High School Mysteries

Tragedy at Tryouts

**Trigger Warning**: The following content may contain material that could be distressing or triggering for some individuals. It may include references to topics such as violence, abuse, mental illness, hateful speech, self-harm, substance use, etc. Please proceed with caution and prioritize your well-being. If you feel uncomfortable at any point, consider stepping away or seeking support from a trusted source.

Mary spent the day trying to concentrate on her studies, but it was hard because Luna kept sending her notes, asking why she didn’t give Charles a chance. Charles on the other hand sat at the back without giving much of an introduction to the class and kept staring at Mary with that same charming smile.

But Mary was still persistent in avoiding Charles. According to what she had seen, he was trouble, and it didn’t help that before bumping in the hallway, he was chatting with Isabel. Mary was sure he was a playboy and a troublemaker just like Jack, and she wanted nothing to do with him.

Luna, on the other hand, thought Mary was being unfair by using Isabel as an excuse; she genuinely thought Mary should give Charles a chance. “He is sweet and nice. What else do you want?” Luna wrote in her next note to Mary.

Mary wasn’t sure he was as sweet as he behaved in front of her. She had seen the cold, angry look he had given Isabel, and something told her there was more fury from where that came from. She wrote this in her note with the words. “He is two-faced. I don’t trust him.”

To which Luna replied, “You are being paranoid.”

This back-and-forth silent argument went on until the history teacher, Miss Anne, saw the note and quietly told Luna that if she wanted her students to exchange messages in class, she would have allowed them to use phones. Which finally stopped Luna from sending any more notes.

Charles tried constantly to get Mary’s attention, start a conversation, or just outright ask her for a date, but Mary avoided him as easily as an elite athlete playing dodgeball with kids. So after midday, he felt somewhat down and got himself involved in other activities with the school soccer team while being followed by Isabel and her friends.

Jack was also with them, but he didn’t seem too happy about Charles being interested in the sport. Jack was a brown-haired slime-bodied soccer player with grey eyes that had an arrogant look in them, which was probably because his group was the police chief, and he thought that made him some sort of school hero.

Mary tried to avoid Jack too because it was a fresh reminder of her humiliation, and she was happy that Charles had given up as well because she was sure he was pretty much the same as Jack, if not worse, but Luna hadn’t given up on him yet.

She would occasionally bring up the topic of Charles to surprise Luna to get a reaction, but she would just get annoyed. At lunch time, Luna got surrounded by her club friends and other friends, which gave Mary time to sneak into the library and have a nice peaceful reading session. After that, it was back to her and Luna bickering in the class.

So the day went by, and before you knew it, it was time for tryouts.

Mary and Luna went out on the football field. “I just hope she doesn’t try to pull something off,” said Mary worriedly.

"Don’t worry, what could she possibly do?” said Luna reassuringly, but Mary wasn’t reassured. She knew Isabel was probably cooking some devious way to sabotage Luna's tryout, and why wouldn’t she? If Luna got into the cheerleading squad, she would be one step away from becoming the prom queen, and Isabel wasn’t going to let that happen, not after she prepared for it all through middle school.

Mary went and took the front seat in the stands. On one end of the field near the stands were the cheerleaders and potential candidates prepaying to start the tryouts while the soccer players were having their tryouts on the field, Charles and Jack among them.

Soon, the tryouts began. Jenna really wasn’t joking around. She dismissed five girls based on their body shape and weight, and the girls that were left were asked to do a somersault. Only Luna and four other girls were able to do it properly. Next, she asked them to do a triple back flip, which Luna pulled off greatly, but so did one other girl.

Meanwhile on the soccer field, Charles was doing pretty great as a newbie, much to Jack’s dismay. He had managed to steal the ball from Jack twice, and it was obvious that Jack was pissed. He tried to hurt Charles by bumping into him, but that wasn’t a wise decision because Charles was stronger and Jack ended up falling backwards on his butt.

Coming back to the cheerleaders now, there were only two of them left: Luna and one other girl, who was one of Isabel’s cronies. For the final challenge, Jenna asked the cheerleading squad to build pyramids, and each of the candidates will stand on top, jump, and land back on the girls shoulders.

Mary noticed that Isabel was part of the pyramid Luna was supposed to stand on. She had a bad feeling about this, and her worst fear came true as Luna began to jump. Isabel moved her shoulder so that Luna wouldn’t be able to land, and that’s what happened. Luna fell to the ground, but at the same moment, the other girl also fell, and both pyramids came tumbling down.

Mary got out of the stands and rushed towards Luna. "Luna, are you ok? Are you hurt?” Mary asked as she reached Luna and helped her to her feet.

“Yeah, I am ok, just a little dizzy,” replied Luna.

“It’s Isabel’s fault she did this on purpose,” said Mary angrily. “Yeah, I know, but look on the bright side, the other girl fell too, so we will have to do a do-over.”

“I don’t think so," came a voice behind them. They turned around to see the other girl standing there with a satisfied smile.

“What do you mean?" Luna asked, slightly confused, but Mary looked toward Jenna. She was standing with Isabel, who was complaining in a loud voice that Luna was heavy and wouldn’t make a good cheerleader without bothering to keep her voice low.

Then the next moment, Jenna looked towards them and said, “Sorry, Luna, you didn’t make it," but her sentence was cut short as Mary said angrily, “Do over.” Jenna looked at her and said, “No, no do over.“.

