The It Girl [COMPLETED]

Chapter 5 - "Lose your pompoms, princess?"

By the end of school, Courtney wanted to collapse on the floor. But a graceful collapse, perhaps an elegant swoon. Not an embarrassing display of flailing arms with an end result of a tangle of limbs. No, it would be a graceful swoon.

She didn't swoon, obviously. But she could have. The day had been an endless parade of students wanting to laugh over the video with her - which she did, followed by questions of how her ankle was - which she answered with witty remarks. After all, who wanted to hear her whine about the high amount of tiring pain she faced throughout the day. Bleh. So boring. 

Now the school day was over and hopefully, that meant the end of the parade. Instead of leaving, Courtney made her way into the gym where two cheerleaders were dressed in workout clothes and talking.

"Hi Kimber, Rosa," Courtney said, easing herself down on the bottom step of the bleacher. "I rewatched the video from Friday, your basket toss was perfect." The girls perked up with the compliment. "Rosa your lines were clean. Watch out for timing for the routine, though. You seemed about a quarter beat off." Rosa nodded, all seriousness. "Kim, make sure you're smiling big, you don't want to look lifeless."

"Got it!" Kimber said. "Anything else?"

"I'll let you know if I spot anything else during practice. Can you two go get the mats?"

The girls accepted and hurried towards one of the storage closest, calling out to two more girls as they entered the gym. Normal. Something normal. Thank goodness for that or I might go insane.

Her ankle throbbed distractingly, but she knew she still had an hour before she could take more pain meds. But being here would be worth it. One part of her life that wasn't falling to pieces like the others. And if she was being honest she'd always sucked at puzzles so she wasn't looking forward to putting the other parts back together.

As the squad set up for practice, rolling out the mats across the baseball court, Coach Ramirez arrived. When she spotted Courtney, she cut towards her. You ain't poking my ankle again lady, not today, not today.

"What are you doing here?" Ramirez asked.

Well, she was posing on the bleachers in the hopes of being the next poster girl for damaged cheerleaders, but besides that, cheer practice.

"Our routines have to be reworked since I won't be in them for a while," Courtney said. "I think we should bring up Holly to fill the gap. She's only a sophomore but she can do the stunt work."

Ramirez smiled at her in what Courtney considered a sympathetic manner. Courtney didn't like that. I'm not broken lady, just minorly damaged.

"I know this," Ramirez said. "It's what I planned to work with the squad today. Cory, you need to go home and rest."

Resting was for the lame. Courtney wasn't lame. With her crutches, she could take down a pair of ninjas. Her crutches were like hidden weapons. All she had to do was go straight for the throat.

"I'm fine," Courtney said. "I'm cheer captain, I will be here for my squad."

"I understand, but as your coach, I'm removing you from your duty. Your co-captain will oversee things until you get back in a month."

Co-captain. Courtney found Lynn among the girls and saw that Lynn had heard the entire exchange. She looked startled and stunned.

Lynn taking over. Cheer taken away. Had the universe not heard how she hated puzzles?

Embrace the situation.

Courtney stood up and tucked her crutches under her arms.

"Squad! Form up," Courtney called out.