Spilled Milk: Based on a true story (8 page)

Coach and staff
were open mouthed staring at me. I stared down at them.

Wait, I’m
staring down at them?

Four hands
secured my ankles in place, but I had locked my legs and was standing several
feet off the ground in a perfect half elevator. A wide grin spread across my
face. What a rush!

“Cradle her.”
Coach flailed her hands at me. “Cradle her, then.”

Lucille looked
up at me, eyes wide. “But Coach, we didn’t teach her- I mean she doesn’t know
how to.”

“CRADLE HER!”
Coach bellowed.

Lucille looked
up at me, agony in her face. She mouthed s
orry
.

“Cradle!”
Lucille bellowed. “One, TWO.”

The ground
disappeared below my feet as the side bases pushed up and sent me flying higher
into the air. Instinctively I threw my arms back and my legs dashed out in
front of me. When I opened my eyes again, the side and back bases had crazy
smiles on their faces while they held me safely off the ground.

 Lucille was
ecstatic. “Wow! Did you see that Coach? She did it perfectly. Did you see that
coach she cradled just like she should!”

They raised my
torso until my sneakers touched the ground and two girls patted my back. “All
right, Brooke, that was awesome.”

My heart was
still in my throat as I looked at Coach sitting in her chair chewing on her
hair. “Well, Brooke.” She picked up her pencil and wrote something down in
front of her. “Seems as though you’re a natural.”

“What happened
to you in there?” Carmen and Sonia demanded as I finally walked out of the gym
doors. I told them what happened and they stared back with the same open mouths
the judges had. “You did a
stunt?
Well I guess it’s a good thing you
didn’t shave your legs!”

“What does that
have to do with anything?” I asked

“I figured, you
know, because you’re so skinny that if you made the team they would want you to
be a flyer. You can’t shave your legs before you stunt because otherwise the
bases cant grip your legs as you go up, it’s too slippery.” Sonia beamed at me.
“Aaaah that means you totally made the team!”

An hour later
Coach appeared in front of the gym doors with a list in her hand. “A lot of
girls here today showed great talent and promise. Unfortunately, we only have
six spots per team this year, so if you hear your name, congratulations, you’ve
made the team. First we’ll start with varsity.”

Coach rattled
off names of mostly Junior and Senior girls who shrieked when they heard their
names. Other girls looked around nervous that there were only six more spots to
be claimed.

“Junior Varsity
will now have the pleasure of adding the following girls to the team for the
fall football season.”

Carmen and
Sonia gripped either of my hands. “If you’re name is called, you’ve made the
team. Margaret B., Sara T., Joanna N., Riley D.,” There were only two names
left.

Coach eyed the
group of hopefuls. “Also, Lily P., and Danica R.”

Our hands
loosened as I realized with Carmen and Sonia that none of us had made the team.
I looked at Carmen who already had tears falling down her cheeks and at Sonia
who was shaking her head in disbelief.

The girls who
made the team cheered and hugged each other as Coach put the list in her
pocket. “I know a lot of you had great expectations for today. And I appreciate
all your hard work. Please try again next season, as we’re always looking for
new and great talent.”

“Yea right,”
Sonia whispered under her breath.

“One more
thing.” Coach cracked her knuckles and cleared her throat. “I also want to
congratulate Brooke Nolan, for becoming the newest flyer on the Junior Varsity
team. We needed six cheerleaders, and didn’t realize we needed a new flyer
until she demonstrated exceptional talent at today’s audition.” Coach looked at
me. “Congratulations, Brooke. Welcome to the team.”

Sonia tackled
me and Carmen shrieked in my ear as they hugged and danced around in a circle
with their arms wrapped around me. “You did it! You did it! You made the team
Brooke!”

Embarrassed
enough to not even smile I realized that I wasn’t sure I even wanted to be part
of the team now that Sonia and Carmen weren’t.

“And don’t even
think about quitting because we didn’t make it,” Carmen said, reading my
thoughts. “You will be
awesome.
”

 “I think Paul
likes you.” Cristin and I made our way through the packed annual west end fair.
In two weeks cheerleading practice was going to start.

