After Pottery was lunch, which they took as a good time to regroup. The whole lunch line was quietly buzzing with news of the death, and the girls were still shaking from head to toe from their close call as they grabbed their trays.

“I told you guys,” said Caitlin distantly. “I told you this was a bad idea.”

“Well...” said Alicia thoughtfully. “It definitely WENT bad, but that doesn't make it a bad idea. Sometimes things happen you just can't plan for. I don't think any of us expected this.”

“I did!” said Caitlin. “The reason this was a bad idea was BECAUSE something like this was likely to happen! This isn't some kind of unforeseen circumstance!”

“Not know why YOU all so mad,” pouted Chase, grabbing her tray last. “Chase cook nice meal, get no meat bite. Get no flesh chew.”

“Yeah, well, you can chew on this,” said Lindsey, pointing at the food in the serving bins. “From now on, no hunting, okay? School lunch is what normal cheerleaders eat. You wanna be a cheerleader, right? School lunch.”

Chase frowned as the lunch lady dumped a ladleful of diced peas and carrots on her tray. She looked down the line and saw little better. “Greens good, need greens. But where meat? How cheer girls jump high, yell loud, with no meat strong?”

“Oh, don't worry about that! School lunches have plenty of meat!” replied Alicia, as the line shuttled them along to the meat section.

There were two bins of meat spread out before the next lunchlady. “What'll it be?” she asked Alicia. She waved her hand over the first bin, “We got mystery meat,” and then the second one, “...and we got...”

She seemed stumped. She scratched her head, then looked over at the lunchlady in charge of the peas and carrots. “Hey, what was this one, again?” she asked, pointing at the second bin. The other lunchlady looked at the bin's contents, pondered them, then shrugged.

The second lunchlady looked back at Alicia. “We got two different mystery meats,” she concluded.

They decided to get the first one, since it seemed slightly less mysterious. At least they KNEW it was mystery meat. Mystery meat where the mystery was whether or not it was mystery meat was just too much mystery for one lunch hour.

Chase would not have been pleased either way. “This not meat. How meat with no scream? No chase or kill?” she philosophized, as they left the line.

Caitlin handed her a milk carton. “Most meat that normal cheerleaders eat doesn't have any of those things. Come on, let's go sit down.”

One wall of the lunchroom was lined with windows, which provided a nice view of the school's central courtyard. Usually the tables on this side of the room filled up immediately, but today there was one open. “So, how do her afternoon classes look?” asked Lindsey, setting her tray down on it.

Caitlin sat down and took a piece of paper from her pocket. She unfolded it with a noticeably worried expression on her face. “Well... it got a little complicated. The morning classes were pretty simple to schedule, but in the afternoon, my classes were the only ones available.”

She handed the paper off to Lindsey. Chase had been saddled with Calculus, AP Physics, and because trying to learn English wasn't difficult enough, Mandarin Chinese III.

“What the hell, Cait? Seriously,” frowned Lindsey, passing the schedule on to Alicia.

“Hey, like I said, your classes were all filled up,” defended Caitlin, opening her milk. “And it's not like we can just send her off to some class unsupervised.”

“Why are you taking Chinese?” asked Alicia, dumbfounded. She stared at the paper like it was written in Chinese itself.

“It's a changing world. The real question is why aren't YOU taking it,” replied Caitlin.

Lindsey was about to respond when she saw something that required her immediate cattiness. “Uh oh, Alicia,” she smirked, looking over Alicia's shoulder. “Don't turn around.”

Alicia looked up from her salad. She looked skeptical, but froze anyway. “What? Why not?”

“Your future husband's coming over here,” said Lindsey casually.

Alicia blushed deeply. “K-K-K-Kirk's coming?!” she yelped. Immediately, she tried in vain to fix her hair again. “Oh my god, he can't see me like this... No no no...”

She cast a terrified glance over her shoulder. He was there, all right, with his light brown hair, broad shoulders, and wide, laughing, photogenic smile. But he was at his own table, joking with a few other guys from the football team. He wasn't coming at all.

Fuming, she kicked Lindsey under the table. “You're so mean!” Lindsey just laughed. “And he's NOT my future husband!”

“Well, you sure knew who I was talking about,” replied Lindsey. She got kicked again, eliciting another giggle. “H-hey, you're gonna give me a bruise! I'm wearing a skirt, remember? We have tryouts later!”

“Oh, you can put on some knee socks,” pouted Alicia.

“Leash like male?” asked Chase curiously.

“Yes, Chase. Leash like male very much,” answered Lindsey, getting a spoon thrown at her for her honesty.

Chase's afternoon classes went about as well as expected. Caitlin tried to help her out as best as she could, but there was only so much that could be done.

The cannibal was beginning to get discouraged, until she got to the seventh and final period of the day, biology. This class, she excelled in. She knew the ins and outs of the human body better than a surgeon, and she had Caitlin's shaky assurance that her peers were wowed by her explanations of what each organ tasted like.

Unfortunately, all those strangely bloodless drawings of people bisected lengthwise so all their organs were showing made her very hungry. The last bell rang, and Chase's stomach rumbled all the way over to the gym.

Deciding to take preventative measures against any people eating, Caitlin and Alicia bought her a chocolate bar from the snack machine. Initially, Chase was strangely terrified of the rotating coils inside that dropped the snack, but once she unwrapped the bar and took a bite she was very impressed.

