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 Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 12:02 pm
 It was late afternoon, the general student population already home for an hour or more. Doing homework, watching tv, playing games, some even beginning to mill around kitchens in which early dinners were beginning to be prepared. Most of the teams doing after school practice were wrapping up. Only the clink of bats from the baseball team could really be heard anymore echoing across the empty playing fields.
The volleyball team had dispersed a few minutes before, Aitana not really worrying about showering or even changing out of her practice garb. She's simply grabbed her bag and headed out of the building. She was pumped! Her blood rushing and body ready for more activity. Not that it really mattered, she'd probably just end up going home and loafing the rest of the evening away. And maybe do homework. After enough prodding and avoiding.
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Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:08 am
Once upon a time, cheerleading had been fun for Tara. She had enjoyed the exercise it gave her, the comraderie with the other girls, and, of course, the attention. Even in the twenty-first century, when cheerleaders weren't the oversexed symbols they had been in decades past, they were still applauded and cheered whenever they were on the field. Tara would never tire of that part.
The rest had started to crumble almost immediately after she started at Meadowview. As a transfer student arriving suddenly in the middle of the year amidst rumors or organ rings and scandal, she had never quite fit into the cheerleading clique. Not that Tara ever fit into cliques, but it was made a lot harder when you were the new kid, the weird kid, and the kid-who-survived-untold-horrors. That, coupled with the fact that Meadowview's brand of cheerleading was more about booty-shaking than acrobatics, stifled what enjoyment she got out of the activity.
The fact that her first experience with cheerleading had either been a delusion or engineered by a dead girl didn't help matters any.
Still, she kept up with it. Partly because she needed to get some exercise, and most team sports bored her. Partly because she wanted to prove to them that she could be a member of the team. But mostly because without cheerleading as the part of her that wasn't just a science geek, she wasn't sure how she would define herself anymore.
It was a relief when practice was over. Tara hadn't bothered to change. The atmosphere in the locker room was, while not hostile, not terribly welcoming either. It was usually easier to go straight home and shower there. She had her backpack over one shoulder and held both of her pompoms in one hand, waving them around with lackluster movements. "Meadowview, Meadowview, you're the best." She sighed. "Now just look as we shake our chests."
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 8:48 am
Now Aitana couldn't say that she minded seeing the booty shaking and chest shaking from time to time. In fact... she'd began to notice her eyes being stuck longer and longer in appreciation to an impressive a** being shaked. And the outfits that the cheerleaders of the school wore.. she couldn't say she hated those either, they framed the curves of the girls in a way that was incredibly pleasant on the eyes.
It did NOT however make her think any more of the team.
If someone insisted to Aitana that cheerleading was a sport she would have laughed in their face. In sports you ran and jumped. You tested your muscles and strained your body. You trained and fought and competed in a test against others to be the best. Standing around looking cute and shaking the occassional pom pom was not a sport. If anything they were more like a choir with their yelling of rhyming things.
She couldn't contain herself as she heard the other girl's cheer as she passed nearby, bracing the distance to give her a thoughtful look, stating matter of factly. "I thought cheerleader yelling was supposed to inspire teams.. not give the crowd a show." Even through her thick Brazilian accent it was clear enough to read in her tone you're doing it wrong. Obviously she hadn't realized it was a joke.
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 9:55 am
If Tara had known she was being watched, she might have chosen her cheer with more care. Then again, probably not. This was just a way for her to work out her frustration with what had once been an enjoyable activity for her, and she didn't really care who saw her. It's not like they could change anything.
Still, the other girl's words made Tara tense up. She was angry now. And she turned, drawing herself up to her full (and rather average) height and marching over there. "You," she said, the single word sharp. "You...
"You are SO right."
Whether that was the response that was expected of her or not, Tara went on, venting her frustrations to a complete stranger. "I mean, I get why people like to watch it, but what's the point? If people just come to sports events to get an eyeful, why don't they stay home and surf the web for X-rated photos or something? I used to think that cheerleading was supposed to test your skills... not your assets. But the way they do it here is just... augh!"
Tara threw her hands up in the air. One of her pompoms flew out of her grip, sailing for several feet before landing in the middle of the street. Annoying, but at that point, it was just one annoyance on top of many.
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:33 am
Woah woah WOAH... Her fists balled as she was approached with more emotion then she expected to illicit, ready to try and catch some blows should they be thrown her way. Ready to return some in her defense if need be.
But color her surprised when the marching figure instead buried her in a barage of words.. and was that agreement? "Que....?" It was confusing enough that her native Portuguese slipped through her lips briefly.
Not one to be flabbergasted for long, she nonetheless recovered, staring curiously at the other girl. "You think that too?"
"Then why be one?" Maybe she was being forced to be on the team like Aitana was the volleyball team. Not that she minded of course. A hand brushed back her green braids mildly, watching the other girl slightly skeptically. It wasn't to say that pretty girls couldn't be sports stars. But pretty AND a cheerleader? It was two sterotypes Aitana was having trouble bucking. "Or why not just make it cooler?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 3:03 pm
Tara didn't bother chasing her pompom yet. She was too busy taking out her emotions on an innocent bystander. "And they like that kind of attention," she continued, "why, I don't know. I'd want to be liked for something other than my ability to flaunt my body. Does that make me weird?" Tara paused. "I mean, I know a lot of other things make me weird. I don't have a problem with that, but does this make me even weirder?"
