One of the Guys (22 page)

Thinking about what Poppy had told
me, I had a possible solution, but only if the other girls were
willing to try it. Something shifted inside me, and I knew what I
needed to do.

“
I can help you, if you
want.”

“
You can? How?” Poppy asked,
looking a little confused.

“
I’m a gymnast. I can tumble and do
stunts.” I said, with a shrug.

It wasn’t common knowledge, I’d
always kept to myself, but maybe it was time people saw
me
. Saw me come out of
the shadows and make people take notice.

“
Seriously? You
can
do
that?”

“
Yes.” I chuckled. “What does Carly
do?”

Poppy went into detail about Carly
doing a series of back handsprings, splits, walkovers, and some
stunts where they threw her in the air.

“
That’s pretty basic, but I know
that’s hard enough when you don’t train for gymnastics.”

“
So, how
good
are
you?” Poppy asked, intrigued. She placed her elbows on the
table, staring at me intently.

“
I used to compete
professionally.”

“
Really?”
Her eyes widened.
”Why did you stop?”

I laughed again.

“
I got taller and… I grew boobs.” I
said, lowering my voice and looking round to make sure nobody could
hear me.

“
That
would affect you?” Poppy asked,
cocking her head to the side.

“
Yeah. It’s
better if you’re small, and if you have boobs they bounce too much.
It affects your height when you somersault.” I explained. There was
a lot more to it than that, but I wasn’t going to go into too much
detail about having to relearn
everything
because weight
distribution, and even a half inch difference in height affected
the skills. It had taken me almost eight months to adjust to my
growth spurt; hence, the end of my competition days.

“
You’re really willing to help?
After what Sian said?”

Sian got on my nerves, but it
wasn’t just her in the squad. Besides, it affected the school
too.

“
I’m
helping
you
. Anyway, Sian doesn’t even know me, and I’d like to wipe the
smug look off her face.”

“
Me too.” Poppy giggled. “I’ll call
her now.”

Poppy lifted her pink phone and
called Sian, telling her that she had some help. Arranging to meet
up, I went home to shower before meeting Poppy outside the practice
hall. It was a separate hall away from the school grounds. The
squad rented the hall to keep their routines secret.

Poppy and I walked into the hall,
where the other girls were waiting. Sian, Carly, with her leg in
plaster, and the new girls, all turned to us as we
entered.

There were four ‘junior’ girls, and
four ‘seniors’. Poppy being the fifth.

Sian did
not
look happy to see me.

“
Hi girls!” Poppy greeted them,
happily. “Here’s our helper!” She bounced on her heels,
excitedly.

“
What? How the
fuck can
she
help?” Sian said, almost snarling at me.

She looked me up and down, as I
stood there in my track pants and long, extra baggy, black T-shirt.
I kinda looked like a trash bag. I had to stop myself from
laughing.

“
I’m offering my assistance.” I
said, trying hard not to snarl back at Sian.

“
Assistance?
Like how? We don’t need another base; we need somebody who can
tumble. What the fuck can
you
do to help?”

“
Chase
can
help, Sian.” Poppy said, as I opened my mouth to retort to
Sian’s comment.

“
Whatever.” Sian snorted. “I doubt
it.”

“
What the fuck is your problem?” I
said, all the girl’s eyes widening as I answered back.

“
My
problem
is that we need a fucking
miracle
to make this work, and then
Poppy brings
you
in to help. What good are
you?”

“
Better
than you think,
Sian.”
I narrowed my eyes and folded my arms in contempt.

“
Prove it. Show us something.” Sian
folded her arms too.

Without saying anything, I stood in
the center of the hall. The other girls looked between themselves,
as if wondering what I was going to do.

“
Hang on.” Sian said, halting me
before I could move.

“
What?”

“
Your clothes are too big for
cheer. Take off your T-shirt.” She smiled, slyly.

I had a feeling something like this
was going to happen, and I’d come prepared.

“
Fine.” I said, and her mouth
popped open. She hadn’t expected that.

I lifted the hem of my T-shirt and
pulled it over my head, revealing my tight red vest. The strange
thing was… I didn’t feel as self-conscious as usual.

Sian’s eyes bugged, and I heard the
gasps of the other girls.

Yeah. Not such a fat boy now,
huh?
I thought.

“
Holy hell Chase…“ Poppy said, as
if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“
Let’s get back to it, shall we?” I
said, and Sian nodded; not taking her eyes off me.

I moved my feet apart, sliding them
further, and further until I was sitting in a box split. I placed
my hands on the floor, directly in front of me. I pushed down, with
my hands, and leant my weight forward. I lifted my legs, so I was
in the same position, but only my hands were in contact with the
floor, showing the strength in my thighs, hip flexors, and my
arms.

Tilting forwards, I raised hips
higher, my legs lowering slightly with my toes pointing down, and
my body leaning forward; I slowly raised myself up into a
handstand, bringing my legs together. Not done, I parted my legs in
a straight split, before lowering my rear foot to the floor.
Keeping one foot in the air, as my back was arched, I transferred
my weight to my foot, bringing my hands off the floor and lowering
my other leg, I brought myself up into a standing position allowing
my head to glance off my ass. The whole process looked like a manna
into a forwards walkover.

