D&C FT- Extracurricular

Different and Cool FT: Extracurricular

By Reid M. Haynes

Note: Some elements of this story are influenced by Japanese Anime (characters with technicolor hair, etc)

The story so far:
8th grade student Andrew Champion knew he was in for a wild ride when he decided to befriend Tarah Reichardt, the nerdiest girl in school. But he could've never guessed how special his new friend was. Tarah is actually the gatekeeper of another world called Broodring, home of the tree of life, Yggdrasil. Now, with the help of his martial arts trainer Maru Mari, Andy explores his relationship with Tarah both in school and in the realm of the fantastic tales.

(Read the other “Different and Cool” stories for details)

*****

         "Just leave it over there," Andy called out to Slick, motioning roughly towards the back of the stage as he repositioned a stand-up microphone. "We'll figure out where to put it later."

         "Geez, Andy!" Slick grunted as his skinny arms struggled with a medium-sized amplifier. Depositing his load next to the curtains, he let out an exhausted gasp and ran his hand through his sweat-drenched blond hair. "You gotta have all this done right now? The cheerleaders are having their try-outs, and I wanna see the new uniforms! 100% wool knitted sweaters, dude!"

         "Our first practice starts in an hour." Andy grabbed the mike and tapped his finger on it, sending a wave of feedback throughout the auditorium. "We should get started while we're still pumped."

         "While YOU'RE still pumped." Slick scowled and folded his arms. "There's still time to back out of this, man. Save us a lotta humiliation, ya dig?"

         "Nah, we got it." The boy with the sea-green hair looked at the microphone and smiled to himself, his thoughts wandering away from Slick for a moment. After all the hesitation and false-starts, it was almost time for him to stand on the center stage as a performer, instead of hiding his passions in the depths of his heart. He had been going to his favorite karaoke joint every night to test his courage and brush up on his singing technique, and had just about burned away all traces of the wishy-washiness. Andy had even convinced Slick to pitch in as a drummer, since their estranged friend Justin was out of town for the week and couldn't harass Slick for hanging out with him (and being in a band was a good way to get attention from girls).

         It was all thanks to his new girlfriend, Tarah. Andy's smile changed subtly as he recalled her thick glasses, blond pigtails, and open-hearted smile that shone like an evening firefly. Back in September, it was a challenge to even bring himself to talk to the bug-loving girl, due to her status as persona non-grata within the school's pecking order. But now, they were on a new path together, discovering old things they had forgotten about themselves, and living for the future.

         "Speaking of humiliation, where's the geek girl?" As if keyed into Andy's thoughts, Slick mimed a pair of glasses with his hands over his eyes. "Isn't she s'posed to help with your dance moves or sumethin'?"

         Andy brushed off the slight dig at his girlfriend, though he was tempted to shoot off a glare. "Tarah's with Mari, trying to get her to pass Algebra II," he said, putting down the microphone for a moment. "She's been at it for two weeks now, but Mari still can't cut it."

         "Heh, if she were only as smart as she was cute." Slick shook his head, causing the blond hair over his eye to shift back and forth. "She'd be the lead scientist in the Bishop Corporation, instead of the lead airhead of Starlight Jr. High."

         "Who's an airhead!?" A sharp voice boomed out from the entrance of the auditorium, and Slick cringed as he spied a familiar mane of forest-green hair sauntering towards him. Maru Mari, the third member of their band, had come equipped with a guitar case dangling off her shoulder, and a fiery attitude that suited a hard-rocker girl. "Slick, when are you ever going to take your foot out of your mouth?" she said, walking up to the stage to confront him.

         "Hey, you're still the hottest!" Slick shrugged in mock-innocence, grinning a pained grin. "That's good, right?"

         "You'll never be popular with us girls unless you stop being such a pig!" Mari admonished him, putting her free hand on her hip. "A perverted pig, even."

         "I object!" Slick cried out. "I haven't done anything perverted in...um..." The blond boy started counting on his fingers, and didn't even pass the pinky. "One whole week!"

         "Well, braaaaavo!" Mari said dryly, offering up some insincere claps.

         "Hey Mari, where's Tarah?" Andy interrupted, cutting off the argument before it had the chance to become gross. "She's with you, right?"

         "Tarah?" Mari blinked at him. "We finished up early. Said she had somewhere she had to be. Besides, the math thing was driving me crazy." The green-haired girl made twirling motions with her finger around her temple. "Any more Algebra II, my head will explode!"

         "Huh?" Andy stepped away from the stand-up mike and walked over to Mari. "But she was supposed to come right over."

         "TARAH stood you up?" Slick gaped at Andy. "Now that's rough!"

         Andy folded his arms and cupped his chin in his hand. "I wonder what she's doing?" he said.

         Mari folded her arms and cupped her chin in her hand. "I wonder if she's alright?" she said

         Slick folded his arms and cupped his chin in his hand. "I wonder when I can go check out the cheerleaders?" he said

         Mari whacked Slick on the back of his head, and Andy groaned in exasperation.

