Drew Nance Book 2: "The Hidden Staircase" by Bobbie J. Cabot Chapter Seven: Polly and the Two Kates / Drew and the Cheer Captain

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After Drew and her dad finished dinner, she got a call from Sabrina, the old cheer captain of the JayVees (and one of the people in her surveillance videos), about the latest rumor now spreading in the school, and Sabrina asked Drew to join a meeting the ex-Jayvees were gonna have.

Just before school let out for the summer, the girls’ coach made a short announcement via the school’s PA, inviting anyone interested in joining the Varsity Cheerleading Team to sign up for interviews and then eventual tryouts, and that all incoming Juniors and Seniors were qualified to apply. Everyone had a month to sign up. So a signup form went up the school's bulletin board shortly after that.

That little announcement had rocketed through the entire school body. But rumors about the cheerleaders had already been making the rounds at that point, and the announcement just added to the controversy of that rumor.

According to that rumor, a couple of Sophomores had seen the JayVee cheerleaders auditioning for Coach Stoeger before the school year was out - before the coach's announcement. Nothing unusual about that, after all, since the new Varsity Team would usually be made up of the girls from the outgoing JayVee team, so this seemed normal. The difference was that, Coach Stoeger only schedules tryouts for the Varsity team at the start of the school year. Why the early auditions specifically for the Jayvees? Was something up? That plus an even earlier rumor that there was some kind of turf war going on between Janine, the outgoing cheer captain of the Varsity team, and Sabrina, the captain of the outgoing JayVees. Those alone were good enough for the rumor mill to keep on churning for a while, but the girls who said they saw the JayVees had set off yet another bomb. At a little birthday party for one of the Sophomores, they said that they also saw Drew with the Jayvees during their tryouts. So, to quote the school body, “what!?!”

There were very few kids interested in being cheerleaders, at least in Drew’s school. Because of this, the girls that became the Varsity team mostly came from the JayVee team, and the new JayVee team came from the middle school team. It was rare when new applicants would come out of the woodwork. So Coach Stoeger was always worried about making her numbers, as her goal was to have a team that was made up of at least eight girls. She thought that a team with less than eight members hardly seemed like a real team. And, hopefully, this year, she'd get a couple of boys.

Stoeger got lucky with her outgoing team, though – even though she had no boys for the heavy lifting, she did get twelve girls. With enough numbers, she was able to make up routines complicated enough that they met the requirements of the NCA National High School Cheerleading Competition, and was able to at least get them to the cheerleading semi-finals.

That was a first for the school’s cheerleaders. Janine, the squad’s cheer captain took much of the credit for that, however, as she did for all the accomplishments of the cheerleaders.

Stoeger didn’t mind that much, since Janine was the one who was responsible for upping their team membership, which made it all possible. And if Janine did that through intimidation, bribery or blackmail, since no one could prove them, Stoeger didn’t care. In fact, Janine was also responsible for getting donations from private individuals through her father’s influence in the community. In fact, without these donations, the cheerleader program, such as it was, would not have continued on, and the girls would again be relegated to the usual cheerleading at home games. No away game trips even, much less being able to participate in regional and national competitions.

With the rumor that Drew had tried out, a lot of girls wanted to try out as well. Problem was, they also heard about the turf thing, and no one wanted to get on the bad side of Janine. The stream of prospective applicants dried up pretty quickly.

Janine and her girls, which Janine thought included Callie and Iola, put on a big recruitment drive. Callie and Iola were the most active of them in their efforts to recruit new kids, but no one signed up despite the added attraction of Drew being on the team. And it was all because of the rumored war between Janine and Sabrina.

So, the upshot was, no new kids applied.

- - - - -

Drew told Sabrina she should bring Callie, Iola and the other Juniors to her proposed meeting as well, but Sabrina wondered if that was wise.

“Listen,” Drew said, “if you can’t trust your team mates, then we might as well quit now. Whatever happens, we need to be open with our teammates. ‘Coz, if you can trust someone to catch you when you fall, and stop you from breaking your neck, then you can trust her. Period.

