"Hi David."
I looked up from my locker and saw 18-year-old Karen standing just a few feet away. She had always been nice enough to me and I, like everyone else in the whole school, had lusted after her since we were in grade school together.
"Hi Karen," I responded, like I usually did, smiling slightly, turning around to finishing getting my books out of my locker.
She stepped closer and I could feel her watching me. I was weird and I started getting slightly uncomfortable.
"Um, David," she started, "can you come to practice today?"
I shut my locker and turned toward her. "Practice?"
She bit her lip softly and seductively and nodded. "Uh Huh, practice. You know," she continued, making a few gestures to remind me that she was, after all, head cheerleader.
"Sure," I said, without thinking. "I mean, OK," I paused, looking at her curiously, "Well, why?"
She smiled again, innocent, charming, and beautiful. "Because a few of us were talking," she twirled her hair in her finger as she spoke, not quite looking at me, but not avoiding me either, "and we thought you'd be a really good guy to help us out."
I shrugged, "Sure, I'd love to."
Inside I was dying. Karen Braden had just asked me to come by and see her practice after school. This was like a dream come true. She was absolutely the most gorgeous girl in school and the fact that she was a cheerleader caused heart throbs in every boy in school, myself included.
"'K," she said, "3:30, after school, over by the track, you know where, right?"
I nodded and she turned and left. When she got about 20 feet down the hall, she turned, looked back and me and smiled.
The rest of the day passed without event, except for a few strange moments where I interacted with the other girls from the cheerleading squad. It was awkward in the sense that they were all being more friendly with me that I had every remembered. Not exactly flirting, but something close to it. A general warmth and friendliness that I had not experienced before, at least not at that level.
All of them had mentioned seeing me this afternoon.
When the final bell rang, I was more than a little apprehensive about what was to follow. I had gathered my things and made my way up the hill behind the school to the track.
All eight of them were there, in a line, practicing a cheer.
Just as I made it to the edge of the track, Karen noticed me and broke out of the formation. She ran toward me and when she reached me, she jumped up, wrapping her legs around me, giving me a big hug. She squealed as I hugged her back.
When I put her down, she looked at me, smiling, barely able to contain her excitement. "I am so glad you came, David."
The others were coming over to join us and Karen told me to go ahead and sit down.
When I did, she climbed on my lap, wrapping her arms around me, resting her head against my shoulder.
The other seven girls, watched smiling and chatting among themselves.
"Here's why we asked you to come David," Karen said.
She looked up at me smiling, "We want you to join the squad. We asked Mrs. Park if we could have a guy join the squad and she said we could. Since the guys always pick girls to be equipment managers for the football team and stuff, we told her we wanted a guy to help us."
She squirmed a little on my lap.
"So we picked the cutest guy in school," she said and Kari interrupted, "Who doesn't know he's cute."
Karen wrinkled her nose and looked at me, "Or at least doesn't act like it."
"So, you want me to do cheers and stuff?" I asked.
They all laughed.
"No, silly," Karen laughed, "we have other things for you to do."
I smiled.
"We've been thinking about this for a long time," Karen started, "A loooooooong time," Susan added.
Karen continued, adjusting herself again in my lap, "And, for lots of things we talk about, we need a boy. And you, David, are the boy we picked."
I became very confused.
"So, what do I do?" I asked, looking around.
"Whatever we want," Amy said, speaking up.
"And whatever we say," Susan added.
"And in exchange," Karen explained, "you get eight girlfriends."
My head was reeling.
"Stop it," I protested, "you guys are putting me on."
"No we're not, David. We want you to join the squad. We really do," Kimber added, another girl I had a crush on for what seemed like forever.
"So, what is it that I have to do again?" I asked.
Karen looked at the other girls and laughed.
"OK," she said, "It isn't a normal boyfriend girlfriend thing."