Cheer Buzz

“Think of it as a fresh start for the new year,” Roxie suggested, hugging the recently single girl goodbye.

The varsity cheer squad, a tight-knit group, stood around in one of the lobby's alcoves after grabbing their bags. Those headed home with their parents told them to wait until they made their goodbyes, with Lacey being the most significant person to talk to. The petite redhead struggled to hold back her grateful emotions due to their concerns.

“Be happy, stay happy, don’t be sad…don’t be…,” Yumi chanted, more to herself as tears welled up. Even before Roxie fully released their friend, Yumi flung herself into Lacey’s arms.

“If you need anything, somebody to talk to, advice, or just an ear to listen to you vent, I’m there for you,” Kaitlin offered, throwing her arm around both girls’ shoulders.

“You should! Katie’s an expert in breakups. It’s her specialty,” Yumi proclaimed, suddenly all smiles as she let go of Lacey.

“The heck, Yums!” Kaitlin responded, placing her hands on her hips. “Why would…who told you that?”

“Whitney!” the dark-haired girl cheerfully announced. “She said it’s the one thing you’re good for.”

Standing off to the side, Caterina snickered as Roxy and Lacey fought off the inclination to join her. Katie threw up her hands in frustration before balling them into fists, all the while mumbling about her captain being lucky she almost died or she'd kill Whitney herself.

“We’re going to miss you,” Yumi continued, her lips quivering.

“We have school in two days,” Roxy reminded. “Besides, it could be worse; Lace could be getting a ride home with the Quills like me.”

“Hey!” Cat exclaimed in outrage.

“What about Katie? Are you abandoning her?” Yumi asked, worried about Cat’s close friend. “Do you need a ride home?”

“Kizzy and I are–”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe my parents can find room for Kizzy. We could put Yosh on somebody’s lap! Mom says he’s still like a baby,” Yumi suggested about her thirteen-year-old brother.

“Maybe he can suckle from Katie while he’s at it,” Cat muttered, getting a glare from Roxy and Lacey.

“No, no, we’re good, Yums. We have a ride home,” Kaitlin reassured, but the concerned cheerleader had already found a new distraction.

“Rory!”

The bob-cut blonde slammed on her brakes about fifteen feet away. Changing directions, Aurora rushed over to her squadmates. She appeared a bit frazzled.

“Hi! I don’t have any time. Mom’s super pissed at Austin for some reason,” Rory explained. “I have to pull the car up as we’re leaving right away.”

“What did the idiot do now?” Cat questioned.

Lacey’s mouth opened and closed out of reflex. She barely caught herself before automatically defending her now ex-boyfriend. After two years, breaking that habit might take some time.

“Crap,” Rory muttered, noticing the redhead’s reaction. “Um, Lace, do you think you could grab my dumbass brother’s stuff? Mom said she talked to your mom already about it, but she’s so furious that I don’t know what she asked.”

Always concerned about others, Lacey picked up on Rory’s awkwardness. Closing the gap between them, she grabbed both of Austin’s sister’s hands.

“Hey, don’t worry. You and me are good. No matter what happened with Auss, we’re still friends, right?” Lacey inquired.

“Right,” Aurora stated firmly.

“Friends forever!” Yumi cheered, wrapping her arms around both girls from the side. Her puppy dog eyes flashed at the other cheerleaders.

Kaitlin joined the group hug first, then Roxy added her arms. Caterina rolled her eyes when Katie glanced over at her, but the co-captain bit back a smile as she finally joined in.

“Aww. Are you sure you don’t want to run over there? You probably still have time to throw on your cheer uniform.”

Ramsey brushed off Daisy’s crack with a wave of her hand. The Buzzy Bee staff had been in the middle of saying goodbye to Ramsey until Yumi's loud exclamations drew their attention. Norah smirked at Daisy's recurring joke about Rammy joining her other two best friends in picking up the pom-poms.

"Wha?" Dexter sounded. His initial confusion morphed into awe at the potential image of his editor wearing a sexy cheer uniform. Then, a twitch down below at the fantasy caused him to move his suitcase closer to his body.

“Okay. Let’s get back to the updated plan,” Ramsey prodded, turning back to business.

"Geoff will handle the medical descriptions and interview Whitney. Norah will handle the sophomore and junior reactions, while I'll tackle the seniors. Dex also finished his interview with Zoey Gibble. So, he needs to expand his interviews to include others who know Sean. If the vibe last night around the hotel was anything, you could sense the growing demand for information about Sean Tarver," Daisy said.