“Oh!” she said. She stuck out her tongue as though she'd burned it, but then took another bite. “What this?”

“Chocolate,” said Caitlin. “And I think there's some nougat or something in there too. Whatever the heck that is.”

“It good!” praised the girl ravenously, tearing into it. “Chase like both choc and nug nug!”

Lindsey walked over, on her way to the gym as well. “Hey, guys!” she greeted.

“Hi, Lindsey!” greeted Alicia. She noticed the blonde was wearing thigh-high socks, and covered her mouth. “Oh my gosh! Did I really give you a bruise? I'm so sorry!” But then, as she thought about it, confusion crept in. “Wait... why thigh-highs?”

Lindsey just shrugged. “Rugburns on my knees. So, what's going on?”

“Chase was hungry so I bought her a snack.”

Chase showed the blonde her treat. “Choc taste good and make Chase less food need!”

“Yeah, but humans are better for you,” Lindsey joked.

“Lindsey! Shut up!” Caitlin cried, shocked.

The group of four made their way over to the gym. Already a line had formed outside the twin doors: a chain of would-be cheerleaders, some looking very nervous, but all clearly excited.

“Girls! Lots girls!” exclaimed Chase, running over to them.

“Yeah, looks like a good turnout,” said Alicia hopefully. As they passed the line, she raised her voice. Every head turned to look at them. “I just know we'll get some great cheerleaders from this bunch! Everybody, do your best! Gooooo SUNNYCREST!”

“GOOOOO SUNNYCREST!” cheered the line, caught up in Alicia's energy. The girls who had looked nervous or sick before now beamed, nerves loosened. They were ready to give it their all.

Victoria walked over next. She inspected the line out of the corner of her eye, sipping on a styrofoam coffee cup. “Hey Alicia. Rough group, huh? Hope you're feeling charitable, otherwise we might not be able to salvage ANYBODY from this lot.” The confidence of the cheer hopefuls died before their very eyes.

“Uhhh... Hi, Victoria,” offered Alicia.

The scrawny blonde flicked her eyes over to Chase next. “Shouldn't you get in line, sweetheart? Cheerleaders here, WANNABES over there.”

Lindsey looked at the line, which was quickly growing. “I hate to say it but she's right, Chase. You'd better go save your spot.”

“When it's your turn, just come in and cheer like we showed you, okay?” pepped Alicia. She gave Chase an encouraging clap on the arm. “You've got this, Chase! We know you can do it.”

Chase gave her a resolute nod. “Chase cheer good. Be squad!” she announced.

The girls gave her a parting wave, then followed Victoria into the gym to get ready.

Chase went ahead and took her place in the line, which had swelled considerably in the short time she delayed. The girl ahead of her flashed a smile her way, while at the same time discreetly sizing her up as competition. Not picking up on this, Chase gave her a friendly smile back.

After a few minutes, the gym doors opened and tryouts officially began. Bit by bit, the line shrank. No one else added themselves to it, so Chase ended up bringing up the rear.

She had to hope she could save the best for last; from what Alicia had told her there weren't many positions on the squad to vie for. Ordinarily, tryouts added a whole bushel of new cheerleaders since they had to fill the void left by a graduating class, but since this was an emergency tryout just to replace an injury, they'd be adding one girl, or two at most.

There was no way to tell how the tryouts were going. Some girls left the gym with big smiles on their faces, confident they'd done a great job, and some left with blatant 'I didn't fall when I practiced at home' looks of absolute misery. Some didn't leave at all; many opted to stick around and watch the rest of the tryouts.

As Chase inched closer and closer to the door, she felt a strange sensation in her stomach. At first she thought she was merely hungry, and then she wondered if her stomach had solved the mystery meat and didn't like what it found. Finally though, she realized that what she felt were... butterflies.

She was nervous. It was a strange feeling. She was so used to being in control. The top of the food chain. Out in the woods, there was very little to cause butterflies. But the outcome of this situation was not one she could decide. She could put her best foot forward, but ultimately whether or not she made the team was in someone else's hands. This made her uncomfortable. Even... scared.

Chase couldn't imagine how anyone could stick around for all of the tryouts. She was having a hard time even sticking around for her own.

A sharp laugh from inside the gym caused Chase to look up. Without her realizing it, the line had moved up enough that she could now see inside through the open doors. There were only two girls left in front of her!

The girl who laughed was Victoria. She was sitting behind a folding table, with Alicia sitting next to her on her right side. The rest of the squad, about ten girls, was sitting on a mat on the floor nearby, watching the tryouts with interest. She could see Lindsey and Caitlin among them. The other girls who tried out earlier were hanging around as well. A girl was standing in front of the table, breathing hard. She had apparently just finished her routine.

Alicia spoke quickly, as though trying to interrupt Victoria before she started talking. “WELL, thanks, Jamie. You did really good. You started out seeming a bit nervous, but once you got going you really loosened up.” Alicia flashed her a smile to punctuate her statement, and the girl smiled back.

“Purely amateur from start to finish,” Victoria's voice intruded. Her arms were crossed over her slim chest and her eyes were fixed wearily on a clipboard resting on the table in front of her. “The timing on those toe-touches was all wrong, your cheers weren't properly enunciated, and I've never seen a sloppier handspring in my life.”

The aspiring cheerleader looked crushed. Alicia intervened on her behalf. “B-b-but that's why we have practice, right?” she asked, trying to keep the mood light. “Okaay, next?”