Cheer like no one is watching

[Andie Simone]

While there was normally an unwritten no-food rule in the studio, Andie had prepared a range of healthy snacks; fruit and vegetable platters, some crackers, hummus, and had bottles of water in a box near the mat she was sitting on, her legs stretched out in front of her. She had sent a text to all of her cheerleaders the evening before, letting them know that she wanted to see them, giving them the time she expected them all to show up, and now all she had to do was wait.

She was excited about the coming year, and wanted to see if they would get any new blood for the squad.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina finished up her lunch and grabbed her already-packed bag to head to the cheer studio. Andie hadn't made mention of actual work today, but she wanted to be prepared, so her practice gear was all in the bag. With Derecho at her side as always, Sina pushed through the door and smiled at Andie, "Good afternoon! Long time no see!" She dropped bag and dog at the bench around the edge of the studio, and took off her street shoes, before she headed over to join Andie, flopping down on the mat, "We might have at least one newbie coming. I met someone who was interested in cheer in the barns, and I passed the time along." She hoped Tori would come - She liked the young girl already!

[Victoria Greco]

Tori was a bundle of nerves as she raced through lunch, not eating much of anything, and racing to her room to decide the best clothes to wear for the first time that she was going to meet the cheer coach. She'd been like this since Sina had sent her a message saying that they had been called to the cheer studio.

Deciding on dance clothes; black halter leotard with turquoise fitted pants over the top. Slipping her feet into a pair of ballet flats, she made her way out of the House and over to the gymnasium. Walking into the cheer studio, she paused at the door and gave a hesitant smile, which grew when she saw that Sina was already there. "Good afternoon." She said with a confidence she didn't feel. "I'm Victoria Greco."

[Vanessa Fenderson]

Vanessa Fenderson

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Vanessa had been unpacking her stuff in her room, Nancy was currently curled up on the end of her light grey donna cover. Playing with some sort of toy that Vanessa had throw at the feline in an attempt to sedate the curious cat enough so that she could actually get something done. It had only been a few hours since she arrived at Blue Ridge and she could already hear the chatter of new people leaving their rooms for various activities. Normally Vanessa would not pay much attention to such mindless babble but when a girl around her age mentioned cheerleading the black haired Englishwoman perked up almost immediately, her blue eyes narrowing in curiousity as she stood up from unpacking her shoes into the neat little shoe rack her father had bought for her along the way to Blue Ridge Riding.

A noise from the door caught her attention and soon the female she had heard mention cheerleading walked by with another girl in tow, likely a friend or something. Rising to her feet Vanessa grabbed her sports bag, which already contained her uniform and a change of clothes for after practice. The young woman had been a cheerleader almost as long as she had been a rider and while her adoradation of Luna and Nancy could never be replaced, there was something about the sport that almost spoke to her, whispering that everything was gonna be fine. Ness' eyes immediately found the map that Mr Fitzsimmons had given her and with a quick scan of the layout of the Academy was soon pulling her room door shut, locking the door, mostly so that Nancy could not escape and terrorise another animals around and rushed over to the gym.


Opening the door to the gym Vanessa could already see three people already in there, one even had a dog near the benches and Vanessa inwardly cringed, the dog may prove a problem if it was allowed near the horses, Luna was not keen on animals of the canine variety. However this was cheer practice and pets were pets so instead of cringing Vanessa simply sat her bag down and mustered up a big smile to introduce herself to the other female's already there. The eldest of them was a very attractive lady, proably in her early twenties that looked as if she was the coach and Vanessa gave a short wave to her new instructor as she placed herself down into a sitting position near the other girls. " Hey, I'm Vanessa, nice to meet you all" she spoke softly, keeping her normally luminious smile down a notch, just so that she didn't appear to be that wierd creepy girl that was always smiling. Vanessa would fit in here, she would make friends and be the best she could be while still giving a great deal of time to just bonding with her horse.

---

Tags: Andie Simone, Sina Aleardi, Victoria Greco
Words: 484
Notes: Just thought I would toss Vanessa in, since she is a cheerleader.

[Kallistos Rolleston]

Kall never raced his way through food, and was probably eating more than he should before a cheer practice, though it had only been hinted that they would be doing work, so he would just play it as it came.

After dropping his tray on the return chute, he grabbed his gymbag and made his way to the studio, making a quick detour to his room to swap the shoes he was wearing, which were new, for his favourite pair, and entered the studio after walking through the gym. He dropped his bag near Sina's, and as tempting as it was to pet Derecho, he knew better. "Hello, my pretties." He greeted, including Andie in his comment, as he sauntered over to lounge near Sina, looking at the two new girls with raised eyebrows.

[Andie Simone]

Andie smiled as Sina entered and clapped her hands at the news of another potential cheerleader in their midst, though entrance into the squad would be up to the captain, while she could offer her opinion on the matter, it wasn't her decision. "How's your summer going so far?"

Her smile deepened as not one, but two, girls she didn't know entered and introduced themselves, and shook her head as Kall barreled in with his normal flare.

Once it seemed that everyone had arrived, Andie clapped her hands and bounced to her feet. "Welcome to Victoria and Vanessa." She said warmly. "Ok, I thought we could do some free movement dancing today. But, before we get into that, let's hear from our new friends about what skills they might bring to the squad."

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina shrugged at Andie as she asked about her summer, "It has its ups and downs. Got into a disagreement with the vice principal about the fleabag, but Ms. Carr let me off with a week of extra chores. Otherwise just having fun on the trails and mucking about." She grinned broadly at the coach, "I was glad to hear from you! I might have funned myself to death!"