*****

         The school gymnasium was alive with the grunts and cries of the Starlight Jr. High cheerleader hopefuls as they tossed and tumbled just like the grasshoppers Tarah had studied last night. The pigtailed girl had arrived just as try-outs were beginning, and everybody was still in their warm-up phase, though all of them were serious and well trained. It was late in the semester, and most of the regulars were pretty much locked in, but a couple of the girls were sitting out cheerleading this year, leaving two open spots on the team. With bright uniforms and even brighter smiles, the girls exuded confidence and spirit, largely missing the barbs that adorned many of the other junior high girls.

         That's why Tarah was here, and why she was so excited. She cheerily adjusted her glasses, and marched towards the chair at the far end of the gym, where Coach Q was sitting and observing. It did her heart good to see that the other girls were so enthusiastic, just like her! Maybe she could get along with them for once, and try doing something other than biology and science.

         As Tarah neared the far end of the gym, a tall girl jumped into her path, forcing the pigtailed girl to skid to a stop to avoid running into her. Tarah backed up a few steps and looked up, only to find a disheartening visage standing before her. The girl blocking the way had violet-streaked black hair and a ice-cold glare, and she loomed over Tarah while adjusting a black glove embossed with the name “Lydia.” Her face, although pretty, was contorted into an arrogant sneer, a sneer Tarah had become all too too familiar with over the years.

         "Whatcha doing here, Terrible Tarah?" Lydia said, folding her arms and smiling insincerely. "Get lost on the way to the garbage heap looking for cockroaches?"

         "I'm trying out for the cheerleading team," Tarah said. "I'm pretty good at tumbling and gymnastics, you know."

         Lydia scoffed. "Like they'd ever accept you!" she said, dismissing her with a wave of her hand. "A science nerd as cheerleader? Puh-leeze!"

         "They could!" Tarah insisted, her fists clenched at her side. "All I need to do is try and find out!"

         "Face it, you don't belong with us cool, cheerleader types." Lydia's sneer turned into a scowl, and she bore down on Tarah with all the force her fierce reputation could muster. "Why don't you clear out before I clear you out? You have no chance!"

         Tarah returned the scowl, and looked the other girl in the eye. Lydia Marquise had been cold to her ever since she moved to Starlight City, as thorny as the underbrush she had to wade through whenever she was outside studying the Rolling Rockworm. Lydia liked to gang up on her with her girlfriends, never relenting, never sated. This time, Tarah wouldn't let herself be intimidated.

         "Then I'll let the coach tell me that," Tarah said, and walked past the taller girl with purpose in her step, once again enroute to the coach's chair.

         "Hey...hey wait!" Lydia shouted after Tarah, but Tarah had already reached the coach. Seething with frustration, the violet-streaked girl stomped after Tarah in a manner very unbecoming of a cheerleader, pushing aside a few of the other girls in the process as she made her way to the coach's chair. Coach Q, a handsome woman in her mid-thirties, peered over her cheerleading magazine and regarded Tarah with a bemused, though not unsupportive crook to her eyebrows. As Lydia arrived at their side, she frowned and observed their interaction with increasingly narrowed eyes.

         "I want to join the cheerleader team," Tarah declared to the coach, putting her hands on her hips. "I think I'll be really good!"

         "Tarah...Reichardt?" Coach Q put down her cheerleading magazine and looked up at the young girl. "Gotta say, I did NOT expect you to show up here. Aren't you more interested in biology than back-flips?"

         "Uh huh." Tarah nodded with a shake of her pigtails. "But I've really practiced hard to get better. And animals are very athletic too, so I admire them for that. I want to spin and somersault just like a monkey!"

         "That's...an interesting way of putting it." Coach Q laughed good-naturedly as she smiled at Tarah.

         "Coach Q, you can't really agree with this!" Lydia said, as she brushed her violet-streaked hair out of her eyes. "This kid doesn't know a pom-pom from a granola bar! She spends all her time with her nose in some dork book, reading about carpet critters or whatever. She's just gonna get in the way!"

         "Oh, I think little Tarah's grown quite a bit." Coach Q peered at Lydia out of the corner of her eye. "She's much more social than she was at the start of the year. I see that in the school halls. And she even has a boyfriend now, that Andy Champion kid."

         Tarah lowered her head with a shy smile, and Lydia visibly twitched at Andy's name.

         A couple of the cheerleaders broke away from the others to join Tarah, Lydia, and Coach Q. The first cheerleader, a brown-skinned girl with thick, wavy hair, smiled at Tarah. "Hey, are you trying out?" the girl said, putting her hands on her hips. "Way to go, glasses girl!"

         "Yeah, we didn't think you were into this sort of thing!" the second cheerleader, a ponytailed blond with an extravagant hair-bow, and raised her hand in greeting. "I'm Kimberly Johnson!"