"You know what I’m saying, Sabrina?”

Sabrina paused for a second. “Dammit, you’re right. Okay, lemme be the one to call. Can you meet us at Burger King at around ten?”

“No prob. But I have a suggestion – there’s this bed-and-breakfast about fifteen minutes from school called Doctor Seuss, and they serve French toast-type meals. Their best-seller is something they call ‘green eggs and ham,’ which has scrambled eggs made with pesto and spinach, prosciutto for the ham, and Kitten Coffee.”

“Sounds cute. I didn’t know about that place.”

“I’m not surprised. They just opened about two months ago, and they’re not too kid-friendly, if you know what I mean. They mostly cater to the yuppie office people that work off-island. I’m pretty sure the kids from school wouldn’t like it even if they heard about it. So that means we can talk without distractions. But the catch is that they’re only open between six and ten in the morning.” She then gave her the address.

“Okay. I’ll schedule it for nine, then.”

“Sabrina?” Drew said a little reluctantly, “I can vouch for Callie and Iola but the other Juniors – you know that they’re friends with Janine, you know.”

“I get you, Drew. But like you said, we have to trust our teammates. Besides, it’s best to know early on where they stand, if, you know...”

“You’re a brave girl, Sabrina.”

“Yes, I am. And I’m humble, too.” They giggled together.

Of course, Callie and Iola called Drew a few minutes later. Drew put them on conference call and the three talked it through. All three of them didn’t know what was happening but they knew that it had something to do with Janine. They agreed to play it by ear, keeping in mind that Polly and the two Kates (the other Juniors that were part of Janine’s old team that would be staying along with Callie and Iola) would be there, and that anything they talked about would be instantly relayed to Janine.

They agreed to get to the place separately so Polly and the Kates couldn’t assume anything.

The following morning, Drew deliberately came in fifteen minutes late. She had put on something casual but chic – she was hyper-aware that these were all cheerleaders, so something fashionable and trendy was required.

She wore a sexy, backless playsuit-type dress with a sexy lace-covered V-neck top with crossed spaghetti straps to keep it secure. It had a high-waist pleated red above-the-knee mini.

She didn’t have to wear any bra with it as it had built-in bra shields to keep her modesty intact, but they kept her c-cup profile looking incredible, keeping her bouncy but supported and extremely... noticeable. She didn’t wear any belt as the hourglass cut gave her slim waist more than enough emphasis. Drew’s ensemble looked similar to something casual a fashionista girl would be wearing during her summer vacation in some swanky resort, and she looked super-sexy in it, especially with the now-shaggy blonde mop she had (which reminded her that she had an appointment with Julian at Benzaiten, and have her hair fixed before their trip).

And instead of being blinged up like most Staten Island girls, she just wore her white Tissot on her left wrist, a simple gold clam bracelet on her right and a thin gold chain around her neck with a small pendant. The pendant nestled in her cleavage and would peek out occasionally when she walked, which was pretty sexy, actually. Her only concession to the ‘Staten Island Style’ was thin hoop earrings six inches in diameter.

She finished it off with a pair of low-top vintage Chuck Taylors, and wore them without any socks – which gave the right tone for her casual city look.

As she came in to the restaurant, she found the girls chowing down on their “green eggs and ham,” and didn’t even notice that she had come in.

Drew cleared her throat. “So, you girls are hungry today, huh?”

“Drew!” Sabrina exclaimed, got up and gave her a very, very enthusiastic hug. The other ex-JayVees were surprised at that, but gave Drew hugs as well, though not quite as enthusiastic. Drew gave Callie and Iola high-fives and hugs, and sat down between Sabrina and Callie.

“Drew,” Marti said, “you gotta try these eggs! Wow!”

“Yeah. I know it. Tasty, huh?”

“Drew,” Iola said, “remember Polly from the party? The blonde is Kate Henderson and the brunette is Kate Smith.”

“Hey, Drew,” Polly waved. “Glad to see you again. Guess we’re team mates now.”

“That’s right. Thanks for the welcome, Pol. Have you talked to Janine and the others? I’m sure they’d want to know that I got past my tryouts.”

