Recruitment Drive (FTF, Implied/Impending MTF) 

By: ThatGuy

Nice and quiet, that’s how Carleigh preferred her space. It was true that as it was the school library it wasn't really her space, but nobody ever came in here and even if they did they sure as hell didn’t come any closer when they saw that she was in there. Something about her style of dress or the way she perfected the art of the bitter scowl made them keep their distance, she just couldn’t say for sure. One look and nobody but those too daring and gloomy for their own good tried her patience.

And no, no matter what anybody thought, she wasn’t a goth, or an emo, or any of those other pretending-to-be-nonconformist groups that everyone assumed she was just by looking at her! She liked her black clothes, she dyed her hair a little, and maybe she had a tattoo somewhere she wasn’t about to say, but that’s as far as she was ever going to get with even her lenient parents. Plus, the streaks in her hair looked good! That didn’t mean she was part of some clique.

On the upside, letting the idiots out there think she was one of those surly yet somehow trendy goth girls helped her get some privacy. But it meant she had to deal with actual goths bothering her, and they were even more annoying with their shadows and nightshade talk. Most of the people who bugged were sent running with concussions, and the last perverted idiot who stared at her chest and mumbled about her being “goth girlfriend material” was wheeled away with worse, which she hoped meant she wouldn’t have to worry about that any more.

It was just her and a whole room full of books to read as she pleased. Which was perfect since she had at least two tests this week she hadn’t gotten around to studying for yet, with all the time she put into her “don’t mess with me” appearance. They might call her strange for a high school student, but to her there was nothing like reclining for your duly appointed hour of recreation with a nice textbook (and maybe a fantasy novel on the side), all of ancient Mesopotamia laid out in front of her for her social studies exam, and without a single idiot in the library to break her immersion…

“RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! NAY YOUR VERY SOOOUULS!”

Unfortunately, that didn’t exclude idiots outside the library ruining her day instead. It was always something with this school. What kind of inane prank was it now?

She threw her textbook down and stomped to the door of the library, schooling her face into her best, most practiced scowl. A tan blur in a bright blue shirt ran whisked past her just as she poked her head out, and she pulled back just in time to not get knocked over by several dozen pounds of overstimulated classmate.

“THE CHEERLEADERS ARE RECRUITING! FLY, YOU FOOLS! FLYYYYY!”

She watched him pass with an audible snarl. From the sound of it, that was probably Buster Jimenez. That is, his name was Pablo but everyone called him Buster. He was an excitable twit who didn’t know when to stop getting into stupid situations. Carleigh did not have the patience for it today.

“Hey! Shaddup!” She yelled at his back. “Some people are trying to study, you little gremlin!“

But he was already gone down the hall. She could hear his yells echoing from what seemed like halfway across the school. She wished she could’ve given him a piece of her mind before he went, but it was just as well. At least he was gone, and she could get back to-

- hold on a second, what was that he said? “Wait, the cheerleaders?“

As if summoned by her question, a light, perky voice sounded from behind her back. “Hiya!”

Caleigh froze. “Ohh, shit…”

Maybe that was why there was nobody around today.

She winced and turned around, to find the bright blue eyes of Shay Green staring up at her. These, truly, were the eyes of doom, girlishly twinkling as she hummed to herself.

This was bad. How had she forgotten? It was that time of year again: club recruitment season. The time everyone ran for the hills. Some clubs were aggressive in finding new members. Others were downright mercenary. And beyond those, worse than the photography club or even the drama geeks - but only just - were the cheerleaders. Carleigh was a pretty brave girl, she figured, but if she had known those pom-pom shaking cherubs were were on the prowl she would have heeded Buster Jimenez’ advice right away and got the hell out of there no question’s asked.

But she didn’t, and now she was so screwed. But… no! There had to be some way out of this.

“Hey there, Ley-ley!” Shay said, with that deceptive charm. “It’s been waaaay too long since we talked, girlfriend!”

Carleigh didn’t usually like meaningless conversation, but this time she actually would’ve preferred it if this really was meaningless. “I-I’ve told you before, Shay, it’s not Leigh. And it’s definitely not Ley-Ley! It’s CAR-LEIGH. Say it with me.”

“Maybe later.” Shay waved her hand, sure not to remember it. They both knew she was here for one thing only. “Soooo, you might have heard. Guess who’s captain of the cheer squad this year?”

“Don’t care.”

Shay ignored her. She fiddled with her hair, looking “innocent” - as if. “And it stinks, cause we’re kinda short on members right now. Most of the girls last year were seniors, so…”

“I don’t care! I’m not interested!”

“We need like eight new members before the next game in a week.” Shay said. Carleigh gulped. This was a lot worse than she thought. “And that means a ton of new recruits. I hope you understand.” Shay smiled, and there was something in that grin that Carleigh did not want any part.

