Cheerleader Cindy (Patreon)

Written by YamaguchiShunnLanguage check by Mabauterklamm“I can still dance!” Cindy chirped.

“Cindy, for the fifth time, absolutely not,” the Coach sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose so hard her knuckles turned white.

The university soccer team was warming up on the green pitch of a roaring stadium. Sunbeams glinted off the grass, and the energy in the air was electric. But the real drama wasn't happening on the turf, it was unfolding right at the edge of the cheerleading stage.

Cindy was easily the most active girl this year. On top of that, she possessed the ultimate charm of pure cuteness, making her the undisputed star of the cheerleading squad. Under normal circumstances, the coach would usually place her center without a second thought. But "normal" had vanished six weeks ago, in an attempt of an overly ambitious backflip at the top of the girls pyramid, landing with twisted legs and broken big toes. Now, both of her legs were encased in bright pink fiberglass long-leg walking casts, extending from her thighs all the way down to the base of her toes, including her big toes in casts.

However, for Cindy, it was just a tiny setback, and her spirit completely unbothered by the heavy shells wrapped around her lower half. She believed that dancing was ninety percent attitude and ten percent motion.

“Let me show you…” Cindy begged again as she shifted her weight, the rubber tip of her single crutch squeaking against the turf. She stood dressed in her vibrant blue-and-white cheerleading uniform. An emblem logo with a circle and two crutches crossing each other was seen on her left chest. The short white skirt fluttered lightly in the breeze, teasingly showing the upper rims of the pink casts beneath. Her pom-poms were fluffed to perfection, and her brunette hair bounced high in a neat ponytail.

To demonstrate, Cindy clutched her underarm crutch firmly under her left arm, balanced precariously on her pink plaster pillars, and raised her hands. She aggressively whipped her pom-poms through the air, executing a flawless, high-energy upper-body routine. Her exposed toes wiggled absentmindedly from the bottom of her casts as she grinned, beaming like a sunburst.

A few yards away, sitting on a metal bench while wearing thick black-rimmed glasses, Joy watched the trainwreck in motion. Joy was the polar opposite of Cindy: quiet, intensely academic, with mid-length black hair tucked neatly behind her ears. Joy was Cindy's best friend since middle school. Cindy was always reckless like this and Joy always had to try to take control of her. Since Cindy started skating and all sorts of physical activities, she usually ended up in bruises and injuries, which troubled Joy. However, she never gave up her and she was always there for Cindy.

"Oh, I can’t watch her anymore", Joy thought, cringing as Cindy tilted at an angle before catching herself on the crutch. "She's going to end up in a full body cast if I don't supervise her enthusiasm".

Joy pushed herself up from the bench and marched over. She stepped directly between Cindy’s wild pom-pom flails and presented the Coach with a cool, calculated pitch.

"Coach, if I may," Joy said, her voice dripping with structured authority. "According to basic structural dynamics, Cindy’s center of gravity is stabilized as long as she maintains a three-point stance. I will stand directly behind her on the stage’s access stairs as an official safety spotter. If her angle of inclination shifts by more than five degrees, I will immediately catch her."

The coach looked from Joy’s deadpan, highly academic expression to Cindy’s weaponized, puppy-dog grin. The whistle blew on the field, signaling five minutes to kickoff. Overwhelmed by sheer mental attrition, the coach threw her hands up in utter defeat. "Fine! Just... don't make me fill out incident reports!"

"Yes!" Cindy squealed, doing a tiny, restricted shimmy on her crutch.

"Thank you for backing me up, Joy. I'm so glad that you came up with all the academic stuffs" Cindy pinched Joy's cheek."Of course, I'm your 'joy'. Don't get yourself hurt, Cindy."

The temporary cheer stage was a long, narrow wooden platform erected near the sidelines with safety handrails. The floor in the rear sat a small wooden stepladder between the mesh of wooden pillars. Joy carefully hoisted Cindy up the stairs, guiding her pink-casted legs step by step until Cindy was aligned with the rest of the squad.

"You’re such an attention seeker," a rival cheerleader sneered under her breath, tossing her pigtails as Cindy locked her crutch securely under her arm.

Cindy just beamed back, completely unfazed. "I practiced a lot for this, so two broken legs cannot stop me!"

The stadium speakers burst to life with high-tempo pop music, and the soccer game officially kicked off. The squad exploded into motion.

Surprisingly, Cindy kept up. She leaned heavily onto her single crutch, waving her pom-poms, striking dramatic poses, and seamlessly integrating her crutch into the choreography. Her purple eyes shone with absolute delight. Down at the back stairs, Joy stood vigilant, nervously adjusting her glasses every three seconds while keeping her hands hovered at the ready.

"She's actually pulling it off", Joy thought, letting out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "No fall, no loss of balance. Maybe we actually survive today".

The music swelled to a final, booming beat, and the squad struck their ending pose to thunderous applause from the bleachers. As the cheerleaders began filing down the narrow stairs, Cindy motioned for the others to go ahead. She knew her rigid legs made her slow, so she waited to go last.

Joy took her place on the top step, reaching a steadying hand out. "Come on, Cindy. Give me your hand before you lose your balance."

"Watch out!" a panicked voice suddenly roared from the pitch.

Cindy blinked, turning her head toward the sound. A stray soccer ball, kicked full-force by an overzealous midfielder, was hurtling toward the stage at missile velocity.

Trapped by her stiff fiberglass casts, Cindy couldn't dodge. The ball struck her squarely in the face with a loud, THWACK!

The sheer force knocked Cindy backward like a felled tree, straight into Joy. A domino effect took over as both girls plummeted down the narrow wooden stairs in a slapstick flurry of tumbling limbs, flying pom-poms, shattering wood, and exaggerated CRACK-THUD sounds, capped off by the synchronized groans of the two poor girls.***************************I was drawing a cheerleader girl, and this story came up. So, I drew her as Cindy and wrote this alternative short story.Feel free to tell your opinion about this story.