Polly and the Kates looked at each other guiltily. “Ummm, no, we haven’t talked to her. At least not recently,” Polly said.

“No prob. I guess they’re busy planning for college and everything.”

“Yeah, but she said that she wishes our new team the best.”

“Yeah, sure,” Savannah, one of the new ex-JayVee girls muttered, while the others glowered at the three Juniors.

“Savannah!” Marti, the tallest among the new girls, exclaimed, and elbowed her.

Sabrina sighed. “Sorry about that, Polly. But I’m sure you’ll understand why they feel that way when I explain.”

“Ummm,” Polly said tentatively, “explain what?” She tried to act dumb but they all knew it was just an act.

“Drew,” Sabrina began, turning to her. “It’s like this...”

It seemed that Janine heard about Drew attending the tryouts with the JayVees the weekend before finals, and flipped out. She had wanted to use Drew as her main attraction, and get enough new applicants to squeeze the JayVees out of free spots on the team, but, with Drew trying out with the JayVees, that sort of ruined that for her.

Apparently, when Coach Stoeger explained to Janine that she just wanted to get the tryouts for the JayVees out of the way already so that she could concentrate on fresh recruits, and since Janine told her Drew wanted to try out as well, she decided to hit two birds with one stone.

Janine "felt a little bad about that” (or so Janine explained to the coach) since that meant other girls wouldn’t get a fair shot at the empty spots. But the coach explained that the team doesn’t have to be twelve girls only, and wondered where Janine heard that the team was limited to twelve. However, to make Janine feel better (or so Coach Stoeger explained to Janine), she immediately made her announcement that she was recruiting for new kids, and gave everyone a month to apply. Stoeger promised, with enough numbers, she would be able to shake up the team’s composition, pick the best and weed out all the people that weren’t good enough, whether or not they were JayVees.

But there was very little chance of that, though, that there were more applicants to choose from. Janine still tried, though, but they weren’t able to drum up any new applicants, So Janine lobbied the coach to extend the deadline, but Stoeger didn’t want to anymore. She explained that the extra month was plenty already.

So it seemed that Janine’s plan of using Drew as her new attraction to get more recruits didn’t work. Polly and the others had explained to her that it could have worked, but her ongoing feud with Sabrina made everyone stay away, which made Janine explode at Polly.

So, because it apparently meant that the Jayvees were sure to be part of the team whatever she tried, Janine decided on a bit of sabotage.

Sabrina heard from her mom that Janine’s dad had been talking to most of the businesses in the area that had been sponsoring the cheerleaders, and convinced them to withdraw their support. Fantastically, that even included Sabrina’s dad. Clearly, Janine’s dad wasn’t really keeping close track of what he was doing or saying.

Coach Stoeger had also heard the same thing from her contacts, and was at her wits’ end trying to find a way to fill the growing sponsorship void and help her girls.

Inside, Polly and the Kates, far from blaming Janine, were mad at Sabrina instead. To their eyes, it was Sabrina’s fault, that she "forced" Janine to do this. But hearing it this way...

“So,” Sabrina said, with tears in her eyes, “I am going to go to Coach Stoeger later today and tell her I don’t want to be on the team anymore.

“So, can you guys find a way to let Janine know that,” she asked, addressing the entire team (although she was looking directly at Polly and the Kates). “I’d appreciate it if you did. But I will quit only if Janine stops making people pull out their sponsorships. Make that clear, okay? The team really needs the support.”

The Sophomores gathered around Sabrina and hugged her.

Polly and the Kates were looking away in guilt and embarrassment. It wasn’t really their fault, they were thinking, but they felt guilty since they were clearly accessories after the fact.

Callie and Iola looked at each other, clearly feeling trapped in between Janine and the Jayvees. They didn’t know anything about this. Clearly, they weren’t part of Janine’s inner circle anymore.

“No!” Drew exclaimed and slammed her fist on the table. The girls and the other diners looked at Drew in surprise.

“No,” Drew said, but more calmly this time. “You’ll do no such thing, Sabrina.”

