One of most annoying things about Emily, Taylor had decided, was her sleep schedule. So far, he’d been able to avoid her morning jogs, but she was always at the door right after, far earlier than Taylor would have liked. And unlike Logan, who unfortunately (or fortunately, given Emily’s repeated hinting that Taylor had a crush on him, despite his objections) had other obligations most of the time, she was free to drag Taylor wherever she wanted to go, usually the mall. Taylor’s happiness about not having to try on clothes the first time rapidly evaporated in each successive visit as he was forced into a fashion show nearly every time. Though of course, things were far easier than they’d be if he didn’t have his masculinity obscuring accessories, which he was thankful for after Emily walked in on him while getting dressed in his room. Today though, would prove to be different than the usual trip.

“Wait a minute, Emily. This isn’t the way to the mall.” Taylor said, looking out the passenger side window.

After as many trips as she’d taken him on, he’d committed the route to memory.

“Oh yeah, I just have to make a stop first.” Emily said as she pulled into a parking lot of a large brick building.

“What is this place?” Taylor asked.

“Summit Academy. It’s the private school that Logan and I will be attending this fall.” Emily replied. “It’s supposedly really good. But they have uniforms, blech.”

“That stinks, being told what to wear.” Taylor said, sarcastically, though Emily didn’t seem to notice. “Why are we here now, though? School’s not for another month.”

“I was a cheerleader at my old school, remember? And if I want to keep doing it, they have a summer program that I have to attend to make it onto the team. It’s dumb, but at least it’s something to do.” Emily said. “And they insist on students signing up in person. Come in with me?”

Taylor didn’t want to, but he didn’t really want to stay in the car, since he didn’t know how long the wait would be, so he got out with Emily and entered the school. It was a stereotypical private school, big corridors, a giant staircase in the front, and somewhat atypically, a folding table set up with two young women wearing blazers and tartan skirts behind it. Emily walked up to it and started scanning the papers on the table.

“Is this where I sign up for the cheer program?” Emily asked.

“Sure is! Just fill out this application.” one of the young women handed Emily a stapled packet. “Standard stuff, and we’ll send out the schedule next week.”

“And one for you.” the other young woman handed Taylor a packet, but he tried to refuse it.

“Oh, no… I’m not from around here, I’m just visiting family for the summer.” Taylor said.

“Yeah, she’s not a student.” Emily said.

“Actually, the program is open to anyone who’s interested, the coach just requires any student who wants to be a cheerleader to attend.” the first young woman said.

“Really?” Emily squealed. “What do you say, Tay? It’ll be so much fun!”

“I don’t know…” Taylor said. “I wouldn’t want to take a spot away from a student.”

“Don’t worry, students are part of a separate list, they all get spots. Besides, it’s no commitment, if you don’t like it, you’re allowed to quit.” the second young woman said, before turning to Emily. “That doesn’t apply for you, of course.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Emily said. “Please?”

Taylor weighed his options, and the prospect of spending a few weeks as a cheerleader was less than exciting, he could always quit after the first practice and tell Emily he didn’t like it. Which was far easier than dealing with a barrage of begging in the current moment, the faster he said yes, the faster they got out of here. Taylor couldn’t believe that he was actually more excited to go to the mall with Emily than to be at a school.

“Fine.” Taylor said. “But I won’t guarantee that I won’t quit after the first day.”

“You’re the best, Tay!” Emily squeezed Taylor in a bear hug as the two young women looked on with smiles on their faces.

“Just fill these out and you’ll be on your way.” the first young woman said. “You both look like perfect fits for the squad.”

The form was truly standard, just name, address (Taylor put Aunt Agnes’) the only sticky part was the social security number, but that was probably just to verify that Taylor existed, which he did, regardless of gender, so he entered it anyway. Once they were finished, the forms were given back and the two teens made their way to the mall.

While they shopped, the applications were forwarded to the main office, who processed them, finding Emily in their system and assigning her to the summer program, therefore allowing her to sign up for the team in the Fall.

