Zoe suddenly stood up straight. "What's wrong with you guys? Why are you sitting there like zombies? We're down a cheerleader and we need to find a replacement. And maybe an alternate or two...we can't be put in this position again."
The squad slowly came out of their trance. Melissa was the first to recover, she shook her head.
"Sorry Zoe. I'm not sure what happened." She said blinking and looking around the room.
"That's OK, Melissa." Zoe said. "I just said that we need to find a replacement and maybe have a backup just so that this doesn't happen again."
The squad nodded.
"We have tryouts this afternoon." One of the girls piped up.
Zoe nodded. "I know. We can use that to fill the hole and the standby." She asked. "One of them wouldn't have to be in the squad full time but they would need to step up if someone's ill."
"And they'd have to attend all of our rallies" another girl said.
Again Zoe nodded.
"How about Karyn Black?" Melissa suggested. The rest of the girls nodded but Zoe was surprised.
"Karyn?" Zoe asked. "She doesn't want to have anything to do with cheerleading."
"I know." Melissa replied. "But she's one of us...our kind of girl...maybe she just needs us to give her a push."
Zoe thought about it for a moment. "Alright." She said finally. "You girls start planning the tryouts while I'll go ask Karyn to try out. And think of some other people we might try to recruit. Someone who we can help become one of us..."
"I'll come with you," Melissa said as she got up to follow. She had been friends with the head cheerleader...so in her mind, she now must be besties with Zoe.
Miss Fine smiled. She had been watching the entire thing, enjoying seeing Zoe take charge. She had been right...a little encouragement, some time working on controlling her temper, some maturity...Zoe did make a good leader.
Right now, the others were following her because they thought she was in charge...she was convinced Zoe would not cause any of them to challenge her authority.
Maybe it was time to add a new project to her ever-going list, with her having to do less work on Zoe now. "Perhaps one of the members of staff" Miss Fine thought to herself allowing a small giggle as she left for her office.