“But, Drew,” Sabrina said, crying freely already, “what about the team? I can’t bear to let the team...” Drew stood beside her.

“No!” she said. “No one will do this to you, no one will do this to the team. You leave it to me.” Sabrina looked down.

“No, dammit!” Drew said and lifted Sabrina's chin. “Promise me you won’t quit.”

Sabrina shrugged helplessly.

Drew turned to the three Juniors. “Polly, you and the Kates tell Janine whateverthe hell you want to tell her. This is not your fault, I’m sure, but you have to decide where your loyalties lie. This isn’t Sabrina’s fault, too, so you can quit blaming her. Actually, if this is true, then it’s actually Janine’s fault.” Drew’s voice was reasonable. She didn’t sound angry anymore, nor sound like she was blaming them. But their pride was still hurt. Polly was about to respond, but Drew waved her down.

“No, Polly,” Drew continued. “I am not blaming you guys, like I said, nor should anyone here blame you as well. You were just pawns, as we all were.” She looked at everyone else meaningfully, telling everyone, in short, not to be mad at the three. “But think about this – if this is true, Janine did this even though she knew you were still part of the team, and tried to deflect the blame to Sabrina. She didn’t think enough about you to reconsider her scheme.

“Is it Sabrina’s fault that she tried out for the team? What – doesn’t she deserve the same break that all of us got to get on the team? I mean, really? The bigger thing here is,” she said, still sounding reasonable and calm, but relentless, “like I said, Janine did this despite you three still being part of the team. Consider that.”

The three looked down in shame. “But Drew,” Callie said, “what can we do?”

“You guys,” Drew said, and gave Callie a small kiss on the cheek, “will do nothing. You leave this all to me.” She looked at Callie and Iola straight in the eye. “I mean it, okay?” Callie and Iola nodded.

“What you can do, actually,” Drew gestured to the rest of them as well, “is to try and cheer Sabrina up, and to stop her from quitting. And don’t blame anyone else. It’s no one’s fault, except maybe Janine. Okay?”

She went to the lady by the cash register, spoke to her and handed the lady her credit card. She went back to the table.

“Iola,” Drew said, “I gave the cashier my card, and so breakfast is on me. Just be sure to get my card and sign for the bill before you guys leave. You guys order anything you want, okay? I have to go.”

She turned to leave, and as she was about to step outside, Sabrina ran up to her and put her hand on her arm. “Drew!” Sabrina said. “What are you doing? Where are you going?”

Drew hugged her, and gave her a qucik, small kiss on the lips.

“Don’t worry, Sabrina. I am not going to do anything crazy. Stop worrying.”

“But...”

“Trust me, okay? I’ll fix this.” She gave her a final hug and went to her car. “Bye!” Drew tooted her horn, waved goodbye and drove away.

“Bye!” Sabrina said, touching her lips, sighing, and waved. “... I love you...”

The following day, Coach Stoeger opened her office in the gym, her brow wrinkled from worrying about how to replace the funds the school was steadily losing as sponsors started pulling out. How can the cheerleaders continue on?

She sat at her desk and started going through the list of the parents of the kids in the Junior class (soon to be the senior class). She started ticking off potential sponsors. She spent the day calling these folks and looking for sponsors, but no one responded favorably. As for the current sponsors, they had all said that they will be pulling out next Term. It seems Janine’s dad said it may be better to try and help out the school in other ways. When she tried finding out what made them change their minds, they were evasive or didn’t have any valid reason.

One parent actually said that he didn’t know, but to please talk to Janine’s dad.

So it was official – Coach Stoeger’s sponsor revenue stream had dried up.

She couldn’t blame them, she thought. The economy wasn’t exactly rosy, so why would they want to help? But the one who suggested that they pull out was Janine’s dad.

The thing was, without donations from private individuals, the girls would again be reduced to the usual cheerleading for the home games. No nice uniforms, and away game trips wouldn’t even be possible anymore. Participating in regional and national competitions would also be totally out of the question.

Coach Stoeger sighed. “Looks like Callie and Iola were right about Janine,” she thought.