In addition, Summit Academy’s computer systems noted a strange dissonance between the Social Security Number and the records they had on file. Locating schooling records for “Taylor Hughes” was easy, but the system in Taylor’s hometown was under the clearly mistaken impression that Taylor Hughes was a boy. Which was at odds with the information that Taylor herself gave in her application.

Given that it was the summertime, the request was entirely digital, and the records were requested for review, where Summit Academy changed the information to match what they’d been given on their application. Even if they weren’t enrolled, they liked to check to see if their program had a comparable match in the school that the girl was enrolled in so they could get credit for the program. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a comparable match, but at least the system was able to rectify the major informational errors that it found. What a silly mistake, with the systems off by only one letter!

Over dinner, Taylor told Aunt Agnes about his most recent fall back down the rabbithole.

“You signed up for cheerleading?” Aunt Agnes asked incredulously. “Voluntarily?”

“You know Emily, it was voluntary in the sense that she didn’t take the pen and do it herself. Besides, I used your address and they said I can quit after the first day. I just wanted to get out of there.” Taylor replied.

“Every decision you’ve made so far baffles me. Your tan faded a week ago, you could have enacted the plan to fabricate girl Taylor’s trip home and gone back to normal by now.” Aunt Agnes said. “And yet you’re sitting here in front of me wearing a skirt and, may I say, very tasteful makeup. Emily did that?”

Taylor uncrossed his legs, realizing that he’d been subconsciously doing it as he sat in the chair, a residual of his time with Emily.

“Actually, ever since she gave me that makeup bag she expects me to do it myself.” Taylor groaned.

“Is that so?” Aunt Agnes took a sip of her drink. “Glad to see you’ve picked it up so quickly, but back to my question?”

Taylor blushed before responding.

“I thought about it, and I think I’m in too deep. What if Emily wants to video chat or talk with girl Taylor while I’m with them as myself? What if I accidentally say something that Emily only said to me when I looked like a girl? If I just wait it out, I can go home at the end of the summer and never have to think about any of this again.” Taylor said.

“Fair enough, although if I didn’t know any better…” Aunt Agnes started.

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence!” Taylor snapped.

“Only joking, dear.” Aunt Agnes raised her arms in mock surrender.

One week later, as Taylor ate breakfast, the doorbell rang. Taylor immediately stood up, but Aunt Agnes motioned for Taylor to sit back down.

“I’ll get the door.” Aunt Agnes said. “I can be sure it’s not Emily, her jog doesn’t usually end for another fifteen minutes.”

Taylor nodded and returned to his breakfast. A few moments later, Aunt Agnes returned to the table carrying a cardboard box.

“I see you’ve really gotten on-board with online shopping… I may have created a monster.” Taylor joked.

“Don’t worry, dear, it’s not shopping, it’s a new piece for consultation from one of the clothing companies I’ve worked with. When they told me about their new line a few months ago, I didn’t think it’d have anything for me to work with, but when they approached me last week, I realized I now had a way.” Aunt Agnes sliced open the tape and pulled out the packing material.

“Oh?” Taylor asked as he took another bite.

“Yes, it seems they’re branching into athleisure wear, and I thought you might need something to wear to your first practice.” Aunt Agnes pulled out a pink lycra tennis skirt.

“Absolutely not!” Taylor exclaimed.

“Please? I know it’s an imposition, but if you’re already going to be going to the practice, you’ll need to wear something like this, and you’ll be doing your dear great aunt, who has put up with so much trouble since this summer started, a huge favor.” Aunt Agnes wiggled the skirt.

“Fine…” Taylor sighed. “But only as a favor to you.”

“Perfect, and we can’t forget the matching top.” Aunt Agnes giggled as she pulled out a pink tank top while Taylor grimaced.

As Taylor and Emily walked across the field towards the bleachers, Taylor pulled at the pink tank top he was wearing.

“Everything okay?” Emily asked.

“It’s too tight.” Taylor groaned.

“It’s supposed to be, you can’t have loose clothing when you’re doing flips or jumps, if someone’s foot gets caught, that could cause major injuries.” Emily advised.

