Chapter 7 Cheers and Screams

A fter school on Monday Corky hesitated at the double doors to the gym. On the other side she could hear shouts and the thunder of sneakers pounding over the wooden floorboards. The basketball team must also be practicing in the gym, she realized.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, said a silent prayer, and pushed open the swinging doors. As if on cue, the voices of the cheerleaders rang out:

“Hey, you! Yeah, you! Are you ready? Our team is tough and our team is steady! We’re on the way to the top And we’ll never stop!

The tigers are on the hunt. Hear them growl, hear them roar! You’d better hold your ears, ’Cause the Tigers will roar All over, All over you!”

The cheer ended with an enthusiastic shout, and each of the five girls performed a flying split, their legs shooting out as they leapt into the air one at a time.

“Pretty good. Pretty good,” Miss Green, the advisor called out with her usual restraint, hands on the hips of her gray sweats, her expression thoughtful A compact woman with frizzy brown hair and a somewhat plain face, Miss Green had a husky voice that always sounded as if she had laryngitis.

“Try it again,” she told them, “and this time get more height on those jumps. And enunciate. I want to hear consonants, guys! We’re not entering the Mumbling Olympics.”

On the other side of the gym, Coach Swenson was blowing his whistle. The shrill sound echoed off the tile walls. Corky watched the basketball players form a line to practice running lay-ups.

She turned her attention back to the cheerleaders, who were in position to do the cheer again. As Corky’s eyes moved from girl to girl, a flood of memories washed over her, holding her in place, frozen against the doors.

There was Kimmy, the captain, her round face pink as usual, her black crimped hair bobbing on her head as she enthusiastically jumped into place and checked to make sure the other girls were lining up correctly.

Beside her stood freckle-faced, redheaded Ronnie, looking like a kid in gray sweat shorts and a white sleeveless T-shirt, whispering something to Debra.

Debra smiled slowly, her cold blue eyes lighting up. Beside her, Megan Carman and Heather Diehl, best friends who always seemed to be together, were chatting animatedly.

Kimmy blew a whistle and the cheer began.

Corky watched them run through it again. It was crisper this time, and the flying splits were higher. Ronnie started hers too soon and landed awkwardly, but everyone else was right on the money.

As the cheer ended, Kimmy noticed Corky. She jogged over. “Hi! You came!”

“Yeah. I’m here,” Corky said, smiling. “The routine looks excellent!” She took a few steps away from the door.

A basketball bounced toward them. Kimmy caught it on the bounce and tossed it back to Gary Brandt, who was waving for it across the floor.

“Good to see you, Corky. We’ve missed you,” Miss Green said, joining Kimmy. She turned back to the others. “Hey, look who’s here!”

“Are you coming back?” Heather asked, as the girls surrounded Corky. They all began asking her questions at once.

“Give her a break!” Kimmy cried, laughing. She whispered to Corky, “Hey, it’s like you’re a superstar or something.”

“With Corky back, we can do the diamond-head pyramid,” Megan said excitedly. “You know, the way you and Bobbi showed us.” She blushed, instantly regretting mentioning Bobbi’s name.

“We can try,” Corky said quickly, seeing how uncomfortable Megan was. She smiled at her. “But it’s going to take me a while to get in shape.” She patted her stomach. “Pure flab. I feel as heavy as a bag of potatoes.”

“You look great!” Kimmy gushed. The others quickly agreed.

Did Miss Green coach them to encourage me? Corky suddenly wondered. Or are they really happy to have me back?

Only Debra seemed unenthusiastic. As Corky went over to the wall to toss down her backpack, she saw that Debra was following her.

“I can feel it,” Debra said quietly.

“Huh?” Corky propped the backpack against the wall near the other ones lined up there and turned to face Debra.

“I can feel it right now,” Debra whispered, her intense blue eyes staring into Corky’s. She nervously fingered the crystal she wore around her neck.

“Feel what?” Corky asked edgily. She felt nervous enough coming back to the squad. She didn’t really need Debra acting so mysterious, did she?

“The evil spirit,” Debra whispered, glancing at the other cheerleaders, who had begun practicing round-offs.

“Debra—” Corky started.

“I’m not trying to scare you,” she said sharply. “But I’m into these things, Corky. I know the evil is here. In this gym. I can feel it.” She clasped the crystal so tightly, her hand turned white.

Corky turned her eyes to the other girls. “Let’s discuss this later,” she said. “I really need to talk to you about it. But not now.”

“Okay.” Debra looked hurt. “I just thought you’d want to know.”

Kimmy blew her whistle. Corky saw Miss Green standing in front of her glassed-in office in the corner of the gym. She was watching them, a curious expression on her face.

“Corky, come on!” Kimmy called enthusiastically. She turned to the others, pushing her hair away from her eyes. “We’ll work on round-offs in a little bit. Let’s run through that same cheer so Corky can try it. You know it, don’t you, Corky?”

Corky shook her head. “Not really. I just saw you do it twice. I could try to pick it up as we do it.”

“Good,” Kimmy said, flashing her a warm smile. “It’s pretty simple, actually. Try it.” She motioned for Corky to get in line.

Corky could feel her heart flutter as she took her place at the end of the line, next to Heather. “Here goes nothing,” she said aloud to herself.

Heather gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder. “Just watch me,” she said, smiling. “Then you’ll be sure to mess up!”

She and Corky burst out laughing.

Everyone’s being so nice to me, Corky thought happily. But then her smile quickly faded.

Everyone’s being so nice. It’s hard to believe that the evil spirit may be hiding inside one of these girls.

“Okay. Ready?” Kimmy stepped forward to inspect the line, then moved back in place. “On three. One. Two. Three.”

“Hey, you!” the cheer began, followed by two loud, sharp claps.

“Yeah, you!” Stomp, stomp.

Corky shouted out the words, watching Heather to get the rhythm.

I think I can get into this, she thought.

And then the screaming began.

A girl shrieking in horror, so loud, so frightening. So close, as if she were right inside Corky’s head.

The cheerleaders’ voices faded as the hideous noise drowned out everything.

Corky covered her ears with her hands, but the shrieking continued.

“Help her! Somebody help that girl!” Corky cried closing her eyes tight, trying to shut out the terrifying screams.

Opening her eyes, she saw that the girls had stopped cheering and were all staring at her in open-mouthed confusion.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20