“But that’s unfair; both Luna and her fell, so why does she get to be in the team just because Isabel said so?” Mary was trying to reason with her.

"Sorry, who are you?" said Jenna while looking her up and down and taking in her appearance. She was wearing old jeans and a white top that was faded in color as it had been worn so many times. Mary noticed her judge look but ignored it, as she was not ashamed of her appearance and there were more important matters at hand.

“She is the mall girl I told you about; remember, she used to be the cheerleading captain in middle school,” replied Isabel, coming to stand next to her and looking at Mary with a mocking smile as she had just called her by her nickname Mall Girl, which was something they called her to make fun of her as she worked at the mall, but there was nothing Mary could do to stop them because it was true and because she wasn’t going to quit her job because of them.

"Oh, so you think you know better than me? Sorry, dear, but I am the captain of this team, not you, so if I say Luna’s out, she’s out," said Jenna dismissively, but Mary wasn’t going down without a fight.

“I don’t think that I am better than you, but a captain’s supposed to select her teammates based on how good they are, not who their friends favor," said Mary, giving Isabel a loathing look.

“I am not selecting Alexa because of Isabel; I am selecting her because Luna has heavy legs,” replied Jenna, annoyed at being accused of having favoritism.

“Heavy legs don’t make me laugh; her legs wait less than Isabel’s entire ass," said Mary savagely, causing several people in the stands to laugh while the cheerleaders looked shocked at her language. Even the players on the field had Hurd this conversation and were looking at the cheerleaders.

“Who do you think you're calling a fat ass, you bit?” said Isabel angrily feeling extremely embarrassed.

"Isa, don’t listen to her; she is just badmouthing you because her friend didn’t get into the team. Listen, I don’t care who you are, but my decision is final," she said and began to turn around to leave when Mary blurted out “20 dollars on Isabel,” challenging her.

“Look, I am not going to."

“30$”

”I said no."

“60$”

Now there were cheers and hoots from the stands and the field as people eagerly watched what will happen next. Wondering if the captain will accept the bet or checkin out. It was a matter of pride.

"Mary, no,” said Luna. It was the first time she had spoken during this whole discussion, and that was because she knew Mary couldn’t afford to give 60 dollars. Mary knew that it would get her in trouble at home if she lost, but she was not going to let Isabel crush Luna’s dreams.

“Very well if you insist, but do you even have 60 dollars?” asked Jenna mockingly, causing Mary to take her bundle of money out of her pocket and show it to her.

“Very well, we’ll do a do-over,” said Jenna, to which Isabel said, “You can’t listen to her" in protest, but she simply replied, “Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do; besides, it will shut her up if she fails.".

"And also, I don’t want Isabel to be part of her pyramid,” said Mary, making sure Isabel doesn’t ruin Luna’s chances again.

"Sure,” replied Jenna, causing Isabel to make an outrageous face that really pleased Mary.

The cheerleaders made the pyramids again, and Luna and Alexa began to climb up as Mary stood with Jenna to watch, crossing her fingers, because even though she had faith in Luna, she couldn’t afford to lose 60 dollars, especially because of Isabel. They redid the stunt, and this time Luna landed perfectly; Alexa, on the other hand, fell again.

"Yes," Mary said happily, and she came toward Luna to hug her as the crowd cheered and clapped at their victory. They both looked back at Jenna, and Mary asked, “So she is part of the team, isn’t she?" to Jenna, who replied, "Yes.".

“But Jenna,” said Isabel, trying to protest, but Jenna simply said, “I gave my word, and I can’t make someone part of the team who failed twice at performing a simple stunt," causing Isabel to shut up.

The look of grumpiness on her face really made Mary and Luna smile in satisfaction, then Luna asked, “Where are Mary’s 60 dollars? She won the bet, right?" to which Jenna replied, “The bet was that she would give me money if you failed; we never said what you would get other than a second chance since I never agreed to give her any money.”.

“I wasn’t expecting you to,” said Mary, and she and Luna were about to leave the field celebrating their victory.

The sun was blazing in the sky, yet there were dark clouds gathered on the horizon. The stands were starting to get empty as students were beginning to leave, and the soccer team was also almost done.

Mary and Luna were at the end of the field when Mary’s eye fell on the bell tower to check the time, but an unexpected sight met her eyes.

On the balcony of the bell towers was a girl in a baby pink dress; her long golden hair was blowing with the wind. The girl looked somehow familiar, and Mary thought it seemed unusual, as the bell tower was out of bounds.

"Mary, what are you looking at?” asked Luna, noticing her friend's distracted look.

"Oh, there is someone on the bell tower, but isn’t that place for..." Before Mary could finish the sentence, the girl had moved to the edge of the balcony.

"Hey, stop right there,” Mary shouted loudly as the bell rang behind her, but it was too late.

"Nooooooooo!” Mary screamed, causing everyone to look in Mary’s direction.

The girl had jumped from the tower and hit the ground with a loud thud that echoed throughout the field. Her pink dress was covered in the blood gushing out of her head and wounds. Mary couldn’t believe what she had seen; she was standing frozen with fear and shock.

A girl had just died in front of her.

She ran as fast as she could, her feet acting on instinct, wanting to help the girl, but as she reached the girl lying at the ground in front of the school gateway, Mary recognized who she was, and a piercing scream left her mouth, and she fell on her knees, crying and staring wide-eyed at the dead body of her former best friend Daisy.