Emily, on the other hand, was wearing her own cheerleading uniform, a red and white top and skirt that she’d used back at her old high school. Taylor supposed he should be happy, at least he was required to wear sneakers for this.

“I’m not too happy about the uniform, blue is fine and all but I think I look better in red.” Emily sighed as she motioned towards the other cheerleaders, all of whom appeared to be current students, since they were all wearing identical uniforms.

Taylor and Emily approached the small gathering of teenage girls, most chattering to each other about a variety of subjects that Taylor could care less about. Emily scanned around, scoping out her new teammates. Taylor continued to shift uncomfortably in his outfit until he was broken from his reverie.

“Oh-Em-Gee, I love your top!” a voice cried.

Taylor turned around to see a girl in a blue and white cheerleading uniform approaching them. If Taylor thought Emily had been cute, then this girl was a knockout. She was tall, with long legs, long brunette hair pulled back into a ponytail, just as Taylor’s and Emily’s hair was, and a big smile on her pretty face.

“Th-thanks…” Taylor muttered, staring at his shoes.

While he was a gamer, he wouldn’t call himself a nerd, and while unattached, he’d had a few girlfriends over his high school career, though that didn’t mean that he wasn’t nervous, especially dressed as he was.

“Hi! I’m Emily, I just moved here.” Emily stuck her hand out to the girl to introduce herself. “And this is my bestie, Taylor.”

Emily elbowed Taylor, causing him to stick his manicured hand out to shake the pretty cheerleader’s hand, who likewise reciprocated.

“I’m Dayna. You’re both new students?” Dayna asked.

“Oh, no, I’m not.” Taylor said. “I’m just in town visiting my aunt and Emily convinced me to sign up.”

“That’s too bad.” Dayna pouted. “But don’t think you’ll get that much downtime to talk with each other, Coach Roberts is pretty strict.”

“Sounds like my old school…” Emily joked. “I’m really looking forward to trying out for the team.”

“You’re almost all the way there, tryouts are more of a formality. If you’re good, Coach Roberts basically decides who gets on the team by the end of the boot camp.” Dayna said.

“Good to know, thanks.” Emily said.

“Let me introduce you to some of the girls.” Dayna said.

Dayna led Taylor and Emily over to where two other cheerleaders, also in-uniform, were talking to each other. One was a short Asian girl and the other was a redhead about as tall as Emily.

“Taylor, Emily, these are Zoey and Mari.” Dayna said.

“Nice to meet you.” Emily said.

“Likewise.” Zoey, the Asian girl, said. “We can definitely use more girls on the team. I bet this year our pyramid will be twice as big as last year’s.”

After exchanging pleasantries, and learning that Dayna, Zoey and Mari were seniors as well, meaning that they’d probably share some classes with Emily, they were all snapped out of their individual conversations by a loud whistle.

“All right, ladies! Let’s line up and get to work!” an older, fit woman, presumably Coach Roberts, strolled up to the gathering of prospective cheerleaders.

Everyone quickly got into a line formation, clearly there weren’t many new students as Emily and Taylor were the only stragglers who took their time getting into line.

Taylor felt out of his depth as he stood in a line amongst the other prospective cheerleaders. The coach, an older, fit woman walked down the line inspecting everyone, followed by a blonde girl the same age as Emily and Taylor.

“All right, ladies, welcome to our first practice. I’m Coach Roberts, and this is the head cheerleader, Brandi Thompson. I’m happy to see a lot of familiar faces, but also some new ones.” Coach Roberts said. “Really, this is just to make sure that you have all the routines down so we can start off running once the school year starts.”

“So let’s make it a great three weeks!” Brandi exclaimed.

The cheerleaders, plus Emily, began to cheer in agreement, with Taylor hesitantly joining in.

“We’re going to start with some stretches while I check off attendance, and Brandi will help any newcomers who have trouble.” Coach Roberts said.

The cheerleaders nodded and everyone began to go into their stretches. Even Emily knew exactly what to do. Taylor tried his best to follow along, but found that the girls were far more flexible than he was. Some of the girls, including Emily, had their feet near their shoulders! Taylor was extremely thankful for the accessories that Aunt Agnes had provided, so that his secret remained as such.

