Shake It Like a Pom-Pom
The bass beat was so loud I could feel it resonating with its own life force in my chest. How was it even possible that Kelsi hadn't heard it? Who just waltzes into a dance studio when someone else is clearly in the middle of practicing a routine? Apparently Ryan's annoying, too skinny, and seemingly omnipresent ex-girlfriend that's who.
"Hey!- ooh, am I interrupting a rehearsal?" Her whole body cringed as though the conclusion that people may be practicing inside a dance studio if loud music was blaring from it were only just then dawning on her. Good lord. And I thought cheerleaders were supposed to be the ditzy ones.
"He-Hey!" Ryan's face lit up and she took it as a sign to cross the room towards him. Rolling my eyes as they hugged, I forced myself to trudge over to the stereo system and pause my mix cd. God only knew how long she was planning on staying. When I turned back around they were still hugging and I couldn't help but cock an eyebrow.
'Really?' I thought to myself, 'That can't be normal. How many times can you see your best friend every day for five years straight before it gets old?'
"What are you up to, don't you have classes all day on Thursdays?" Ry asked, finally taking his arms from around her and moving back into his own personal space.
"I do." Kelsi replied, with a look as though he were crazy and she pitied him. "Day's over Ry. It's five-thirty."
"Ish." I cut in, strutting back over, with what I'm sure was anything but friendliness strung along my features. "It's only five-thirty-ish."
"Shit." The curse fled Ryan's mouth in the form of a low hiss and both of us turned to look at him with concern.
"What's wrong?" I couldn't help but spare a glance toward Kelsi as the words tumbled from her mouth at the exact same time mine did.
'You can back off any second now.' I growled inwardly, not at all in the mood for her crap. I'd spilled my coffee that morning, broken a nail on the way to my car, tripped up the stairs while running to class, torn my jeans at the knee from the fall and ended up being late to Accounting from having to pick my things up. On top of all that, I had a major term paper due in six days and the squad was no where near ready for the regional competitions that started in three weeks. If Kelsi wanted to play, I wasn't going to be following any rules that night.
"I have rehearsals at 6. I have to go take a shower, I'll catch you guys later." He told us both, regret over having to leave pulling down his face.
"You sure can handle a shower alone?" I teased him, pulling him closer as he made a b-line to grab his phone and water. I'd let him leave in a minute, but not without getting in the last word.
"If I take you with me I'd be defeating the whole point of trying to make it there on time." He mumbled against my mouth, kissing me softly a few times before I got up on my tiptoes and gave Kelsi quite the show.
"Mmm," Ryan finally pulled away, his hands still cradling me against him as he laughed. I didn't normally kiss him like that, let alone in front of his friends. God only knew what was going through his poor, confused, adorable little mind. From the way his eyes were smoldering against mine however, I could take a few guesses. "You would do that to me right as I'm leaving."
"I thought you liked being teased." I murmured softly, flicking my tongue playfully over his upper lip.
"Teased maybe, not tortured." He pleaded and finally I relented, coming back down onto the heels of my feet. In a mad rush, he jogged to the side of the room with all the grace and poise that made it obvious he was a dancer, scooping up his things before making a mad dash for the door. Stopping just short of the exit however, he shouted back an ardent request. "Hold that thought though! I'm so getting you back when rehearsal's finished. Tell me you'll still be here?"
"I dunno," I shrugged, an evil smirk on my lips. "You better run just in case."
"Like the wind!" He promised, "Bye Kate! See ya Kels!"
And with the swinging of the studio door he was gone, leaving the room alone with me and Kelsi. As I turned around she was seated at the grand piano in the far left corner, her fingers beginning to pluck at the ivory keys as, behind those trade mark glasses, her eyes searched the sheet music neatly arranged in front of her.
"What do you think you're doing?" I asked, in as amiable a tone I could muster while walking towards her, hands on my hips.
"I have the studio booked for five-thirty." She explained simply, giving me a once-over before going back to her music.
"I'm sure you do." My voice drawled back, "But we've been over this: it's only five-thirty-ish. I've still got six minutes so you can either get out or sit back and enjoy the show." Offering her a sincere but somewhat bitchy smile, I turned on my heel and marched towards the stereo system. Hitting play, I got into position two feet from the mirror and waited. The intro of Benny Benassi's Satisfaction hit me and I bobbed my head a little as I counted off in my head, smiling as the beat dropped and a remix of Move, Shake, Drop by Pitbull throbbed throughout the entire room. Julliard may have been Kelsi's campus, but hip-hop was my arena.
