i'm a cheerleader.

thirteen

-Rebecca's p.o.v.-

We drove to the park and saw it was mostly empty. As soon as we parked I stopped the car and looked at CJ. She had a small smile on her face, which made me smile. I got out of the car and opened her door for her. She laughed as she stepped out of the car in the most dramatic way she could. I giggled. We walked past the playground and walked into a large sand area with a volleyball net. I always loved playing in sand. I took my shoes off and held them as I walked through the sand to a shady spot and sat down. CJ quickly joined me. We sat and played in the sand for a while, getting it everywhere imaginable.

"Rebecca?" CJ asked and I hummed out in response.

"Why do you like this park so much?" She asked me and I stopped playing with the sand.

"I dunno." I answered. "It seems peaceful." I said simply. I let out a deep sigh. "When I was a kid all I did was practice my cheer. Cheer and school. That was it. And as I got older I started juggling more stuff, I never had time to be a kid. There was a park by my house I used to practice at during the week that looked kinda like this one. My mum never let me play in the sandbox or playground like I wanted to. So now, it feels like I can kinda live out that yearning I had as a child that I never got to fulfil." I explained as I played with the sand again. CJ was silent for a moment.

"I never knew that." She said. "I assumed you had the best childhood. You're a cheerleader, you have lots of friends. I assumed childhood was great for you for some reason." She said.

"A lot of people believe because I'm a cheerleader I have this perfect life. It's not that at all. Being able to do fancy gymnastics to cheer on a football team has nothing to do with my life or how it went. I can tell you most of the girls on my team had anything but a good life." I explained and CJ listened. She nodded her head without saying a word and shortly after stood up from the sand.

"Let's go walk around the trails." She said as she extended her hand down to me. I smiled and took her hand as I stood up. I put my shoes back on (getting way more sand than I thought was humanly possible into a shoe) and we walked down the trails. As we walked my hand kept brushing up against CJ's and every time it did it felt like a wave of electricity went through my body. After the fourth time or so that it happened CJ looked at me and smiled as she took my hand and intertwined it in hers. I thought it would feel weird but it somehow felt right. I smiled as we walked further down the trails.