“Right now, I want to see the perfect pike movements ladies. No excuses.”Mia had no idea what on earth a pike was, so she tried to watch what the others were doing before even attempting to try the move. Of course, Savannah noticed.“What’s the matter, Mia?” She jeered. “Don’t know what a pike is?”Mia did her best to not to look too angry. “No, Savannah. I don’t.”Savannah strode over to her, a sneer plastered over her face. “Maybe it’s best you wear the mascot suit for this practice so you can watch the other girls. The suit is right over there.”Mia followed her finger to the crumple of faux fur that was the team’s Red Panda outfit. She wanted to argue, but part of her also kind of preferred this option. Sure, being mascot was the lowest of the low, but at least she didn’t have to attempt any kind of fancy moves she didn’t know.“N

It appeared that Mia was going to spend another weekend holed up in her room. As they drove back to the house, Mia wanted nothing more than to hide away from her mom.As they pulled up outside the house, Mia noticed that Ryan’s car was there. She felt a strange mix of emotion. Excited and afraid at the same time. It didn’t make sense.As they got out of the car, Ryan and Savannah were walking out.“Hey kids!” Carla called. “Where are you off to?”Savannah could barely hide her degermation. “We’re going to a friend’s house. Dad knows.”“Sounds great…” Carla gave a sideways look to her daughter, but even she knew not to push it right now with the argument they’d just had.Mia was planning on walking straight into the house when Ryan spoke up.“Do you want to come Mia? Now you’re part of the squad.”Savannah coughed. “Well&

As soon as Tyler pulled out from the dirt track onto the main road, Mia wondered if she should have really gone along with this after all. She barely knew Tyler. And what she did know of him wasn’t exactly great. She was beginning to sober up too.“You’re pretty feisty really, aren’t you?”The sound of his voice made her jump.“Right yeah…well. I don’t like bullies.”Tyler nodded. “That’s fair. I’m sorry we didn’t exactly get off to a good start…ya know…with the creek and all.”Mia let out a cool laugh. “Yeah. I’d say that was pretty much the worst start possible.”“I was looking out for Ryan. And you did seem weird to be fair. But now I just see…you’re different.”He shot her a sideways glance, and she tried to pretend she hadn’t noticed.“Sure. What’s done is done.&rdq

For the next week, Mia followed Bob’s instructions to keep out of the way. Not because she wanted to listen to him, but because she didn’t want anything to do with him anyway. Or any of the rest of them.Things had quietened down at school too. Annie and Trish were still trying to get Mia involved in the cheerleading team, but she wasn’t sure how Savannah was ever going to let her on after the beer pouring incident. Ryan was also keeping away from her. She didn’t know how she felt about that. Sometimes she would see him walking in the corridor and brace herself for an insult. But he wouldn’t say a thing. He’d walk by her as if she was no one. She tried to ignore the feeling of rejection that seemed to be winding up within her.Before she knew it, she was back at the hardware store for her Saturday shift. She hoped beyond reason that this Saturday wouldn’t be quite as dramatic as the last, and thankfully she was right. That was

“So, what have you been doing for the past week then?” Brook had her arms folded across her chest, and looked as if her eyeballs were about to laser into Mia’s skin.“It was a bad week alright? But I think I might have some help to get back in now.”Brook raised her eyebrow. “Is that so? Who’s helping you then?”“Ryan. Ryan Lee.”Brook scoffed, Ryan Lee? Was she crazy? “Okay. If you think you can make that work, then fine. But I want this piece ready before Christmas.”“Yeah okay. It’ll happen.”Brook exited the room and Mia was left there standing with Tilly.“Is Ryan really going to help you? Like have you asked?”Mia made a face. “Not exactly…”Tilly put her face in her hands. “Oh god.”“It’s fine. Honestly. I’ve got a plan. Kind of.”Tilly sighed. &