THE CALL | W. LYKENSEN

GREATER THAN CHEER

WEXTON

Walking into the gym for practice I was greeted by the sight of the cheerleaders huddled up, whispering nervously amongst themselves. Following their gaze I was greeted by a group of werewolves sitting on the bleachers. I felt myself get nervous as I saw Wyatt sitting with them, gosh was he cute. I looked between the two groups unsure of what to do, eventually deciding on walking over to the wolves.

"Awoo" I let out softly as I walked over to the group, a breathy laugh leaving my lips as they all turned to look at me.

" I hope that was right, I was going for a 'hey what's up' " I greeted.

"It was perfect" Wyatt grinned at me. I beamed back, happy I got it right. Dang, speaking wolf was even easier than speaking zombie.

"What are you guys doing here? Thinking of trying out for cheer?" I asked, hoping Wyatt was thinking of joining.

"Oh, uh. No. We were just wanting to see what it was all about, I guess" Wyatt mumbled out, looking over at Wynter almost looking for help.

"Oh well that sucks. You guys should really think of joining, it's great" I started, seeing a wide grin spread on Wyatt's face " It's really fun and our cheer captain Bucky is like so cute – wait, no. Cool, I meant cool" I blurted out quickly as I saw the smile fall from the boys face.

"Oh man, this really isn't going well is it?" I added on as I looked at Wyatt with a grimace.

"Not really, but it's okay" Wyatt tried to console me.

"Yeah. Well, Addison is leading practice today so that she can be cheer captain if Bucky becomes president" I tried to distract from my awkward mess up.

"Do you think she'll be a good leader?"

"Oh yeah, definitely. Addy's a natural" I spoke confidently.

"What about you? You not a leader?" Wyatt questioned quietly, an odd look in his eyes.

"Oh, uh no. I'm not really the leader type. I'm more the sidekick. You know? The one that supports everyone while making jokes to lighten the mood" I shrugged.

"I feel like you could be a lot more than just a sidekick" he spoke with such sincerity it almost shocked me. I don't think anyone has ever seen me as anything more than the weird kid who was adopted by zombies. I was going to respond but was interrupted by Addison crashing through the doors, blowing loudly on her whistle to call us all to attention. I quickly raced over to stand in front of her with the rest of the cheer squad.

"I am so fired up to be running cheer practice! Together we can do anything" Addison started out, beaming with excitement. I smiled back just as big but the rest of the squad kept looking nervously behind her. Noticing their stares the girl quickly turned around to spot the wolves staring at her intently.

"Sorry, but this practice space is for cheerleaders only" Addison declared with confidence. I frowned at her words, I thought she'd be more welcoming.

"Just try and get us to leave" Wynter snapped back as she stood, the other wolves getting up to back her.

"Wynter, some respect" Wyatt stepped in, I smiled at him in thanks and he grinned back.

"Oh, no. I don't want you to leave. I want you to stay" Addison invited. My smile grew at her words "show us what you can do. The cheer team is for everyone"

"5,6,7,8!" Addison called out as we can began to cheer, her partnering up with Wyatt and me with Wynter. I smiled at Wynter as she cheered along, high fiving her as we moved around only to bump into Wyatt. The two of us grinned as we high fived as well before he went over to do a toss with Addison, catching her easily. When we were done I cheered and hugged Wynter.