Genesis opened the door to the gym. There she saw Ramona in her cheerleader's outfit, talking to the cheerleading coach Mrs. Wilson. "Why hello, Genesis," Mrs. Wilson said when she saw Genesis. "Welcome to the cheer squad!"

Genesis forced a smile. "Thanks, Mrs. Wilson," she said.

"Here's your uniform," Ramona said, tossing Genesis a cheerleader outfit. "The other girls are already changing."

"Got it," said Genesis. It wasn't until she was pushing open the door to the girls' locker room that she realized what she was really doing. She was marching right into the girls' locker room at school. As Gene, he'd schemed with his friends about how they could sneak in there and get some pictures of some girls in their underwear. Now Genesis didn't have to "sneak" into a girls' locker room or bathroom, since she actually was a girl. It would've been an opportunity to be a sort of double agent for her friends, but all her old guy friends didn't even remember her as a guy. Her encounter with Wallace was proof enough of that.

When Genesis rounded a corner, she saw that the rest of the cheerleaders were already changing into their uniforms. Genesis recognized a few of the girls in there. There was Talia Adams, who somehow looked even skinnier in her underwear. There were the Warren sisters, Ally and Amanda. There was also another girl who looked vaguely familiar, though Genesis couldn't quite place it.

"Hey," said the familiar-looking girl. She was about Genesis' age, with dark brown skin, beetle-black eyes, and curly black hair that went to her shoulder blades. The girl had already taken off her shirt, revealing a blue sports bra and a well-toned abdomen. "You're Genesis Rookwood."

"Yeah, that's...me," said Genesis.

"I sat next to you in History last year," the other girl said. "Do you remember me?"

"Oh yeah, I do," Genesis remembered. "You're...Charlotte Shetty, right?"

"Yes," said Charlotte. "You used to help me out with the assignments Mrs. Butterman gave us."

"That's right," said Genesis. Truthfully, she remembered no such thing. Gene had never really given Charlotte much attention. But in the newly created "timeline," Charlotte had actually been something of an acquaintance to Genesis. Genesis just hoped Charlotte wouldn't bring up something Genesis didn't remember.

"So you're gonna be a cheerleader now," said Charlotte. "Even though Ramona Dunby is the captain, and you hate her?"

"Yes," Genesis said ruefully. "My parents made me."

"That's right," said Ally Warren. "Isn't Ramona your stepsister now?"

"Unfortunately, yes," said Genesis. She undid her belt and started to pull down her jeans. "My dad married her mom over the summer."

"That sucks," said Amanda Warren. "People like Ramona give us cheerleaders a bad name."

"You said it," said Ally. "Ramona deserves to eat lunch by herself on the floor at the edge of the cafeteria."

"No offense, Genesis," Amanda said quickly.

Genesis had been taking off her shirt, but she froze when she heard what Amanda said. "Why would I be offended?" she asked.

"Well, Ramona's your stepsister now," said Amanda, "And it's kind of rude to bad-mouth someone's family members..."

"Oh, Ramona and I are NOT family," said Genesis. "And being on the cheer squad with her isn't gonna change that."

"Don't worry, being a cheerleader isn't all bad," said Talia. "All the boys are gonna want you."

Genesis frowned. "For better or for worse," she said.

"Oh yeah," Talia said, nodding understanding. "You might get some unwanted attention sometimes."

"Actually, I did just now," said Genesis. She told them about her run-in with Wallace Mendoza.

As she was talking, Ramona came in. "Did you say Wallace Mendoza?" she asked.

"Yes," said Genesis. "On my way here, I ran into him, and he tried to hit on me."

"Did he, now?" Ramona said with a slight smile. Ramona knew Gene used to be friends with Wallace. From the look in her eyes, she must've been savoring the idea of Genesis being sexually harassed by one of her former friends.

"That's Wallace," Charlotte said ruefully. "He's drawn to whatever has a vagina."

"Hey," said Ally, "Could you not say that word?"

"Vagina, vagina, vagina," Ramona said flatly. "Get over it, Ally. You have one, don't you?"

Ally hung her head in shame. "Yes," she admitted.

"Then you can call it what it is," said Ramona. She turned to Genesis and saw that she'd managed to slide on her cheerleader uniform. "Wow," Ramona said, her expression softening. "That uniform looks good on you."

"Does it?" Genesis looked at herself in the mirror, and...yeah, she DID look really hot! The uniform was somewhat tight, showing off Genesis' sexy physique. It boasted the orange and black colors of their school's mascot, which looked pretty good with Genesis' light skin and dark hair. In that moment, Genesis believed what Talia had said-she would be a magnet for guys.

"Yes, you do look really good," Ramona said with, surprisingly, no hint of sarcasm. "But looking good is only half the part. Let's see how well you do with actual cheerleading."

***

Mrs. Wilson oversaw the girls as they went through some basic cheerleading routines. At first, things went okay. Genesis did her jumping and pom-pom shaking as Mrs. Wilson and Ramona instructed. No one really said anything, so she wasn't sure how good of a job she was doing. But she did feel kind of silly doing it. Now that she thought about it, she had no idea how necessary cheerleaders really were. Okay, they definitely served their purpose of making guys get hard in their pants, but did they actually help boost football players' morale and push them to do better? Were there any studies done to prove it? Genesis decided she was going to look it up when she got home.

