Page 79 of Raise 'Em Up

CHAPTER TWENTY

“Idon't feel so good,” Serenity mumbles, and I glance at her. She's watching The Scorpion's routine, and yeah, she does look a little pale. Damn, I hope she doesn’t puke, because it’ll create a chain reaction.

“We’ve got this. We have been practicing non-stop,” I remind her and she nods, taking a deep breath.

Rylee is bouncing up and down, as if she's about to enter a fight. “What about you, killer?” I joke. Looking at me over her shoulder, you can see the excitement shining in her eyes.

“I have always wanted to do this. Growing up, I watched all the Bring It On movies, and so this is just a dream come true.”

Len moves closer to us, waving the tub of vaseline around. I scowl and he laughs. “Teo, you know the drill. Don’t make Colt restrain you again.”

“Why do you have that?” Ry asks and Ren laughs.

“Vaseline on our teeth makes us smile. It’s totally gross, but effective.” Rylee nods, and like the badass chick she is, walks over to Lennox and gives him a super wide smile. He rubs some of that whale fat on her teeth and I cringe.

Talk about wanting to vomit. “Fuck, just get it over with,” I grumble, gagging when he’s done. That shit is so nasty.

“Remember, we go on third. Let’s have high energy, and a little flirting doesn’t hurt,” Colt says, holding his tablet so he can watch our last practice.

“Are you ready for this?” I ask the team as we all get into a circle, holding hands.

“Um, should we pray or something?” Felicia asks, and Ursula scoffs.

“No time,” Len mutters. “We’re up next. Black Widows on three. One. Two. Three.”

“Black Widows,” we all cheer at the same time.

I pull Ry in for a quick good luck kiss, then Len. He smiles and winks before taking off.

Moving onto the mats, we wave to the crowd and I try not to scowl. Facial presentation is a big part of our routine.

Judges dock points for everything.

Lennox stands next to me and I extend my left leg at the knee as he does the opposite with his right.

Rylee moves between us and places a hand on each of our shoulders. We wait for the music to begin, then she jumps and stands on our thighs as we hold her ankles tight.

Re-doing this routine without Missi wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be, and Ry has been a champ with the late night practices.

Felicia moves behind Rylee when we toss her into the air, jumping up into position, and we catch her in a cradle, at the same time Colt and Donny catch Ursula.

Yes, we nailed the first part. I can't remove my focus from Rylee, and the dance moves we are all doing in synchronization, but I notice that Donny is lagging.

Shit. I hope we make it through this.

Rylee sashays in front of Len and I, as her and Ren do toe touches before landing and going right into a back handspring double hit.

I continue to move to the beat until I'm at the side of the mat, waiting for my cue.

We have a few more tosses with Rylee still, but right now, Colt and I need to do some tumbles.

My ankle aches when I land, but I ignore the pain. I'll just ice it later.

I could re-murder my uncle for putting me back in the fighting ring so close to our competition, but at least he's gone now.

We nail the rest of our routine, and when the music stops, the crowd goes wild. Rylee and Ren hug each other tight, and Len lifts up Colton.

“Thank you, Solidarity Academy Black Widows. Great job!” the announcer says, running out onto the mat with her microphone. The cameras zoom in on our faces, and I wave to my mom and Nando.

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