Frenemy

When Tabitha returned from the bathroom, she seemed composed. I could tell she’d retouched her makeup, likely to cover tears, but she seemed calm.

“Okay, girls. Break’s over. We have to go over this dance again. Let’s take it from the top.”

She glanced at me and then over to where Joy and my two best friends still stood arm in arm. Even though she’d composed herself, Tabitha couldn’t seem to hide the surprise at this new development. She lifted one perfectly manicured eyebrow. She didn’t say anything. No one ever said anything to Joy. They all knew better. She would get that peeved puffed peacock look like she’d just gotten with me when I’d told her I was uncomfortable.

“Five, six, seven, eight,” shouted Tabitha.

“Wait!” Joy ran to the front of the gym where Tabitha stood. “I have an idea. Why don’t we do this move in segments, so it is like a wave instead of everyone at the same time.”

It wasn’t really a suggestion. It was more of a statement. I saw Tabitha take a deep breath and paste a smile on her face.

“That is a great idea, Joy, but we don’t have time to learn something new. We don’t even have the dance down yet. Maybe we can add that in later.”

Tabitha’s reply seemed like a reasonable response to me. She wasn’t totally discounting Joy’s idea, just saying there wasn’t time to work on it now. Apparently Joy didn’t see it the same way.

“We need to do the wave and really have an impact, don’t we girls?” Joy said.

Again, she was putting us in the middle of her disagreement with Tabitha. The other coach frowned and her hands rose slowly to her hips.

“Sorry, Joy, but I just don’t think we have time right now.” Tabitha was in charge of the dance part of our cheer squad. She’d trained as a dancer for fifteen years and had competed in high school. She’d even worked for a local ballet company for several years. Joy had no training whatsoever in dance.

“Let’s vote on it.” Joy clapped her hands. “Who wants to do a wave in this part of the dance, raise your hands.”

Brooke and Savannah lifted their hands immediately. No thought. No hesitation. Just sheer agreement with whatever Joy wanted and a little bit of of “stick it to Tabitha”. I stood there staring at my toes and wondering what was happening. I wished my mom was at practice today, but she’d had to work late. All three coaches had jobs of some sort, which is why having three coaches was also helpful. If one couldn’t make a practice, there were always two others who could.

One by one, the other girls on the squad started to fall in line with Brooke and Savannah. That is when I noticed Joy glaring at the girls individually until their hands lifted. I kept both of my arms by my sides. Finally, Joy turned her attention to me. She smiled at me encouragingly. I lifted my chin slightly and stared back at her, unsmiling. What she was doing was wrong. I felt it in my soul as certainly as I knew there was a God and He loved me. When I didn’t move, her smile disappeared by slow increments. A frown drove deep grooves in her forehead. She crossed her arms and glared at me. I continued to stare back. My arms were now glued to my sides. I couldn’t have raised them if I’d wanted to.

“Fine,” she shouted. “Everyone yes, one no. We’re doing the wave.”

Everyone yes, one no. I could feel the gazes of fifteen other girls boring into the back of my neck. I was only trying to do the right thing.

“I g-guess we’ll have to try to learn it,” Tabitha stuttered. She looked like she was about ready to cry again.

The rest of the practice was spent trying to perfect the wave. We didn’t even get to the rest of the dance.

“How was school?” My mom rushed around trying to get dinner on the table while finding out what our days were like.

“Great, I won a coke for getting an answer right in my study hall.” My sister smiled, proud of herself.

“That’s great, honey. I’m proud of you. What about you, Kate? How was your day?”

“Okay.” I took the plate she handed me and set it in front of me. The last thing I wanted to do was eat.

“What about practice? I feel terrible when I can’t make it. How did it go?” she asked.

“Kate said Joy made Tabitha cry,” my sister blurted.

“Kayla! Shut-up.” I glared at my sister. I wasn’t going to tell my mom that.

“Don’t tell your sister to shut-up. What happened? Spill?” My mom quit scurrying around and pulled out a chair and sat across from me. I hated when she gave me her undivided attention. I so did not want to talk about this but I knew she wouldn’t stop until I shared the details with her. My mom was a details person. She always wanted the scoop, because she believed knowledge was power and it helped you be prepared.

“I don’t know how to explain it, Mom.” I started to put food in my mouth, hoping she would stop asking questions. It didn’t work.

“Well try. I need to know what happened. I don’t want to walk into practice tomorrow to a big uproar and be blindsided.”

“Joy, Savannah and Brooke were all talking and ignoring Tabitha. When Tabitha asked them to pay attention, Joy told her she had it. Tabitha called and break and left, but I know she was going to cry.”

My mom stared at me for a few minutes as though she couldn’t believe what I’d just said. After several long minutes, she said, “I guess it was a misunderstanding.”

“Really? Was it a misunderstanding when she came back and tried to start the dance and Joy totally disrespected her in front of the whole squad?”

“How did Joy disrespect her?” My mom still didn’t look convinced.

“She interrupted Tabitha and said we needed to do a wave at the beginning. Tabitha said no that we didn’t have time to learn that and we didn’t have the dance yet, but maybe we would add it later. So, Joy called a vote and made all the girls vote her way. She stared them all down until they did.” I took a breath, talking so fast now that I could feel my heart racing. “Except for me. I didn’t vote yes. So, she said, ‘Fine. Everyone yes, one no. We’re doing the wave.’ I was humiliated, Mom. And so was Tabitha.”

“That’s horrible.”

Finally, my mom got it. I nodded my head in agreement.

“Joy is a–” my sister started to say.

“Don’t! Don’t say it,” my mom said. “Joy is my friend. I don’t know what is going on here. I’m going to call her tomorrow and find out though.”

I thought about warning my mom not to do that. Deep down inside I knew it was not a good idea. But I remained silent, still hoping Joy would be reasonable. That hope was about as useful as hoping there would be peace in the Middle East or that it would snow in Mexico.