Authors: Paula Chase
That's What's Up! (14 page)
He laughed wildly again, ducking as Mina swung one of the decorativepillows at him. He rebounded quickly and tugged at her, causing her to roll to his side of the sofa. She unfolded her legs and voluntarily hopped onto his lap.
She kissed him. He responded, darting his tongue in her mouth. They went on like that a few minutes longer, both taking great pains to keep the heat at bay.
It startled her when he pulled away and asked, “Do you rememberwhat I said when we first started going out?”
Mina's brain froze. She had no idea what he was talking about.
“No games, just being straight up with each other,” he reminded her.
She nodded, remembering how Brian had stepped to her one morning, asking her straight out if she was feeling him because he liked her.
His honesty was like woah. It caught her off guard that morning and still did most times.
“I'm just saying, that's me. That's how I do,” Brian continued. “Just let me know what's up and I'll always do the same.”
Mina was glad to hear Brian say that. But she still couldn't bring herself to make any comment about how ready or unready she was. Instead, she nodded and sank back into his arms, letting their kisses do the talking.
Madness in ... 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ...
“Do you feel like a man when you push her around.”
âThe Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, “Face Down”
Â
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here was a millisecond of quiet.
here was a millisecond of quiet.
Then the final echoing of the canned voice-over exclaiming, “Bluueee Devils!” was replaced with screams of the Blue Devils fans.
On stage, Mina and the rest of the squad squealed, delighted at the fanfare and just plain glad to be done. Glued together in a group hug, the mass of girls moved from the center of the stage toward the small set of steps that would take them back down to the floor and to their coach and fans.
Mina's heart beat eighty miles an hour. The thunderous chant,
Go Big Blue! Go Big Blue!
was dulled by the whoosh of blood in her ears, from her racing heart. She barely felt her feet touch the steps as she was carried by the flow of the squad, in between Kim and Sara.
Go Big Blue! Go Big Blue!
was dulled by the whoosh of blood in her ears, from her racing heart. She barely felt her feet touch the steps as she was carried by the flow of the squad, in between Kim and Sara.
“Oh my God, Mina,” Kim exclaimed in one ear. “You totally nailed it, girl! Totally nailed it!”
Sara joined in excitedly, “I could feel your legs shaking before we popped you.”
Mina nodded. Her legs were still rubbery. She still couldn't believeit was over. Just like that, two minutes and thirty seconds gone after months and months of grueling preparation. After the ugly, unproductivepractice of the day beforeâone and done.
A nagging sense of event letdown reared its head. Sometimes it just seemed unfair that it was over so fast, but it didn't have time to sink in. Coach Embry waited for the girls at the landing.
Oh my God, is that a smile on her face?
Mina wondered, in a daze.
Mina wondered, in a daze.
Even when they'd nailed Counties, Coach Em refused to relax until after the winners were announced. But this time her usually seriousface beamed back at the girls.
“Ladies, you looked awesome up there.” She patted an arm or the back of any girl she was able to touch as they crowded around her. “I'm so proud of you.”
Still breathing hard and heavy, the girls accepted the accolades. They clung to one another, adrenaline coursing through their veins from the quick, intense workout.
Coach Em signaled them to huddle closer and they obeyed.
“I know you want to visit your parents or ...” she rolled her eyes. “Boyfriends.”
Coach Em had a theory about boyfriendsâthey were a distractionand she wanted them as far away from cheer practice as possible.She even went so far as to black out their practices by taping thick construction paper in the small windows of the gym to keep peepers away.
But there was no venom in Coach's voice, just playful resignation. She could no more ban the girls from boy gazing and boy talk than she could will them to take first place. She went on, lowering her voice as the MC announced the next team, then raising it again as the music blared suddenly. “Make sure that everyone is back at the seats near the stage before the very last team performs.”
She made her serious “I mean it” eyes at the girls. They nodded obediently. A few more ground rules followedâno unzipping their mock necks (Coach hated that even though the things were suffocatingand hella hot), good sportsmanship toward other teams as they walked around (Embryism #20 “Saying âgood luck' or âgood job' never killed anybody”), and a half dozen other do's and don'ts.
