Chapter 255
WILLA
We talked for a while and then Cade said, "We've actually been planning to visit you real soon."
"No rush," I said quickly. The last thing I wanted was for them to come here and see how miserable I was. I could deceive them through a phone call. I hadn't a prayer of doing that face to face. "You all just... take your time. After all I'm going be here for a long, long time."
Finally I said my goodbyes. The call clicked off. I felt all the sadness and heaviness settling back on me again.
I dragged myself out of bed and to my 10 am class.
I was doodling in my notebook, listening to Sienna talk while we waited for the professor when I noticed a couple of girls come in and start handing out fliers.
"What are they for?" I asked one of them as she walked past my seat.
"Cheerleading trials," she said and handed me one of the yellow fliers.
Sienna read the details of hers out loud.
"Sounds fun," she said. "Cheerleading at Worchmount should be a pretty big deal. Hey, you should try out," she said.
"What?"
"You heard me. I think you'll get selected. You're smart. You can easily memorize the routines." Sienna's eyes roamed over my trim figure. "More importantly, you've got the body for it. So will you?"
"Will I what?" I said.
Sienna rolled her eyes at the ceiling. "Try out, silly."
"Yes," I said after a moment.
I thought, why the heck not?
***********
According to the flier, the cheerleading tryouts was to hold immediately after the day's classes. So as soon as the professor dismissed us, I picked up my bag pack, said goodbye to Sienna.
"Break a leg, Willa," she said and laughed.
"Gee, thanks," I said.
At the door of the hall, I stopped short. It seemed like the entire female population of Worchmount had come for the tryouts.
A double line extended from the door and down the corridor. More girls were still coming.
"Pick a number! Pick a number and stay in line!" a girl was shouting.
She was holding up a handful of papers with numbers printed on them.
Several girls quickly moved forward to take number tags from her. I did same and joined the line.
I heard some girls complaining about the possibility of getting picked. I was not really worried. I was good at this sort of thing before so I was confident I would get selected.
The queue moved slowly. Finally the girl handing out the number tags called my number.
"Go in. It's your turn now," she said.
I pushed open the double doors, stopped dead in my tracks. Seated behind a large table in the middle of the other judges on the largest chair was none other than Naomi.
So no one could miss the fact that she was cheer queen, she had some tiara-like nonsense perched on her head. Pinned to her blouse was a gold plated name tag that proclaimed her CHEER QUEEN.
She was talking to one of the other girls.
In the middle of the large space for demonstrations, a girl was picking a pair of pom-poms off the floor.
The others were staring at me, wondering why I didn't approach. Abruptly Naomi stopped talking. She looked up.
"You!" she said.
"Yes me," I said dryly and moved into the room. "Hi everyone. I'm Willa Wallace."
"What are you doing here?" Naomi said. "You must have lost your way, Willa. Cheer is not for fat girls."
The girls laughed. The ones, standing off to the side, who had just been chosen to join the squad, laughed the loudest.
"That's ridiculous!" I said angrily. "I'm a size four. No one can consider in their right minds considers that fat!"
Naomi's perfectly pencilled brow went up. "You're lying. Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? Your bones are too big and your chin far too wobbly for you to be a size 4 even in your dreams."
More laughter. Louder this time.
Naomi clearly pleased at the reaction she had stirred in the others, waved at the door. "Go on. Get out. We have so many other more qualified candidates waiting their turn."
I stood my ground. "I'm not leaving because I'm more than qualified. By the way, Naomi, why don't you tell all the girls here your real reason for not wanting me to try out?" I gave a dramatic pause. "Could it be because you're insecure in your relationship?"
The room went silent as a graveyard. Naomi's eyes narrowed into angry slits.
"What did you just say to me?" she said quietly.
"You heard me," I returned. "Are you picking on me because you're scared I've caught Lucian's attention?"
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