“I knew this was a bad idea…” Taylor muttered.

After falling over for a third time, Taylor felt a reassuring hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Brandi looking down at him.

“Don’t worry, nobody gets all this down their first practice. Trust me, when I started I was just as hopeless as you.” Brandi smiled.

“Somehow, I doubt that.” Taylor remarked.

“I’ve never met a girl who can do the splits on her very first day. Start with something a bit more basic.” Brandi said as she demonstrated a few far easier stretches. “Just try to limber up. Do some squats to start off, Coach always has us do a lot more legwork on the first day.”

“Thanks.” Taylor said, doing his best to follow along with Brandi’s instruction.

“Keep it up.” Brandi went off to observe the other cheerleaders, leaving Taylor to continue his stretches.

Taylor was so focused that it took a few times of Coach Roberts calling his name before he responded to it.

“Taylor Hughes!” Coach Roberts shouted.

Emily pointed towards Taylor, who finally snapped out of his reverie and realized that his name was called.

“Oh! Here!” Taylor squeaked, feeling extremely self-conscious as all eyes were on him.

“Thank you… Normally I like it when my girls are in the zone, but you need to be aware of your surroundings.” Coach Roberts remarked. “Even if you’re just here for fun.”

Taylor wished he could sink into the ground. Once the actual practice started, Taylor found himself at a disadvantage, which was good, because he could use his poor performance to ditch the program after the first practice. After an intense and tiring practice, in which both Emily and Taylor had to catch up on techniques the other cheerleaders already had down pat, it was finally over, and Taylor took a seat on one of the bleachers.

“Not bad for your first time.” Emily remarked.

“Thanks… but I don’t know if I have the knack for this.” Taylor said. “I think I’m calling it here.”

“Come on! You can’t call it after one practice! Give it a week!” Emily said. “Please?”

“Em…” Taylor started.

“It’s just a few more days.” Emily replied.

“Good job today, especially you, Taylor, being a first-timer and all.” Dayna remarked as she walked past the bleachers. “Just wait until we get to tossing, I bet you’ll be a natural.”

“See?” Emily said. “That’s two skilled cheerleaders telling you that you’re good. Unless the only reason you don’t want to be here is so you can spend more time with Logan...”

“What?” Taylor exclaimed. “I… I’ll give it a week.”

“That’s what I thought.” Emily grinned. “Now come on, I want to get home and into a shower.”

“For the first time, I think we’re in agreement…” Taylor sighed, getting up from the bleachers.

Taylor and Emily exited the field and into the parking lot. Taylor felt his phone vibrate in his bag, not wanting Emily’s usual nosiness, Taylor simply sat down at the curb.

“I need to rest…” Taylor said.

“Really?” Emily asked. “Can’t make it all the way over to the car?”

“Just give me a minute, I’ll catch up.” Taylor waved Emily off.

“All right…” Emily continued onwards as Taylor quickly took out his phone to check it.

What he saw on the screen were several missed calls from Owen, the last having only rang a minute earlier. Taylor considered calling him back, but given that Emily would get suspicious if he took too long, Taylor just dropped his phone back into his bag.

Taylor stood up and started to walk, when a car pulled into the closest spot to the front steps of the school building, just a short walk from where Taylor was standing. A well-dressed older woman stepped out, clad in a navy skirt suit and high heels, with her gray hair in a bun resting atop her head. The sign at the spot proclaimed that it was “Reserved for Principal”.

As she exited the car, Taylor watched as she gracefully moved to the passenger side to retrieve a stack of paperwork. She started to walk towards the steps, but fumbled the papers, which scattered across the ground, and against his better judgment, Taylor found himself rushing towards the dropped papers.

“I’ve got them!” Taylor shouted as he started picking up papers that had blown in his direction.

The principal turned around and smiled upon seeing that the papers were being picked up. Once Taylor finished, he brought them over to the principal and presented them to her.

“Here are your papers, I think I put them back in the right order, but you might want to check.” Taylor said as he handed the papers to the principal.

