Go Team! – Dena, open

[Dena Zouvelekis]

Pep rallies were easily Dena’s favourite school events. Not because she was full of school spirit, though she did enjoy the chance to yell and jump around and cheer. No, it was the cheerleaders. The pretty, scantily dressed cheerleaders. And this pep rally was going to be even better than any that came before it, twice as good in fact, as it had twice as many cheerleaders. Regardless of them being Gould or Silver cheerleaders, she was happy to support them all. Too many people supported the football teams instead, which was just wrong. The cheerleaders clearly had more skill.

But now it was firmly just looking and nothing else, now that she was a taken girl. She liked not being single, she really liked it, especially since she was no longer single because of Caitlin. There was no cuter girl in both schools, Dena knew for certain. She’d certainly looked enough. And she was hoping she’d run into her girlfriend tonight so they could make plans for over the weekend. She was really in the mood for an anime marathon, and Caitlin was clearly the best person to have that kind of fun with.

She was getting a little impatient waiting for the whole thing to start, even though she knew she arrived pretty early. “I love pep rallies!” she said to no one in particular, just anyone without ear shot as she bounced around from foot to foot. “I should have brought snacks though.”

[Sawyer Lee James]

It didn't take long for Sawyer to get into the spirit of the pep rally and as she got every single snack she could think of to stuff in her bag, she looked around, excitement clear on her freckled face. She had actually changed her clothes after gym and was now in a water proof clear poncho over a grey t-shirt and dark blue jeans. Her hair was up in a tight ponytail with her bangs swept across her forehead. The rain had slowed down but the wind had picked up, so she was pretty much set to brave any weather she was going to encounter.

Once she was sure she had as much snack as she needed for the rally, she scoured the place for anyone familiar but found no one except on the field. Bree was getting ready and Sawyer yelled out her name, even though she knew it was engulfed in both the wind and the noise from the band. She stepped over a few people to get to an empty seat that was right beside a girl chattering excitedly. Perfect! A fellow enthusiast!

Sawyer plonked herself beside the dark haired girl and introduced herself. "Hi! I'm Sawyer Lee James but you can call me Sawyer. Or Lee. Or James. Whichever you think is awesome to call me. I have snacks!" Sawyer had the girl look into her literal goodie bag.

[Dena Zouvelekis]

Dena was used to people not knowing how to take her at first. She supposed that unless you were a friend, or a really big fan of her family’s TV show, on first impressions she could be seen as being a little bit odd, excitable and more than a little colourful. Well, that was exactly how she was, but she liked to think of herself as a good kind of odd. So to have someone who seemed just as excited, and colourful, as she was sit beside her was very good news indeed.

And the girl had a really cool name to top things off. “I like Sawyer, I think I’ll stick with that. Unless I think of any really cool nicknames to call you.” she laughed. “And I’m Dena Zouvelekis. You can call me Dena. Or Zouvelekis if you like, but it’ll be hard to get your tongue around constantly.” Dena giggled.

The only thing that could have topped this good fortune off was if Sawyer had snacks, and she did! “Mmm, snacks...” she all but drooled as she looked inside her new friend’s bag, trying to pick out what to have. There were so many yummy treats after all, it was a very hard decision, and she needed to make sure she made the right choice. In the end, she settled on a small packet of Pringles. “Thanks! You’re the best.” She opened it and offered Sawyer some first, before getting stuck into it.

“It’s really cold.” she pointed out in case the other girl didn’t realise this, the thin jacket she was wearing not the best protection against the wind. Not that she minded the cold too much, and soon she was sure she’d be jumping around with the cheerleaders, so that would warm her up. “Cool poncho by the way. I probably should have thought of something like that. But I don’t mind getting a bit wet.” she laughed again. Very little ever bothered her. “So, are you meeting anyone here, or did you just bring lots of snacks in case you got hungry? Cause that’s a lot of snacks.” she teased playfully.

[Sawyer Lee James]

Sawyer laughed, her voice pleasantly raspy and her nose scrunched up. Her whole body shook up and down as she laughed. It was a team effort, bringing Sawyer to her laugh and her whole body participated. It had taken awhile for her family to adjust to that but her father thought it was endearingly hilarious and btoh her sister and mother just decided to live with it. It wasn't like they could ever change Sawyer. And it was just a laugh, but it was something Sawyer did with pride. She loved that her new at least acquaintance was just like her in that same aspect and she showed it by hugging her tight and letting her have her pick of the snacks first.

