Chapter 3: Cheerleading and Boys

            Elise walked down the hallway alone. She was going to the gym armed with her books and school backpack. She wore her white short skirts and white printed, thin, long sleeves and white sneakers. She glanced at her watch she wore on her left wrist and stopped dead when she felt someone coming to her out of the blue before she could turn into a corner.

            Her heart thumped so hard in her chest when he smiled at her. Then, she saw her brother coming right up behind him.

            “So, where to?” her brother asked and then she blinked. It was like that special moment was cut short—awfully short for her liking!

            “To the gym,” she answered and threw a glance at the guy ahead of her brother.

            “Hey, Kent! Wait up!”

Her brother called out and followed the quarterback. Then, the rest of the team members also followed.

            Elise blinked and thought while she continued to walk. She could have bumped onto Kent Thompson if she did not stop.

Kent was the richest kid in school. His family was one of the richest families in the entire Portage county or rather, Wisconsin state. His father owned at least five law firms in New York.

            That was weird, she thought. Someone could have had blocked me or something.

She then blushed if ever she would have had bumped onto the quarterback. It would be embarrassing for her and for him. Yes, for both of them. Her brother had already hinted her that Kent had a crush on her since he saw her the first time early this school year.

When she learned about it, she could not stop thinking of the tall guy with blond hair, blue eyes, perfect straight nose and a smile that was so mesmerizing.     

“Hey!” Diana caught up with her just in time she opened the door of the gym.

“Hey,” she answered back and smiled.

“I met Kent on my way here. You saw him?” Diana asked her like there was something else behind that information.

“Well, yeah. I saw him. We met around the corner.” She shrugged and acted like nothing was special. She couldn’t let others know about how she felt for Kent. She might die of humiliation.

She entered the gym and saw that most of their co-members were there waiting for the team captain.

The team was composed of only twelve members including the team captain. Three of them were already seniors, two were sophomores and the rest were freshmen.

Diana was happy to see all of them and began their meeting. “Guys, summer vacation is upon us. I wish all of you would be present in the summer camp. And, during that time, I will officially hand over my crown to the next team captain!” she announced excitedly.

Everybody was enthusiastic about it. Although they already had an idea who it would be, some of them still wished they would be chosen as the one to bequeath the privileged position—officially. As it was, their cheerleading team did not vote who would be the next team captain unlike other teams’ tradition.

Aubrey’s eyes stopped in Elise’s direction. They both smiled timidly at each other. However, Elise did not catch the malicious glint in the other girl’s eyes.

“Alright. But before the summer camp, you all know we need to tackle yet the inter-high school football championships in a fortnight. This afternoon, I want everybody to be in the field and I’ll teach you another routine that will take our opponents’ breath away!”

“What is it?”

“You sure we never did it before?”

“Is it just another combination we already performed?”

“Are you sure we can do it perfectly ‘til the fortnight?”

Everyone asked Diana different questions at the same time. The team captain threw her hands up in the air and hushed the girls.

“Shh…! I know we can do it, alright? Besides, I’m sure the next captain will make you work harder in the cheerleading competitions next school year.”

Diana grinned and threw a glance at Elise who remained quiet.

****

In the afternoon, everybody was present and wore their scanty uniforms while the Belmont Braves football guys whistled, admiring them. Their football coach shouted at the guys.

“Hey! Focus! Focus!”

“Yes, sir!” Eric said, laughing at his co-members who seemed to be transfixed with the cheerleading team members.

The coach went on to mumble, “Kids these days.”

Eric saw his sister with the stand-in coach Mrs. Lee and Diana, a likeable Hispanic senior girl that he happened to like as his sister’s friend. Well, he was a secret admirer of hers. He just loved her brown smooth hair that was just past her shoulders, her dark brown eyes and her olive skin—really, just his type of a girl.

“Do you have any idea what we’re going to do?” Tiffany whispered to Aubrey when they saw Diana arrive together with Elise and their coach.

“No. I don’t have the vaguest idea,” said Aubrey, frowning.

All the girls lined up according to their assigned positions. Elise was the first one on the right side, and just behind her was Diana. Aubrey and Tiffany were on the left side, opposite to the first two girls, respectively.

They were stretching first and practicing their toe touch jumps, followed by pike and front hurdler jumps. Everyone was breathless afterward and they took a break, watching the football guys doing their conditioning drills to increase their strength and speed.