         "I'm Melissa McKenna!" The wavy-haired girl moved beside her friend.

         "And we're..." The two cheerleaders shifted into a back-to-back pose, flinging their hands outwards and making peace signs. "The Starlight Jr. High Double Dynamo!"

         Out of nowhere, a burst of trumpet fanfare blared out through the gymnasium, and a shower of confetti garnished the two cheerleaders like pollen on a spring day. Tarah cheered and clapped her hands, happy the girls here were so nice.

         Coach Q rose up from her chair, and placed a hand on Tarah's shoulder. "I'll expect good things from you, Ms. Reichardt," she told the girl. "Now go change into a uniform and get acquainted with the others."

         "Hee!" Tarah grinned a toothy grin, then ran off towards the locker room to change. Lydia growled in her wake, and her fist curled up like an armadillo. Storming away from Coach Q, she headed over to a pile of cheerleading equipment and picked up a baton, twirling it once with her fingers. "No way some bug-loving geek is stealing MY thunder!" Lydia clenched her fist and snapped the baton in two, just as she hoped to snap Tarah's spirit...and maybe her bones.

*****

         "Whaaaaaat?!" Mari's jaw hit the floor as she stared at the other girl. "You're becoming a cheerleader?! Since when did this happen?"

         "Is that bad?" Tarah tilted her head to the side in confusion. "You said I should talk to more people in school other than Andrew."

         "Well, yeah, but..." Mari looked down for a second. "I've just never heard you talk about cheerleading before. I didn't think you were even interested in extracurricular activities." She turned to Andy. "What do you think, Champ?" she asked.

         Andy stared transfixed at his girlfriend, almost as slack-jawed as Mari was. Tarah was certainly dressed the part, wearing the standard Starlight Jr. High cheerleader's uniform, and wearing it well. Featuring a yellow pleated skirt and a white sweater bearing a yellow star, Tarah's new look gave out a much different vibe than the rough-and-tumble look she usually sported. Of course, she still wore her trademark pigtails, but this only suited the look more, in Andy's opinion.

         "Cute...!" Andy whispered, and Tarah beamed at him with sparkling eyes.

         Mari caught the boy's stunned look and grinned. "Hey Champ, you look like you've never seen a cheerleader before," she said, nudging the unresponsive Andy on the shoulder. "Well, I guess you got one vote of approval, Tarah."

         Slick rolled his eyes, though only one of them was visible through his hair. "Too bad Mari never wears anything cute like that!" he groused, and folded his arms in disappointment.

         "You wish!" Mari hissed at Slick. "I'm a sporty girl, not a pom-pom girl!"

         "Anyway, why are you trying out?" Andy shook himself out of his trance, trying to get back on topic. "I thought you were going to help us out with our band."

         "Oh, but that's the reason why I'm going for it!" Tarah said, and pumped her fists vigorously. "You're so excited about your new band, and you're trying new things all the time. So I thought, maybe I can try new things too! I'm already getting along better with some of the other girls, and I think I might actually make new friends! Well, except for Lydia."

         Andy frowned at the mention of the tall, violet-streaked girl. Lydia Marquise had been a pain in the neck for as long as he could remember, and Andy always strove to defend Tarah from her bullying. Thankfully, they hadn't run into Lydia for a while, so he had entertained the idea that Lydia had gotten bored of harassing them. However, Tarah's cheerleader ambitions were bringing her within Lydia's orbit once again, and Andy's protective instincts were firing up like turbo thrusters.

         Apparently, Mari had come to the same conclusion, and she scowled and folded her arms. "Ugh, Marquise!" she said, her nose wrinkling up as if she had caught a particular nasty smell wafting in. "Always coming up with stupid jibes, thinks she's so funny. Do you know she's the one girl in school I can't get on with? I mean, what a headache!"

         "Are you sure you can handle her?" Andy asked Tarah a serious expression. "She's not going to make things easy for you."

         "Don't worry about me!" Tarah smiled and shook her head. "Melissa and Kimberly are there too, and they're really nice."

         Andy lowered his eyes, and thought harder about what his girlfriend had told him, particularly the part about trying new things and meeting new people. For the longest time, it felt like he was the only one who saw the beauty in Tarah, that she was his own special secret hidden from the world. Now that Tarah was making more friends, other people were finding out how wonderful she was. It almost made him a little sad, in all honesty.

         Finally, he found his voice and placed his hand on Tarah's shoulder. "I know you can do it," Andy told her, smiling his most sincere smile. "And I'll help in any way I can."

         "Yeah!" Tarah cheered, and graced him with a quick peck on the cheek. "Let's go for it!"

*****

         "Geez..." Lydia muttered and sulked as she watched Tarah twirl through the air in a perfect twist, sticking the landing and raising her hands to the sky. It was the second day of the try-outs, and the cheerleaders had moved on to tumbling, of which Tarah was surprisingly adept at. The other cheerleader hopefuls clapped and cheered for the spry, bespectacled girl, their enthusiasm totally renewed. It was as if they were seeing her for the first time, her nerdy reputation completely forgotten, and it was driving Lydia nuts.

