Cross School

13 - Bring It On (Drag Edition)

When Sam asked himself: 'What the Hell am I in for?' even he hadn't quite predicted what would happen during his first cheerleading practice. He felt like throwing up while he waited in the changing rooms. He didn't know why he was nervous, although the fact that he was a boy, covered in makeup, wearing a cheerleading outfit, forced to go try out was reason enough.

Rose stood across from him, brushing his wig to make it straight again. She was wearing an identical uniform. It was the standard cheerleader outfit, albeit a lot more like ones Sam had seen in movies than he predicted. This was still a high school, so the amount of skin the outfit showed surprised him. All the outfit was, was a pink crop top with white bordering and a matching skirt. Paired together with knee-high socks and pink running shoes, and you had yourself a cheerleading outfit. Rose fitted a fashionable pink hair band in Sam's hair, one she herself was wearing.

'I feel like dying,' Sam said as he saw himself in the mirror. He did look like a girl a bit after all the work Rose had done. He was small and skinny enough to pass as one anyway, so the added wig, makeup and clothes further sealed the deal. Or fuel to the fire, as Sam liked to think. This was still, after all, his punishment. His completely undeserved punishment.

'You look cute,' Rose said, with a tone that was mostly just trying to make him feel better. 'You don't look totally uncomfortable in a cheerleading outfit. It kind of suits you, but red really is your colour.'

'Glad to hear it,' Sam said, rolling his eyes. 'What do I even do out there? I haven't practiced anything!'

'Just wing it,' Rose said with an earnest smile. 'I wing most things I do and they usually work out forty percent of the time.'

'Those aren't good odds. Like, at all.'

'But they're not impossible odds. Think of it like a video game or something.'

Sam sighed. 'I don't play video games.'

'Really? I could have sworn-'

'Just because I'm a teenage boy doesn't mean I play video games, Rose! I guess that makes me more like your crowd then. Fine, bring it on. I belong like this, don't I?'

'Hey! Just because I'm a pretty teenage girl that likes to dress quite fashionable doesn't mean I don't play video games. And I don't mean just Mario Kart. I like Legend of Zelda, Call of Duty and even Final Fantasy.'

Sam looked at her blankly. 'To me, that was all a load of nonsense.' Rose looked away and mumbled under her breath. She passed Sam a pair of pom-poms and began walking him out the of the changerooms.

'You have to have played Wii Sports before, right?'

Sam nodded. 'I'm familiar with it.'

'Alright! Think of these pom-poms as Wii remotes. Let their movements control you, like you're playing Boxing or Tennis. I know you're not a gamer, but just picture your performance not as you doing it, but like you're the one watching and controlling it. Remove yourself from the movements and just let your body naturally do the talking.'

Before Sam could argue her logic, Rose had pushed him out of the changing room doors and into the gym. She waved back at him as she made her way to the bleachers, sitting alongside all the other girls wanting a spot. There was a table in the middle of the gym. Two cheerleaders and the gym teacher, Ms. Perry, were sitting and smiling, looking directly at Sam.

The middle girl, the head cheerleader, waved Sam over. The girl seemed very energetic. She was short with blonde hair tied into two long tails. 'Hi!' she said cheerily. 'I'm Kimmy, and this is my friend Brianna.' The other cheerleader waved. She was the opposite of her friend, taller with long, dark hair and a slightly edgy look to her makeup.

'What's your name?' Brianna said.

'S-S-Sam,' he stuttered. 'S-Sam Redding.'

'Show us what you got,' Kimmy said, beaming. Ms. Perry hit a button on the boom box next to her and a Brittney Spears song started playing. Sam didn't know which one it was, but he found himself struggling to even move to it. This type of music was foreign to him.

'My loneliness is killing me...' Brittney sang, and Sam was sure he could relate to no other sentiment right now. He was out there, all alone, forced to do this stupid cheerleading tryout with no prior practice.

He looked up at Rose who looked just as panicked as he was. She then waved her pom-pom's at him, mouthing 'Remember the Tea Floats!' at him. Whatever that meant, it wasn't helping.

Kimmy and Brianna were looking at him with forced smiles, desperately wanting him to do something. Sam had to move, otherwise Rose would be disappointed. He hadn't known her for long, but he liked her. A lot. And the last thing he wanted to do was to make her sad. She signed him up for cheerleading tryouts so she could have a friend in the squad. He had to do this for her, his dignity be damned.

Suddenly, Rose's incoherent mouthing made sense. 'Remember the Wii Remotes!' she was saying, nothing about tea. Sam closed his eyes and pictured that he was holding Wii Remotes instead of pom-poms. He remembered watching someone play a game Just Dance on the Wii once, a game that made for a much better comparison than Rose's. Sam pictured himself as the player, and he was the character on-screen, moving to the beat of the song, controlled by the person holding the remotes.

And thus, Sam began to dance. He didn't know what he was doing, his eyes were closed the entire time, but whatever it was, everyone started cheering. He mimicked dance moves he had seen on music videos, poses from supermodels, anything that seemed like it remotely belonged in a cheerleading routine, he tried to do.

Finally, the music stopped and Sam stood in the middle of the gym, panting, and relieved. The three judges were all smiling at him. It was Brianna who acted first, standing up to clap. 'Bravo!' she said. 'For a boy, that was pretty alright.'

'You've got a lot of potential, Sammy!' Kimmy yelled, joining her friend on her feet. 'For someone so usually awkward, you exuded confidence!'

Sam felt himself blush. 'T-t-thanks,' he said. Sam nervously made his way to the bleachers amid a sea of scowling girls, all waiting their turns. Rose flashed him the thumbs up as he sat beside her.

'You were excellent,' she said. 'Super sexy.'

'You're just teasing me, aren't you?'

Rose grinned. 'A little bit, but you did good. For you to make the team for me would mean the world. Thank you so much!'

Sam pulled back. 'How did you know I did this for you?'

'Oh, please,' Rose said as she hugged him. 'There isn't a hint of subtlety in anything you do.'