Alondra Cisneros, a Crenshaw cheerleader, soccer player, and close friend of Spencer James, catches the eye of a Beverly High Eagle.
published: jun. 17, 2020
completed:
Being the supportive friends they were, Coop and Spencer always went to the cheer competitions when they were in-state. As for the out-of-state competitions, they watched a live stream of it to cheer on Alondra and Serenity. Though the four all made sure that the link was sent to Teresa, Marcos and Antonio, Alondra's cheer coach, Ms. C, was filming so the parents could have close ups. Besides, this was Beverly's first time in years at a national competition, so everyone wanted some sort of memory in case that was the case again. Ever since the state championships, Teresa, Antonio and Marcos have been watching the live streams and receiving videos from Alondra, Coop and Spencer. Coop and Spencer handled the state performances, but Alondra sent the videos her coach had put together.
The National High School Cheer competition was held in Florida, so the team met at the airport at 3am on Friday, everyone practically sleep walking. The competition wasn't until Saturday morning, so why they were leaving so early was a mystery. The plane didn't leave until 6am, so everyone was either napping or eating.
Armando was the one to drop Alondra off at the airport, Ruben and Lily having said their goodbyes the night before, and he stayed for about an hour making sure everything was handled before actually leaving. Taking advantage of the fact that he stuck around, Alondra made him buy her breakfast and snacks for the plane before he left. She even managed to get him to give her a few hundred dollars for extra food and souvenirs. "Text me when you guys get on the plane and when you land in Florida." Armando said sternly, his hands on Alondra's shoulders for extra emphasis.
Alondra stuck her neck out and widened her eyes, trying to imitate her father, but for a second, Armando was having flashbacks to when she did the same thing as a baby. "I'll text you from the grave when our plane cra—"
"No digas eso, mija!" Armando whisper-yelled, putting a hand over her mouth before she could continue and jinx it. "You'll be safe, te prometo."
"How do you know? Are you the pilot now?"
"Siempre con los chistes, I'm serious, Alo. You'll be okay. I put one of those fancy neck pillows in your backpack so you won't hurt your neck if you take a nap, and now you have snacks."
Alondra nodded her head, subconsciously swaying so her backpack would gently swing around behind her. With another nod from Armando, he pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back before kissing her forehead. As he was walking away, Alondra was waving from the seating area with the rest of the cheer team, most of who were sleeping.
"How are you so awake right now?" Someone grumbled from beside Alondra once she sat down, her eyes still shut with her head back against a sweater.
"I used to have early soccer tournaments and my brothers worked morning shifts." Alondra shrugged. When she didn't get an answer, she turned to see that the girl beside her actually fell asleep with her head falling to the side and her mouth slightly open. "You're gonna wake up with neck cramps." She whispered, watching to see if there would be a reaction, but when there wasn't even a twitch, she squinted her eyes in suspicion before putting in her AirPods and looking for a movie on Netflix.
× × ×
Because of the airport breakfast, snacks, and fear of getting robbed while she was asleep in the waiting area, Alondra didn't go back to sleep. Once her movie ended, she was spamming her group chats with texts and snapchats to see if anyone else was awake at the ungodly hour. Thankfully, her mom and brothers were awake, so until about halfway through the plane ride, she was messaging the three until they told her to go to sleep so she could experience Florida for the first time. And when Spencer, Coop and Shawn woke up, they went through about 60 snaps of Alondra, from her face taking up the entire screen, to showing the view from her window seat, to her phone in the air with her face at the bottom and the rest of the airport behind her. They were practically experiencing the whole trip with her.
After dropping everything off at the hotel rooms and giving everyone time to get ready, Ms. C took the whole team out for lunch before letting them roam around DisneyWorld in big groups. Similar to the airport and plane ride, she was taking pictures of everything, especially how big the food was, to show everyone once she was back at the hotel.
"Do these ears make my head look big? I can't decide." Alondra asked. On her head, she had the Concha Mickey ears with the colorful sequined bow and in her hand, she was holding the basic pink sequined ears.
The girl she turned to ask squinted her eyes in concentration before shaking her head. "Your head looks normal sized. What is that? A frosted cookie?"
"No, these are Mexican Conchas, Tiffany." Alondra stated, turning back around to put the sequined ears on the shelf. "Is there a Little Mermaid section?"
For about an hour, the two walked around the gift shop and left with the rest of their group with a few bags in hand. Around 6pm, Alondra's group went to get dinner so they would finish in time to get a good spot for the fireworks. Alondra was on her fifth churro of the day as she stood with the rest of her group and a crowd of random people on Main Street, right in front of the castle. Out of excitement, Alondra had a group FaceTime call going with her mom and brothers on one phone, and Spencer, Serenity and Coop on another call.
"Mija, hay conchas en tu pelo."
"Ama, these are Mickey Mouse ears. I got you guys some too, look." Alondra flipped her camera and put her phone in one of her bags, trying to show her friends and family the souvenirs she bought. Since there wasn't much light, they could only see the Little Mermaid ears, and the top of the Stitch stuffed animal since they were at the top of the bag. "Oh, mira! Los fireworks están empezando."
Everyone on the call went quiet, watching everything that Alondra was showing them. Since the area was quiet, everyone on the call was able to hear the music playing, and since Armando keeps buying his kids the newest iPhones, they were able to see the fireworks in HD.
"Wow, that is a lot of air pollution."
apparently nationals for high school cheer is in february????? anyways we're pretending bc i have no idea how regionals work and i thought it'd be easier for beverly to compete against other states🙄
BESTIES WE'RE SO CLOSE TO THE END OF THIS STORY😩
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