Center Stage (TNT Force Cheer #3) Read online

  Written By Dana Burkey

  Edited By Brittany Morgan Williams

  Copyright © 2016 Dana Burkey

  All rights reserved.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  I would like to dedicate this book to Mackenzie! Knowing that my books have ignited your passion for reading is a truly amazing! I hope you enjoy this book as much as the rest of the series.

  I would also like to say a big thank you to Sweet Angel Dream Bows for the amazing bow featured on the cover of the book. Thank you for helping my dream bow for this book become a reality!

  “Alright Max, whenever you’re ready.”

  I nodded at the assistant coach that had spoken, then stepped onto the blue spring loaded floor in front of me. Standing on the white line representing the edge of the performance space, I took a deep breath, closing my eyes as I let out a long exhale. I shook out my hands, mostly to get rid of the extra nervousness and jitters I was feeling. Then, I opened my eyes and focused them on the spot across the mat where I would land. Finally, I took off to perform the moves I had been working on for the last three weeks in the gym.

  Once I had taken a few running steps forward I slammed my feet down at the same time and used the momentum to flip myself over in a front flip more commonly known as a punch front. As soon as my feet hit the ground I pushed off and performed a round off before flipping my body over once again in a back handspring. With the speed and height I had built up I was able to keep my body straight for two more flips. Since my body wasn’t bent at the knee the flips were known as whips and gave me the power I needed for my final skill. Pushing with my legs as hard as I could, I performed another back flip, however this one included two twists of my body before I landed on my feet. Known as a double full, the move was the perfect difficult ending to my tumbling pass.

  “Great job!” Someone called out, but I was too busy breathing a sigh of relief to figure out who it was. It didn’t help that there were also a few people clapping and cheering for me from around the gym. Not wanting to stay in the spotlight too long, I stepped off the mat and allowed the next cheerleader to perform their tumbling pass.

  “How did it look?” I asked my best friend as I walked towards her and took the water bottle she was handing me.

  “Your height on the double full was the best I’ve ever seen it,” Lexi said honestly. “I think you could have added a kick and still landed it. You should try it on your next pass.”

  “I don’t know about that.” I drank a little more water then wiped the sweat off my face. When I pulled my hand away and saw the smudge of eyeliner I turned to Lexi with a frustrated look. “This is why I said no makeup.”

  “Come on,” she laughed, then grabbed my arm and pulled me a few feet away into the bathroom.

  Walking to the mirror I was happy to see that I had only smudged the thin layer of black eyeliner a little, and thankfully didn’t take off any of my light purple eyeshadow with it. I never wore makeup to practice at the TNT Force cheerleading gym, but Lexi insisted I needed to look good for skill evaluations. After using my finger tips to get the makeup back under control, I stepped towards the sink and wet a paper towel. My face was flushed after the two hours of working out. Although we had just begun the assessment time, like many athletes I arrived to the gym early to finish working on everything I would perform for the coaches and cameras watching.

  I patted my face and neck with the wet paper towel, trying to cool off at least a little before walking back out into the gym. My skin was going to stay pink no matter what I did, but at least my hair was in place. This was due to the layers and layers of hairspray I put into my short brown hair while teasing and combing it into a half pony tail complete with a sparkling cheer bow. The bow was one I received once I returned home from Summit, a national cheerleading competition just a month before assessments. There were a few others in the gym that day wearing their custom championship bow, a rather simple bow with the summit logo mounted in the center. But, unlike the other bows, mine represented not just one but two first place wins. My bow had both red and purple glittery fabric surrounding the competitions logo. This was thanks to pulling double duty and performing with two TNT Force Cheer squads, something that was giving me lots of confident going into the new season. After all, I was the first athlete at the gym to walk away from Summit with two first place titles, not to mention I would be getting two championship rings to celebrate as well.

  “We need to get back out there,” Lexi reminded me, adjusting her red bow in the mirror. It was surrounded by her curled and styled white blond hair.

  “I know,” I said with a long sigh. “Ready or not, here we go.”

  “Come on,” she laughed. “You are totally ready and you know it.”

  Shaking my head at her words I simply followed her out of the bathroom and back into the room filled with athletes working to showcase their skills and impress the gym staff. It was the second day of the assessments, the first having been spent learning dances and basic cheerleading choreography. I was happy to say all but a few dance moves were easy enough for me to learn. It was not nearly as bad as the first time I was tasked with dancing on one of the gyms blue mats with an audience watching. There were still a lot of people better than me at dancing, but that’s why I was happy for the second day to show my stuff.

