"Alright, next routine!" Sarah said, getting into position. Randi sighed, her eyes scanning the field as she took up her own position. Not too many people were around. The baseball team were working out at the diamond and just barely visible from where the cheer team were practicing. She felt a pang of sadness at that. She had been on the team until Friday afternoon. She should be over there with them, not here jumping around in a skirt. Her eyes moved to the handful of people who were closer. Some on the bleachers while others chatted near the fences or walked around the football field. They were paying more attention to the girls, casting the occasional leering looks.
Finally settling into her position, Randi relied on the weird memories that had been coming to her more and more since Friday to help guide her. "Let's go!" she said, matching her voice to the others. It felt like she had done this a hundred times before, which didn't make any sense at all. They were supposed to be the new cheer team, right? Replacements for the ones who had been busted for drugs. But they had the skills and memories of being on the team for a while. It was weird, like when Jade had pointed out that they shouldn't even really need to be recruited. They were seniors and would be out of the school in a short while. The focus should have been on the younger cheerleaders.
Jade had speculated earlier, via a text chain, that she thought Holloway's magic was still working. Not just on them, which was pretty obvious, but on everything. She had put forward that it might be trying to erase the old team or something. Not that anyone had pretended they didn't know the old cheerleaders if they were brought up. They just kind of... acted like the new team had kind of always been involved in things. Randi focused a little more as she and Jade were expected to launch Jade. They clasped their hands together and lifted, sending her into the air. They caught her as she came down, all executed like they were old pros.
They all went through the rest of the routine and then a couple of others before practice was over. By the end, Randi was gasping for breath. Which... okay, she didn't have the muscles she had when she was Randy, but she was in good shape. She knew cheerleading wasn't a zero on the exercise scale, but she hadn't expected it to be quite as much as it was. Looking around, she was almost positive that everyone was feeling the same. Her eyes settled on Jade for a moment, remembering her dream from the night before. Or memory, maybe. The one where a younger Randi had convinced Jade to start exercising. A path that she knew had led Jade to being open to trying out for cheerleading.
"Excellent work today, girls," Ms. Holloway said. Randi froze up a bit as the woman talked. She had been mostly silent throughout the practice, allowing Sarah to take the lead and guide them through the various routines. It had almost been possible to forget she was there. "I feel comfortable concluding practice for the day. You may all clean up and head home."
Ms. Holloway turned away and all eyes shot over to Jen. The plan, going into the day, had been to confront Holloway and tell her they were going to do her competition but that was it, that they'd be turned back afterward. When they had been in the locker room to change for practice Jen had said she wanted to talk to Holloway alone, that she'd lay out their stance on things. Trinity and Jade had pushed back on that, Trinity saying she wanted to give the woman a piece of her mind and Jade saying a united front might be better for convincing her. Jen had stood firm and said she didn't want to push Holloway into doing anything rash and thought a one on one conversation would be best. Karyn had agreed that Jen would be a good representative which... no surprise there, they had been close even before the change. Finally , the others relented.
Jen, seeing everyone looking at her, nodded and headed off after Holloway. The others, unsure how long that conversation would take, headed to the locker room to shower. Randi was one of the first in, a bit quicker because she had always been athletic, and hurried to start washing.
"How do you think it'll go?" Jade asked, taking a shower next to Randi.
"Can only hope she'll agree, I guess."
"That's what worries me. She was able to do all of this, all we can really do is trust her word. It's worrying. We have no recourse if she decides to say 'no, I think I'll leave you like this'."
Randi swallowed, then nodded. "Yeah." Her voice was barely above a whisper as she spoke.
"Sorry, I know you know this and I don't need to be harping on it, but..."
"You're worried. I get it. I am too. I think we all are." Randi took a quick look around the showers, the others having their own little conversations. Maybe going over the same topic Jade and she were. Maybe trying to distract themselves from it. Her eyes ended on Sarah and Karyn who were chatting like old friends. The two most classic 'cheerleader' types in the room. Blonde, amazing figures, flawless skin. Randi knew her chest was nice, almost comparable, but she didn't have the whole package, and-
She cut her thoughts off there, realizing that she was comparing herself to them. That she was envying their curves? She looked them over again and felt... not nothing, but not what she expected. She turned around to face forward in the shower, forcibly halting her thoughts. No need to dwell on that at the moment.
"We'll just need to hope Jen knows what to say to get Holloway to agree."
Jade nodded and they finished their showers in silence. Once she was dry and dressed, Randi collected her things and checked her phone. She looked through her messages and groaned.
"Problem?" Jade asked.
"Apparently I have a yoga class with my mom tonight? What the hell?" Randi asked. "God it's like she's trying to make up for not having a daughter for 18 years except I'm the only one who knows she didn't." Jade laughed at that as she tied her hair back into a ponytail. "Shit, I need to go to meet her for that. Since I doubt this'll get resolved today."
"Probably not," Jade agreed.
"Want a ride? I know you might want to wait for Jen, but..."
"Nah, a ride would be great," Jade said. "We don't know how long she'll be and the cleaning staff will kick us out at some point anyway. Might as well wait for the update at home."
"Mind if I get a ride too?" Delia asked. "I'd normally go with Trinity, at least in this new version of our lives, but she already rushed out. Said she had to go to her dad's shop for something."
"Sure, that's no problem," Randi said. "Not to rush you, but-"
"Kinda gonna rush us? We know how your mom is. Let's go." Jade said.
Randi nodded, guiding the other two girls out and to her car. She entire walk and drive, she waited for her phone to chime with the news from Jen.
