Mom Forced Me Into Pom-Poms - Part 7

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Most of the girls were already in the hall when he arrived, and it was the first time he saw them all in their new cheer uniform. He had to admit that for some reason it made them all look better. 

They were also all full of excitement, clearly delighted to be all in their uniforms together for the first time, and at the prospect of being photographed. Most were wearing light make up, their hair pulled back tightly in high ponytails. 

 A wooden bench had been placed at the top of the hall, and a tripod camera was standing in front of it.  Jesse found his eyes scanning the hall for Ashley and Megan it was amazing how he felt so drawn to them already, in need of the sanctuary of their companionship, something that would have been impossible to imagine just a week or two ago. 

They were already in the hall, and he quickly made his way towards them.  

Both were going on about their uniforms how much they loved them, and how they couldn't wait to have their photos taken. 

Then they spotted his ring, and asked him all about it, before declaring that they would have to get a similar one, too. 

It was then that Cassie interrupted their conversation.  "Hi, girls," she said, being deliberately cruel. Jesse let it pass. He didn't want to give her the pleasure of seeing him upset or irritated. But her next comment almost drove him over the edge.  "Why aren't you properly dressed, JESSICA?" she asked, deliberately raising her voice so that the others would hear. "Every other girl is wearing her skirt."  For once, Ashley and Megan were momentarily shocked into silence, but before they or Jesse had a chance to recover, Crystal appeared alongside them. 

 "Jess is dressed just fine," she reproached Cassie, sternly. "He can wear his shorts if he wants."  Cassie shrugged her shoulders, defiantly. 

"I just thought it would be better if we were all dressed the same is all," she said, before turning on her heel and storming off.  

Crystal turned to the red-faced boy.  

"Are you okay, Jess?" she asked, placing her hand gently on his shoulder. He nodded, shyly.  

"Don't let Cassie or anyone else get to you. I think you are a super brave basa cheerleader, and you look super cute, too. And any time you want to wear your skirt, that's good, too." 

 He shook his head.  

"No, it's okay, thanks," he murmured, mortified that all the others had heard this conversation.  

"I think you should wear it," Ashley declared after Crystal had departed. "Like, I mean, it's just a uniform and it would be super cool for us to look the same for our pic."  Megan nodded her agreement, while Jesse concluded that the world had definitely gone totally insane.  

"Boys don't wear skirts," he whispered.  "But you are a cheerleader now," Ashley replied, entirely earnest. "It doesn't matter whether you're a boy or a girl."  

There was no logic in that statement, Jesse thought, but before he had a chance to articulate a response, Crystal called the room to attention.  

"Okay, everyone," she announced, clapping her hands to command their silence. 

"We are going to take our group photograph now, and then the individual photographs. I must say you all look adorable."  

She ushered the group towards the bench where the photographer arranged them in such a way that six girls sat on the bench, with Brittany and Cassie in the middle, and the others stood right behind them. Jesse was among the latter group, standing second from the right. 

The photographer instructed them to keep their hands by their sides and to give a big, wide smile to the camera. He cracked jokes to get them in the mood, and Jesse couldn't help but laugh a little.  

Then, it was time for the individual pics. The photographer took time with each of them, taking several snaps, until he was happy he had got what he wanted.  

The photographer allowed the group to see his night's work when he was done. It was then that Jesse noted that the girls' hair was pulled back so tightly it looked from the front as if their hair was short. 

Also, because he could seen only from the chest up, the casual observer would think that he was wearing a skirt, too. He looked no different from the others in the photo. He found it galling that this pic, with his name on it alongside all the others, would be mounted on the school hallway 'wall of fame' for everyone to see for all of posterity.    Two days later, at about noon, he was playing a video game in the family room when the doorbell rang. He was taken aback to see Sarah standing there, beaming at him, holding a large cardboard box.  

"Hello, my favorite little cheerleader," she greeted him, before stepping inside and making for the kitchen. 

He closed the door and scampered after her, wondering what was up now but fearing that, whatever it was, it wouldn't be for his own good. 

His mother was thrilled to see Sarah again.  "I did a little spring cleaning after Jess left the other day," Sarah explained, placing the box on the table, "and I found some really cute stuff I thought would suit Jess."  

She produced a little satchel and emptied its contents on the table. There were several cheer charms and bracelets and even a necklace and earrings. Jesse's eyes bulged.  

"I have just, like, so much jewelry I never even wear anymore, so I picked these out for Jess."  

