Saint Joseph School

Tolliver was on his feet. "What's that fancypants doing?"

Barrier chuckled. "Looks to me like he's leaving," she said.

"Yeah," said Biff, his voice full of mischief. "With your future girlfriend."

Tolliver blinked. He made a motion as if he was going to storm after the pair as they left. But he didn't move. He wore his indecision on his face plainly.

Biff laughed and tugged on the back of Tolliver's letter jacket. "Sit down, Stripes."

That made up his mind. He gave Biff a defiant look, then turned away with a sneer. He started down the bleachers, fists balling tightly.

Barrier sighed and shook her head. Boys.

Michael taps the tabletop with the open palm of one hand, and acknowledges Frankie with a quick wink. "Deal," he says, as he drags Stasi out to the middle of the floor.

As they reach the center, he welcomes the distraction of Bell and Faster rolling about on the floor; he gives them a final moment to get ready. He gently takes Stasi by the shoulders, facing her. "You ready?" She looks at him for moment. Then cranes her head over to Jai, who flashes a double thumbs up.

Back to Michael. "I...yeah, let's get this over with, Mis." He nods, practically stoic for the moment. Then it passes. "Okay!" he exclaims. A quick step back, as he says, "Put your fist out." Stasi complies, hesitantly. "What's this?"

He punches her knunckles lightly with his. "K E R P O W!" He says, with a grin. "Right into the briny drink, right?"

He takes his place beside her, a few feet away and to the left.

They each have time for a few deep breaths, a mutual nod, and then the music starts.

It begins slowly, with a clear chant, in unison. Each word punctuated by the stamp of feet. Smiles plastered on faces so tightly it looked like rigor mortis had set in. Michael suspected Stasi just froze hers in place, literally.

"One, Two, Three, Four!
FLYERS!
Let's score!
Blue and White!
FLYERS!
Fight!"

Hard enough to memorize the lines as they were. Michael spent hours in the library researching old cheerleading chants from before the war; what records that remained.

"Go, Go!
Go fight win!
G - O!
Go!
F - I - G!
H- T!
Fight!
W - I - N!
Win!
GO FIGHT WIN!"

He almost missed the cue, as Stasi stepped in front of him, then hopped up and back, onto his shoulders. He steadied her with minimal effort; all he really had to do was keep himself stable. She was so much more capable than she ever knew.

"Yell it...again!
FLYERS!
Will win!"

Still standing astride his shoulders, the cue came in. Stasi kicked off and up; he raised his hands together, as she brought her foot up, balancing on one leg, arms above her head.

"Clap your hands everybody!
Everybody, CLAP YOUR HANDS!"

She drops to the floor lightly. Thank god she was already a leaper. That part of the practice meant fewer scrapes for both of them. Michael moved up beside her, and did his level best to maintain the routine. "Claps and Slaps," he'd called it. Clap your hands, slap your thigh. Slap high on the thigh then low.


clapclap . slap . clap . clap . clap . slap . up, down . up, down . clapclap

A tandem leap, legs kicked straight out in front.

"Come on FLYERS, let us hear it!
Heeeeeeeeeey, hey!
Let us see that Flyer spirit!"

Michael's turn now, as Stasi backed off to take a breather. He executed a backflip, then sprung forward with the whirling attack he typically reserved for being surrounded by enemies...sans claws, of course. He and Stasi paired back up for some more chanting.

"Can you say? Can you say?
Saint Joseph School!
Here to save the day!"

Separating now, each ran over to the bleachers. Stasi took "their" side, where Jai sat with some of the others. Michael took...the "Meat Locker." At least Saskia was on this side. Some of the other kids in the bleachers actually seemed to be into it.

"FANS !
In the STANDS!
YELL!"

Michael almost lost his place when Biff joined in with the other kids in the stands. Even his own crew was taken aback.

V - I - C !"
VIC!
"T - O - R - Y !"
TORY!
"V- I - C!"
VIC!
"T - O - R - Y!"
TORY!
"VICTORY!"
VICTORY!

