Junior Year Box Set

“Just give me ten more minutes,” I suggested.

“Will you and my dad see each other before practice tomorrow?”

“Yes,” I admitted.

“Would you rather talk to my dad or see all the cheerleaders in swimsuits?”

Sometimes Cassidy made a lot of sense.

“Sorry, Coach. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said and packed up.

Jeff and his crew started to follow me.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked.

“To film you interacting with all the high school cheerleaders,” Jeff said with a straight face.

Coach Hope laughed at the face I made. Jeff slowed his roll when he saw the one Cassidy gave him. I suspect he’d heard the rumors of her taking down guys and didn’t want to get added to the list. I thought Jeff made the right call when he suggested a quick interview before practice.

◊◊◊

Cassidy and I just walked in the Andersons’ front door.

“I’m home,” I called out.

“In the kitchen,” Mrs. A said.

She was busy making snacks for all the girls. I looked out at the pool area and saw that I would be the only guy.

“Where’s your husband?” I asked.

“Louisville, Kentucky. They’re apparently having some sort of issue, so he flew out today.”

“That means we don’t have anyone to burn everything on the grill,” I observed.

Mr. Anderson always had fire issues when grilling. I was put in charge of the squirt bottle to put them out, or he would burn whatever he was cooking. Tom Dole had shown me that beer also worked to put out flare-ups. I thought his method showed a lot of merit. It motivated you not to burn the food because you got to drink the remaining beer.

“Are you volunteering?”

“No, not really. I’ll kick in some cash for delivery, though,” I said, getting out my money clip.

Mrs. A had no problem taking my money. I don’t expect she felt like cooking for this large a group, anyway.

Cassidy had gone out to talk to Brook and Beth. I wasn’t surprised when the two of them came into the kitchen. They each claimed a hug and a kiss.

“Go get changed. I want you to meet the new cheerleaders,” Brook told me.

I grabbed my duffle bag to get a t-shirt. Luckily, I kept extra swimsuits at the Andersons’ for occasions like this. I changed into a pair of board shorts and a Lincoln High football t-shirt.

Four girls who were on varsity last year had decided not to come out this year. Tracy technically had one more semester of high school, but she and her family had decided that she didn’t need the stress. With her out of the way, Brook was named head cheerleader. Pam had also decided not to go out. She was still unhappy about how it had all gone down when Tracy first had problems. Mona had staged a coup and been named head cheerleader.

The other girl that I was sad to see hadn’t come out was Halle. She’d decided that since she might get one of the movie roles she was trying out for, she didn’t want to commit to cheerleading. If she didn’t get it, Halle was okay with just being a senior.

One girl was asked not to come back: Ronda Reyes. She was one of the two cheerleaders that hung around with Jan Duke. The other one missing was Ella Keen, who’d drowned with Jeff. After Jan moved in with the Antakovs, she’d cleaned up her act, as far as drugs were concerned. Ronda hadn’t, so it was decided not to invite her back.

There was one girl that I was happy had joined the team: Lisa Felton. Tracy and Pam had taken her under their wing with the help of Halle, Zoe, and Brook. I couldn’t wait to see her in a cheerleading uniform. My bet was it would be as good as the R-rated version of a Catholic schoolgirl uniform she liked to wear to drive the males of our school crazy.

“I want you to meet some of the new girls,” Brook said, pulling me away from my friends.

She walked me over to the younger girls, and I froze. Oh. Dear. God! April Lacier’s little sister, Jill, was with the group of freshmen. I’d dated April for all of two minutes, and I remembered her little sister practicing her womanly charms on me. When she was in middle school, I could get the big brain to explain that she was jailbait, and Mr. Happy had reluctantly allowed us to run from her. Now she would be in high school. Seniors dated freshmen … right?

The reason April and I had gone out was because she was tall and athletic. She tended to wear baggy clothes that hid her assets. April had a great body. If I were using my superhuman model skills, I would say she was six feet tall and weighed 160 pounds. People got hung up on women who carry a little more weight than the ‘ideal’ 150 pounds for someone that tall. The extra ten pounds was all muscle, which came from playing basketball; April had a muscular bottom and thighs.