She backed away slowly. “Listen to me, you psychotic little pixie! I. Am. Not. Joining. Your. Club. You can’t make me.”

“Sorry!’ Shay said brightly, not sorry at all. “But I’m going to have to.” She made a sudden movement, as if she was going to lunge at Carleigh. Carleigh dodged instinctively. Even if she had given some idiot a concussion once, she wasn’t exactly a fighter. But she wasn’t about to let this psycho mess with her. She prepared to strike back, but Shay had already backed off. In fact, all of a sudden she was just standing there staring at Carleigh’s arms with a smirk on her face. And now that she thought of it, Carleigh felt something soft in her hands.

She looked down, and shrieked in horror! It was all a ruse! Shay must have been hiding one of the squad’s pompoms behind her back, and used Carleigh’s jumpiness as an opportunity to toss it at her. She must have caught it without even thinking… though just touching it would have done the job. She was done for now.

“Noooo!” She moaned bitterly. This was such complete bull. “You imp! You tricked me!”

Shay shrugged, but with an evil look in her eyes. “All’s fair in love and cheerleading. Didn’t you know?”

That was not how the saying went, but Carleigh didn’t see the point in correcting her. She tried to resist, but the pompom was doing its work and recruitment had begun. Her hair - her wonderful, lustrous black locks! - changed so that the small bit of blue she dyed into it took over completely as if she had half the ocean on top of her head. Her locks were curling in on themselves, becoming pigtails… no, braids!

So much for her private time. “I don’t want this! You can’t just make me join!”

“Since when?” Shay said. “But hey, if you want to still complain in five minutes I’ll be happy to hear it.”

So much for her unapproachable image. She was much taller than Shay to start and she stayed so, but she thought she might have felt herself becoming just a bit shorter. No doubt to make her a better fit to the rest of the squad… whoever they would eventually be. “But… but I have exams! I have to study!” It was a lame excuse, but she was desperate.

“Please, it’s not gonna make you dumb or nothing!” Shay laughed. “I mean, you might be. It’s kinda random sometimes. But you so can’t study right now anyway, cause I’m gonna need you to help recruit. Mr. Pichell will totally understand.”

So much for her free period, as clearly she was going to have things to do. She expected her bust to swell in size - wasn’t that the stereotype for cheerleaders? - but if anything she might have gotten a bit slimmer. Maybe it was to make her more aerodynamic, or maybe Shay didn’t want any competition for the “stacked one” of the group, she really didn’t want to know. At the same time her legs felt like they were lengthening slightly in relation to the rest of her, though again she wasn’t sure. The squad was reshaping her in whatever way it wanted, and maybe not even Shay knew what was going to happen.

“But… but I hate cheerleaders.” She certainly did, but… why? She was always so lonely, so what was so wrong with helping people feel better instead? This didn’t seem so bad… no! It was messing with her brain!

“Doesn’t look like it!” Shay pointed down at Carleigh’s clothing. So much for her sense of style. The black and purple motif that made everyone assume she was a gloomy goth or whatever disappeared as well - black shoes into white sneakers, ripped purple jeans into white stockings, pleated skirt, light but form-fitting uniform. The only thing that remained of her old style was a dark stripe across her top, but every member of the squad got to have a little personal touch.

She looked like a cheerleader now. She was a cheerleader now. “This… this…” It was… great! Something switched on in her mind. She had a purpose now! A calling! Sure, it was totally forced on her, but she would still put just as much effort into this as she once did keeping her distance!

Shay watched as a smile spread on Carleigh’s face. “So how do you feel now, Ley-Ley?”

How cute! She didn’t know why she was so down on that nickname before. It suited her! No more! So much for Carleigh, here comes Ley-Ley! “Awesome, Shay! Where did all this school spirit come from?”

“Who cares?”

“Good point!” Ley-Ley said, giggling while practically bouncing on her feet with excitement. “We should be caring about getting everyone else just as pumped as me! I am so ready! What’s next?”

“Well…” Shay frowned. “I was hoping this would be quick, but that doofus Buster threw everyone into a tizzy, the jerk. So I dunno about you, but I want him!” She blew one of her bangs away in a huff. “He thinks he’s so funny, but we’ll see.”

“Sweet!” Leigh dramatically pointed down the hallway. “When we’re done with that troll, they’ll be calling him ‘Busty’ Jimenez!”

“Ley!” The joke made Shay burst out laughing. She was so completely overcome by an attack of the giggles that she doubled over. “You are so bad!” She said, laughing and grinning. “Let’s go get him!”

ONE HOUR LATER:

Pablo, or “Buster” as everyone said, heroically fled down the hall until he finally found an empty classroom. Once through, he darted to the teacher’s desk and tried to pull it to the door, then when that turned out to be too heavy he and his slightly aching back instead barricaded the way in with a bunch of student desk chairs.

