The Princess and the Plague (Life after Camp Kumoni) By Anistasia Allread Edited by Nick B “Did I smear my gloss?” Erika asked after they parted. “Not enough.” Tricia winked.

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Eric slapped off his alarm and stretched before swinging his legs out from under his covers. He rubbed his arms down his stomach and waist, relishing the soft feel of his nightgown.

He quickly made his way into the bathroom, slipping off his night wear and climbing into the shower. Bursts of flashbacks of his nightmare haunted his shower. He made sure to shave his legs and touched up the scant peach fuzz on his face, before drying off and pulling on some clothes.

“Good morning,” Mrs. Martin greeted over her mug of coffee. “Sleep well?”

Eric paused for a second. “I had a bad dream.”

“Want to talk about it?” she asked.

“I don’t remember much of it.” he lied,

“Okay, well, I hope it won’t affect your day at school.”

“I’ll be home a little late tonight, there’s a new club starting up at school,” he mumbled.

“Oh?”

“It’s a political cartoon club,” Eric avoided eye contact. “A few kids who like to draw are getting together to learn how to draw political cartoons.”

“Oh.” Mrs. Martin sighed.

Eric grabbed a banana and a muffin, when a knock came at the door. “That’s Samantha, see you tonight.”

Samantha greeted him with a smile. “How did your Saturday go?” she asked.

“It was okay, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Dad decided to spend the morning doing ‘guy’ stuff.”

“What did you do?”

“Went to the batting cages.”

“That sounds like fun. I wish my dad would take me to the batting cages.”

“Really?” Eric asked.

“My dad doesn’t spend a lot of time at home anymore. I think there are too many reminders of Summer around.”

“I’m sorry.” Eric took her hand and squeezed it.

“It’s all right. At least I now know what really happened,” she said squeezing back.

Eric knocked once on Tricia’s door and entered without waiting for anyone to answer.

“Hey,” Tricia greeted them from the kitchen.

“How was your weekend?” Samantha asked Tricia as Eric went upstairs.

Half an hour later, Eric came down wearing white jeans, a bright blue top and white Keds.

“You look cute. Did you put that one together?” Samantha asked.

“Yes, is it okay?”

“It looks comfortable.” Tricia rounded the table and came up to Erika. Erika leaned in and kissed her.

“Did I smear my gloss?” Erika asked after they parted.

“Not enough.” Tricia winked.

The three girls of Columbine cabin gathered their packs and headed out to school.

Victoria was sitting on a bench out front waiting for them. “There you are,” she sighed.

“What’s up?” Samantha asked.

Victoria smiled. “I’ve got some paperwork for Erika.”

“You’re done with it?” Erika was astonished.

“I am the newspaper editor,” Victoria stated, “I have computer programs that can do just about anything,” She handed Erika an envelope.

“These will pass as the real things?” Erika asked.

“They had better. They should as long as no one tries calling some of the phone numbers on there.”

“Should I mail them in or walk them in?” Erika questioned.

“Walk them in and say that the school sent them to your house by mistake,” Victoria instructed, “As long as they are sealed, they should take them.”

“So what High school did I go too?” Erika asked.

“Medfield,” Victoria smiled. “I almost made it Riverdale but figured the Archie reference was too conspicuous. So it’s Medfield which I got from some of the old Disney films.”

Tricia snorted. “That is too perfect.”

Victoria and Samantha left Erika and Tricia at the office door. Erika handed the envelope to the receptionist who thanked her with a smile.

“Taco eaters,” someone down the hall called out.

Erika looked around, wondering what was so funny about someone eating tacos.

A few girls made icky faces as they passed.

“What’s going on?” Erika muttered to Tricia?

“I wonder if they like sour cream on their tacos,” another male voice rang out.

“Taco eaters refers to lesbians.” Tricia smiled. “They’re talking trash about us.”

Erika’s face drained of color. “No, not this. Can’t I ever get away from this crap?”

“Calm down, Erika,” Tricia instructed.

Erika was beginning to hyperventilate.

“Here, come in here.” Tricia dragged Erika into the girl’s bathroom. “Get a grip.”

“They’re teasing us, Tricia.” Erika’s face was red. “They won’t ever stop; they’ll hound us and hound us.”

“Don’t make me slap you,” Tricia admonished.

The bell rang for class. The bathroom was already clear, but Tricia could hear the halls clearing as well. “First of all, you never let their teasing bother you,” she instructed. “If they see that it doesn’t bother you, they’ll stop. Second, their calling you a lesbian, validates that they don’t see you as anyone other than as Erika Summers.” She smiled, and made Erika look her in the eyes, “They don’t think of you as the plague, but as a lesbian cheerleader.”