“Thank you very much, young lady.” the principal said. “I take it that cheerleading boot camp is off to a rousing start today?”

“Uh, yeah…” Taylor said. “Anyway, I’ve got to get back to my friend.”

Taylor started to turn on his heel.

“Of course, thank you again for the help…” the principal started. “What’s your name, dear?”

“I’m Taylor.” Taylor said, tapping his foot.

“I’m sure glad you were there to help, Taylor, bending like that is better left to the young and agile.” the principal said. “I’m Principal Fletcher. Are you one of the new students joining us this fall?”

“No, I’m just here for the cheerleading camp… supporting a friend.” Taylor replied.

“Say, you look familiar.” Principal Fletcher said, intently staring at Taylor. “Do you have a sibling that attended here?”

“No, ma’am. I’m an only child, and I don’t even live around here. I’m just staying with my Aunt Agnes for the summer.” Taylor replied, continuing to tap his foot as he glanced across the lot at Emily’s car, which had the engine running.

“Agnes… Wait!” Principal Fletcher gasped. “Your aunt wouldn’t happen to be Agnes Collins, would she?”

“Yeah, actually she would!” Taylor exclaimed. “Do you know her?”

“I believe I do, we were both sisters of the Gamma Alpha Lambda sorority. Tell her Vicky Fletcher said hello! I haven’t seen her in ages, but I bet she’d remember me!” Principal Fletcher instructed.

“Will do.” Taylor said as Emily pulled up in the car. “Gotta go. It was nice meeting you.”

“Likewise.” Principal Fletcher said as Taylor hopped in the car.

That night, Taylor’s manicured fingernail was positioned over Owen’s contact as Taylor stared at his phone. He’d managed to secure a night away from Emily, thankfully Emily’s mom had some event that required the entire family to attend. Taylor felt happy and secure having eschewed the feminine attire to wear the clothes he’d brought with him from home, a men’s t-shirt and shorts, in addition to removing his prosthetics, being the first time in a few weeks that Emily wasn’t around, he was able to escape her feminine web. Sure, his body was still shaved and his hair was being held in the only hair tie he’d been able to find, a teal scrunchie, but other than that and his nails, he felt like himself once again. And feeling like himself meant it was time to return Owen’s call.

Taylor was nervous about calling, since he’d missed a lot of calls from Owen, having always been around Emily when he called, and afraid to pick up for fear that Emily might say something that would tip Owen off about what he’d been up to during the summer. He’d sent a few apologetic texts, but Owen hadn’t responded to any of them. Taylor sighed and tapped the contact, bringing the phone up to his ear.

The phone rang for what felt like an agonizingly long time before Taylor heard,

“Looks like you finally found the time to return my calls…” Owen muttered.

“Owen! Listen, it’s not my fault, I’ve just… found a lot to do since those kids moved in.” Taylor said. “They’re a lot more active than I thought and they’ve had me over a lot.”

“You could’ve at least told me why you were busy, I’m your friend, I understand being lonely without your best friend around, you know.” Owen said.

“I know,” Taylor laughed. “Listen, I’ve got some free time tonight, do you wanna game a bit? I know it’s been a while, but...”

Taylor was looking forward to some normalcy, and he smiled as he imagined being able to slay some demons and not having to worry about Emily popping up or any sneaky comments, like the not so subtle hints that Emily had been dropping regarding Logan any time Taylor spent any time with him.

“Normally, I’d love to, but my older sister’s back in town visiting and my parents want to do a family thing tonight. Rain check?” Owen asked.

Taylor’s face fell. He had been sure that tonight would be a return to normalcy, but hadn’t considered that Owen would be the one too busy to talk.

“Oh… yeah, sure. Rain check.” Taylor sighed, sadly. “Talk to you later.”

Taylor laid back on his bed as he hung up the phone, idly swiping through his newly acquired social media accounts, which Emily insisted that he update when he was with her, so they had a healthy stream of content going into them, and plenty of notifications of likes and comments, mostly from the cheerleading squad. Taylor spotted a selfie that Emily had posted within the last few hours, and strangely, Taylor felt envious.

