What Would You Do?
Part Two
A Cerridwen Solo Special

A few seconds later another stagehand a brunette woman with longish hair came beside me and ushered me from the front stage to the back area. She guided me down a long, dark hallway that was lined with doors. I could not tell the doors apart, one looked very much like the other. Finally we reached a room, she pushed the iron gray door handle down and the door flew open. She then reached one arm inside and flipped a light switch.

“Fifteen minutes.” She said in a cold, commanding tone of voice. “Maybe twenty, but no more. Get in, get changed, and get ready. You're the second to the last act of the show.” And that's all she said to me as she turned upon her heel and walked away.

Swallowing hard. I walked into the room and locked the door behind me. I quickly noticed how barren the room was, with only a simple, folding metal chair being provided for me to sit down on. I then noticed on the back of the door, hanging from a hook, a very basic looking cheerleading uniform. Just a simple, shell top, a short pleated skirt, a pair of white socks and a pair of white shoes with white laces. Both the shell top and the skirt were red though so that added a little color.

And of course thrown to the side were a pair of red and white pompoms and a few lengths of red ribbon. Very much aware of the time limit they had placed on me, I decided to just go ahead and get dressed, thankfully they had provided a number of clothes hangers for me to hang my clothes on. Another look around the room showed a white sports bra and a pair of white bloomers.

“We'll.” I said blushing a little. “At least I can spare my clothes.” I said, smirking a little as I quickly changed, I was very much aware of the fifteen minute self imposed deadline set for me. And let me tell you it's no easy feat changing out of one outfit and into another in under ten minutes. Somehow though the skirt and top fitted me like a glove and the bloomers would offer a measurable level of decorum and modesty. And while my breasts were still growing, the sports bra I knew would provide some support.

As for my hair, I decided to quickly brush it out and divided it down the middle. Once it was divided down the middle I tied each section of the hair with a hair band. Once that was done, I then braided the sections of hair one at a time before tying the end off with a smaller hairband. Once that was done I then tied each section of ribbon around the base of the pigtail. You know, pigtails and cheerleading seem to go hand in hand. Like you can't have one without the other.

As soon as I finished this task, the stage hand returned. I'd figured she would knock on the door, instead she just pushed the door open and leered toward me. Her eyes started at the top of my head and then slowly traveled the whole length of my body till she reached my feet and then she lifted them back to peer into my face again.

“Okay,” She said, looking down at the cardboard clipboard she was holding in her hand. “Follow me, also don't forget your pompoms.” She said as she turned around and started walking out the door.

“Bloody hell.” I muttered under my breath as I quickly dashed to catch up with the girl. Now, before you guys start jumping down my throat. I picked up that swear from the 'U.K Edition' of some books that I've read. Plus with the rise of social media, texting being common now, and well the world becoming smaller and smaller by the day. It's not uncommon for some swears from across the pond to make its way to us. I liked British swears myself they were colorful, creative and I could say them at school without running the risk of getting my mouth washed out with soap! Anyway I quickly followed behind the woman and soon I was entering back onto the stage.

“And here she is! Cerridwen Circe Whitethorn, our lovely volunteer. If you're just now tuning in to our show, at the start of our show we plucked Cerridwen from the audience and asked her  to perform a cheer for us since she is a cheerleader.” Poppy said, smiling as she turned toward me.

“How are you feeling about this Cerridwen? Knowing your future cleanliness depends on the good will of our television audience and the viewers at home?” She said grinning like a cat who had just snatched the song bird as she moved a few inches closer to me, closer than I would have liked.

“I feel fine with that. Because I'm the best cheerleader on the squad.” I said, smiling a little. As I once more looked into the camera.

“Okay.” Poppy said smiling. “You got the outfit on, loving the pigtails, and that really cute short skirt, looking good, now, show us what you got girl and remember if we like your cheer, you stay clean and get a token and get to go to the wall of stuff at the end of the episode. If not then I'm going to send you to the Pie Pod.”

“Right.” I said, nodding my head.

“Okay folks, make some noise for Cerridwen, she about to show us her wonderful cheering skills!”

A hushed silence fell over the crowd. I then took a deep breath and then I started to clap my hands together, I did this for several seconds before I caught on to the rhythm and then I started to cheer.

“We've got that pride,
We got that spirit.
So, whoo, let's hear it,
So, whoo, let's hear it.
So, wave your hands,
Scream your mouth,
Come on, fans,
Shout, shout, shout Benton Academy Raiders!

The cadence of my voice carried far. The crowd sat in stunned silence. A few girls up front were shaking their heads and giving the classic thumbs down jester. I'm not going to lie, I was feeling a little on edge then. Judging by the looks of the girls, I could tell they were fellow cheerleaders, but of a higher level. Maybe college level or something. Something I doubt I'll ever be.

“Kiddie stuff.” I heard one of the girls in the front say to her friend.

“What do you expect? She is just a runt after all,” Her friend said.

“Two minutes remaining.” Poppy chimed in.

