Copyright: Don’t steal it. You want to host it elsewhere, ask me. Don’t post a missive about how my work, creativity and effort belong to the proletariat or other bullshit just because you’re too lazy to send an email or to desperate to risk rejection.
The Cheer Costume
Rachel found the outdoor mall after her walk around her new campus, and decided to take a look around and hopefully escape with some cash left. All she really wanted was lunch, anyway. Heading out to the food court, she took in the various stores and kiosks that she passed. There was a surprising number of small local stores at this mall, instead of just the major chains. After getting a grinder, she decided to check out the rest of the mall.
She found a small side-hallway that had one shop at the end; an odd thing in any mall. Even odder was the lack of a sign and the curtains concealing the shop. Hooked by her curiosity, she headed down and entered the shop, pushing the curtain aside.
The sight surprised her; the surprise came from what the store wasn’t. It wasn’t a dark, brooding, mystical shop with some creaking old hag or ancient wizard in the back. A pleasant woman stood behind the register of a well-lit, organized store. Rachel saw some racks of clothes, some handmade dolls and various other home-crafts.
“Hello, can I help you?” The woman smiled.
“Um, well, no. I just, uh, saw the shop and decided to take a look.”
“Well, feel free to look around, if you have any questions, feel free to ask, of course.”
“Thanks.” She turned back to browsing, putting some displays in between her and the woman. She was looking through some clothes racks when she saw the blue-and-gold of her team colors. Digging out the hanger, her college’s cheerleading uniform was pulled out from the cramped rack. She touched the fabric, and her mind was drawn to earlier, when she saw the cheer team practicing during her walkabout on campus. She pulled herself out of her reverie, and noticed her clothes all felt uncomfortable; her shirt itched, her pants felt like tents and her sneakers were suddenly too small.
“Hey, how’d you get this?” She brought the uniform to the counter.
“Well, someone sold it to me, of course.” The woman continued smiling, “With the sneakers and gloves, it’s $80.”
“We-well, I’m not, uh, not a cheerleader. I mean, I’m just not co-ordinated enough. I was just wondering how you got it.”
“Well, I can’t tell you how,” She winked, “As for not being a cheerleader, there’s no telling when you might find use for a cheer uniform later in life. Most men, for instance, are much... easier to deal with in.”
Rachel nodded, there was something about the outfit that grabbed her, and now that she had a reason, however absurd, to justify it, she decided to get it. “Ok, yeah, alright.”
The woman kept smiling, “Shoe size?”
“Six”
The woman pulled out a shoebox from behind the counter, “Let me see your hands, most people don’t have their glove size.”
Rachel held her arm out, and the woman took and and looked at it, before pulling out a small box from the counter before bagging it all. “Eighty dollars.”
Paying the woman and taking the uniform, she headed home.
At her small off-campus apartment, she set her package on the table and was silently grateful she only spent $80. She took a long look at the bag sitting on the table, and then went to take a shower.
Rachel finished up in the bathroom, wrapped the towel around her, and went back to the kitchen. Having nothing better to do, she decided to go ahead and try on the outfit now. Laying out all the items, the short pleated skirt, the cropped sweater, the gloves and the sneakers, she belatedly realized she’d need some underwear to go with it. She went to her bedroom and searched through her drawers, eventually settling on white socks, dark blue panties and a yellow bra.
She returned to the table and put on the uniform. The top fit surprisingly well, the skirt was short but still looked nice. She put on the sneakers, and stood up. They were incredibly comfortable, and she thought about wearing them all the time, outfit or not. Finally, she pulled the gloves on, which fit snugly but comfortably. She went to the bathroom and checked herself out in the mirror. The look was actually really cute on her. She headed back to the bedroom to put it all away.
As she was crossing the kitchen, her foot leapt into the air in a high kick, then snapped back into place.
She froze.
She looked at her feet and didn’t move. She took one step, and then another, and everything seemed ok.
Then her arms shot out and up in a V, and she froze again and stared at her arms. Her arms came down and stretched out in front of her. She panicked.
“What the hell is going on?”