“I’ve finally got what I wanted… My own clothes, the freedom to do whatever I want... so why does part of me wish Emily was home so I’d have something to do?” Taylor asked himself as he continued laying in bed, bored out of his skull.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the bottle of nail polish remover, which was once what he’d coveted, but once he found himself ensnared in the feminine web where Emily was choosing his outfits/activities, removing the nails didn’t feel like the victory it should have been, so he hadn’t gotten around to it.

“Guess there’s no time like the present,” Taylor muttered, grabbing the bottle and heading downstairs, finding Aunt Agnes watching TV in the den.

“So how do I do this?” Taylor asked, holding up the bottle of acetone.

“I was wondering when you’d ask me for help.” Aunt Agnes paused her show and patted down at the spot next to her. “Take a seat.”

Taylor complied and sat down, handing the bottle to Aunt Agnes.

“It’s not that complicated, but if you don’t know how, it can take a while.” Aunt Agnes said. “Let me just grab a file and some clippers.”

Aunt Agnes grabbed Taylor’s left hand and started to cut the acrylics down.

“Huh, that’s interesting.” Aunt Agnes said as she put down the clippers.

“What is?” Taylor asked.

“I didn’t have to clip them down as far as I thought… Guess your nails have grown a bit.” Aunt Agnes started to use the file on the acrylics. “What made you decide to finally get rid of them?”

“Well, I didn’t have anything better to do and Emily isn’t around to stop me.” Taylor chuckled.

“I see you took back control of your wardrobe…” Aunt Agnes said as she continued filing.

“Yeah,” Taylor said. “Feels nice to wear my own clothes.”

“I want to apologize again, if I’d known the effects that my little prank would have…” Aunt Agnes trailed off.

“Don’t worry, I forgive you, I mean, it’s not like you could have predicted all this.” Taylor said.

“That’s for sure. I guess I’d misheard the old saying, I guess it was actually for want of ten nails…” Aunt Agnes finished on Taylor’s left hand and switched over to his right. “Have you decided when you plan to ‘go home’?”

“Emily wants me to at least give this cheerleading thing the entire week… and I don’t think she’ll take no for an answer. But I’ll definitely do it before my parents get back.” Taylor replied.

“That’s still a few weeks off, you know.” Aunt Agnes reminded.

“Trust me, I know…” Taylor sighed. “I can’t even imagine what they’d think if they saw me like this.”

“They’d certainly be surprised, I’m sure.” Aunt Agnes finished on Taylor’s right hand. “Now put your fingers in this bowl.”

Aunt Agnes poured the nail polish remover into the bowl and Taylor lowered his fingertips into the bowl.

“Now just let them sit for a bit and then we’ll scrub off the remaining acrylic and your nails will be back to normal.”

“This feels even girlier than having them.” Taylor remarked.

“At least you won’t have them for much longer. Let me put on a movie or something while we wait.” Aunt Agnes turned the TV on, flipping the channel to an old TV sitcom that Taylor only vaguely recognized.

Despite that, Taylor found himself laughing along with the jokes and listened to Aunt Agnes as she explained the characters and premise to him. After twenty minutes or so, Taylor removed his fingers from the acetone bath, with Aunt Agnes scrubbing them down until only Taylor’s original fingernails remained underneath.

“There we go! Just like new, though your skin might be dry for a few days… I might have a lotion that will help with that. I was going to suggest doing your toenails next, but I think we both need a break from breathing in those fumes.” Aunt Agnes wrinkled her nose.

“Agreed, and at least those aren’t noticeable if I’m wearing socks.” Taylor said.

“I suppose you’re going to go back up to your room to play video games?” Aunt Agnes asked.

Taylor glanced towards the door, then back to Aunt Agnes. He’d spent all this time at her house, but this was the most time they’d spent together that wasn’t a meal, and while part of that had been anger over the prank, Taylor realized he didn’t have much time left here, and he should make an effort. Especially given how much she’d put up with helping Taylor keep the charade going.

“Actually, I was thinking I’d stay here, you know, if you’re going to keep watching the show.”

