The band began playing the fight song, which was their entrance cue. Helena led the way with Lizzie at the back. Time moved in slow motion as she ran through the gymnasium doors and onto the basketball court, the bleachers filled with kids focused on her. Even Samantha had wedged herself onto a bench, light reflecting off her glasses to momentarily blind Lizzie. She stumbled, but quickly regained her footing and took her place in the back row as they went through the first cheer.
Once the cheer began, Lizzie's mind flew back to all the practice they'd undergone with Coach Schulman before and after school. The moves came to her as naturally as breathing air and before long she forgot about the kids watching her on the bleachers, even Joseph Pryde sitting up top with his friends. She focused instead on the routines, her eyes fixed on a 'Go Beavers!' sign above the bleachers.
Lizzie performed each routine flawlessly to the roaring approval of the crowd. She let her gaze wander a moment to find Joseph Pryde looking back at her. She couldn't be sure at this distance, but she was sure he winked. He's going to ask me out! she thought and almost tripped over her own feet. She couldn't think about this now. She couldn't think about his muscular arm falling across her shoulder in the back of the movie theater, his face pressing close to hers-
"Snap out of it," Molly hissed next to her. Lizzie hoped no one had noticed her slip-up. She finished the cheer without incident and then it was time for the pyramid. The other girls formed the bottom two layers and then waited for her to complete the pyramid.
She trotted forward to jump onto the outstretched hands of Annie and Coach Schulman. For a moment she stood on their interlocking hands, waving to the entire crowd, although her eyes focused only on Joseph Pryde. Then Annie and Coach Schulman tossed Lizzie into the air. She tucked her body into a ball as she had in gymnastics, arcing towards where Molly and Helena waited for her. At the last moment she stuck out her arms and legs to land right on top of Molly and Helena.
They held the position for three seconds, Lizzie absorbing the crowd's applause. Then she heard Molly and Helena groan. The pyramid started to wobble as though a strong wind had blown through the gymnasium. Lizzie started to ask what was wrong until she saw her hands.
Her slim, beautiful hands had become pudgy mitts with ten sausage links for fingers. They continued growing chubbier as she watched in horror. What's happening to me? she thought an instant before the pyramid toppled.