She held up a silver torque open bracelet that had a gap in the oval you could narrow or expand.  "Isn't this just so cute?" she gushed, "but it doesn't quite fit me anymore. 

It should fit Jess, though. Here, try it on."  She slipped it on his right wrist and expanded it a little so that it fit just about perfectly. 

"Oh my god, it's gorgeous!" she exclaimed, holding Jess by the wrist, and twisting it this way and that. His mom examined it closely, too.  

"It is lovely," she pronounced. "It looks like it's made out of real silver."  Jesse was reduced to silence and just stared at the bracelet. He was now wearing one on each wrist.  "What do you say?" his mother asked him. "What do you say when you receive a lovely gift?" 

 "Thank you," he smiled, trying his best to look happy. "It's really nice."  

"You're welcome, sweetie," Sarah replied. "Sure, what are big sisters for!"  

She then held up several cheer charms, explaining how he could attach these to his cheer bracelet. 

He took off the bracelet and, one by one, Sarah attached four new charms, each depicting something from the world of cheer. It felt extra bulky and dangly on his wrist when she put it back on him.  

"Now, you'll have way more charms than the others on your team," she said.  

The earrings really made him gulp. They were silvertone blue crystal dangle cheer earrings that were one inch wide and one and a half inches long. The word 'cheer' was spelled out in blue letters mounted on little bulges.  

Sarah held them up.  

"Aren't these so totally cute?" she said. "I love how the blue complements our uniforms."  

She handed one to Jesse to hold. He saw how delicate it was and that it was also meant for pierced ears. 

That was a relief, he thought, because it meant they couldn't make him try them on.  

"I know you can't wear them yet," Sarah went on as if she read his mind, "but I want you to have them."  

It was the same with the two rings and the necklace she produced. The women oohed and aahed over them, and he had to put them on there and then so they could admire them even more.  

When Sarah emptied the rest of the contents of the box onto the table, Jesse's eyes opened even wider in surprise. There were lots of clothes and other stuff, in really bright colors.  

"I've got so many cheerleader accessories and stuff that I don't need anymore or that no longer fit," Sarah explained, picking up some hair bands and big cheer bows.  

"You can never have enough bows or hair bands," she declared.  There were some shorts too, like those he already possessed, and several tops. 

He didn't like that some were in various shades of pink, clearly a favorite color of hers. And in amongst them all were two short skirts. She picked up a white pleated skirt. It looked like something a female tennis player would wear.  

"I used to love this skirt, but it's too tight on me now. Same with this one," she said, holding up a short navy cotton-spandex skater skirt with an elasticated waist.  

He stared at them. Why was she giving me these, he wondered. They weren't even cheering skirts.  

"You're so lucky, Jess," his mother said, "to be getting all this gorgeous stuff."  

"I have so much more I can drop over, too, like, boxes and boxes of stuff, when I get time to sort it all out."  Suddenly, Sarah hugged Jesse and held him close, and it felt so good he was almost ready to forgive her for this latest torment she was inflicting on him. 

 "Ever since I saw you that day at work, I could just eat you up," she told him. 

"I've always so badly wanted a cheerleader in the family, someone I could share my cheer passion with and just be like a big sister too, and finally I found you."  

He thought her words didn't make sense since there were so many girls she could have adopted, but it did feel nice to have her hold him like that, especially since she was so pretty and smelled so good.  

"Come on, then," his mom said, breaking up his reverie.

"Let's get this stuff up to your room."  

Sarah loved his One Direction posters and bed covers.  

"I mean, they're a big young for me," she said, "but I like some of their songs. Who is your favorite, or do you have a favorite?"  

"I don't really have a favorite."  

"That's not true," his mother said. "Now tell Sarah who your favorite is."  

"It's... it's Niall, I guess," he said, feeling his face burn up.  

"The blond guy?" asked Sarah. 

"You've got good taste. He is, like, super cute just like you."    Cheer practice on Monday and Tuesday was uneventful. 

They began to learn a new, more complicated, routine and Jesse was not as self-conscious as before. Ashley and Megan were a real help, and he was glad of their company, especially now that his old friends never contacted him anymore.  

Even Cassie pretty much left him alone, except for referring to him all the time as 'she' or Jessica, something a couple of her friends had now also begun to do, too.    

At the end of practice Tuesday, Sarah was waiting for him at the back of the hall, wearing her McDonald's uniform.  "Your mommy said to pick up you, sweetheart," she said, stooping a little to greet him. 

"Aren't you going to give your big sister a hug?"  Shyly, he allowed her to embrace him, as Ashley and Megan watched curiously. Sarah's eye caught theirs.  

