A Brontide Lullaby

Before Allison knew what was happening her face was smashed against the track and her arms were folded up beneath her. Steady waves of pain filled her nose and her knees would no doubt be a bright red once she got the chance to look at them. Assuming it was Daryl's feet whom she saw whiz by her the realization and embarrassment hit her.

She could now add "Tripping over her own feet" to the long list of things that made this day utterly horrible.

It was also completely logical that being head cheerleader, and growing with gymnastics classes would make her the most likely to trip up while running.

Allison pushed herself up too quickly making her stumble a bit to the side. Oh someone was definitly going to pay for her shitty day.

She didn't bother trying to catch up to Daryl because by the time she got her balance back he had already crossed the yellow line.

That first place title had belonged to her. It made more sense for the head cheerleader to get first place instead of a four-eyed dork anyways.

Daryl received pats on the back and high-fives seconds after crossing the finish line. It was rare someone, supposedly, "below" the popular kids would come out on top in anything when running against someone like Allison. When these unusual events would occur it always seemed to please the kids whom where not grouped into the In crowd.

Kaiden doled out $15 to the winner of their bet, along with the rest of his group excluding the only one who had put faith in Daryl. The begrudging look fell from Kaiden's face as he glanced over to see Allison stalking over.

"Hey Ali cat! Your knees are a little red; if I hadn't seen you face plant I might've assumed you've been working out your upper body instead of your lower." He crackled at her, going an extra foot further and using the despised nickname.

Before she could charge Kaiden and attempt to rip his balls from his body, Roseman had stepped in front of her. It wouldn't have surprised her if he had somehow foreseen her plans and thought it best to stop her.

Niklaus was confident that if he hadn't blocked her vision from a smug looking Kaiden, that she would have launched herself onto him like a cat onto a mouse-- or maybe a lioness would fit Allison better. Wanting to distract her from her previous mission he reached up to squeeze her shoulder and keep her attention on him. His large, strong hand was a stark contrast when looking at her slender shoulder under his palm.

Allison noticeably stiffened under his hand and yanked away from him with, what he thought, was fear or uncertainty laced in her eyes. Before he could ask her if she was okay she cut him off with a snarl, "Don't touch me."

Yes, a lioness most definitly fit this girl better than any ole' cat did.

Faintly, a bell was heard from the school announcing the end of the first day of high school-- in Allison's case, the end of her first day in Hell.

I need to get away from these people...

She was still fuming, and she wouldn't be all that surprised if smoke was flowing from her ears, but now a new, different kind of fuel had been added to her inner fire. She had suddenly been reminded of things she had hoped would never blacken her thoughts again. Events, and people that she had worked to bury and peel from her brain were now once again plastered to her minds eye like an unsightly billboard.

Why? Why now? She had never had this "Blast to the Past" before while attending school. Was it the fact she was having the, arguable, worst day of her life and Kaiden had thrown salt on her wound? Her temper had been vicious the majority of the day and it was very rare she would get this worked up.

Strangely enough, this huge amount of emotion that was coursing through her had a familiar edge to it. There had been a time when she felt this weighed down by her emotions everyday, but those had been closer to feelings of melancholy than ones of anger. Having distanced herself from anything remotely similar to her past, save her mother, the passionate anger licking at her must have reminded her of her dark secrets and successfully dredging up vile memories.

She hissed when her nails broke the skin on her palms and wrenched her from her unsavory thoughts. She had managed to make it back to her locker despite the fact she hadn't been aware of anything for the past seven minutes other than her near mental breakdown.

She hadn't the time to dwell on such pitiful things, she needed to go to the squads locker rooms to get ready for work outs. Establishing her position of authority on the squad and the importance of the team was much more important than feeling sorry for herself.

Ten Minutes Later

With a complacent smile Allison pulled on her spandex, just as short as her PE shorts had been but tighter and hugged the smooth curve of her bum. Coach Roseman would most likely be on the field but due to the fact school wasn't in session he couldn't say diddly squat about her attire.

Eat it, Roseman.

Sun slide up beside Allison with an anxious look on her face. "Ari, The is a lot op girls here."

Allison stuffed everything in her locker and deleted a text from her mother asking Allison to call her soon. The little Korean girl wasn't wrong, there was a large amount of girls in the locker room. All of which were eager to show off the skills they probably didn't have.

The returning members were just as amused as Allison was and eager to see some teary eyed freshman by the end of practice-- everyone except for Sun that is.

"We can ret them arr on the team. They wirr be crushed." She whined quietly so no one would over hear her.



"I know. Aren't you excited?" Allison hummed in response with a malicious grin, "Anyone who isn't on the field in three minutes will not be allowed to tryout. No exceptions!" She barked causing everyone to move faster.

Allison exited the locker room leaving chaos behind her, "Do you feel that, Sun?"