"Zouvelekis is coolio!" Sawyer exclaimed, immediately taking a liking to the name. Sure it was going to be tough to remember or spell but if Dena was as excitable as she was, Sawyer didn't mind making the effort to remember it. "I've never get to call any of my friends by their last name coz they're usually boring stuff like Adams or Ryan or I dunno...Wood." Brandon Wood was 'the most boringest boy' Sawyer had ever encountered; at least according to her, so calling him by his last name would just be sad. "So I'm gonna start calling you Zouvelekis. You don't have any other siblings or nothing do you? Coz I don't wanna go shouting down the halls for you and like...get ten of your siblings turning around and gawking at me!"

Sawyer of course didn't know about the Zouvelekis' TV show so the name sounded like a tall redheaded raspy voiced girl among a sea of blond and brunette shorties with high pitched voices. So she assumed Dena was herself one of a kind. That would be awesome, shouting Dena's name and having her scream back Sawyer's name. They had names that were one of a kind! That was awesome to Sawyer.

With Dena's compliment, Sawyer beamed widely. "Aw thanks. I try. You should keep that. I might finish this bag by the time you finish that small one." Sawyer giggled. It wasn't that much of a stretch. Sawyer was on a constant sugar high due to the speed of how she ate practically everything. Snacks included. it was also how she had enough 'blubber' to keep her warm enough in the winter. Or so she thought. Willow was always saying that anyway so of course Sawyer believed her. Willow was older!

At the admission that she was cold, Sawyer took off her poncho and handed it to Dena. "There ya go! Don't turn it down, I'll just shove it down your neck anyway." And she would too. Little else bothered Sawyer and being viewed as the resident crazy was a breeze for her. Dena's question made Sawyer laugh. "I think I was supposed to meet someone but...I can't really remember." She scratched the side of her head, trying to remember if she had promised anyone that she would meet them but she drew up blanks. "Oh well. If it was important, I would have reminded myself." With post it notes reminding her of post it notes she had posted everywhere she knew she would find them easily to remind her of what she forgot. She was just that girl.

"And I'm hungry all the time." She said as a matter of factly. "It's a good thing I like running because if I don't, then I'd end up looking like...a blueberry like Violet Beauregarde from Willy Wonka!" The reference made her giggle. The remake of the 1960's classic cult book was her favourite movie of all time. Johnny Depp's appearance in it made her like it all the more. "And I was also hopin' I had enough if anyone else I meet might want some too so win win for me! I don't have to share and I get to help someone get over their sweet tooth." It all made sense in Sawyer's head so she wasn't sure if Dena caught all that. Not a lot of people could see sense in Sawyer's words.

[Dena Zouvelekis]

The seemingly random hug when Dena went to study the goodie bag took her by surprise, but she pretty quickly embraced it, being a touchy person herself. And it was nice to hug someone, and be hugged back by someone, instead of someone being weirded out by the randomness of it. And besides, Sawyer was warm, so a warm hug on a cold day was always welcome. As was snacks. There was never a time that wasn’t good for snacks.

“Glad you think so.” Dena giggled, not remembering anyone else telling her they thought her last name was cool, or coolio, as the case may be. Of course, she thought it was coolio too, she liked it for the exact reason Sawyer pointed out, it was unique and far from boring. And so it meant there weren’t a heap of Zouvelekis’ running around. Well, there were, but they were all related, so that was okay, she didn’t mind that. “Nah, if you shout out Zouvelekis, you won’t get ten of my siblings gawking at you. Seven, at most.” she grinned, knowing for certain then that the other girl hadn’t seen her family’s show before, or even heard of them, again, the name wasn’t common, nor was the number of kids in the family. “But if you call it out, I’ll hear and call straight back to you, so they’ll know the next time you yell it’s for me. So it’s all good.” She did like the idea of calling back and forth through the school, just another chance to be loud and have fun.

“Really? You could eat all of that real fast huh?” she queried, looking inside the bag again just to double-check the amount of snacks Sawyer had. It was a lot of food. “I thought I was the only one who ate that quickly. Cool.” Dena couldn’t wait to watch her get stuck into it all then, it would be funny. She wouldn’t complain though if more of it was thrust upon her. Though the Pringles were really, really good. Which was why half of them were already gone within one minute of starting them. It was really only a small packet, she reasoned.

Staring at the offered poncho for just second, Dena happily took it with a big grin. “Well, I wouldn’t want that now. So thank you.” she laughed, quickly slipping it on. It was a big improvement already, but she didn’t want Sawyer getting cold so she wouldn’t. “But let me know if you start getting cold so I can give it back, alright? I mean it! I’ll feel really bad if you get sick or something, so you can’t do that to me.” she joked. But once the warning was given, and the poncho all on, she got back to work on finishing the chips. Someone had to after all, and she was more than up to the task.

