Maddie Carlyle had drawn the worst possible roommate assignment for the night. Of course fate would conspire to put him with Zacharielle Maynard. Who uses "Work Bitch" as their alarm? he thought.
He hadn't slept too much. Z wasn't just in the other bed; he was in his head. Tossing and turning all night. All he could think about was the note he'd received yesterday. Why did Coach Schmidt have to put me with this boy? He tried to shake it off and think of other things. The performance. Getting the timing right. The moves they'd practiced for months. With Valley Lake in the finals, the goal was to win the region, and they were on good footing. Their day 1 performance had qualified them among the top 8 with a field-leading score.
It didn't take long for Maddie to get ready, but it did annoy him that he had to do it right beside the obsessive Rielle. He resisted the urge to talk or say anything. Neither of the boys used much hairspray, but the air might as well have been just as thick.
As the two were about to head down for breakfast, Rielle cut Maddie off. He pushed him against the wall opposite the bathroom door.
"Listen here, Madison. Today, YOU. CAN'T. FAIL." Rielle commanded. "Got it? Because today it isn't your future in play, trailer park white trash. That's my future. I can't let you fail and ruin my perfect score. So try not to puke, don't get emotional, don't get sick. Because I know you're pregnant. Yeah, boy, YOU. WERE. SLOPPY." Rielle sighed for dramatic effect. "Trust me, this kind of shit you're living can't interfere with my life. And if, for any reason, you or your kids mess with me, I will do anything just to be sure that you and your trailer park spawn will never to have a good life, understood? There's no place for losers in my life. And second place is just first loser."
"Y—yes," Maddie managed to reply back, intimidated by Rielle. While he had been in his head for days, this felt like the closest he'd come to being knocked out. He felt sick to his stomach. This boy wanted to run his life—and ruin it—for his own good.
"Now move on, Mad-Daddy. You gotta eat to win."
The hotel's breakfast area was packed to the brim with all the cheer teams. The other Valley Lake boys were already downstairs when Zacharielle and Maddie completed the group, grabbing a plate and sitting down.
"How'd you sleep?" Coach Schmidt asked.
"...OK, I suppose," Maddie grumbled.
"I slept pretty well," Keesha Towers replied. Of course you did. You didn't get Rielle as a roommate, Maddie wanted to say.
"So who do you think will put up a good challenge today?" Jonatha asked.
"Well, South Everett's gonna be a handful," Jade explained, blushing a bit thinking about Connora. "Kent Meridian did surprisingly well yesterday."
"They had a high-energy routine," Brianna Walker piped up. "It hooked the judges. Sometimes you gotta give 'em what you wanna see." Like showing girls a little boob on stream, he added to himself.
"That'll play well! We definitely saw our share of clunkers," Erika added. "South Kitsap had no energy. No wonder they didn't move on."
"I feel bad for Tacoma Lincoln. Someone hurt his leg during their routine," Jade continued.
"Ouch," Jaymee Vargas exclaimed, grimacing.
"Boys, we got this. It's my time. It's our time. You hear me?" Zacharielle's voice, bossy as it was, was very good at cutting through the din of a loud dining room.
"Yes we do!" Jade came in, cutting off any attempts Zacharielle might make at acting like the captain. "All we can do is focus on being us. We're the Flying Foxes. Let's show them who's boss!" Jade was in his element, and it showed. "Foxes on three...one, two, three..."
"FOXES!" the team yelled in unison, pumped up and ready to go.
Good luck, Jade texted Connora.
You too. Can't wait to see you at state, but go 🦁, he replied.
Honestly... neither can I, Jade answered back, hoping nobody around him would notice he was blushing.
