Free Hunted by Dean Murray

the game.
We all nodded and each put a pom-pom into the middle of the group. I
screamed "Go Wolves" with everyone else as I double-checked
that the board with the cheers on it was still resting
inconspicuously against our end of the bleachers.
    Miss
Winters knew that nobody would be able to remember all of the cheers
she'd just queued up for us, so she used the white board to remind us
all during the actual game. I'd sort of expected more of a pep talk
from Miss Winters, but the drill team looked like they were almost
done with their number and it turned out that Cindi and a few of the
other girls had been assigned to go help the mascots throw t-shirts
into the crowd.
    Just
before Cindi rushed out on the field she grabbed my arm. "You've
got about five minutes before our next routine. It would be a good
idea to stretch out anything that's feeling tight. You don't want to
start cooling down and then pull something, it happened to a couple
of girls at the start of the season."
    A
stubborn piece of me thought about trying to go find my dad, but I
knew that even if I did find him I wouldn't really have enough time
to talk to him. Besides, Cindi was just trying to help out and it
would be stupid of me to ruin how well things were going between us
now. She wasn't actually being bossy, she just knew more about what
was going on than I did.
    I
grabbed Cindi's yoga mat and rolled it out on the grass so that I
wouldn't get my uniform dirty. A couple of the other girls were doing
the same thing, but nobody said hello or even smiled at me. I'd
pretty much expected to be ignored by everyone but Cindi and Sheree
for the first few weeks at least, but that didn't make it any easier.
    I
looked around, hoping to find Sheree so that I could walk over and
talk to her once I was done stretching, but she was standing over
behind Miss Winters. She was talking to Jackson again.
    I
took a deep breath in place of the sigh of disappointment that I
otherwise would have let slip out, and closed my eyes as I wrapped my
hands around my ankles and leaned forward to stretch out my
hamstrings.
    "Do
you want me to put a little pressure on your back so that you get a
deeper stretch?"
    I
recognized Jackson's voice even before I opened my eyes to confirm
that it was him, and that he was really talking to me instead of
someone else.
    "Um,
thanks, but I'm going to pass. Miss Winters seems pretty against
assisted stretching like that. It's not that I don't trust you, but
I'm such a klutz that I'd probably end up injuring myself somehow and
have to sit out the next three games."
    Jackson's
shrug was so laid-back that I was pretty sure I hadn't offended him.
"I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit. You're
really not any more klutzy than any of the other girls, but that's
okay. Do you mind if I join you?"
    I
realized he had a mat in his left hand, which I hadn't noticed before
because I'd been too busy staring at his face while trying not to
look like I was staring. I nodded and he unrolled his mat and sat
down next to me. About the time he started stretching out his quads I
managed to process what he'd just said.
    "That's
nice of you to say, but I am the girl who just about ran over you
earlier tonight. Thanks, by the way, for figuring out a way to make
me look like less of an idiot."
    He
waved away my thanks. "Don't worry about it. It was actually
kind of fun to stunt with you. You're pretty good considering that
you haven't done any of that kind of stuff before. You tensed up the
right amount without getting so tense that you forgot to help me out.
We should practice that kind of stuff together. I'm stuck with
whomever Miss Winters assigns me to for the pyramids and the like,
but nobody said that we can't do some stunting together at other
times, like we did today."
    It
was like there was a little fairy somewhere who was trying to make my
life more difficult than it had to be. I'd never been even the
slightest bit interested in any other boys before now,