The Valley Lake Vixens began the game running the court and racing out to an early lead. Shan felt it would be her night with Ash Miller out, and Shan did contribute some 3-point shots and a few two pointers. But Shadow Hill wasn't being passive. In the second quarter, the Vixens' defense started to break down while the offense showed fewer signs of life. With four and a half minutes to go in the second quarter, Shadow Hill's number 12, Alex Monroe, made a deep three from far beyond the line to cap an 8-2 scoring run that had pushed the visitors' lead to four. Coach Williams called time out to adjust her team's tactics.
During the timeout, Zacharielle looked over at Maddie Carlyle. "So the baby is also cheering for Momma Shan?" he asked, sitting close to him.
"What are you talking about?" Maddie asked, trying not to speak loudly while attempting to hide the surprise and fear that the ombre-haired boy's remarks caused.
"You know what I mean," Rielle casually replied, looking off toward the teams huddled at their benches.
Shadow Hill coach Franco Potter was breathless. "I don't care what you do out there, but we need to avoid any hard fouls," she instructed. "Don't give those bitches a reason to fight us. And we HAVE TO NAIL SHAN JACKSON TO THE FLOOR!" she shouted. "I want that girl neutralized, understood? Alex, keep the threes coming. As for you, Ms. Lawson, I want you to be laser-focused on Shan. Understood? No fouls, keep Shan out of it. Lumberjanes on three... One...two...three..."
"Lumberjanes!" the team shouted. The game resumed, and Shadow Hill prevented Valley Lake from putting their offense back to sleep. Alex Monroe kept the threes coming, which helped the team tie the game with just over two minutes left in the first half. Shan Jackson was being effectively shadowed by Mabellus Lawson, but on one possession, Shan saw Nicole wide open and passed the ball. Nic switched sides, dodging defenders and effortlessly draining a long 2. Shan then intercepted the pass from the Shadow Hill player, keeping the ball in their end of the court. She threw it to Karyn Anderson, who lobbed it to Nic on the other side. With no defenders around her, Nic cashed in with a wide-open three.
The crowd was electric—and Rose Flowers was ecstatic. He jumped and celebrated every point Nic scored, often more exuberantly than the cheerleaders. That made Jonatha uncomfortable. Is she putting on this show for Rose and Rose alone? Just for that broken boy? Was all this change for nothing? he asked himself, lightly tapping his newly blonde hair.
The buzzer sounded, announcing the end of the first half as Shadow Hill took a 33-32 lead to halftime. Remarkably, the teams only committed two fouls apiece in the entire first half. It didn't take long after the players, coaches and officials cleared the court for the fun to begin.
"AND NOW GENTLEMEN AND LADIES, THE UNNNNNCANNNY FLYING FOXXXES!" the announcer belted out, giving the signal to the Valley Lake boys to make their way to the court. The gym fell silent and the lights dimmed, then a strobe flashed precisely as the music pumped through the sound system. The loud notes from Dark Damsels' cover of "Rock You like a Hurricane", a classic pop song from the 80s, took over.
The Vargas twins and Jonatha, the best tumblers, were the first to enter—the twins from the corners and Jonatha from the near side of center court—doing a very complex tumble stunt created by Coach Schmidt. In "The Asterisk", the three boys crossed over each others' paths almost at the same time, giving the impression each had jumped over the other. This stunt was usually enough to warm up the audience, but on an emotional night, the students and parents in the bleachers were enthusiastically applauding. The rest of the squad joined them on the court for the opening dance sequence, something more traditional but adequate for the evening.
While the boys launched into a new cheer, Zacharielle turned his gaze toward Maddie, the group's second flyer and its lightest boy. "The chant is Go Vixens, not Go Puke!" Maddie got paler and felt weaker in his knees, but he still had energy to hold himself together for the rest of the performance.
Sami, Rubi and Diamond Duncan sat in the bleachers and watched the cheer performance with delight. It was especially sweet for Rubi. "You know, he's just like Crystal," he told his wife. "No wonder he's the captain. No wonder a bunch of schools wanted him to cheer there."
"Daddy?" Diamond asked with some curiosity. "Is that boy OK?"
"Which boy?" Sami asked. Diamond pointed to a blonde who seemed unusually uncertain of himself. He seemed like he was barely going through the motions. "I dunno, dear. Which boy is that?"
"Maddie Carlyle," Rubi replied. "I wonder if he's under the weather." Rubi looked at his son. "Then again, Diamond, all of us are fighting something in our lives. We can't see their demons, but they are just as real as what we go through. Who knows what's going on. You just have to be kind."
