Day one of any cheer competition is boring. With so many teams to go through, it's a lot of sitting around, waiting for your turn to perform (which the Flying Foxes did confidently), and then just sitting around and watching everyone else. Jade sat back lazily and filmed a few of the other routines. Sure, he was glad not to see anyone try using B-Pop or a better group of tumblers, but that wasn't top of mind for him.
"Hello doll," a voice said behind Jordina. He turned around to see Danny Everett, a 6'3" girl from the football team, towering over him. "I came here and now I want my prize," she seductively whispered, moving closer to Jordina and kissing him passionately. When they broke off the kiss to breathe, Jordina whispered. "We can't stay here and do this. We could get in trouble if people see us."
"Relax, babe," Danny whispered, getting even closer and caressing Jordina's breast over his blouse. "I know a place or two where we can do what we like."
"Are... Are you sure?" Jordina scouted around to see if anyone was there but failed to see Jade behind a vending machine, observing them.
"Shhhhhh... Be silent," Danny instructed, kissing him again and lifting him. He wrapped his legs around Danny's torso as the two began to make out quite a bit. Jade saw Danny bite Jordina's neck and put her head between his breasts, moving the two of them into a service corridor. Jordina did his best not to make a sound.
Jade looked at his phone. It was only 4:00, two hours after the first performance. This is gonna be a long day.
It took Jade a few minutes for the image of Jordina climbing Danny to exit his mind, but he was ready to meet up with the other captains for the official event photo. There, he met up with the captain of the South Everett Boy Lionesses, one of the few squads that Jade thought had enough talent and could take the title of champion from the Flying Foxes.
"Hi," Jade said to Connora Vivian, "I really enjoyed your performance. Your flyers are good."
"Thanks," Connora replied with a smile. "Your dancing's great. Where'd you get that song? I know my grandma liked a version of it, but this one's new and fresh and so good!"
"A friend of mine introduced the song to me a few days ago!" Jade beamed, proud that someone had finally noticed the song choice.
"You need to introduce me to this group! I'm excited. Oh! By the way, me and some other boys are planning to go to a restaurant close to here to talk and just chow down on some greasy food. Wanna join us?"
Jade smiled. "Sure, why not? We just need to get to the hotel early. You have my number, right?"
"I don't think so." Connora handed Jade his phone to enter his contact info. "I'll text you. It'll be maybe...in a couple hours?"
"That's fine with me," Jade replied, tapping out his number on Connora's phone.
"Perfect." Connora took the phone back from Jade. "See you then," he said with a smile.
With the day's routines done, the cheerleaders all scattered and got into groups, meeting up with friends from other schools and going out to eat.
One of those groups was commonly nicknamed "The Hot Dog Brigade", since it seemed that when you put this many cheerleaders in one room, all the lesbians would invariably go out and eat somewhere. That's how Keisha and Brandi found themselves at a Mexican restaurant with a bunch of other boys they knew.
"Hi!" said Brandi to Kennette Gellar, a boy from Lakeside Academy. "Nice to meet you here."
"Yeah!" Kennette giggled. "I saw you in action, and boy, you were amazing!"
"Thank you! We kinda blew everybody's minds," Brandi said, trying to be humble but failing. "Jade found a fucking great song for us and he kinda made us practice a lot. Sorta like he was making us practice like girls."
'Poor you..." Kennette said, giggling. "That's what you get for having a sports dyke as your captain."
"Jade's not a dyke." Brandi made a confused face. "He may be obsessed with being a cheerleader, but he's not a hot dog eater." He tried and failed to stifle a giggle.
"Yeah? So who's the boy I saw Connora flirting with?"
"Oh my..."
"Whoa!" Brandi exclaimed, looking over at a table in the far corner where Connora and Jade were sitting. "Keitha, check it out! Jade is joining us," he noted, interrupting his boyfriend, who was talking about a movie he'd seen last week with some of the others.
"Your eyes are fooling you," Keitha said. "That's not him." "Probably it is a boy who looks like Jade."
"I don't think so..." replied Brandi.
"I...kinda think Brandi's right, Keitha," Kennette chimed in.
'Good for him," Keitha remarked. "But let's remember... It's his life, so play cool. If he discovered who he really is, we just need to support him, and even if he isn't, exploring's never bad. We gotta give boys like us a good name. We can't all be sallies now, can we?"
"This place is amazing," Jade told Connora, staring into his eyes. "I've never been to a restaurant like this before."
"Never?" Connora replied, watching for Jade's subtle cues. "You must not get out of the suburbs a lot."
"Kinda..." Jade said, not noticing he was smiling. "I mean, sure, Valley Lake is nice, but it's not too...urban."
"I see. Maybe someday you can come up by me. You'd think Everett would be just as bad, but it's not like that at all!" Connora chuckled. "It's unfair to the world to keep you locked away in the suburbs."
"Have you lived elsewhere?" Jade asked.
"Well, my parents were missionaries when I was younger and we moved around quite a bit. Delhi, Saigon... I know good food when I see it."
"That is fascinating." Jade stared deeper into Connora's eyes.
"Not as much you are." Connora leaned over for a kiss, which Jade didn't attempt to rebuff. It was brief and soft, but it was just as electrifying. As it broke up, Connora noticed Jade deeply blushing and smiling.
Brandi couldn't look away. He was mesmerized by the idea that Jade and Connora were dating. Sure, Jade wasn't gorgeous as Zacharielle or Jonatha, but he was cute with a great personality—good boyfriend material. Brandi had also known Connora from the Snapchat groups organized for the Hot Dog Brigade, and he always felt, seeing Connora's texts, voice messages and Snap videos, that he was a good person. Maybe that's what Jade needs right now, Brandi thought. A boyfriend who cares about him and who has the same interests. Especially given how—
"Hel-looooooo!" Kennette said, waving to Brandi. "You there?"
"Sorry, I spaced out."
"I noticed. Still fascinated with your friend comin' out, I see?"
"It's straight out of a movie. Like La La Land or The Notebook or something."
"You watch that trash!?" Kennette asked. "Popular movies suck."
"Fairy tales aren't that bad. Though... Can't there be a movie where a boy falls in love with another boy for once?"