“That sounds solid. I’ll work on writing down more of my eyewitness account tonight,” Ramsey replied.

“Do you still want to skip out on interviewing Sean? I can handle it, but I think you’d be better,” Daisy suggested.

“Um, no, you need to do it. I’m, uh, too close to the subject. My objectivity might suffer,” Ramsey fibbed, not ready to tell Daisy the truth about what happened between her and Sean. “Next?”

"I think we should hold off on Newt's bravery until after this edition. Finn's agreed that his story needs to be told, but I think Newt deserves his own front page headline," Daisy recommended.

"I agree. Whitney and Sean will already lead to an expanded edition. Newt would likely get overshadowed," Ramsey concurred, liking how Daisy could be relied on to consider these points. "Anything else?"

“Dress reviews?” Daisy inquired.

“Ugh! Do we have to?” Ramsey sighed.

“Besides being a tradition, you know it brings in readers,” Daisy pointed out.

“So we’re making Norah write them?” Ramsey queried.

“I’m doing what?” the mousy brunette questioned, showing rare surprise.

“It’s not like Dex could write them. He’d stare at the pictures for days,” Daisy continued, ignoring the two sophomores.

“We could make Geoff write them,” Ramsey proposed. She and Daisy quickly fell into giggle fits at the absurd notion.

“Okay, okay, I might have an idea,” Daisy began, wiping tears from her eyes. “Perhaps the idea of bringing in new blood for the paper can start with the dress reviews. We can have a guest columnist handle the dress reviews. If the person works out, they can do the same for prom.”

“I like the idea, but not using Whitney as we mentioned last night.”

“Gawd, no!” Daisy agreed. “I think a junior or sophomore candidate would be best. If the person works out, they could carry over into next year. I mean, unless Norah wants to be our fashion expert.”

“Make me and Dex pays for the next two years,” Norah warned, causing Dex’s head to swivel around in fear and confusion.

“What did I do?!”

A sudden commotion again caused the young reporters to turn toward the assembled cheerleaders. Rory had departed to get her mother's car, only to be replaced by several Babybees. As per her goodbye routine, Yumi hugged each of the younger girls.

“Dammit, Kizz, we’re supposed to be leaving. Where did you go now?” Kaitlin demanded, switching on her big sister mode.

“I had important work to do!” the younger Beal sister shot back.

“Well, I don’t want to get left behind by our ride because of you.”

“Our next-door neighbors aren’t going to leave without us,” Kizzy remarked, rolling her eyes.

“Lacey, Peyton’s looking for you,” Beatrice told the older cheerleader. “There’s no rush. Her friends showed up just as we left.”

“Okay, thanks. I assume this is about Lana,” Lacey said, exaggerating her grimace.

“And you think driving home with my family is worse,” Cat remarked to Roxy.

“It’s debatable.”

Yumi nodded in agreement with Roxanne. The cheerleaders all turned as the Beal sisters' arguing increased in volume.

“Have you taken up stalking yet?”

“Weren’t you my role model for that? Tracking Palmer’s every move,” Kizzy pointed out.

“At least he was my boyfriend. Not some stranger!”

“Technically, he spent more time as your ex-boyfriend.”

Yolanda oohed at her squadmate’s burn.

“Stay out of this, Yo. Or I’ll go find Yanet and drag her into this,” Kaitlin threatened.

“You see? You’re wasting your time on nonsense. You need to make a move in two days before your window closes,” Kizzy responded.

“My window for what?!”

“To get Sir Sean before other girls claim him. Gawd, how are you so stupid?!” Kizzy responded, nearly shrieking.

"I'm supposed to date Tarver so you can live vicariously through me?"

Beatrice, Zara, YoYo, and Harley all glanced at each other and nodded.

“No, so you can actually date a decent guy for once!” Kizzy answered.

Caterina, Roxanne, Lacey, and Yumi all glanced at each other and nodded.

"Kid sister has you pinpointed to a T," a new voice stated as a group of girls stopped beside the two cheer squads.

“Stay out of this, bitch,” Katie flung at Yelena.

“Truce! Remember the truce!” Delilah reminded, racing over. She hadn’t been walking with her dancemates.

“Is Kizzy alright?” Ariel inquired, sliding in to join the Babybees.

“What this? Oh, this is nothing,” YoYo replied.

