Lauren S.

The Fall

“Are we there yet!?” I asked Dad

          “No.” He replied

          “Are we there yet?!” I asked again.

          “No.” He replied again.

          “Are we there yet?!”

          “NOOOO!!!!”

We were on our way to my cheer competition in Providence, 
Rhode Island.

“I can't wait to see beautiful Rhode Island!” I thought to myself.

“How much longer?” I whined as I stomped my foot.

“LAUREN! Stop yelling in my ear. Play a game with Aidan!” 
Dad shouted. I looked over to my annoying brother sleeping soundly.

“But dad Aidan’s sleeping!” I replied with an attitude.

“Maybe you should join him” dad suggested. I looked around the black interior of the car for something to do.

“What to do?” I thought as I looked outside the window. My eyes started to close. I took a long nap for the rest of the car ride. I dreamed about seeing my team compete in a humongous gymnasium with more than 100 people watching. In my dream there were 15-20 teams each in uniforms with glitter and sparkles! I wondered if they were better than us?

About 2 hours later, we arrived. Mom called to me in the backseat. “Lauren wake up!! We made it to the hotel.” When I peeled open my eyes, I could see the brightly lit Marriott Hotel sign. The snowy colored  stars were shining in the moonlight.

“Why does it need to be this COLD?” I thought as I slowly walked into the hotel lobby. I smelled sweet-sour green apples. I licked my lips. I had to have one. I love green apples! I snuck 5 into my pockets.

“I hope no one catches me,” I thought as I ran over to the couch in the lobby.

“LAUREN, come on, let's go to our room!” Aidan yelled from across the lobby.

Suddenly the whole room stared at me.

“Why can’t he use his stinking feet to walk over to me rather than yell across the lobby?!” I mumbled.

“I hope I get my own bed,” I thought as I went up the elevator.

“If I need to sleep in the same bed as fart magnet over here, I will lose it.” Finally we were at our room. It was as cold as Antarctica in the winter. I felt like a polar bear swimming in the cold water. As I walked into the room, I eyed 2 beds!

“I call this bed!” Aidan shouted! It was of course the bed I wanted!

“NO!!!!” I cried as I jumped onto the bed I wanted.

“I can't believe we are finally here!” I thought.

It was time for the cheer dinner. I was to meet my team in the lobby for the bus to the restaurant. Aidan, mom, and dad drove.                                                                                                                                                                                      

“Wait up you guys!!” I yelled to my cheer team as I ran as fast as 
I could through the lobby.

“Hi!” I shouted to my cheer team.

“The shuttle is here!” Yelled Mrs. Boelaert. We boarded the bus and 10 minutes later we were at dinner.

“Hi, can I please get macaroni and cheese with french fries,” I asked the waitress. When our food finally came, I gobbled it up.

“Let’s do paper plate awards!” yelled Amanda, one of our dems. A dem is on the high school cheerleading team and works alongside the coaches to help run practices and develop new cheer routines. Paper plates are my favorite. The coaches and dems write an individual accomplishment of each cheerleader on separate paper plates. They are our Tony Awards.

“Most likely to have her own talk show. Drum roll please” announced Callie, one of our dems. Everyone started to slap their thighs and the noise increased. Then, it stopped and the name was announced. A silence fell over the room.

“Lauren!1!” shouted Amanda. A bright smile crossed my face and it turned cherry red. Even though 24 eyes were staring at me, it felt like a million. Everyone was laughing at me. I felt like a class clown, as if people were laughing at me in the wrong way. I grabbed my paper plate and I ran back to my seat.

The next day I got up at 7:00 in the morning.

“Regionals!” I howled as I jumped on my bed a million times. I felt like a monkey swinging on a vine.

“Lauren, stop jumping!” Aidan mumbled as he grabbed my leg. When I got dressed I thought, “Will I need to put that sticky slimy gel in my hair!?” as I brushed my golden brown hair.

“Mom I need help with my ponytail!” I yelled, mainly to wake up Aidan. I put my hair into a ponytail as fast as a jaguar.

`                            “MOM let's go. Don’t be late. I mean it!” I shouted.        

“Lauren, let me do your hair!” Mom roared as she clapped her hands.

                                “I already did.” I snapped as I put my hands on my hips.

                                “Did you do the gel?” Mom asked as she held up the gel tube and the hair spray.

                                “No!!!!” I cried while I shook my fists. One hour later, we were in the hotel lobby.

                                “Hey team!” I yelled to the whole lobby.

                                “Lauren, let me do your hair.” Hannah demanded with a calming voice. When Hannah did my hair, it hurt like a shot at the doctor's office.“Let's go to regionals!” Coach Coco Puffs shouted. We scrambled outside.

“We are walking?” I asked very loudly. It seemed that we walked 50 miles but we didn’t walk even one mile. When I walked around the corner I saw a tall building. It had a large purple sign that said Regionals! We 
hurried inside. We saw navy blue food carts.

“Let's take this spot!” yelled Amanda. It was loud in the room. 
Everyone settled down. A silence went over the room. 25 minutes later…

“Let's go! We are going on!” yelled Hannah. I had the same butterflies 
in my stomach as I did at local competition. I remembered that they played the wrong music. I also remember my team running off the mat shivering and some girls crying. I hated to see my girls crying. Then the 
dems started to cry from seeing some girls cry. I wished they played the right music.

“Lauren. Earth to Lauren.” Kimmy called to me while she was waving her hand in front of my face. We ran onto the mat. There were 2 mats and 
one team was performing as we got ready.

“Don't make any noise!” I thought to myself. The music stopped.

“Good job girls!” Yelled the announcer. “Now put your hands together for the Aspetuck Wildcats!” The crowd roared. I swear I heard my mom yelling. Suddenly the music started! The routine was perfect until the first pyramid. Just when we were going into the cradle, we fell. Boom!

“Did Alexa hit the ground?” I thought as I helped her up. Alexa is the flyer, the girl at the top of the pyramid. Maddie is the backspot, the girl at 

the back of the pyramid who holds the flyer’s ankles.

“W. I. L. D. C. A. T. S.” I shouted trying to forget that we had a fall. 
The cheer routine continued.

“Wildcats!” My team yelled to the whole crowd. We bolted to all of the coaches and dems, some of us crying.

“We fell!” cried Alexa. Her tears we cascading down like a waterfall.

“It’s ok you guys!” Yelled Hannah. 25 minutes later we were called on the mat for awards.

The announcer called 2nd place and 3rd place.

“1st place goes to…..Our heart was beating faster than the speed of light.

“Noooo!” I howled as I wiped off my tears. “Cheer is over!” My heart stopped beating. My tears were falling down my face like a rainstorm. I hugged all of my cheer friends and cried, ”I’ll miss you guys!” Then, my 

team and I walked into the lobby crying.

“Lauren!” Mom yelled while she gave me a giant hug.

“Lets go get a t-shirt.” I bolted to the shops and saw a teddy bear.

“Mom may I get this?” as I showed her the bear.

“Sure.” Mom replied. Mom paid for the bear. “Now let’s go. Aidan and Dad are waiting in the lobby.

“Hi Lauren. Sorry your team didn’t win” Dad said. “Now let’s go.” We walked silently to the car. We got in the car and started to go home.

“Cheer is over.” I thought as I held my brown colored teddy bear tightly. A single tear rolled down my face like a marble.

“Bye cheer.”