My Sugar's 16th

She swore that if she had to kick any higher for the pom squad that her tights were going to burst at the seams!

Jenna hated breaking in a new outfit when the competitions needed a new routine. She had done this since she was a little girl, but there were just some parts of the craft that annoyed her.

Her nose scrunched in concentration, trying to execute the timing on the routine because she had to kick, turn, then catch Stacy as she did her jump.

Yes, Harper High wanted more recognition, and there were scholarships involved! A part of her never understood why she needed money as a member of the cheer squad to go to college for a business degree, but she had to do whatever it took.

Her ponytail flipped around her as she caught Stacy, but one of the freshmen girls didn’t know how to lock her hands right. Stacy was caught okay, but Jenna had to grab her shoulder before she spilled out.

“Damnit, Kate!” the captain yelled.

The freshman girl winced and looked away as Jenna put her hands on her hips, staring down her captain.

“Hey, the squad hasn’t had to do jumps before! Give her a break!”

The captain’s plastic nose dipped downward, with a scowl creeping across her glossed lips. Stacy held her hands up to the captain, trying to calm her down.

“Bitch. I am a senior! It’s not my fault that I have to babysit.”

“How long have you done cheer,” Jenna asked. “Seriously, you think being two classes in high school is going to make you squad goddess? I was winning tap competitions while you were playing Barbies! The only reason I don’t have your job is that I’m a sophomore.”

“That, and you’re homely as fu-“

The whistle blew, and Jenna winced and relaxed her stance. All the other girls froze as the stocky, but muscle-toned coach started to stomp towards the girls. Her skin was perfect milk chocolate, but one look would have pegged her as the Track and Field coach rather than the pom squad. Her black hair was almost buzzed at the sides with a cherry coke swoosh to the side. Her nails were long but professionally manicured with the letters that earned her nickname; B O S S L A D Y.

“Ooooooooh! Did I hear some shots fired ‘round here?”

“… Yeah, Boss” Jenna admitted.

“I’m the captain! I don’t have to put up with stupid on my team!”

“Hmm! So only one of ya’ll firing blanks. Yo name is Captain Crunch, girl! You ain’t leaving until I see five-hundred.”

The coach snapped her fingers, and the captain’s face seethed with disgust as she slowly walked to the side of the gym and lay on the floor. Jenna winced and waited for her punishment. The Boss Lady tapped her nails against her clipboard, looking at Jenna as if she was going to turn it into a chalkboard.

“You steppin up. Good for you! Still, you gotta learn life ain’t fair. Two-fifty for you cause she’s the captain.”

Jenna sighed, putting her hands on her hips and pacing.

“How can she talk down to people when she doesn’t know as much as I do?”

“Welcome to Corporate America, baby. Ya’ll won’t understand now, but come that college life, ooooh girl! Step up, but don’t stick em out. They’ll cut em off, be it tits or balls.”

Jenna bowed her head as her head filled with memories of her father. She kept her head low but nodded, understanding the lesson. Stacy bit her lip and looked over to Kate.

“Hey Boss, could you give us a few pointers on catches” Stacy suggested.

“Ya’ll gonna need more than pointers if you gonna do Nationals! Run along, ya’ll! Form a circle and we gonna go over this one more time!”

The girls didn’t blink twice and dashed over to the middle of the gym. Stacy looked behind her as Jenna was doing her crunches. As she rose to do one, she turned her head to Stacy and winked.

She got to 248-

… then 249-

… then 250!

Then flopped to her back.

She looked at the ceiling with sweat pouring from her. All she could do was remember the hand her dad was dealt in life.

Her earliest memories were when he finally landed his job at the auto repair shop. Since she could remember, she was around autos. It was a surprise to her at first that he came home with a young dog with the money from his signing bonus. She used to have matchbox cars before the hyperactive thing kept trying to eat them, so she went to larger trucks and cars. When she was old enough for the remote control, she and her father would race the bouncing ball of fur around the room. Playing ball was okay, but the spirited thing always kept trying to outrun that little racecar.

