What A Girl Wants

One

"You ready for tryouts?" Oliver asked Sae.

Sae didn't even attempt not to scoff at the question. It's not like Oliver meant anything smug by it, but it was such a stupid question regardless. Sae only scoffed because it was not worth the effort to laugh.

"I think the better question is," Sae started, barely looking up from her nails. "Are you ready for tryouts?"

It was barely a week into senior year, and Sae was already letting the title of cheer captain go straight to her pretty pink head. Actually, that was a lie. Sae had been letting the title go to her head since she was appointed it last year from the last captain. It's not like it was any mystery before then either as to who would be getting it, so this was actually a long time in the making, and she had no intention of wasting a single second of it.

"You're joking," Oliver said with the bitchy laugh only she got away with in Sae's presence.

But getting away with something was different than being given free-for-all privileges. Sae smiled her best nice girl smile, reserved solely for routines and delivering devastating blows that needed to pack an extra punch.

"Of course I'm not. Everyone's trying out this year, including the vets." Sae whipped her head around to look at Rin, who was sipping her diet coke and well prepared for the incoming jab. "I'm not having any losers or underperformers on the team this year, got it?"

Rin didn't bother responding. She just rolled her eyes and flipped her sister off, never even taking her soda filled straw out of her mouth. It didn't matter if Rin had to try out. She would, and she'd make it on, and they both knew it. Sae gave her a hard time because they were sisters, but they were both well aware that Rin was the best third the squad had had since she joined two years ago. She wasn't going anywhere.

Shuto, on the other hand, had every reason to be nervous, including her subpar skill and Sae's general dislike of her, and was also well aware of it. She nervously twirled the end of her blonde ponytail around her finger. "Have you thought about what we'll be doing for tryouts?"

"Tell you what," Sae said. "We lost a lot of good talent with last year's seniors. If you bring someone with potential, I'll consider going easy on you."

Shuto nodded, immediately knowing this was something to take seriously.

"That goes for all of you," Sae said to the small group of girls crowded around her. "We need girls and we need them to be good. Scout the freshman and the transfer students before basketball or volleyball or god forbid swimming gets to them."

"What's the big deal, queen Sae?" Oliver asked. "Even with the old seniors gone, there's at least twelve of us left. That's more than enough to count as a squad."

"I want at least twenty," Sae snapped back. "Good athletes. And at least three alternates in case someone gets injured."

"That's," Shuto said, counting on her fingers. "Five full stunt groups?"

"We don't need that many girls to dance on the sidelines during games," Oliver said.

She'd long been one of the least invested cheerleader Sae had ever known, not to mention the off putting purple and lime green hair she insisted on bleaching and redyeing every six weeks, but she kept her around because she was almost unmatched as a base. Her grip was firm, she could see a fall coming from a mile away, and she could toss a flyer in the air like nobody's business.

"I don't give a shit about shaking our asses on the sidelines of fucking football games," Sae snapped back. "I want twenty girls and at least three alternates because this year, we're going to nationals."