Jocelynne worried as she entered the girl's locker room at the end of the school day. She hadn't seen Sarah at all since the morning, and now it was time for practice. Erica was already there when Jocelynne arrived, and Lucy came into the locker room only a minute later. Neither of them had seen Sarah all day.
The three girls were nearly done changing into their gym clothes when Tiffany burst in: "Sarah's gone. She left school. And since she's not here--"
"I'll be in charge of practice!" Jocelynne interrupted, surprising everyone in the room including herself.
A protest started in Tiffany's throat: Jocelynne had only been a girl for one day, let alone a cheerleader. Obviously Tiffany was the most senior member of the coven left. But there was an energy radiating off of Jocelynne, and the magic from Kyla that had been compelling Tiffany to take over the cheerleaders seemed to falter against this energy from Jocelynne, that was rooted in Sarah's command the previous day, itself rooted in Kyla's original spell: And for as long as you're a cheerleader, you are going to do everything you can to be a good cheerleader, and you're going to do everything you can to support me.
Jocelynne was a cheerleader. And she was going to do everything that she could to be a good cheerleader. and if Sarah was missing, that meant taking control of practice.
Her demeanor changed subtly as she took charge. "You're not even dressed yet, Tiffany," Jocelynne said with the tone of an exasperated coach. "The three of us will be at the mats, come join us when you're ready."
Tiffany could only blink as, with a confident strut, Jocelynne lead Erica and Lucy out of the locker room and into the gym.
This new development was going to complicate Kyla's plans. Tiffany vibrated with indecision, but ultimately she was still a cheerleader. She needed to listen to the new head cheerleader. So she obediently went to her locker and changed, before meeting her team in the gym and doing everything that Jocelynne told her to do.
