The Cheerleaders(63)

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A week had passed since Colleen and Bethany’s car accident, and Jen was noticing a shift in the atmosphere at school. Almost like the sky lightening after a storm. With each day since they started again, cheer practice became less serious. The girls began to laugh again, in fits and starts.

Allie had finally rearranged the pyramid to account for the void left by Bethany and Colleen.

It shouldn’t be this easy, Jen thought. Grief isn’t supposed to be easy.

She knew it was different for Mrs. Coughlin, who was rumored to have taken the rest of the year off, and for Mr. and Mrs. Steiger, who were talking about selling their house and leaving Sunnybrook. Jen couldn’t fathom how the holes in their lives could be repaired by shifting, rearranging.

Even her best friends seemed to have moved on from the accident. Susan was back to chewing the erasers off all her pencils in anticipation of getting her PSAT scores.

Thursday was the last practice before the game. Friday night was dedicated to the pageantry of the coming weekend—the float building, the announcement of the homecoming court.

When Allie released them for the afternoon, Jen plopped onto the bleachers with Juliana and Susan. The rrrip of Velcro as Susan removed her knee wrap. Jen kneaded her own neck, sore from the swift kick one of the fliers had landed in a botched basket toss.

“So,” Juliana said. “There’s a party Saturday night at Osprey’s Bluff.”

Jen’s stomach tightened. After homecoming last year, they’d gone to Levi Heckman’s house. Levi was number one in their class, and they’d been friends with him since elementary school. His parents didn’t care about drinking as long as everyone stayed outside. Jen, Susan, and Juliana had gotten tipsy on wine coolers and fed Cheetos to the horses in the stables.

“I thought we were going to Levi’s again,” Jen said.

“Everyone is going to be at the bluff,” Juliana said.

Everyone you feel is important, Jen felt like muttering.

Susan pumped the water bottle in her hand. “Who’s going to drive us to the bluff?”

Susan, always concerned with the mechanics of things.

Juliana shrugged. “Carly said we could ride with one of her friends.”

“I’m not getting into a car with some senior I don’t know,” Jen said. “People get busted at the bluff all the time. My stepdad is a freaking cop.”

“It’ll be fine,” Juliana said. “Why do you have a problem with everything lately?”

Jen’s throat sealed up. Susan’s eyes were on her sneaker, retying her laces, even though they’d been done tightly a minute ago.

Juliana stood, the bleacher groaning beneath them. “I have to pee.”

When she was gone, Susan leaned forward, elbows on her knees. “I don’t get what’s happening.”

“She’s changed.” Jen fought off the sting of tears.

“Don’t you see?” Susan said. “We’re all changing.”

Jen’s lips parted, but the sound of something slamming against a locker made her clamp her mouth shut. Next to Jen, Susan jumped like a skittish cat. There was the sickening crack of a slap, followed by a yelp: “Bitch, get off of me!”

Some girl was getting her ass kicked.

Jen hopped over the bench and ran toward the shouting, never looking over her shoulder to see if Susan was following. She skidded to a stop by the lockers outside the athletic office.

Carly Amato had Allie by a fistful of her hair. Jen threw herself between them, yanking Carly off of Allie. In the fray, one of the girls’ elbows smashed into Jen’s jaw.

Jen ducked back, her eyes watering at the pain. Allie lunged at Carly, landing both hands on her shoulders and shoving her. There was a sickening crack as Carly fell backward, her blond head bouncing off the locker like a rubber ball.

Behind Jen, Susan’s voice was breathless, warbly. “Should we call someone?”

Allie turned to look at the girls, as if finally noticing that she and Carly weren’t alone. The adrenaline pumping through Jen’s veins slowed. She felt like she might puke. Jen rounded on Carly, who was slumped against a locker, massaging her jaw. A dribble of blood leaked from the corner of her mouth.

“What is wrong with you?” Jen shouted.

Carly jerked her head toward their coach and winced in pain. “She came after me.”

Every pair of eyes in the room swiveled to Allie. Up close, Jen could see that Allie had fared far better in the fight. Her ponytail had come undone, and the skin on her forehead was red from where Carly had pulled her hair, but there wasn’t a scratch or a gouge on her.

Allie’s labored breathing filled the silence, making it clear she wasn’t going to deny Carly’s accusation. Instead, she opened her clenched fist, revealing something that glinted in the light. A silver hoop earring. Allie threw it at Carly; it bounced off her chest and skittered across the locker room floor.

Jen stepped back, nearly stepping into Susan, as Allie pushed her way past them. The locker room door slammed, making Jen flinch so hard that her arm, as if on instinct, shot up to protect her face.

The room was silent as Carly picked herself off the floor. Licked the bloody drool from the corner of her mouth.

Before Jen could say anything, before any of them could part to get out of her way, Carly stormed off, in the opposite direction of where Allie had just left.