"And who are these pretty girls?" she asked.  

The two had just introduced themselves when Crystal appeared, followed by Cindy and Tiffany.  "Hey, Sarah, want to join our team?" Crystal teased her.  "I've come to pick up Jess, here," Sarah replied, her hand on the boy's head. "How is pre-season going anyway?"  

"Super," Crystal said. 

"We've got a great bunch this year. These three are especially good."  She gestured towards Jesse and his friends. She hesitated. 

"So, like, how do you know Jess anyway?"  

"We've kinda adopted each other," Sarah giggled. "I'm like the big sister he never had."  "Aww, that's so cute," Tiffany gushed, while Ashley and Megan giggled.

 "You're so lucky, Jess, cos Sarah is one of the best cheerleaders on our team."  

"We wanted her to help coach you guys," Cindy said, "but she said she had, like, too many other commitments." 

 "Yeah, I've got this McDonald's job and all," Sarah explained, pointing to her uniform, "but I've still enough free time to hang out with my favorite little cheerleader."  

She tousled Jesse's hair again, causing him to blush. He never liked being the center of attention.  

"Anyway, gotta go. See you guys at practice tomorrow," she said, looking towards the three older girls, and pointing Jesse towards the door.    "Your mommy asked me to look after you for a bit this evening," she informed him, as they settled in her Beetle. He didn't know that his mom wouldn't be picking him up today. She hadn't said anything about that earlier.  Back in her house, Sarah led him to the kitchen and fixed a drink and snacks for both of them.  "Some of my friends will be here any minute," she informed him, "cos we want to go over a new routine we're working on, but I need to change first. Here come on."  She grabbed his hand and led him upstairs to her cluttered room.  

"You can sit on the bed while I get changed. There's magazines and stuff there you can look at."  

She rooted around in her closet, then vanished into her bathroom, clutching a small pile of clothes. 

A couple of minutes later she re-appeared in a tight white tank top and pink coffee shorts, a broad smile on her face. 

She looked super hot. 

 "Let's go downstairs and wait for them," she told him.    When her friends arrived, he recognized Rachel and Candy from last week, but there was a third girl whom he had never seen before. 

Caitlyn was her name. Jesse noted her jet-black hair that shimmered under the light and how her legs looked super long. Her top was so tight he could make out her nipples under it.  

Before long, the four girls were working on their new routine, as Jesse sat and watched. 

They kept working on the same section of the routine over and over, sometimes deciding to drop a particular move or to try something new. 

The girls were really fit and athletic and enthusiastic, and it was kind of cool to observe them, Jesse thought.  

When they were done, the four now slightly breathless, went back to the kitchen to get some cold drinks. The conversation turned to a trip they were taking in a couple of weeks. 

It was to a special camp run by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.  

His ears picked up at the mention of the Cowboys. 

The Dallas Cowboys were his favorite team; he knew all the players by name, and he had well, he used to have a big poster of them on his wall. 

He badly wanted to visit the AT&T stadium and to get to meet his heroes.  

Then, he noticed Sarah's eyes light up as she looked at him. 

 "Hey, Caitlyn, aren't you bringing Susie to Dallas?" 

 "Yeah," she answered. 

"Mrs Blackwell said it would be okay."  

Jesse soon learned that Susie was Caitlyn's 12-year-old sister, a cheerleader for St Teresa's, which was a private all-girls Catholic school in the city. 

 "Maybe Jess could come too, then," Sarah said, as if she was thinking out loud.  She explained that every summer the Cowboys Cheerleaders run a two or three-day dance and cheer program where younger cheerleaders get the opportunity to train with and learn from, the Cowboys Cheerleaders. 

Participants are grouped by age and learn warm-ups, dance routines, and team spirit, with special emphasis on self-confidence, poise, motivation, and technical style. The Cowboys Cheerleaders are the dance and cheer instructors as well as the choreographers. 

 "They demonstrate some of their routines, too, and you get to see their facilities and the stadium," Rachel said.  "It's super fun," Candy agreed.

 "Plus you get all kinds of cool things, like poms and a shirt and even a Cowboys uniform, if you want."  

"If your mommy allowed you to go, you would have to sign up with the younger group the 11 to 14-year-olds, I guess but you would be with us the rest of the time and you could room with me," Sarah assured him.  

All this talk about the Cowboys Cheerleaders and going on camp and rooming with Sarah made his head spin. 