Jenna’s mom and dad didn’t fight much, but it was always about his job. She kept begging him to stop picking up the slack because the company wasn’t giving him any promotions. Particularly when her younger brother, James, was born. Things got tight around the house, but she had dance lessons beforehand and was good. Her father always told her that if she worked hard, enough people would recognize her worth and would get paid.

It was the only thing that kept her spirits alive when he never showed up for her competitions. Sometimes those contests had the prize money to buy James’ diapers.

He kept insisting that one day he would get his promotion if he just worked hard enough.

Unfortunately, the only promotion he got was becoming an angel in heaven after a massive heart attack right after his tenth anniversary. Her mother couldn’t even sue them.

Jenna sat up and walked over to the circle as things were explained. She looked back on her “captain” who was doing the crunches slowly on purpose so she wouldn’t have to be with the rest of the team. Jenna put on a poker face and went back to work.

There would be no way that a bratty princess would have her spot next year.

As she walked, she let down her chestnut hair and retied it behind her with a braid to get the stray hairs out of her eyes. She reached behind her and pulled up her tights again, stretching the fabric away from her butt and across her granite thighs. While she was more comfortable in skirts, the tights did keep the perverts off of her goods.

The session finished and Jenna met Stacy and Kate in the locker room as she changed back into her clothes. Stacy had the short and perky look going with bright green eyes and blonde hair while Kate was skinny as a whip and still a bit flat around the chest, but her hair was long and black, and her face was almost like an elf.

“Hey Jenna, I kind of want to take Kate out for some Bighead Burritos. You want to come?”

“Can’t. It’s My Sugar’s sixteenth birthday.”

Stacy let out an adorable “aww” and her hands balled up in happiness.

“You two have been together for a long time! It’ll be good to spend the day with him!”

Jenna smiled but looked sad as she turned away to load up her gym bag.

“He hasn’t got much time left.”

Kate looked worried but darted her eyes away back and forth. Stacy’s shining face dimmed quickly and her hands fell slowly to her side.

“Don’t tell me the cancer came back!”

Jenna closed her eyes and nodded as Stacy walked over to Jenna and wrapped her arms around her friend.

“Aww crap, Jenna! You want us to come with you?”

Jenna returned the hug and smiled with a furrowed brow. Kate wasn’t sure what to say, resting her thin hands on the locker.

“I’m sorry,” Kate uttered.

“Don’t be,” Jenna assured. “We’ve kind of been preparing for this for the last year or two.”

“It’s still not easy losing someone.”

“Hey. Thanks. You’re alright!”

Kate looked away but had a soft smile on her face.

“I’m really not cheerleader material, but I wanted to… you know… try something new?”

“Something tells me you haven’t tried a Bighead Burrito” Stacy replied with a grin. “That would be something new too, right?”

Kate kept smiling but couldn’t lock eyes with the other girls.

“Hanging out with cheerleaders is definitely something new!”

Jenna silently wondered how she made it with such a shy nature, but she also remembered that she was one of the last people doing finger push-ups during the gauntlet at tryouts. She may not have had the charisma, but Jenna also noticed that Kate's hair was barely wet while she was sweating bullets.

Stacy scooped up Kate’s arm and started pulling her with her.

“I’ll take care of the new girl, okay? You go take care of your Sugar!”

Jenna nodded and hauled her gym bag strap over her shoulder. She texted her mom and waited by the end of the railing at the bottom of a long concrete staircase outside. The old white Toyota rolled along, slowing at the curb as Jenna waved. The older lady in the car had short hazelnut with dashes of gray in her bangs. She rolled down the opposite window to Jenna, showing her long-sleeved work shirt, rolled up to the elbow. The woman wore an apron that had various food stains, and a glob of turkey gravy fastened to a nametag which said “Marie.”

“Lost another cook, mom?”

Marie leaned back in the car seat and tilted her head over to her daughter with smudged eyeliner and a tired grin with a tint of faded pink.

“I can’t expect any of these kids to be like you-”

Jenna smirked as her mother stuck up her index finger to make another point.

“- and when I say “kids” I am over forty, so most of these guys who think they are grown adults still count!”

Jenna opened the side door and tossed her gym bag in the back. Both of them synchronized themselves as they laid back in their chair at the same time and sighed. The elephant was not in the room, but the heaviness about the subject lingered for a few moments. Marie pressed the button to roll up the window and left to take the two of them home.