As she was about to leave for the day, her phone rang.

“Good afternoon,” an official-sounding voice said. “Is this Ms Stoeger?”

“Yes, this is Coach Stoeger.”

“Ah, excellent! This is John Donovan calling in behalf of the Tate Foundation, Coach Stoeger. Have you heard of us?”

“Of course! Who hasn’t heard of the Tate Foundation?”

“Great! Well I am calling because we have heard that you were looking for sponsors for your cheerleaders. The Wildcats, right?”

“Yes, yes!”

Mr. Donovan laughed at the enthusiastic response. “Well, we have heard that the Wildcats were able to get to the NCA semi-finals last year despite minimal support from your school and community.”

“I wouldn’t say minimal,” she said.

“Of course. I apologize – I mis-spoke. But according to your principal, last year’s donations were only about twenty thousand, which is hardly enough to cover travel costs. But despite this, your squad got to the semi-finals because of their hard work and your guidance. Anyway, we felt that was a shame so we’d like to help them make it to the finals this year, even win, actually.”

“Why, that’s... that’s wonderful news!”

“Good, good. In which case, we’d like you to visit us, at your earliest convenience, of course, and to please bring us a summary of your Cheerleader Program, as well as a projected budget for this year and an expenditure list from last year that we could look over. We can then work out a sponsorship arrangement.”

“But I have to notify the school first...”

“Of course. Please do. But we have already talked with your principal, Mrs. Weatherby, and she has sent us the school’s guidelines for corporate sponsorship, as well as an ethics checklist. I think she will send over a Ms Roberta Cabot - someone from the teaching staff, I was told, that was knowledgeable about all the administrative stuff of the school's extracurricular programs, to talk this over with us tomorrow. I’d appreciate it if you can come over some time after tomorrow so that we can have a chance to look over her material first before we meet. How does that sound?”

“That sounds great!”

“Okay, so my personal number is 917-555-2016. Feel free to call me anytime. Okay?”

“Thank you... that sounds wonderful.”

“It was indeed a pleasure talking with you, Coach Stoeger, and I hope to hear from you soon.”

“It was a pleasure taking with you, too. I have to say...”

But it was already too late as Mr. Donovan had already hung up.

“Well, I’ll be,” she said as she hung up her phone. She was overwhelmed, to say the least. She wasn’t able to squeeze even ten sentences in, she laughed to herself. “Sabrina must have some kind of guardian angel or something,” she thought. “And I think her name’s Drew.”

She hurried over to the principal’s office. “This’ll make Mrs. Weatherby flip,” she thought. After that, she’ll call the kids, starting with Drew.

That night, someone rang Drew’s doorbell.

“Just a second!” Drew called and opened the front door. Polly and the two Kates greeted her. “Hey, Drew,” the blonde Kate said.

“Hi, guys,” Drew said, surprised.

“Listen, I’m sorry if we’re disturbing you.”

“It’s cool. My dad and I just finished dinner. Anyway, come on in.”

“Pop,” Drew called. “We have visitors.”

Carson Nance came out of the kitchen wiping his hands on a dishtowel.

“Oh!” Carson exclaimed. “Hi.”

“Dad, these are Polly, Kate and Kate.”

“Two Kates, huh?” The three giggled

“Yep. They’re from the Cheerleader Team. We’re gonna be working together next schoolyear.”

“Ah! Well, good evening, girls. Would you like sodas or something?”

“Hi, Mr. Nance,” Polly said. “Great house, by the way.”

“Thank you, my dear.”

“Maybe a diet Coke?”

“No problem. Three diet Cokes coming up.” He disappeared into the kitchen again.

“Your dad’s a hottie, Drew,” one of the Kates said, smiling. “For an older guy, that is.”

“Shhh!” Drew said. “Don’t let him hear you say that! He’ll just get a swelled head.”

The three laughed.

Drew brought them to the living room, and they sat down by the coffee table.

In a few seconds, Carson came back with four Coke Zeroes and a big plate of cookies.

“Here you go, girls. Four horrible diet Cokes and a plate of sugar-free Oreos. You know, of course, that ‘sugar-free’ is a myth.”

