Brooklyn Wells reached her arms high over her head, feeling the ache in her muscles as she moved. She knew the first week of training was going to be grueling, and she was ready for it, but it didn’t make her body feel any better. She bent down and dug in her purse for her bottle of ibuprofen. This was a double dose kind of a day. She swallowed them down and looked over her notes.

Things were off to a good start. With a solid crew of ten women, that gave her eight for most formations with two alternates on any given night. If someone was sick or needed a break, two of them could be out and not affect their dances and cheers. But it would also be easy to add them in if all ten were ready to perform. It was the perfect squad number, and she’d been very pleased with their practice yesterday. There wasn’t one slacker along them, not one lady who she thought might need extra attention or more practices. Coach Sarah, who had put the squad of cheerleaders together, was smart. She’d picked a great squad. And since she’d made Brooklyn the captain, in charge most of the time, she seemed that much smarter.

There were some of Coach’s notes from yesterday to review with the squad, and she had some of her own—a few places that needed to be tightened, a few things to look out for, a few moves that might need to be changed. But all in all, it had been a very good practice, and she felt confident in her ladies.

She pulled off her T-shirt and yanked her workout shirt down over her torso. It smelled of lavender—her favorite detergent. There was nothing like slipping into fresh workout clothes. She’d be doing a lot more laundry this month than normal. Maybe it was time to increase her workout wardrobe some. With her new head cheerleader paycheck, she could afford to splurge a bit on some cute new pants and tops.

Maddie came in and dropped her bag on the bench between the lockers. “Hey,” she said.

“What’s wrong?” Brooklyn asked.

“Men. I hate them all.”

“Oh, no. Something happen with Jeremy?”

Maddie opened her locker, took out her sneakers, then slammed it shut again. “Nope. Nothing at all. That’s the whole problem.”

“What did he do?”

“Stopped texting me out of nowhere. Jerk. I have no idea what his problem is, but when I got online last night, he was on the dating site where I met him! So, I guess he put himself back in the game for some reason.”

“But won’t he think the same about you? He might have seen that you were online, too.”

Maddie turned and raised her eyebrow at her. “No. I paid to hide that part of my profile. I don’t want anyone knowing when I’m on and when I’ve read their messages.”

Brooklyn let out a sigh. “I don’t know why you insist on the online thing. Seems like a complete nightmare.”

“Oh, yeah, because guys in person are so much better. Those bears need to stay on their side of the field.”

This caught her attention more than the rest of the conversation had. “What do you mean?”

She shook her head. “One of them was waiting in the hall, all hitting on me and Kitty last night when we were trying to get to our cars.”

“Waiting for you?”

“I’m sure. Why else would he be there and be walking toward us? You know, it was a long day, it had been three days since I heard from Jeremy at all, and after a hard practice, all I wanted to do was go home, soak in a hot tub, and drink some wine. But no, this idiot has to come along, trying to be cute. ‘I won’t allow you to walk to your car alone’ or some bull like that. As if I couldn’t take the fool. Can’t a woman walk to her car anymore without being assaulted or verbally attacked?”

“I guess not.” Brooklyn’s face fell into a scowl. “I’ll talk to the ladies, and maybe to the guys’ coach, too. I won’t have that going on.”

“Thanks,” Maddie said. “I’m sick of it. I’m sick of all men right now.”

“I don’t blame you. Sorry for those jerks. All of them.”

Brooklyn watched Maddie pull the laces on her shoes tight and recalled her own experiences with football players.

In high school, it had started out fun. She was a cute cheerleader, and the football players all seemed to be the hottest guys and the most charming. She’d been a cliché. Head cheerleader dating the star quarterback. They were prom king and queen and everything. What a laugh. They’d even planned to give each other their virginity on prom night, as if they couldn’t possibly be any more predictable or generic. She would have gone through with it, too, until she caught him making out with another cheerleader when they were supposed to be decorating the gym for prom. Her expensive new dress went to waste as she sat in her room crying her eyes out while her friends danced the night away.

In college, it had seemed different. She refused to commit to anyone for fear of having her heart broken again. Instead, she dated many guys, both football players and not, until one of the line men she’d gone out with once or twice saw her out with someone from her English class and decided that wasn’t okay. He’d claimed she was his, and he’d attacked the man she was with at the time. She’d spent the evening in the hospital, holding the hand of the poor English major who’d been stupid enough to date the same woman as the football player.

