the prom queen

chapter twelve

s o p h i e f o s t e r

after being abandoned by keefe, sophie walked out of english by herself and looked for marella. she was supposed to meet sophie by her locker so that's where she headed. she put her books in her locker and waited for marella. sophie was a little nervous about tryouts. how many other girls was she competing against? who was on the cheerleading team? were they practicing on the same field as the football team?
her thoughts were interrupted when marella threw a red and gold leotard and skirt at her. "come on, we have to get changed." she waved her down and sophie hustled down the hall. marella was the captain of the cheerleading team so if sophie sucked, it would be an embarrassment to her too. and marella didn't let her forget it. "remember, smile and stick the landing. it's simple. just- don't mess up."
she made it sound easier than it was. sophie hadn't danced or done gymnastics in a year or so and she hoped she wasn't too rusty. she'd had absolutely no time to prepare but sophie held out hope. at first she was extremely against this but as the day progressed, and she had more time to think over the offer, sophie realized she needed to get more involved in sports and this was a perfect opportunity. "where do we change?"
marella led her into the gym locker rooms where there were cheerleaders, basketball, soccer, and softball players changing. "great." sophie said through gritted teeth. she picked out an empty locker and uncomfortably looked around. all of the other girls were fine changing in front of each other but sophie wasn't used to showing more skin than the end of her arms where her sleeves didn't cover. and she never wore shorts that didn't reach her knees. she lied saying she had to go to the bathroom and changed into her skimpy uniform.
sophie came out of the stall tugging on the end of her skirt then pulling at the neckline. how were these uniforms approved by the school? marella was leaning against the wall, in the same tiny outfit as sophie, waiting for her to be done. she was being surprisingly nice to her for someone in the popular clique, maybe she needed to reevaluate the people in that group. "ready?" marella asked. sophie gave her a quick nod and they moved to the turf field.
it was 3:30 and the sun was at it's highest point. the weather was on her side today, the heat was a nice change from the freezing cold in the morning and it would hopefully help her win the open spot on the team. they reached the crowd of girls in red and gold skirts as marella shouted "line up!" one by one the cheerleaders scurried to the white line spray painted onto the turf. sophie and two other girls were instructed to sit on the bleachers until they were told otherwise. "ladies, today we're going to start practice by choosing a replacement for olivia." marella said giving a sympathetic look to a girl in a wheelchair near the equipment for training.
she waved sophie and the other two girls her way, urging them to come over. "first on the list is sophie foster." she started, giving sophie a 'you better not make me regret this' look. "she's done years of ballet and gymnastics. i think she would a perfect fit on this team." marella shooed the girls onto the bleachers, where sophie was just sitting, and her to the field in front of them.
"5, 6, 7, 8!" marella yelled as sophie prepared her starting position. she began in a clap position at chest level then lowered her right arm down in a v position while her left arm stayed in front of her chest. she lifted her right arm back into a clap then repeated the past moves with her left arm.
"run the ball down the field!" sophie chanted. she went into a right bow and arrow formation then into a left. moving into the next cheer, sophie put her left hand on her hip as her right arm punched down in a v position twice.
"mastodons, run!" she clapped, moved her right arm into a v position, then clapped again.
"mastodons, go!" one of the final moves was to put her left arm in a v position, do a backflip, and end on a clap. which sophie did successfully. the girls on the bleachers all rose and cheered for sophie. had she really done that well? she blushed and ran to sit down on the bleachers with the cheerleaders. two girls behind her patted her on the back and another beside her told her that was the best cheer she'd ever seen, even better than marella's.
speaking of marella, she was gawking at sophie for a while before bringing up the next girl to tryout. "it's kind of a waste of time to watch the next tryouts." one voice whispered to another.
"we already know sophie's making the team." a higher pitched voice agreed in the back. sophie smiled to herself and hoped it was true. not only would being on a team look good for colleges, maybe sophie would find some friends among these girls.