“Rally girl,” Erika corrected. “Samantha and Krystal are cheerleaders.”

“Whatever. The point is, they don’t see you as a ‘you know who’.”

Erika smiled at that.

“So, when they call you taco eater, fish face, carpet-muncher or pussy-pouncer, just smile and tell them to stick their burritos someplace else. They are just jealous that pretty girls like us are off the market, untouchable.”

Erika nodded.

Tricia leaned into her and pressed her lips to Erika’s, her tongue penetrating through her lips. She pulled away and smiled, “Now, let’s get to class before we get detention.”

“So… “Jake greeted Tricia and Erika second period in home room, “Did you see me play ball, or were you two too busy sucking face?”

“Was that what they called what you were doing?” Tricia smiled sweetly, “Playing ball? It looked more like you rolling around in the mud with boys. If I wanted to watch mud wrestling, I would have taken Erika to a girl’s match at one of the bars.”

Erika watched as Jake’s imagination churned the image over in his mind, missing the slight she had just given him.

“Alright class, let’s get some learning done.” Mrs. Anderson demanded.

Tricia leaned close to Erika. “See? That’s how you defuse them.”

Erika nodded understanding.

–o0o–

“So did you tell your parents that you are on the cheer squad?” Erika asked Krystal as they made their way from their last class to the commons area.

“Yes,” Krystal smiled.

“And?” Erika poked.

“They didn’t believe it at first, but once they got over their shock, they were thrilled. I think my mom is buying the entire family game tickets for the next home game so that they can see me.”

“That’s awesome.”

“It’s embarrassing,” Krystal stated.

“It’s loving and they are proud of you.”

“What about you?” Krystal asked. “Did you tell your parents?”

“Hell no! They don’t even know about this” Erika gestured at the clothes she was wearing.

“Are you going to tell them?”

“Not unless I have too,” Erika swallowed hard at the thought of her father finding out. “I know I need to tell them. Dr. Farts wants me to tell them. Of course, she just found out Saturday.”

“Dr. Farts?”

“My shrink.”

“Her name is Dr. Farts?”

“No; it’s Dr. Barts, I call her Dr. Farts.”

Krystal looked embarrassed and amused at the same time.

“Hey, Krystal,” a voice called down the hall to her.

Krystal and Erika looked behind them to see Jorge threading his way through the throng of students.

“Hey Jorge,” Krystal greeted.

“I spoke to Melinda this morning,” he smiled as he nodded a greeting to Erika, “She wants us to show you the basics of lifts and catches before we work out, okay?”

“Sure, I guess,” Krystal shrugged.

“Eat a lot of protein; you’re going to need it over the next few weeks.”

“Okay,” Krystal shrugged, “I’ve been doing that anyway.”

“Great! See you after school.” He smiled then turned down a different hall.

“That was weird,” Krystal bit her lip.

“I think he likes you.” Erika bumped into her friend.

“Yeah, right. A cute guy cheer leader is going to be interested in a fat girl.”

“You’re not fat.” Erika protested.

Krystal looked at Erika with a look of rebuff.

“Sure, you’re a little overweight, but look how much you lost over the summer and you’re still on your diet,” Erika pointed out, “You’re going to lose even more now that you’re on cheer.”

“We’ll see.” Krystal was doubtful.

The two girls walked over to the table inhabited by Samantha, Tricia, and Victoria.

“Please tell me that you were able to process the paperwork,” Erika pleaded.

Victoria nodded. “I input what I could into the computer and the paperwork is in the pile to be filed.”

Erika felt like a weight had been lifted off from her shoulders. She breathed a huge sigh of relief. This would buy her time to establish herself at the school and help give her time to work things out with her mom and Dr. Barts and eventually her father.

“Hey there, Erika, Tricia,” Julian walked up to the table and greeted them. He looked around and smiled, “Samantha, you were looking good at the game.”

“Thanks, Julian.”

“Victoria, when is the first issue of the paper coming out?”

“Next Friday.” Victoria smiled.

Julian turned to Krystal, “Hi, I’m Julian.”

“Hi, I’m Krystal,” she greeted.

Julian nodded. “It’s a pleasure meeting you Krystal.”

“You’ll be seeing Krystal on the cheer squad at the next game,” Samantha informed him proudly.

“That is awesome!” Julian smiled. “I can’t wait until the next game to watch you.”

Krystal blushed.

Julian turned to Erika, “I was wondering if you and your friends,” he nodded to the others, “would like to come to a party some of my friends are throwing this Friday.”