         "You got skills, glasses girl!" Melissa said as she threw out a thumbs-up.

         "Yeah, work those pigtails!" Kimberly agreed, jumping up and down.

         "Thanks, guys!" Tarah smiled at the two girls as they continued to applaud.

         "Gimme a break!" Lydia huffed and turned her back on the spectacle, her teeth grinding back and forth like she was some sort of orangutan. She hated to admit it, but Terrible Tarah was not so terrible when it came to gymnastic routines, and she was giving Lydia a run for her money. The little pigtailed twig was already winning over most of the other cheerleaders, even though Lydia had been top dog ever since grade school. Who gave this dweeb the right to horn in on HER territory?

         "How do you get those pigtails so tight?" Kimberly was saying to Tarah, taking one of the girl's braids inbetween her fingers. "I just have to go with the dumb ol' ponytail every time."

         "My mom taught me how to do pigtails ever since I was six," Tarah answered cheerfully. "I got really good at it. I can show you how to do it, if you want."

         "Yeah, you need the extra help!" Melissa smirked. "You turned my hair into a science project! It wouldn't sit right for a week!"

         "Oh, shut up Melissa!" Kimberly shot back. "It's just 'cause I'd never used that brand of hairspray before!"

Tarah smiled good-naturedly, but her eyes drifted past the two cheerleaders towards the exit door, where a lone figure was walking into the gym. "Oh, there's Andrew!" she exclaimed, running past Kimberly and Melissa. "See you later!"

         Lydia followed Tarah with her eyes as the pigtailed girl traversed the gym to greet her new boyfriend, who smiled and waved at her. Andy had grown taller since the start of 8th Grade, with more muscle mass, more defined facial features, all crowned with his exuberant mane of sea-green hair. Moreover, he had a renewed confidence in his step, a purpose to his actions that somehow didn't clash with his gentle eyes. All things expected of a budding musician, and of a classic teen heart-throb.

         "I brought you some extra water." Andy presented her with a small bottle. "It's that vitamin water you said you wanted."

         "Thanks, Andrew!" Tarah took the vitamin water with a smile. "But aren't you still practicing your songs?"

         "We were taking a break." Andy shook his head, his hair shifting to and fro. "Actually, I was wondering if you could help me real quick with this dance step." The green-haired lad took a few steps away from Tarah, and did a quick spin on his heels, wobbling slightly with the effort.

         "No no no." Tarah grabbed Andy's arms firmly, and moved them into the correct position. "Your arms are supposed to be like this, or you'll lose balance."

         "Right!" Andy nodded, and tried his spin again, this time with a clap of approval from Tarah.

         "You did it!" she exclaimed, and Andy rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

         Lydia watched all this with a frown, and a twinge of deeply-buried sadness that she had sworn never to acknowledge. Nobody knew how it happened, but somehow Tarah Reichardt had gotten a boyfriend before she did, and a really cute one at that. Back when Andy first became friends with Tarah, Lydia was sure he only pitied the girl, and that the association would be over as soon as Andy came to his senses. Honestly, how could he even stand being around her for more than five minutes, with her bizarre bug affinity and her totally lame fashion sense?

         And yet, the relationship persisted, and had even blossomed into young love. Lydia didn't understand any of it, especially since she had made herself very available, and was far more developed than Tarah was. And now she had to stand there and watch as the guy she liked made googly eyes at that insect-loving geek, when she had been alone all year. There was no way Tarah had anything that Lydia didn't, and she was going to prove it!

         Keeping that mantra in mind, Lydia strolled over to Andy and Tarah, her vigor back in full force. "Wasting time watering the weeds again?" she said, smirking at the water bottle Andy had given Tarah. "Don't you have a band to get back to, Andy?"

         "What do you want, Lydia?" Andy said, his voice cool but brittle.

         "Just showing off what you're missing by not going out with me." Lydia struck a pose and tossed her hair behind her like she was a runway model at a fashion show. "After all, you're giving up all this for the consolation prize."

         "We're just fine together, thank you." The boy put a hand on Tarah's shoulder in a show of solidarity, who looked over at Andy with a nervous look.

         "'Cause you don't know her history." Lydia's smile turned venomous, as she prepared to sink in the stinger. "Us girls though, we know what she's really like. Did you know she took her toy caterpillar to school in 6th Grade? Kept calling it her little baby. But we all know who's the real baby here." The violet-streaked girl chuckled, her mind loading up with new ammunition to fire at the two of them. "Didn't even have her first period until she was thirteen. Talk about a late-bloomer! You're pretty strange for liking a girl like that, Andy."