He was scared to do it, it sounded really girly and way out of his comfort zone, though it would be great to actually see the stadium and maybe even meet the Cowboys themselves. 

He smiled weakly at Sarah and nodded. 

It seemed like he was never able to say no to Sarah. 

 "I'll have a word with your mommy about it," Sarah said. "I have some stuff I need to show her anyway."    

Two mornings later, he was flicking through TV channels, bored, when his mom made a suggestion.  

"I hate to see you like this, having no one to hang out with. Why don't you call Ashley and Megan and invite them over after practice later?  I'm sure their parents won't mind."  

He wasn't sure that he really wanted them to visit his house, he wouldn't want any of his old friends to see girls coming over to play, but still, they were super nice to him and they were becoming good friends, too, and he did like them. Jesse did what his mother told him: he rang up both girls, who were delighted to accept the invitation.  

Practice was thirty minutes longer that day, and when it ended his mother was there was pick up Ashley Megan, and him.

 The girls babbled enthusiastically all the way home in the car, as his mom asked them all kinds of questions about their families and hobbies favorite celebrities, and even their favorite places to hang out and shop in the mall. 

She mentioned their back-to-school outfits, too, and how Jesse had said how pretty they were. That made his face turn red.  

Once they got in the house, his mom treated them to drinks and cookies. Then she told Jesse to show his friends his room. 

That was the thing he was most reluctant to do because he didn't want them to see the One Direction stuff his mom had bought, but when he opened his room door his jaw almost hit the floor.  

His room was very different from how it looked when he had left it just a couple of hours before. There were two more One Direction posters and one of Ariana Grande, plus a large poster of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, while a large One Direction cut-out similar to Ashley's took up an inordinate amount of space in the corner. 

Scattered on his bed were several comforters in contrasting colors, while a large teddy bear in a blue and white cheer uniform snuggled up on the pillow. On his desk was a brown wooden box with 'My Jewelry' written on it in large gold letters. 

The door to his closet had been left wide open and he could tell immediately that it contained a lot of stuff he had never seen before.  He was so shocked the blood drained from his face and he was barely able to step inside the room, but his friends were already scampering around it, saying how awesome it was and how they loved his stuff.  

"Oh my god, your room is awesome," Megan squealed.  "Wow, you have, like, almost as much One Direction stuff as me," Ashley exclaimed.  "More than I got," said Megan.  "It's super cool that you're such a major Directioner now," opined Ashley.  Jesse hung his head. There was nothing he could say. 

He was rendered utterly speechless.  

Megan opened the jewelry box and peered inside, then spilled its contents on his desk, while Ashley joined her. He could see there was way more jewelry than Sarah had given him last week, and he wondered also where the box came from.  

Megan saw the dangly cheer earrings, and picked them up, holding them up for closer inspection, then seeking out a mirror so she could see what they looked like pressed against her ears.  "They are just super cute," she pronounced. 

 "Most of your earrings are for pierced ears, but you don't even have pierced ears," Ashley observed.  

"My mom must have put them there," he whispered, lamely.  The girls examined the rings and bracelets and necklaces, most of which he had never laid eyes on before, and pronounced them all super gorgeous. 

He couldn't figure out where they had all come from, unless, of course, they had been Sarah's.  

The girls then focused on his closet. He was scared of what they might find there and feared the worst. And he was right. 

A closer examination showed he had acquired a lot of new clothes in the past couple of hours in lots of vibrant pastel colors, colors he would never have worn in the past. He saw some sweaters and cardigans in whites and yellows and light blues and even pink.

 He saw shorts of various kinds, and tees and tanks and shirts. 

 And, to his acute embarrassment, he saw skirts. 

Of course, he already owned a few skirts that his mom had made him wear for cheer practice three to be exact, including his cheer uniform skirt and there were those two that Sarah had dropped over last week, but this was different. 

There must have been nine or ten skirts there, if not more, of different styles, all in his closet. 

He wondered if they also had been donated by Sarah.  

At least, there were no dresses that he could see, but he couldn't see any of his jeans or pants either. He would have to ask his mom about that later. 

 The girls thought his wardrobe was wonderful, and went on and on about it, asking where he liked to shop and how come they hadn't seen him wear this stuff before, but, as they talked and sorted through the closet, their words began to sound more distant, like they were flowing over his head. 

He was struggling to breathe now, feeling weak, afraid he was going to faint.  "It's super important to have lots of cool stuff for school, especially now that you are a cheerleader," he heard Ashley say. 

He vaguely heard her talk about back-to-school outfits, and then the room began to swim, and his legs grew wobbly, and he grabbed onto the back of the chair for support.  