Everyone already hated recruitment season, but this year had been absolute hell. The cheerleaders had always been the terror of the school, but their new captain was a demon: mobilizing her troops in a surprise attack with the ruthlessness of an army and cornering people left and right. And just his luck, it almost seemed like Shay and her growing throng of teen sitcom-rejects were actively targeting him. Maybe warning the whole school of what they were up to was a bad idea. Wherever he went one of them was there,  and someone else would end up getting “recruited” while he just barely got away.

But at least he was safe now. It was only a few minutes until the free period was over and the cheer squad’s allotted time for recruiting ended, at least until tomorrow. Before then he and hopefully the rest of the school could get off their butts and just sign with a boring, normal club like photography, so they could be safely taken for the rest of the school year.

Maybe some other poor schmuck wouldn’t didn’t get the message and got recruited later anyway, but as long as the cheerleaders didn’t get into his room for the next few minutes at least he would be safe.

Then he heard the sound of a door opening behind him, and he realized his mistake. He forgot this was one of those double length classrooms, the ones that had two doors. When he turned, Shay was already behind him. Next to her was a peppy girl with blue hair and a face that looked just like gloomy Carleigh, except it was smiling ear to ear. It just felt wrong.

Behind that were others. Buster had seen the cheerleaders take Jonny from his math class, who he knew was training up in hopes of joining the football team this year but who now had lost his proud pecs and become a sporty, long-haired Jane instead. Behind her… Buster had been meaning to ask out Olivia one of these days but it looked like she would have other priorities, which sucked. Even though this was all horrible and she was probably about to help them “recruit” him, her legs looked really cute in the short skirt of her new uniform. Then, there was an Asian girl he didn’t recognize, but who sort of looked like the substitute teacher who covered Mrs. Binford’s class today. But that couldn’t be. Surely even Shay had some lines she wouldn’t cross, didn’t she?

Not counting Shay herself there were seven of them in total, lined up in a row like perky, pleated zombies. Buster had accidentally led Shay right to all of them. Not his best moment. He hoped they weren’t still mad now that they were under the thrall of the squad.

“Gawd, nerd,” Shay announced herself with a pout. “Did you have to run all the way across the school and back? I need these legs for routines!” She smiled. “You’ll know what I mean when you’re one of the girls too.”

Buster had seen more than enough dudes grow boobs today to want to be next. “C-come on! Haven’t you ever heard of boy cheerleaders?” He said, just trying to keep her talking. Just a little longer…

“I’m old fashioned, sue me. I prefer to work with people I can actually hold a conversation with. Plus, Ley-Ley here’s thought of the best little nickname for you once you join up, and it just won’t work with you like that.” She pulled the pom-pom he had been dreading from behind her back. “I’ve only got one more cheerleader to find before next week. I’ve got all the time in the world, and I could’ve picked anybody, but I want you. Because you pissed me off trying to warn everybody! This could’ve been the fastest recruitment the squad had ever seen!”

She was getting closer with that pom-pom. Pablo tried to back away, but he had barricaded his only way out and Shay knew it. “So…” she grinned evilly. “Ready to join the squad, ‘Busty?’”

Buster was saved from that awfully on the nose nickname when the bell chimed to put an end the first lunch period… and Shay’s hour to do whatever she wanted.

“Aw, really?!” Shay groaned. She threw the pom-pom at Buster in frustration, but it bounced off with no effect at all. Behind her, the other cheerleaders suddenly stopped standing around like creepy enforcers and instead started chatting with one another like normal teenage girls. Buster was literally saved by the bell.

He was so happy, that couldn’t resist rubbing it in a little. “Looks like I’m not joining the squad after all, Shay. Better luck next year!”

“Hmph,” she said bitterly. “Maybe you won’t. But don’t get cocky. Or did you forget? The cheerleaders may be done but the drama club is auditioning this period.”

Buster scoffed. It was a pointless attempt to psych him out. “It doesn’t matter. I have class this period, so I’m safe.”

He was confident about that, so it was a little unnerving when she smirked. “Only if you make it to class…”

With that, she directed the rest of her squad to the non-barricaded door. The cheerleaders filtered out, and as they they were replaced by a gaggle of wide eyed students, all wearing berets, who pushed past the squad to surround Pablo. He was caught by surprise, and again he ended up backed against the wall.

The leader of these new students was a guy with a clipboard who was putting on a truly awful Shakespearean accent. He tipped his beret to Shay, who winked back at him. “Thanks for the tip, Shay. We’ve been looking for a Juliet for this fall’s Shakespeare festival.” He looked Buster up and down, as Buster started sweating bullets. “Of course, we’re going to have to make some modifications before the audition…”

“Just make sure I get a ticket, kay?” Shay said brightly, as she gave another final wink to Buster. “See you on the stage, sister!” Then laughed, before to his horror she took her new squad bouncing down the hall and out of sight.

Gulping, Buster turned to his new clubmates as the leader of the drama club dramatically raised his clipboard…