Saint Joseph School

Francis shuffled her way across the quad, her normally morose self buried beneath a teetering pile of papers and boxes. It was all she could manage to do, not to go sprawling across the sidewalk as she gingerly held up a flyer and tacked it to one of SJS's many outside kiosks.

The flyer read:



She glanced up at the note with a heavy sigh and stuffed the tacks back into her pocket.

Francis shook her head as she headed for the gym to change into her uniform.

"I got a bad feeling about this...."

The gym was quiet for the moment, only the odd smell of gym floor and sweaty superheroes tickling her nose. There were gleeful noises of shouts, jeers, and taunts outside of the closed gym doors as she rearranged the card table and chairs for the eighth time. She flipped though the papers one more time before setting them on the floor. She straightened her skirt....paused...procrastinated...sighed heavily...

"Alright," She scratched her neck, "Time to go..."

Students began trickling into the gym once the doors were opened, most of them taking seats in the bleachers to watch the forthcoming spectacle. Rumors being what they were, the accounts of the last cheer squad try-outs had been embellished enough to attract a much larger crowd. Didn't you hear? Last time, Siren had shown up wearing next to nothing and had seduced a dozen boys back to her room afterwards! And that was nothing compared to what Stasis and Misericorde had done... The bleachers were far from full, but people were still trickling in.

Several girls stopped by Franky's little table and signed up for their turn. A few people giggled as they saw Eric Copper bounce over to put his name on the list, though nobody really seemed surprised to see him there. The cheer-squad hopefuls tooks seats in the bleachers and waited for Franky to give them their big chance.

Roxy wandered down the halls trying to find her way to the Gym, she thought she had known the route by now but evidently she still wasn't used to the schools grounds. All the while she kept on trying to figure out why she was going to these try outs. At first she just wanted to watch and maybe see who would be the next cheerleaders but suddenly she had a compelling thought to maybe give it a shot herself.

Finally finding the Gym, mostly by following other students, Roxy stood deciding whether to sit in the bleachers or to go sign up. 'Um... If I sign up I'll be able to go to all of the school events that Saskia does, and maybe I'll make some new friends... But, I don't want to look like a fool... I don't really know a lot about cheerleading... Matt would probably tell me to try new things and be happy to see that I was actually trying out something different.'

Finally with a hard swallow, Roxy walked up to the table and signed on the list.

Kairi Sato

She walked back and sat down on the bleachers. 'Well, no turning back now...'

Lily stood in the hallway, her eyes filled with joy almost in tears. The poster couldn't lie, and if it did she'd start it up herself. Cheerleading try-outs, maybe she could get her old school life back. She'd been a cheerleader for so long, and not having the enjoyment and the guys for that matter was bearing down on her social life.

---

She walked to the gym which was growing with more kids from SJS by the minute. She signed her name in loopy cursive and added a little heart over her I in Lily and made her way to the seats.

Francis glanced down at her list and idly popped a stick of gum into her mouth.

"Just hang tight guys," She managed a smile. "We'll get this show on the road just as soon as everyone files in here."

She twirled a pen in her hand, briefly wondering if she should try out her new summoning spell on Jasmine for the sheer humor of listening to the inevitable diatribe that would spill from her mouth.

She glanced down at the paper again.

Suddenly, a glint and grin crept across her face as she pulled out another sheet of list paper and neatly wrote Stasis' name.

A short time later, the gym was primed and the stage set...or at least...that's what she told herself. Francis picked up the list in front of her and idly scratched the table with the end of the pencil.

"Alright," She spoke up, "I'll get started with those of you already here and anyone else who comes in can sign in at the bottom."

She scanned the list...looked up...looked at the list again. Smiled.

"Eric? You here?"

A giggle behind her provided a small warning, but Franky was still a bit startled when a blue and white blur leaped/flew over her head and crashed/landed into a standing position in front of her.

"I'm here!! And look!!! Serge helped me get a cheer squad uniform already!!" Eric posed in his blue and white outfit, looking very proud of himself. "So what do you want me to do? I've never done this before!" Another giggle bubbled forth and Eric bounced up and down a bit in excitement.