Erika looked from Julian to the others in askance. Samantha nodded with a smile.

“That would, ah, be great.” Erika smiled.

“Cool, can’t wait to see you ladies there.” Julian smiled to all of them before heading over to join Stan.

Erika’s gaze followed him for about twenty paces then looked back at Samantha, who was smiling from ear to ear.

“Somebody likes you,” the blonde teased.

“I doubt that,” Erika shook her head. “He sat behind us at the game. He saw Tricia and I kissing.”

“That only makes guys want you even more.” Samantha winked. “They view you as a challenge now. Guys like going after things they can’t have. You and Tricia are seen as lovers now, so many guys will try to ‘convert’ you.”

“That’s just gross.”

“I’m afraid it is true,” Victoria agreed with Samantha.

–o0o–

Erika exited the bathroom wearing gray sweats and school T-shirt. Other girls on the rally squad were already mingling in groups while stretching on the mats laid out on the gym floor.

“Hey there, Erika,” Taylor greeted. “Come stretch before we start in on practice.”

Erika’s heart beat a bit faster. She was nowhere near as flexible as the girls doing the splits in front of her. She pasted a fake smile on her face and started to attempt to do the warm-ups near the rally squad leader.

“Okay, let’s get to work.” Taylor went up before the group. “Let’s teach the new girls our dances and cheers.

In no time, Erika was sweating. Everything outside the area of the mat was a foggy blur as she focused all her attention in learning the cheers and dances.

“Take a deep breath, Erika,” Taylor said from beside her. “This is your first practice, no one here expects you to learn it all in one day.”

“But I suck,” Erika protested.

“You don’t suck, you are just rough. We’ll polish you into a dancer yet,” She smiled. Their leader swung around to address everyone. “Okay, let’s take a break.”

The girls went over to the side of the gym where there was an ice chest filled with bottled water.

Taylor picked one up and tossed it over to Erika, who dropped it and had to chase after it. She smiled with chagrin then opened it and relished in its coolness.

“I’ll need you to stay for a few minutes after practice,” Taylor said sitting next to her. “We have a loaner uniform to lend to you until yours gets here.”

“Oh.” Erika was astonished that she would be getting a uniform so quickly. She still hadn’t proved herself as a dancer yet. She looked at Taylor, her smile fading to a serious expression. “Taylor, I have something that came up that might cause a problem.”

“What is it?” the dark girl asked.

“My parents are insisting that I take self-defense classes.”

“That’s always good. How does it affect us?”

“I need to schedule it for one afternoon during the week. Is there an afternoon that isn’t as busy as the others that I can miss for the class?”

“Hmmm, that is a problem.” Taylor paused, “Why didn’t you say something during try-outs?”

“I just found out this weekend,” Erika apologized.

“Tuesdays will be the best, but we really need you here every day for the next few weeks to learn our routines.”

“I think I can arrange that,” Erika nodded. “It’ll be a week or two before my mom can find a class for me.”

“That’s all I can give you, Erika. As I told you in tryouts, we have to be dedicated to our squad and our school.”

“I understand. I’m sorry Taylor. My parents are insisting on this class.”

“I know how parents can be.” she took a long drink of her water. “Let’s get back to work, shall we?”

Erika redoubled her efforts at learning the cheers and dance moves. By the time Taylor called an end to the practice, Erika was mentally as drained as her body was.

“Good job girls,” Taylor told them, “We covered a lot of ground today and the new girls have learned a lot in a short amount of time. I’m calling practice a bit early today so that I can give the new girls some uniforms.”

Taylor led Erika and the few other new girls to the locker room. It was the first time Erika had been in the girl’s locker room. It had a slightly different smell than the sweaty towels and humid air of the guy’s locker room. A slight sweetness of perfume tinged the air.

“Here you are girls.” Taylor pointed to a few red duffle bags sitting on benches, “These are only temporary uniforms until yours come in. You are to wear them on Fridays to show school spirit. Being rally squad, we do not join the cheer squad at away games. Hopefully your uniforms will arrive by then.”

Erika found the duffle that had her name on a tag attached to the handle. She opened the bag and found the red and white uniform.

“Thank you,” Erika told Taylor. She picked up the bag and exited the gym joining Samantha and Krystal.

“How did it go?” Samantha asked.

“I’m exhausted,” Erika sighed.

“I know what you mean.” Krystal dragged her feet, “I hurt all over.”

“We could always go soak in my hot tub,” Samantha suggested.

“God, that sounds great.” Krystal nodded.