Mis figured it was a challenge...perhaps Hannigan just couldn't back down from anything.

"Ahhh...Victory ! "

"JOES! "

Stasi called out to her group,
"On the left, yell GO!
GO ! (pause / clap) GO !"

"JOES!"

Michael yells at his group,
"On the right, yell GO!
GO ! (pause / clap) GO !"

FLYERS ! ( pause / clap ) FLYERS !
JOES !"

Wow, these kids were really getting into it! He stumbled a little bit, but recovered quickly. Stasi seemed to have picked up some confidence...no doubt from Jai's fervent yelling and constant eye contact.

"GO ! FLYERS!
GO ! FLYERS! "

The simple dance...not so much a dance as a series of stomps, claps, jacknifes, and arm extensions...served them well. It had to, in the short time they'd had to practice.


"Go, Go, Go!"

Michael started this time, trying not to make eye contact with Saskia. The gentle teasing she'd approached him with over he past week had the potential to make him break down into laughter.

"FLYERS!
On the right!
Yell, fight fight fight!
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!"

Again, they surprised him, his entire section joining in to yell along with him. Stasi challenged her own section, although she looked over at Michael quizzically. He shot her a quick shrug; as confused by the Hannigan crew's reaction as she was.

"On the left!
Yell, win win win!
WIN WIN WIN!"

Quickly, they ran together to the center of the floor, Michael assisting Stasi into a leap with hands upon her hips, catching her with his hands, arms extended high above his head. She flung her hands up into the air, as the pink ribbons of her power trailed from her fingers eerily.

"FLYERS!
All around!
Yell go fight win!
GO FIGHT WIN!"

As the kids in the stands yelled their reply, Stasi was half thrown / half leapt high into the air and spun; bringing herself to the ground in a whirl of energy; pink "pompoms" and all. Toro, Toro.

Michael fell straight backwards upon the floor with the relief of it all. He lay there, still, eyes open, as the music stopped.

"Kerpow," he said.

Francis sat in stunned silence. Jasmine dropped her gum.

Jasmine looked across the table at Francis, her jaw slightly hanging open, "Hole-eeee...Sheeeaaa..."

Francis cut Jasmine off abruptly.

"Wow guys....that was great! Ummm...yeah, I'll be getting back to people soon. Awesome, thanks.........Jeezus....."

(pause)

"Oh and Mis....you still owe me." *wink*

Tossed around like a giggly little girl. Thrown up into the air with cheering and clapping. What on Earth was happening? Barrier sat in stunned silence, just watching, waiting for that not to be Stasis Kiss, but someone more deserving of looking like a pep squad plaything.

Biff cheered despite himself. With Tolliver gone, the mood had changed in the group. Biff chanted along, cupping his hands at his mouth. Jack, who didn't know the words, just yelled encouragement.

"Go Flyers! Yeah!"

Barrier felt Biff lean down beside her. "Damn, B," he said, his excitement so clear. "How you been keeping this a secret? Stasis has moves!"

Barrier shrugged, finding her voice, her smirk again. "It's not hard to keep secrets from you Hanny," she said. "You're pretty stupid."

Biff laughed. "Well, I dunno about the queer kid, but Stasis makes me wanna win some games!" He leaned back again and resumed cheering.

And that was it. Biff had reclassified her. Stasis Kiss had been reassigned from a rival to a cheerleader. Barrier tried to keep smiling. But she was hurt, somewhere. She wasn't even sure why. Amidst the applause and the cheers, she felt more alone than she had in a long time.

Go. Fight. Win.

He felt as though he had been punched in the stomach.

Go. Fight. Win.

He kept his grin despite the feeling.

Go. Fight. Win.

What else had she told him about?

Barrier wrote:Tolliver was on his feet. "What's that fancypants doing?"

Barrier chuckled. "Looks to me like he's leaving," she said.

"Yeah," said Biff, his voice full of mischief. "With your future girlfriend."

Tolliver blinked. He made a motion as if he was going to storm after the pair as they left. But he didn't move. He wore his indecision on his face plainly.

