Teresa was convinced that she was cursed. She watched the ambulance take Chloe away and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. Chloe was their MVC, most valuable cheerleader for those who didn't know, and, with her out of commission, they were in trouble. That means the pep rally had to be postponed, their routine had to be changed within a few days, and nationals would be further away from her grasp than before. FYI, that was not an option! She was so furious in that moment her head began to spin uncontrollably! Michelle and Yonnie tried to talk to her, but she just shook her head and stomped off to think. She would have to run tryouts earlier in the year than anticipated. First things first, though, she needed a plan for the upcoming pep rally and some ulterior motive for the new students to even want to consider joining the squad. They couldn't get another cheerleader ready by tomorrow to go over the routines for Friday. Unfortunately for her, that was out of the question so rescheduling was in order. Tryouts would have to take Friday's place instead.

"Yonnie!" Teresa called, earning a swift turn from the brunette. "Do they have any major TV events in the area?"

Yonnie checked her iPhone for events and spotted one. She cheerfully said, "There's a competition right after nationals for a benefit promo. A couple of rockstars are gonna be there!"

Teresa scoffed and questioned, "Pfft, rockstars? The thing that Vacious wants to be but is short of talent for?"

Michelle quirks an eyebrow then flips her curled hair with an indecent thought crossing her mind. Truth be told, Michelle had her eye on Vacious for a while after Teresa broke up with him, and she could see that Vacious clearly had talent as a musician. His voice was very unique with its gruff sound in rock and roll, smoothness in R & B, and a soulful variation in pitch and tone. He could go the distance with the right songs, right album, and maybe the right girl to be his muse. That's what Michelle wanted really. She wanted to be the muse, the groupie, the "it" girl so celebrities or even aspiring ones would come flocking to her and she could be more than just some cheerleader. Cheerleaders don't get paid much, but her choreography could get her some well-deserved attention.

Speaking of which, Michelle decided to speak first this time. She asked, "Is he still on about being rock royalty?"

"He never gave up on that dream even after we broke up," Teresa replied. "Neither has some of those talent scouts who keep their eyes out for him. I must have missed something major with him - "

"Ha! You popped the guy's cherry at the tender age of fourteen. What'd you miss?" Michelle asked, earning gasps and quick laughs from Teresa and Yonnie.

"Guys don't have cherries, Chellie!" Teresa remarked, pushing Michelle playfully. "Besides, if he really didn't want it like he says to some people, he would've stopped me before shredding clothes."

"Well, he is a hottie, and he was on the radio last week," Yonnie commented.

"Plus, he's not a virgin. Girls'll eat him up," Michelle remarked, making sure a good enough distance was between her and Teresa. "Just sayin'!"

Teresa chuckled and then said, "Did you hear the rumors about him crushin' on the cafeteria girl?"

Michelle gasped, hooked her arm into Teresa's and demanded, "Spill!"

"He's been stalking her since this morning," Teresa informed, walking to her pink Monte Carlo with a blue sheen glimmering in the sun. "His band buddy, Allen, saw him staring at her ass three times the whole day. And... he knows where her locker is. One of the dance team girls even caught him taking a picture of her schedule on his phone!"

The girls gasp at this new information as they hop into Teresa's car and begin to laugh a bit obnoxiously. That was something they could use to their advantage. Vacious had the right idea. Keep your enemies close and them up whenever they're the most vulnerable. Oh, this was going to be a fun first quarter for the year! While the cafeteria girl was not an ugly teen, she didn't really scream rock royalty or rockstar hottie or anything that a rockstar would be interested in unless they really loved food that she doesn't even cook. The fact that Vacious was even remotely interested in another cheerleader, which he has been adamant about avoiding since his fling with Teresa, was a huge shocker.

Michelle decided to question aloud, "Do you think Cafeteria Girl was really a cheerleader? Cuz if she was, she might tryout."