The routine I'd been working on with Ryan came back to me with near flawlessness. Popping and locking was nothing new to me, but gliding the way he did mixed with old school swing moves? Yah, that was a little intimidating. I had to admit though, it looked sick done to this kind of beat and sandwiched between stunts. Ryan could have all the credit in the world for the choreography, but the double back handspring ending in a round off tuck was mine. The track then eased into the cheer section of Earthquake by Family Force Five, which I was all too happy to scream and clap along to while moving back up to the front. Behind me my squad would be doing pyramid stunts during the real routine and up front I'd be dancing with a few other girls, which ended with us all doing sequenced flying spread eagles.
The routine continued on like that, clean pop-locking mixed in nicely with the spins, snapping fingers, and fancy footwork Ryan had taught me, interrupted only by tumbling. As the last song on the custom mixed track, Three 6 Mafia's Lolli Lolli, faded I stood in the middle of the room grinning as I held my ending pose. Finally the next track started and I loosened up, my smile ebbing away as I dropped to the floor and began stretching.
Unexpectedly however, the stereo volume lowered enough to make the hard bass of Let It Go by Brit & Alex cease vibrating in my sternum. I had arranged that song to play next for a reason, it was my favorite to cool down to. So help me God, if Ryan didn't hurry up, I was going to kill Kelsi…
"I'm trying to stretch, is that okay with you?" I snapped, glaring in her general direction as I sat on the hardwood floor.
"Time's up. You shouldn't listen to your music that loud anyway. You'll permanently damage your hearing." She explained, snottiness wrapped tightly around her words as though this small fact was a demonstration of her clear musical prowess over me. I would happily admit that she was more of a music geek than me. But the hell if I was going to let her get away with turning down the volume to my cd unscathed.
"Maybe someday I'll be so deaf that when you talk I won't even hear anything." I told her, my tone and smile dripping with fake enthusiasm as I watched her sit back down at her piano. The girl in front of me just laughed softly, some might even say a little sarcastically.
"So what was that you were doing? It looked a little too artistic to be cheerleading." She analyzed, looking amused as her fingers played aimlessly and sporadically with the keys beneath them. I rolled my eyes, leaning down to touch my outstretched left toes.
"We have a competition coming up. Ryan's been helping me add some spice to our routine for regionals." I explained, "I wanted to incorporate different types of dance, you know, make it more creative?"
"Creative, I see…Oh, but wait, isn't that what they did on Bring It On?" She pointed out, almost as though she was simply trying to make conversation. But the tiny smirk on her face told me she was actually mocking the fact that I cheered. Trying to let me know in an underhanded fashion how people outside of cheerleading still viewed us. Insipid, idiotic, and vapid with a side order of slutty. A few brain cells too short from all the hairspray, maybe? What Kelsi was forgetting was that this cheerleader was Ivy League and had been fiercely competing in the social arena since Kindergarten.
"Heh, that's cute." I chuckled as I stood and stretched my arms, first across my chest and then behind my back. "What, you think because you've seen a Hollywood-typecasted comedy about what I do that you know me? Score one for ignorance. Maybe that's why you're at a school that doesn't force you to use the left side of your brain."
"Right." She gave a dark laugh, "Because you don't have it in your head that since you saw a few kids like me walking the halls of your high school you have me all figured out."
"Actually," Slowly I stood from my lunges and began sauntering towards her. "It's because you're my boyfriend's best friend and because, even between all our differences, we're both still girls who fell for the same thing, that makes me think I know you. Of course, it also helps that you make everything about your socially awkward little self heartbreakingly obvious. That might have something to do with it." I shrugged.
In front of me her jaw set and for a moment I couldn't tell if she was going to hit me or start crying. In the end, she did neither. Just looked up at me with perfect poise and mumbled a few more words on a breath of cynical amusement.
"You're doing such a great job of bumping that stereotype that says cheerleaders are all stuck up bitches."
