Maple Faucher had wanted a spot on the varsity cheer squad since she watched them nail a stunt at the fall assembly. The flyer went up, held, and dropped clean into waiting arms. Maple's tail curled around her own ankle. If they saw her balance, they'd want her. But tryouts needed a current squad member to vouch for you, and Maple didn't know a single cheerleader. She had a goal and no door. Then the roster shifted third period. A new girl took the seat beside her: Maya Hartwell, the squad captain. Everyone knew that dark stare. Two freshmen near the pencil sharpener went quiet when Maya sat. Maple decided to make a friend. She smiled and slid her notes across. "You missed the reading. You can copy mine." Maya glanced at the page, then at Maple. "Thanks." She copied three lines and slid it back. Maple tried again. She asked about the weekend. She asked about the teacher. Maya answered in four words or fewer each time, then looked at the board. Maple's tail began to puff. She pressed it flat against her chair. The teacher announced a pop quiz. Groans filled the room. Maple's tail swelled before she could stop it. It fluffed to twice its size and knocked her pencil to the floor. Maya watched the tail. "That's not nerves," she said. "That's a reflex. Fast one." Maple's face went hot. "It does that. It's annoying." "It's balance," Maya said. "You climb?" Maple stared. Nobody had guessed that before. "Fences. Trees. My tail keeps me steady up high." Maya set down her pen. The quiz waited. "Show me at practice. Today. Three-thirty, the gym." She said it flat, like a fact, not a favor. Maple's chest tightened. She had spent the whole period trying to charm a way in. The tail she hid had done it in ten seconds. At three-thirty Maple stood in the gym doorway. The squad ran a pyramid across the floor. Maya broke off and pointed at Maple. "Everyone. This is Maple. She's trying out. I'm vouching." The word landed. A few girls looked Maple over. One asked if she had ever stunted. Maple shook her head. "Doesn't matter yet," Maya said. "Get up on the beam by the wall. Walk it." Maple climbed the low beam. Her tail swept out and settled. She walked the length without a wobble, turned, and walked back. The girls stopped talking. Maya nodded once. "You're in the pool. Tryouts are Thursday." Then her voice went clipped. "But my flyers already drift off the count. I don't need a beam-walker. I need someone who can hit a mark on a beat, in the air, with people watching. Thursday shows me if that's you." Maple's door was open. Behind it stood a harder wall than the one she'd just cleared.

Practice ended, and the other girls filed out of the gym. Maple lingered by the low beam, replaying the pyramid drill in her head. Maya had vouched for her. That word still hung over everything. But being in the pool meant nothing if she froze Thursday. She pulled her bag onto her shoulder and turned for the door. A girl blocked her path. Muted pink hair, a cutesy face, and eyes that did not match the face at all. Maple had seen her fly during the drills, hitting every mark clean. This was a flyer chasing the same open spot. "You're the vouch," the girl said. Flat. "Katharina. I want to know how you got it." "Maya saw me balance," Maple said. "On the beam." Katharina didn't move. "Nobody gets vouched off a beam walk. You have something on her." She stepped closer. "Tell me the dirt. I won't say a word. Then we both get what we want." Maple's stomach turned. "There's no dirt. I didn't blackmail anyone." "Everybody has something." Katharina's voice stayed soft, which made it worse. "Just tell me." "There's nothing to tell," Maple said. "She watched my tail work. That's all." Something shut behind Katharina's eyes. The cutesy face went cold. "Your tail," she said. "Right. The tail." She looked Maple over slowly, the ears, the tail, the whole of her. "So the captain's charity project is a house cat. Do you nap between drills? Chase birds on the field?" Maple's tail puffed before she could stop it. It swelled thick behind her. Katharina saw it and almost smiled. "There it goes. Cute. They'll love that Thursday. A jumpy little animal on the mat." She let the words sit. "The other girls will hear how you got in. I'll make sure." Maple felt the old comment rise. Too much to deal with. She had spent months turning that over, letting other people name her first. Her tail shook with anger, and for once she looked straight at it instead of hiding it. "You want the truth?" Maple said. She climbed onto the beam in one move. Her tail snapped out and held her steady, dead level, six feet up. She walked its length without a wobble, turned, and walked back. "This is why she vouched. Nobody handed it to me. I earned it up here." She dropped down and faced Katharina. "Tell the whole squad if you want. I'll show them the same thing Thursday. Under pressure. You'll be standing right there when I do." Katharina's jaw tightened. She had no answer. The soft face had nothing left. "We'll see," she said, and cut it off there. She walked out. The doubt did not spread. Maple had shut it down in the empty gym, alone, on her own two feet and one steady tail. But now Katharina wasn't just a rival. She was an enemy with a reason, and Thursday she would be watching for Maple to slip.

Thursday's tryout was two days off when Maple walked into the gym. Maya waited by the mats, arms crossed, her whistle still. A flyer sat on the bench nearby, an ice pack pressed to her ankle. Maya turned as Maple came in. "We lost a flyer," Maya said. She kept it short. "Bad landing during warmups. She's out for Thursday." She looked Maple over. "That leaves the top spot on the pyramid open. The hard one. I want you in it." Maple's mouth went dry. "I haven't drilled that spot. Not once." "I know." Maya didn't blink. "You've got the balance for it. Nobody else has your tail." She handed Maple a folded uniform, indigo with gold trim, a bright "C" on the chest. A pair of white sneakers with indigo stars sat on top. "Change. We start now." Maple pulled the uniform on in the locker room. It fit. She laced the sneakers, breathed, and told herself the beam had been higher than this. When she came back, Katharina stood near the mats, already stretching. Maple knew her from the empty gym two days ago. The soft face, the cold eyes. The girl who called her a house cat and swore the squad would hear how she got in. Katharina watched the uniform slide over Maple's shoulders and said nothing at first. Maya set the count. "Top of the pyramid. Two bases lock your feet, you rise, you hold, you dismount clean. Ready." The bases lifted Maple. She wobbled at the top, then found it. Her tail snapped out and steadied her, level, high above the mats. She held four counts and dropped into their arms. "Again," Maya said, and turned to check the other stunt group. Maya's back was to them now. Katharina moved in close under the pretense of spotting. "You're a beat slow," she muttered. "You keep dropping early. She'll see it Thursday." Maple rose again and held. "Still slow," Katharina said, flat. "That's charity, not cheer." Maple's tail puffed. She caught it, forced it flat, and used it. She rose a third time and held six counts, dead steady, then five, then landed clean each drop. Maya glanced back once and nodded, then moved on. She never heard a word Katharina said. Practice ended. Maple peeled off the sneakers, arms shaking, the spot half-learned but hers. She had held the top. She hadn't fallen. Katharina waited by the door. She looked at the uniform in Maple's bag, then at Maple. "You held it today," Katharina said. "With me two feet away." Her voice stayed soft. "Thursday there'll be a crowd. Judges. Every eye on you." She pulled her own bag onto her shoulder. "You'll have to try harder than that." She walked out. Maple stood alone with the uniform. She had won the spot. Now she had two days to make a stranger's routine her own, under a hundred eyes, with Katharina watching for the wobble.