It was finally time for the match to start. We had to start off competing against the other cheer squad. I took a deep breath and stepped inside the field to stand in my position. We performed our movements followed by the music and the crowds all cheered for us and it felt fantastic. I’ve never performed anything big in front of such people until now and I loved it. I was noticed. All the attention you wished for was finally on you. The spotlight you looked up to all your life seemed to be shining on you. After we performed all of our routines, it was the other team’s cheer squad to perform their own.

After their performance, the football game started and the spectators all cheered for the team. In the first halftime, our school’s team captain Conrad scored a goal! That made the score 1-0 and so we were winning! After the first halftime, the cheerleading squad had to enter the field and perform our prepared routines again. I am pretty sure we did better than them! However, when the second halftime started, it all changed. The player from the other team dribbled the ball all the way to our side of the field and scored a goal — I have to admit that the goal was sensational — but this shouldn’t be going like this! Although it was disappointing to have the opponent score a goal, we kept cheering for our team because it wasn’t too late to win. It was still a tie after all. We still had hope. However, everything went downwards when the opponent scored another goal! That made the score 1-2 and seeing that there were only 9 minutes left before the match ended, I guessed that our team would lose. When we all lost hope, our team’s vice-captain Bryan scored a goal! That was a tie! The spectators all joined back cheering for our team’s victory and it turns out our wish came true! Bryan scored another goal which made it 3-2 and before the other team could do anything else to get the chance to change anything, the game ended! We won! After the game ended, the referee hung the golden medal on each of the players’ necks and I could almost feel their happiness, my own. However, I shouldn’t be too excited yet because we had another cheerleading competition coming up in a few minutes. If we don’t win this, the win would be completely meaningless — well not completely meaningless of course — it would be something like missing the sprinkles on the top of your ice cream scoop.

As we stepped into the field once again, I heard Bryan call out, “Let’s go, Diana! You’ve got this.”

I felt myself blush and I could also tell all eyes were on me now. I couldn’t hide the embarrassment and ended up just giving a little smile of nervousness to Bryan. He smiled back and cheered again, “We can win this!”

I tried my best to perform my best movements and I swear I tried the best I could. As we waited for the result, Bryan sat next to me and passed me a drink.

“Thanks,” I said.

We sat like that for a few more minutes until he broke the silence by saying, “You did a great job, Diana. I’m sure we can manage to win this competition. You had the best movements I ever saw after all.”

“I hope so,” I said quietly.

Bryan patted my back and said, “Even if we don’t win this, you guys did your best. That’s all that truly matters.”

I smiled once again. I was about to melt away by his sweet words. I shifted in my seat waiting for the announcement and finally, one of the judges of the competition announced, “As you all already know, all of the girls here have tried their best to prepare for this competition so I think they deserve a round of applause before I announce the winning side.”

The spectators from both teams gave a loud round of applause and some of them also cheered. Bryan held my hand tightly while we waited for the noise to die away to hear the winner.

The judge continued, “We have decided that the winning cheer squad for today was from the Western Middle School!”

I froze in the spot, trying to recap everything that I just heard and it took me a while to realize that the Western Middle School she was talking about was our school! We all ran into the field and as the captain of our squad, I got to hold up the trophy as our school’s cheerleaders’ representative. It was such an honor.

After the long and tiring day as I was heading towards home, Bryan tagged along and said, “I’m heading the same way. Do you mind if I join?”

“Of course, not,” I answered.

We talked until we arrived in front of my house. “Thanks for walking me all the way home. I appreciate it and it was also quite fun to talk to you,” I thanked.

“You’re welcome and I very much enjoyed it too! Would you like to hang out with me some other time again?”

“Oh sure, I would love to!”

As I walked to my front door, he waved at me and I waved back. Filled with excitement, I ran to my room and instead of cookies, I filled my stomach with butterflies. My life was turning out great!