“I’m sure you would have.” Dena agreed, finding it amusing that someone could potentially arrange to meet someone somewhere, then turn up even after having forgotten that they were supposed to meet someone. “And if you were supposed to meet someone here, I’m sure they’ll find you anyway. We do kind of stand out.” she pointed out with a laugh. “I mean, look at everyone. It’s a pep rally. So shouldn’t everyone else be peppy too? It’s just a bit of wind and rain, is all. Spoil sports. I love pep rallies!” she repeated, before emptying the little tube of Pringles. Ah, they were good. She would miss them.

“That would suck, being hungry all the time. I’m not, for about five minutes after I’ve eaten. Then I get hungry again.” she grinned. “Especially around ice cream. Or cake. They make me hungry, they do. Ice cream cake is the worst. Always out to get me, taunting me with its deliciousness.”

“Mmm...I’d like to go to a chocolate factory. One with Oompa Loompas! I love them! They’re so cute and squishy. And yeah, it’s all good. You don’t look like a blueberry. You’re not blue.” she teased, playfully bumping Sawyer’s shoulder with her own. “It’s win win for me too then! Cause I get to hang out with you AND get goodies! This is the best pep rally ever! So when is it going to start anyway? They’re taking forever.” she complained.

“So, you go to Silver right? So we’re liking opposing sides.” Playfully, she narrowed her eyes, holding that pose for just a second before smiling. “Except today, cause it’s pep rally day, and it’s about unity and stuff, so yay! Hey, after this, did you want to get something to eat? Like burgers, or pizza or something?” An idea occurred to her then, and she excitedly grabbed Sawyer’s arm with both her hands, ensuring her attention. “We should invite friends too, so it’s a big group of us! That’ll be fun!”

[Sawyer Lee James]

Sawyer smiled widely when her hug was reciprocated. She was usually either pushed away or feel like she's hugging a tree in that the person she's hugging didn't hug her back so she was pretty excited when Dena hugged her back. She was one of the few people who ever did. When Sawyer let go, she dug her hand deep into her bag and grabbed the first thing her hand touched and pulled it out. Beef jerky! Ripping the wrapper enthusiastically, she tore off a piece and chewed on it.

"I sure think so." Sawyer grinned. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped when Dena said she had seven other siblings. "Homigod," she whispered urgently. "You have like...you could make your own softball team!" Sawyer exclaimed. "Man, that would be cool having so many siblings. I've got just the one and she doesn't even like dancing." She pouted, tearing another piece off her jerky with her back teeth. "I bet your siblings like to dance. Is it hard to get them to dance? I like dancing. It sucks nobody but my dad likes dancing." Sawyer lit up. "You should totally meet my dad. I'm sure my dad would love to meet you!"

"Oh yeah, totally!" Sawyer grinned at her newfound friend. "Well I at least eat faster than my sister and mother. They say I inhale the food instead of chewing. Well, I haven't choked on anything just yet so I guess I'm pretty safe." She shrugged, getting into another packet of beef jerky. "Try a jerky!" Sawyer took the bag off her shoulder and put it in the middle of them, opening it up so Dena could gain more access to the snacks.

"Oh naw, I don't get cold too easily. My sister says it's because I've made so much blubber in my body that I can never get cold so easily." Sawyer said, turning to Dena with a grin. "I eat too much you see? So I guess that's valid right?" It wasn't so much for confirmation that she added the last bit. It was just how she talked. "Oh yeah!" Sawyer nodded in agreement about the meeting someone thing. She supposed Dena was right. Let them find her. It's not like she even remembers having to meet someone. "You're pretty smart, aren't you?"

"Aw man! A chocolate factory! I think there's one down at 27th but dang it doesn't have Oompa Loompas now does it?" Sawyer didn't have the same adoration for the tiny stuck up haired beings from Loompaland but she had to admit they're pretty squishy. "No I'm not blue." She laughed out loud, liking the shoulder bump she was given. "Yay to hanging out and goodies for the win!"

"Ugh, totally right? OH! There's the band!" Sawyer pointed out to the marching band. She laughed at the dude holding up the big drums. Well not at the dude. The big drums were funny looking! She gasped when Dena pointed out that they were rivals. "That's totally true." She narrowed her eyes too and then laughed as well. "Well we don't have to be rivals period! We could totally be buddies now! And that's an awesome idea! I love pizza. I love cheese. I love...okay so I love food, end of story," she laughed and nodded enthusiastically when Dena suggested they have a group pizza outing. "Totally! I'll call up a few of my friends and we could hang!"