Everyone laughed.

“I’ll leave you alone with Drew, then. You girls have some secret stuff to discuss, I’m sure,” he whispered conspiratorially.

They laughed again.

“Drew, I’m going upstairs already, okay? So please keep your chatting to a dull roar.”

Drew stood up and gave him a small peck on the cheek. “’Kay, Pop. Good night.”

When he had climbed up, the girls giggled at Drew.

“Drew, your dad is a charmer,” one of the Kates said.

“Snake charmer, maybe,” Drew joked, “just like the ones from India.”

All of them took a sip from their Cokes.

“So...” Drew began awkwardly, “What’s up?”

“It’s like this, Drew,” Polly said. “You were absolutely right yesterday, and all I can say is that we’re sorry.”

“Well... okay. But you have to apologize to the entire team, and not just to me. Especially to Sabrina.”

“We will. But we have to tell you something else.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, it’s like this. We were at my house and we had decided that we weren’t going to call Janine nor tell her about the meeting, but she and the other Seniors came over and she asked what happened. Before I knew what was happening, she was able get us to tell her what Sabrina said.

“Anyway, we thought that at least we’d be able to convince her to stop her sabotaging the team. But she laughed and said she didn’t care about Sabrina, and that she’s still going to continue doing what she was doing.”

“Then,” one of the Kates said, “I asked her about us, and how it would affect the rest of the team.”

“Then,” the other Kate continued, “she said that we were ‘collateral damage,’ whatever that meant. Polly didn’t let it go but Janine didn’t listen. She said that we were on our own. Talk about loyalty. That bitch!”

“Anyway,” blonde Kate said, “whatever you guys want to do, we’re in. But I know you guys have no reason to trust us, so you don’t have to tell us anything we don’t need to know. We’re cool with that. I think that’s the safer thing, actually, otherwise, Janine might just be able to wear us down and get us to spill again.”

“Yeah,” brunette Kate agreed. “We are totally Janine’s bitches, so it’s safer if you keep us clueless. It’s sad to admit that, I know, but it’s the truth.

“All we’re saying is that we are in. Whatever you decide, whatever you need, we’ll do it.”

“Well, that’s a big deal. Listen, I’m gonna ask everyone and see if they can all come over. If they can, are you guys game to hang around for a while?”

“Sure. I brought a car, so we’re okay to go home anytime. Hope it's okay that I parked at the curb in front of your house.”

“Good. Anyway, we have cable, that’s an x-box there, and I’ll bring you guys some snacks. Wait a sec, though - I need to tell Pop.”

She went upstairs and knocked on Carson’s door.

“Pop?” she said, “is it okay if I invite the other girls from the squad?”

Carson opened his door. “Everything okay?”

“Everything’s okay, Pop. But I need to talk over some things with the girls.”

“Okay, but make sure everyone calls their folks. I know how these things get when you girls get together. I don’t want irate parents calling me because their kids aren’t home.”

“Got it, Pop. Thanks!”

She went downstairs, sat down and called Marti. “Hey, Marti, it’s Drew. Sorry to disturb you, but can you call all the JayVees and ask them to come over to my house? Polly and the Kates are here, and there’s something big we need to talk about.”

“’Kay, Drew,” Marti said. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine. Make sure everyone asks their folks first, though. We should be done by nine but we might not.”

“Got it Drew.”

“Thanks, Marti. I’m gonna call Callie and Iola next. Bye!”

Drew called up Callie and Iola one after the other, explained the situation, and they said they’d be there in about thirty minutes.

Anyway, Drew didn’t start the explanation until everyone was there.

Sabrina was the last to arrive, and, with fourteen people in the house, it was pretty noisy.

Carson had to come down eventually, and find out what was happening. He said hi to everyone, and ordered pizza and sodas. He had a few slices and got to know the girls by name. But knowing that they had stuff to talk about, he said goodnight early and left them to their own devices.

“Okay,” Drew said, “first off, I have to apologize for making you guys come over tonight. But I think Polly and the Kates have something to tell us that’s very important.”