Sara danced from one foot to the other beside Mina. She cocked her elbow onto Mina's shoulder before quickly letting it dangle at her side again.
Mina poked her side and they giggle-whispered.
Mina knew how Sara felt. She was just as restless. Her eyes gazed to the rear of the arena where the clique would be waiting for her, then to the area where her parents satâat least where they had been two minutes before. Early on, her mother had told her that as soon as the Blue Devils went off, she and Mina's dad were heading for the lounge, a bar in the arena that stayed crowded with parents. Their empty seats shone amid the other seated Blue Devil fans.
There were so many people in there, as long as Lizzie, Kelly and Jacinta kept to the darkened corners of the arena, no way her parents would bump into them.
They should be good,
she thought, before Coach Em's voice smacked her back into the lecture.
she thought, before Coach Em's voice smacked her back into the lecture.
“Did you hear me, Mina?”
Mina blinked hard. “Sorry. I was looking for my parents.”
Coach Em nodded. “Okay, okay. You guys can go. Be back before. . .”
She paused, expecting them to repeat the right answer.
“Before the last team performs,” the girls chorused out of sync.
Coach Em walked away, off to join some of her coaching friends, and the girls dispersed into small cliques to discuss plans.
“I'm going to hang out with Chuck,” Kim said. She turned to Mina and Sara. “Where are you guys going?”
“To find Brian and JZ,” Mina said.
“I'm gonna hang with Mina,” Sara said.
“We might try and find you guys.”
“We'll be in the Blue Devils section of the bleachers,” Mina hollered to Kim's retreating back.
She and Sara worked their way through the dense crowd.
“Well, we were awesome,” Sara crowed. Still high from the performance,she speed-talked. “I still can't believe Lizzie, Jacinta and Kelly came down here with JZ and Brian.” She snorted. “So far so good hiding them from your parents, huh?”
“Yeah, but it's been a trip, though,” Mina said.
“I bet,” Sara laughed. “I won't be a fifth wheel, will I?”
Mina frowned. “No. It's just like last night at the condo, we're all just hanging out. It's not a couples' thing.”
“Well you and Brian were totally coupled up, last night when we got back from the store.”
“Yeah, but my parents weren't lurking nearby.”
She and Sara were out of breath from pushing through the sea of bodies when they finally reached the clique in the easily identifiable Blue Devils section, swimming in blue and gold.
Jacinta, Kelly and Lizzie sat on the floor of the bottom bleacher, the safety rail partially obstructing their view of the stage and their legs dangling over the edge. The guys stood on the floor in front of the section. They clapped and yelled Mina and Sara's names as the girls walked up.
A minor stir rose as the rest of the section hooted too, before going back to their conversations. Just like that, no one was watchingthe stage anymore. Their team was done. Moving on.
“Y'all tore that joint up,” JZ exclaimed.
Todd held out his program and a pen.“Can I have your autograph?”
Sara pretended to write her name as Todd faked a girlish giggle.
“Thanks y'all,” Mina said. She buried her face in Brian's neck as he gave her a big hug and twirled her around.
“My girl was doing it big,” Brian said. “Thought you were gonna flake out on that twist, though. I can't lie.”
“Shoot, me too,” Mina admitted as the clique laughed along in agreement. She adjusted her skirt and top once Brian put her down. Ignoring the stairs to their left, she and Sara boosted themselves over the rail and squeezed in between the girls.
“Alright, brother is hungry,” JZ announced. “Who's trying head to the food court?”
Jacinta stood up. “I'll go.”
Mina smacked her leg. “No you
won't
.”
won't
.”
“Girl, why you rummin'?” JZ scowled.
Mina sucked her teeth. “Because my parents are out there right now.” She gave Cinny a stern look. “Or have you forgotten you're a stowaway on this trip?”
“I forgot. I'm on lockdown, Jay,” Jacinta said. She sat down reluctantlywith a tiny thud.
“I'll go with you, dude,” Todd said. He grabbed Lizzie's ankle and tugged playfully. “Want anything?”
“Diet Coke, please,” she said shyly.