“You should see when their mom starts asking questions and giving advice,” Harley added.

“Yes, this truce is still in effect until we leave the hotel,” Bianca agreed.

Lacey nodded, even though Caterina should’ve stepped up in her role as co-captain.

“So watch your back soon,” Yelena hinted, smirking.

“Planning to run me over with your car once I reach the parking garage?” Cat challenged.

Despite growing up as hated rivals in their families' feud, Lacey and Bianca met each other's gaze and rolled their eyes at their friends. Forever working as a peacekeeper, Delilah slid into between the school's rival sexpots. Yumi even cracked a lousy joke about Yelena not being that awful of a driver.

“Truce ends when we get out of sight of the Witzler. Agreed?” Lacey declared.

“Agreed,” Bianca seconded, wincing while arching her back.

“Take too many dicks up your ass last night, Slutcarro?” Caterina questioned.

"Cat!" Lacey and Kaitlin squealed. Both girls turned toward Yumi, and Lacey reached her first and covered the innocent cheerleader's ears with her hands.

“I’m not the one who needs my uptight attitude gangbanged open.” Bianca shot back. “I did what Sugarbees do best and broke the chair underneath the man I was riding hard.”

“Broken chairs? Is that why Sugarbees end up working poles after graduation?” Cat challenged.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough. Did you all forget what a truce means?” Delilah questioned, literally pushing Caterina and Yelena away from each other.

Suddenly, a chorus of buzzes and jingles filled the lobby. Every guy and girl around high school age reached for the phones. Only Lacey didn’t, as she kept her hands up to cover Yumi’s ears.

“Ahhh!”

“Holy shit!”

“No fucking way!”

“Game over, man; game over!”

Behind the screams, shrieks, and exclamations, jaws dropped down as dumbfounded mouths gaped wide open.

Nosy Nectar had just dropped the nuclear bomb of bombshells to start the new year off. Star quarterback and star running back caught fucking a cougar by the quarterback’s mother. As the video played loudly, everyone could hear Miranda Rusk berating Austin before attacking her former cheermate. People laughed or cringed as Austin got caught in the crossfire. With already the near-**** experience for Whitney, the first day of school back from break just got even more interesting.

“When did Oscar show up?”

“Who’s the cougar?”

“Damn, dumping Austin sent him off to the freaky fringes,” Bianca chuckled before glancing over at Lacey. “Oh, geez, sorry, Stratton.”

Bianca saw the same result as everyone else as Lacey watched the video on Katie’s phone. Her shock turned to disbelief before switching to heartbreak. The redhead’s eyes glistened as her lip quivered.

Farther away, The Buzzy Bee staff looked up from their phones toward Lacey and the two squads. Initially, they couldn’t make out most of Austin’s ex-girlfriend’s reaction.

“It looks like our secret exposé on Austin won’t be necessary any longer,” Daisy remarked, causing Norah and Dexter to rock back in shock. The two sophomores hadn’t been aware of the potential investigation.

“He was with, I mean, she was both guys?” Dex commented before he recalled several other events last night, including what went down with another MILF in Beyza’s mom. “How many rooms had more than two people in a bed?!”

Nobody added to his comment as they watched an upset Lacey race away from her friends. Daisy shook her head in sympathy but felt it was best that the redhead saw the true Austin beneath the mask he showed the world. It was better to end any idea of making up as Katie usually did with Palmer.

Nosy Nectar hurt another of my friends for the last time. I don’t care what Daisy or anyone else thinks. I’m going to do what others couldn’t. I’m taking those jerks down.

With a brief goodbye to her fellow reporters, Ramsey went to follow her co-BFF.

---

"Are you sure she has a ride? Maybe Norah is lying to make us feel better," Dexter speculated as the foursome entered the parking garage.

“How would that make us feel better?” Daisy asked.

“Um, by not thinking that she doesn’t have any friends.”

“Norah has friends,” the older sister stated.

“Does she? I never see her with any,” Dex argued.

“Norah is always talking to people,” Kizzy pointed out.

“Yeah, for her reporting! Who’s she friends with?”

“Obsessed much?” Kizzy challenged, smirking. “Does somebody have a crush?”

“Eww! No, I’m not you! Norah can be odd and kinda frightens me,” Dex admitted.

“Lay off the kid, Kizz. Everyone knows that he only has eyes for Zoey Gibble,” Kaitlin said, walking into the elevator for the short trip to the third level.

