Chapter Seven
Ellie's phone buzzed, signalling a message had arrived. She took a quick look and noted it was a message from her friend Simone. Ellie smiled. It was another countdown set of pictures from the Gold Coast until they would be travelling up together for Nationals.
'Only sixteen more sleeps until this...' it read. She pushed through to see the photos which were a collection of images of beaches, drinks, clubs, theme parks and, of course, a picture of her hot brother Darren. There he was just in shorts this time, smiling at the camera, his incredible body on full show. He really was hot. Simone always did it as a running gag but Ellie had started to form a bit of obsession with Simone's brother and she had never even met him! He really was cute and they would be staying with him for the whole trip.
The bus pulled up outside the Cheerleading centre and Ellie checked the time. Shit! She was late again. She snatched up her bag and ran inside. Her team was warming up on the mats to the side, stretching and chatting. There was no sign of the senior manager thank God. The last thing she needed was to be banned from Nationals for something trivial like being late again. Melissa was like that though. She had warned Ellie last week that she was on her last chance but how could she control the buses?! Luckily, she wasn't around.
Her four friends were all huddled together on the side of the stadium, laughing. There was lean, athletic Libby; Curvaceous, blonde bombshell Lucy; the Mediterranean goddess and her best friend, Olivia; and finally, the leader of the troop and probably the most beautiful of all, Simone. And then there was her...the ugly duckling of the group. Well, at least she felt that way around these models.
"Hi Girls," Ellie said as she approached. They all smiled and waved before Olivia intercepted her.
"Where we you after school? I waited for you but they said you'd gone home."
"Yeah. I wasn't feeling well but I'm all good now" Ellie lied. She didn't want to tell Olivia that she had been blackmailed into going to the Masked Maidens Brothel on Friday. She didn't want to believe any of it happened. She didn't want to think about it at all.
"Are you sure?"
Ellie nodded and swallowed back the tears she felt brewing, and Olivia put an arm around her shoulder.
"I was worried about you...besides, I have to tell you about something" she said excitedly. They walked closer to the group before Olivia could share and were instantly distracted by the excited squeals of their friends.
"...and I closed the toilet door and just left him there in the club" Lucy finished.
"No way! You made that whole thing up!" Libby said, flicking her long plait over her shoulder as she stretched against the mirror.
"I thought you'd say that!" Lucy smiled, taking a card out from her sock.
The others read it and then yelped in amazement.
"ELLIE!" The yell echoed around the stadium. Everyone turned to first look at Melissa standing with hands-on-hips at the top of the office stairs, and then at Ellie.
"Bloody hell. This bitch has got in for you!" Olivia spat, "I'll come with you and tell the Lesbot to piss off!"
Olivia started forward but Ellie put out a hand to stop her.
"It's all right. You'll only make things worse. I can handle things."
Ellie saw that Olivia was going to argue but Ellie gave her a stern look and she relented reluctantly.
"NOW, ELLIE!" the manager called down.
Ellie lumbered to the stairs and trudged her way to the top.
At top of the landing stood Melissa. Some people might have considered her very attractive given her shoulder-length curly brown hair and deep brown eyes. She wore a blue club shirt she had unbuttoned to reveal the curves of her full breasts. Melissa also wore a knee-length skirt with a slit that showed off long, toned legs gained from all the years she had spent as a Cheerleader herself.
But her beauty was tarnished with her perpetual nasty mood, scowl and aggressive manner though. She always seemed upset at someone. Then there were those rumours. The girls had heard them for years and had started to suspect the truth behind them themselves not long after.
The looks. The hungry, longing stares. The desire fuelled gazes Melissa had been caught making towards the girls in unguarded moments. When they were doing warmups or performances the girls had said they had seen her hiding on the sidelines leering at their asses, their legs, their panties. Olivia had even said that she had seen Melissa watching them all in the showers one afternoon with her hand down her panties, furiously playing with herself. Ellie had been dubious at first but then she caught her looking at her ass and legs one practice before hurriedly moving away. Then once again when she offered to help with stretches one night and 'she accidentally' placed a hand on Ellie's breast. Right now though, she just looked mean.
"Go in and sit down Ellie!" She growled. Ellie obeyed and stepped into the office and sat on the plastic chair, clutching at the side of the chair and crossing her legs defensively. Melissa shut the door and entered the room. She walked around behind Ellie and past her until she stood in front of her, arms crossed. Ellie looked up and saw Melissa glaring angrily down at her. She feared what was coming.
"I warned you, Ellie! Only last week! Now you've left me no choice. You are banned from attending Nationals." Melissa spat, her eyes wide with fury.
"Please no, Melissa." Ellie implored, rising from her chair to plead. "It was the bus. It was late again"
"Then why didn't you catch an earlier one or get a lift with your parents?!" Melissa stated, every word dripping with venom.
"I don't have parents" Ellie stammered, looking down.
"That's no excuse!" Melissa yelled, causing Ellie to pull back in fear, "You have let this squad down, you have let your team down and, most importantly, you have let yourself down. Now you can go down and explain to your friends you will not be going with them to Nationals! Go!"
