Brooke frowned. “Sheisa legacy.”
Legacy? Did that mean what I thought it meant?
The others were silent for a long stretch of time, and then Chloe spoke. “Kiki’s out,” she said. “She’s got to be. Are we really willing to risk a people pleaser just because her mom was on a Squad back in the day?” Chloe’s voice hardened. “She’s only passably coordinated, she’s had private lessons out the wazoo and she still can’t tumble, and, correct me if I’m wrong, despite the fact that she was practically raised for it, she has no special skills whatsoever.”
Brooke held Chloe’s gaze for an uncomfortably long time. I might not have been the profiler here, but I was sensing some tension between the captain and Number Two.
Chloe looked away first, and then and only then did Brooke continue. “Zee?”
“I’d say out, Brooke,” Zee said, almost apologetically.
“Out,” Tara echoed.
“Out,” Brittany and Tiffany said in one voice.
Bubbles and Lucy shrugged.
“Out,” Brooke said finally. “So we’re down to April or Hayley.”
I was about to raise my bitquo argument again when Tara spoke. “Special skills?”
Brooke tapped the arm of her chair, and the girls’ files appeared on the screen behind her. “Both have been in the program since the sixth grade,” she said. “Both are exceptional cheerleaders. Our screenings suggest that Hayley has some aptitude for mountaineering …”
Hayley Hoffman? Mountaineering? Where did they get this stuff?
“… and April is surprisingly good at picking locks.”
“Lock picking,” I said loudly. “Well, that settles it. April’s our girl.”
Anyone but Hayley.
“We haven’t had a climber in a while,” Chloe said slowly.
Climber. Mountains. Hayley.
“This may have escaped your notice,” I said in the calmest voice I could muster, “but Hayley is evil.” The others stared at me. “I know, I know—evil and cheerleading kind of go hand in hand ….”
I was getting off track here, and I wasn’t winning any friends.
“But we’re talking about saving the world here, and a person like Hayley? All she cares about is saving herself.” I paused. “Plus she hates me, and as much as that doesn’t hurt my feelings …” I scoffed at the very idea! “… it just wouldn’t be good for Squad morale.”
Silence.
“Uhhh … go team?”
Brooke rolled her eyes, but then she shrugged. “April?” she asked the others.
One by one, they agreed, except for Chloe, who probably wanted to pad the Squad with a few more people who shared her thirst for my blood.
“April’s in,” Brooke said, not sparing Chloe a second glance. “I’ll pass our official recommendation on to my superior, and with any luck, we’ll be cleared to extend April an invitation to join the Squad this afternoon.”
Upon hearing this, I was both surprised and incredibly relieved. The surprise came because I never thought I’d liveto see the day when Queen Brooke referred to anyone as her superior. And the relief? That came because if Brooke had superiors who had to approve her recommendations for Squad acceptance, that meant that the fate of the free world wasn’tentirelyin the hands of my high school’s varsity cheerleaders.
Brooke cleared her throat and tossed her ponytail over her other shoulder. “Next order of business,” she said. “The president called. There’s been another leak.”
CHAPTER 7
Code Word: Thong
