Tryouts:
Chapter 1:
After staying out all afternoon with her new friends Tanya was fairly exhausted. They all drank a fair bit, enjoying Tony’s temporary largess as he and Tanya talked for a great long while about Thailand, LA and England. He explained a few of the truths about the city: there wasn’t a gun battle raging on every other corner but there was a problem in certain areas which you just didn’t go into. In short he encouraged her to stick to UCLA, which had many legal entertainments, including alcohol, available to students.
As the only hardened drinker, Tanya actually found herself surprisingly sober by the time the other girls were complaining about dizziness. Bidding goodbye to Tony, the six of them left the bar and made their way to the two cars. One was Britney’s monstrous vehicle. The other was a similar tank in which Britney’s friends had arrived.
They were all fairly similar, the four other girls. Sure they had different coloured hair, styles and so on, but Jenny, Cindy, Mandy and Christy all seemed to have come out of the same school, lived in the same place and did the same course. They also all deferred to Britney, agreeing with most of what she suggested. Tanya they accepted as soon as Britney said ‘She’s cool,’ that being introduction enough it seemed. The Thai girl hadn’t really talked to any of her new friends, she’d been occupied chatting to Tony and hadn’t really found the time to really find out anything about the others. However, that changed during the journey back to college.
Britney drove and both Jenny and Cindy joined Tanya in her Humvee, Mandy keeping Christy company in the latter’s sports utility vehicle, or SUV as it was apparently called. The mini convoy drove onto the freeway, Britney maintaining an even speed and heading despite the beers she’d drunk, none of which she’d paid for upon the arrival of her friends Tanya had noticed. A tape of quiet, chilled out music played through the stereo. Extremely tired, Tanya was content to zone out in back seat, next to Cindy, who gossiped non-stop with Jenny, occasionally running a joke or story by Britney first.
It seemed that they were a wild, partying, rich bunch of girls, living in Beverly Hills, which even Tanya knew to be a pretty hot LA address. Cindy was full of tales of travelling to exotic locations and partying with the rich and famous. Jenny competed, matching story for story, name for name. Tanya just let it wash over her. It had been a long afternoon and despite her tolerance of alcohol, the jetlag and the drink was combining to make her feel very slumberous. Finally someone asked her a question about herself.
“Oh I’m an exchange student from England,” she answered, “I’m studying psychology and I’ll be here a year.” She remembered an earlier comment Britney had made.
“By the way,” asked the Thai, “What did you mean, ‘Try out for the cheerleader team?’ What’s a cheerleader?” Cindy gaped at Tanya open mouthed.
“You don’t know what a cheerleader is?” she asked, stunned by such ignorance. She turned to Jenny and both girls tried to stifle giggles.
“Where’s Scotland Cindy?” The question came from the driver’s seat. Britney was coming to Tanya’s aid! The Thai girl hadn’t expected that, though she didn’t really care about being laughed at by two silly girls. It did surprise her that Britney was friends with them, though. What did a smart, intelligent girl like her want with two people like Cindy and Jenny? It was a mystery, but not one Tanya was in a mood to concentrate on. Still, Britney was friends with them and they’d been tittering at Tanya, only now Cindy was completely thrown by Britney’s unexpected question.
“Err… England I think…” Tanya had been to Scotland a couple of times and was very glad there weren’t any of the rabidly nationalistic Tartan army present. They didn’t like being called English!
“Close Cindy but if you said that in Glasgow you’d wake up in hospital. Why don’t you answer Tanya’s question instead of insulting her.” The Thai girl was amazed at Britney’s defence, not to mention her knowledge, but she was even more surprised at Cindy’s reaction. Instead of sulking or being upset she merely replied:
“Sorry Tanya,” before explaining: “A cheerleader is a girl who works as part of a team of other girls to perform dance routines in front of an audience in between plays.” In response to Tanya’s mystified expression she continued.
“That means that when there’s a break in play of a match the cheerleaders rush on and perform their dances, keeping the audience psyched up for the next quarter or what have you.” Tanya tried to insert this image into England’s national sport. The idea of having women run on during the halftime period of a soccer match was not one that would’ve boded well for crowd control. Still, this was America. They were surely allowed to do things differently, even if that meant sending on the dancing girls to keep people distracted… It sounded fairly bizarre.