“I know. I just also like to tease Dexy. I saw Sir Sean was nice enough to help get him an interview with Zoey,” the younger Beal sister recalled, poking her neighbor in the ribs. Then, her face soured. “Do you think we should’ve stayed longer for Lacey’s sake?”

"Lace will be fine. Seeing the video was shocking, but she'll recover soon enough," Kaitlin assured. "Her family will be there for her."

“Ramsey, too,” Daisy added, walking off the elevator.

“Wait, what about Evan? Isn’t he coming with us?” Dex inquired, suddenly realizing he hadn’t seen his sister’s boyfriend all morning.

“Evan went home already,” Daisy replied stiffly.

“Did something happen?” Katie queried, picking up on the reaction from her own experiences.

“Not really. He just left without saying goodbye.”

“That’s not nice,” Kizzy piped in.

“It’s my fault. I kind of ignored him last night,” Daisy admitted. “I didn’t mean to, but so much stuff happened. I could never find enough time for him.”

A short, awkward silence followed as the four teens descended the ramps for several parking spots.

“Are your parents coming back today?” Kaitlin inquired.

"No, they're supposed to get back from their trip tomorrow," Daisy said, popping her car's trunk open.

“If you don’t want to stay alone all day, you and Dex can come over,” Kaitlin offered. ”I’m sure my mom and Bruce would love the company.”

Kizzy scoffed under her breath.

“No other reason?” Daisy prodded, glancing at her neighbor suspiciously.

“Sure, you could stay for dinner.”

“Oh, please, Katie. Daisy’s not stupid. She knows the real reason,” Kizzy pointed out.

“Shut up, brat!”

“Wait, what’s going on?” Dexter questioned in puzzlement as he got in the backseat with Kizzy. He knew better than to argue over shotgun with the older cheerleader.

“Hey, maybe you can talk to my mom about your problems with Evan,” Katie suggested.

"Don't listen to her, Dais! She just wants to distract Mom from the fight with Palmer," Kizzy revealed, popping her head between the two front seats. "Save yourself!"

The older Beal sister shoved the younger backward by her face.

“I think I’m good,” Daisy replied to the offer, knowing better. “I appreciate your mom’s advice, but Evan and I should be fine.”

Nearly accepting defeat, Kaitlin sat silently in the front seat while Daisy managed to get them out of the parking garage despite the heavy traffic. Eventually, a new idea popped up in her head.

“Please, Dais. Even a short appearance could help out a lot. You could interview my mom for the paper. Hell, just ask her for an interview later on,” Kaitlin begged.

“What would I even interview your mom about?”

“Relationships? Hey, maybe you can bring back the old sex advice column that The Buzzy Bee used to have,” Katie replied. “Or maybe for Valentine’s Day.”

“T-The s-sex what?” Dex stammered from the back seat.

“Look, even if Mrs. Brass was still in charge, I doubt I could get anything to do with sex advice back in the paper. You know how some parents are acting these days about stuff like that. The only reason the column got into the Bee in the first place was that escort scandal and Sebastian Ferrin had the school board and administration running around in circles. Topaz couldn’t keep the column around for long after he graduated,” Daisy explained.

Kaitlin responded with a whiny noise.

“Trust me, Katie. Ms. Resto would never go to bat for the idea.”

“We could try,” Dex responded.

Daisy ignored his effort.

“Shit. Now, I’ll have to deal with Mom’s questions and advice,” Kaitlin moaned.

“Hey,” Kizzy sounded, nudging Dexter. “If you’re interviewing people about our hero, you can always talk to me.”

“Really?”

“Not really. Kizzy doesn’t know anything about Tarver,” Katie mocked.

"I do, too!"

“You never even talked to him before yesterday,” the older Beal sibling argued.

“W-W-We had a connection! I took care of Sir Sean. I helped his sister, and his grandma likes me,” Kizzy argued.

“Grasping at straws, aren’t you?” Kaitlin challenged.

"As if you weren't just doing that to con Daisy to come over and distract Mom!" Kizzy pointed out before another idea hit her. "Actually, I do have some good information for Dex. He can interview me about the Babybees' plan to care for Sean until his cast comes off. Zoey's part of our crew."

“She is?” Dex questioned, suddenly thrilled to have another reason to interview his crush again.

“Don’t worry, Dexy. I’m going to hook you up,” Kizzy declared, causing the two older girls in the front to share concerned expressions.