It was Tuesday. Unlike the day before, this time I woke up early in the morning. Although there were still two hours left until school began, I got ready as soon as I woke up, made sure I looked my best and headed downstairs for breakfast. Aurelia was already there, making sushi.

“Sushi for breakfast?” I cried with joy.

“Yeah, it’s your favorite, isn’t it?” my sister said. “I thought your school day might slightly get better if you have them.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet of you!” I said.

I guess she must’ve heard what happened yesterday from my parents. Then without another word, I jumped onto my chair and stuffed them in my mouth.

“You still have a lot of time left. Why are you in such a hurry?”

I was about to tell my sister what I planned to do in school but kept my mouth shut. The last thing I wanted to do was tell my plan to Aurelia and have my plan ruined by my parents. Of course, I knew they wouldn’t allow what I was trying to do.

After having my breakfast — just about when Theo was grumpily coming downstairs — I quickly put on my jacket and grabbed my backpack to rush outside.

“You’re already leaving for school?” Aurelia asked curiously.

I didn’t say anything in return though and simply waved my hand at her. I didn’t have enough time for that after all.

The cold winter breeze was blowing my hair as I walked down the path that led to my destination called The Ultimate. The store had everything you could name and the price was cheap. In the store, I quickly grabbed a bucket of orange paint and thought with excitement, ‘Get ready to turn into a carrot, Ashley!’

When I arrived at my school, I was glad to see that nobody else was there. I thankfully made it in time to get my plans ready. I quietly sneaked into the hallway to make sure I didn’t get caught by the school’s security cameras. Then I opened Ashley’s locker and quickly set up the orange paint that I’d just bought.

About thirty minutes before class, Ashley walked in with her minions: Maddie and Regina. Her hair was braided in pigtails. ‘What a great hairstyle to be covered in a bucket filled with orange paint!’ I thought. She’s going to look exactly like Anne of Green Gables; only better. I stood in the corner waiting for her to open up her locker with all the students having eyes on her but sadly that did not happen. Her books were all inside her backpack so all she had to do was to bring her bag into the classroom. I was devastated but I guess she will have to open her locker at some point.

Around break time I heard Ashley yell at her minions, “Where on earth did you two leave my lipstick?”

“How am I supposed to know?” came Regina’s voice. “Don’t you remember the last time you used it?”

“I’m pretty sure you left it in your locker yesterday,” offered Maddie.

“Well, if I don’t find it in my locker, no one knows what’s going to happen with you both,” Ashley said as if she was their boss.

I was thinking of how bossy Ashley was to Maddie and Regina when the word ‘locker’ echoed inside my head. That’s it! Ashley was going to open her locker to find that dumb lipstick! I can’t miss the show! So I ran down the hallway and because of all the fuss that Ashley had made, the hallway was crowded. Everybody is going to see Ashley a.k.a Anne of Green Gables! What happened next went like this. As Ashley opened her locker, orange paint spilled all over her, and at the same time, Mrs. Johnson stepped into the hallway with a cup of coffee in her hand.

“What the heck!” Ashley screamed.

The students all went silent. Their faces were shocked and I had to try so hard to keep my laugh to myself. However, what happened next made me freeze at my spot too. The paint was still dripping off from Ashley’s hair and as she was trying to shake them off, she bumped into Mrs. Johnson which made her fall on her butt and her coffee went flying all over the place. By the time Mrs. Johnson managed to stand back on her feet, her clothes were stained with coffee.

“Ms. Smith!” Mrs. Johnson cried. “What on earth have you done?”

“Oh, Mrs. Johnson,” said Ashley in a quivering voice. “If you ask me, some stains of coffee are totally fine. It can’t be as bad as having orange hair when you got a cheerleading schedule right after.”

Oh, right! I forgot she had a schedule as the cheerleading captain for today’s football match!

“Don’t you start babbling your mouth at me! Just because you’re the mayor’s daughter doesn’t mean you can just ruin my meeting’s outfit like that!”

Wait, Ashley was the mayor’s daughter? No wonder why everyone was so scared of her to speak the truth! How funny.

After the incident, everyone started whispering among themselves. Mrs. Johnson quickly scanned the room and rushed to her office. Ashley, on the other hand, was both frightened and embarrassed, so she ran to the bathroom. Although I was pleased with the outcome, I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. However, I reminded myself that she was the one who initiated the drama in the first place.

After a while, as I was walking towards the cafeteria, I heard someone call out my name.

“Hey, Diana!” came the voice. “Could you spare me a moment?”

I turned around to see who it was not to find out it was Layla.

“What do you want?” I replied coldly.

“Well…” she stuttered. “I know you are probably mad at me for what happened the other day but I still wanted to ask for your forgiveness. ”

“As if!” I yelled. “You are just pretending like you care when you don’t whether I forgive you or not.”

“It’s not what it seems like!” she pretested. “My dad works for Ashley’s dad for a living so if I do something that makes Ashley turn against me, we would have no choice but to end up on the street! You have no idea how cruel her dad can be. After all, he is a mayor.”

