True Colors

By Rose Nichols

Tryouts

What am I doing? I don’t belong here.

Mia Chen pressed herself against the concrete wall of Ridgeview University’s gymnasium, pretending to be absorbed in her phone while the rest of the girls clustered in loud knots across the glossy hardwood. She tried to make herself invisible, but there was no hiding in this ridiculous cheerleader uniform. The spandex crop top clung to her torso and exposed the sad, bony dip beneath her sternum, and her flat chest made the blue and orange fabric look like a child’s toy costume. The skirt was worse; a pleated polyester that swished when she moved, drawing attention to her trembling legs. Mia had spent an hour that morning, alone in her dorm, tugging the waistband above and below her navel, measuring which position felt least mortifying. None of them helped. She looked like a stick bug with glasses and sneakers.

The real girls, the ones with ponytails and gleaming teeth, filled their uniforms out as if the fabric had been tailored just for them. Mia watched them in the wall of mirrors, how they laughed and spun, how they didn’t care that the uniform showed some skin when they stretched. One girl stood at the center of it all.

Natalie Thompson.

As a senior upperclassman and the captain of the cheer team, her voice cut through the hubbub, clear and confident. Even here, with a dozen bodies shifting and tumbling around her, Natalie didn’t blend. She bathed in attention with one hand on her hip, chatting with some of the other seniors. Her hair was so blonde it was almost hard to look at, slicked into a high ponytail that whipped with every step. She sported a perfect tan, and her red lips framed a perfect smile that disarmed everyone around her. She wore her uniform with the grace of a pageant queen who’d won the crown before the contest even started. Her crop top strained under the pressure of her full breasts, and the skirt rode just high enough to take Mia’s breath away.

Before her first day at Ridgeview, Mia had never had a crush, let alone a relationship. The boys in high school were just… background, like the trees or furniture. She’d gone to Homecoming with a boy from calculus, danced in a circle with other girls while he loitered near the punch bowl, then ghosted his texts. Her mother called it being a late bloomer. Mia called it being a defective loser.

But the first time she had seen Natalie at the school’s pep rally, Mia felt like she had been struck by lightning. Her pulse spiked, her chest got all tight, and she couldn’t focus on anyone else for the whole event. Mia had spent the rest of orientation stalking Natalie’s Instagram, obsessing over every post, brainstorming the right way to approach her.

So she’d signed up for cheerleader tryouts, trusting that her high school gymnastics classes would get her through the day. She hadn’t told anyone about it, not even her roommate Leah; she just showed up at the posted time in the uniform they had handed out. That’s what all of this was for, really. Mia didn’t care much for cheerleading, and honestly hated being in the spotlight in a skimpy outfit, but she cared very much if Natalie noticed her.

“Okay, girls, huddle up!” Natalie clapped, the loud crack echoing across the gymnasium. The other hopefuls gravitated closer, forming a loose ring around her. At first Mia hung back, but then, reminding herself why she was here, she started pushing her way to the front of the group. She tried not to make eye contact with anyone as she wormed into the crowd. Natalie waited until the circle stilled, and then began walking around the inside of the circle, taking an assessment of each candidate as they stood at attention.

“First off,” Natalie said in a clear voice, “great turnout. Seriously, you girls look awesome.” There was a smattering of giggles in response, and Mia watched Natalie’s perfect mouth as it turned up in a grin. “Today is just a warm-up, so don’t stress. We’re here to see how you move, not to haze anyone. However.” Mia’s heart skipped a beat as the captain came to a stop in front of her. Natalie looked her up and down with an inscrutable expression.

“We don’t mess around on this cheer team. We train hard and cheer harder. If you’re not looking for a serious sport, now is your opportunity to leave.”

Mia swallowed. She tried to find a safe place for her eyes, but everywhere else was worse than just meeting Natalie’s gaze. So she did, for a fraction of a second, and her face burned from the attention.

“Any objections?” Natalie’s lips quirked in amusement, challenge, or both.

Mia shook her head, then realized the question was for everyone. The rest of the circle chorused a “No,” which dissolved into more giggles. Mia joined half a beat late, flushing at the sound of her own timid voice.

The rest of the morning passed in a blur of awkward choreography and basic routines. Mia stumbled through counts, her face burning every time she missed a cue. She was certain that Natalie, orbiting among the girls with the ease of a planet among asteroids, had clocked every mistake. She couldn’t keep track of the steps or her heartbeat, which thudded so loud she was afraid it might be audible over the pop music blasting from the gym’s speakers.