         Tarah erupted into a flush and looked down at her feet, seeming to mutter to himself. Lydia grinned inwardly, as she finally hit paydirt. Deep down, Tarah knew the social sacrifice Andy was making by staying with Tarah, a sacrifice Lydia was all too ready to remind them of. You don't just ignore the school's pecking order without some pushback, after all.

         Nevertheless, Tarah still faced Lydia head on. "We're prepared to stay together, no matter what you say to us," she told Lydia, as she laid her hand upon Andy's.

         Lydia blinked a few times, not sure how to respond.

         Tarah for her part, opened up the water bottle and took a quick swig. "I'm going back to try-outs..." she finally said, and ran back towards the center of the gym.

         "What a sentimental brat..." Lydia muttered, watching the other girl go with a large grin. "Can't take even the slightest jab..."

         Andy turned on Lydia with fury in his eyes. "There's only one brat here that I can see," he said, and took a step closer. "Now shut up! You've been messing with Tarah for years, and it's pathetic! Everybody sees it's pathetic! The only one who's oblivious is you."

         Lydia stared agape at the boy, the wind taken completely out of her sails. Andy ignored her frightened eyes, and brought himself up to his full height, as if he were a sea-green tidal wave about to crash down on her. He was taller than her now, and his eyes flashed in a way that chilled Lydia to the bone. All the comebacks she had conjured up were forgotten, and she was left silent as she waited for Andy to say his next piece.

         "You know why I like Tarah?" Andy growled, his teeth clenched. "Because she's gentle, kind, and doesn't know how to be dishonest. But you? Everything about you is fake. Nobody actually likes you, they're just afraid of you, and nobody wants to be around you out of their own free will!" Andy's voice continued to rise with every word, until he was pretty much shouting by the end. "You might've gotten this far with that kind of attitude, but this is the end! If you ever bother Tarah again, I won't forgive it!"

         On that note of finality, the green-maned boy stormed out of the gym, his body shaking from the sheer rage coursing through him. A couple of the other cheerleaders watched him go with a look of shock on their faces, then turned back towards Lydia. The tall girl was standing motionless by the door, her hands by her sides and her eyes wide, like she was a mere sculpture of herself. Then slowly, shakily, she reached for the wall and grabbed it as if to steady herself, breathing in and out as if she had just been through a car wreck.

         The real crash was soon to come.

*****

         Ten minutes later, the second day of cheerleading try-outs ended, and Tarah was walking alone through the empty halls of Starlight Jr. High, dressed in her normal clothes again. She sighed, feeling exhausted from the rigorous tests that she had to undergo, up against tough competitors for the very first time. Not only that, but Lydia saw fit to ruin her time with Andy, whom she hadn't seen all day. It was hard to push through it and continue try-outs, but after years of bullying, she had learned how to manage it.

         Tarah put her hand to her cheek, and looked down at the floor scrolling under her feet. Strangely enough, Lydia was otherwise absent from try-outs after their encounter, which did have the side-effect of easing the pressure off Tarah. Even so, Lydia was usually much more persistent, and it was odd to see her disappear like that. It gave her a bad feeling, and she had learned to trust those kinds of feelings.

         As Tarah passed by the girl's restroom, she could hear a muffled groaning emanating from behind the door. Pausing for a moment, she perked up her ears, catching something strangely familiar about the cries. Curiosity struck her, and she eased open the door to the restroom.

         Nothing could've prepared her for what she saw next.

         Huddled next to the sink, leaning almost completely into the basin, was Lydia, tears streaming down her face and leaving black streaks of smeared makeup over her cheeks. Piles of used paper towels adorned the sinks beside her, and were falling onto the floor like boulders falling off a mountainside. Lydia's body was racked with sobs, as she grabbed the sink with both hands like she was trying to tear it off the wall. All the bravado and ego was gone, and when she at last turned towards Tarah, her eyes were haunted with shadows that had just now risen to the surface.

         Tarah hesitated for just a moment, then took a step forward. "Lydia?" she said.

         Lydia grabbed a hairbrush from the side of the sink, and hurled it at Tarah. The pigtailed girl screamed as the brush impacted the wall a mere foot from where her head was. She looked back towards Lydia with wide eyes.

         "GET OUT OF HERE, YOU FREAK!!!" Lydia hollered out, her eyes wild with rage. Then, just as soon as it came, the rage receded, and she turned back to the sink and leaned her arms upon it. "Just go back to your boyfriend and leave me alone..." she said, and lowered her head into the sink, causing her long, dark hair to become soaked in the water and dripping makeup.

         Tarah stood still for a moment later, observing Lydia's broken posture and wondering if was looking at a completely different person. Then, she adjusted the bag on her shoulder, opened the door, and was gone.

*****

         "She was really upset, you know," Tarah said, staring intently at Andy as they ate their lunches the next day at their usual spot near the carpool lane.

         "What?" Andy gave Tarah an incredulous look as he put down his sandwich. "She deserved it, Tarah! She's always bothering us, and I'm so sick of it! I mean. how much more of this can you take?"

