"Oh, hey Quincey!" I smiled as she walked up to me. "I need you to come with me" Quincey says. "What for?" I asked. "Tryouts part two- cheer tryouts." Quincey said. "What? I thought you guys already had tryouts" I said as we walked.
"We did! We're just doing it again" Quincey said. "I don't get it. Why are you doing it again if you already have your flyer?" I questioned. "Technically, we don't have a flyer since I didn't put out the sheet for the team yet" Quincey said. "Oh, okay" I muttered as we eventually made it to the gymnasium doors.
"Hey before we go in there I wanted to apologize" I said. "For?" Quincey asked me. "Missing tryouts the first time" I said. "I really wanted to be there but things happened and it was too late for me to show up by then" I stated. "Don't worry about it! Your friend told me everything" She smiled.
"Friend?" I asked.
"Yeah. Nia...I think? I'm not totally sure" Quincey shrugs.
"Yeah, that's her." I nodded. "Cool" The dirty blonde says. "What- What did she tell you exactly?" I asked, crossing my arms. "She told me that you were in a bad situation during tryouts and that you had needed to stay home and help" Quincey stated. "Really?" I questioned, shocked.
"Yeah. Was she not supposed to say anything?" Quincey asks. "No! no- no, no it's not like that I just didn't think she would... tell anyone!" I said. "Oh, sorry." She apologized. "But I'm kind of glad she did." The cheer captain nudged me. "You ready to go inside?".
"Yeah, Let's go" We both walked in the gym together.
「✧✦」
Tryouts was about to start and Yasmine had called five for everyone to get ready.
I sat on the bench beside the double doors and drank some of my water while looking at the time. There was only 30 minutes left until lunch was over and so was tryouts. I heard the sound of heavy boots walking towards me and I automatically knew who it was. "Hey. You okay?" Quincey asks as she sat beside me.
She noticed my nervousness earlier. That could be the only reason why she asked that. "Why are you doing this?" I asked. "Doing what, Esme?" She asked. "Being nice. Giving me a second chance when you barely know me or any of my skills". "I mean how do you even know if I'm good at cheer or not?" I huffed, still unsure of all of this.
"I think everyone deserves a second chance, Esme" Quincey says. I looked over at her. "Fine, sure. I may not know you yet, but I'm hoping to" She admits. "Even if you're not good at cheer, there's always next year!" Quincey encouraged me. "But there's no need to wait til next year because I believe in you".
"My question is why don't you believe in yourself?" Quincy asked.
"I do believe in myself" I said. It came out more rudely than I wanted it to. "Then prove it." She said. "Show me and everyone else here that you can do this!" Quincey chimed. "I will" I said, feeling a bit better than before. Is it bad that I want Tess to be here right now?
"Good. That's all I needed to hear" Quincey helps me up and smiled at me.
「✧✦」
"Hey, Nia!" I said while seeing her in the hallway.
"Esme?" She turned around. I gave her a soft hug and then backed away. "Ew. What was that for?" Nia asked. "To thank you... for talking to Quincey about the cheer tryouts!" I smiled. "It was nothing" Nia said as she waved me off. "It was to me" I tell her.
"Thanks to you and Quincey, I got a second chance to tryout!" I beamed.
"Hmm. Well, just so you know, I didn't do it for you." Nia admits; "I did it for Tess".
I nodded and placed my hands in my pockets. "I'm starting to understand why she's taken an interest in you" She told me. "You're pretty cool when I'm not hating you" Nia said. "Thanks?" I wasn't too sure if that was a compliment or not. But she's obviously trying so I'll take it.
"I'll admit. I couldn't handle the fact that she moved on and I didn't" Nia sighed; "I'm... I'm sorry, Esme".
"It's okay..." I said, giving her another smile. After a moment of awkwardness, I started to mess with my necklace. "Um, hey, Nia. Just so you know, I never meant to get between you and Tess, honest" I stated. "It just, kind of..." I tried to find the right words but nothing came up.
"Happened?"
"....Happened"
"Yeah, I know" Nia says with a nod. "So, we good?" Nia asked as she held out her hand. "Yeah... We're good" I shook it. I started to walk off when Nia stopped me. "Esme, wait!" I turned around and looked at her with confusion. "'Sup?" I questioned. "I, um... I have something for you since we're talking and whatnot" Nia says before she grabs something out of her bag.
Nia hands me a sketchbook and my eyes lit up in happiness; "My book!".
"Wait, I left with my book the other day...? I'm not getting this" I said. "It's a new one. I found it at a store" Nia said. "I figured you'd want it. You know, as a replacement, of course" She explains. "Thank you, Nia. That's really nice of you" I said, taking the book. "You're welcome. Don't think too much into it" She chuckled.
After that the bell rings and we went our separate ways for class.
「✧✦」
In art class, I opened my new sketchbook and found a note on the first page.
I know I can't replace things but I hope this'll help.
- Nia
I smiled and grabbed my folder that had a sketch inside and was planning to turn it in for one of my assignments. I earned a B- on my portrait project from when things... happened. "Hey, Mae?" Booker questioned sitting in the desk beside mine. "Hmm?" I looked over at my friend.
"Look... I know you don't want to talk about it and I'm not totally sure on what's what with you guys, but I need you to go and talk to Tess later" He said.
"Why?" I asked, knowing where this was headed. Me and the crew barely talked to each other for the past week and even though Booker didn't do anything wrong, he wanted to give me some space. At first, Tess kept trying to talk to me but she eventually stopped and kept her distance. "She hasn't been around lately" Booker says.
"Meaning?" I asked.
"Meaning that she hasn't been at school for the past week, and that's not like her" Booker stated. "I'm pretty sure it's because of her thing with you" He says. "Not everything's about us, Booker. She's probably sick or something" I tried to get him to drop the topic. "Just try and talk to her?" Booker suggested. "Yeah. Whatever" I rolled my eyes as our teacher came in.