Jacinta snorted. “Diet? Whatever. JZ, can you get me some fries and a Sprite ...” JZ nodded as Jacinta continued, “And a Twix.”
“See, you need to be going yourself if you want all that,” JZ said. He scrunched his eyebrows and pretended to count his change. “I thought you were gonna be a cheap date.”
“Dag, how much cheaper can I be than a fries, soda and a candy bar?” Jacinta said, hands on her hips.
Mina shook her head as Brian looked over to see if she wanted anything.
As soon as the guys took off, Mina pumped the girls for every detail about life at the condo. She wouldn't let them leave out a singleutterance, movement or thought.
“Dish,” she commanded. “Where did you guys end up sleeping last night?”
Jacinta leaned up and spoke loud so Sara could hear. “Brian let us have the master bedroom.”
“Aww, my Boo-Boo is so sweet,” Mina said.
Sara made eyes at Lizzie. “No hook-ups?”
Lizzie's cheeks went an immediate crimson. “Uhh, no!”
“If you guys pull this off, you're the new queens,” Sara said, awestruck.
“Queens of deceit,” Kelly deadpanned.
“No,” Sara said, “just the queens of ballsiness.”
“For real,” Mina nodded.
“I called my father last night and he seemed to believe we were at Aunt Jacqi's,” Jacinta said.
Kelly laughed. “Unless he heard JZ yell in the background.”
Lizzie winced. “Do you think he heard that, Cinny?”
“Why was JZ yelling?” Mina asked, completely caught up.
“Brian dropped a can of corn on his toe.”
Jacinta, Lizzie and Kelly cracked up, thinking back on it.
Mina laughed too. But without the visual to back it up, her laugh was hollow. She could almost see JZ, howling and grabbing his toeâmaybe cursing Brian out. But it was the type of thing where you had to be there to laugh as hard as the other girls were.
She soaked in every bittersweet word of the girls' adventure. Finallyher best friend and her new friends were really friends on their ownâhad a little adventure to share that Mina could only look at from the outside. She peeked at Lizzie's face. It was animated with tense excitement. Mina smiled, pleased.
She dug for further details, relishing being brought up to speed. “Okay, why did Brian have a can of corn?”
Jacinta was laughing so hard, Kelly finished for her. “Who knows? But the three of us had gone into the bedroom so Cinny could call her dad and ...”
“I knew it was going too well,” Lizzie cut in. “She'd been talking to him for like ...” She looked over at Kelly for confirmation.
“About ten minutes.”
“No, it was longer than that,” Jacinta said, her laughter now a hitched giggle. “It was like twenty.”
“Right when she started in on the goodbye, this loud crash came from the kitchen,” Kelly said. “I have never run to shut a door so fast in my life.”
“And JZ screamed sooo loud,” Lizzie said. “But Kelly had shut the door by then.”
“He started cussing and we could still hear him,” Jacinta laughed. “But you know how cellies are. I don't really think my father could hear the background noise.”
“God, I hope not,” Lizzie groaned.
The girls shared more of their night and morning at the condo until the guys came back, their arms full of goodies. As each boy went up to his respective girl, there was a minute of uncomfortable silence as Kelly and Sara sat, boyless.
Sara stood up. “Kelly, wanna go to the bathroom with me?”
Mina looked at Lizzie and Todd exchanging tickles and JZ and Jacinta laughing over something, then announced, “Wait, don't go. Hey y'all, I promised Sara no couple stuff.”
“Oh, it's not that. I really have to go,” Sara said.
“I'll go,” Kelly said. She stood up, brushing off her pants daintily.
“Alright, you guys have ...” Sara looked down at an imaginary watch on her wrist. “Five minutes and then no more kissy-kissy.”
“You must be talking to them,” Jacinta said, pointing her thumbs to either side of her to Mina and Lizzie.
“I'm talking to whoever,” Sara laughed as she and Kelly climbed over the rail. “Five minutes. Starting now.”
With them gone, Mina and Brian fell into a whispered conversationabout nothing. He teased her about being able to see her legs shake from the jumbo screen, giving him an excuse to rub her calves suggestively.
JZ hoisted his tall frame over the rail and sat on the bleacher directlybehind the girls.
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