  Parting ways with Lexi as she moved across the gym to show off her standing jumps, I once again lined up for the tumbling floor. The TNT Force gym was a long and tall industrial room with stark white walls, one of which was covered with mirrors. There were four blue mats making up the length of the room, all with spring loaded floors to help us jump and cheer our best. Between eight rows of mats were a set of cubbies for the athletes to store their gear. Closest to the door were the gym offices, as well as a parent viewing area that was usually filled with adults. During assessments, however, parents were forced to stay outside, and couldn't even peek in thanks to the paper covering the windows. At the far end of the room, farthest from the gym's main entrance, were a series of running tracks, trampolines, and foam pits, all for athletes to use while working on new skills. I had logged many hours over the weeks since Summit making sure I was ready to showcase all that I could do. Now, it was time to show every judge and member of the gym what I had learned.

  “Alright Max, you’re up,” the same coach as before called to me. If I remembered correctly her name was Molly, but since she was a junior level 2 coach I hadn't spent any time with her since joining the gym.

  Stepping onto the mat I looked over where Nicole stood on a larger scaffolding style platform set up for the assessments. As both a coach as well as one of the gym's owner, Nicole had coached both of my teams the year before. Around her on the platform were three cameras, used to catch everything occurring on the mats during the night. One pointed towards the stunting mats where girls were lifted and thrown into the air by skilled bases, another was aimed on the standing jump mat where athletes would perform toe touches and hurdlers and back tucks. The final camera was trained on the mat I was about to race across once again. It was my second and final tumbling pass of the afternoon, and I knew I needed to make it count. I realized Nicole was watching me just before I
turned away from facing her, and it made me even more confident in what I was about to do. After all, Nicole pushed me to get better and better at cheerleading. And now I could land skills that truly were better than ever.

  Taking off across the blue floor I once again began my pass with a punch front followed by a round off. Next, I wiped my body around while twisting, performing a full before my feet met the ground once again. The move slowed me down more than I wanted it to, but I had planned for that. I pushed as hard as I could and used the extra momentum of a back handspring to transition into a whip. That final move gave me the height I needed for the very thing Lexi had encouraged me to do. Kicking my leg up as high as I could, I reached for it with one hand then brought it back down as I immediately began corkscrewing my body, all while flipping through the air. The resulting kick double full was the hardest move I had been working on, and was one I hadn’t officially mastered. But, I was determined to land it when it counted, with Nicole and so many others watching. As my feet hit the floor, however, I knew I didn’t quite have the force needed. I found myself stepping first one, then another foot forward, then finally falling to my knees. Despite my best effort, I hadn't landed the skill as planned.

  I quickly stood up, mad at myself for not sticking to the safer kick single I had been planning before Lexi’s encouragements. I turned to walk off the mat, and only then realized people were cheering for me. Glancing towards where the noise was the loudest, I was happy to see that not only were my friends cheering, Nicole was also clapping enthusiastically from her perch with the cameras. Knowing I needed to leave the mat for the next athlete I quickened my pace to a jog, but couldn’t help the massive grin growing on my face. Sure, I didn’t land the kick double, but based on everyone's reaction they were proud of me. Likely because they knew I was on track to get it soon enough. And that meant that the chance of landing on a top team at the gym was getting more and more possible all the time.

  Despite the cheers from everyone in the gym I was still a little disappointed in myself for trying the kick double. It felt good that I was close to landing the hard move, and I knew I would be in the gym for hours and hours to perfect it. But first, I needed to finish the rest of my assessments. After getting some water and stretching for a few minutes I headed to the mat at the far end of the room where I would need to display my skills in the air.

  “You ready to fly Max?” Lenny asked. When I nodded to let him know I was ready to fly, he gave me a quick fist bump then called over three athletes that would serve as my bases.

  Lenny was a coach that had been gone for the previous competition season while at college. He was back for the summer, and the rumor around the gym was that he was going to be on staff full time for the upcoming cheer season. Although I had only met him twice before the assessments began, I already loved being around him. He was intimidating when you first met him thanks to his large frame and bulging muscles. He had thick dreadlocks to his shoulders and two arms covered with dozens of colorful tattoos that still showed up easily despite his dark skin. On top of that, his face seemed to be in a scowl when he was concentrating, only adding to his overall scary guy image. However, I quickly learned he was the funniest coach at the gym, and knew everything there was about making stunts stay in the air.

  A lot of people were working on skills on the large mat, but I found a section that was free just as Connor, Matthew, and Gwen made their way to me. I knew working with them would make the assessment a breeze, considering hours of practice time we had logged together in the gym. We had all been in a skills class together through the winter, so even harder flying skills were becoming second nature for the groups of us. All of that was good for me, considering how I performed would determine if I landed on a level 5 team or not. And a spot on a level 5 team would allow me to finally compete at Worlds, the most coveted international cheerleading competition of the season.

  “I want you to do a prep to extension lib, then a basic cradle out,” Lenny instructed us with a smirk on his face. He knew we would be able to do the moves in our sleep if we wanted, but it was how assessments worked for flying. We had to start with the basics and move up as we were able. Thankfully it wasn’t too long before we were getting to the harder stuff, including level 5 flying that I had only recently mastered.