The gloves suddenly released her arms and they fell at her side before she reacted. She tried to grab the edge of the right glove with her left hand, but her fingers wouldn’t go underneath it. She gave up trying to get her fingers underneath the gloves, and attempted to crouch to get at her sneakers. Her knees wouldn’t bend! Testing her leg, she raised it in a high-step and her knee bent naturally, but when she tried crouching again, her knees wouldn’t bend.
Rachel walked to the couch and sat down. Or rather, fell down onto the couch, since her knees wouldn’t bend once she tried to sit down. She snorted in frustration as she glared at her feet, toes pointed up, resting on the heels. She leaned forward, trying to reach the laces on her sneakers, but came up just short. She snarled as she stood up, her knees working then. About to give up and cut the outfit off, she tried bending over. It worked! She quickly reached for her shoelaces, but she felt something on her ass. She froze, and looked behind her. There wasn’t anyone there; the feeling was skirt brushing against her wiggling ass. Expelling a breath, she grabbed the laces and pulled! And her hands slid right off. She tried again, and she could feel her fingers loosen their grip as soon as she tried to pull.
Suddenly, her back straightened out, standing her upright, and her legs started walking towards the door. Her eyes went wide and she started begging her body not to go out like this. Her legs stopped, and she breathed a sigh of relief, until her legs marched (literally marched) her into the bedroom and her arms put a light jacket on her. She started begging again as her legs marched her outside and towards campus.
Her pleas, loud in the apartment, were less than whispers as she came up on the the practice area the cheerleaders used, holding tryouts for the new semester. Her legs walked her over to the sign-in table as she tried her best to play along. After all, fighting now would only make her look crazy. She silently pleaded with her own arm as it wrote her name on the sign-in sheet, and she kept trying to walk away. Her arm ignored her, and her legs remained stationary. The cheerleader at the table look at her.
“Ok, uh, Rachel? Just hang out for a little while and we’ll call your name.”
Rachel nodded and tried her best to look calm when her legs walked her to a spot where the grass thick, plopped down and waited for her to be called
Trapped there, on the grass, she watched some of the other girls trying out. A few members of the current squad would call each girl over and give them specific moves or instructions to perform, followed by a short music segment where each girl danced freestyle. It looked more like a test of rhythm than anything else. When she caught her feet swaying back and forth, she started to feel completely helpless.
After a while, her legs stood her up and her body began doing some warm-up exercises. She watched and felt her body stretch and do some light aerobics. She could feel the muscles tense and motion spring from them, even as she tried to stop them. She was shocked when she realized she found it exciting. A thrill ran through her, but not of fear. Her legs started walking over to a group of the the squad and her arm waved; they must have called her name when she was lost in the action.
“Um, hi, did you call Rachel?”
“Yep. You ready?”
Her hand came up and flashed an ‘OK’ sign, and she tried her best to follow her body’s lead, “Yeah, I guess.”
“Ok! Today we’re evaluating the basic skills of potential squad members, so if you make this part, you’ll train with us for the next few weeks and then we’ll decide if you make it on the squad or not.”
She nodded, “Ok”
The cheerleader nodded too. “Alright, let’s start simple, Give me a high front-kick.”
She felt her torso lean back slightly as her foot flew high into the air.
The other girl grinned. “Good, Let’s see a split-jump.”
As her legs flew out from to her sides, she squeaked softly.
“Alright, how about a hurdler?”
Rachel was confused by what she meant, but her legs leapt her into the air again, except this time her left leg shot out in front of her, and her right leg curled behind her, before she landed on both feet.
“Great form! Ok, now we’re gonna play some music, and I want to see your rhythm.”
As soon as the music started playing, her body started and amazing and complex dance. After the first few seconds of panic, she stopped trying to fight it, and just enjoyed it. The dance seemed to last forever, but when the music stopped, she did too. She was flushed, embarrassed, and to her shock, a little aroused.
The cheerleaders were just shocked. “Um, damn. That was amazing! You made it! Here’s the practice schedule.”
She flushed a deep red, “Th-thanks.” Her arm reached out and and grabbed the sheet, then her legs started walking away. She shouted a hasty good-bye, and zoned out as her legs carried her home.