This really was the best pep rally ever! Okay so maybe she needed to go to more pep rallies than this but this was already awesome!

"Oh there's my friend!" Sawyer waved again at the cheerleaders with a huge grin. Ella D'Agustino saw her and waved back. "OH! Ella's having a party later! She invited me and told me to get some friends coming too. You're my friend right? So you're totally invited! Maybe we could spring for some pizza. I hear they're gonna have cupcakes there too. Ella's an awesome baker!"

[Dena Zouvelekis]

At Sawyer’s first reaction on the amount of siblings she had, Dena thought that something was wrong. What, exactly, she had no idea, but when someone took to whispering and staring slightly bug-eyed, with a jaw that was almost hitting the floor, it usually meant something was wrong. Quickly thinking over what she had spoken beforehand, she ruled out anything in that. She didn’t think she had said anything that was offensive. Nor did she think that the number of siblings was the problem. Cause that wasn’t anything for someone to be offended about, at least, she didn’t think it was. And it wasn’t like Dena had anything to do with it.

But then she realised that the bug-eyed staring wasn’t due to worry, or offence, or any bad emotion, rather excitement. The number of brothers and sisters she had had long since ceased being a point of excitement to her, she did have fourteen years to get used it. And thought having that many siblings around was great at times, other times it wasn’t as good, such as trying to get seconds at dinner before her brothers finished everything off, or trying to get ready in the morning when there was so many others wanting the bathroom too.

This new excitement was contagious though, and soon she found herself as thrilled as Sawyer seemed to be. “We totally could! Though I wouldn’t trust my brothers on the team, they can’t concentrate on anything! And they’re always causing trouble too, but it’s funny trouble, so it’s not too bad. Actually, maybe that could help. They could distract the opposing team and we would win for sure! That’s a great idea!” It really was, and she couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of it herself by now. She wasn’t sure if the rest of her family would go for softball, but it didn’t have to be softball, she would be happy with any sport, especially if it involved some running around. “And we could even have matching uniforms too!” She was so excited about this.

“Well, I think I like dancing the most out of all of us. But how can you sister not like it?! It’s dancing!” That clearly didn’t need no further explanation, especially not to Sawyer. “But they don’t dislike dancing. Oh! Caitlin likes dancing! Even more than me! And she’s much better at it than me too. Caitlin’s my girlfriend. She’s Silver too, like you! She has all these clips on YouTube, and they’re really cool. Some of them are of her dancing. There’s even a few up there of the two of us. It’s just fun, bouncing around. I love dancing!” She didn’t even blink at the invitation of meeting Sawyer’s dad. If the guy liked to dance, he was clearly cool. “Wish my dad would dance.” she pouted herself, before smiling. “Sure, would love to meet him too!”

“Thanks! Mmm, jerky.” Dena smiled, happily taking a couple of pieces to munch on. She really did love food. “You would be fine at dinner time in my house then. You have to eat quickly before everything goes.” she giggled. It was hectic, but it always made dinner time fun. “I don’t usually get cold often either. Though, I don’t know about blubber.” she grinned. “But I’m always moving around all the time. So that could keep me warm. And I don’t know about that. My sister Celest, now, she’s really smart. But I do alright.” This display of modesty was accompanied by another giggle.

“I never knew there was one there. We so have to go! I love chocolate. And yay! I love goodies and hanging out too!” She had no idea what Sawyer was laughing at until her gaze followed where her finger was pointing at and almost instantly burst into laughter. The guy with the drums was funny! He almost looked like he was about to fall over. If he did, that would be bad for him, like it might hurt and all. But it would also be even more funny.

“Ok, that sounds better to me! Being rivals seems like so much effort anyway, like, don’t you have to be mean and all? And I don’t want to be mean, especially not to you. So yay to being buddies!” There was a lot for Dena to be cheerful for today. “Cheese is really good though. I love when you bite a slice of pizza and it’s all stringy, mmm.” She was getting hungry just thinking of it, despite the fact that she, at that exact moment, was taking another bite of jerky.

“Party? Well, that might be even more fun than going out to pizza. Let’s do that, and get pizza another time. So we can have twice as much fun!” It was clearly a win-win situation to her. Especially if cupcakes were to be in attendance. She waved happily at Ella, though it was likely the girl had no idea who she was. That didn’t matter though. “Wait, party, cupcakes, and pizza? Count me in for sure! And of course I’m your friend. How many people are going? Like, can I invite a friend or two? It’ll make it more fun, and there’ll be heaps of us! And so heaps of pizza! I hope there’s heaps of cupcakes too.”