“So why do you hold tryouts?” she asked, using the Americanism naturally. Jenny replied.
“The teams are really important to the university and the cheerleaders are almost as important. A lot of girls want to get involved with us, so we hold tryouts.” That didn’t really wash with Tanya.
“Why don’t they just do their own sports?” Jenny and Cindy dissolved into fits at that, even Britney laughed a little.
“What?” asked the Thai girl, “I play tennis back at Cambridge.”
“Girls’ sports aren’t really that big a spectator thing over here Tanya,” explained Britney, “It’s more prestigious to be part of the two main teams: football or basketball. We’re the football cheerleaders.”
“Oh,” replied Tanya, “Well I suppose that makes sense.” It didn’t, but that was probably down to the Thai’s jetlag and alcohol consumption. She had one final question.
“What does cheerleading require?” That was a more acceptable query to Cindy and Jenny who prided themselves on their routines.
“You have to be pretty, quite strong but not muscly or anything…” started Jenny.
“Ooh gross!” interjected Cindy, “That’s nasty Jenny.” The other girl giggled before continuing.
“On top of that you have to be quick, have good stamina and be flexible. You also have to be able to learn the routines and dance in rhythm. Have you got all that Tanya?” The Thai girl considered for a moment.
“I don’t know about the routines but everything else I can do ok…” well… dancing in rhythm wasn’t proven either… However, Tanya’s martial arts skills, a product of many years practice in Thailand and at school, stood her in good stead for the other aspects of cheerleading, or so she reckoned.
“Well that sounds great,” replied Britney, “The tryouts start in two day’s time in the main gym on campus. Will we see you there?” There was a gasp from the two other girls but they didn’t argue.
“Sure,” answered Tanya and leant against her seat. The tiredness and drink were ambushing her in a big way and combined with the soothing, regular movements of the car as it went along and the soft, quiet music playing from the stereo sent the Thai girl into a light sleep. She woke suddenly and everything was quiet. Tanya was still in the car but it had stopped. Looking up she saw Britney in the front seat, looking at Tanya in the rear view mirror. Stretching and yawning, Tanya undid her seatbelt.
“How long was I out?” she asked. Britney smiled.
“The rest of the journey… about half an hour.” Tanya smiled back.
“God, I missed Cindy and Jenny leaving.” Britney’s smile turned insightful.
“Did you like them?” she enquired, her face showing she already suspected the truth. Tanya shrugged her shoulders.
“To be honest I didn’t really talk to them enough to get to know them. They seemed ok…” she left the end of the sentence hanging.
“For spoilt American brats,” finished Britney. Tanya shrugged her shoulders again and put a ‘You said it not me’ look on her face.
“That’s ok,” continued Britney with a smile, “You survived the baptism of beer. Those girls are a bit insensitive at first, especially after a couple of jars, but like you said, once they get to know you…” Now the American was leaving a sentence hanging.
“Did you ‘get to know me?’” enquired Tanya, sensing a certain… warmth from her new friend. Britney smiled wickedly.
“Oh I reckon so, though I could always do with finding out a little more about you. I think you’re different Tanya… there’s something about you which is unusual… Most people, after they’ve bitten someone’s head of, don’t apologise straight away. Most people don’t walk into a strange bar when they’re underage and start chatting to the barman in a foreign language, persuading him to not only let us stay but giving us a few free drinks to boot! Most people don’t go toe to toe with the likes of Cindy and Jenny and live to tell the tale. Most people…” She seemed to be about to say another thing but stopped. Tanya laughed.
“I’m half crazed with jetlag and fairly drunk to boot… try me when I’m a little more human… then you’ll see the real English rose, like Veronica, your friend’s exchange.” Britney laughed and shook her head, turning away. Finally Tanya focussed enough to ask the obvious question.
“Where are we?”
“Back on campus,” explained Britney, “Right in the same spot as when we left. Do you know your way back?” she asked. Tanya nodded.
“Along that path, third right, past the cafeteria, second building on the left, and use my ID card to get in.” She said it in a matter of fact tone of voice but Britney was amazed.
