uniforms
gathered around someone else, also in our uniform, who was on the
ground curled up in pain.
I
looked at some of the other cheerleaders, hoping for a clue as to
what was going on, but all I could tell was that most of them looked
really worried. Our coach and a couple of EMT's hauled our guy off of
the field on a stretcher a few seconds later, and then the last few
seconds of the clock ran down and it was halftime.
The
butterflies in my stomach seemed to have put on a couple of pounds
each. Somebody I knew had just been hurt, maybe seriously, and I was
about to go out and do a dance that I'd only actually practiced in
real life five or six times. I wanted to puke, but instead I just
forced my face back into the squad-approved smile and ran back out
onto the field with the rest of the girls.
I'd
been doing my best not to notice anyone in the crowd, but this time I
was looking slightly more to the right and I saw my dad sitting on
the third row up.
Once
again my smile transformed into something more genuine. Our team was
actually pretty good and the bleachers usually filled up more than
half an hour before the game even started. For Dad to have garnered a
spot that close to the front he had to have arrived nearly an hour
before the game was scheduled to start.
Dad
hated football. The only reason he was here was to see my first game,
just like he'd made sure to see Cindi's first game when she made it
on the squad. I knew that Dad had hours of work still that needed to
be done tonight, but he didn't look like he was resentful at having
to be at the game rather than at home working. He was drumming his
fingers against his legs like maybe he wasn't sure what to do without
a keyboard in front of him, but he was smiling, and when he saw that
I was smiling back at him his grin got even wider.
A
second later the music for the routine started up and I threw myself
into the dance with even more abandon than normal. It didn't matter
whether I messed this performance up. The other girls on the squad
and all of the kids at school would probably make me miserable if I
did, but that just didn't seem important against the fact that my dad
cared enough about me to come watch in spite of all of the other
things he was supposed to be doing.
As
luck would have it, everything went smoothly and five minutes later
we were all running back off of the field to make way for the drill
team. Cindi was one of our best dancers so she was at the front of
the squad and was one of the first to make it back to where Miss
Winters was waiting for us. She handed me my water bottle as I made
it over to our end of the bleachers.
"Good
job out there, Adri."
"Thanks,
Cindi. I kept expecting to screw up."
She
smiled and shook her head. "I knew you would do just fine. Did
you see Dad up in the stands?"
"Yes.
Not until halftime, but I saw him then. I take it that Mom didn't
come?"
Cindi's
mouth compressed to a disapproving line. "No. At least I haven't
seen her yet tonight. It's not like it's a surprise though."
It
seemed for a second like Cindi was going to say something else, but
then Miss Winters clapped twice to get everyone's attention and we
all gathered around to get our marching orders for the second half of
the game.
I'd
barely been able to keep up with what I was supposed to be
doing out on the sidelines, I hadn't had any time or attention to
keep up with the game, but apparently the game was a mix of good and
bad. Miss Winters double-checked that we were all there and then took
a deep breath.
"Okay,
girls, as you all know we're up by two touchdowns, but this has been
a high-scoring game and now that Victor Stalking is out with an
injury, things could get ugly. I want you all to give it everything
you've got. Hopefully if we can get the crowd really excited it will
help the backup quarterback score some points."
She
looked down at her clipboard and then rattled off a string of
formations that she wanted us to work into the last half of
gathered around someone else, also in our uniform, who was on the
ground curled up in pain.
I
looked at some of the other cheerleaders, hoping for a clue as to
what was going on, but all I could tell was that most of them looked
really worried. Our coach and a couple of EMT's hauled our guy off of
the field on a stretcher a few seconds later, and then the last few
seconds of the clock ran down and it was halftime.
The
butterflies in my stomach seemed to have put on a couple of pounds
each. Somebody I knew had just been hurt, maybe seriously, and I was
about to go out and do a dance that I'd only actually practiced in
real life five or six times. I wanted to puke, but instead I just
forced my face back into the squad-approved smile and ran back out
onto the field with the rest of the girls.
I'd
been doing my best not to notice anyone in the crowd, but this time I
was looking slightly more to the right and I saw my dad sitting on
the third row up.
Once
again my smile transformed into something more genuine. Our team was
actually pretty good and the bleachers usually filled up more than
half an hour before the game even started. For Dad to have garnered a
spot that close to the front he had to have arrived nearly an hour
before the game was scheduled to start.
Dad
hated football. The only reason he was here was to see my first game,
just like he'd made sure to see Cindi's first game when she made it
on the squad. I knew that Dad had hours of work still that needed to
be done tonight, but he didn't look like he was resentful at having
to be at the game rather than at home working. He was drumming his
fingers against his legs like maybe he wasn't sure what to do without
a keyboard in front of him, but he was smiling, and when he saw that
I was smiling back at him his grin got even wider.
A
second later the music for the routine started up and I threw myself
into the dance with even more abandon than normal. It didn't matter
whether I messed this performance up. The other girls on the squad
and all of the kids at school would probably make me miserable if I
did, but that just didn't seem important against the fact that my dad
cared enough about me to come watch in spite of all of the other
things he was supposed to be doing.
As
luck would have it, everything went smoothly and five minutes later
we were all running back off of the field to make way for the drill
team. Cindi was one of our best dancers so she was at the front of
the squad and was one of the first to make it back to where Miss
Winters was waiting for us. She handed me my water bottle as I made
it over to our end of the bleachers.
"Good
job out there, Adri."
"Thanks,
Cindi. I kept expecting to screw up."
She
smiled and shook her head. "I knew you would do just fine. Did
you see Dad up in the stands?"
"Yes.
Not until halftime, but I saw him then. I take it that Mom didn't
come?"
Cindi's
mouth compressed to a disapproving line. "No. At least I haven't
seen her yet tonight. It's not like it's a surprise though."
It
seemed for a second like Cindi was going to say something else, but
then Miss Winters clapped twice to get everyone's attention and we
all gathered around to get our marching orders for the second half of
the game.
I'd
barely been able to keep up with what I was supposed to be
doing out on the sidelines, I hadn't had any time or attention to
keep up with the game, but apparently the game was a mix of good and
bad. Miss Winters double-checked that we were all there and then took
a deep breath.
"Okay,
girls, as you all know we're up by two touchdowns, but this has been
a high-scoring game and now that Victor Stalking is out with an
injury, things could get ugly. I want you all to give it everything
you've got. Hopefully if we can get the crowd really excited it will
help the backup quarterback score some points."
She
looked down at her clipboard and then rattled off a string of
formations that she wanted us to work into the last half of
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