         Tarah shook her head. "You still shouldn't have yelled so much, Andrew," she told him, her blue eyes surprising hard behind her glasses. "It's not like you."

         Andy looked down at his lunch as he continued to bubble up with indignation. He had meant every word, and had gotten a strange sense of release when he told Lydia Marquise exactly what he thought of her. It was because of people like her that Andy and Tarah had to eat outside to avoid the ritual teasing, though that had mostly lessened as the year went on and the school got used to their relationship. But Lydia had crossed the line far too many times, and he had been waiting for an opportunity to push her back into her own zone.

         And yet, Tarah's words somehow hit home. The boy's brow scrunched up, as the frustration left his heart and was replaced with a deeper feeling of regret. The rage had felt satisfying, but also very ugly, hollering at another human being like they were trash left on the sidewalk. At the end of the day, Lydia was just a teenage girl, and from what Tarah had told him, she had human emotions just like everyone else.

         Did he really want to be that kind of spiteful person?

         "I'll...think about it," he said at last, not yet meeting Tarah's gaze. "But you still got to get ready for the final part of try-outs." The boy looked up at Tarah, his face set in all seriousness. "Don't let all this distract you from what you've got to do. We're both shooting for the stars now."

         "Sure!" Tarah's smile was back, and she pushed her glasses up on her nose. "Let's give it our all!"

*****

         The final day of cheerleader try-outs was a tense affair for the girls, their earlier zeal from the previous days giving way to a subdued sense of worry. The girls all talked amongst themselves about who would be chosen, though they were still competing with each other. Most came to the conclusion that Lydia and Tarah were the top picks to be on the team, and some were secretly hoping that Tarah would beat out Lydia entirely and take her place. Of course, Kimberly and Melissa were always popular choices and had their spots pretty much guaranteed. leaving them as the only two without a sense of apprehension.

         Standing by herself, Tarah methodically went through her stretches, starting off with one leg and then smoothly moving to the other. The chaos of the previous day had finally washed over, and she was prepared to make the final push. Today was the choreographed routine, where all the candidates were performing to Coach Q's chosen song. Tarah had learned the steps quickly, and felt as flexible as a millipede inching up a leaf.

         "Alright girls, fall in!" Coach Q called out, and all the cheerleaders got into position in the center of the gym, pom-poms in hand and game faces on. Tarah was near the front, and positioned right next to Lydia, who was staring straight ahead with an unreadable expression on her face. Tarah peered over at Lydia, but Lydia did not respond to Tarah's glance, and continued to stand at attention, like a royal palace guard on duty. She seemed completely different than the Lydia that Tarah knew, and it was unnerving.

         Coach Q pulled up her boombox and flicked the "PLAY" button. "Go to it!" she said, and the girls began dancing to the music. The song was a hyper-peppy, foreign pop tune, and Tarah thought she could hear the words "cherry pie" mentioned somewhere in the lyrics. She paid it no mind, and continued dancing in perfect coordination with the rest of the cheerleaders.

         All of this came crashing down by a single leg in Tarah's path, which stuck out like the root of a oak tree on a forest nature trail. The pigtailed girl found herself toppling into one of the other cheerleaders, and they both fell to the floor in a tangled heap of legs and pom-poms. Tarah felt a sharp pain in her leg, and she winced as she grabbed her calf, which now had a growing red mark. "Ow!" she hissed, looking up for what she had tripped over, and found a very familiar shroud of violet-swathed black hair looming above her.

         "Getting a little tangled up there, Terrible Tarah?" Lydia sneered like a wolf about to feast on its victim, and her eyes were just as wild. "Maybe you should stick to bug hunts, and leave the cheerleading to the pros!" She started laughing, almost cackling, and the other cheerleaders looked at her as she had grown a second head. It was rare for a cheerleading routine to end so abruptly, especially by sabotage.

         Tarah look up at her tormentor with a sudden rush of fury, her teeth gnashing together. After all the things she said to Andy about Lydia's feelings, the girl was just as nasty as ever, as nasty as the throbbing pain in her leg. Bad to the bone. rotten to the core. Now, she had ruined things again, just as she was finally ready to try something different.

         It was all too much.

         With a cry of sheer anger, Tarah flung herself at Lydia's legs, tackling her and knocking them both to the gym floor. The girl grunted as she was knocked onto her back, her black hair splaying out around her head, but Tarah didn't stop there. She reached forward and grabbed Lydia by the collar of her cheerleader sweater, bringing her up to Tarah's eye level. Rearing back, she let loose with a slap that turned Lydia's head, leaving a red welt on her cheek twice as large as the mark on Tarah's leg.

         "Why do you have to be so horrible!?" Tarah screamed, shaking her like a sack of poppy seeds. "Why can't you just be nice!? I never did anything to you, and you're always the same way! Like you came out of an alligator egg!"