Contrapasso walked in and looked around, picking an empty spot on the bleachers to go sit down in. He was glad to see a few other students still trickling in since it looked like the try-out had already started. That really hyper kid that was always zipping around the school had just landed in front of the goth chick who he assumed was in charge of things.

Taking his seat, Contra looked around, hoping... and there she was! He hoped she was trying out, too. And so far, no sign of that troll, either.

He smiled to himself and tried not to spend too much time watching Roxy.

It was all she could do not to sit slack-jawed as Eric barely missed careening into the pylons only to nearly miss a similar encounter with the floor.

She shook her head and curled her lips into a smile, giving herself a somewhat wicked expression.

"Well, Cheersquad is really about two things. Enthusiasm and making an idiot out of...umm...I mean, doing routines that get the crowd enthusiastic."

"So...." She leaned down under the table and picked up a small boombox. The machine was so battered it was likely it should have stayed in the 80's, much as its red plastic housing denoted it had come from.

"I think we've got the enthusiasm covered," She barely restrained an eyeroll, "...now....let's see you dance."

The green haired girl worked faster as she saw Eric getting ready to try-out. The last connections made, she picked up her laptop and dropped down from the rafters, just as Francis put her battered boombox on the table, landing with a quick flip right next to her..."Sorry I'm late, I brought the music!", Tara said with a smirk holding out the laptop....

Francis smiled, "About time someone got here!"

She unceremoniously shoved the boombox off the end of the table as Cricket brought up the Media Player.

"Hey Eric, any requests?"

Thudthudthudthud.

A few students turned their heads in the direction of the sound. The thudding was getting closer, coming from the hallway leading to the gym.

A few shrieks rang through the halls and students flung themselves into the lockers. A cry, starting low and rising rang out. It was a deep, masculine voice, yelling,

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait!"

Alex barged around a corner. It was a straight shot from there to gym. He hopped up into the air, his momentum building, and a sheen of ice spread out under his feet. He rocketed down the slight incline, smaller students squeaking and getting out of the way. Books and backpacks went flying everywhere.

"Don't start yeeeeeet!"

The lineman jumped off his ice slide into the gym, breathing softly.

"Hey, Eric! I made it! Okay."

He looked around at the gym at the students who were staring, gape-mouthed. Alex giggled sheepishly, blushed, and hopped up into the bleachers to watch Eric do his thing.

Eric bounced up and down, giggling excitedly. "I knew you'd make it, Alex! Just on time!!"

Then he happened to glance at Franky. Who was still waiting for that song request. He shifted his bounce trajectory to land next to Tara, then leaned in and whispered something to her. He then flew back a bit and got ready for the music to begin.

You remind me of the babe!
What babe?
The babe with the power!
What power?
The power of voodoo!
Who do?
You do!
Do what?
Remind me of the babe!

The moment David Bowie's voice sounded through the speakers, Eric practically exploded into motion. Later, many students would be amused to discover that they weren't the only ones who had the image of a ferret on crack pop in their heads.

However, this ferret had a mission.

From one set of bleachers to another, Eric was waving his arms, flipping his body, and tossing out speed boosts to anyone with a hint of school spirit. His movements were constantly just out of sync with the song's rhythm, and he continually seemed on the verge of faceplanting, but somehow he managed to stay afloat and get people cheering.

The song began to wind down.

Dance magic, dance!
Dance magic, dance!

Franky looked around and realized that Eric had somehow managed to infect a good portion of the room with a small portion of his energy. Of course, all those speed boosts he was shooting out probably didn't hurt.

As Eric came to a panting and giggling stop, dumbfounded was not quite the right word for it, and she half expected to be visited by Sister Moltar within the next few minutes for mandatory drug testing. She wasn't sure Eric would pass.

"Uhhhh..." Sheesh, Franky...real articulate.

"Well...I....uhhhh." back to Grammar school for this little goth.

"Thanks Eric." Franky ran a hand through her newly platinum locks.

"That was....that was.....intense." She glanced over at Alex with a look born of concern, pity, and the expressions one usually reserves for the insane.

She glanced up at Cricket, leaned in and whispered, "I'll never watch the Labyrinth with the same innocence again."

With a smile she composed herself and spoke up to the kinetics-infected crowd, holding her list up to her face.

"Ummm....Kairi Sato?"