Damon had somehow managed to get me a try out for the next morning in front of the cheerleading coach. I say “somehow”, but I was pretty sure there wasn’t a person on campus who ever said no to Damon Pierce. I was nervous as I pulled on my cheerleading shorts and a loose tee, and then pulled my hair into a pony tail. After thinking about it more and more I suddenly desperately wanted the chance to be apart of a team since the Andersons had made sure that I didn’t get a chance to have the normal high school experience. Damon was waiting outside for me.
“I need to get you a cell phone,” he said almost growling. “I want to be able to talk to you all the time.”
My heart started to do flips. Damon Pierce wanted to talk to me all the time! I talked myself down and just smiled at him. I did want to get a cell phone and actually could afford it now because of my tips from Moxie, I just hadn’t gotten around to it. Maybe I could do it later today after my tryout.
Damon interrupted my musings by handing me a coffee I hadn’t noticed he had been holding. It was from Leslie’s shop. I swooned. He got sweeter every day. I closed my eyes and let out a little moan as soon as the coffee hit my tongue, licking my lips to make sure and get every last drop. I was getting addicted. When I opened my eyes I saw that Damon was staring at my lips, looking pained. He quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me forward towards the practice field where I was meeting the cheerleading coach.
Coach Ryan was an intimidating woman. Although she was shorter than me she was quite a bit stockier, and had so many muscles I was pretty sure she had to spend every second working out. She looked annoyed as she watched us approach her.
I had made sure to pull my hand away from Damon’s before we got to the field. I had expected her not to be happy with the tryout as I was sure that Damon had thrown his weight around to get me it. Her look got testier as we got closer and she looked me up and down.
“Let’s get this over with,” she said exasperatedly. “I promised her a tryout, but I didn’t promise her a spot on the team,” she threw out at Damon.
I tried to smile politely and stood in front of her.
“Alright, we will start simple. Show me a back handspring,” she ordered.
Luckily I had looked up the name of the flips I had seen the girls doing so that I could actually know what I was being asked to do during the tryout. Taking a step forward I mentally pictured watching the movement in my head. Once again I felt my body execute a perfect back handspring. Relaxing a little I opened my eyes and looked at Coach Ryan. She looked less annoyed but I could tell that I would need to do a lot more to impress her in any way.
“Do a round off back handspring double full now,” she said watching me closely.
Once again I envisioned the movement in my mind and executed her orders perfectly. For the next half hour, I did flip after flip until I didn’t even have to think before moving.
I knew some of the flips she had asked me to perform were very advanced, perhaps more advanced than most, if not all, of the cheerleaders on the team could do and I wondered what she thought about my ability to complete them. Finally, she called me towards her. Her frustration was gone and instead her face was filled with excitement.
“Where on earth did you cheer before here, and why didn’t you apply for scholarships and try out earlier?” she asked.
I looked at Damon, who was standing there looking so proud of me it made me want to cry. He spoke for me.
“Eva is coming from a difficult home situation and didn’t have much support for her skills,” he said smoothly.
I looked at him sharply. I hadn’t told him much about my upbringing, but I guess a lot of my quirks and inadequate social skills must make it obvious that I had a troubled past.
“I’m sorry to say that I’ve already given out my scholarship spots,” she said warily. “Will that be a problem?”
“I have a full ride for academics,” I answered softly. “Does this mean that I’ve made the team?” I asked.
“Made the team? I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen someone as talented as you,” she exclaimed. “I can’t imagine not winning Nationals with you on the team. You are good to start today correct? You will have a lot to catch up on to learn the cheers and performances for football season. I’m sure you know that the first game is next week,” she said.
I looked at Damon. I hadn’t known that it started next week and immediately felt selfish. Damon kept me talking so much about myself I hadn’t had the chance to ask him about football at all. He just smiled at me beautifully, not seeming to care at all that I hadn’t known.
Coach Ryan turned to look at Damon. “I guess I owe you an apology, “she said. “You weren’t just trying to get a girlfriend on the team so she could travel with you to games.” I blushed.
“Um, I’m not Damon’s girlfriend,” I said shakily.
“Not for lack of trying,” Damon answered with a grin.
My mouth opened to gape at him. I didn’t know what to say to that. Coach Ryan looked between us and then decided to move on.
“Practice starts at 4:30 sharp,” she ordered. “You can pick up your uniform at the clubhouse beforehand.”
I tried to remain silent as I squealed internally. She began to walk away, stopping briefly and threw over her shoulder, ”We’re happy to have you on board Eva,” before turning and walking away again.
Damon swept me up in a hug. “I knew you could do it.”
In that moment I wanted to kiss him so badly. Quickly stepping away after he set me down I began to walk back to campus, eager to get away from him before I embarrassed myself. I couldn’t believe how much my life had changed in just a few short weeks. It was like someone had found a checklist of everything I had missed out on in life and was determined to give it all to me.