“You remember all that having walked here once?” she asked.
“Sure,” replied Tanya, surprised to have such a simple skill as remembering where you were going commented upon, “I’ve always been good at knowing where I am,” both mentally and physically. Britney pursed her lips.
“Ok,” she said, “Well I guess I’ll see you at breakfast tomorrow.”
“You’re not coming?” asked Tanya.
“No,” answered Britney, “I’ve got a place near here I share with the girls.” Well it was obvious who they were but a feeling nagged at Tanya suddenly, a suggestion that there was something about how Britney said ‘the girls…’ but she was just so tired…!
“Thanks for everything Britney,” she said, opening the door, “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Sure,” replied the American, “I’ll catch you then.” Tanya closed the door and Britney eased away. The Thai girl had a lot of questions but, at that particular moment, all she wanted was sleep. She ghosted back to her room, following her own directions precisely and entering the dorm like a sleepwalker. Tanya registered the three huddled presences in the other beds but didn’t try and say hi to anyone. It was twelve at night and she’d been awake for about fifty something hours… it felt like a lifetime. She collapsed on the bed and fell asleep instantly, awaking to pandemonium.
It was like a bomb had gone off. There were clothes everywhere! Opening her eyes, suddenly awake, Tanya had a horrible moment of uncertainty… where was she? Who were these three people? Why were they in her room? Gradually the truth of the matter returned and she slowly stood up, rising out of her bed still wearing the clothes she’d had on for the previous three days. Three pairs of eyes turned to view the new girl. One expression was timid, the second disinterested while the third seemed perfectly friendly.
“Hey there,” chimed the third girl, taking a step forwards raising her hand, “You must be Tanya? I’m Dolores.” The black girl was very beautiful, with dark skin and full, voluptuous features. Her smile shone from her face, stretching from ear to ear, while her grip, when Tanya shook her hand, was firm but not crushing. She seemed like a very nice person.
“Nice to meet you Dolores,” replied Tanya, “I’m sorry I’m only just getting up… I had a heck of a time getting here yesterday.”
“No sweat,” answered Dolores with a laugh, a full, womanly sound, “We’re all just getting unpacked. We didn’t want to wake you as you were so soundly asleep but now that you’re up you’d better grab some space… We’ve all got so much stuff!” Tanya smiled and thanked the black girl, turning to her bed and pulling out her two rucksacks and three bags from underneath it. She knew she’d over packed for her year out, but as she looked at the other three girls, Tanya realised that they’d anticipated some sort of clothing Armageddon.
Dolores came third with just six suitcases of stuff. Next up was the tall, willowy, red-haired girl who had ten. Both paled into comparison with Tanya’s final roommate. She wasn’t particularly tall but held her back utterly upright, as if she’d come from a military institution. Her brown hair was equally straight, framing the sides of her face and drooping down to her shoulders. Despite the time and the activity she was doing the girl still had full makeup on and was wearing a conservative, business suit outfit of trousers, matching jacket and white shirt. Next to her was an open bag filled with shoes. Beyond it were seven empty suitcases. Behind her were another eleven…!
“Wow!” exclaimed Tanya, “You guys have lots of stuff!” The redheaded girl smiled goofily at that, her freckly face splitting into an open mouthed grin. Her teeth bore testament to expensive orthodontic work, while around her eyes were glasses marks. She took a moment from digging into her bag on underwear and went over to Tanya.
“I’m Eliza,” she explained, “You’re Tanya.”
“Yes,” replied the Thai girl, “Except everyone seems to know it… Is there a sign on my back or something?” Eliza laughed at that, as did Dolores, who’d returned to unpacking her bag.
“We got told that you’re an English exchange student,” explained Eliza, “That we had to look out for you while you’re here.”
“Oh,” said Tanya, not sure whether she was flattered or insulted, “Well thanks… I do have to say I met a couple of people yesterday, so there’s no need to worry about me, I’m used to being in different places.” Eliza smiled amiably, replying with an eager friendliness:
“That’s good. I was slightly worried that you might be a bit… what’s the word…?”