Aunt Agnes smiled.

“This next episode is one of my favorites…” Aunt Agnes said as the theme song started to play.

As they sat watching, Taylor wiggled his fingers and observed his nails. Sure, they were longer than he usually kept them, but not nearly as long as they’d been with the acrylics. Was it just Taylor’s imagination playing tricks on him? Perhaps, but he couldn’t deny that even without the acrylics and nail polish, his hands still looked vaguely feminine, though he quickly shook away the thought.

On Saturday morning, after a very long week of cheerleading practices, Taylor followed Emily down the stairs of her porch, both dressed in the same outfit they’d worn at the previous days’ practices.

“Emily, do we really have to do this in your front yard? Where everyone can see us?” Taylor asked, feeling vulnerable in his uniform, tugging at the skirt.

“Shy today, are we? Is that because Logan is helping my dad with the car?” Emily asked, glancing towards the garage. “It’s okay if you have a crush, I promise I won’t tell.”

“What? Of course not!” Taylor blushed at the idea. He wasn’t gay! He just didn’t exactly like the idea of prancing around in a revealing outfit in front of another guy. “I just don’t see why we can’t do this in the backyard.”

“Because there’s no grass in the backyard. I know you’re new to cheerleading but there’s not many football fields that are paved with cement, so you’ve gotta practice on the right turf.” Emily said. “You’re not going to want to fall over onto hard cement, trust me.”

“It’s still embarrassing…” Taylor muttered.

As they walked out onto the lawn, Emily started to set up her phone on the porch, resting it and pointing it towards where they’d be standing.

“Are you taking photos of this?” Taylor asked.

“No.” Emily replied.

“Phew.” Taylor sighed.

“Video, actually, it’s how my old coach used to help us improve. Record what we did and watch it back later.” Emily said. “Plus, it makes for good stuff to put up on social media.”

“Great…” Taylor grimaced.

“Here, take these.” Emily handed Taylor a pair of red and white pom poms. “I figured we could work on our rhythm and chanting first.”

“We haven’t used these at practice yet…” Taylor held the pom pom as if it was hazardous waste, with two fingers away from his body.

“I know, but I really want to make a good impression on Coach Roberts.” Emily pleaded. “So I want to be totally awesome by the next practice!”

“All right… so how does this work?” Taylor asked.

“Once you’re holding them right,” Emily quickly adjusted the pom poms in Taylor’s hands. “Then you start like this…”

Emily started into a complicated routine, waving them around in near-perfect sync as she chanted.

“2-4-6-8, our team will dominate! Go team, yeah, yeah, go team!” Emily chanted.

Taylor’s eyes widened as he saw how complicated it was, how Emily’s arms were practically blurs.

“Now you try!” Emily beamed.

“I don’t think I can.” Taylor said.

“Come on! Of course you can!” Emily said. “Just start small. Work on the first few moves and just repeat them a whole bunch, eventually it becomes muscle memory.”

Taylor sighed, took a deep breath, and started to mimic Emily’s movements.

“You have to say the chant!” Emily insisted.

“2-4-6-8, our team will dominate…” Taylor muttered.

“With more energy!” Emily added.

“2-4-6-8, our team will dominate! Go team, yeah, yeah, go team!” Taylor shouted in the most enthusiastic way he could muster at the moment.

“Perfect!” Emily grinned. “It’s a shame that you aren’t gonna be a student at Summit Academy, cause you’d be a shoe-in for the team for sure!”

“Yeah… A shame…” Taylor smiled as he imagined a school year free of the issues that this summer had contained.

After a few more routines, Emily seemed to have done enough and went to shut off the camera. As she did, Logan walked out of the garage, wiping his hands on a rag. He spotted Taylor and Emily sitting on the porch steps and walked over to them.

“So…” Logan started, his eyes refusing to meet Taylor’s for some reason.

“So.” Emily replied, grinning for some reason.

“So?” Taylor asked.

“Are either of you doing anything next Friday?” Logan asked. “Cause the new Captain Wonder movie is coming out that night, are you interested in going to see it with me?”

