The Cheerleaders Continued

Chapter 65- Just a Little Recap…

The sun glinted off the calm pool water. Several lounge chairs were set up around the pool, despite the weather being too cool for swimming to be am appealing option. Even then, it was warm enough to warrant shorts and t-shirts, and such was what Jason and Eileen were wearing. Jason put the glasses he was carrying down on the table between their chairs. Eileen nodded in thanks and leaned back letting her skin soak up the sun. Covering her eyes with her hand she looked over at Jason.

“So when are they all supposed to be showing up?” she asked. Jason glanced down at his watch.
“Eh, another ten minutes I guess. It depends on when they feel like showing up.” He replied. There was a low purr from the tree above them. Jason looked up and squinted at the dark form amongst the branches. “Quiet you. I told you before that they’re friends.” He began to laugh at the answering growl.

There was a crunch of tires on gravel from the driveway, followed by the sound of car doors slamming closed. The quieter crunch of walking followed, culminating in a quiet squeak as the back gate opened and a large group of teenagers walked in. The girls headed straight for Eileen, while Jason found himself confronted by several large, full looking paper bags. There was a crumpling sound as the bags shifted and a face peeked out from behind them.

“So, uh, mind lending a hand here?” Jim asked. Jason cocked an eyebrow. Jim rolled his eyes. “Hurry up, we need to get some of this stuff to a freezer.” This just made Jason look slightly confused.
“I thought we were just doing hot dogs and burgers? Those don’t need to be frozen.” He asked, then thought about it for a few more moments. “Do they?” Jim just shook his head.
“Nah, the burgers and dogs can be left out to thaw. But the pizzas need to be kept cold for now.” Jim replied.
“Do I want to know why you guys brought pizzas?”
“Well, when Mitch and I went shopping, we realized that we probably wouldn’t have any one who knew how to cook, so we brought some frozen pizzas just in case.” Jim explained.
“Makes sense I guess, alright follow me.” Jason motioned for the other two boys to follow him.
“About time, my arms were getting tired.” Mitch contributed. They boys set off towards the basement leaving the girls alone to talk.

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“So where’s every one else?” Eileen asked. Amy shrugged leaving Ashley to answer the question.
“Coming separately. Stef said something about a doctor’s appointment, and Jen and George had something planned for earlier this morning, so no one knows when they’re going to arrive.” Ashley explained.
“Well as long as they show up soon. I’m curious as to who Kentai is. Some sort of exchange student?” Eileen asked.
“Um, wait, what?” Amy asked.
“Well, when Jason invited Jon and Stef Jon asked if it was alright for some one named Kentai to come as well. He didn’t say much about who it was, but Jason agreed any way.” Eileen replied.
“Well, I think that may be something left best for when they arrive, don’t you agree Amy?” Ashley remarked with a wink. Amy shook her head in order not to laugh, but managed to keep silent all the same.
“What aren’t you two telling me?” Eileen demanded.
“It’s nothing that can’t wait until later.” Amy replied, though she was unable to keep a smile from crossing her face. There was the sound of another car pulling into the driveway, followed by the Jen and George arriving.

“So where are the guys at?” George asked. He wasn’t entirely thrilled with the idea of being left alone with the four girls. There was too much of a risk of him getting pulled into a conversation he wouldn’t be able to get out of.
“They went inside to put the food away.” Ashley answered.
“Guess I’ll go find them then. Catch up with you girls later.” George headed off into the house, leaving the Jen with the others.
“So what were you two up to this morning?” Amy asked.
“Hmm? Oh, checking out the new games at the store.” Jen replied.
“Aw, poor Jen, dragged to a game shop to waste several hours of her life!” Eileen mocked.
“Actually, we were seeing if my order was in.” Jen corrected. Then we got a little side tracked by the new demos they had out.”
“You know, I don’t think we’ll ever get tired of mocking you for that.” Ashley remarked.
“What the fact that I enjoy games just as much? I don’t mind. Rather amusing really.” Jen replied.
“Oh, a challenge is it? Girls? Do we accept?” Amy looked to the other two. Ashley just shrugged.
“Oh might as well. She did ask for it after all.” Ashley agreed.
Eileen just shook her head. “Cheerleaders. Go figure.”
“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Jen asked.
“The band plays by different rules. Our solution? Just straight up mocking. Don’t even bother with permission.” Eileen answered.
“Oh my, how barbaric!” Ashley replied, doing her best imitation of a rich elitist.
“So who’s a barbarian?” George asked. The girls turned to see the guys exiting the basement.
“Oh, just mocking people again.” Ashley replied.
“And here I thought we had broken you girls of that habit.” Jim replied
“What would make you think that?”
“Well, we set you up with a couple of geeks, get you invited over to a barbecue thrown by a band member, throw you through more crazy adventures then even we expected, and yet it seems our work is not yet done.” Jim sighed and sat down on the deck near the girls. “Ah well, no rest for the wicked I guess.”
“Oh please, you just wish I gave you rest!” Ashley retorted. She blushed almost as soon as she said it, as the rest of the group burst out laughing. “Hey I didn’t mean it like that!”
“Maybe not, but doesn’t mean we aren’t going to take it that way.” Jason reminded her, to much more laughter.