Biff laughed and tugged on the back of Tolliver's letter jacket. "Sit down, Stripes."

That made up his mind. He gave Biff a defiant look, then turned away with a sneer. He started down the bleachers, fists balling tightly.

Barrier sighed and shook her head. Boys.

Glancing ever so slightly over her shoulder, and making sure all attention was off of her- Siren gives Tolliver a fleeting second of eye contact, before winking and pursing her lips in a delicate kissing motion before she turns back to Simon as if nothing had happened.

Cricket sat watching all the antics and other try-outs,enjoying it all until Winged Siren began torturing that poor Simon boy. From the rapid increase in his heartrate and her steady one, she already knew what the deal was...Well, she thought at least she can't fool me like that...unless I let her...Cricket watched smirking as Siren left....what a waste.

Michael performed a quick kip-up, rising to his feet steadily. A quick glance around the stands revealed all eyes on Stasi. Despite her plastered on smile, she appeared to be wavering between pride at accomplishing the entire routine without falling (which they had not managed before the tryout, not even once) and being utterly mortified.

Most of the kids in the stands were cheering, in fact...all of them were, except Jai, and Saskia. Each stood in the stands, either of them could have been a mirror of Stasi. He felt a sharp tug of regret, wondering if involving Stasi had been a good idea after all...

...ah well. Too late now.

Michael walked past the table, placing a hand on Frankie's shoulder in passing. The other girl just sat in her chair in stunned silence. He left the gym, with all eyes on Stasi.

Jai snapped back to reality. He looked at her, standing there, and whatever is was he felt, whatever anger or hurt, slipped away as she glanced nervously around at the clapping and the cheering.

So he sprang from the bleachers and was beside her in three long strides. He scopped her up, arms wrapping tightly around her slim waist, and he twirled her around in a full circle.

"I nevuh seen yuh move like dat, gyul," he said, his happiness for her success overshadowing everything else.

If she sensed anything deeper, she did not act on it. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I know! I didn't even stumble once!" She beamed when she looked at him, then her eyes cast about, falling on the others in the room. And then onto Ranger, looking so far away. She wasn't clapping. She looked... disappointed? She turned back and stared into Jai's eyes.

"Now get me the hell out of here, Trinidad."

Jai laughed, deep and loud, and dropped her back onto her feet. Taking one another by the hand, they headed for the door.

Francis watched as Stasis exited stage left on the arm of the carib boy. Jasmine was still in the middle of a surprised tirade involving something about popular girls and the middle levels of Hell. Ignoring Jasmine, she turned back to the cheering group and smiled. Apparently those old cheerleaders had been worse than she thought.

"Ok," She yelled, "Anyone else?"

Her list finished and the gym beginning to clear Francis stood up.

"Alright everyone, thanks and I'll be posting the cheer squad roster shortly...so uhhh...yeah...stay tuned! And Good Luck....."


"You'll need it...." Jasmine smiled.

Francis walked across the quad and up to the main bulletin kiosk on St. Joe's Campus. A night of arguing with Jasmine and the decisions had finally been made. Not that it had been all that hard. Francis knew that with a little work, cheersquad would a hell of a lot of fun...and just wait until the Flyers got a look at this group.

She reached up and tacked on the bright neon pink flyer to the billboard and with a smirk, walked back to class.

ATTENTION SJS!!!

IT'S TIME TO SAY HELLO!
TO THE NEW St. JOSEPH SCHOOL CHEERLEADERS!

Thunder Cricket
Stasis Kiss
Winged Siren
Misericorde
Simon St. James

GO FLYERS!

Simon read the bulletin and blinked.

"Ah made it..."

He re-read, just to make sure it said what he thought it said.

"Holly pigs in blankets! Ah made it! Hoo-wah!!! Yes," he celebrated as he did a series of masculine victory stances.

Mis appears from the sea of kids, peering over Simon's shoulder, grinning until he sees the second name from the top.

"Oh, crap."

He ducks and melts back into the crowd, gritting his teeth.