Aurelie
One year ago:
Aurelie winced as she put rubbing alcohol on the bruise on her torso. Her body still ached from when Megan kicked her. Megan was the most popular girl at Aurelie's school, and she made sure that Aurelie knew how much she hated her.
A lot of girls at her school seemed to hate her. She got along with the boys just fine, which was what usually lead to more girls bullying her.
She knew that Adeline and Adriana wanted to deal with it, but she knew she could handle it. Besides it's not like the other girls really hurt her anyway. The bruise would be gone in a couple days.
"Aurelie!" Her mother yelled.
"Yes mom!" Aurelie called back.
"You've been in the bathroom for forty minutes, when are you going to come out." Her mother yelled.
Aurelie sighed and put her shirt back on. She looked back at herself in the mirror and sighed.
"You just got to get through a couple more months. Then you'll be at Morning Star." She smiled.
Now
"Aurelie wakey wakey!" Cleo yelled.
Aurelie groaned and sat up slowly. "What is it?"
"Class starts in 30 minutes, I grabbed you a bagel for breakfast but you need to start getting ready." She said.
Aurelie sighed and sat up slowly. "I might just have Amelie take all my classes for me today, I'm too tired.
"About your clones, I've been meaning to ask you, who is red?" Cleo asked.
Aurelie's stomach dropped. "Pardon?"
"It's just you said your powers were related to light, and it seems like you and your clones each represent a color of the rainbow, but there is no red. Where is she?" Cleo asked.
Aurelie forced a laugh that she prayed wasn't suspicious. "Sadly, there is no red. It's just us, another girl would be cool though."
"You're right, it would really help your brand." Cleo laughed.
Just as Aurelie was about to say something her phone buzzed. Aurelie frowned and pulled out her phone. She smiled when she saw who it was.
Diego: Morning beautiful.
"Is that your new boyfriend." Cleo smirked.
"He's not my boyfriend, he's just a boy who's a really good friend." Aurelie laughed.
"I'm sure. Is that why you went upstairs with him?" Cleo said.
The truth was Aurelie and Diego just made out. After ten minutes they both got bored and decided to watch Netflix on his phone. It was honestly the most romantic thing that had proably happened to her.
"Trust me, what happened upstairs was PG-13." Aurelie said.
Cleo laughed. "I can't wait to hear all about it, after you get ready of course because we are going to be so late."
Sarah
The entire school day all Sarah could think about was cheer tryouts. She couldn't focus on math or science, or whatever other bullshit class she was taking. She could think about how good she would look in that red and gold uniform.
It would be so perfect, Matt would be quarterback and she would be head cheerleader in no time. The perfect couple. Maybe if they looked like the perfect couple, she would feel like it.
Ever since the night of the party, Sarah was worried about Matt. He was always so angry at her. And if not at her then at Lex. And if not at him then just angry at the world. He hadn't hurt her since that night, which she was relieved about. She knew that it was just a mistake, he didn't mean to squeeze her wrist that hard. Sarah's mother always told her no man was perfect and she believed that. If she could just help Matt with his anger, then it would go back to the way it used to be.
And the first step was getting on that cheerleading team. She lazily doodled in her notebook a picture of her in the uniform. She would look fabulous in it. She just knew it.
As soon as the bell rung she bolted out of class and ran to the other side of the hallway. This was where Matt's class was. Normally he would walk to her class, but she was too excited to wait for him. He smiled when he saw her.
"Hey baby, what's got you in such a good of a mood." He laughed.
"Cheer tryouts are today and I'm confident I'm going to do great." Sarah said.
"Of course, you will." Matt said.
He pecked her cheek, which made her blush. This was how his touch was supposed to feel. She had to train herself to stop flinching every time he reached out to touch her. She didn't want to risk making him mad and he lose it again.
"Are you excited about football tryouts?" Sarah asked.
"I am, I can't wait for my father to come to the first football game. You're going to love my dad Sarah." Matt smiled.
Sarah smiled. "I hope he likes me."
The two stopped when they reached the gym. "Cheer practice is right here. I'll meet you in the common room after, okay." Sarah said.
"Okay, good luck." He said.
"You too," She smiled.
She kissed him on the cheek and ran into the gym. She was surprised to see that the gym was packed with girls. It had to be at least thirty of them. Was this what her competition was?
"Sarah!" Maryanne yelled.
Sarah turned to see Victoria and Maryanne walking towards her.
"What are you guys doing here?" Sarah frowned.
Victoria sighed. "My mother was a cheerleader in high school and she's making me do it."
"And I just thought I would be great at spreading cheer!" Maryanne beamed.
"Cheerleading is about cheering, it's about being hot." Sarah snapped.
"Do you even know what cheerleaders do? They do complicated stunts and routines, they don't just walk around the halls in short skirts." Victoria said.