After an hour, her calves were burning and her crop top was glued to her body by sweat. When the ordeal was mercifully over, Mia sat on the bleachers away from the other girls and waited for her rejection to be made official. So much for her intricate plan to get the girl of her dreams. Just when she was getting ready to leave, however, she heard the squeak of sneakers walking towards her, and looked up. Natalie was standing right in front of her. Mia’s mouth dried out. She adjusted her glasses, smearing sweat across the lens.

“It’s Mia, right?” Natalie said with a teasing smile. “Nice work out there!”

Mia’s face burned. Why had she even tried? “I— I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have wasted your time…”

“What do you mean?” Natalie asked. “You made it! Welcome to the team!”

Mia blinked, not sure she’d heard right. “Wait, what?”

Natalie leaned in, and the smell of her clean sweat hit Mia like a drug. “You’re on the squad. But those glasses? Babe, you gotta lose them. You look like a church mouse peeking out from behind them.”

Mia cringed internally. “But I can’t see without them,” she stammered in a small voice.

Natalie made a face that was superficially sympathetic. “Contacts, Mouse. Or maybe your eyes will adjust. You want people to notice your face, not your prescription.” She winked, then straightened, the conversation apparently finished.

Mia clutched the edge of the bench and tried to imagine life without her glasses. Getting a prescription for contacts would take some time. But she couldn’t say no to Natalie, especially now that things were actually beginning to go well. “I’ll see what I can do,” she finally managed to answer.

“Good girl. See you on the field!” Natalie said. She patted Mia’s bare thigh, then strode away, her sneakers squeaking in time with the music still pulsing from the gym speakers.

Mia was left bewildered at what had just happened. She waited for the world to reassemble itself around her, but all she could do was stare at the patch of skin where Natalie’s hand had rested. A joke, probably. Still, it left a permanent blush on Mia’s cheeks. She slipped out of the gym early, cutting through the puddled sunlight of the quad, and tried to reconstruct the scene in her head. Natalie, of all people, touching her. A pat, not a slap. Good girl. The phrase repeated, then echoed in the blank spaces after. She nearly tripped twice on the way back to her dorm, knees still loose from exertion and brain refusing to let go of that moment.

The butterflies in her stomach lasted all the way back to her dorm room. But as soon as she opened the door, she was accosted by her roommate.

“Mia, where have you— What the hell are you wearing?”

“Hi Leah… sorry for not answering your texts.” Mia wasn’t sure how to tell her friend what she was up to. They had been friends since middle school, and due to some luck and similar interests, they had ended up at the same college. Leah was sitting at her desk, laptop and mouth open as she looked at Mia’s outfit.

“Is that a cheerleading skirt? Are you, like, in a cult now?” Leah’s tone was half-joking, half-concerned, but Mia’s skin itched with embarrassment all the same.

“It’s for tryouts,” Mia muttered. She hovered by the door, bag still on her shoulder, hoping Leah would lose interest. “I got in.”

For a second, Leah just stared. Then, “You’re kidding me.”

Mia shook her head and tried to busy herself by pulling off her sneakers. Leah snorted. “You hate sports.”

“I don’t hate sports,” Mia lied. The phrase sounded alien in her mouth. She tried to strip off the crop top as quickly as possible to get rid of the topic of conversation. “I just thought it’d be good to meet people.”

Leah couldn’t contain her laugh. “What? People suck!”

“Not… all of them.” Mia threw the uniform in the laundry hamper and hoped that would be the end of it. But Leah wouldn’t let it go.

“Not all of them? Wait, did you meet someone cool? Is my best friend gay for cheerleaders now? About time you came out of the closet.”

Mia tried to shrug off her teasing. She could feel Leah grinning at her as yanked open her dresser and pulled a frumpy sweater. “I’m not— It’s not like that,” she deflected.

Leah snorted, soft but not unkind. “You literally just joined a squad of hot girls in skirts and crop tops. Are you hearing yourself?” Mia’s face prickled. She tried to sound casual, like she found the whole thing as funny as Leah did. “I just thought it’d look good on applications. Leadership and stuff. It’s not because of… girls.” She said the last word with a stupid little shrug.

Leah closed her laptop, gaze sharpening. “Mia. Please. You’re blushing so hard you can see it from space.” She smirked. “So. Who is she?”