“
Holy shit.” Sian whispered, before
composing herself. Too late. I’d heard it. “Ok. That was good, but
Carly could do a round off, back handspring into a back somersault.
Can you do that?” She asked, glancing to Carly who looked eager as
she watched.

Poppy looked at me and we smiled at
each other.

“
I think I can manage.” I
said.

Sian and the other girls moved out
of the way, as though I was going to run up. I didn’t need to. From
my standing position, I executed the moves with ease.

Sian’s mouth popped open in
surprise.

“
I told you.” Poppy
beamed.

“
Ok.” Carly said, looking at me and
I could see she was thinking. “That was the limit of my floor
skills. Show us something else.”

“
No problem.”

As the girls watched, I performed a
combination of aerials -a cartwheel with no hands-, forward aerials
-a walkover with no hands-, and back handsprings.

Standing in the corner of the room,
I then performed a round off into a row of straight leg back
somersaults.

The girls applauded me. Carly had a
huge grin on her face, and even Sian was smiling.

“
Where did you learn to do all
that?” She asked.

“
Almost eleven years of gymnastics,
actually.” I replied, and Sian’s mouth dropped… again.

“
Chase is a professional gymnast.
She competed for a long time.” Poppy said, proudly.

“
Seriously? Can you dance?” Carly
asked, hobbling over to me on her crutches.

“
It’s part of the sport, so
yeah.”

“
Can you stunt?” Sian
asked.

I laughed.

“
Will you catch me?” I raised my
eyebrow and Sian nodded, her red curls bouncing around. “Then
yeah.”

Sian beamed, and I swear I’d never
seen her so happy in my life.

“
Welcome to the squad,
Chase.”

“
I’m just helping this once.” I
said, my hands up.

“
You’re our
secret weapon.” Carly said, excitedly. “Girls, keep this to
yourselves.
Nobody
is to know about this.”

Agreeing, the girls promised not to
say a word to anybody. They didn’t want to let the other team’s
squad know what they were up to. Hell, I didn’t know either, but I
was about to find out.

*****

“
Chase, wait
up.” Sian called as we left the practice hall. “Look, I’m really
sorry for being a bitch to you.”

I was taken aback. Sian never
apologized, and here she was… apologizing to my face!

“
Ok…” I said, more like a
question.

“
I really thought you were trying
to be like a guy. I’m sorry.”

“
You shouldn’t judge, Sian. Not
everything is as it seems on the surface.” I knew that all too
well. I really thought Logan cared about me.

Stop thinking about him!
I chastised myself.

“
Yeah, I know.” She replied,
looking me over again. I’d put my T-shirt back on, but she knew
what was under there. “You’re like, totally hot under those
clothes.”

“
Thanks, I think.” I laughed
nervously.

“
Is that why you wear that stuff?
To hide away?”

“
I feel more comfortable like
this.” I said, telling her the truth.

“
Girl, you
shouldn’t hide. Oh my God. If I had
that
rack, I’d be making sure people
knew about it.

“
I guess you would.” I laughed,
looking pointedly at her tight sweater and leggings. It wasn’t to
be mean; I was just making a point.

“
What can I say? I like to be
noticed.” She said, shrugging a shoulder and slow blinking, before
giggling.

This was a different side to Sian
and I hadn’t thought she’d had a nice side to her at
all.

“
Anyway, don’t forget the schedule.
We’ll need to change the routine and get you comfortable with the
bases. The girls are strong, but they need to know how to catch you
properly.”

“
Sure thing.” I said, with a mock
salute.

I expected Sian to turn and leave,
but she stood still, glancing to her feet, down the street, and
then back to me. I could tell she was nervous about whatever it was
she wanted to say.

“
Um… so, I wanted to ask you
something.” She said, and I nodded for her to continue. “Has Logan
ever mentioned anything about me?”

My stomach almost bottomed out and
I felt the anger rise in me again. For the first time, in two
weeks, I’d been distracted enough that I’d gone a few hours without
feeling as though my heart had been ripped out of my chest. Now, I
could feel the wound opening up at hearing Logan’s name.

Was Sian attracted to him? Not that
I cared anymore. No, it was just a shock, and wasn’t she still
dating Lex?

“
No. Why?” I asked.

“
Oh, no reason.” She said, and the
relieved look on her face had me confused. I guessed she wasn’t
into him, after all, but it was something else.

“
I’ve seen him only a couple of
times, the past couple of weeks, and you haven’t been there. He
looked really sad.”

Sad? Really? All his own
fault.
I thought to myself, clenching my
jaw.

“
Did you guys fall out? Lex
wouldn’t tell me anything.”

“
It’s complicated, Sian.” I said,
not wanting to discuss it with her. We may have put aside our
differences today, but I wasn’t about to have a heart-to-heart with
her.

There must have been something in
my expression that shut her up because she nodded, said goodbye and
left.

On the way home, I couldn’t believe
what had just happened.

Not only had I had a friendly
conversation with Sian, I’d agreed to become a cheerleader for the
homecoming game. Which, I knew, would involve wearing a lot less
than I was comfortable with.

I realized that I was changing.
Whether it was for the better, I didn’t know.

What have I just agreed
to?