Mako's Message: Delays delays delays. And rewrites. I actually scrapped this twice. So, hopefully it's good now.

I enjoyed writing this chapter, because...well, I'm not saying I'm always correct in my reasoning, or that I think as hard or research as much, I should, but I do try to put a lot of thought and logic into this story, so the actions of the cheerleaders in this chapter amused me greatly.

Anyway, anytime I have some big thing planned for this space it always goes out the window as soon as I start typing so here's the chapter. Hope you enjoy it.

Oh, I should probably also mention that I've never actually seen or read The Hunger Games and I'm just bullshiting my way through these cheer competitions. So don't hurt me over any inaccuracies, `kay?


Today was fun.

For the most part.

Angela's Mom made waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast, which was awesome

And since we didn't have to be at the competition until a couple hours before we went on we were able to avoid all the "socializing" crap which is really just a bunch of attempts at intimidation and sabotage. I guess that's the home field advantage.

Everyone was really nervous, which I didn't understand. Cameron explained that it was because the other teams we were going up against were all the top three in their state. I still didn't get it because we totally smoked those bitches in the last one. It wasn't even a contest. The girls on this team need more self confidence.

I almost tripped over myself on the way out to perform when I suddenly heard Dave cheering for me. Which would have been a really horrible fucking way to start the performance. It was great to see Dave out there in the crowd though. It really made me bring it. He hardly ever makes it to games, so he's only seen me do this a handful of times.

The other girls noticed, unfortunately. Especially Angela. After the performance they were all asking what had gotten into me to make me perform like the perfect cheerleader.

It's the only problem they have with my performance on the team. I'm able to do bigger stunts, and because I'm smaller I can be tossed higher, and we've been able to make taller pyramids, but I always get told I need to get more into it.

Anyway, after our performance Dave came around to meet us "backstage". Angela seemed to put two and two together. The other girls...started flirting with Dave. At least the single ones did.

It's not like I can blame them. He's hot. And even though he was wearing a button up shirt, like usual, it was open, as usual, and the t-shirt he had on underneath it was really thin. So...yeah. The girls were appreciative.

And very touchy.

And unobservant. Dave wasn't appreciating the attention. He looked kinda overwhelmed, honestly. Like a fantasy had come true and he had no idea how to handle it. I had to resist the urge to grab a stick and start fighting them off.

Instead I just forced my way to his side, grabbed his arm and dragged him off to where we could sit down and talk. Alone.

First thing I asked was, "How did you make it? I thought you had to work."

And he shrugged, and said, "Work was unusually slow today, and since the owner was there to take car of some things, he told us one of needed to go home, and Riley just shrugged at me before saying, 'I have rent to pay, so shoo.' And since I didn't have anything else planned for today I decided to come watch you."

I asked if he was okay with missing work and he just waved it off, "She's right, I don't have any real bills to pay. Just my phone and putting gas in the car. Besides, this is a big thing for you, right? I wanted to be here for you."

I just rolled my eyes at him, "It's not that big. It's only regionals. Ask me how I feel when we make Nationals."

He smirked at me and said, "'When' not 'if'?

So I looked at him like he was stupid and said, "Of course 'when'. Weren't you paying attention out there? We're fucking awesome."

Dave laughed, "Yeah, you were. I don't think I've ever seen a girl do a somersault while being tossed from one pyramid to another."

So, while we talked the rest of the team watched the rest of the performances, and when it was time for the winner to be announced Dave went back to the stands.

They announced third place first, then second, leaving the rest of the teams quivering in their booties waiting to see if they lost. Not me though. I knew we had it in the bag. So when they announced we'd won I was the first to step up to collect our trophy while the other girls freaked out.

I was standing up there by myself for at least five seconds before anyone else even started up.

I don't think it would have been possible for me to roll my eyes hard enough to express my annoyance, but dammit I tried.

Once they were all done jumping up and down and squeeing like little girls, Cici came over and asked, "So...there's really nothing going on between you and Dave?"

And I said, "No. We're just friends." I couldn't keep from growling it though, so hopefully she thinks I was just annoyed at being asked about it again and not that it was the truth.

But then she was like, "So he's single." and ran over and invited him to come with us to celebrate, which pissed me off even more because I was going to do that and if she did it he was probably going to say no.

But then he looked over at me for a second before saying, "Sure." So, that made me happy.

We didn't go anywhere special. Just the first restaurant we found, don't even remember what the name of the place was, but it had sundaes and that's all I needed.

And I got to sit next to Dave, which he honestly seemed to be as happy about as I was. Of course, that meant I had a front row seat to the girls flirting with him. Eventually I snapped and said, "He has a girlfriend you know."

And Dave just suddenly perked up, "Yes! I do. I have a girlfriend. She's awesome. Sorry."

Everyone except Jackie cut it out after that. Which isn't a surprise. She's such a slut. She's gonna get her ass kicked off the team if she doesn't cut that shit out.

After everyone had finished with whatever they'd ordered, and we were just sitting around talking Dave got up and said, "Well, I'll leave you girls to your celebration." Everyone was so~o disappointed and tried to talk him into staying, except Cameron and Coach Baum, who just sort of smirked at everyone.

Not that I wanted him to go myself, but I was seriously starting to doubt my ability to sit there and watch him get hit on without punching a bitch out.

And then, just when he's about clear of the table he turns around and asks, "Oh, Mindy, did you want a ride home?"

And I was like, "Uh, yeah," and hopped up and threw a few bucks down on the table for my ice cream and a tip and was out of there almost before I could say, "Bye girls, see you at practice."

As we walked out Dave said, "Are you sure you couldn't have taken any longer? I think you might have left your clothes behind."

And I was like, "Oh shut up. They're okay for the most part but I can only take so much of them at once."

And he laughed and said, "I could tell."

Then when we were getting in the car he asked, "So, you wanna go see a movie or something?"

And I think my brain broke because all I could think for I-have-no-idea-how-long, "Oh my god is he taking me on a date?"

It wasn't until Dave poked me in the face that I finally snapped out of it and said, "Yeah, that sounds awesome."

There wasn't anything we wanted to see though, so we ended up going to The Hunger Games because...why not? It was supposed to be good and...it was...I guess...but the whole thing kinda struck me as stupid. I mean, wouldn't The Hunger Games just incite them to rebel again? They're turning all these kids into killers and corpses anyway. And even if it didn't, you'd think every parent would be training all their kids to...well, be me. If for no other reason than try and make sure their kid came home.

But the real fun was that Dave and I snarked at each other about it the whole time.

Unfortunately, it was a non-patrol school night, so it had to end earlier than I wanted it to since these are supposed to be the days we rest up and shit.

Would have been nice if we could have spent the night together, but then, if I had my way we still wouldn't have gotten any rest.


Mako's Additional Message: Reviews have been tallied, all 623 of them, and out of the 104 of you that posted reviews, 33 of you earned the bonus. I'll post the full list on the next chapter(would have been this chapter but it was either post it with no list or wait another day...and the bonus isn't finished yet anyway). Thanks for all your support!