There was silence, then a couple of glances to one another.

“James is with him at the house,” Marie began.

“He said he was cooking him something for his birthday.”

“Carrot and peanut butter cake. James wanted to do cookies, but he wanted to make sure they went down okay.”

Jenna’s face was still, but a tear fell from her eye. Her mother smiled sadly.

“He took care of you. He took care of all of us. He’s a trooper for lasting this long.”

Jenna remained stoic. Even around her family, she was the oldest, therefore the leader. Everyone needed to stay strong, even if it was her first true love.

The two pulled up to the house, and she could smell her brother’s baking. She would never have thought to put carrot cake and peanut butter together, and it was something she hadn’t had the pleasure of smelling before.

Leaving the car, her soul just relaxed, taking in the divine smell from her kitchen window. Marie smiled, watching her daughter relax and enjoy life for a moment.

“If your brother weren’t underaged, I’d hire him to be the cook.”

“Mom, he’s not going to be underaged forever.”

Jenna leaned against the car with a relaxed arm and a smirk.

“You can’t tell me that wasn’t your plan all along.”

Marie rested a finger on her lips with a wink while Jenna returned the wink and the motion of a zipper across her lips. The two of them walked into their house. It wasn’t a mansion, nor a run-down barn, but after the passing of a loving husband and father, they knew better than to live the high life off his life insurance.

James was the only bits left of his father. Jenna was so like her mother that some mistook them for sister. His scruffy black hair and solid frame show signs of his recent growth spurt. He used to be fat, and then he got taller.

… and taller.

It didn’t matter how much the basketball and football teams at his school kept begging; he just loved food and making people happy.

“Heeeeey! Cake’s done!”

It was hard to believe he was the younger brother, but those arms of his could move large sacks of flour with ease and give the best hugs.

“I’ve decorated his room! He’s just been chilling out and enjoying himself!”

Jenna sniffled.

She was in the house where nobody outside could see.

Opening up the floodgates, she just started sobbing in James’ shoulder. Marie quickly ran behind her and started hugging her tightly.

“Oh, sweetie.”

“Why do I have to keep losing the ones I love?!”

“Aw, Jen” James muttered as a few tears fell from his face.

His oven mitts were still on and his clothes still messy from flour.

Jenna couldn’t breathe as she sobbed, and eventually, the flour that was on his clothes got into her nose, and she started sneezing like it was pepper.

After about three sneezes, a giant coat of her snot covered her brother’s shirt.

She coughed and saw the mess pulling away from her brother with her hands on her face. James stood there, blinking with his arms spread open in shock. His face was in a cross between a wince and a laugh as he held his hands up.

“I’m gonna get changed! I was going to do it anyway! I’ll get my tissue box while I’m at it!”

Her embarrassment interrupted her grief just long enough to get a laugh from her. She wiped the tears from her eyes and noticed how much snot she had on her face.

“Oh my God!“

“I got you!”

Marie rushed into the kitchen and got a paper towel, and the two of them started getting rid of the goo. Having flour in the mix made it much worse.

James was freshened up in five minutes and rushed down with the tissue box when he saw the two girls finishing the cleaning.

“Here! You’ll need them for later!”

Jenna nodded and blew her nose one more time.

“Okay,” Jenna announced. “Washing hands!”

“Ditto” Marie added.

“Way ahead of you,” James finished.

After a good hand washing, Jenna finally looked over the cake and nodded. She stole a bit of the peanut butter frosting on her finger and had a taste of the first slice.

“Okay! Let’s get the party started!”

The three of them walked across the living room, the dining table, and into the most colorful laundry room, one could imagine. There were streamers, a happy “Sweet 16” sign over the drier door with ribbon-clad toys surrounding a large fluffy bed.

Inside was an aged beagle with speckled fur and a pair of perked floppy ears.

There was a tumor on his hip about the size of a large gumball, and his eyes were a hazy amber, but that snaggle-toothed grin lit up the room brighter than the candle on his cake slice.

Jenna’s tears faded, and it was as if she was four years old all over again.

“Heeeeey! Who’s My Sugar?”