“You look tired.”
Kelsey catches me still zoning out while I appear to be watching the cheerleader coach (or whatever she calls herself) explaining our dance number. Everybody is now getting up with their partners to start going through the motions of the dance.
“Sorry, I’m kind of out of it.”
“Long night?”
I nod, then figure it’s harmless telling her. At least she’ll know I’m not making it up and won’t think she’s the reason I’m being a drag.
“My dad showed up.”
“Are you serious? When?”
“This past weekend.”
“Why?”
“My mom—she has some issues. So I was alone for a while. Guess my dad didn’t want me being on my own.”
“So how are things?”
“Oh, great. Mom was never home. Now Dad is always home. But I talk with him about as much as I talked to Mom.”
Kelsey looks unsure what to say, so I tell her let’s get started.
“Did you get all that?” she asks me of the instruction for the dance.
“Yeah, sure,” I say.
Five minutes into going through the motions, or trying to, I confess. “Okay—I didn’t really hear anything she said.”
“Really?” Kelsey asks with a smile.
“I’m sorry. I just think it’s the song that’s throwing me.”
Kelsey laughs. It’s some jittery eighties tune that seems like the music on a Saturday Night Live spoof.
“I mean—couldn’t they get something from this decade?”
“Well—you saw Ms. Zollinger.”
I raise my eyes, nodding. “I think she’s ‘Holding Out for a Hero.’”
Kelsey laughs. “Come on. Here.”
She takes my hands and forces me to pay attention. She goes through the moves. They’re ridiculous. This is really beyond corny.
“Be the part, guys,” Ms. Zollinger yells out above the song blasting in the gym. “Be the role of the hero.”
Ms. Zollinger was probably one of those girls who never dated because she looks so square. Not square as in nerdy, just square. Like a block of wood with broad shoulders and hips and all that. This team doesn’t need to form a pyramid to raise up one of the cheerleaders. All they need to do is have Ms. Zollinger squat at the bottom.
“You have to look at me,” Kelsey says.
It’s funny to hear her say that. She’s really managed to become a little more outspoken than the girl I met last year.
“I don’t know. I get kinda nervous when I do that,” I joke.
“Stop it,” she says.
I’m not exactly sure how this “dance” is supposed to fire up the football team. Perhaps if all the guys on the team were also in a glee club or something, then yeah, sure, maybe they’d get into this. But I don’t know. I have a feeling this is simply for the long lost love who took Ms. Zollinger to prom and then danced with someone else on their final song.
“You have to really twirl me around. Like they’re doing.”
I look and see one of the guys who I know is a football player spinning his partner around. I nod and grip Kelsey under both of her arms and start to spin.
Of course it goes wrong somehow. Probably because I have no dance moves or cheerleading moves or moves of any kind.
The very light weight and very long limbs of Kelsey end up crashing on top of me.
I’m laughing while she’s adjusting her cheerleading skirt and trying to fight the red on her face.
“Did you do that on purpose?” she asks as I help her back on her feet.
“I’d never do such a thing.”
“Chris?”
“Okay, well, I didn’t this time.”
“We only have six practices to get this right.”
“Six? Really?”
She looks at me in surprise. “You can’t do them.”
“That’s a lot of practicing. I feel like I’m going to be part of the team.”
“You know—if you don’t want to, you don’t have to do this.”
I can’t help but chuckle. “You’re cute when you blush.”
She smiles for a moment, but then something is wrong. Her face grows cold and serious.
“What? What’d I say?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s wonderful to be called cute. Especially when, well—”
She glances over to the stands, and I follow her gaze.
Lily is sitting there watching us. She waves, and I can’t help but wave back.
“You can go, it’s okay,” Kelsey says.
I want to tell her that it’s fine, but I realize that our practice time is almost up.
I don’t even get to tell her good-bye or good night or see you at the next practice. Kelsey disappears into the school, and I head up to the bleachers to see how Lily is doing.