison smirked, nodding over to where Bonzo was standing.

Bree began blushing and giggling, unable to utter any sensible words, so Addison simply put an arm around her and together they walked back to the cheer center. After they cleaned themselves and changed out of their dirty outfits, they headed to the main lounge, where the rest of the squad was already waiting for Bucky's announcement.

On their way, Addison couldn't help but check up on her personal mailbox, which she found as empty as it had been for the duration the camp.

"Still no letter from Zed?" Bree asked compassionately.

"No… Nothing…" Addison sighed as she closed her mailbox with a bit more force than intended. "I mean, I don't know… I thought that he'd write back… I sent him a letter every day that I've been here…"

"Maybe he's, ehm, busy or something… We can only guess how much Seabrook has changed since we left." Bree tried to comfort her.

"Maybe… I don't know what I could have expected from him anyway…" Addison went on, rubbing her arm. "Maybe we weren't what I thought we were…"

"Come on, Addie! Don't talk like that! We all know that you love him!" Bree basically shouted, shaking Addison by grabbing her upper arm.

"I never said that!" Addison squealed, her eyes widening.

"That doesn't mean it's not true." Bree grinned. "Now take that frown off your face! We'll return to Seabrook later today and you'll see Zed and he'll explain why he was such an idiot as to not write you back."

Addison started smiling despite her efforts not to. "Okay… Let's do that..."

"And who knows…" Bree went on. "Maybe it was all a trick and he'll actually invite you to prawn?"

"After forgetting about me all camp?" Addison retorted with just a hint of sadness.

"Hey, at least you have someone waiting for you. Bonzo won't even look at me…" Bree moped.

"Then you haven't been looking." Addison beamed. "I'll bet he's already making an apple sculpture for you."

Bree again feel into a fit of giggling, which didn't stop until she and Addison reached the main lounge, which was already filled with people.

"Oh my god, I just got asked to prawn!" Someone suddenly yelled out, and the lounge erupted in a chorus of cheers and applause.

"Well, at least someone's going…" Addison said with a sad smile.

Bonzo and most of the other zombie-members of the squad sat around a large table, where the cheer camp cup stood proudly in their middle. Before Addison could follow Bree and join them, she was suddenly stopped by the aceys, who blocked her way.

"Hey, Addie! We just wanted to congratulate you!" Stacey stated with the biggest fake smile Addison had ever seen.

"You know, because you did such a great job turning that rag tag group into a winning team!" Lacey added, nodding her head towards the zombies.

"Ehm, thanks…" Addison began, a little uncomfortable.

"We're not finished!" Stacey interrupted her. "We wanted to give you a small prize. With a position as team captain, you'll need some new equipment!"

Jacey removed his hands from his back and promptly shoved a pair of pompoms in hers.

"Uh, pompoms?" Addison questioned, looking at the two colorful pieces of shredded paper.

"Look closely." Lacey said in a wicked tone.

Addison did as she was asked and saw to her astonishment how there were words written on the pink and green streaks of ripped up paper. These weren't regular pompoms, these were the letters she had sent to Zed! Furthermore, she saw several streaks of green, with words written in what she easily recognized as Zed's handwriting! Zed hadn't forgotten about her! The aceys had simply kept both him and her from receiving any letters!

"T-this… W-wha… H-how could you?" Addison stammered, looking up into the menacingly smiling faces of the aceys.

"We're the aceys." Lacey said with a smirk.

"We pull the strings." Stacey added.

"We run the show." Jacey concluded.

The aceys all sassily snapped their fingers before promptly turning around and walking towards the other end of the lounge.

"What was that?" Bree asked as she walked up to Addison, her eyes not leaving the aceys.

"They tore up all our letters…" Addison answered in a sad tone. "Zed never forgot about me… But he'll think I'll have forgotten about him…"

"Oh, Addie…" Bree tried to console her friend. "You can fix this. We can fix this! I'll slap Zed silly if he's stupid enough not to understand what happened."

Addison snickered. "Thanks again… What would I do without you?"

"Be miserable." Bree replied as she ushered Addison to the table with the Zombies.

"Zig ga a zong, Adski?" Bonzo asked, looking at her messy pompoms with a confused expression.

"It's nothing, Bonzo." Addison smiled. "It's all good. We can just enjoy our victory for a little while more." She added as she stared up at the trophy.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Bucky suddenly jumped onto their table and snatched the trophy.

"Everyone!" He called out, loud enough so that the entire room could understand him. "First, I would like a quick round of applause for our Z-team and their captains Addison and Bree for winning the cheer camp cup!"

A polite applause from most members of the A-team was mixed with the loud hollering of the members of Z-team, who stomped on the ground and clapped their hands in celebration.

"Alright, enough!" Bucky snapped, silencing the room. "Glad you enjoyed it, your second in the spotlight. Now, let's make this victory about me!"

Addison rolled her eyes, but listened anyway.

"Drumroll please… After careful consideration, I have decided to be school president this year!" Bucky announced, spreading his arms in a celebratory gesture. "Now, technically there is an election, but come on… As school president, I will be able to make the new school year even more cheertastic than the last! I want to double the amount of pep rallies, provide an on-school manicure site and implement a holiday exclusively for cheerleaders! Now, taking on this responsibility does mean that we'll need a new cheer captain while I rule the school…"

Addison felt as though her heart jumped up in her chest and her mouth fell open. A new cheer captain!? Had she heard right? Being cheer captain had always been her dream!

"Now, who's worthy to lead?" Bucky asked with a grin, his eyes scanning the open-mouthed cheerleaders and again resting a little longer on Addison.

"Me! Me! Me!" Stacey immediately shouted, jumping up from her seat and raising her hand.

"No! No! Me! Pick me!" Lacey jumped in, waving her hands desperately.

"Woah! Woah! Who to pick? Who to pick?" Bucky rubbed his hands with an amused gleam in his eyes. "Once we return to Seabrook, we're gonna have honest elections. Well, any other people willing to throw their pompoms into the ring?"

Addison was about to speak up, but somehow her voice got stuck in her throat. Crestfallen and ashamed, she bowed down her head.

"I nominate Addison!" A voice spoke up, causing Addison to jerk up her head.

Bree had stood up, her hand raised and a confident sparkle in her eyes. Addison felt as though her heart could burst out of her chest with the amount of joy and gratefulness she felt.

"We need a captain that's going to build a united squad! Someone who can inspire confidence and cheerfulness in people! Someone like Addison…" Bree continued, making Addison feel warm inside.

"Adski!" Bonzo yelled, standing up to applaud loudly.

"Very well…" Bucky snickered, looking at Addison in a way she found difficult to pin down. "I guess we have three, or maybe two candidates?" He added, looking questioningly at the aceys.

"We will run together!" Lacey and Stacey said in unison, grabbing each other by the hand.

"Two candidates it is!" Bucky called out. "I already look forward to the campaigns! Go make your posters, hand out your badges and prepare your speeches! And I look forward to have having either of you at my side when I become president."

Excited chatter immediately filled the lounge as everyone began discussing the situation amongst themselves. Addison turned to Bree with a large smile.

"Thank you so much!" She said from the bottom of her heart.

"You seemed to have a little trouble speaking, so I did it for you." Bree grinned.

"I-I don't know what came over me… But thank you…" Addison went on, still grinning widely.

"I should thank you. If you become captain, you will definitely lead us to glory." Bree gushed.

Addison just kept on smiling as she pulled Bree into a strong hug.