"Pfft! Puh-lease," Teresa started, revving up the car before pulling off. "That disgusting bug of a nerd is cracking down on the extracurric's more than ever now that school's started. If we keep her distracted from her studies, she'll be lucky to even walk through the gym doors."

"Let's keep an eye out for her," Yonnie suggested. "I hear she's cool with Lara, and she was pretty good before Marcy the Martyr Bitch ruined her. With her gone and two top girls ready to go, they could be your biggest enemies."

"As though!" Teresa scoffed, knowing full well Lara was too damaged to try to come back to cheerleading.

Nicki was finally off the bus and on her way home. Not to say she hated the bus because she did make some new acquaintances: Oscar, Ignacious, Nina, and Heoung. She just wanted to be home because of the day she's had, but she can't even say that much. People have had worse days. This was child's play. As she tried to cheer up, she noticed a smoothie cart a little ways away. The guy serving smoothies was especially cute. He had long, wavy, black hair that reached his shoulders, somewhere between green and brown eyes, and his skin was a perfect tan color like a Latino. While he didn't have a full-on beard, the guy did have facial hair cropped close to his face that wasn't necessarily thick or thin. It made him seem older than a teenager, but she could see the youth in his face saying otherwise. He had the best lips, too! Now, if she were a slut (and she's not), she would definitely take him home. When she was about to pass him up, he called out to her in a smooth, low voice.

"Que pasa, mama?" the smoothie guy asked, making Nicki turn to him. "What's wrong?"

She looked around to see if someone else was behind her, knowing no one was but wanting to see anyway just in case, and then looked at the guy. She pointed to herself and said, "Me?"

Smoothie guy chuckled and replied, "Yes, you."

"Oh, uh, nothing. Just a bad day..." Nicki responded, looking down at the ground. She looked up to see the man raising an eyebrow and then corrected herself, "For me!"

Smoothie guy hummed and then began scooping blue ice cream in a small bowl silently. He decorated the dessert with a dash of cotton candy pieces and put a cute pink spoon in it. Nicki wanted to ask him out to dinner at that point. She much like her best friends Eda and Farah loved a man who could cook or do anything related to culinary art. Shaking her head slowly to avoid any lustful thinking, Nicki just watched him...and his arms moving. She does have a bit of an arm fetish.

The man was finally done and said softly, "Here you go. Try to cheer up, mama. A bad day is just a test to get you to your better days."

Oh my god, he's so hot! Nicki screamed in her head. What I gotta do to get YOUR number? I need you in my life.

"Thank you," Nicki said, ignoring her thoughts. If she would've said them, Smoothie guy would've freaked out and left. She ran her lips over the spoon to let the ice cream melt on her tongue on its own and moaned a little bit when the sweet treat sunk into her taste buds. When she swallowed, she complimented in her typical fashion, "Damn, that's good! Oops, my bad. How much for it?"

The boy laughed, flashing his perfect square teeth, and said, "Free sample. You try to cheer up, though. You're too pretty of a girl to be angry like that."

I want him... Nicki thought. Lord, thank you for bringing him in my life. I'm sorry I'm cuttin' up right now, but you know I want him...

Nicki ignored her thoughts again and cooed, "Thank you. I'll buy one for myself tomorrow if you're still around. Unless you givin' out mo' samples."

"Tomorrow's perfect," Smoothie guy replied, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear and showing off his arms. "I come around this area two days a week then the skate park another two days. After that, I go wherever I want to go. If you come around while I'm in the area, I'll let you try out something new."

"Alright, I'ma hold you to that," Nicki said, pointing to the man and then skipping away from him.

