“Let me hear your TIGER yell! – Grrr, Grrr – Let me hear your Tiger yell! – Grr, Grr.”
Green and gold pleated skirts swished with each “grr” as the majority of the fans in the stands complied with the perky request – several hundred “tiger claws” may not be intimidating to the opposing team, but they kept the crowd pumped and in the fourth quarter, it was important to stay pumped.
“Okay, Jill, take a break.”
With her smile still turned on to full wattage, Jill McCormick – captain of the cheer squad, homecoming queen, class secretary, prom committee chair and girlfriend of the quarterback – executed her signature air splits which let her squad know that it was time for a quick break.
“Great,” only Jill could hear the voice, instructions coming to her straight from Ms. Williams, the cheer sponsor, through a tiny earpiece concealed behind her glowing blond hair. “Once coach calls the next time out; I want you to do the 10-2 pyramid.”
Jill risked a glance up to the press box, but her smile didn’t falter. Not for the first time did she wish the mike connecting her and Ms. Williams was two-way.
“Okay, team, in positions for the 10-2,” Jill said to the squad, clapping her hands one, two, three.
Sonya and Heidi glanced at each other, eyebrows raised, then turned toward Jill.
“Are you sure about that?” Sonya asked.
“Am I ever NOT sure about something,” Jill said through clenched – but still smiling – teeth. “Do it.”
As the cheer squad reorganized themselves on the sidelines, waiting for a time-out, Andrea Belton watched them closely, carefully critiquing every move.
“Looks like they’re getting ready for a time-out pyramid,” Andrea said to Mrs. Peters who had been sitting next to Andrea and listening to endless cheerleading commentary while wearing a genuine smile throughout the entire game.
“Oh my gosh!” Andrea exclaimed, clutching Mrs. Peters’ arm. “I think they’re going for the 10-2!”
“What’s the 10-2?”
“The pyramid that almost got us disqualified at the last 4A competition.”
Mrs. Peters raised her eyebrows. “Why?” she asked
“It’s pretty dangerous,” Andrea answered. “Really tall, not very stable and the top two levels instead of just one do the complicated dismounts.”
“Why would Jill ask the team to do that? And why would they go along with it?”
“Well you never go along with the captain – that’s pretty much drilled into your head the first day of try-outs. Never rebel against the captain, especially during competition or public performance. As far as why she’s doing a 10-2,” Andrea shrugged. “Jill wants to get noticed and she’s obsessed with doing what no one else is doing. She’s a Ms. Williams clone, really.” Andrea leaned a little closer to Mrs. Peters and lowered her voice. “Don’t tell anyone I said this, but I think Ms. Williams is a little crazy. Literally.”
“That’s quite an accusation,” Mrs. Peters said. Her voice was only slightly disapproving; Mrs. Peters had been around teenagers long enough to take allowances for youthful exaggeration.
“Yeah, well, you spend every afternoon with her,” Andrea said. She rapped on her cast-encased ankle resting on the seat in front of her. “Sometimes I’m glad that I had an excuse to get out.”
“Surely if you wanted out you could have just quit.”
Andrea laughed. “Mrs. Peters, I don’t think you’re listening to what I’m saying. I’m not really joking.”
Mrs. Peters shook her head, but laughed at what she assumed was still just youthful drama, and watched with Andrea and the rest of the cheering Eastbrook Tigers fans as the Tiger Cheerleaders mounted a pyramid. Andrea was right, Mrs. Peters thought, that is one tall pyramid. The smiles of the girls at the base of the pyramid never faltered, even when their thin shoulders supported another three rows.
“Go Tigers! Go Tigers! Reach – The- Top!”
The crowd gasped as the three girls at the base of the pyramid stood up, still shouldering the rest of the squad. As the crowd cheered, Missy Wright flipped from the top of the pyramid, landing perfectly on her feat in a victory pose. The two girls who had been beneath her prepared for their own flying dismounts, and Mrs. Peters glanced over at Andrea to see her reaction. But at the gasp of the crowd, the look of horror on Andrea’s face and the eerie silence that followed, Mrs. Peters’ focus flew back to the pyramid, now huddle of girls and athletic trainers.
“What happened, Andrea,” Mrs. Peters asked.
“Oh, Mrs. Peters,” Andrea’s eyes were wide and frightened when she turned. “Stephanie didn’t make her jump. I mean, she jumped, but she stumbled or somthing and she didn’t get enough height. It was more of a fall than a jump. And se landed on Missy.”
“Oh dear.”
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