Next thing he knew, he was lying on his bed, his mother smiling down at him, stroking his forehead tenderly. Ashley and Megan stood behind her, looking concerned. His mouth was dry, he felt scared, and he tried to speak.  "Sshhh, sweetie, it's okay," his mom said, gently. 

"Looks like you fainted. 

You must have overdone it at practice today, but you're alright now. Everything is going to be alright."    

The next morning he still felt weak, and his mom told him he could stay in bed. As he gazed around his room, his eyes fell on the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders' poster and big. 

One Direction cut out, and the events of the previous evening came flooding back. Why was his mom getting him all this stuff? Where did it all come from?  And then he remembered the clothes. 

He got out of his bed and made his way to his closet. He had been hoping that maybe it had all been just a bad dream, that he had only imagined it was full of new girly stuff, and that all his regular clothes would be in their place as always, but a first glance inside told him otherwise.  

He pulled out some of the contents and examined them. 

He never wore cardigans but now he had several. And those sweaters looked and felt different, too. The same with the shirts. He searched for his own stuff, growing more and more frantic, but other than his new cheer gear and a couple of tees, he couldn't find any. 

It was like he had a whole new wardrobe.  

And there were no jeans. Yesterday he couldn't see any, at least they weren't in their usual place. 

Now he was sure they were gone. No matter where he looked or how hard, he couldn't find them. His jeans and long pants had disappeared.  

He didn't examine the skirts. He just couldn't bring himself to do it.  When his mom brought him a drink a little while late and sat on his bed wearing a concerned smile, he asked her about the new clothes.  

"Sarah dropped them over. They don't fit her anymore," she replied casually as if a girl dropping her old stuff over for an eleven-year-old boy was the most natural thing in the world.  "We are so lucky to have found someone like Sarah," his mom went on. 

"She is so good to you, and such a talented cheerleader, and she has such great taste, too.

 She really, really likes you, you know."  Jesse knew that for sure, and he really liked her, too. 

She was so pretty and gorgeous and nice, but he didn't want her stuff. It was girl's stuff.  He asked his mom about his jeans. He couldn't seem to find them anywhere.  

"I put them away," she answered, matter of factly. 

"There's no need for long pants or jeans in this weather, plus I think your legs would look better with a tan."  

"I don't want a tan," he said, suddenly defiant. "I don't want these new clothes. I like my jeans."  

His mom ignored his little outburst. 

 "Ashley and Megan were very worried about you last night," she said, changing the conversation.

 "But I called their moms to tell them you are doing fine now. Oh, and of course you can meet the Cowboys Cheerleaders. I think it's so nice of Sarah to want to bring you to camp." 

 "But I don't want to go," he said, raising his voice just a little.

"Please, Mom, I'm doing real good in cheer, I don't need to go to a camp." 

 "I bet every girl in your team would bite off their right arm to get the chance to meet the Cowboys Cheerleaders. 

They are the most popular cheerleaders in the country. Every cheerleader wants to meet them.

 You like the Cowboys, too, don't you?"  He nodded. He loved the Dallas Cowboys.  "Well, there you go then. Go to camp with Sarah, and you'll meet the team. Won't that be cool?"   

 Things were pretty uneventful over the next week. 

Cheer practice continued as normal, and they added some new routines and cheers to their repertoire. He wore some of the new tops and shorts in his closet, but nothing that was super girly, except for a cardigan his mom made him wear some evenings when it turned chilly. 

It was a white acrylic long-sleeved cardigan with ribbed cuffs and hem. It was so long it covered his shorts when it was buttoned up.  

He joined Twitter, too, and it was fun. Ashley said he should say that we were on TeamFollowBack, because that way you gain more followers quickly, and, sure enough, as she predicted, he gained lots of followers in just a few days.

 It helped that he said he was a Directioner because lots of Directioners began to follow him. 

He also followed the five One Direction boys' accounts, and the more he got drawn into the One Direction fandom, the more he found himself actually becoming a Directioner. 

He read all the gossip about the boys and knew about their love lives. 

He even discovered that he could recite the words to most of their songs.  

Twitter was also a really easy way to stay in touch with Ashley and Megan, and before long he had connected with almost all of the girls on his cheer team, as well as with Sarah, who was delighted to find that he had joined that social network.  

He missed his old friends a lot, though, and thought about going to the park or calling them up or finding them on Twitter, but he was too scared to do so, especially since not one of them had made an effort to reach out to him since that awful morning in the park.