“It has been an odd year though hasn’t it?” George asked, taking his place next to Jen.
“Yeah something like that. All because of those two weeks at cheerleading camp too.” Jim added.
“Where you guys planning anything like that?” Jen asked.
“Not really. As far as I remember, we were just to make a little spending money, and maybe enjoy a small bit of eye candy.” Jim answered. “Wouldn’t have been too hard, you girls weren’t exactly being modest if memory serves.”
“You weren’t being all that modest either. Remember?” Ashley prompted. Jim glanced around nervously, then began to whistle innocently. Jen and George began to laugh, and Jason and Eileen glanced at each other.
“This has a story behind it, doesn’t it?” Eileen asked.
“Yeah, something like that.” Jim replied, before shutting up again. Jen and George kept laughing, while Ashley got a wry smile on her face.
“As it was, the boys weren’t the only ones to get a bit of eye candy.” Ashley offered. This was followed by more laughter, Jim sputtering, and some rather curious looks from Jason and Eileen.
“Go on…” Eileen prompted.
“Well, it seems Jim is a rather accomplished swordsman.” Ashley began.
“Please tell me that doesn’t have a double meaning behind it, because I really don’t want those mental images.” Jason commented.
“No, it is entirely innocent.” Ashley reassured him. “No, as it was I was taking an early morning walk and found Jim practicing with his katana down by the lake we were staying at.”
“Come on there has to be more to the story then that!” Eileen declared.
“Well, there was the small fact that he happened to be naked at the time. He didn’t even notice I was there until I said something.” Ashley added to the story.
“That, I must admit, is one of the most entertaining meet up stories I have ever heard.” Eileen commented.
“Well, what can I say, I always was one for doing things with flair.” Jim said, despite the fact he was still beet red.
“So then what about you two?” Jason asked George. George shrugged.
“Nothing like that. Jen had a problem with her laptop, and I fixed. Turns out, she’s more attracted to a high I.Q. rather then a high yardage gain.” he answered.
“So what, no embarrassing story, nothing like that?” Jason asked.
“Nope, nothing like that.” George replied.
“What about you guys?” Jen asked. Jason shrugged.
“Not much to it. Started hanging out in band, I asked her out, she said yes. We’ve been dating for what? A year, year and a half now?” Eileen looked like she was thinking for a moment, then nodded.
“Yeah, that sounds about right.” she agreed.
“So what then, we’re the only ones that have an entertaining meeting story?” Jim asked.
“No, Jon and Stef remember?” Ashley reminded him.
“Yeah, that’s right. Where are they any way?” Jim questioned.
“Probably still at the doctor’s. Anyway, even if the stories of how we all met aren’t all that spectacular, the past few months have definitely given rise to more then their fair shares of stories.” George remarked.
“You got that right. Who knew we’d start so much trouble?” Jim asked.
“Well, you did sort of start it remember?” Ashley reminded him.