Sarah rolled her eyes. She was sure she would be fine.
"Ladies listen up, my name is Monica and I'm the head captain of this squad. Tryouts are going to be very simple, I'm going to teach you a routine and you repeat after me. After that only fifteen girls will move on. Then after that we'll do stunts to see who can make it." Monica said.
She was a tall girl with golden blond hair. Maryanne clapped her hands. "Aren't you guys excited."
"Don't talk to me." Sarah gagged.
"5, 6, 5, 6, 7,8." Monica yelled.
With that Gimmie Dat, by Cierra started to play. Monica moved quickly, doing various combinations of clapping and hip swaying. Sarah gritted her teeth and tried to keep up. She was surprised with how fast she was moving. She hopped to the next dance like it was nothing.
Sarah glanced over and frowned when she noticed Victoria and Maryanne didn't seem to be struggling to keep up. Sarah gritted her teeth and focused. She wasn't going to let them win.
She kept dancing and took a couple steps forward so was just right behind Monica.
Monica turned and looked at Sarah with a surprised to look. Sarah took a couple steps forward and stood right next to Monica, relying on memory to complete the dance and improvising the parts she didn't know.
As soon as the song stopped Monica eyed her curiously. "You got guts. What's your name?"
"Sarah Smith." Sarah smiled.
Monica smirked and looked around at the girls. "Even though my back was turned I can already tell who was off. I can hear people stomping on the right foot when they should be stomping on their left. When I call your name, you may leave."
Sarah bit her lip as she began listing off names.
"And lastly Maryanne Isla." She said.
Maryanne's face dropped. "Okay." She said quietly.
Sarah felt bad for the girl as she left the gymnasium with crowd of other girls. She smiled. She was still here. That was all that mattered. She didn't have time to feel bad.
"Okay girls get ready for round two." Monica said.
Kaleb
"Want to watch the cheerleaders?" Hunter smirked.
"We could cheer Maryanne on." Alexander offered.
Kaleb's stomach rumbled. "Can we go get some snacks first?"
"Sure, there's a bag of Doritos in the kitchen with my name on it." Hunter grinned.
The three boys walked on the side of the football field, not even paying attention to the tryouts right next to them.
"Speed it up boys! You think this is hard wait till game season starts!" The coach yelled.
He was a tall man with dark skin that was decorated with scars.
"Do you know who that is?" Alexander asked.
"Jesus?" Hunter joked.
"No it's the Silver Serval." Alexander gasped.
Hunter rolled his eyes. "And I care about a B-List hero because?"
Alexander turned to Kaleb and shot the boy a look. "His name was carved into the boulder."
Kaleb gulped. He got bad feelings about this entire thing. He figured Hell Priest knew Cyrus based on how comfortable the villain was with him. But it seemed like half of their faculty used to go to school with him. Used to be friends with him. What happened to turn him into a psychopath?
"Hey look out!" A voice yelled.
Kaleb turned and saw a football flying towards Alexander's face. The boy gasped and leaped forward, quickly snatching the ball out of the air. He wasn't sure how much pressure he was applying to the ball, but it must have been a lot because the deflated in his hands.
"Holy crap." The coach said.
He took off in a sprint, he moved quick and fast like a cat.
"Who are you kid?" He asked.
"Well I'm Kaleb Rexavi, I'm a first-year." He smiled.
The coach looked down at his arms and gasped. "Look at those beauties, how much do you bench press?"
Kaleb paused to ponder this. "Well, I don't have an exact number but somewhere around five tons."
The man's jaw dropped to the floor. "Is that a part of your quirk?"
"Yes sir, my quirk is mutant type giving a hybrid of monkey and spider DNA." He said.
"I'm Coach Kirby, how would you like to be on the football team?" He asked.
Kaleb frowned. "I don't really know a lot about football."
"Trust me kid, with those arms you'll be fine." He said.
Kaleb turned to look at his friends. He would hate to just leave them.
"Go on Kaleb, go have fun." Alexander said.
Kaleb grinned. "Thanks, I'll see you guys tonight."
The boys walked off leaving Kaleb and Coach Kirby alone. "Now kid are you ready to meet the team?"
Lex
Today was awful. Lex couldn't even focus on his classes; he was too busy thinking of Faith. She wouldn't even look at him. Not that he could blame her. He humiliated her. And now he lost his best friend.
He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice that he walked right into somebody. The figure yelped and stumbled backwards.
"Watch it asshat." She hissed.
Lex looked up and was surprised to see Sarah watching him. He was equally surprised to see she was in a cheerleader's outfit. She wore a black top with a gold and red skirt.
"Why are you dressed like that?" He asked.
"Because I'm a cheerleader, obviously." Sarah said.