“One, two, three, and four
We've accepted the challenge,
of becoming the best.
We're number one, we're mighty proud
we're on a victory quest!
We've got pride and spirit.
Benton Academy is the name!
We're on the move and out to prove,
we're gonna win this game!”

I was quite out of breath at this point. One of the drawbacks of having asthma was I could only do one or two good cheers before I needed to sit down and recharge my battery. And right now I could feel that all knowing tightness in my chest telling me I'd pushed too far and that I needed to sit down and catch my breath before I caused myself to have an attack.

“Well that was something. Good job Cerridwen.” Poppy said smiling. “Now it's time to vote. By a show of hands, who thinks Cerridwen here did a good job?” She said as she turned toward the audience.

About half of the audience raised their hands.

“Okay! Now, again by a show of hands, who thinks that Cerridwen did not do a good job and should be sent to the Pie Pod!” Poppy said, grinning a little.

This time the whole audience raised their hands and shouted. I felt my cheeks flush as I peered toward that huddled mass of humanity and gave them the best pout I could muster. I even placed my hands on my hips for good measure. I then stuck my nose into the air and turned my face from the.

“Baka!” I then shouted at the top of my lungs. Another by-product of having spent one to many hours watching anime, reading manga, and light novels. If you don't speak Japanese, 'Baka' simply means 'Fool' and characters often shout it in response to something. Often times if the main female character wants to give the main male character a hard time she'll call him a 'Baka' or 'Fool' or if she thinks she being misjudged for example, like I think I'm being misjudged right this second she'll shout 'Baka' out as a form of protest.

“Okay then!” Poppy said as she wrapped her arm around my neck and placed her hand upon my shoulder. “Cerridwen-Chan is going into the Pie Pod!” Poppy gave the cameraman a playful wink as she started to guide me across the stage.

I flushed again as Poppy called me 'Cerridwen-Chan' again if you don't watch much anime allow me to translate for you. 'Chan' simply means 'Little' and is often tacked onto a person's last name and sometimes first. It is a lesser form of 'San' which kind of means 'Mister' or 'Miss'. Now, only one person is allowed to call me 'Cerridwen-Chan' and that was Daisy!

Thirty seconds later I found myself reaching the far side of the studio where the Pie Pod was located. I bushed a little as I climbed up and eased my bottom down into the chair. I felt a deep blush starting to form as I felt the seat I was sitting on getting pumped up.

“Okay we want Cerridwen's head right in the center of that bulls-eye.” Poppy said.

Once more I felt my cheeks starting to flush red.

“And Cerridwen, because you were a little cheeky! I've decided you're going to get the crowning glory too! Now, on the count of three, we're going to let those pies fly! One!, two!, and three!”

A few seconds later, I watched as the first arm holding the first pie sprung to life and was tossed in an arch toward me, a few seconds later it smashed into the left side of my face. I jumped a little as the tin plate holding the oily cream splattered and covered a good bit of my pigtail. A second later the second arm sprung to life and yet another pie shot up and flew in an arch and this one smashed directly into my face, spraying huge blobs of cream in all directions!

Another handful of seconds passed before the third one sprang into action, once more splattering me with the third pie, this one totally covered the right side of my face and last but not least the forth pie shot up and smashed me once more directly into the face! My whole head was covered in cream at this point! And I looked like a human snowball.

“Wow! Four perfect hits!” Poppy said, smiling sweetly. “Cerridwen honey, that was amazing. But we have one last treat for you before we send you backstage to get all cleaned up.”

At this point I was wondering how it could get any better? But then I felt something heavy, something that felt creamy, and smelled faintly of yogurt come falling down on my head. I noticed my shoulders, clean up to this point, had been coated in stuff, so had my lap. The smell of yogurt filled the air and I noticed the color of the stuff was this orangish pinkish goop.

“And to finish it all off by giving Cerridwen the crowning glory!” Poppy said, smiling a little. “Oh girl, you gotta see this.” Poppy said as she rushed toward me, “Up there, look up there you should see a television screen. Can we get a quick instant replay of that!” Poppy shouted.

I felt another flush starting to form on my cheeks as I looked up and indeed I noticed a huge flat screen television screen was right above me, though at this second the screen was blank, a few seconds later passed before a popping sound was heard. I felt another wave of blush forming as I watched a much cleaner version of myself being guided across the stage.

“Oh Goddess.” I said blushing as I watched myself being eased down into the chair and getting pumped up. A few seconds later I saw the first pie come shooting up like a creamy missile. With utter amazement I watched as the first pie mashed into my face, followed by another, and yet another and yet another.

And finally the shower of that orangish pink goop. I noticed I flinched a little as the heavy stuff came dropping down on my slender shoulders.

“Cerridwen! You've been a wonderful sport! For that I'm going to give you a fifty dollar visa card. Now if you will follow one of the stagehands backstage, we'll be sure to get you cleaned up and all ready to go. And I'm afraid that all the time we have today folks! Join us tomorrow afternoon for more What Would You Do! Filmed here on location at Orlando.”

And that is how another misadventure of mine comes to an end. The End.