Upon hearing what Layla had said, my heart began to ache. I felt a deep sense of pain after listening to her words. It must be frustrating for her to be unable to defend herself and her loved ones just because Ashley is the mayor’s daughter. Life is surely unfair to have some people born into power without doing anything while others are not.

“Oh,” I started. “I had no idea you were going through such a thing! I mean how was I supposed to know? Anyways we can probably start over then?”

“I’d love to do so!” Layla beamed with joy.

After having our lunch meal as we walked into the classroom, there was an announcement from our cheerleading coach coming from the speaker saying, “Hello students, are you having a good morning so far? As you may have all known, early this morning, Ashley our cheerleading captain for today’s football match, came across an incident. Therefore, Isabella will take over the place for now and so we need another member to fill in the missing spot of our cheerleaders. If anyone is interested in joining, please visit my office as soon as possible.”

“You should definitely join!” Layla squealed.

“Me? I mean I would like to but I barely know anything about cheerleading.”

“That is why you join a team dummy! To learn how to do it!” she said.

“Will I be able to catch up with the team and make it till the start of the match today?”

“You are prettier than anyone else in the team and that’s all that matters for now,” she said confidently. “It is the coach’s job to decide the rest.”

Hearing her encouragement, I decided to give it a try. I ran to Mrs. Garcia’s office before anyone else could so that I wouldn’t miss my one and only chance. This might be an even better revenge for Ashley. If Isabella and I make a good effort, we might even be able to kick her off the team!

As soon as I entered Mrs. Garcia’s office, she greeted me saying, “Hello, I was worrying if anyone would want to join but it is surely a relief to see you coming!”

“I decided to give it a try Mrs. Garcia. I thought this might be a great chance to join the team.”

“You’re right! These kinds of chances don’t happen much and you’re surely lucky. I can see that you are new here. I’m sure I haven’t seen you around until now?”

“Yeah, you guessed it right,” I answered.

Mrs. Garcia proudly commented, “You’re pretty and your body is just the right body for cheerleading if you ask me. You will make progress in no time! I can guarantee you that.”

“I’ll try my best,” I said nervously.

“The match will take place at our school by 5 pm. You should be in the practice room right after your class ends. That way you get to practice for at least two hours. Unfortunately, that will be all you have for practice so make sure you concentrate,” she instructed.

“I’ll try my best,” I repeated like before.

“I just wonder how on earth did Ashley end up stained with orange paint!” she mumbled to herself.

I quickly tried to avoid the answer and headed to the door when she asked, “Do you know how it happened?”

“I have no idea as you are,” I lied. “I just saw her open up her locker and all of a sudden paint was over everywhere.”

“Someone must’ve left it in her locker then,” she said. “Kid these days does not know how to keep their madness to themselves at all.”

Before she could say anything else, I hurried down the hallway to the classroom. I didn’t want to be late for class either.

After class, I ran to the practice room to see everyone already changing into their outfit with pink bows tied to their hair. I did the same only to find out I didn’t even have make-up on! I was panicking at the thought of looking like an ugly duckling amongst everyone else when I felt someone tap my shoulder gently. I turned around and saw Isabella warmly smiling at me.

“Oh, hello!” I said sweetly.

“I’m Isabella, the cheerleading captain for today. You must be Diana!” she said.

“Yeah, I had no idea I would end up being on a cheerleading team but I’ll try my best to be a good teammate,” I assured her.

“I believe you would. You are awfully pretty!”

“Thanks but not as much as you guys when I don’t even have my make-up on,” I cried.

“Don’t worry!” she said. “I can help you with that!”

Then she quickly grabbed her make-up kit and put some make-up on my face. When she was done, she handed me her mirror and I had to admit her make-up skill was quite impressive! It turned out great compared to a short amount of time.

“Aww, thank you so much!” I said.

“You’re welcome. I love putting makeup on others’ faces. Maybe we can hang out sometime and share some make-up techniques,” she offered.

“That would be great!” I replied.

After the short conversation, we focused on practicing. I was truly grateful to be a part of the team but what happened next was absolutely shocking! When Mrs. Garcia saw my movements, she exclaimed, “Diana! I never knew you were this good! You should’ve considered joining our team sooner than this! I think you can be the cheerleading captain today and I mean it! Would you like to do so?”

I froze at the spot. What the heck? I’ve only been in this school for only two days and I’m already becoming the cheerleading captain?

“Do you want to accept the offer or not? Isabella is good enough to be one too of course,” she asked again.

I took a glance at Isabella. I don’t want to be a coward who loses a friend just to steal the cheerleading captain position. However, Isabella didn’t seem to mind about it at all! She nodded at me with a genuine smile of reassurance.

“If Isabella is chill with it I’ll be fine with everything,” I answered.

Mrs. Garcia turned around to look at Isabella and asked, “Would you like to give Diana a chance to be our cheerleading captain? This doesn’t mean she will always be one. You will have another chance to be one anytime.”

“I’m fine with it,” she said. “In fact, I think Diana will be an even better captain than I am already!”

“OMG!” I exclaimed. “Thank you, Isabella! You are the best friend a girl could have for sure!”

“You’re welcome. Everything will turn out great! Just make sure you follow the movements correctly and the rest will be covered by your looks,” she said with a wink.