She would have mentioned her love of the food at this point, but the emergence of cheerleaders got her attention. “I think it’s about to start!” Dena told her new friend excitedly, looking forward to getting her cheer on. Even during parts where she wasn’t meant to cheer. It didn’t matter, it was all in good fun. “Pep rallies are the best, don’t you think?”

[Sawyer Lee James]

Laughing at Dena's excitement, Sawyer tore into a packet of Chips More, handing some to Dena as well. "They could always suddenly start dancing on the field. OH! My cousins once set a fireworks display during a game and they won. Wait...wouldn't that be cheating? Naw...it's just a distraction. My cousins are way awesome at distracting people. And confusing people. They sure confuse me a lot. Then again I get confused a lot." She paused to think of all the things that confused her and found herself scratching the back of her head and staring off to space.

Then she heard the word dancing and suddenly everything snapped back into place. Dena was talking about dancing and girlfriend and Silver! Sawyer should know the girl then. Caitlin...Caitlin...the only Caitlin she knew was part of the Alderman triplets. Sawyer grinned and nodded when her thoughts were further confirmed by Dena telling her about all the YouTube videos. Sawyer stared at Dena and recognition passed across the redhead's face. "Oh! Oh! You're the girl!" Sawyer laughed. "I know a celebrity!" She sprayed a bit of her cookie on her own poncho. Closing her mouth, Sawyer giggled and wiped off the cookie spray. "Sorry. So you're a YouTube celebrity. Cool cool."

She missed something. Okay backtrack. So Dena was a YouTube celebrity with Caitlin who was a girlfriend from Silver. That's about right. "So you guys must have had like loads of slumber parties with each other." She had a big grin on her face imagining Caitlin and Dena with a bunch of other girls braiding each other's hair and having pillow fights, playing truth or dare under a sheet tent. Must be awesomesauce. She had to persuade her dad to let her hold a slumber party. She would definitely be inviting Dena and Caitlin.

"Sounds totally awesomesauce. There's never good stuff happening during meal times in my house. We've got our own plates with our own portions. Luckily my dad saves some for me for our very own supper. My sister and mother are health conscious you see. And I'm not. Neither is my dad but we both love to run and keep our bodies moving so it's pretty okay for us to go on binges." Sawyer shrugged. "And blubber's pretty cool. Let's me make belly rolls." She pulled her top off just below her bra line and did exactly what she said. She had no shame, it was as simple as that. "Celest is such a pretty name." Sawyer said mid roll, dropping her shirt and smiling dreamily at Dena. "Celest Zouvelekis...she must be pretty. Pretty names usually come with pretty faces. Like I've got an awesome name and I...well I'm pretty awesome looking don't you think?" The redhead gave the brunette a huge toothy grin. "Yeah...you can't deny it."

"Aha! You should invite Caitlin to join us! I think they give out discounts for like group tours or something." Sawyer rummaged through her bag and found a tootsie roll and ripped off the wrapper before sticking it into her mouth, letting the stick dangle in the corner of her lips. "Awww...I don't want to be mean to you either!" She moved forward and squeezed Dena in her arms before turning to the field. "Wow this pep rally is taking WAY too long to start." The Silver Freshman craned her neck to see if it had already started which it hadn't so she returned her attention to possibly the bestest girl in the whole pep rally with more pep than the pep rally itself.

"Homigod, that's my favourite type of cheesiness too!" Sawyer laughed. "We've got like TONS in common! You're my new best friend." She decided before giving Dena a sideways hug. She saw Ella wave back at Dena with her pom poms. "Go Ella!" Sawyer screamed hoarsely and waving enthusiastically. Again she returned her attention to Dena, nodding when she talked about inviting more people to Ella's place for the party. "Her house is pretty huge so I think a few people wouldn't hurt. And knowing Ella, she'd probably be whipping up a million batches under the hour. "I'm definitely sure Ella's going to have cupcakes up the yin yang. Wait...ew no! Mountains! Kitties! Giraffes!" The silly mental image Sawyer had come up with finally disappeared but her previous train of thoughts went as well.

"Wait...what were we talking about?" Just as she finished her sentence, Dena announced the arrival of the cheerleaders. Sawyer jumped up, her hand squeezing Dena's as well. "Woohoo!" she was one of the few who was jumping up and down for the cheers. It was at this time that a girl came up with a Spartan hat to commemorate the unified stand Silver and Gould were supposed to have. Sawyer immediately put hers on but it was too big and it drooped over her forehead, always covering her eyes.

"It's awesomesauce specially with you here!" Sawyer yelled over the accumulative noise. She turned with a huge smile for Dena before dancing on the spot, trying hard to copy the cheerleaders' moves.