Cheerleading Can Be Murder (Horror High #1) by Carissa Ann Lynch Read Free Book Online

we did fifty sets of each jump, and one hundred push-ups—not the girly styled push-ups either. In no time, I’d completely forgotten about the psycho-breather in the bathroom. It was probably just some upperclassmen trying to scare me anyway…
    By the time we broke off into our groups to practice, we were all exhausted and breathless. However, today was the last day to practice the group routine together before tryouts, because tomorrow we would begin training for individual routines.
    We started the group routine with our hands on our hips, and the first several minutes included doing simple kicks and flirty dance moves. But then the routine transitioned to a complex set of running back tucks, and a stunt at the end with Teresa standing with her arms extended in a V on top of mine and Brittani’s hands, while Amanda supported the back. It was a pretty tough lift, but we’d been doing it well in our practice sessions.
    We ran through the routine several times. It was almost time to do our mile and go home, but we decided to practice it one last time. Our final run-through seemed to go even better than the last, and Teresa’s balance was perfect as we lifted her in the final stunt. She held the move for several moments, just like she was supposed to. Normally, we lowered her down properly, allowing her to use our hips as stepping points for getting down.
    But suddenly, Brittani let go of Teresa’s right foot and took a step back. In what seemed like slow motion, she fell so fast there wasn’t enough time for me to react. She hit the floor with a sickening thud, and there was the unmistakable sound of something cracking. I gasped.
    She let out a high-pitched scream, grabbing at her ankle desperately from a fetal position on the floor.
    I fell to my knees beside her, as did Amanda. “Don’t move.” I forced myself to look down at her ankle. It was twisted at a bizarre angle and a sizable lump had formed above her foot. No doubt it was broken. At this point, I could only hope there was nothing else broken. She had fallen so fast and hard, and from pretty high up.
    “We need an ambulance, Coach Davis,” Brittani called out in an abnormally calm voice for such a panicky moment. Coach Davis was already on her cell phone, talking to a 911 operator, while the other girls gathered around Teresa, trying to soothe her pain with kind words and support. I couldn’t believe this had happened.
    “I did it for you, ya know…” Brittani whispered in my ear.
    I spun around, gaping at her. “You… what ?”
    Suddenly, a chill ran up from my spine to the base of my neck. I stood there, staring at Brittani, completely flabbergasted.
    “Shhh…” Brittani put a finger to her lips. “I’m helping you out by clearing more space on the team for you, silly,” she whispered, smiling strangely. Then she winked at me, her lips curling up into a humorless smile. I stared at her wide-eyed, unable to hide my horror.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Twelve
     
     
    Needless to say, Coach Davis let us off the hook when it came to running our mile that day. Teresa was wheeled out on a gurney by two paramedics. We all knew but didn’t want to say it out loud—there was no chance in hell she’d be able to cheer this season.
    I was still in shock from Brittani’s confession, and unsure what to do with the information. I couldn’t prove that she dropped her on purpose and I wasn’t sure anyone would believe me, anyway.
    As Amanda and I climbed into my mom’s Camry, I knew my mom could tell that something was wrong simply by looking at my ashen expression.
    I told her about Teresa’s “accident.” I wanted to tell her the truth, but I knew my mom would make me tell Coach Davis if she knew what really happened.
    I barely talked the whole way home. “You okay, Dakota?” Amanda asked before climbing out of the back as we pulled up in front of her house. I nodded solemnly, swallowing hard.
    “Everyone knows it wasn’t