Prepsworth Academy

Chapter 66 - "May I have this dance?"

Amy

As soon as school finished, I rushed to my dorm and got changed into my cheer uniform. I started to sprint towards the main field, dodging people in the hallway, a stream of muttered curses following in my wake.

"Sorry! Excuse me! Coming through! Sorry! Oh!" My murmured and admittedly insincere apologies were cut off as someone stepped straight into my path. I looked up to see Lukas staring down at me with an amused smile.

"You forgot to wear red." Lukas said, almost disapprovingly.

"We have a very strict uniform code." I replied, not breaking his stare.

"No apology?" Lukas asked, half-teasingly.

"Sorry." I said flatly. Lukas grinned at me and twirled a piece of my hair around between his fingers.

"I'm only joking Amy. Best of luck for your cheer performance!" Lukas said, suddenly charming and sweet. I smiled as sweetly as I could back at him and went on my way, completely immune to Lukas' manipulative charms.

I arrived at the main field flushed and out of breath. Rose saw me coming and grinned.

"Ready ballet girl?" Rose asked teasing.

"Never. But I'm sure I'll manage."

Elle

I'd never in my short, yet extremely stress-filled and ambitious life thought that I'd be standing on the main field in a cheer uniform next to Rose Miller no less. But there I was. The bleachers were packed with Prepsworth students and students from the closest private school: Darsville Grammar. Although it was only seven pm, it was dark, and massive, bright stadium lights were switched on, illuminating the soccer field and the front of the bleachers in a bright light. It was raining heavily, but somehow that only added to the excited anticipation that was building in the stands. Everyone was dressed in coats and scarfs, but in the cheer teams and soccer team's colours instead of school colours. The bleachers were a sea or yellow and blue colours, and on the other side the Darsville Grammar students were a clump of bright red bodies. The main sports coordinator for Prepsworth walked onto the field with a microphone.

"Welcome to Prepsworth Academy and the very first soccer game of the tournament. Before we begin let me present the very special cheer Team A to everyone, give it up for the A Squad!" He boomed, his voice carrying through the massive speakers around the field. We walked on calmly, most of us not daring to even grin at each other although I noticed Lily and Millie shot quick smiles at one another. We lined up in our positions, imagining every movement of the dance. And then the music started.

The beat was constant as we danced Amy and Lily's routine, smiles on our faces. The routine was a typical mix of Amy and Lily's choreography. It was a mixture of dancing and cheering with a little bit of flair, a little bit of sass and working off each other: someone clicks, someone else moves, that kind of thing at the start. We kept our eyes staring at a spot above the audience, each movement and isolation inviting another movement from another teammate, keeping knowing smirks on our faces. We were all never doing the exact same thing at the same time, all divided into groups and switching into different groups, larger or smaller.

It was everything we'd practiced before, until the bridge. At the very beginning of the bridge a bunch of the soccer players ran on from the edge and started dancing with us and then the rest of the boys from Harry's dorm. Then all the girls from my dorm. Rose stood at the front of the mass of dancing bodies.

"Everyone – come on!" Rose called out, her eyes sparkling dangerously. A few people trickled onto the field and soon all of the Prepsworth kids streamed onto the field and danced along too. None of it was uniform or choreographed, it was all just the kind of dancing you'd find at a party and we all moved as one, a mass of bodies moving together. Rose joined me, grinning.