K. Randis - Spilled Milk

I navigated through the chatter filled hallways toward the front of the building. Two girls in cheerleader uniforms stood on chairs to tape bright pink flyers to the announcement board. They walked away and I paused a moment to read it:

“Don’t even bother.” I was interrupted by a girl from my English honors class standing right next to me. “They always pick the same girls. Unless you’re in with their little cliques, you don’t stand a chance. It’s stupid anyway.”

I nodded. The truth was I didn’t belong to any clubs or sports. The little time I did have not occupied with home life I used to make money or study. Sure, it was going to help when I applied for college, but I felt like I was missing out on something. I never got a chance to do something because I wanted to. I did things because I had to. Without thinking twice about it I ripped the flyer off the bulletin and stuffed it into my book bag.

Mom picked me up from work a little after nine. “What took so long?” She huffed, turning the key in the ignition.

“Had to fill out a lot of paperwork. I book a lot of appointments.”

“Oh, that’s good. Did you reach the daily goal? What is it, two appointments a night?”

“Yea. I made twelve.”

I demolished a bowl of cereal when we got home. “Mom I wanted to see what you thought about me trying out for cheerleading.”

She didn’t look at me. “I don’t have the money for all you guys to do after school things.”

“I’ll pay for it,” I offered. “You won’t have to pay for it I just wanted to see what you thought.”

“I don’t know Brooke, as long as I don’t have to pay for it and you continue to help out with things around the house when they need to get done I don’t care.” By things she meant money and cleaning. I was pretty sure I could juggle everything.

“I’ll keep my job, and I’ll pay for it. Tryouts are in two weeks, but I would need to get a physical.” She sighed with the force of a cough and looked at me. It would mean she would have to make the appointment, pick me up from school and wait the hour at the doctor’s office to bring me home.

“Or I could just do the physical the school offers. It costs more but…Yea, that’s what I’ll do.” I dumped the milk from my bowl into the sink. “Need to study, goodnight.”

The only time I took off work was to study for mid-terms or finals. So when I told my boss I needed the Saturday off for tryouts he laughed. “Ha, Brooke, if you have another exam I understand, you don’t have to lie about why you need off.”

I wasn’t sure why, but the remark offended me. “I’m not lying. I really am going to try out for cheerleading.”

My tone changed his remark. “Oh, yea, I know. Um, sure. That’s great, that’s fine. You need to do stuff like that anyway, you know, go be with the kids your age.”

“Should I work like the kids my age too?” I looked around the office at all the middle aged women talking away on their phones. He gave me a two week trial period to prove myself, and I’ve blown away office records ever since. “I mean, I don’t need to be the top operator for a fourth month in a row. Maybe I should give someone else a shot.” I smiled.

“Very funny.” He sunk into his leather arm chair. “Keep doing your thing, go do your tryouts, just make sure it doesn’t affect your numbers here.”

I nodded.

I spent the next week worrying about tryouts. I couldn’t even do a cartwheel. A few other girls I knew wanted to try out too, so at least I knew some of the people who would be there.

“Have you been stretching? I know they do a lot of jumps and kicks so be sure you’re stretching.” Sonia whispered her advice to me between classes. “Most people diet too, but you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Yea, you don’t have to worry.” Carmen adjusted the glasses on her nose. “Have you ever done cheerleading?”

I shook my head. “No, I just thought it would be something fun to do. I’m not banking on making the team, I know they choose a lot of the same girls.”

“Well, we’ll all make the team, I’m sure.” Sonia smiled. “They can’t always pick the same girls. And we’re pretty enough, how hard could it be?”

Mom dropped me off the Saturday of tryouts. I spent an hour that morning trying to figure out what a cheerleader looked like when they practiced. I settled on a pair of navy blue shorts and a white cami with a light blue sports bra underneath. My hair was pulled into a tight ponytail and, at the suggestion of Sonia, I didn’t shave my legs for two days.

“Why not shave your legs?” Mom rounded the corner of the school and came to a stop.

“I don’t know. Sonia said it was something they checked though. She told me not to put lotion on my legs either.” I ran my hands across the stubble.

“Okay well, you’ll call when you’re done?”

“Yea, Carmen has a cell phone. I’ll call.” I kissed her on the cheek and grabbed my water bottle and gym bag.

Sonia and Carmen were already inside. “There are so many girls here,” said Sonia, scanning the lobby outside the gymnasium. The sea of girls sprawled all over the floor stretching and chatting was a little intimidating. At eleven o’clock sharp, a bulky red faced woman opened the gym doors.

“Attention, girls.” The lobby fell quiet. “I’m coach McDade. It’s going to be a long day, so listen carefully. Girls will be put into groups of ten and assigned a team captain who is already a member of our cheerleading team. They will teach you two cheers, a dance, and how to do three kinds of jumps.” She paused to eye some larger girls sitting on the wall. “Cheerleading is strenuous; make no mistake that you will be pushed both physically and mentally today. You will ache in places you never thought possible.”

Several of the team captains standing at her side smiled and whispered to each other. “With that being said, our fall football season only has twelve openings. Six for the junior varsity team and six for the varsity team. Auditions will take place today at four o’clock sharp. Good luck to all of you.”

A team captain with bright yellow hair stepped forward as the coach turned and disappeared into the gym. “All right girls, when I call your name, step forward and follow your team captain.”

Carmen and I were put into the same group with a team captain named Lucille and Sonia wound up with the bright yellow haired team captain. The groups dispersed and found quiet spots for each team to practice.

Our team captain bellowed out commands over the next several hours. We jumped rope and ran in place. Lucille taught us toe touches, X-jumps, and hurdler jumps. When it seemed my calves would explode we moved onto learning the dance routine. It was only a two minute soundtrack, but with everything else we had to learn it only left an hour of practice to learn the entire fast paced routine.

Sweat dripped from my forehead and Carmen looked like she was ready to call it quits. Finally, the team captains rallied all the groups together in the lobby and by four o’clock the first group of girls was lead into the gym. There were five teams in all, and everyone looked exhausted. My team was the last to be called inside.

Lucille led us into the gymnasium and we were called in pairs to stand in front of Coach McDade and three other staff members I didn’t know. The first two girls to tryout were last season’s football cheerleaders. They finished their jumps perfectly and nailed every section of the dance routine.