Towards the end of practice, however, things started to go awry. This was where Ramona had everyone practice forming a pyramid. She and Mrs. Wilson laid out a padded mat and started organizing everyone based on their weight. Since Genesis was in the middle weight class, it was decided that she'd be part of their pyramid's middle layer. "Okay, Genesis," said Ramona, "We're gonna have Charlotte and Talia be the ones holding you up, while you and Amanda hold up Ally. Got that?"

"Got it," said Genesis. She watched as Charlotte and Talia both got down on their hands and knees with their backs held out rigidly like steps for Genesis to climb on. Okay, Genesis said to herself. You can do this. She climbed onto Charlotte's and Talia's backs. It felt really awkward, having her hands and knees resting on two different surfaces, both of which felt like they could collapse at any moment. It was all Genesis could do to keep her balance on her fellow cheerleaders' backs.

Out of the corner of her eye, Genesis saw Amanda climbing onto the backs of two of the other cheerleaders. She braced herself, knowing that Ally would be climbing on top of her next. Genesis did her best to maintain her posture as Ally climbed up and tried to find her footing. But when Ally accidentally pinched the skin behind Genesis' shoulder blade, she reflexively cried out in pain. Before she knew it, Genesis had lost her posture-as did Charlotte and Talia. The whole cheerleader pyramid collapsed, with everyone landing in a heap on the floor.

"What was that?" Ramona asked. Even though no one was hurt, she still looked rather annoyed.

"It was Genesis," said Talia. "She's the one who fell."

"I didn't mean to!" Genesis defended. "Ally pinched my shoulder blade, and I-"

"Come on, now, Genesis!" Ramona scolded. "You have to maintain your posture! If you keep this up, you might get someone hurt! Remember last year when Alexis Britt fell, and she had to go to the hospital?"

"How would I know?" Genesis spat. "I wasn't even on the cheer squad last year!"

"Yes, but surely you must've heard about it?" Ramona shot back. "It was the talk of the school. Oh, but you probably didn't know, because you were too busy chasing girls to-"

"Girls!" Mrs. Wilson said, getting between the two of them. "This is NOT helping. Genesis, you need to work on holding your formation. And Ramona, you have to remember that Genesis is a beginner. If I recall correctly, you messed up a lot when you started cheerleading, too."

Ramona bit her lip. Her coach was right. "Sorry, Genesis," she said, though her tone didn't sound sorry at all.

Not wanting to look at her slimeball of a stepsister anymore, Genesis turned to Ally. "Sorry, Ally," she said.

"No, I'm sorry," said Ally. "I'm the one who pinched you."

"Well, accidents happen," said Genesis.

***

After practice was over, Genesis steered clear of Ramona. She didn't even bother going back into the locker room to change back into her regular clothes. She just kept her cheerleader uniform on and left the gym.

"Hey," said a female voice. Genesis turned and saw Charlotte coming up to her, still in her cheerleader outfit too. "Sorry about what happened back there."

"Oh, it's not your fault," said Genesis.

"No, I'm not talking about that," said Charlotte. "I'm talking about Ramona."

Genesis slowly nodded. "I hate her," she said. "I can't believe she's my sister now."

"I'll bet," said Charlotte. "I don't know if you knew, but I used to be best friends with her."

Genesis froze in her tracks. "Really?" she asked.

"Really," said Charlotte. "Back in elementary school, me and Ramona were best friends. We hung out a lot back then, but when I ended up going to a different middle school than her, we kind of fell out of touch. By the time we got to high school, she'd already kind of..."

"Become a bitch?"

"Yeah. I mean, we're still kind of friends, just...not as close as we used to be."

"Interesting." Come to think of it, Ramona did seem relatively civil towards Charlotte during the cheer practice. Genesis hadn't really picked up on it, since she was so busy trying not to screw things up, but hearing about Charlotte's past with Ramona made her realize it.

"But I've always felt bad for you," said Charlotte. "I've seen you get in fights with Ramona at school. It's pretty depressing, knowing how nice Ramona used to be."

"Ramona, a nice person?" Genesis said with disbelief.

"That's how she was when we were younger," said Charlotte. "But Ramona, well...she's seen some things in her life."

"Oh yeah," Genesis said vaguely. She'd heard that from her father way too many times-that Paulette and Ramona were recovering from a bad marriage. Maybe she'd felt bad for them at first, but its effect had long worn off-especially when Genesis reminded herself of how mean Ramona was to her.

"Just try to be patient with her," said Charlotte. "She's a piece of work, but she does have a softer side. Sometimes."

"Let's hope so," said Genesis.

Charlotte looked at her phone and saw a text. "Oh, my ride is here," she said. "But I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thanks, Charlotte," said Genesis. As she watched Charlotte walk off, she realized something else. She may have just found something that would be valuable to helping her survive life as a girl-a friend.

To be continued...