I wasn’t
looking forward to getting up at four thirty in the morning to meet at the high
school, but Coach insisted it was better to work out and practice before the
sweltering summer sun came up.

“Really?” I
looked back at Judd, Paul and Chalky following behind us. “I don’t know, he
hasn’t said much to me since I met him last summer. He was even in my health
class this year.”

“I think he’s
shy. But he keeps looking at you.”

Dodging a kid
with a balloon I shrugged my shoulders.

“Have you even
had a boyfriend since you’ve moved here?” Cristin pressed.

“Eh, no. Not
really.”

I thought about
Dad and what he would say if I told him I was dating someone. Since Adam wasn’t
even into dating yet and he was a year older than me I couldn’t imagine it
would go over well. Work, school and cheerleading took up all my time anyway. I
didn’t think a boyfriend would be very patient with waiting for me to cook
dinner or clean the house before we could hang out. Sometimes I felt older than
I was.

We filed
through the amusement rides and stopped every couple of feet to talk to people
we knew from class. Judd and Chalky put moves on several girls we talked to
while Paul lingered in the background of their conversations.

“Well it’s nine
thirty,” Cristin chimed in looking at her phone. “My mom is meeting me out
front. Am I driving you home Brooke?”

My mouth opened
to answer her and Paul was suddenly standing at my side. “My mom will take her
home.”

The same
cologne he used the previous summer engulfed me. It was the only thing he’d
said all night and it was pretty forward.

“Are you, sure?
I mean, I’ve never met your mom…”

“It’s fine.”
Paul gave Cristin a head nod. “Go ahead, I got her.”

You got me?

Cristin raised
an eyebrow and tried to stifle a smile. “Okayyy if you say so Paulie. See ya
later Brooke.” She wrapped her hands around my neck and whispered quick words
of girlish encouragement in my ear.

Cristin
disappeared into the crowd and Paul turned to me. “So, you want to walk around
a little while these fools try and play their A game?”

He nodded in
the direction of Judd and Chalky. They were engrossed in conversation and
didn’t even look up when Paul put his hand on my shoulder to steer me around a
group of people to head towards the concession stands.

“So, we had
health together.” Paul scuffed his sneakers across the gravel as he pretended
to check out everything in sight, except me. He acted so odd.

“Didn’t think
you noticed. I sat right behind you the entire time.” I said. “You never said a
word to me.”

“It was first
period, I didn’t say a word to anybody. Not really a morning person.”

“Oh.”

“And I
noticed.”

“Huh?”

“You said I
didn’t notice,” he pointed out. “But I did. I noticed you.”

He shifted his
gaze to mine and lingered a second too long. “Not like you noticed me.” He
swayed closer to me and nudged my shoulder. “I don’t blame you. Everyone
notices you though.”

“Oh, shut up.”
I laughed and nudged him back. “Who notices me? I’m not exactly Miss Popular. I
haven’t even had a boyfriend since I moved here.” I echoed Cristin’s comment.

“Oh?”

We stopped in
front of the display of John Deere tractors and he opened up the cabin of a
larger one. “After you.” He nodded in the direction of the cabin.

Making sure no
one was looking, I hopped up into the cabin and he shut the door behind us.
Crowds of people passed by but unless you knew we were up there, no one would
see us. We both shifted and put our feet up on the dashboard.

The warmth of
his body danced near my skin. “Yea, I don’t really see you with other guys,” he
said. “Except Judd. You guys got a thing?”

“Me and Judd?” I
said, laughing at the thought. “No, nothing there. He’s my best friend and
everything I just…” I shrugged. “I just don’t think of him like that, you
know?”

Paul leaned
forward and put his right arm behind me to inch closer. His emerald eyes glazed
over my face and I raised my eyebrows when his fingertips brushed my hand.

“That’s good…
If that’s what you want, I mean.” His hand was now wrapped around mine and I
could feel his breath on my nose.

“Look I know,
we haven’t really hung out and stuff…alone. But I like you. A lot.”

Thankful that
the cabin only let in two unimpressive streams of light I tried to calm the
blood rushing to my face.

“Will you go
out with me?”

I opened my
mouth but nothing came out.