She was prepared to walk away when he grabbed her arm. "Wait can we talk?"
Sarah paused and rolled her eyes. "Talk about what Dayton?"
"It's just we haven't really spoken since the party." Lex muttered.
"And you care because? It's not like we're friends." Sarah said coldy.
Lex frowned. He wasn't sure why he cared. However, he had the feeling he should be talking to Sarah.
"Well we're not not friends." Lex laughed.
She sighed. "Look things are going really good for me and Matt right now, and it's not secret that you get his blood boiling."
"So that means I can't talk to you anymore?" Lex frowned.
That seemed like a sucky deal.
"Just until he calms down." Sarah said.
"He's the one that blasted me into the wall, I should be mad at him." Lex said.
"But you're not, because you're a good person." She said.
Lex wasn't sure why but her words made him blush. He shook his head in an attempt to regain focus.
"Is it really a happy relationship if he controls who and who you can't talk to?" Lex asked.
"Dayton, trust me, everything is fine. Matt will get over it eventually. Plus I'm a cheerleader now, I'm sure this super short skirt can help persuade him." She purred.
Lex gagged. "Ew."
She laughed, which in turn made him laugh. She stopped when she saw someone walking behind him. She smiled weakly.
"There's Faith." Sarah said.
Lex turned and saw Faith walking. He waved at her, hoping for a chance to gain her attention. Either she didn't see him or didn't care, because she kept walking like he wasn't there.
"Damn, that was cold, even for me." Sarah said.
"I miss her so much." Lex sighed.
He thought about her everyday, it felt like his body was aching from the silence.
"Instead of being a moody cliché, why don't you go tell her how you feel?" Sarah asked.
Lex frowned. "She hates me."
"You're right, it's better to just sit here and watch your friendship die." Sarah said with a roll of her eyes.
"I don't even know what to say." Lex said.
"The truth jackass." Sarah smirked.
He laughed. "You're right."
"Of course I am." Sarah said.
Soon her phone buzzed causing him to raise an eyebrow. "Is that him?"
She smiled weakly. A smile that didn't seem to reach her eyes. "Yeah, I should go, good luck with Faith."
With that she walked away leaving him alone. Lex sighed and took off in a sprint chasing after Faith.
"Faith!" He called.
No answer. Lex sighed and kept running faster.
"Faith Abigail Ritter!" He yelled.
Faith stopped and spun around a bone claw pointed to his jugular. "Don't you ever say my middle name in public." She hissed.
He blushed. "Sorry, I just wanted to get your attention."
"Well you have it Lex, what do you want?" Faith asked.
"I wanted to apologize, about the party." He said.
Her face softened. She sighed. "We don't need to talk about it."
"I think we do." He said. "You deserve a reason to why I said that."
"I get it, Lex. I know I'm not attractive. I don't look like Sarah or Victoria, it's okay with you not being comfortable with kissing me." Faith said.
Lex frowned. "That could not be further from the truth. Faith I think you're gorgeous."
She blushed and looked away. He smiled a took a step further.
"I didn't want to kiss you because I scared." He said.
"Scared of what?" Faith said.
"Faith I don't have a lot of people in my life. With my quirk, it's hard for people to get close to me, and it's not like I'm some social butterfly. You're my rock, you're my favorite person in this whole world. You're the only person who I feel really gets me." He sighed.
She finally looked up at him to meet his eyes.
"That's why I didn't want to kiss you, I was scared that I would ruin our friendship. I was scared I would do something that could destroy the thing I most hold sacred. That night had nothing to do with you, and everything to do with me. I should've talked to you about it, instead of freaking out like that. And I sincerely apologize. I feel like shit, knowing I hurt you." He said.
Lex didn't realize it at first but Faith was crying. He gulped, oh god what did he say wrong?
"Just shut up and get in here dumbass." She laughed.
She pulled Lex in for a hug, squeezing him tight. He laughed and hugged her back.
Victoria
"Victoria you have to eat." Maryanne groaned.
Victoria was currently sitting at her desk, she was too focused on her Algebra 2 homework to eat.
"I'll eat later." Victoria said.
"Victoria it's 10:45, the kitchen closes in fifteen minutes." She said.
Maryanne sighed. "Do you want me to get you something."
"Something rich with protein would be preferable." Victoria said, not even looking up from her homework.
Maryanne laughed. "See you later."
The girl left the room, leaving Victoria alone. Soon after a knock was heard on the door causing Victoria to groan. She got up from her desk and walked to the door. She opened it and was surprised to see Monica standing there.
"Hello there Ms. Crown, how are you this evening?" She asked.
"Why are you here Monica?" She asked.
"Gee, look a little more happy to see me." She giggled.
She held up a bag, and reached in and pulled out a cheerleader uniform.