After their short break, Diana explained their surprise step or technique that they were going to perform soon. “This will be shown during the championships and during this upcoming summer camp. We will show them an exchange of flyers in basket toss.”

Everyone’s jaw dropped except for Elise’s, even though she did not know about this. Meanwhile, the stand-in coach was expressionless, unaware of it because she was not really a cheerleader and had no idea what basket toss is in the first place. She was just picked up by the principal to man the cheerleading team, arrange what they needed and their practice schedule, including summer camps and competitions.

“Diana, that’s dangerous,” Aubrey opposed vehemently, as she was one of the flyers of the team.

“What if she’s not caught?” Tiffany supported. Everyone knew they could be injured if they made huge mistakes.

“That’s why we call the cheerleading a team, right? We have to take care of ourselves and the others. The most responsible persons are the bases. Without them, the flyers are dead!” Diana pointed out, eyes probing Aubrey’s.

Elise was a little worried, too as she was one of the flyers as well. But what Diana had just suggested was a great move indeed! It would be breathtaking. Practically.

“Listen up,” Diana said with a hand raised. “After exchanging in basket toss, the flyers should perform the liberty. Understood?”

There was a low murmur in response. Then Diana was talking again in a high tone.

“Alright. We’ll do it step by step, ladies! Positions, please. Ready! 5, 6, 7, 8!”

At first, the two flyers tossed in the air accidentally bumped at each other and there was a loud scream from all bases as they tried to catch Elise and Aubrey.

The football guys were standing frozen in awe as they watched the girls. Their coach’s whistle dropped from his mouth.

The two girls experienced body pains after it. However, it did not stop them from trying another time. The second time was better. However, the bases had to accommodate some certain distance so as not to drop the respective flyers that they were going to catch.

It was the nth time they tried it until it was done almost perfectly. And they were exhausted but were so happy about their achievement so far. No major incident so far, thankfully.

****

It was already dark when the cheerleading squad ended their rehearsals that day. Diana and Elise walked down the pathway from the dressing room when Eric and Kent met them.

“Where are you heading to?” asked Eric to his sister.

“To Menominee’s Hut. We heard that Nohkoma has a new recipe for lasagna. We’d like to try it.” Diana was the one who answered the question and brightly grinned at Eric, making the guy stare at her.

Nohkoma was the owner of Menominee’s Hut, a popular local fast food in town. She was a third degree native Indian of the Menominee tribe, one of the original Indian settlers in Wisconsin. Her name was after a Menominee mythological figure, Nokomis, a wise old grandmother of Manabush, as her late parents were so fond of Menominee legends.

It was just two years ago that the fast food was put up by Nohkoma herself. Her grandmother was her inspiration to come up with the business as it was told that Menominee Indians beg for food around town. This time, it would be the whole town that would seek for her food. She mixed some native Indian recipes to her menu everyday. And at least in one or two months, she would introduce a new recipe that made patrons and new customers as well as tourists keep coming back to her fast food.

Aside from food, she provided stories for little children. There was a small room she prepared for this sole purpose. She would tell them about Menominee tribe, its culture and legends, which little children were also fond of listening to over and over again. Then, they would ask Nohkoma some questions about some things about the tribe’s religion and traditions.

Nohkoma at her age of fifty was very fond of children as she hadn’t got one of her own. Her colonial spouse died young of brain cancer around twenty-five years ago. When he died, she started looking up for odd jobs until she landed as a household maid. Her white employers were so fond of culinary arts and she learned from them, too, who later on helped her make a loan to put up her fast food. It was thanks to them who helped her realize her inspiration that she had with her grandmother.

“Oh, what’s it called this time?” asked Kent with curiosity in his blue eyes, glancing at Elise.

“Wiikiops Bark,” Diana answered.

The two big boys frowned when they heard it and echoed. “Wiik… what?”

“Wiikiops Bark. It’s actually lasagna, I told you. And Nohkoma decorated it with a bit of almost melting chocolate that was after a design of their tribe’s hut during summer. The chocolate resembles the cedar bark. She said that their tribe’s house during summer was rectangular in shape that was made out of cedar or elm bark,” Diana explained further.

“Wow! Sounds great!” Kent said, impressed of the creativity of the owner of the most popular local fast food in town.

“Cool!” Eric interjected. “We’ll come with you to try it.” He grinned at his sister.

Elise’s heart did a cartwheel when she glanced at Kent.

             What happens now? Her mind was racing. So was her heart. It couldn’t seem to stop, especially that their eyes held each other for more than a few seconds and more than necessary.