“Bitchy?” suggested Tanya. She smiled, “I hope there’s no need to worry about that! But I’d love to get to know my roommates a bit better as well.” Eliza smiled again before her face clouded slightly.
“Who did you meet yesterday? I think I saw you going around with Britney Carter.” Tanya nodded.
“If that’s her surname then yeah, I was with her most of the day. She’s my representative or something, assigned by lottery I think, but I got on with her really well. We came here, dropped off my stuff and then we went to a bar.”
“What?” this was the third girl, dressed in her power suit, “Which bar did you go to?” Slightly wary, Tanya answered slowly.
“I’m not sure… we had to drive along the motorway to get there… it was about fifteen minutes away I think.” All three girls in front of her were staring at Tanya. Finally the dark haired one stepped forwards, her face set in the most insincere of grins suddenly while her blue eyes sparkled with malicious intrigue.
“Hi, I’m Louise. My friends call me Lulu. I’m from New York but I came here because it was offering the best fashion design course around.” Tanya shook hands with the girl, slightly tentatively. She recognised the attitude and searing arrogance from Louise. It seldom boded well for friendship. Still, there was no need to be rude.
“New York?” she asked, “That must have been hard to get in from.” Louise flicked her hand imperiously.
“Daddy flew me down in his jet and set me up in the country club too.”
“The country club…?” asked Tanya.
“The Los Angeles Country Club,” replied Louise, her body radiating surprise at Tanya’s ignorance, “The LACC… It’s the place in LA. All my friends from boarding school are there. I went to one of the most prestigious all girls’ schools in the country, don’t you know?” She left it at that. Pursing her lips Tanya could only nod, noticing that Dolores had scowled upon the mention of the ‘LACC.’ The black girl clearly didn’t like it, whatever it was or represented. Corporate jets and private clubs, hummers and SUV’s… the students of UCLA certainly didn’t skimp on luxury it seemed. Having made contact Louise turned back to unpacking the contents of her numerous bags. Taking Dolores’ advice, Tanya quickly started claiming some of the storage space as her own.
She only had a few things that needed to be hung up, the rest was just shorts, T-shirts, underwear and the like, which was unceremoniously dumped in the draws underneath her bed. The few books Tanya had brought she arranged on her desk and her portable computer, truly cutting edge technology even if it did way a ton, was inserted into her lockable cupboard. Finally she was finished, just as both Dolores and Eliza were wrapping up.
“Why don’t we go for a cup of coffee?” asked Tanya brightly. Louise declined, saying she wasn’t finished, but both Dolores and Eliza agreed, albeit somewhat hesitantly. Tanya wasn’t sure why, but they seemed… almost intimidated by her…! Still, they brightened up as they left the room, walking towards the cafeteria.
Eliza, who preferred the name Lizzie, was a chatty Californian of Irish stock, though she had no trace of the Dublin accent of her forebears. Her parents lived in an up and coming part of the city, although it was fairly isolated from UCLA and she didn’t have a car to go visit them. Tanya wondered about busses, for which she received short shrift. It seemed that LA was not exactly famous for its public transport.
Dolores was also an LA girl, though she came from somewhere a little further along the wrong side of the tracks, by her own description. She was smart and very intelligent and had managed to carve out a scholarship to the university for herself. Tanya didn’t quite understand the importance of it, but Lizzie’s ‘Ooh’ reaction suggested that Dolores had done very well. The black girl was tough and uncompromising, Tanya quickly discovered, but also friendly and positive. She didn’t like their final roommate much.
“That girl’s nasty,” was her succinct judgement, “She completely ignored us all morning, like we weren’t even there or something. It was amazing to even hear her speak when you woke up.”
“What was that all about, anyway?” enquired Tanya, “As soon as I mentioned Britney, Louise couldn’t wait to talk to me…” Dolores and Eliza exchanged looks.
“You mean you don’t know?” asked the former. Mystified, Tanya could only shrug her shoulders.
“Know what?” she replied. Again Eliza and Dolores exchanged glances.
“You see Tanya,” started Lizzie, “Britney Carter is, well… a legend around here.”