once the silence settled in it didn't go away when the next girl to tryout started the routine. she skipped the first step all together and stumbled her way through the bow and arrow move. sadly, the girl fell right on her butt when she tried to do the backflip and had to be taken to the nurse. the last girl to tryout had a determined look on her face and seemed to know what she was doing.
she gracefully moved through the first steps and when it came down to the backflip she landed right back on her feet. after she finished she got a quite a few claps, not as many as sophie but still a good amount for a tryout. marella gathered all the cheerleaders onto the field in a huddle to choose which girl was to fill in the open spot. 
sophie tensed up and watched as the girls rose their hands from a distance. the suspense was killing her. she hadn't been as nervous as she was now since, well not for a long time. the butterflies in her stomach were fluttering up into her throat and sophie felt like puking. why was she so nervous?
marella waved over trella, the girl standing beside sophie on the cement ground, and her face fell. she knew she wasn't good enough to win against her. who would want to be on a team with these stupid uniforms anyway? trella happily bounded over only to storm off a moment later. wait. had she?...no. there was no away.
the group of cheerleaders raced over to sophie and threw her up in the air. "welcome to the team." marella smiled. sophie grinned back in response and soaked in all the attention. she normally hated attention but...this didn't feel uncomfortable like it usually did. sophie was glad to be cheered on by the other girls. this was the happiest she'd been in quite some time.
"great job sophie." marella said as the team of cheerleaders finally set her down. "we'll take ten then spend the rest of practice working on the routine for next week." she decided. sophie thanked marella as a big shadow crossed her path. when she looked up sophie's grin grew even wider, if that was even possible.
"hey foster. you make the team?" keefe asked. a dark haired boy, who she assumed was fitz, was following close behind him.
"yeah i did. i don't know how i feel about the uniform though." sophie said looking down and then pulling at her mini skirt.
fitz chuckled and then made a snide remark to keefe that she couldn't hear from how far he was. keefe's grin turned into a scowl as he balled his fists and jumped onto fitz. ohmigawd! what was happening! sophie panicked. "stop! guys break it up!" she cried. it was no use. they were swinging at each other, luckily missing, but she was not about to get caught up in all that.
sophie's shrieks had caught the attention of a few cheerleaders and football players who came rushing over. the girls weren't much help, but thankfully the guys were able to rip them apart. though the fight hadn't lasted very long, they both had some very noticeable bruises. "i'll go get some ice." sophie offered as she ran to the bleachers.
there was a cooler filled with ice packs and sodas so sophie grabbed two, ice packs of course, and ran back over to the growing circle surrounding the boys. they were back at it again! this time the other football players were cheering them on! why were boys were so immature?! "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" they chanted. sophie tried to squeeze past the crowd but by the time she reached the middle the football coach had come over and was tearing the two apart.
she gasped when she saw keefe's swollen eye. fitz looked worse but keefe's eye drew your attention right away. the coach dragged them over to the cheerleaders side of the field and gave them a stern talking to on the metal bleachers. hopefully they wouldn't get kicked off the team. what were they fighting about anyway? what would keefe get so mad about he'd fight his best friend on? she didn't have the slightest clue.
once the coach released the boys sophie went running up to keefe. "are you okay? what happened? and why would you be stupid enough to start a fight?!" keefe smirked, then cringed right after. he put his hand up to touch his eye when sophie swatted it away. "don't touch it! and answer my questions!" she demanded. sophie tossed one of the ice packs she had in hand to fitz, who was sitting on the other end of the bleachers getting swarmed by cheerleaders, and put the other up to his swollen eye that was now turning purple. he still looked hot with a purple bump on his eye. how did he do it?
"relax foster-"
"don't tell me what to do! you got beat up and you want me to relax?!"
keefe cupped her cheek and looked sophie dead in the eye. his gaze was making her uncomfortable, he still had this power over her that made her tongue get all tied up. "sophie, i'm fine. seriously you don't have to worry about me." his words calmed her down but she was still a little shaken up from the fight, she moved her face out of his reach and turned.
"i just don't like seeing you hurt."