Lizzie McCarthy sat on one of her feet in a folding chair. It was now afterschool and time to meet the
girls she would be teaching a new cheerleading routine
to. She had a tv and a vcr on a rolling shelf beside
her. She had asked for the copy of the scandalous routine from Steven earlier. She had plans for these girls. Whether or not they decide to go along with her, she would soon find out if it was worth being here again.
The final bell rang as the girls on the squad, along with a few friends, entered the room.
"Afternoon girls." Lizzie said. "If you're not on the squad, I'd recommend that you say your goodbyes and leave now. This is not Romper room."
The girls eyed her, but she glared back at them. The friends of the girls left.
"Now, take a seat. I have something to show you." She put the tape in. "You might have already seen this quite a few times. This won't be the last either." She stood by the girls as they found a place on the floor to sit. She pressed play on the sticky remote control. The program on the tape played. The girls watched silently. After a few minutes it was over.
"So, whats this about?" One girl asked.
"This, is what its about. What kind of program is this?" Lizzie asked.
"Its the cheerleading program we were gonna do at the championship." Another girl answered.
"Wrong, this is the kind of stuff you see at strip clubs all over America. Perhaps the world. I was a cheerleader once. We never did anything like that."
"Girls do this on tv all the time, Britney Spears...' The first girl said.
"That is tv, that is not reality. This is real life." Lizzie said. "All right, lets look at it this way; how many of you have younger brothers or sisters? Cousins? Kids of your own?" She asked. A few hands went up. "Would you want them to see something like this? This kind of gratuitious display?" She looked around. The hands that were once up sank quickly. "Thats what I thought. Well remember this ladies." Lizzie said. She looked around the room and saw Stephen at the door. "Your younger relatives will be in that audience, among other competitors younger relatives. They don't need to see that. And the ones that are old enough to see it? Well thats what pay tv is for, not a high school cheerleading competition." Lizzie was on a roll, and she felt it. "Ladies, our mission should we choose to accept it is to make a program that is acceptable to everyone."
She finished. "Thats it for today. Tomorrow, I will have a new routine for us to learn."
The girls filed out of the door, dodging Steven as if their lives depended on it. Lizzie went up to him.
"Hello chief." She said.
"You got through to them." Steven said.
"I guess, no one shot me yet." Lizzie shrugged. "Sorry, real bad joke."
"Its not so bad, I take it you haven't met Harry Senate yet." Steven said as they walked along the hall.
"Was he the one in the office?" She asked. Steven nodded. "He seems like a joy to behold!"
"Thats only half the story." Steven said. "Sometimes I dunno whether hes nuts, or hes been like that his whole life."
Scott Guber came out of the office next to them.
"Scott, I'd like you to meet Elizabeth McCarthy." Steven said. Scott turned and got a shocked look on his face. He was greeted by Lizzie's own expression.
"Scott Guber!" Lizzie said. "Remember me?"
"Of course I do." Scott said extending his hand. "It's been a long time Elizabeth."
Steven looked at the two of them. "You know each other?"
"Yes." Scott said. "I was a teacher here when she was a student."
"Yeah, political science I think it was." Lizzie said. "He could never get me to shut up in that class. Sometimes we would stay for hours afterschool discussing this or that. It's a miracle no one ever thought it was weird or anything."
"Yes." Scott said. "And you're the new cheerleading head coach?"
"Yeah." She said. "How did you find out?"
"Harry Senate, one of the teachers, was posting a pool about you it the teachers lounge."
"A pool?" Steven asked arching his eyebrows. Typical Harry.
"Yes, it was on how long they expected her to stay here. I tore it down of course." Scott said.
"Ah too bad, I was looking forward to living down to their expecations." She thought. "I oughta meet this Harry Senate."
"I wouldn't recommend that, Elizabeth." Scott said putting his hand out. "Hes kind of uh hmm." He said unable to find the word.
"Here we are, disagreeing again." Lizzie shook her head. "Where does he live?"
"Oh they go to Doyles after school hours." Steven said. "I'd love to stay and chat but I have so much to do." Steven said walking away.
"He might not have left yet. I can have him paged or something." Scott offered.
"Thats ok. I can go check him, and all my colleagues out at this Doyles place." She said. Scott nodded. "Oh don't worry, if anything happens, I may or may not let you know."
"All right." Scott said. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"I will, unless someone already has me pegged to leave the next day." She joked.
"Oh no." He said. "I think they have more faith than that. " It was Marla, he thought - he could be wrong, who had her gone in 72 hours. He watched her walk away. Suddenly he wished she would be around longer than 72 hours. He suddenly cleared his throat, and walked quickly back to his office. He felt like he was being watched, but he didn't know why.
Doyles
Kevin Riley and Milton Buttle, the recently unemployed teachers from Winslow High, sat at one of the large tables with Lauren and Harry.
"So where's the others tonight?" Harry asked. "I thought things woulndn't change since we left that day. See, things are already changing."
There was a long lull between them. Harry grabbed something from his pocket.
"All right. We got a new one this week." He said putting a new version of the mornings pool on the table in front of them. "Elizabeth McCarthy."
"Not another pool." Milton said. "I hate those things."
"That's cause you never win." Kevin said.
"Right! See?" He said. "Three weeks." He finally said.
"Okay, you're after Marla but before Marilyn who put down two months." Harry said.
"Put me down for six months." A voice said behind him.
"Six months. Ok." He looked up. "Milton, I had no idea your voice could go that high."
"That wasn't me." Milton protested.
He turned. "Hi." He said.
"Hello." Lizzie said. "So this is where our teachers hang out. Would have been a bad idea when I was in school, we had one teacher who turned out to be a raging alcoholic. The days he were sober were interestimg." She said plopping down next to Milton. "My ears were on fire, so I thought someone mentioned my name."
"Uh." Lauren said.
"Its a pool." Harry explained. "You're not the first."
"Or the last." Lizzie said.
"So whats up?" Kevin asked after a long lull.
"Oh I thought I would bond or something." Lizzie said. "Tell me about Winslow." She said. "What I've missed since I left here."
Meanwhile...
Cheryl Holt, webmistress of Holt45, the school tabloid like webpage that has been a pain in Stevens, and everyone elses, side. She was reviewing the footage of her large arsenal of web cams she had hidden around the school. Scott Guber, the jerk, had managed to find five of them, including one of her faves in the boys locker room. That really teed her off. She really wanted to get him back, but how? The guy was cleaner than the floor was. But whats this? An animated conversation with a teacher caught her eye. The woman was blonde and just a little shorter than he was. The school was getting yet another cheerleading coach today, it must be here. They seemed real close.
"Hmmm," Cheryl said. "Very interesting."