“She’s the girl,” continued Dolores, “One of the top students… her parents are incredibly rich or something… she drives a humvee… she’s the captain of the cheerleaders…”
“Oh yeah, she told me about the cheerleaders,” laughed Tanya. Neither of the other two saw anything to laugh at.
“Where and what did she tell you Tanya?” asked Dolores. Hesitantly, for fear she was treading on dangerous ground, the Thai girl explained.
“We were driving in her car,” said Tanya slowly, “Back from a bar. We had two other girls with us, Cindy and Jenny. They started talking about cheerleading and I asked about it. They said that they’re holding tryouts tomorrow or something and that I should go…”
“What?” exploded Dolores and Lizzie simultaneously before the black girl continued: “You’ve been invited to the UCLA cheerleader tryouts?”
“Err… yeah…?” replied Tanya, worried at the girls’ reactions.
“Tanya, that is just about the biggest honour you can get!” explained Lizzie, “The tryouts are by invitation only. Britney and her friends are the only people allowed to invite anyone. They go through the college today, looking for all the best looking girls to join them. They’ll pick maybe two dozen to audition. Assuming there’s space on the squad, maybe one or two will get into the first team… My word Tanya… you’re going to be famous! An exchange student, picked for the tryouts on her first day in the uni…? People are going to be all over you!” Dolores and Lizzie’s reaction was quite enough to worry Tanya.
What had she gotten herself into? She’d just been chilling for an afternoon with a nice, new friend and suddenly it turned out that she was on the verge of becoming some sort of demigod…! As if to confirm her status, at that particular moment a familiar voice called out ‘Tanya!’ The Thai girl turned to see Britney heading towards her, wearing the same obnoxious ‘CAN I HELP YOU?’ top of before, along with another pair of cut-offs that showed her gorgeous legs to all around. The entire cafeteria was watching the unofficial Queen of the Campus… All of them were wondering who this new princess was…
“Hi!” replied Tanya, reaching out and hugging Britney as she came close, “How are you doing?” The new arrival smiled and released Tanya, looking at her two flatmates, who were sitting open mouthed at the table.
“Who are your friends?” asked Britney, in a pleasant way. Both Dolores and Lizzie seemed too stunned to move.
“This is Dolores and this is Eliza,” said Tanya quickly. Britney offered her hand to both of them.
“How do you do?” she enquired, “I’m Britney Carter.” Dolores limply shook the proffered hand. Eliza, when it was her turn, practically leapt out of her seat.
“I’m Lizzie Brady,” she gushed, shaking Britney’s hand for all it was worth, “I’m an LA girl studying history. I’ve got to say it’s a pleasure to meet you…” Britney handled Eliza with élan, not suggesting for a moment that it was anything other than lovely to have her hand wrenched about while the redheaded girl babbled about this and that. Finally, the cheerleader extricated herself, turning to Tanya, who’d sat back down.
“Well thanks for introducing me Tanya. Are you still coming to the tryouts tomorrow?” The Thai girl felt slightly weak kneed at all this but, as she looked into Dolores and Eliza’s shocked faces, she realised she couldn’t be so ungracious as to not accept Britney’s invitation.
“Sure,” she replied casually, “It sounds like fun. I’ll be there.”
“Three o’clock, in the gym, Tanya,” said Britney, “I’ll see you there, right?” Tanya nodded and the cheerleader turned away. Looking back at her roommates Tanya saw their gob smacked expressions.
“What?” she asked hurt by the slightly interrogatory looks. Dolores was the first to react.
“I have to go,” she said simply, grabbing her stuff, standing and leaving without so much as a by your leave or goodbye. Eliza hesitated a moment before standing as well.
“Yeah, I’ve err… got to… you know…” She muttered. Tanya knew perfectly well what was going on. She set her face into an indifferent expression and said goodbye to her roommate. Lizzie half turned and walked away, initially thinking of turning back but finally accelerating out of the cafeteria. Suddenly Tanya noticed all the people around her… the furtive glances in her direction, the whispered comments about the strange, foreign girl who was friends with the Britney Carter. Finishing her coffee the Thai girl finally stood and left, wondering around a campus that was rapidly coming to know her by sight. Not for the first time, in the previous day and a half, she questioned whether she really knew what she was doing.