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Jim shook his head as he remembered the beginning of the school year. Ashley had gone out to break up with Phil, and Jim and George had tailed around behind them. Naturally, Phil hadn’t taken being dumped well. When he had tried getting physical as a result, Jim had intervened. While George had escorted Ashley home, Jim remained behind to deal with Phil. Several pf Phil’s friends had tried to intervene. Even with the three to one odds, they weren’t quite up to the level of training Jim had, and the fight proved to be rather one sided. Jim never boasted about the fact, though Mitch hadn’t hesitated to share the details of the fight with the rest of the band. The story didn’t spread beyond there, but Phil never forgot his defeat, and was still determined to make Jim pay for it.

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“Well, ok, yeah. But he really shouldn’t have tried to hit you. Sort of goes against everything I know to let a guy hit a girl.” Jim replied.
“How chivalrous of you.” Ashley replied.

“Hmm, then there was that whole bit with that creep who was obsessed with Jen.” George offered.
“What was his name any way? I don’t think any one ever gave me his name.” Jen commented.
“My dad got his name. Apparently he was calling himself Relevance or some such.” Ashley replied.
“Great, so I was being stalked and ended up being kidnapped by a guy named Relevance?” Jen asked.
“Wait, you got kidnapped?” Eileen looked some what shocked at this.
“Yeah, it happened right around the time of the winter dance. That’s why none of us where there.” George replied.
“Huh. Yeah, now that you mention it, I was slightly curious why none of you where there at the time. You guys had put a bit of work into the decorations.” Eileen said.
“Well, thanks for the compliment.” George answered.
“Any time. Now why exactly did this guy kidnap you?” Eileen asked Jen. Jen shrugged.
“He kept calling me his beauty or something like that. He kept going on about how we were destined to be together and stuff like that.” Jen replied.
“So why did he kidnap the rest of you then?” Jason asked.
“Probably a result of the first time he tried. He tried on Halloween as well. That one wasn’t as successful as the second time though.” George answered.
“Why not?” Eileen asked.
“Um, he sort of got ambushed. He was trying to make off with me when Kentai caught him. By the time he managed to get out from under Kentai, George and the rest of the boys got there. They managed to keep him pinned until the cops showed up.” Jen explained.
“Once more the mysterious Kentai makes an appearance. I can’t wait to meet this guy.” Jason remarked.
“Oh, I’m sure it’ll be a meeting you’ll never forget.” Jim replied.

“Yeah, and to think that’s not all that’s happened. Remember the mayonnaise incident?” Eileen asked. Jason began to chuckle to himself.
“Yeah, what about it?” Amy asked.
“Well, you can blame that entire bit on the genius right here.” Eileen pointed her thumb at Jason. He smiled innocently, and began to whistle.
“Alright, that one deserves applause. I think that pissed off more people then anything any one else has pulled off this year.” Jim remarked.
“Ok, so it was a stroke of genius. I do humbly admit it.” Jason said.
“Right, humble, sure.” Mitch replied sarcastically.

“Then of course there was that entire incident during the middle of the year. What exactly did happen between you two?” Eileen asked Jim and Ashley. They sort of glanced at one another.

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It had been a rather cunning plan, dreamed up by Dannie. All she had to do was break up Ashley and Jim, and then she could easily get Phil on her side. She wanted popularity at all costs, and didn’t care who she had to go through in order to accomplish it.

So she decided to use one of the oldest ploys in the book. Make up a story about infidelity, and watch as everything fell apart. Clever enough to not want to leave the story up to chance, she set out to create some evidence. Doing so was rather simple. At the annual post season football party, she and slipped a small dose of drugs into Jim’s drink. After she and her friend Angela had escorted Jim up to a private room in the house of the party. A few carefully arranged photo opportunities later, and everything was set in place.

Once the photos had been spread around, there was almost nothing to be done. Ashley dumped Jim as fast as she could, and wound up back with Phil. Jim had no idea what was happening, and Dannie was enjoying every last moment of the drama. Eventually, Jim managed to get the details of the evening of the party from his friends. What followed was a series of complicated plans and plots, all aimed at getting revenge on Dannie and Phil.

They all came to a head at a party thrown by Phil. It was meant to be his moment of triumph, as he planned on asking Ashley out in front of the cheerlead ring squads and his fellow football players. Instead, he found rejection, embarrassing himself in front of all of his friends. The big shock was to come after the party. Jim’s and Ashley’s friends had gone out of their way to secure the original photos. George spent a few moments working on them in a photo editing program, and then it was more then easy enough to convince people that the original photos had been doctored. In an ironic twist the group had also acquired a series of photos depicting Dannie with other guys in similar situations.