Well, her day just got a bit better. Another three blocks to enjoy her fantastic sample of ice cream and she'll be home free. Smoothie Guy was right, though. She should cheer up. Her first day wasn't exactly ideal, but it could have been much worse. The quality of boys in her life changed drastically within a few days. She went from Daryl, one of her school's top football players, to Vacious, the rockstar wannabe guy, and now Smoothie Guy. She was hoping to see him way more often than the previous two. His ice cream was so good! Of course, she had to focus on her studies more because her new school had much higher standards than her old one, but she felt she would be okay. If Smoothie Guy and her new bus mates turned out to be nice people, she could look forward to every day. As she was approaching a public trashcan in front of someone's house, she accidentally bumped into a familiar face: Lara Ubersax.

Lara was especially surprised at seeing Nicole again. Her face brightened up a bit when she said, "Hey!"

"Hey," Nicki said with a bounce in her step. "You're Lara, right?"

"Uh oh, you're starting to remember me more now," Lara chanted in a sing-song voice.

"Ha ha," Nicki joked, closing her eyes gently in a teasing sort of laugh. "Whatchu doin' in this part of the neighborhood? You live here?"

"Actually, I live about two blocks from here," Lara replied, pointing behind Nicki to give her an idea of where she lived. "I had to get away from my brother and his crap friends. One of 'em likes me or something. I don't friggin know anymore."

Nicki hummed in understanding and then probed, "But you ain't hearin' it, huh?"

"Hell no," Lara responded, rolling her eyes and dismissing the notion like a bad habit. "So what are you doing in these parts?"

"Walkin' home mad like I don't have cheap shoes that could snap at the toe if I step the wrong way," Nicki responded, unfazed by the question. Lara chuckled a bit, happy that Nicki wasn't so judgmental, and nodded in response. Nicki then continued after she chuckled at her own response and nodded to the Smoothie Guy to say, "That was before I met the Latino back there."

"Oh..." Lara dragged, smiling. She was kind of happy to be able to talk about crushes with Nicki even though they barely knew each other. The Smoothie Guy was really, really gorgeous though! Which meant Nicki had extremely good tastes in men, but Lara could see clearly why anyone would be attracted to the Smoothie Guy. She even justified Nicki's opinion by saying, "He is pretty hot. Which makes me wonder why I've never seen him before."

Nicki turns to Lara for a second then back to the Smoothie Guy as he makes a smoothie for a customer and says, "Girl, I know you lyin'. You ain' never seent him?"

"Not once," Lara responded before hearing someone call her in the distance. She turned to see Allen and Vacious coming towards her and said quickly, "Mind if I walk with you? I was going back to get over myself and just be harassed, but I really don't want to. I will walk to Vegas at this point."

Nicki looked to where Lara had just turned and immediately saw the problem. She was in no mood to deal with Vacious right then, especially after she had been ogling at the Smoothie Guy and trying to figure out when she could try to find him tomorrow to buy his ice cream, but she wasn't sure whether she could just trust Lara around her family either. While her parents could fight, she didn't want them to be involved in any mess right now. As she evaluated her options, she decided to just let Lara hang around her for a little while. Her mom texted her on the bus saying she bought new plants for her to mess with, so she would see if Lara was even remotely interested in some daisies.

Nicki tugged on Lara's arm, signaling to walk faster, and took off her shoes before asking, "Do they have a lot of glass or sharp stuff on the ground on this street?"

"Nope," Lara replied, preparing to run.

"Word," Nicki said before taking off with Lara close behind her.

They ran down all three blocks to her house to avoid Vacious and Allen without stopping and pretty much laughed the whole way there. Nicki felt much better about her day, knowing that somewhere someone didn't like Vacious much either. He was cute but a complete dick. When the girls made it to Nicki's house, they panted their troubles away and giggled a bit. Nicki saw the flowers her mother bought in the front and was giddy to see her new gardening gloves and hat and shoes. Her grandmother even left her some cookies and juice on the front patio. Lara looked up from the boring view of her knees and was impressed by the sizable house Nicki was living in. Her parents were working late nights, so she had to make her own snacks. It must've been nice having someone there to do that for you. When a cookie interrupted her thoughts, she looked up to see Nicki opening the front door and silently inviting Lara inside.