Paul’s lips
brushed against mine. Both of us afraid to move, I froze there. He formed his
lips around mine and laid a soft kiss on the corner of my mouth. I remembered
to breathe.

“Paul, wow.” He
leaned away to wait for my reaction.“I think…” I started.
Don’t embarrass
yourself.
“I think I like you too. We don’t know each other, really, you
know? Maybe we should just, hang out a few times. See what happens?”

I never had to
reject anyone before and I wasn’t sure if what I said was the right thing. I
didn’t want to push him away, because the feeling was definitely mutual.

Looking up I
cringed to see his eyes go soft, but he nodded his head in a few slow motions.
“Yea. We should hang out. You’re right.” A sigh escaped as he smiled and
brushed a piece of hair from my face. “I’d like that. Maybe we should head out
now?”

Paul’s mom
looked me over with a raised eyebrow as I hopped into the backseat of their
minivan. Paul asked her to take me home. “So, you’re fifteen like Paulie? You
guys have classes together at school?”  

Paul groaned.
“Ma, come on.”

“Just want to
know who she is honey. I’m Gina. Nice to meet you Brooke.”

Paul squeezed
my hand as we pulled into my driveway. “You need me to walk you inside?”

“Oh, no,
don’t.” I knew I said it too fast and looked at Gina staring at me from the
rear view mirror. “It’s fine, just need to walk to the door. No biggie. I’ll
see you later.”

Paul and I
talked over AIM instant messenger for the next week as I got ready for practice
to start. He wanted to hang out but I wasn’t sure how I could explain hanging
out with
just
Paul to my dad. Going to Judd’s was different because
there were always one or two other people there.

Practice for
cheerleading was no joke. We ran the bleachers, did several sets of intense
jump rope cardio and lifted weights. I never thought of cheerleading as a
sport, but I guess when my life depended on having physically fit girls
underneath me to catch my fall it made sense.

Coach blared
into her megaphone from the bleachers as we ran laps and did push-ups. “Let’s
move it girls! If you stop, we go again. If you slow down, we go again. Your
choice, move it!”

I struggled to
keep up with the words and movements of the cheers and chants. Only one other
girl who made the JV team had never done cheerleading before, but she had a
cousin on the team who worked with her after school. The girls were not exactly
inviting, especially because I had taken over a flyer position that technically
was not up for grabs. I had replaced Jessie, and she became the side base for
my stunts.

“I don’t know
why Coach makes you fly all the time. You’ve never even done this before. You
can’t learn this stuff over night.” Jessie rolled her eyes and looked for
confirmation from the other bases. “Right girls?”

The other base
girl nodded her head in agreement but my back base snorted. “Lay off it Jessie,
she’s a natural. If you can do it, anyone can.”

“All right
ladies, laps! Then you’re done,” Coach said. “I want three laps from all of
you. Go!”

As an avid
runner anyway I cruised around the track for lap one. A cramp snuck up on me
during lap two and I pinched my side.

“Told you not
to drink so much water Brooke.” Kendra jogged next to me and wiped the sweat
from her face. “Get’s me every time!”

A bolt of pain
shot through my stomach as I struggled to push out lap three. I had fallen
behind all the other girls and I knew if I stopped Coach would make me run
more. Halfway around, I couldn’t breathe and stopped in the middle of the
track.

“Move it,
Nolan!” I could hear Coach’s megaphone across the field. “More laps for everyone
if you don’t make it around.”

I eyed the
finish line around turn three and crumbled as a blaze of pain ran up through my
stomach and to my chest. “Aaah!” I yelled out and dropped to my knees clutching
my side.

The varsity
captain reached me before Coach did and I was embarrassed to see everyone
standing around me.

“What’s wrong
Nolan?” Coach brushed the girls aside and moved closer to me.

“I don’t know,
my stomach feels like it’s falling out.”

The longer I
sat there the more the pain subsided so I convinced Coach not to call an
ambulance and to call my mom instead.

Mom and I sat
in the doctor’s office as he pushed off my stomach muscles and I yelled out in
pain.

“Well I know
you had your appendix out, my guess would be it’s a hernia. It only hurts when
you strain yourself, right? To run, or do other strenuous things?”