Finally, the other girl got in a word edgewise. "Que?" Tara repeated, following it up with "No hablo espanol." Sure, she took Spanish in school- it was the reason she recognized the word in the first place- but she didn't know enough to have a conversation, or to realize that the girl might not be speaking Spanish in the first place.
"I do it because it used to be really fun for me. At, um... at my old school, there was a girl who made it really cool." Did that ever happen? As with most things concering Barren Pines, Tara wasn't quite sure, but went on as though it did. "And I do like the attention, you know... just not that kind of attention. I'd much rather people focused on ability rather than how stacked someone is. Is that too much to ask?"
The part about making it cooler went completely unheard. Once Tara started complaining, it was often difficult to get her to stop.
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Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 12:59 pm
"Not so weird..." She stated quietly, mostly to herself, still VERY confused as the other girl went on and on. Aitana was not really used to this sort of thing, to rantings, so she seemed more confused then upset by it.
The admission of enjoying it drew a soft bit of empathy from the other girl, having had similar experience herself. She'd grown up loving gymnastics, loved floor exercises and working the bars. But when everyone else had turned towards competitions and strict rigidness... Aitana had been left in the dust simply wanting fun and challenge.
"Looks are nice, but I think skills is much more wonderful. Impressive. Much more to be cheered for!" She insisted. Perhaps she was a dying breed and the rest of the school thought differently.. but Tara would find that the Brazilian very much agreed with her opinion.
"What abilities do you have?" She was looking over the other girl curiously now. Hopefully she wouldn't flail or shout much more.
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:45 pm
"That's good. I think." Now that she had yelled and been listened to, Tara was starting to calm down. "I mean, I don't mind being weird, but I don't want to be weird because of that. I'd rather be the kinds of weird that I'm used to. Too much weird might be, well, too much, you know?" If she did, it would be a surprise. Tara herself didn't even know what she was talking about anymore.
It was heartening to know that she wasn't the only one to feel that way, though. "I'm glad I'm not the only one," she said cheerily. Not that being the only one to think a certain way had ever stopped her before, but it was always nice to have company.
Until said company asked for a demonstration. "Uh... well, I'm not anything too special," Tara admitted. "It was all this other girl, we were just backup, and, well..." Usually someone asking her to show off would be rewarded by Tara at her showiest, but this was clearly a girl who knew what she was talking about. Cheerleading had been fun for Tara, once upon a time, but even then it was just a hobby for her. She never put too much effort into learning the skills or the jargon, so while she could talk tough about it being lame now, she didn't really know how it was lame, just that it was.
Tara shrugged. "I can just do the basics, but even that's better than shaking your boobs, I think. Still, if I'm willing to learn more, why can't they be?" She tried to sound firm, but she was clearly concerned about losing her audience now that she had revealed her lack of ability.
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 11:39 am
Tara comment on weirdness left Aitana equally confused, simply blinking a couple times at the other girl, before lifting her shoulders in an apologetic shrug. It was probably a language barrier thing, right? It was her fault she didn't understand.
Of course then all the confidence and fire from before began to spiral downward. The brazilian almost missed the shouting and towering, a frown touching her momentarily.
The word 'learn' however resparked her interest, and she shifted in her position. Maybe she could help! "You can do splits? Or a handstand?" Best to start with the basics.
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 11:09 pm
Usually when Tara started one of her rants on the relativity of weirdness, people used the opportinity to edge slowly out of sight. Or else they joined in with her, but that didn't happen nearly as often. Tara wasn't sure what to make of this girl, who just stood there looking rather slack-jawed at the whole thing. Maybe she just didn't get it? Or maybe Tara's words were so inspiring that she didn't know how to react! That had to be it.
Still, it made for a rather one-sided conversation, so she reined in her tongue somewhat and listened for a change. "Sure, I can do splits!" While she wouldn't go so far as to call them easy, she was sure she could still pull one off. "I'm better on my right side than on my left. Or did you mean sideways? Because if you want that..." Taking a couple of giant steps back, Tara bent her knees and sprang up, kicking both legs out to the sides in what was a reasonable approximation of a split, if not the real thing.
The handstands were not so easy. "You know, I've been trying to do a handstand since about forever ago," she complained. "I can do a cartwheel, I can do a round-off, and once or twice I swear I've done a forward handspring totally by accident. But once I get on my hands, I've got too much momentum, and I just keep on going." Tara put down her bags and put her left foot out, but before she got started, she seemed to think better of it. "If I fall out here, it's gonna hurt like hell, so maybe you'd better take my word for that one."
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Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 7:17 am
She had been quiet for the most part as the other girl has spoke, but once they entered a topic a little more into her range, she immediately piped up.