And with that, the three girls explained what happened to them yesterday and how sorry they were. They also explained what Janine had done up to that point. And, even though all of their slots on the team were assured, Janine had basically deep-sixed any hope for the team being anything other than a small-time cheer squad relegated to doing cheers for their non-seeded basketball and football teams (although their football team was able to make it to fourth place in the city finals), and not even with enough budget to get their team to any away games. And Janine didn’t care whether Sabrina leaves the team or not – she will kill off all their sponsorships regardless.

Sabrina stood up. “Why? Drew, why! I’m leaving the team. Why do this anymore?” Drew came over and gave her a hug.

“Because, Sabrina, it’s not just you anymore. She’s out to get the entire team now.”

“But why!”

“Because we’re your friends.”

Sabrina started crying.

“Hey, hey! Don’t cry.”

“But, Drew, I’m bringing down the team!”

“No, you’re not. It’s Janine. And, don’t worry, everyone’s got everyone else’s back. And I got all of yours.”

Polly and the two Kates came forward and apologized for all the things they did in behalf of Janine. The three said that they were okay if everyone wanted them off the team for being part of Janine’s schemes, even though they said they still wanted to be part of it. They would be open to anything the team wanted them to do.

“Within reason, of course,” Polly said, and everyone laughed.

“Callie and Iola were lucky,” Polly continued. “They managed to get away from Janine. And for that, they were shut out of the group since they made it clear that they were with Drew now, and not with Janine.”

Finally, the three personally apologized to Sabrina, and that they were sorry for everything that they had made her go through.

There was a lot of crying that night, but the true bonding of the team had started. When everyone had settled down again, Drew stood up.

“Okay. Now that we’ve calmed down, let’s talk about the present situation. Sabrina?”

“Yes, Drew?”

“Our sponsorship problem is being fixed by the coach. So you can put your mind at ease about that. And you don’t have to give up cheerleading.”

“But how...”

“It’s useless to speculate. I think it’s probably best to let Coach Stoeger tell us when she’s done with whatever she’s doing. But it’s fixed now.”

“Okay.”

“Also, there are no more applicants for the team. That means we cannot afford to lose any more girls. Does everyone agree?”

Everyone nodded at that.

“And I guess the last thing is that Polly and the Kates have admitted to being part of Janine’s... well, whatever it was that Janine was doing. But they’ve said they’re out of it. I believe them. How about you?”

Everyone agreed.

“So, that means, insofar as everyone is concerned, all is forgiven.” Everyone agreed, again.

“But, we still have the problem of Janine. The point here is not to get back at her but rather to stop her from doing anything further.”

“But, Drew,” Paige, the shorter of the two African-American Sophomores said, “I never understood what all this was about. I know that Janine has something against Bri, but that’s it. What exactly was Janine’s ...”

“I’m sorry, Paige,” Drew interrupted. “It’s not my story to tell.” After a short stretch of silence, Sabrina cleared her throat.

“I tried to kiss Janine,” she said.

“What?” Paige asked. “You tried to kiss...”

Sabrina sighed. “You know this about me, Paige.”

“Hey!” Paige said and moved to Sabrina’s side. “You’re our friend, Bri. We don’t care that you’re gay. That’s not it. We’re just trying to understand why Janine reacted so badly.”

“Janine is a prude,” the brunette Kate said.

“What? But she’s a cheerleader!”

“She is a prude and a homophobe,” Kate insisted.

“And you’re saying Janine did all of this because Bri tried to kiss her?”

“Yes.”

“The girl certainly knows how to carry grudges,” Alice, one of the Latina JayVees commented.

“You’re telling us,” Polly said. “The girl is a petty, vindictive, selfish, narrow-minded, self-centered, prudish and envy-ridden homophobic biyatch. Anyone who knew her would say the same thing.”

“Whoa!” Marti said. “You girls really have had a one hundred eighty-degree turn in your opinion about your former friend.”

The blonde Kate sighed. “That’s what being betrayed does to you.” Brunette Kate put a commiserating hand on blonde Kate’s shoulder.

