THE VARSITY CHEERLEADING TEAM

After his last lesson of the day, Chris walked over to the gym to watch Kate's cheerleading practice. He hadn't really seen her in action before, as he had never paid much attention to her personally whenever the cheerleaders performed. To his surprise, Daniel was sitting in the bleachers, reading a book. "What are you doing here?" Chris asked, not caring to be polite. Daniel had always been rude to them no matter what it was he spoke to them about.

Daniel didn't look too happy about seeing him there, but Chris couldn't care less. "Red wanted me to come and I have nothing better to do. It's also a perfect opportunity to check out which of the girls have gotten fat over the summer. No point wasting my breath on them, is there?"

Chris felt a little disgusted, hoping Daniel didn't measure Kate the same way. "How long do they practice?"

Daniel shrugged. "I've never been allowed to watch the Varsity cheerleaders before, they always kick me out. When Kate was the captain of the JV team, she always let me watch them from here. But now when she's not a captain anymore, I'm not sure how it works."

"Who's the captain?"

"They haven't chosen one yet, but my money's on Lila Summers or Chrissie Connors," Daniel said. "Kate's dedicated to the team, but they always go with the one with the most experience. Red wasn't officially let on the team until last year."

"Why?"

Daniel groaned with annoyance. "I don't know!" he exclaimed fervently. "It's just a cheerleading team for fuck's sake."

To Chris's relief, Fred showed up at that moment, saving him from Daniel's pissy attitude. Fred sat down next to Chris, smiling. "Great, you're already here. Kate wanted me to get you before they started. She was worried you wouldn't show up."

"Of course I'd show up," Chris said, ignoring Daniel's growling behind his back. "She's been talking about this non-stop."

"She's just excited because it's her first practice. It'll pass in a few weeks," Fred promised. "They're actually quite good. They came in fifth at the Nationals last year. They're going for first place this year, I think. Kate is going to go crazy with her practicing."

Daniel sat up, putting his book aside, as the cheerleaders came in from the locker room. Kate was proudly leading the way, carrying her pompoms. When she spotted her friends, she waved enthusiastically, and then resumed her serious face. Before they started building human pyramids, or whatever it was they did, Chris wasn't sure, their coach Ms. Sawyer had to announce who the new captain would be.

"They totally should have gone with Kate," Fred said, sounding disappointed when Chrissie's name was called out. "They all follow her anyway, there's no way any of them are making one move without Kate's approval."

"Chrissie looks hot," Daniel commented randomly, not really following the events on the floor. "She looks more like a Barbie doll this year."

"How sensitive of you," Fred said, glaring at him. "What about Kate?"

"What? Oh, I'm sure she'll be a great captain," Daniel mumbled distractedly, completely caught up in Chrissie as she stomped around her new team, her elective speech including a warning about being disloyal to the team and not trying their best.

Chris and Fred decided not to include Daniel in their conversation from there on. Kate didn't seem too gloomy about not being elected captain, as she quickly took her place next to Lila Summers, shouting something about team spirit. Chrissie started off by yelling drills at them, which they pulled off perfectly.

Chris actually found himself impressed with their routines. Cheerleading was a lot more than just jumping and waving, he realized. All the girls on the team were in perfect condition and none of them put as much as a toe out of line. Kate especially impressed him by executing all kinds of twists and flips as if it was the easiest things in the world for her to do.

Daniel quickly jumped down from the bleachers as soon as practice was over, patting Kate nonchalantly on the shoulder as he passed her, and walking up to one of the girls he had been checking out earlier. Kate ran over to Chris and Fred as soon as she was done. "Did you see me? Were we any good?"

Fred laughed. "Of course. You're always good, Katie. Show me that move again when you do a split."

Kate laughed too. "No! I'm a lady!" She skipped over to Chris and sat down next to him, resting her legs on the bench in front of them. "I only put on shows for my boyfriend."

"Eww, way too much information," Fred made a repulsed face and grinned. "Anyway, is it okay if I go? I promised I'd take Jen out for dinner before curfew."

"Yeah, sure!" Kate smiled. "Thanks for being here."

"Any time," Fred grinned. "Just take a shower, will you? You smell."

"You smell!" Kate shouted after him as he left the gym. "So, what did you think?" she asked, turning to Chris.

"You were great," he told her. "Unexpectedly."

"What do you mean?" she asked confusedly. "You didn't think I'd be any good?"

"I didn't think you'd be that good," he admitted, still impressed. "You have this ability to completely blow me away with everything you do. I don't know how you do it, but you surprise me with something new every day. How do you do that?"

Kate flushed, for once not finding an immediate answer. "I blow you away?" she asked shyly. "You like what I do?"

"So far, there's nothing about you that I don't like," he said affectionately. Kate wrapped her arms around him, giving him a tight hug. "And Fred is wrong; I don't think you smell."

She giggled delightedly, holding on to him for a long time before she decided to let go.