After that, she’d gotten an angry edge about her when it came to dating or men. She was sick of being seen as a possession, especially by football players. She was sick of fighting and the aggression they often showed. She didn’t want to risk being cheated on again. She’d even gone out and started self-defense classes in case a player in the future tried to claim her as his own. So, for now, she was single and happy to be. Why let any mess with some guy get in the way of her dreams? Making lead cheerleader in the semi-pros was a big deal. The only thing higher was the pros, of course, and she thought she had a fair shot at that, as well.

Even as she thought it again to herself and renewed her determination, she couldn’t deny that when she’d seen that famous wide receiver and his wife, Audrey, with their baby, something inside her twinged with desire. It wasn’t her time, and she knew it. Being pregnant trashed a cheerleader’s career faster than breaking an ankle, but someday… Not with a football player, but definitely someday. For today, though, she needed to stay focused and make sure her ladies did as well.

“Hey, Maddie,” Brooklyn said.

“Yeah?” she turned from her stretching to face her.

“Did you get the name of that player who was bugging you last night?”

She harrumphed. “Oh, yeah. He made a point of telling us, like we actually cared for some reason. Dustin Perry. I think he’s offense something.”

Brooklyn nodded slowly to herself. She wasn’t sure which one he was. She had made a point of not looking. Why wrestle with temptation? It was easier to ignore them all. But now she needed to know, to keep an eye on him. She took her phone from her purse and Googled him. Of course, he was good looking. Figured. It was part of the charm, wasn’t it? Hot football player hitting on you. Turned a lot of them on. Well, she would have to make sure her ladies didn’t get tangled in that mess.

After their day of practice and at the end of their meeting, Brooklyn set her papers down and looked each of her ladies in the eye for a long moment. “Now. Ladies, I need to talk to you about something very important. Please, hear me when I say I come from a place of experience on this. Now, I have no way to force you to do this, but I’m asking you to make a pledge. Whatever you do, please, please do not date any of the Fargo Polars. I know they’re hot and they’re strong and the whole bear thing is a turn on, but I’ve had my heart broken, I’ve had men fight over me, and I’ve shed plenty of tears crying over some dumb player. You do not want to have to come in to training and deal with looking across the field at the guy who screwed you over. It’ll mess you up and get in your way. We’ve come too far, ladies.

“This is the semi-pros. I know a lot of you hope to continue on. Well, it’s not going to happen if you’re more concerned with your love life than your training life. If you fall in love and stay up all night going out or even talking on the phone because you’re so infatuated, it’s going to make you a bad cheerleader. And one bad cheerleader makes the whole squad bad. I don’t want to be worrying that someone didn’t get enough sleep and might lose focus at the wrong time, or that one of you will be crying her eyes out with a broken heart.

“Now, obviously this stuff can happen with any guy you date, and I’d ask you not to date anyone during the season if you’re not already, but especially football players. They like to think they have some claim over cheerleaders. They like to use their strength and position to intimidate or seduce us. And in the end, all they’ll do is break your heart. Take it from me, ladies. I’ve dated far too many football players, and every one of them turned out to be a train wreck. Skip the players and hang out with girlfriends instead. You’ll thank me at the end of the season when we win competitions and you all earn a place on a pro squad or at least a tryout.”

She looked around at them, trying to see who looked guilty and who wouldn’t meet her eyes. “I’ll issue a second warning. One of the running backs, Dustin Perry, has already been seen hitting on some of our squad. His advances were unwanted, but that didn’t stop him. Stay away from him especially. But please, ladies, think about this. Don’t throw away everything you’ve worked for just for the sake of dating some guy. I know it feels good for a time, but that time always comes to a horrible end.”

She received a few nods, some of the ladies looked unsure, and one glared at her. Okay, so probably Annabelle didn’t agree with her request. Not a huge surprise. Annabelle liked to disagree with everything and push the limits.

“Any questions on anything at all? Training or otherwise?” Brooklynn asked.

“You gonna kick us off the squad if we do hook up with one of them?” Annabelle asked.

“No. Of course not. I’m just strongly suggesting that you avoid the misery that comes with it,” Brooklyn said.

“Good to know.” Annabelle winked at her and grinned.

She’d have to keep an eye on her, too. Annabelle might be the type to fall head over heels then crash and burn. They couldn’t afford that kind of wreckage.