When these were spread about the school Dannie’s reputation took a quick dive in the tank. It rebounded quickly, as many people dismissed them as similar to the first series of fakes, combined with the fact that George had used an alias to spread the photos. As with the earlier slights, this was one that led to a grudge.

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“Um, I think we may leave that for another day.” Ashley replied. Eileen looked at her curiously. Jim just shrugged, and Jason shrugged in return.
“Well, ok I guess.” Eileen responded. There was a crunch of tires on gravel as another car pulled into the driveway.
“I guess that’s Jon and Stef.” Amy said. The other nodded.
“So does this mean we finally get to meet Kentai?” Eileen asked.
“Well, that’s assuming they brought him, I guess.” Jen answered.

The group watched as Jon and Stef walked through the gate followed by a large bear. Jason blinked as he watched the bear sniff the air before following the two teens over to the rest of the group. He began to chuckle slightly, drawing George’s attention.

“What’s so funny?” George asked.
“Just watch.” Jason instructed.

There was a rustle in the tree above the teens, and a large black panther leapt out of the tree, landing a few feet away from the bear. Kentai reared up on his hind legs and roared at the large cat. Shadow returned the roar, then began to circle slowly as Kentai dropped back to all fours. The two beasts began to circle each other slowly, sniffing at each other. Finally, Kentai grew bored and walked back over to where the gang was gathered. He dropped to his belly and gave a loud yawn, much to the amusement of the people watching. Shadow watched all of this and decided that perhaps the bear was not as much a problem as it could have been. The panther strode over to where Jason was reclining, and sat down on his haunches. Jason began to scratch the panther at the base of his neck, eliciting a low purr.

“So that’s Kentai?” Eileen asked.
“That would be Kentai. If weren’t for him, me and Jon probably never would have met.” Stef remarked.
“That, however, is a story for another day. Right now, I’m starving. You guys brought the meat right?” Jon asked Jim. Jim nodded.
“Yeah, it’s all down stairs in the freezer.” Jim pointed down the stairs. Jon nodded and headed down the stairs. Jim watched a bit puzzled. “Hey man, can you even cook?”
“Of course I can cook. You’ve met my parents. You know how worried they get that I’m not going to know enough to survive. I’ve been able to cook since I was five!” Jon’s declaration was interrupted by the piercing wail of police sirens. Shadow and Kentai glanced at each other, then moved with all haste. Shadow leapt back into the tree he had been hiding in earlier, and Kentai dashed down into the open cellar. The back fence swung open once more, and two cops with guns drawn burst into the backyard. They both looked slightly confused, as all they could see where a few teens enjoying the afternoon sun.

“Um, excuse me.” One of the cops began.
“How can we help you officer?” Jim asked.
“Well, um, we got a report of two animals fighting at this address.” The officer explained.
“Did they say exactly what kind of animals? Because all we’ve seen is a few squirrels.” Jason told them.
“Ugh, not another damned prank. That’s the second today.” the other officer remarked.
“Second?” Mitch was curious, as he always enjoyed a good police story.
“Yeah, we got a call earlier saying there was a bear in the back of some one’s truck. There wasn’t even a vehicle matching the description of the truck.” explained the first officer.
“Um, excuse me, I’m going to go get the burgers.” Jon hurried out of the chair and rushed down to the basement. The rest of the group noticed the massive grin on his face.
“Ah, you kids throwing a barbecue?” the first officer asked.
“Yeah. Hey if you guys get off shift later, stop by and we’ll pass you a guys a burger or dog.” Jim offered.
“Thanks kid. We may just take you up on that.” The second officer nodded, and the two turned and left. As soon as they heard the sound of the car departing, the group burst out laughing.

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A/N:This continues The Cheerleaders from the Read Only Archive. Having waited the better part of two months for the site to be made right, its been decided I should just post a new story, then consolidate the two when the rest catch up. A quick recap for now, and I should have the next eight or so chapters finished and posted as soon as possible. Feel free to leave any comments or questions you may have.