As Tori came in, Sina smiled at the younger girl, then looked back at the door to catch another, older-looking girl. She nodded at the introduction, "Nice to meet you, Vanessa. I'm -" Her introduction was cut short as Kall came in, laughing at his greeting, "I'm Sina." She turned back to Kall, "Nice of you to show up." She cast him a quick grin, knowing he wasn't really late, then turned to Andie to listen to the plan for the day.

[Victoria Greco]

Tori returned Sina's smile, but suddenly felt self-conscious as another girl entered and then a boy.

Her eyebrows shot up as the coach jumped to her feet and said what they were going to do. She relaxed a little at the mention of dancing, as that was something she could do. However, that was shortlived as it seemed that she was expected to give a speech. Taking a deep breath, she did her best to project her mother and stood up. "Hi, I'm Tori." She said with a smile and a shrug. "I haven't done cheerleading before, but I've watched it, and I mean more than just the Bring it On movies. I've done ballet since I could walk, so I can dance and I'm flexible. And I don't mind heights, and the thought of being thrown around doesn't bother me." Ok, the last may have been a bit of a stretch of the truth, but it might give her brownie points. With a nod, she sat down again.

[Vanessa Fenderson]

Vanessa Fenderson

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Vanessa kept quiet as another person entered the gym, this time a male who walked around as if he was so important to the world, which admittedly made the British girl uneasy, pompous person were not easy to befriend or even tolerate for that matter, However Vanessa was not one to judge based on first impressions and instead of retreating into her little shell like she so often did she managed to pull a bright smile to her face and politely nodded when the other girl introduced herself as Sina and then fell silent as the coach encouraged both herself and another female to introduce themselves and their skill set to the rest of the squad. Vanessa was more than happy to allow the other girl to go first and nodded encouragingly as the young woman, who introduced herself as Tori spoke about her background in ballet and how she was flexiable. Vanessa had been a cheerleader before, her whole high school life actually but that did not mean she would make the squad unless she proved herself, Vanessa knew that of all people, the ones who bought something new to the squad were favoured over those who simply went through the motions.

" Pleasure to meet you all, I am Vanessa, or Ness if you prefer. I have been a cheerleader before back in Illinois and did gymnastics when I was younger back in England. I don't mind heights or being tossed around and I'd like to think I am reasonable flexiable. I love to dance so I find cheerleading to be very enjoyable because of that" Vanessa spoke after Tori had finished, her accent more apprent in the predominately American sounding group of people before her. The young Englishwoman then settled down into a nice leg stretch as a way of informally ending her own introduction.

---

[Kallistos Rolleston]

Kall sat up, as their coach jumped to her feet, but he stopped from rising himself as she asked the two newbies to introduce themselves. He recognized Tori from around Green House, though the other he had no clue, and he listened carefully as they both spoke. His eyebrow arched as Vanessa pretty much repeated what the younger girl had said, other than the fact that she had done cheerleading in the past. "Nice to meet you both." He said with a self-assured smile. "It'll be good to see what you can do before the school year starts."

[Andie Simone]

"Funned to death, huh?" She asked with a laugh. "Pity you and the pooch got into trouble, glad it's all sorted out." At least she hadn't heard anything about it, so it can't have been too bad.

She listened as the girl's did their intros, and she had to say that she was impressed with the younger girl for being honest about her lack of experience. She nodded as the older girl spoke, her experience could help or hinder her in making the team, as she would need to relearn some things and unlearn others, especially if she held any power in her past squads.

"Righto, on your feet and we'll see how much work I need to put into you before the fall." She said with a smile as she clapped her hands. Moving the food and drinks off the floor, she walked over to the stereo and turned it on so that the room was filled with music. "Might even see if we can borrow a couple of hours in the gymnastic studio.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina listened with interest as the two girls talked about their experiences, smiling as they finished. As Andie called them all to their feet, Sina bounced up and smiled, glad she'd decided to change into her practice gear after all. She grimaced in mock disgust as Andie turned on the music, "Every summer, I hope you gain some taste in music, Andie." She grinned at the woman, not actually bothered by the song playing - Instead, she started stretching, getting ready for whatever Andie might throw at them.

[Victoria Greco]

Tori bounced to her feet again, listening to the music as she began to warm her muscles up before she started to stretch. Her eyebrows shot up as she followed the teasing between Sina and the coach, who was a lot more laid-back than she would have expected, not that there was anything wrong with the music being played, it at least had a good bass to work with, it just wasn't classical.

[Katherine Lorelia]

She was late, she was late, she was late... Kitty raced through her lunch, doing her best not to choke, and darted back up to her room to change. Her clear blue eyes watched the clock anxiously as she changed out of her sundress and into the white leggings and loose red top which she preferred to wear when engaging in physical activity. A pair of ghillies, red to match her top, completed the outfit, and the blonde practically ran across campus to get to the cheer studio. She never wore a watch with this outfit, but she imagined the hands racing around the face of the clock on her wall as she finally reached the door, horrified to hear music already emanating from within, and giving a tentative tap on the door frame before entering. "Oh, am I too late?" she asked with genuine concern. "I'm so sorry; I got lost!" And she had done. Before lunch. It had still contributed to her lateness.

[Kallistos Rolleston]

Kall bounced to his feet, ready to get moving, arching his eyebrow at the banter between their coach and Sina and chuckled. "Don't knock it, sugar." He said with a grin."At least it isn't line dancing." He laughed as he began line dancing, though came to a stop as he heard the voice of another girl. "You're never too late, sunshine." He told her brightly. "Unless you didn't show up."