         "Don't talk about me like you know me!" Lydia hollered, and pushed back against Tarah and slammed her onto the floor. "You may be an oblivious idiot, but other people are trying to survive this stupid school too! You have no idea what you have in that guy, someone who loves you unconditionally, who'll tear down anybody that messes with you. I have to fight everyday for the respect I have, but you do nothing and get ahead of me!"

         "Just leave everybody alone then!" Tarah smacked Lydia in the face again, drawing a bit of blood. "I hate you!"

         "Drop dead, Tarah!" Lydia started slamming her fist into Tarah's side. "Drop...dead!!"

         As the two girls continued to tussle around on the gym floor punching and kicking each other, the cheerleaders gathered around them, transfixed by the violence unfolding before their eyes. "What are you two doing?!" Kimberly said, putting her hand to her mouth in shock.

         Melissa shook her head and groaned. "Geez, that's so uncool."

         Kimberly and Melissa waded in and tore the grappling Tarah and Lydia off each other, while the.rest of the girls formed a protective wall separating them. The two combative girls huffed and heaved as they continued to glare daggers, their outfits scuffed and rumpled like they were in wrestling try-outs rather than cheerleading. The other girls looked at them with disapproval, shaking their heads and keeping them restrained. From the other end of the gym, Coach Q walked over with a severe look on her face, having shut off the music shortly after the fight began.

         "That's enough!" Coach Q said, glancing between the two of them and folding her arms. "Lydia, Tarah, both of you are off the team. Lydia, you caused way too many problems this year with these kinds of antics. And Tarah, I expected better of you."

         "What?!" Tarah and Lydia exclaimed in unison.

         Coach Q ignored their protests, and motioned towards the exit. "Girls, take them outside," she commanded. "You two, cool off and think about things for yourselves. Learn what it truly means to be a cheerleader, and try again next year."

         The cheerleaders obeyed the coach's orders, and escorted Tarah and Lydia out of the gym by their arms. The exit door swung wide, then closed with a sense of finality, shutting the girls off from the cheerleader lifestyle as they shuffled towards an uncertain future.

*****

         The wind was gently blowing that spring afternoon, causing Lydia's long black hair to flow and Tarah's pigtails to waft like reeds on the side of a riverbank. The two teenagers sat together on the side of the carpool lane, watching the birds flit about from tree to tree and feeling a sense of serenity due to the lack of people around. It was a bit eerie, actually, after the madness in the gym, to see everything so calm and peaceful, as if it were a sign that Life would always go on, despite all their struggles. Ironically, it reminded Lydia of the bizarre nature rants Tarah went on every now and again, but now, it felt oddly comforting.

         "Does your cheek hurt?" Tarah said, as she peered closer at the damage she had inflicted upon the other girl.

         "Not as much as where you kicked me in the ribs," Lydia grumbled, though all malice had been drained out of her voice. "Ow!"

         "I'm sorry I slapped you." Tarah lowered her head in shame. "I just got really mad when you ruined the routine, and I guess I wanted revenge. Oh, I can get you some herbal antiseptic, if you want!"

         "That stuff's just a placebo." Lydia sighed, drawing a disappointing look from the pigtailed girl. "Trust me, I'll be fine. And..." Her voice drifted to a whisper. "Sorry for wrecking everything. That was dumb."

         "Oh...okay." Tarah was silent again, and looked back down.

         In the strangest way possible, Lydia and Tarah's fight had somehow cleared the slate between the two. For the first time, Lydia felt could speak to Tarah as if she was a normal person, instead of this annoying pest that couldn't ever get the hint. Maybe it was because she realized that she wasn't "normal" herself, after losing control like that. She never thought Terrible Tarah could get under her skin, but somehow they were here having a conversation, the first real conversation she had in quite a while.

         "You know, you actually hit pretty hard for a dweeb," Lydia commented, rubbing her injured side and wincing. "Of course, I'm still tougher."

         "I train in martial arts, but I don't like fighting that much," Tarah explained, and raised her head back to look at Lydia. "Hey Lydia, do you like fighting? You're pretty good at it."

         "No." Lydia's hand curled into a fist, and a growl formed deep within her throat. "But you have to be tough on my side of town if you want to get anywhere. There's no room for niceness or any of that crap. It's hit first, or get beat. That's what always worked for me, anyway."

         She turned back to Tarah. 'You don't know how lucky you are," Lydia said, staring her in the face. "You have a nice home, good parents, and you're pure as silk. And now...you have a really nice boyfriend." Her eyes glanced away. "It's so sweet, it honestly makes me sick."

         "Lydia..." Tarah said quietly.

         A tear came unbidden to Lydia's eye, and she angrily rubbed it away, trying to maintain her composure. "Andy protects you, keeps you from having to change like the rest of us had to. As for me, I had to claw and scrape for every ounce of respect I have. And now, even that's gone."