Lara was really surprised by Nicki at this point and then asked, "You don't mind me coming in? I mean... we just met."

"We have classes together, see each other at lunch, and we don't want to be around the same guy. Plus, we practically live around each other," Nicki replied. "Do you do drugs?"

"No," Lara said, shaking her head.

"Any STDs?"

"No."

"Convicted any felonies?"

"No."

"Then get in here before I change my mind."

Eda and Farah were checking in to a study room at the public library to charge phones and laptops while taking out their notebooks for each class. It was a good thing there was a soundproof sitting area in it. That way they could talk at a normal level without disturbing anyone. Once Eda plugged in her iPhone to charge in the wall outlet and Farah plugged in her pink Lenovo laptop in the same outlet, the girls began reading through their notes for the day to keep up with their classes and maintain their 2.0 average to stay on the squad. Since a plan is already in motion to get through regionals, they couldn't afford to make anything lower than a C on anything if they wanted to control Unique and see Nicki again. Tonight was their first Skype chat, too? No way will there be any screw-ups unless Nicki still doesn't have her internet ready. Speaking of which, Farah unlocked her cellphone and sent Nicki a text message to check to see if they could talk to her on Skype.

Nicki, u there?

FARAH! :-D I miss ya'll so much! Yes, I'm here. Wassup?

:'-( We miss u 2. U got the internet hooked up yet?

No, mama said we gotta wait 'til Friday. We have to change addresses and all that other bullshit before we can really settle down. I wanna cry... :'-(

Nooo, don't cry! If you cry I'm gon cry! :'-(

I know. How was ya'll 1st day back as JUNIORS!? :-D

Girl... Unique made captain unopposed, you hear me? We tried to tell her to use your idea for the supply bags and she flipped the - yeah! She flipped out. It wasn't like she was screamin' at us or nothin', but she was not happy AT ALL.

Girl, I know you lyin'. She really did that to you?

Yasss, girl, yasss! =( I was too drove with her. Me and Eda was done the whole day. Lemme move on 4 I pull a muscle in my face or somethin'. :-D How ur new school? Any cute boys?

My day was HORRIFIC, girl! You hear me! Ohh girl! =( It was bad. But I did find me a hottie after school.

"Gir - Eda, come see this!" Farah said with excitement. "Nicki found her a new man!"

"Girl, what?" Eda questioned, running over to the phone to see the text message. "Ooo! Ask if she got a picture of him."

You got a picture of him? How hot was he?

No, I didn't get a picture of him, but I might catch him tomorrow. I'll get one then. Girl... he was GORGEOUS! He was a 14 on a scale of 1 to 10! I was walkin' home, right? Not payin' attention to nothin' and he called me out. Girl, I turnt around and saw this beautiful Latino lookin' dead at me with dem perfect brown-green eyes, thick lips and WHOO! This girl I met at school, Lara, was walkin' 'round my neighborhood too. And she said she ain't never seent him 'til today. Coincidence?

Who Lara? Got a picture of her?

Five minutes after Farah sent the last text, Nicki sent her a picture of Lara. She and Eda took a look at her and found her punk style kind of cool. For a white girl, she was very pretty too, but they believed all women were beautiful. The girl had a nice smile and her makeup was on point.

Oh, she cute! Ask her if she post makeup tutorials on YouTube. Her eyeshadow look killah. We could use dem colorz for the Suns' pep rally.

She said she can post one tonight. She don't have work 'til Saturday. I just told her 'bout dem colorz for the squad. Ya'll would look cute with the way she have it, but everybody eyes is different. You would have to change up the styles.

You ain't lyin'. Remember when Jody wore that green and orange to the parade?

Girl, what was she thinkin'? Then she put some kind of purple or gray in it, too. That's my friend, though. She was just happy she made that B in Algebra II so she could march with us. I'd be usin' all the colors of the rainbow, too. I ain't gon lie to ya. ;-D Oh, Lara said she used to be a cheerleader, too. I'm meetin' all kinds of people out chere today. They got some cool people on my bus I'mma be rollin' with 'til senior year look like. One of the girls was a cheerleader, too.

