Discovering Rose

Chapter 6

When school was over, Thea offered to give me a ride home in her mini, but I had already agreed to meet Josie at Starbucks, which was the opposite direction in which Thea was heading.
"Thanks though, maybe another time," I said, standing outside in the parking lot.  
"No problem," Thea gave me a smile as she headed over to her car.
I started walking in the opposite direction, but my eyes were drawn to Zed and a few other boys hanging around the railings, sitting on their motorcycles. I stood there watching them talk in low voices, until Zed's eyes flicked over to me. Quickly, I turned around and started walking again. The bikers departed, nodding at each other. I noticed one of them had a cigarette in his mouth. I continued to walk ahead, watching Thea's car disappear around a bend. Suddenly, I heard a revving noise behind me. I turned around to see Zed doing a wheelie right behind me on his motorbike.
He looked at me dismissively through his shades, and then drove off, making a loud accelerating sound. What had that been about? Intimidation? Showing off? Pure Fascination? Immediately I crossed off number three. There was no way he would be interested in someone like me, I thought. He's the coolest kid in school and you're nowhere near his status. Why should I care anyway? It's not like I fancied him or anything. Well, he was a little intriguingly mysterious. Rose, shut up, just stop thinking about him already. He's Zed Benedict, and you're just plain old Rose.
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I was not in the mood for this. First gym lesson. With Miss Sheehan.  
"Okay girls, I want five laps around the field."
This was torture. Pure torture. Thea gave me a look of despair as we set off, waiting for me to jog up after her.
"I can't believe this," she muttered, pulling her hair out of it's messy bun held up with a long clamp hair clip so it was loose, down to her waist so she could retie it into a ponytail.
Luckily, I was quite a fast runner, but not as fast as Thea, who had completed five laps by the time most of the class had completed three. I mingled with the crowd mainly, a little towards the front, not wasting too much breath. When I got back, the teacher was tapping her foot impatiently, waiting for the rest of the runners.
"So ladies, as you may have heard, we are now recruiting girls for the cheerleading squad," she said, when everyone had finished the laps. "Today's lesson will be focusing on that."
I was not the only one to look unenthusiastic.
"Come on ladies, that's no way to react! Wickenridge depends on you."
Then Wickenridge hasn't got a hope.
"Okay, Emma, you're in the cheerleading squad, you lead the rest of us." She flicked a button on the iPod dock station connected to the speaker, and Taylor Swift's 'I knew you were trouble' began to blare out. Emma began to kick her legs up, going through a whole crazy routine effortlessly. Thea seemed to be having some trouble keeping her balance, as did I and most of the class. One Chinese girl with short black hair tied back into a small plait seemed to be getting the hang of it quite easily. Her legs went up extremely high for the high kicks, and her whole body seemed capable of the almost impossible flexibility you needed for the routine. Halfway through the song, Miss Sheehan made the music fade out, and I almost fell to the ground. "Excruciating," Thea muttered in a low voice as she walked past me. I nodded in absolute agreement. I turned back to Miss Sheehan, and my mouth fell open in horror. She was pulling out pompoms. No way was she going to make me shake those ridiculous things around.    I heard laughing coming from behind me, and noticed several boys looking at us through the window. Sniggering.   Miss Sheehan seemed to notice too, because before the boys could react, she had them on the field holding pompoms. It was extremely hard not to laugh at their bewildered, defeated expressions as Miss Sheehan started another song, 'Born this way' by Lady Gaga. "We believe in total equality at Wickenridge high," she said gleefully as we all tried not to laugh at the red-faced boys.
My smile faded as she started looking around. "Now we need the smallest person here. Where did that little English girl go?"
I quickly slipped behind Thea who tried to act innocent, but Emma decided to be a snitch. "She's behind Thea, miss." Thea glared at Emma as Miss Sheehan pulled me into the center. "Now, we need some boys. Let's see, Liam, come over here." She nodded at a dark haired boy with neon trainers. "And you too, Kenneth," she said to a light brown haired boy with freckles.
"Now, this is simple. All you're going to do, is throw Rose into the air, and catch her."
I shot a shocked look at Thea who tried to stifle a giggle as Miss Sheehan started barking out instructions. "Thea, Emma, bring a safety mat over here in case something goes wrong." My eyes widened like saucers. Liam smiled at me reassuringly. "We'll catch you," he said. A spark of hope. Kenneth was looking at me, as if estimating how much I weighed. Not much actually.
"Yeah, this should be fine," he nodded.
"On the count of three!" Miss Sheehan bellowed. The boys grabbed me, and I went up. I screamed as I went sky high, plummeting back to earth. I'm pretty sure my shrieks could be heard in England. And France. I don't think Miss Sheehan will be picking me for the squad. Still in shock, I sat with Thea at lunch, and the Chinese girl I had seen earlier, Violetta (or as Thea called her, Via).
"They threw you quite high didn't they?" Thea said, opening her yogurt.
"Uh huh." I didn't touch my food. I was still in a state of shock.
"You make a lot of noise for a small person," Via said, slurping her can of fanta. I liked Via, because she was only a shade taller than me.
"So you would if a crazy, sadistic teacher ordered you to be flung into the air by two people I've never met."
"Not gonna happen for me, I'm tall." She laughed. Traitor. The bell rang, and we slung our school bags over our shoulders, heading off to our next lessons.
"It's basketball tomorrow," Thea whispered as we went out of the cafeteria. "Be prepared."
"Noo."