Mia tried to roll her eyes dismissively. “It’s not like that,” she said again, and even she didn’t buy it. “I’m not— I don’t, like, get crushes on girls.”

“Of course not,” Leah rolled her eyes. “Just one. Natalie Thompson, right?”

Mia froze. Was it that obvious? But how could she not know, when Mia had been stalking Natalie like a serial killer for the past month? Leah had even caught Mia scrolling through the captain’s feed one time; of course she couldn’t fool her best friend.

“Okay, you got me.”

“Jesus, Mia,” Leah said, mouth curling up sly. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you crush on someone this hard. At least not enough to do something so drastic.”

Mia flopped backwards onto her bed, pulling a pillow onto her face to hide from the attention. Leah crossed the room and collapsed onto her own bed, legs crisscrossed, staring at Mia with that know-it-all look that made Mia want to throw things. “You should be careful, you know.”

“About what?” Mia said, muffled by the pillow.

“About Natalie.” Leah answered. “Haven’t you heard the tea about her? She basically rules Ridgeview; the last guy she dated left the school when they broke up. People say she’s either a major bitch, or just likes breaking hearts. Regardless, I don’t think she’s even bi.”

Mia pulled the pillow off her face. “Well she was nice to me.”

Leah shrugged. “Hey, I’m just giving you the word on the street.” She looked at Mia with mild concern. “Just… don’t let her eat you alive, okay?”

Mia scoffed miserably. “You don’t need to worry about me. It’s not like it’ll go anywhere; I’m just another loser on the team.”

Practice started the next morning, two hours before most students had even rolled out of bed for class. Mia woke up with her stomach already knotted with anxiety. Leaving her glasses on her bedside table, she brushed her teeth in the dorm bathroom. Mia could still see a few feet in front of her without her prescription, and she stared at her own foggy outline in the mirror. Mouse, she thought. Maybe Natalie was right; maybe that was why she hadn’t made any new friends this year. But today was her chance to change things!

When she got to the gym, the other girls clustered around the edges of the floor, stretching in pairs, doing lazy cartwheels to limber up. Mia heard the buzz of her phone in her gym bag; probably Leah texting to remind her not to do anything stupid. She ignored it and picked a stretch mat as far from the main huddle as possible. She reached for her toes and listened to the gossip threading through the air. None of it was about her of course; she always stayed under the social radar. She was so busy pretending to be invisible that she didn’t notice Natalie until a shadow fell across the mat.

“Mouse, you made it!”

Mia looked up at the upperclassman looming over with hands on her hips. Her eyes were drawn to the band of pale thigh showing between the hem of Natalie’s skirt and the elastic of her knee-high socks, and from Mia’s position on the floor, she could almost see a hint of panties peeking out between the pleats. Her whole face went hot.

“Morning,” Mia managed to respond, realizing too late that she was staring. She snapped her neck down and focused on her sneakers.

Natalie looked Mia over with a satisfied smile, and then moved behind her on the mat.

“You’re not stretching right,” Natalie said. Before Mia could react, Natalie’s hands were on her shoulders, pressing her gently forward. “You want to stretch from your hips, not your back. Like this.” Mia’s nose nearly touched her knees, the muscles in her thighs screaming, and then, when Mia tried to jerk upright, Natalie’s hands shifted, steadying her by the nape of the neck.

“Hold it for ten.” Her fingers splayed across Mia’s spine, the touch light but firm, pinning her in place.

Mia counted silently until Natalie finally released her grip. “You need to work your flexibility,” she said. “Come on, let’s do straddles. Face me.”

Mia hesitated, but Natalie was already lowering herself onto the mat, arranging her legs into a split that looked as effortless as breathing. There was no way Mia could get that wide without tearing a ligament, but she shuffled forward and mirrored the pose as best she could, spreading her legs against the mat until they burned. She felt like a wishbone being pulled apart, her thighs shaking with the effort.

“Reach for me.” Natalie leaned in, forearms flat on the floor, her torso sinking lower and lower until her chest nearly grazed the ground. Mia tried to follow, but her body refused to collapse so neatly. Natalie arched her back and gave Mia an exasperated expression.

“That’s not even close,” she said, more amused than annoyed. “You can do it, Mouse.”