"All splits are good! But sideways are maybe a little more impressive to see. Unless they are right or left split while doing handstand! I can do that!" Of course the other girl went about it in a way that was a little different then she'd meant. In the air, that WAS pretty cool! Tara received a nod of approval at the little show.
"It is easiest to learn handstands with someone to help hold your legs in the beginning. Or up against walls! You can get stable and the move away a little to build arm and stomach muscle." Her hands moved a little as she spoke, poking her own slightly toned arm muscle and stomach when they were mentioned.
Seemingly not wanting to be one uped by the other girl's demonstration Aitana leaned forward, planting her hands on the ground before kicking her feet up into the air. The wobbled for a brief moment before being held firmly and cleanly up.
Walking... or rather turning on her hands until she faced the other girl once more she chattered on happily. "Cartwheels and round off are good things, better than just regular dancing and shaking. If you practice hand stand and make your arms strong then hand springs are super easy!" Really they were her signature thing. Or rather... perhaps it was more 'Sailor Juno' and 'the Acrobatic Annihilator' signature moves.
Tentatively she began to raise one hand up off the ground, still attempting to stay upright in her handstand on just the one hand. Yeah... she totally wasn't trying to look cool in front of a cute girl.. Totally not.
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 6:52 pm
The nod of approval went a long way to restoring Tara’s confidence. Since cheerleading had never been a passion for her, just a hobby, she’d always been okay with the fact that she wasn’t amazing at it. But that didn’t mean that it was okay for her to be bad at it, or that she didn’t like hearing praise for what she could do. Even background players had to look good- though in this case, her ideas of what looked good differed drastically from the rest of the group. Now, however, she had an audience on the same wavelength.
They were not, however, anywhere near the same skill level. Tara’s mouth dropped open as the other girl went over, and while she weebled and wobbled a bit, she didn’t fall down! If it wasn’t apparent from the way she was talking that she knew her stuff, this totally proved it. “That’s amazing!” she said excitedly, walking around to get a look from all angles. Meanwhile the girl just kept going, talking about exercises and making things easy, most of which would have interested Tara if she wasn’t so blown away already.
When one hand came off the ground, though, Tara had to reel in her amazement. “Now you’re just showing off,” she accused. But her tone was light, teasing, and she was still blatantly admiring the feats of strength and balance. It made her want to do something else, if only to give the other girl a reason to show her more. But there wasn’t much that she could do- her participation in cheers was usually limited to high kicks, jumps, and being at the bottom of pyramids. She settled on a cartwheel, followed up by a round-off. “See, those I can do,” she said, panting, when she was upright again. “Because you don’t have to stop.”
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Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 10:04 am
Laughter rippled through Aitana as Tara called her on her showing off, body heaving enough that she had to recover herself with both hands. After a few more seconds she even let her legs droop, rolling out of her handstand to sit on the ground. She watched the cartwheel and round off with soft interest, giving on firm clap of her hands when she landed. Tara had been right, even if it was something Aitana could do herself, it was still a lot more fun to watch then girls swaying around and swishing pompoms.
Pushing herself up from the ground, the brazilian was more then happy to oblidge. Aiming herself not right in the path of the other she took a few quick steps before tumbling forward into a handspring, that popped her back up into the air before landing on her feet with arms outstretched. Tada!
Grin wide, braids swaying, she spun back around. "You want to try a handstand?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 3:17 pm
Applause always went right to Tara’s head. She grinned and did a mock-curtsy, holding out the edges of her tiny skirt as far as they would go. “Thank you, thank you, though really your stuff was way better. How long have you had to practice to be able to do that?” Though a handstand was the least of it. Her jaw threatened to drop again, but she managed to keep it together as the girl did a solid handspring, far better than any of the accidental ones Tara had managed during her training. “And that! Are you a gymnast? Man, if the other girls saw what you could do, they’d be clamoring for you to join.” Then again, considering the cause of her complaints, maybe not.
Did she want to try? Did she ever! But Tara had fallen before, and on hard surfaces. Once she had landed so hard on her back that they had to take her to the nurse’s office. “Hmmmmm,” she said, trying to stall for time. Then she spotted it: a small patch of grass in an otherwise empty tree bed. Perfect! “How about over here?” she asked, finally retrieving her dropped pompom and zigzagging across to the grassy area. It was only a few feet square, but that was all it had to be to keep her from breaking her back or twisting her neck or something.
“So, how do I start?” Tara dropped her bag and her pompoms at the edge of the grass and looked up expectantly.
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 6:35 am
Aitana was equally as happy to have her ego feed, her grin only growing the more the other girl seemed impressed.
"Ahhh... I am not so sure. I have been doing gymnastics since I was little. So I do not remember what age I was when I learned it. It is not so hard though."
She laughed at the comment about the cheerleading squad, shaking her head quickly. "I have to play volleyball for the school" It was one of the few reasons they allowed her to have crummy grades and not ship her butt back to Brazil.
Following towards some of the fluffier grass, she nodded in approval. "On your hands and knees first and I will help lead your legs up."
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