"Welcome to the Lionesses." She smiled.
Victoria sighed. She was afraid she was going to get in. She would have sabotaged her own performance but she was sure her mother would have found a way to get her on the team regardless.
"Thank you." She said dully.
She paused before she grabbed the uniform. "May I ask why you didn't select Maryanne? Her form is amateur, but she did the routine better than most of the girls you let stay."
Monica giggled. "Do I have to spell it out for you? I thought it was obvious."
Victoria raised an eyebrow. "Please enlighten me."
"Well just look at her. She's not in good shape, she's shaped like the letter O. And did you see the shirt she wore?" Monica asked.
Victoria frowned. "I don't really pay attention to outfits."
"She wore a shirt that said 'Thick Thighs Save Lives', that's not the energy I want on my team. What is the girl allergic to diets?" Monica said.
Victoria frowned. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't like the way she was talking about Maryanne. The girl had worked hard on shutting off her empathy, but for some reason she felt bad that Monica would say this about Maryanne. Actually she felt worse than bad, she felt angry.
"Monica, you are aware that I am the Victoria Crown?" Victoria asked.
"Yeah and?" Monica asked.
"Sweetie, my family's rich and my mother is Shaman, who's the number three hero right now. Being the cheer captain I'm sure you're aware of who she is. After all she's quite popular with the high school cheerleading world. On top of that she likes to make large donations to the cheer team, which again I'm sure you're aware of. Now here's what's going to happen you are going to let Maryanne on the team, and not junior varsity either, now how you're going to do that I don't really care just make it happen." Victoria said calmly.
"And if I refuse?" Monica said through gritted teeth.
"Well all it would take is one phone call from my mother to your coach, and your pimply ass would be cut from the cheer team, which given the fact you have no personality or redeeming traits other than being able to do a split, would be quite unfortunate. And if that doesn't scare you then you can be scared of me." Victoria said.
Her pupils went pitch black and the lights above the girls began to flicker.
"I'm not the girl you want as an enemy Monica." She said.
Monica gulped, before sighing handing Victoria two cheerleading uniforms.
"Anything else Victoria?" She said bitterly.
"That will be all Monica, now please get the fuck out of my room," Victoria said.
The girl huffed before marching out. Soon Maryanne walked in carrying two large bowls.
"Victoria it's pasta night!" She yelled.
She stopped when she the cheerleader uniform on her bed.
"Holy crap, is that for me!" She giggled.
"Yeah I guess Monica changed her mind." Victoria lied.
Maryanne sat the bowls down and jumped up ecstatically. "This is great we're going to be cheerleaders! Aren't you excited?"
"Not really, I hate cheerleaders." Victoria said simply.
With that she grabbed her pasta and sat down on her bed.
Aurelie
"How was your day?" Aurelie asked Cleo.
Cleo sighed. "Uneventful, I tried talking to Aerolynn but she has been dodging me all day. She spends most of her time with Jake, do you think something is going on between them?"
"I doubt it." Aurelie laughed.
Cleo sighed and walked over to the closet she and Aurelie shared. She pulled out a set of pajamas and a towel. "I'm going to head to the shower."
"See you, I hope you'll be able to focus with Aerolynn on your mind." Aurelie joked.
It took Cleo a moment to understand what she was insinuating, but when she got it she blushed. "You're nasty."
Aurelie laughed as her roommate left the room. Almost as if he knew she was alone, Diego sent her text. Aurelie laughed and opened it.
Diego: Are you still up?
Aurelie: It's only 9:00, lmao.
Diego: True true, what are you doing rn?
Aurelie: Laying down in bed, I'm too lazy to do my math right now.
Diego: What are you wearing
Aurelie: Pajamas stupid.
Aurelie laughed and sat down her phone. Her eyes wandered to her math textbook. Maybe she could ask Amelie to help her understand it better.
Diego: Can I see a picture?
Aurelie: Why do you want to see my power ranger pajamas?
Diego: I was actually hoping to see you without them.
Aurelie was so shocked she dropped her phone on the bed. Did he really say that? He must have been joking. She took a deep breath and slowly picked up the phone.
Aurelie: Lol, you're hilarious.
Diego: Come on just one picture.
Aurelie: I don't normally do that.
Diego: Come on it'll just be for us. I'll show you mine.
Aurelie: I'm actually really tired, can we talk tomorrow?
Diego: Come on just one quick pic, no one has to know.
Aurelie sighed. She didn't want to. It felt so simple to her yet so complicated. Diego was a nice boy, and he was a boy. It was natural for him to be…curious. Yet it felt weird to take a picture of herself and send it. She felt uncomfortable with her body being able to be captured in another medium.
Aurelie nervously tapped her fingers against her phone case.
Diego: Are you still there?
Coach Kirby- Blackstarxmoon