"And that stereotype about ex-girlfriends who don't know when to let it go? Let me tell ya Kels, you're really putting that one on the map."
For a moment, all she did was blink.
"You think I want Ryan back." She murmured, putting the puzzle pieces together only as the words fell from her mouth. A stunned sort of look crossed Ke face as my jealousy issues dawned on her and then suddenly, the hazy eyes had fled the premises. Out of no where she was laughing ever so softly, nodding to herself as everything fell into place.
Well…you do, don't you?" I asked stupidly, feeling beyond confused and not to mention somewhat humiliated. If she didn't want Ryan back why was she acting like a smitten middle schooler? Why was she always in my face about being so close to him?
"Not even close." She smirked, the piano piece beneath her fingers beginning to take on a structure and melody. "I mean don't get me wrong, he's amazing but things just didn't work out. We're much better as friends."
"Well, I'd appreciate it if you act like it then." I told her, my shoulders slouching in frustration.
"As opposed to…" She cocked an eyebrow.
"Going for the gold medal in flirting? Hanging all over him? Acting like you're still number one in his life."
"Maybe I just don't like the idea of someone like you getting all of his attention. Just because I'm not in love with him doesn't mean I don't love him at all. And then pretty, perfect cheerleader girl struts into his life…"
"You don't like me with Ryan because of my hobbies?" I asked, now beginning to question her sanity.
"We both know it's not about that. It's the whole package. You're the popular girl who makes fun of people like me and Ryan. You don't understand him and you don't deserve him."
My head bobbed a few times as I let her words sink in.
"I get it. You see in me all the girls you had to put up with all through high school. The girls who wouldn't let you sit with them at lunch and never invited you to their parties. The girls with boyfriends that beat up boys like Ryan, called them names like fag and fairy. The jerks who made high school not quite as fun as it could have been for you. I'm not gunna lie to you Kels, I knew people like that. And a lot of times yah, I was that girl. I don't understand theatre most of the time. In fact, in all honesty, I don't really want to. But this isn't high school and my past doesn't seem to bother Ryan."
"Yah, 'cause you're hot and you put out. He's just like any other guy Kate, it's not that hard to figure out."
"Oh please." I laughed, rolling my eyes as my arms came to cross just under my chest. "We both know Ry could get some if he wanted. He's like what, one of five straight guys here?"
In spite of our little tantrum, Kelsi laughed softly at my joke. The bob of her head seemed to be evidence that my exaggeration wasn't off by much.
"Even he's questionable sometimes." She smirked up at me and for a moment I was confused. Were the Wicked Witch of the West and I having a moment of understanding?
"Sometimes." I agreed with her, sharing her smile. "Look, I know it's probably hard seeing the one guy you never thought would sell out date a girl…like me. But this isn't high school anymore Kels, it's the real world. And I do love him. I certainly don't walk around with a skinny, uber metrosexual, aspiring broadway star because it's good for my image. I've had to fight for this since it started, you can't tell me I don't deserve it." I explained, hoping she would understand.
All I got was a nod as her fingers continued to flow across the piano keys with the same flawless grace as a figure skater's legs over ice. From out of her ponytail bits of dark blonde hair fell into her face as she mulled over my words. Finally, the music died off and she turned away from her piano to face me.
"You know, I always secretly wanted to cheer. See what it was like. I just always figured I'd get laughed out of auditions…You think maybe you could show me some of that routine?"
A small smile pulled up the side of my face, "Sure. That sounds like fun. I can't wait to see the look on Ryan's face when he sees that I've convinced you to come over to the dark side."
Kelsi just laughed, getting up and turned the stereo volume back up to full blast.
So, I'm a douchebag for not updating. I'm really sorry guys it's just that things have been crazy here. That's no excuse 'cause it's crazy in everyone's lives, but last semester was significantly less hectic for me than this one because spring semester comes with a lot more preparation for summer plans and fall semester. Plus I like boys (a lot), which tends to be time consuming *shrug*. I'm gunna wrap this story up pretty soon, with a lot of thing coming full circle but that's about it. If there's anything you feel needs to be resolved or developed further storywise now's the time to tell me. Otherwise we have like...three or four more chs max. And no, I can't guarantee that you'll see those anytime soon. Only that you will eventually see them. I love you all! Please review, I will reply.
-Rachel