"No. Unress you tark about the bree-"

"It's power, Sun. We're going to ensure an amazing four years for a selected group of girls, and misery for the others. That is power few other people in this school have." She sighed and tried to hold the grin off her face but was forced to let it free when she spotted the returning members already on the field.

They had already begun stretching and to see their enthusiasm made her grin widen. Her team was amazing and it was one of the few things she so dearly treasured and loved.

Where as other schools had few, or none, males on their cheer squad Breckenridge had a decent number which gave them a huge advantage and allowed them to do advanced stunts. This also allowed the school's team to keep the status of being one of the most skilled teams in Australia.

A loud holler told Allison that the football team had begin to filter onto the field and the rest of her newbies would soon follow.

Sun wandered off to the side to begin her own stretches and let her roommate make what every speech she would probably want to make.

"Welcome back everyone!" Allison clapped excitedly which was returned with cheers, "There's not much too say other than this year is going to be spectacular, and for those of us who are seniors we will no doubt go out with a bang. Now, onto the newbies. As you know these are just workouts, tryouts are next week, so I like to think of this time as what we use to weed out the weak from the strong. We're gonna show them what it takes to be on the squad."

A couple people laughed while others cheered excitedly, showing off to the less talented was always a good boost to their egos.

As if on cue a bunch of girls, and a couple guys, sprinted onto the field desperate to make it on time. Many had there hair falling out of their ponytails or bows slipping from their hair while others still had their shoes untied. Looking at the disheveled group stop before her only fed her excitement. This is going to be fun...

An Hour And A Half Later

"What have you guys been doing all summer other than stuffing your faces with the fattiest junk food possible? I do workouts like this when I'm sick!"

The sweaty, tired newbies were a sharp difference to Allison's dry shirt and neat ponytail. Barking orders at the tuckered out group had been the prefect remedy to her sour mood. There was nothing quite like hearing the miserable groans of the weaker.

Roseman called out for her across the field to inform her that it was 4:00, their agreed time for ending workouts.

Niklaus cast a concerned look at the group of red faced students that had been doing sprints and drills for the majority of the time they had been out there. If Allison wasn't careful she might push someone who couldn't handle the extreme workouts too far; many of them already looked like they were ready to pass out.

Though he did have to admire the way she was able to take charge so easily, and how she wasn't afraid to go for what she wanted. Very few high school students had that confidence and were typically awkward in everything they did. Allison was vastly different though. She was sure of herself and moved with grace and finesse. He could see how so many of her class mates felt below her and/or became enamored with the blonde.



When she barked out another order for the group to return to the locker rooms he noticed her choice of clothing. Her shorts made her PE clothes look orthodox. The snug fitting spandex did indeed compliment her ass well, where her PE shorts failed to capture the perkiness of her bum these picked up their slack.

He smirked when he realized just what her intentions probably were by wearing them. They were more of a slap in the face for him and a reminder that he had no control over her out of class. He shook his head at her antics and followed his players inside.

Later That Night

Sun was currently in the showers helping the other students put the showerheads back in their rightful place. A couple of girls down the hall had found a box of them sitting in front of their door after returning from classes.

This gave Allison a little bit of time to talk to her mom without anyone listening in on their conversation-- assuming Chance wouldn't be around on the other end of the phone. The phone rang for a fourth time beside her ear and she was about to hang up when her enthusiastic mother picked up.

"Sunny! I didn't expect you to call so soon!"

"Well, I figured you'd want to hear about my first day of senior year."

"Most definitly, it's been awhile since I lasted talked to you..."

Her mom was quiet for a moment like she had something else on the tip of her tongue she wanted to tell her. She must have decided against it because she was soon rattling off questions regarding school.

"Tryouts aren't till next week so I'm only teaching workouts for after school till then. I don't think Sun will be much as help as a Cheer Captain, you know how shy she can be. We also have a new PE coach and he'll be coaching football too."

"Oh? What happened to Hulk?"

"Who knows. Retired? The guy had to have health problems with all the steroids he was probably pu--"

"Allison!"

Allison laughed at her mom's scolding. She could easily picture her mom's crinkled forehead and her small lips in a tight line as she reprimanded her.

"Anyways, what's he like?"

"He's... okay. He really likes following the rules, he's like another teacher really."

"Just don't get on his bad side, I know how you like to irritate people."

Allison inwardly laughed, her mother didn't even know the half of it.

"I would let you talk to Chance but he just left."

"No it's fine, I should really be getting to bed; long day."

"Okay... I don't want to keep you up all night. Call me Sunday, alright?"

"Will do. Goodnight mom."

"Why don't you call me mommie anymore? Com'n Sunny, I want you call me mommie." She whined over the phone, most likely pouting too.

"Mom, I-"

"I miss my baby girl, Sunny!"

"Fine. Goodnight, mommie."

Olive chuckled at her daughters less than happy voice but the her heart still heated up when Allison called her that. "Goodnight, Allison. Be safe."



A dial tone was soon left filling the silence instead of her mom's voice; the steady noise soon lulled her to sleep.