         "But it doesn't have to be like that!" Tarah cried out, swiveling around on the side of the carpool lane. "You don't have to be hard to be strong! Andrew and I stood together, and supported each other! That's why we made it this far!"

         Tarah glanced over to the side, uncharacteristically pensive. "I used to not care about what people said about me," she admitted. "But when I became friends with Andrew, I had to stop being stubborn. I learned how to get along with people, to try different things, and to stand up for myself. I became a part of nature, instead of just studying it."

         "How good for you," Lydia said sarcastically, slumping over with her cheek in her hand.

         "But it can be good for you too!" Tarah continued, without missing a beat. "Things are different now, and you be respected without having to threaten people. There's people worth trusting, and they'll trust you too, if you want them to. And...you can trust me!"

         Lydia looked at Tarah, laughing in spite of herself. "I must have fallen pretty hard if YOU'RE giving me sympathy," she said, and a slow smile started to form on her face.

         Tarah stood up from her spot at the side of the carpool, and extended a hand out to her. "Come on, Lydia!" she said, smiling brightly. "Let's talk to Andrew. I'm sure if you told him what you told me, he'll forgive you. Maybe we won't be cheerleaders this year, but we can start over, and try again! Okay?"

         Lydia looked up at Tarah, who was shining in the afternoon sun like some sort of pigtailed symbol of hope. The light sparkled on the rim of her glasses, and for the first time, Lydia took a look through the lenses to examine her blue eyes. They seemed to sparkle with all the life and energy she had learned to associate with Tarah, as annoying as that energy was at times. And yet, there was hard won knowledge there too, a deep sense of hurt that she had nevertheless managed to overcome, with a little help from friends.

         The violet-streaked girl hesitated a moment more, contemplating the proffered hand as if it were a ticket to another world. Then, she smirked, and took that hand. "Eh, why the hell not?"

*****

         "You and Lydia want to join our band?" Andy said, his eyes wide as he set a splash cymbal on Slick's drumset.

         "We can be your backup dancers!" Tarah said, as Lydia stood behind her on the auditorium stage. "Since you're not as good as us, we can help carry you through your routine!"

         "Oh, thanks!" The green-haired boy said sarcastically, rolling his eyes,

         "Unless you're afraid of being upstaged by us." Lydia smirked as she taunted him.

         "I never said that." Andy said, as he folded his arms and snorted.

         "Face it Champ, we need all the help we can get with this band," Mari interjected, as she carried a lead guitar across the stage. "We still don't have a bass player locked in yet."

         "And we can always use dancing girls!" Stick chimed in, grinning widely. "Even nerdy ones and nasty ones."

         "Hmm..." Andy stroked his chin with his finger. "It's weird, but it's worth a try."

         "And I know you're all about trying weird things," Lydia said, motioning over to Tarah.

         Andy looked at Lydia, contemplating the girl before him. She was still as sassy and outspoken as ever, but her attitude was noticeably missing the fangs she had previously shown. A weight seemed to have lifted from her, and now she was just a normal girl. Was this the real Lydia after all?

         Looking over at Lydia, he bowed slightly to her. "I'm sorry about those things I said the other day," he told her, the guilt finally catching up to him. "You didn't deserve all that."

         "Well, maybe I did." Lydia shrugged her shoulders, adopting a nonchalant attitude to the confession. "But since cheerleading is over and done with, I need something to do. So I think I'll hang out with you guys for a while, and see some of the less-terrible sides of Tarah. And of course, you'll get to see my super-awesome moves up close." She tossed her dark, shiny hair behind her head, adopting a pose with her hand on her hip.

         Andy watched her flamboyant display of vanity, and laughed in spite of himself. Lydia's eyes shone with a subtle affection, for Andy as well as Tarah. In a weird way, she was as genuine as Tarah now, even though the words were different. And if Tarah was alright with it, perhaps it was time to let old wounds heal, and bring on some new members for the band.

         "But we still need some stage costumes if we're really going to do this," Andy said, his eyes drifting away from her for the moment. "You two got any ideas?"

         "Oh, we've taken care of that!" Tarah said, smiling.

         "Hmm?" Andy cocked an eyebrow.

         From behind the curtains, Kimberly and Melissa emerged as if they were a professional musician act, moving towards the center of the stage in perfect unison. "Looks like our work is never done!" Kimberly said, smiling at the small group. "I thought designing the cheerleader uniforms was rad, but making some rock band outfits is gonna mega rock!"

         "The Starlight Jr. High Double Dynamo is going into overdrive!" Melissa agreed, bringing up a folder filled with design sketches. "For a cut of the profits, of course!"

         "Wow, this band is hitting the big time now." Andy blinked in astonishment, as the two cheerleaders made poses and peace signs.

         Lydia moved over to Tarah, and nudged her with her elbow. "Hey Tarah, think you can keep up with MY moves?" she taunted the girl, grinning like a shark.

         Tarah smiled, and nudged her back. "You bet!"

                             END