“Sorry, Marti,” brunette Kate said to her, “but we thought we were her friends. And, like any friend, we would have done so many things we wouldn’t even consider doing for others. But, apparently, Janine doesn’t really have any friends, only people to do her bidding, to follow her around and be her puppets.”

“How about the other cheerleaders?”

“Well, I guess they haven’t come to the same realization.”

“Are they with her? Still?”

“Well, I know they’re all going to the same university this coming semester. Somehow, Janine convinced them to enroll there with her. So they’re still ‘together.’ I imagine they’ll go through the same thing that we went through. Eventually.” Her tone was sad, full of regret.

Drew went to the two of them and hugged them both. “I’m sorry Kate.”

“It’s all right, Drew. It was our fault that we were stupid. Guys, one thing, though...”

“Yeah?” Marti asked.

“We told Drew this already. Because we’re so... stupid, and gullible, at least when it comes to Janine, we think that anything you think Janine shouldn’t know about – don’t tell us. So we won’t spill the beans.”

“I’m sure you won’t make the same mistake again,” said Tori, the little blonde Sophomore.

“You don’t have to say that, Tori,” Polly responded. “But thanks, anyway. Still, just to be sure, and so that we won’t give you guys any reason to worry about us, just don’t tell us anything we shouldn’t know. Think of it like payback for what we did, and a kind of insurance.”

“Kind of extreme, don’t you think?”

“Just humor us. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Well,” Heather, one of the two African-American Sophomores, said, “at least we’re shut of the bitch.”

“Thank God for that,” Iola said.

“One last thing,” Drew said. “Let’s not tell anyone that the coach is fixing the sponsorship thing. Let Janine think that she’s won. Okay? That way, she won’t cook up any more schemes. And once she’s permanently gone away to college, then we can be more open. Is everyone okay with that?”

Everyone agreed. Again. “Okay. So, that’s it, then.”

“Not completely,” Iola said.

“Eh? What’s left?”

“I bumped into Coach Stoeger at the market this morning. And she said, in passing, since our team members may be final already, it might be time to talk about our cheer captain, so she asked me to talk with you guys and get the ball rolling. And despite Callie’s, Polly’s, the two Kate’s and my seniority in the team, she said that she had another girl in mind other than the five of us, but she’ll accede to the team’s wishes if we disagree with her.”

“Who does the coach think should be the captain?” Callie asked.

“She’s suggesting that Drew be the squad’s cheer captain.”

“I second that!” Polly said.

“Me, too!” Sabrina said, as well.

“I think that’s a great idea,” Savannah said.

“Wait, wait!” Drew interrupted.

“Yeah! Drew!” Marti exclaimed.

“But I’m not a cheerleader!”

“You are now!” responded Marti.

“I don’t know anything about cheerleading! I’m not qualified!”

“Coulda fooled us,” Paige giggled. “Especially after the tryouts. Count me in!”

“Wait! Callie, tell them!”

“Well,” Callie replied. “Drew’s right. She hasn’t done cheerleading before. She doesn’t know the moves, the techniques, and everything else. But she’s athletic and a quick study. And we are here to help her out, so that’s not too much of a problem. The thing is, she’s smart, hard working, and she’s my friend. I know she’s a good leader, and I know she’d do the right thing for my team and me. I vote for Drew as our team captain. Iola?”

“Of course,” Iola said. “Drew should be captain.”

“Stop! Stop!”

“Everyone who wants Drew as our captain, say ‘aye!’”

And everyone said "aye!" simultaneously, and laughed at Drew’s shocked look.

“That’s settled,” Iola said. “Drew is our team captain, then.” She turned to Drew. “If our captain agrees, of course.”

“But, guys! I don’t know much about cheerleading. Sincerely!”

Thirteen girls looked at her expectantly.

“You guys are making a mistake, you know,” Drew huffed.

“Shut up and say yes already, honey,” Callie said and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Dammit!”

Callie giggled. “That’s Drew-speak for ‘yes,’ by the way,” she said to the others.

“Aright!” the jayvees exclaimed.

- - - to be continued - - -

 

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