Chapter One

 

Nicole, Nick to her friends, had no desire to be a cheerleader. In fact, the whole concept of cheerleading offended her. The idea that a bunch of girls would be recruited, pretty girls, of course, to stand on the sidelines while boys played, and cheer them on was so antiquated and sexist she could hardly believe any girl would ever join the squad.

That her little sister Amanda was a member of the squad irritated her to no end. And Amanda's insistence that it was a sport in and of itself only made her laugh and make derogatory comments about a sport which required ultra short skirts and ultra tight tops for the viewers' enjoyment.

Nick was, at eighteen, and fresh from New York, more than slightly cynical about life, and often affected a jaded attitude which belied her youth. Having been forced to move to the hick town of Chattanooga Tennessee from New York city, however, her attitude was, in some respects justified. The southerners often astonished her with their old-fashioned, religious attitudes and sensibilities.

It was like the whole state was stuck in the fifties or something, and she could hardly wait to graduate in a few weeks. After that, hopefully, she could get a job back up north, where the weather didn't make her clothes stick to her, and she didn't have to oil up before stepping out into the hot sun every day.

Nick's fair skin and blonde hair just did not go well with a subtropical climate! She was more of a ski bunny than a beach bunny, not that Tennessee had much in the way of beaches either.

In the meantime, she was stuck. At least her home and car had air-conditioning. Even the school had air conditioning, thankfully, but then, it was a private school.

Of course, that meant a uniform, which she wore with the sort of eye-rolling attitude she exhibited so often since leaving New York. The oh-so-moral southerners, she had remarked to her parents, were always preaching about morals and God and virginity and chastity, yet the skirts the girls were required to wear weren't much longer than that of the cheerleaders.

But they were practical in the hot weather, the school said. Riiiight. They just liked to have it both ways, Nick thought. They wanted their young women to be chaste and virginal but wanted to ogle their legs too. Bunch of perves.

Her parents were responsible for getting her out onto the football field this day. Her little sister had left for school early. Amanda was only a sophomore. Being a senior, Nick's classes were later. But she'd been sent with some money for Amanda the girl needed for some school project or another, and the girl was out here on her lunch, apparently for a school picture.

She'd already passed on the money, but a strange, dark, exciting idea had taken hold of her mind after she'd climbed up into the stands where the girls were being lined up, row on row, each higher than the one before them. What a glorious joke on them all it would be if she could get into the picture, perhaps with her middle finger upraised.

It would have to be done without anyone noticing, of course, without her being spotted, or they'd simply retake the picture, and she'd get into trouble. Appearing in a picture anonymously wasn't as easy as she'd first thought, but she'd finally worked out how to do it.

There were five rows of teenage girls, all sitting in the first five rows of the stands. Instead of simply leaving after giving the money to Amanda she'd climbed up a few rows and was now in the sixth row, pretty much ignored by everyone. She slumped down low so those on the ground wouldn't notice her, and kept still and quiet so those in the row below her had no cause to look back.

When the photographer finally settled down to take his picture, she would raise her arm in the air, hopefully unnoticed (there were a lot of cheerleaders), middle finger extended.

But then, another, even more glorious idea came to mind. It was one of those spur of the moment ideas which really, upon more thought, would have been rejected. But there was little time for consideration as the man called for everyone to get ready and leaned over his camera.

Swiftly, quietly, she turned, raising her backside into the air as she slid her short skirt up to bare it. And then, just for good measure, she thrust her arm up, finger extended.