What A Girl Wants

Three

Sae went into tryouts feeling more confident than she ever had about them. There was a great turnout, she got to make all the final decisions about who stayed and who didn't, and she had this uncanny feeling that this year would be the year they'd make it to nationals.

Due to some pushback from Rin and Oliver, Sae begrudgingly let them skip main tryouts if they could prove their tumbling was still up to par. Kind of a formality, because she knew they were good, but she was also kind of trying to save her own ass, because pretty soon word would get out that she let some new girl gymnast join without even as much as a private tryout. Shuto too, got to skip the line, but that was less to do with her passable tumbling and more to do with the fact that she'd personally petitioned at least ten girls from the lower grades to come try out.

So, the four of them were settled into plastic folding chairs, holding clipboards to keep notes, watching the last of the girls file in. Some of them, especially the girls who had been on the squad last year, looked a little sour, but that was something Sae made sure to keep note of. If you were confident in your skills, there should be no ill will. This should be just another chance to show off for them.

Sae was feeling at ease, ready to judge these girls down to the microbends of their arms, the placement of their feet, the genuineness of their smiles, until the gym door swung open again and Shidou Ryusei walked in.

Beside Sae, Rin scoffed. "Looks like your little freakshow actually showed up."

Then, Sae started panicking a little. Because the tall blonde and pink haired girl didn't go over to the group of girls waiting for tryouts to start. She headed right over to Sae and the rest of the girls in their chairs.

She'd clearly come straight from the gym. She was in yet another hot pink sports bra, the matching shorts sticking out of her low rise sweatpants, her hair down but damp with sweat, her white headphones hanging around her neck. She dropped her duffel bag at Sae's feet.

"Where's my chair?" she asked, her pink eyes not daring to travel anywhere but over the cheer captain.

"Are you fucked?" Rin asked, almost laughing. "Go stand over there with everyone else and wait to get rejected."

But Sae was already on her feet. "You can take mine."

"What?" Rin demanded.

"I can see better standing up anyways," Sae snapped, in a private way of saying we'll talk about it later.

She stepped away from the chair to let Ryusei take it. Which she did, right before crossing her legs, folding her hands on her lap, and grinning at Rin. Oliver and Shuto, who knew better than to say anything, exchanged a glance and tried their best not to laugh. Rin, on the other hand, didn't fear Sae, and had no intention of discussing it later.

"These chairs are for girls already on the squad," she said, kind of at Ryusei, kind of at her sister, depending on who would latch onto it.

"Oh, you haven't heard?" Ryusei asked Rin, tilting her head to the side.

"Shut up," Sae hissed, mostly at Rin, but kind of at both of them.

To her delight, Ryusei made the motion of zipping her mouth, locking it at the side, and tossing the key aside. Obedience was a very attractive trait to her. Rin was clearly fuming, scowling and arms crossed, and Sae was ought to get some lukewarm earful later, but as long as it was indeed something that could wait until later, that was fine by her.

"Okay," Sae called out to the group of girls that were wearing looks that ranged from anticipatory to petrified. "This is how this is going to go."

After tryouts were finished, Sae felt a very rare moment of sympathy for the captains that had come before her. Running tryouts was quite an exhausting endeavour indeed. Most of the girls were decent. Some were good, a few were great. A few were painfully bad, but it wasn't the majority, and that was something to be undoubtably grateful for.