6.

  Johnny was sitting next to Eddy in the bleachers of Reagan High’s recently upgraded, state of the art gymnasium. He was sitting next to Eddy as he was the only kid in third period English that he was friends with. Johnny made sure to wear his black T-shirt and greet button down over-shirt today. You see, as part of the requirement to attend the pep rally, and therefore skip half of third period, a student must be wearing the school colors. The entire senior class was in attendance, a sea of proud black and green. If it meant getting out of third period English with Ms. Pate, good fashion sense could take a break for a day.

  Tiffany was leading the varsity cheerleaders, all clad in green tank tops that technically violated the school’s dress code and short black skirts that also broke the school’s dress code. There was one anomaly in the line of cheerleaders though, one girl, at the far left of the line, was doing the routine with just as perfect timing as the rest of girls, even though she a prosthetic leg.

  “Oh shit,” Eddy said, “April is cheering again. Good for her.”

  “Yeah, apparently she says wanting to cheer again is the only reason she was able to learn how to walk with that thing,” Johnny said.

  “She does seem to be doing a good job,” Eddy said.

  “I know right? It’s actually pretty inspiring,” Johnny said.

  “It is, hell, I’d still do her, fake leg and all,” Eddy said as he looked back at the line of girls.

  “That’s terrible man, but at the same time, I do have to agree with you,” Johnny said.

  All the girls waved their green and black pom-poms dancing to Paper Airplanes by M.I.A. their tight, jailbait hips gyrated around as the lyrics played,

  As the girl’s danced Manny the Mallard, the school’s mascot came running out.

  Manny the Mallard was an unknown student wearing a black and green felt anthropomorphic duck costume. Who wore Manny the Mallard was determined by a try out in front of the school coaches, student body president, and various tenured members of the faculty. Only senior students could audition. Being Manny the Mallard was considered a great honor, but an honor one would have to keep to themselves. It was a school tradition that the true identity of this paragon of school spirit remained anonymous. The student body president could put his or her input about candidates in the discussion, but only the adults in the room could be trusted to make such an important choice. His identity was known to no one, and luckily, Reagan High had never had a student who gave enough of shit to do the basic detective work it would take to find out who was wearing it.

  Manny the Mallard broke out into an, rather impressive, breakdance in front of the dancing cheerleaders. Popping and locking, Spinnaronies and John Travolta Pulp Fiction dance moves.

  “Wow, Manny the Mallard is on point today,” Johnny said, leaning in towards Eddy.

  One of the cheerleaders came up to Manny and threw him a basketball as two more set up a small trampoline in front of the net. A good number of students, Johnny included, were pretty impressed with how expertly he was able to handle the ball in his bulky felt costume, rolling it over his arms, and showing off some fancy dribbling skills. He could move it under the legs and everything.

  Manny the Mallard took the ball to half court and began charging towards the hoop. He jumped in the air as the music blared and landed right in the middle of the small trampoline.

  The whole audience, even Johnny, felt a swell of joy and school pride, and got up out of their bleachers to cheer him on, as Manny the Mallard made an epic slam dunk with the ball, holding onto to the rim with one hand and giving a fist pump to the crowd.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  As Manny the Mallard got off the rim and started to take a victory lap around the gymnasium, Tiffany and the varsity cheer team co-captain Sindy each grabbed an end of a big banner and unrolled it at the back of the gym by the boys bathroom, it was all black with the words “Fear the Duck” in dark green, hand-painted letters.

  The music subsided, and Principal Belding’s voice came over the stadium P.A. system that was installed last year, paid for with the money that was budgeted to fix the chemistry labs Bunsen burners. The ones that had been lighting kid’s clothes on fire. They had also been leaking gas, and people had yet to start drawing lines between the gas leaks and low-test scores, so the diversion of funds was allowed.

  “We all know why we’re really here!” Principal Belding said as Queen’s We Will Rock You started to play. The students were so wrapped up in it, half out of pride for their school, and half out of just having fun not being in class. Stomp, stomp, clap. Stomp, stomp, Clap. “Here they are! Your! Fighting! Maaallllaaarrrrdsss!” Principal Belding, just as enthusiastic as everyone else at the rally, yelled into the P.A. system. The Baseball team came storming out of the bathroom just as We Will Rock You segued into We are the Champions. Brian led the team as they broke through the banner and charged to the middle of the gym, all wearing their uniforms. They gathered around in a circle at the center of the gym, and all put their hands together, jumping up and down, raging and cheering with everyone in the bleachers. They looked to their adoring fans and gave thumbs up, and fist bumps towards the audience.

  Under Brian’s leadership, with sophisticated strategies he worked tireless nights with Coach Brewer on, Brian had led his army to a now 9 and 0 season, only three more games to go. Brian was continuing the great, dominate tradition of Reagan High’s pride and joy.

  Brian walked up to the microphone stationed at the center of the court.

  “How are we feeling Reagan High!” Brain took his hat off and waived it to his audience as he showed off his perfectly styled, blond, crew cut. Brian made sure to check out the various underclass girls that were just ripe for the picking, he caught eyes with a hot blond girl with a bob cut sitting amongst some sophomores and gave her a wink as she grinned and bit her lip. He spoke into the microphone, “Who here loves walking by that huge trophy in the case by the library?” Brain asked the crowd, getting a rousing cheer from them, “Yeah, I like it too, that’s why the team, our coach, and I are giving you a personal guarantee that that trophy is staying right there where it belongs!”

  Everyone cheered again, so loud that the auditorium shook around Brian as he relished the admiration of the student body.

  After the Brian was done rallying up the school, promising another winning season for the fighting Mallards, the cheerleaders started dancing again. After all, they were what everyone was here to see. Random hot beats music started to play, and it was time for the big finale. The girls began to grab each other’s arms and began to form the bottom of what would be a pyramid. The four most sturdy girls got on their hands and knees as three more climbed on top of them, followed by two more, and climbing up the mountain was, of all people, April. Johnny and the other kids could see the winces of pain the second to the top girl had as April’s prosthetic foot dug into her back as she climbed up. Tiffany and Stacy stood in front of the Pyramid as April got into position on top of it. This was it, the big finish. April put her good foot on the second highest girl, under her left side’s hand, and then put her prosthetic foot into the hand of the girl on her right side. They had practiced this move at least a hundred times in preparation for the big Pep Rally.

  “I don’t think this is going to end well,” Johnny said in a haunting example of lousy foreshadowing.

  The two girls used all their strength to lift their arms as April jumped off their palms and proceeded to do a flip in midair. In the crescent of her flip, her prosthetic leg came flying off her knee and soared through the air. It flew into the bleachers and struck a poor, unsuspecting student named Andy on the side of the head. He instantly fell and tripped over three rows of bleachers, suffering a severe concussion. Losing the leg caused April’s flight path to veer, and instead of being caught by Tiffany and Stacy, she swerved to the left and landed right next to them. Falling on her good leg, and snapping its femur, she cried out in pain as she slammed into the gym mat that had luckily been placed there.

  “Ahh!” She cried out in pain, “Sindy! You fucking whore!” she yelled, lambasting one of the girls who tossed her.

  “Holy shit, that went bad so fast,” Eddy said.

  “Yeah I think that the pep rally might be over,” Johnny said, taking off his green overshirt.