  “I want just Gwen and Matthew to base for this one,” Lenny began explaining after trying a few intermediate skills. “I want to see a double around heel stretch, then drop down to prep level out of the skill. Next go back up for a double around to a scorpion. Hold it for three counts then move into a scale. Then I want to see a tick tock lib to a fortune cookie to ground. Connor I want you to step in after that for a basket to end it. Do you want to do a kick single, or go for the double?”

  “Double,” I said simply, and couldn’t help but smile.

  As I stood with Gwen and Matthew on either side of me, and Connor spotting us from behind, I realized how strange it was to be standing on the mat about to get lifted into the air. Even a few months ago, I would have needed Lenny to explain everything he had just told me over again and again. But now it was all second nature. I had a clear mental image of every pose and skill he listed, and knew holding them while high up in the air would be something I could accomplish without too much stress. In fact, all of it was so easy that I was back on the ground after completing the whole series of flying skills before I even had the chance to break a sweat.

  “You’re ridiculous Max,” Lenny said with a dramatic eye roll once I was finished. “I don’t know why they’re even making you try out.”

  “I think she’s just here so the rest of us get used to the idea of having her on one of our squads,” Gwen suggested as she pulled her long brown hair into a tighter pony hair complete with a sparkly black cheer bow. “Fingers crossed she makes Bomb Squad.”

  “No way,” Matthew replied. “She’s totally going to make Nitro.”

  “Can we do partner stunts?” I asked Lenny, ignoring my friends play fighting about my team placements.

  “Nope, not today,” he said with a frown. “They want everyone to do the same series of skills so they can compare. But don’t worry. You’re going to be doing the one on one skills on a team soon enough.”

  I nodded, knowing he was likely right. All anyone had been talking about since Summit ended was what team they were going to be on for the following season. After seeing me compete on a junior level 3 and a senior level 4 team on the international stage in Florida, there wasn’t a person in the gym that thought I wouldn’t be placed onto a level 5 squad. The idea scared me at first, but the longer I started training in the weeks that led up to assessments, the more excited I was for the harder flying and tumbling skills that went with a level 5 team. No one was sure exactly which of the gyms’ three level 5 teams I would be placed on, hence the fighting between my two friends.

  “That was a great pass you did earlier,” Connor assured me. He was walking with me off the mat as Matthew and Gwen continued to go back and forth.

  “I didn’t land the kick double,” I reminded him quickly.

  “That doesn't matter,” he replied. “No one else all day has even had the guts to try it, let alone almost land it. Well, no one but you.”

  “Thanks, I think I really needed to hear that.”

  Connor took the opportunity to stop walking and give me a hug since we had already left the blue cheerleading mat. I was getting more and more used to hugs from my friends at the cheer gym, but sometimes it was strange. This was one of those times. Mostly because it felt like every time I was around Connor he had gotten taller than the last time I saw him. When I joined the gym, he was at least 5’5”, a good 8 inches taller than me even then. But, in the few weeks leading up to the end of the season, and in the month since it had finished for good, he had grown at least another 3 or 4 inches. He was starting to push 6 feet, making me feel even more short and tiny next to him. Since, after all, his height also came with more muscles. Thankfully he still look
ed the same, with his curly dark brown hair, dark green eyes and dimples you could spot from a mile away.

  “When are you going to stop getting taller?” I asked Connor as our hug finally ended. “I mean, I know I’m short and all, but now I feel like one of the seven dwarfs next to you.”

  “You’re not that short,” he challenged me with a smile. “Besides, you being tiny helped you get thrown extra high for that kick double.”

  I nodded, knowing he was right. In other sports I played over the years, I was made fun of or seen as a less capable athlete due to always being the shortest and thinnest girls on my teams, even when I wasn’t the youngest. But at cheer, everything was different. Being small was a good thing, since you were easier to throw in the air or hold up high off the mat. So, as the smallest 13-year-old at the gym, my size was another thing that would likely help me get placed onto a level 5 squad finally.

  “Did you do your jumps yet?” Connor asked as we turned and looked around at the other athletes still performing assessments. The group was slowly thinning out as people finished their skills and headed home.

  “Yeah,” I said with a nod of my head. “I wanted to get them out of the way first since they’re my weakest area.”

  “You did great, I’m sure,” he said before giving me a quick side hug. Then, knowing he needed to get back to basing, he turned and walk back onto the tumbling mat.

  Despite being done with my assessments I didn’t feel quite ready to head home. That could have been largely because I was used to hours of practice for Blast or Fuze multiple days of the week all last season. Or because of the hours and hours I logged at open gyms since returning home from Summit. Either way, I was free to go, but found myself torn. With all the other athletes still working, it felt strange to just leave.

  “Hey Max,” Lenny called out to me, as if sensing my hesitation. “Can you come fly for a bit? I have some more athletes that need to try their hand at basing, and you’re light enough that even the shorter girls should be able to lift you.”