You must've been cuttin' up on the inside. All dem cheerleaders and you so far from the squad. I'd of lost my mind.

I did. ;-( I was so hurt after I left. I couldn't even hang my pictures up without cryin'.

Eda said she cried after ur plane took off. I did, too. ;-( But on the bright side, it look like it won't be so bad. U met some cute boys, they got cheerleaders out there u might could just practice with, and we can always talk if u feelin' down.

Thank ya'll. I did see this other boy in my class who was cute, though. He wore black like Lara. I think he a musician. If he wasn't a dick, I'd probably would've tried to get his number first. But that Latino, though. He sell smoothies, ice cream, and some other stuff. I wanna get his number so bad. Ain't that sad?

The hell it ain't, girl! Take that picture of his fine self and send it to me. We gon see what you workin' with. We might fool around and go to Jared's to put a ring on him right fast! :-D Shiii... He a dime plus change, too? I'mma break up with Daryl for you, boo. Eda said Unique been tryin' to get wit him since you been gone.

Now that is just too nasty and sad. She couldn't even wait 'til we broke up or nothin'?

Eda said u gon be alright. Soon as we see this Latino lover tomorrow, we gon see who get the last laugh. She don't know. You might be hookin' up with the next Cake Boss or somethin'. Matter fact, he ain' even gotta be a Cake Boss. He could just be five-star master chef. Any man that could cook... GIRL! That is our dream man. You know we be greedy! :-D I wan' see what he look like now! Tomorrow ain't comin' fast enough!

Girl, stop playin'! I gotta go find my BEST makeup for him TONIGHT. And get my hair together? Ya'll jus' don' know. I'mma work for dis number! ;-D I'm so pathetic right now. I didn't even break up with Daryl yet, and I'm steady tryin' to get somebody else number. :'-(

I'm surprised ya'll made it this far. Cuz all he really care about is sex. We heard him talkin' to his boys about chu.

I was gon break up with him before we went to camp, but we was rushin' to pack up and catch that plane and it's been hustle hustle hustle since. I didn't even have time to tell him when we got back because we was movin' the next day. Still can't cuz now I gotta catch up on assignments for these next 2 weeks. I'm behind like 4 lessons in 1 class by itself! The rest is either 2 or 3 lessons.

Right as Eda was about to text Nicki to be a part of the conversation, she caught sight of Daryl walking up to the back of the library near the windows overlooking the after school traffic in the streets. That was a problem. Daryl never went to the library even when Nicki was studying there. The only time he came inside of the library was when Nicki begged him to help her carry some books and her laptop out to Farah's mom's car. No way he misses Nicki that much. Wouldn't you know Eda was right. Daryl was here for something else: to meet with Unique who was dressed in short shorts and a tight spandex shirt to make her boobs look as full as they could possibly be. Now, Unique had a body for a sixteen-year-old and was pretty freaking fabulous, but she was next in line to never coming to a public library. The only reason she ever came to one was because Jody was getting math tutoring from either Nicki or her crush, Tim, and even then Unique just read magazines the entire time and copied Nicki's homework whenever Nicki was too distracted with questions. Eda tapped Farah on her shoulder, getting the girl's attention, and pointed to Jody sitting at a table with Daryl.

Don't worry 'bout breakin' up with Daryl. Ya'll over.

With that, Farah and Eda looked at the new couple with an attitude that defied all conventional reasoning.