Mia wanted to be invisible, but there was nowhere to hide, not with her knees splayed, skirt bunched high on her thighs, and Natalie watching her every move. She tried to lean lower, but her hips locked up with her forehead hovering a hopeless eight inches above the mat. Natalie didn’t wait for her to catch up. She reached forward and, with a single, decisive movement, cupped Mia’s head between both hands and drew it down, down, until her nose pressed against the rubbery mat and the world narrowed to two perfect thighs bracketing her field of view.

Mia’s calves spasmed, and she let out an involuntary whimper as the pain in her tendons became almost unbearable. Natalie’s skirt was inches away, and Mia tried not to think about how much she wanted Natalie to pull her just a little bit closer.

“You’re tighter than I thought,” Natalie murmured. “Breathe. Let it happen.” Mia inhaled. Her nostrils filled with the musky sweetness of Natalie, her sweat, her thighs, and maybe a hint of what was between them. Natalie’s fingers dug into her hair, refusing to let go.

“Good girl,” Natalie whispered. “You’re doing so well.”

There it was again. Good girl. The pain in her tendons was instantly replaced by a slippery heat. Mia felt her cotton panties start to ride up and cling to her, slick and damp, and she prayed no one else could see how obviously she was falling apart. After what felt like way too long, Natalie finally released her, and Mia’s head whipped back up. She blinked, trying to compose herself in front of Natalie, but the cheer captain was already standing back up.

“Alright girls, warm up is over; time for routines!” Natalie shouted to the group. She clapped her hands once, and the moment was over.

Having finished warmup, the actual practice began. As Natalie drilled them through different routines, Mia’s focus dissolved into static. Her soaked panties hugged her raw, and every time she moved, the damp cotton chafed her in a way that was both torture and a thrill. She tried to ignore it, biting her tongue and sprinting through each routine, but every slap of her sneaker on hardwood sent a shock up her spine. It was humiliating, and she couldn’t shake the thought that everyone could see how disgusting she was.

Somehow she made it through, however, and when Natalie finally told them to hit the showers, Mia breathed a sigh of relief. She ran for the locker room as soon as Natalie dismissed them. The other girls trailed behind, chattering and laughing, but Mia kept her head down and beelined for the showers. She quickly found a stall and yanked the curtain shut. Peeling off her uniform, she then wriggled out of her underwear, which reluctantly detached from her skin. Mia refused to look at her panties, and instead crammed them into the pocket of her gym bag.

She turned on the shower and stepped in. Mia hunched beneath the spray of hot water, letting it sluice the sweat and shame from her skin, but the spot between her legs stayed raw, throbbing, and insistent. She scrubbed at herself, fingers digging in, trying to scrub the ache away. It didn’t help. She shut her eyes and tried to think of anything but Natalie, but every time she did, the phantom sensation of those hands on her neck, her head, her thighs, crept back in.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a clattering sound as the shower curtain suddenly opened. Mia jumped, opened her eyes, and beheld Natalie stepping into the stall as if she belonged there. She was completely naked, and barely glanced at Mia before pulling the curtain closed behind her, sealing them in together.

“Mind if I join you? The other stalls are taken,” Natalie said casually. Water beaded and ran down her body in perfect lines, outlining muscle and curve. The tall senior squeezed past Mia’s petite body in the stall, with barely enough room for their feet to not overlap, and reached for the soap dispenser, her breasts sliding along Mia’s back as she moved.

“I— Uh, I guess not…” Mia could barely speak through her disbelief at what was happening. Natalie’s body pressed in, all bare skin and hot steam, and Mia’s brain rang blank with panic. She tried to make more room, but she was already pressed against the wall. Natalie’s thigh brushed hers, hip to hip, and for a second Mia wondered if she could simply pass away.

Natalie gave her an exasperated look. She slicked her hair back under the spray, eyes closed against the water. “Oh my god, you’re so shy. I’m not gonna bite, you know.”

Mia wanted to melt into the drain. “Sorry— I didn’t mean to— I’ll be quick.” She pressed herself to the farthest edge of the stall, trying to minimize the surface area of her body, heart thundering in her ears. The water ran over her scalp and down her face, and she kept her eyes fixed on the blurry pattern of blue tiles at her feet.

Natalie just laughed, low and unhurried. “Relax. I don’t care if you look.” She lathered her hands, rubbing the soap into a froth, and then, like it was nothing, began to wash her arms, her stomach, the soft undercurve of her breasts. “It’s not like you haven’t been looking at me all day.”

