Before Jonatha and Jade knew it standing on the sidelines, halftime had arrived. Like every other basketball game played at Moore Gymnasium, it was a blowout. Even Mount Valley, which was projected to still make the state playoffs, couldn’t help but be a bad team: it was 42-19 after two quarters of play. Just the pair of Sam Gomez and Nicole Forsyth had 22 points.
That meant it was time to roll out the mats for a cheer routine. Jonatha looked at Jade with an extremely nervous expression on his face. Behind that body, that makeup, that uniform was a mind that had never done cheerleading before. Standing on the sidelines and starting chants in the crowd was one thing. This was another.
At the very least, Keitha, Brandi, Trina and the others were ready. The cheer assistant hit play on his iPod, and the music started to flow. It was like the cue for Jonatha to go into an autopilot, a side of himself that knew exactly what to do. It was a blur of jumps, hair flips, climbing pyramids, twists and spins. He briefly saw Mikelle in the audience, holding his phone up to record the whole routine. He moved as one with the squad to the beat of the music, which was pretty catchy. It was guaranteed to be in his head all night. Six short minutes later, it was all over. The cheerleaders stepped off the mat to applause from the crowd and a few low whistles from the girls. That was fun, Jonatha thought. I could get used to this.
As the cheerleaders stepped back out to watch the second half of the game, Jonatha found himself next to Brandi Brittain. “Nice job,” he offered as a compliment.
“Thanks! I had fun tonight.”
“Well, it shows. You’re really good.” Jonatha started to blush furiously at the compliment.
“Who wrote that song again? I need to listen to it when I get home.”
“It’s by Edie Sheeran, remember?”
“Oh yeah, right,” Jonatha said, covering for the fact that he only remembered an Ed, not an Edie. How far does this wish go?