Emily made a big show of sighing.

“I’d love to! Unfortunately, I have an appointment at the hair salon and then I was going over to Dayna’s so she could give me the scoop on all my new teachers.” Emily said. “But you’re free, right Taylor?”

“Oh yeah,” Taylor replied, knowing that his only obligations were related to things Emily wanted to do. And remembering what had happened the last time Emily was busy... “I’d love to go see it! Usually I go with my friend Owen, but since I’ve been stuck here…”

“Awesome! I’ll let you know the time once I buy the tickets.” Logan said.

“Logan! Get back here! I need your help with this!” Mr. Jackson shouted from the garage.

“See ya!” Logan quickly rushed back into the garage.

“How exciting for you.” Emily said. “What are you gonna wear?”

“A t-shirt? I’m just seeing a movie.” Taylor replied.

“Right…” Emily giggled.

Taylor rolled his eyes and sighed, he’d spent all this time with Emily and yet sometimes he couldn’t understand what was going on in her head.

Aunt Agnes looked out her front window, spotting Taylor standing on the lawn across the street with Emily and Logan. As she watched, the phone began to ring and Aunt Agnes rushed to pick it up.

“Hello?” Aunt Agnes answered the phone.

“Agnes? Hello! It’s Vicky Fletcher!” Principal Fletcher exclaimed on the other end.

“Vicky! How unexpected! Taylor told me that... she’d... met you, but I’d forgotten to ask for your number!” Aunt Agnes said.

“While I definitely want to catch up, maybe get coffee or lunch at some point, it’s funny that you bring up Taylor, because that’s exactly who I wanted to talk about.”

“Oh? Did… she do something wrong?”

“Nothing of the sort! She’s a lovely girl, and definitely got her beauty from your side of the family, no, I was actually interested in extending a full scholarship to the Summit Academy, partly because I know she’s your niece, but also because the cheerleading coach really wants her on the squad. She’s a novice, but the coach thinks she has a lot of promise. What do you think?”

“Oh… my! That’s a wonderful offer, but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline. I’m not her legal guardian, she’s just living with me for the summer, and either way, I think she’d rather go back to school with her friends from back home.”

“Of course, of course, I suppose I’d have to ask her parents, then.”

“That’s right. Although I don’t have their contact info on hand.”

“No worries, Agnes. And you have a very lovely niece, I think she’s really coming out of her shell thanks to the girls on the squad.” Principal Fletcher said.

“I’m sure she is…” Aunt Agnes said.

“Anyway… Oh! Look at the time, I’ve got to go, but we’ll catch up soon, right?” Principal Fletcher asked.

“Of course, Vicky.” Aunt Agnes said. “It was nice hearing from you.”

Aunt Agnes hung up the phone and let out a loud, deep sigh. “Taylor, what am I going to do with you?”

That night at dinner, Taylor told Aunt Agnes of his plans for the upcoming Friday.

“I didn’t realize Emily liked movies like that.” Aunt Agnes remarked.

“Oh, Emily isn’t going.” Taylor said.

“So it’s just going to be you and Logan?” Aunt Agnes asked.

“Yeah, I don’t think he’s made any friends since school isn’t in session yet and unlike Emily and the cheerleading squad, he hasn’t had an opportunity yet.” Taylor said. “So it’s just me.”

Aunt Agnes seemed conflicted, and hesitantly put a hand on her nephew’s shoulder.

“Taylor, you realize what you agreed to, right?” Aunt Agnes asked.

“Agreed to? I’m just going to see a movie with a friend.” Taylor replied.

“But Logan knows you as a girl, and while I know that it’s possible to be platonic friends, given what you’ve said about Emily’s comments…”

“Oh no…” Taylor’s face dropped. “I agreed to go on a date with Logan… I have to cancel!”

“That’s probably wise.” Aunt Agnes said.

“But I really want to see the movie… and I’d feel bad if Logan already bought the tickets…” Taylor said.

“I suppose it’s up to you,” Aunt Agnes said.

“Why do I keep making things so complicated?” Taylor asked himself as he put his head into his hands.