Oscar was early for the first day of school; he always was. Since his father was a computer technician and his mother was a teacher at his little brother's elementary school, the entire family left early in the morning. Oscar wanted to be like other kids. They got to come to school way later, but the advantage for him being early was he always got first dibs on the school's breakfast program at a discounted price. That and there was hardly ever a line. Besides him, his first friend and fellow freak, Ignacious, joined him for breakfast, too. As Oscar walked into his only sanctuary at the school, he waved to Beatrice who smiled kindly at him and walked towards the serving area. Beatrice liked Oscar the most out of all the kids in NG High; he was her only favorite student. Since she thought of him as special, she decided to introduce him to Nicki today just to cheer him up. She cheered everyone else up.

"My favorite boy," Beatrice started. "Hello, Oscar. How's your brother? Am I seein' him in a few years or does he have a little longer to go?"

"Uh, he's - " Oscar said, laughing nervously. His brother was only ten. He said, "got a few years to go. Well, you know, unless he skips a few grades."

"He's a smart boy just like his brother. He'll be ready for the world if you keep him in the right direction. I'll be waitin' for 'im 'til then," the woman said, turning to the register. "Bess, where's new girl? Let her get my boy this mornin'."

"Alright," Bess said. She was the big-hipped woman. She turned her head and called, "Nicole!"

"Still cleanin' the trash cans!" Nicki responded.

"Stop and wash ya hands. You got your first customer!"

"Okay!" Nicki said, not wasting time at all. She ran to the sink, washed her hands and dried them, and ran to the front.

Oscar was flabbergasted. The "new girl" was...hot. She had a big, pleasant smile, cute face, and was tiny compared to him even though she was clearly about 5'6" or 5'7". Tall girls were okay since he liked long legs, but he was practically dumbfounded in front of the girl called Nicole. For whatever reason, though, he couldn't help feel like he had seen her recently. He recognized her face, but he couldn't put his finger on where he might have seen her face. She was adorable! He suddenly found himself unable to speak and turned to a smirking Beatrice and smiling Bess who was cooing about how cute it was for him to lose his tongue all of a sudden.

"Hi, how are you today?" Nicki asked, smiling brightly and bouncing a little. "What can I get ya?"

"Bess, whaddaya think about the greeting?" Beatrice questioned.

Bess hummed then said, "Too much bouncing, but definitely an 8 out of 10."

"Oscar's usual are the cheesecake pancakes with a blueberry parfait. He likes," Beatrice paused and gestured something grand and with a theatrical voice said, "dramatic dishes with a French flair."

"Ah, he's a romantic," Nicole commented, making a teasing sort of pout.

Oscar felt his face about to explode, which wouldn't be good because there'd be zit juice flying everywhere, but he decided not to go down the road of imagining that. Instead, he just kept smiling like a dork and decided to say, "I like Rome."

Nicki laughed at him, but it wasn't a "dude, you're weird" laugh. It was more of a "you're so cute" laugh, the kind of laughter that he missed hearing from a girl. As Nicki turned to get Oscar's food ready, one of his friend's within the outcast community decided to make his presence known. It was Ignacious, the plump-faced jester of krunk. He was wearing a lot of red today.

"Hello, Nivaldo Gill! Give it up for the lunch ladies! Whoo!"

"It's too damn early in the mornin' fo' this foolishness. Hush up!" one of the male cafeteria workers shouted.

"Sorry, Nivaldo Gill!" Ignacious shouted, swirling his hips around. He stopped and said, "I'm done now. Hey, Oscar, whatcha gettin' this time?"

"Meh, pancakes and a parfait," Oscar said doing jazz hands. He leaned in to his friend's ear and whispered, "There's a hot girl here."

Ignacious immediately shoved Oscar aside and said, "You don't say. Where is this so-called hot girl?"

"Dark and lovely is serving your buddy his breakfast right now," Bess replied, rolling her eyes at Ignacious.

"Ta da!" Nicki cheered, handing Oscar his tray.

"Oh, hey! You're Nicki, right?" Ignacious questioned, surprising Oscar and Beatrice. "I think I saw you on the bus this morning. Were you in the back?"

"You know her?" Oscar shouted more than questioned.

"Dude, we met her yesterday," Ignacious reminded Oscar.