Free Always Upbeat / All That by Stephanie Perry Moore Page B

right,” I uttered when I placed my hands on his face.
    He pulled away and lashed out at me, absolutely breaking my heart when he shouted, “I said we’re through. When I needed you to be there, you had other stuff going on. Now that I’ve moved on, you gonna try and make time for me? How many times do I have to tell you no?”
    â€œBlake, please.”
    I just fell to my knees, not caring that they might get scratched up—for a cheerleader to have yucky legs was for sure taboo. None of that mattered because in the pit in my stomach, I was dying. I closed my eyes. When I felt strong arms around me, I leapt to my feet and said, “I knew you cared!”
    â€œI never stopped caring,” Brenton said to me, making me step back some from his arms.
    I just took both of my hands and hit him in his chest repeatedly. “Why? Why? Why?”
    Others from the party were now surrounding me. Folks were laughing. I had always been the popular girl, and Blake and I were the bomb couple. Now I was the butt of the joke.
    I pulled away from Brenton and dashed to my car. I was so frustrated when I could not get the key to work. I just kept pushing the button and pushing the button and nothing would unlock.
    â€œSounds like you’re relocking it,” Brenton said.
    Totally upset, I scolded him. “Why don’t you leave me alone? I got this, okay?”
    He took the key from me, pressed the button one time, and my doors unlocked. “Stay here with me and chill. You’re not okay. Forget Blake. He doesn’t understand what a great girl you are. His loss.”
    I grabbed my keys from Brenton, got in my car, and said, “Just leave me alone.”
    As I drove home, I realized I didn’t have to be that rude to the one person all day who had been on my side. However, at that moment it took all my energy to calm down so I would get home safely. I made it a point to apologize later.
    When I got home, my dad’s car was not there. All the lights were off. I peeked into my parents’ room. My mom was asleep. I got into my own bed and, after minutes of tossing, I drifted off too.
    The next morning I woke up feeling really sluggish. It felt like I’d been hit by three linebackers and could not get off the field. However, I did pull myself out of bed. I had cheer practice to get to.
    This was our last practice of camp. It was a Saturday. I had no pep in my step. I didn’t care about warming up.
    Coach Woods called out, “Captain Charli, you need to get them girls together. Let’s go.”
    I followed her instruction. However, the team didn’t follow my lead. After the third time of telling them to line up and not having them comply, Coach Woods took over.
    Coach said, “Ladies, this is our last full day together. I expect you guys to give me more than what you’re giving me now. How you practice is how you’re going to perform. We’ve got football games coming up, and we have a big competition. The first one is major because how you rank determines whether you’ll have a hard or easy road getting to the state competition.”
    Whitney vented, “We’re exhausted, Coach. We’ve been at this for three weeks. Maybe you should blame our captain. She worked us too hard, and now look at her. She isn’t even giving her all.”
    She was right. I had lost my zeal. Cheerleading was everything to me, and yet I was in a leadership role unable to get my team to focus.
    â€œCharli, can I see you for a second?” Coach Woods said to me. “Play the dance over and over. Someone come up here and get it done.”
    â€œI’ll gladly do it,” Whitney said, flouncing her way to the front.
    When I got into Ms. Woods office, I accidentally shut her door rather hard. She wasn’t pleased at my melancholy demeanor. She crossed her arms and looked at me intensely.
    â€œWhat is going on with you?”
    I could not tell her my