Mia flinched. She had been caught. Utterly embarrassed, she forced herself to meet Natalie’s gaze and think of a response.

“It’s alright though,” Natalie continued with a smug expression. “I know I’m hot.”

Mia couldn’t process it. Her brain swerved between shame and arousal, and it made her want to run and hide. “I don’t— I mean, I’m not—”

The captain moved closer, until she was only inches away from Mia’s face. “You know, Mouse, I picked you for a reason,” Natalie purred. She suddenly reached out, wrapping her arms around Mia’s hips, drawing her in. “You don’t have to act like you don’t want it. You’re so easy to read.”

Natalie pressed forward, her bare stomach sliding hot and sinuous over Mia’s ribs. The friction of their skin, all slick and soapy, made it impossible to pretend that this wasn’t exactly what was happening. Natalie was pinning her against the wall, her generous breasts pressing against Mia’s insignificant chest.

“I—” Mia’s words were strangled as Natalie’s thigh slipped between Mia’s legs, and the sensation almost made her knees buckle. The whole thing was happening so fast she couldn’t think. Natalie’s thigh dug in hard, right up against the aching spot that had haunted Mia through every step of practice, and she let out a helpless breath of pleasure.

One of Natalie’s hands moved to the back of her head, fingers weaving through Mia’s hair, guiding her chin up, forcing her to meet Natalie’s gaze. Her other hand slid up and wrapped around Mia’s throat. Mia felt the cool press of thumb and forefinger, the fluttering pulse trembling in her neck, and for a second she thought she might actually faint. Her mouth involuntarily opened, waiting to be filled.

Wet lips ghosted over hers, not quite a kiss but a threat, and Mia’s breath rattled in her lungs. Then Natalie’s mouth finally meet hers, but it wasn’t the soft, tender kiss Mia had dreamed of; it was hungry and aggressive and overwhelming. Natalie’s tongue forced its way past her lips, exploring every crevice of her mouth. Mia shivered, almost squeaking as Natalie’s hands moved again, cupping her ass, lifting her onto her toes.

Natalie’s grip was inescapable. Mia’s back pressed to the wall, her nipples drawn tight from the cold and the friction. She felt the ache between her legs start to sharpen into something overwhelming. Every time Natalie’s thigh flexed between her legs, Mia’s hips moved with it, grinding in tiny, involuntary pulses. Her legs buckled, and she almost lost her footing on the slippery tile, but Natalie’s grip around her waist kept her right there, locked to the length of Natalie’s thigh. Mia’s hands scrabbled for purchase on the tile behind her, but there was none; all she could do was clutch at Natalie herself, fingers digging into the slick, hard muscle of the other girl’s shoulders. Everything was heat and friction, the feverish grind of her bare pussy pressed to the hardness of Natalie’s leg, the hot water pounding down her spine, making her shiver in rhythm with every pulse between her legs. She tried to pull back, to hide her trembling, but Natalie just rocked her forward, harder, driving her up and down, making Mia ride her like some desperate little animal.

She could hear herself whimpering now, a high, pathetic sound that echoed in the steam-filled air. “That’s it,” She heard Natalie murmur, “You like that, don’t you?” Mia's head snapped back, jaw trembling, as she blinked away the water running in rivulets from her hair, her face a picture of need. She tried to articulate something, anything, but only a wet, broken sound emerged.

Natalie kissed her again, biting her lower lip hard. Through the sharp pain, Mia could feel her slickness, not hidden by the cotton of her underwear but smeared on Natalie’s thigh, a sticky, undeniable confession. Mia's whole body ached for release, but she was still trapped in place, unable to help herself. Natalie’s mouth hovered near Mia’s ear, breath warm and sweet. “You’re mine now,” she whispered. Then, in an instant, she released her grip and stepped away, leaving Mia gasping in the wake of Natalie’s overwhelming attention.

With a flick of her hair and her signature stride, Natalie exited the shower stall in a swirl of steam. The curtain stilled, trapping the moment in a shroud of silence. Mia sagged against the cold tile, heart pounding as she waited for her knees to stop shaking. The spray hammered against her skin, but she barely felt it through the adrenaline coursing through her veins.

In the muted solitude, reality settled in like a weight. Mia closed her eyes, grappling with the intoxicating mix of desire and loss. What had just happened? And what did it mean for her? As the water streamed down, she felt both exhilarated and utterly lost, and wondered if it had all just been a fantasy in her head.