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Thirteen
Somehow I eventuallygot to sleep, but the call of my alarm, and Dom’s knock on the door, came too early. The sex with Echo had helped take my mind off things enough to let my body rest, so I sent her a message to thank her.
You’re welcome, baby.
Breakfast was a nightmare as I had to encourage a bunch of teens with nervous stomachs that they had to eat something to fuel them through the day. I passed out almond butter packets to the ones who were refusing to eat anything, just so they’d have something to burn for fuel. From then on it was a rush next door to the convention hall where the competition would take place. Prelims were held indoors, but the Finals would be outside under the Florida sun,ifwe qualified.
There were dozens upon dozens of squads, and I had to admit, they looked far more professional. I had done my research and knew who was probably going to end up qualifying in the top ten spots for Finals. Our division had over thirty teams in it, so we had to wait a while for our time on the warm-up mats.
Some of my kids had never been to Nationals and trying to get them to focus on me and not the chaos around them was a challenge. I didn’t know when Echo’s team had warmups, and I hated that I wondered if I was going to see her before we got to perform.
“Okay, let’s do this quick. I want to do tumbling, stunts, and pyramid.” There was no point in going over the cheer or the dance, or the other little transitions, since we wouldn’t need the mat for those.
I counted out the stunts and it was not going well. Everything was going down, and I could see the nerves getting the best of them.
“Okay, take a minute,” I said after the fourth fall. At least everything was getting caught. The flyers just weren’t confident in their abilities.
“We’ve got this. Come on. I would not have brought you down here if I didn’t think you could do this. Remember New Englands? Just do what you did there and I will be happy. Don’t do this performance for me. Do it for yourself. Do your absolute best, that’s all I ask. Energy eleven.”
I made eye contact with each and every one of them and smiled.
“You’ve got this, Tigers. Let’s go.”
We broke and started over, this time everything was hitting and then I moved on to the tumbling, and then we ran the pyramid once, making tiny tweaks.
A woman with a lanyard and a t-shirt with the competition’s logo on it came to tell me that our mat time was up, and that we were going on fifth.
I gathered the squad in the hallway and told them we were going fifth.
“This is good. You want to go near the beginning, or near the end. In the beginning, you get to set the tone for the other squads. If you’re in the middle, you get lost in everything else. This is good.” I rubbed the quarter in my pocket. I had every single piece of lucky jewelry on my fingers, wrists, and ears. The jingle of metal when I moved was strangely comforting to my ears.
Dom and I herded the kids to the dressing area to get their uniforms on. Then it was touch ups on hair and makeup, making sure we had all wrists and knees and ankles taped that needed to be taped for support, making sure shoes were tied and securely on feet, and keeping them occupied.
We didn’t go backstage until we were third in line to perform. I was doing my best not to panic, but I kept clutching onto Dom.
“Don’t look now, but Echo’s team is going on two after us,” he said.
I turned around and looked. There she was, all dolled up and looking so sexy. We made eye contact and she winked at me. I winked back and hoped that no one saw me.
The backstage area did have a few mats so the cheerleaders could stretch and a few could do last-minute tumbling practice. I told them not to do too much because I didn’t need an injury while they were all jumpy and nervous.
They could barely hear me over the other team’s music, and I had to keep them together but, too soon, it was our turn. I gathered them all in a huddle.
“You’ve got this. I love you all. Have the best time. Do your best. Make yourselves proud. I’m already proud of you. Be there for each other. Soak it in. You will remember this moment for the rest of your lives. Energy eleven.” I could close my eyes and remember being on the mat myself. It was one of the best feelings in the world, hitting your routine, smiling at the crowd and drawing on their energy. The best fucking thing in the world.
We did our group cheer and I hugged every single one of them before leaving them in the back and running to the front of the stage where the coaches were supposed to stand and watch. Dom grabbed my hand and held it so hard that I thought he was going to break my fingers.
Our little area was right next to the stage, but we were down in a pit, so the stage floor was level with my chest. Not ideal, but I could still support from the sidelines. Our parents and supporters were in the audience and the announcer called out “Performing next, the Tigers of Corsica High School!”
My entire body shook violently, and my heart pounded so loud, I was sure everyone could hear it. My cheerleaders took their places, and then there was that moment of silence before the music came on. I rubbed the coin in my pocket five times and let out a shaky breath.
The music started, and I screamed and cheered and jumped up and down and lost my mind and my voice as I did my best to support them with my energy. When the first stunts hit, I took a breath. When the second stunts hit and I saw the looks on their faces, I knew it. They had it.
“Corsica Tigers, the red and the blue, you’d better watch out, we’re coming after you!” I screamed the cheer along with them and held my breath for every stunt, and even though there was a tiny wobble in the pyramid, I breathed a sigh of relief when it was over. The dance came at the end of the routine, and they fucking nailed it. They hit, they hit, THEY HIT.
Dom picked me up and we screamed as the team screamed and jumped up and down and some collapsed to the floor after the music ended.
Dom and I ran backstage and there were tears and hugs and I realized I had probably done permanent damage to my vocal chords, but I didn’t give a flying fuck.
