"****" "****" "**** and work in a D.A.'s office..." "You're applying for a scholarship?" "I have one now, for cheerleading." "Cheerleading?" "Whoa!" "Hello, Marti." "Welcome to Cheertown." "Charlotte." "You're not actually planning on flying at this Mem-Kris event right?" "Of course I am." "What about the baby?" "I don't have a choice." "Suppose you did?" "I didn't realize there was going to be so many people with cameras." "What's your Hellcat family going to say when they find out?" "We're going to make damn sure they don't find out." "I have to get my spot back!" "You know my dad." "I can't play football like my brothers." "So, this is all that I can do." "Last week Dan and I were together." "It was a mistake." "We were both drunk and..." "Shut up!" "I think you should find another place to stay in Cheertown." "Lewis, let me explain." "I already heard." "You made a mistake." "I made one of those with you." "Ok, Cats, next stop Louisville and sectionals!" "***" "I could eat a horse." "You ate a whole plate of chicken, like, a couple of miles ago." "What can I say?" "I'm on my up the food chain." "Oh, come on..." "That trip was the worst 7 hours of my life." "No one said a word to me." "Hope you had a good book." "Thanks for the assist." "Yeah." "Hey, um, does this mean we're on the road to being ok again?" "I'm sorry, Marti." "Fool me twice, you know?" "Ok, if you're still mad at me, then why are we talking right now?" "We're here to compete." "I just want us to work together, be professional." "Flyer-base." "Flyer-base." "I'll take it." "You're in room 112." "No one wanted to bunk with you, so it's a single." "Lucky you." "Mrs. Perkins, I am about to get lucky." "Good for you, Morgan." "Who's the lucky gal?" "Her name is Antigone." "She has daddy issues." "Ohh." "Yeah." "Oh, I know." "She's taking me to some kind of poetry slam." "So, I need you to watch Marti's guitar for me." "Just stick it behind the bar or something." "What are you doing with my daughter's guitar?" "She left it with me while she's away at sectionals." "I was supposed to visit Travis this afternoon." "The guy in prison?" "Yes." "Marti lets him play the thing." "She says it keeps him feeling human." "Isn't he expecting you to be there?" "Probably." "Yes." "So?" "Isn't he going to be disappointed when he goes into that visitation room and he is sitting face to face with an empty chair?" "Daddy issues." "Shame on you." "The man is stuck in prison." "He's probably been looking forward to your visit all week." "He's not interested in a visit from me." "It's Marti he looks forward to seeing." "She's a hot blonde." "Fine." "If a hot blond is what he wants to see, a hot blond is what he's going to get." "Give me that." "You're bringing the guitar?" "Uh-huh." "Excellent!" "I am off the hook." "Go on, get out of here!" "Oh, don't forget to use protection!" "Keep walking, jackass." "We're up." "Here we go, Hellcats!" "Come on, whoo!" "Let's nail this!" "All right, guys, nice and easy today." "We got a practice session before we compete tomorrow, so, just get used to the space, the feel of the sprung floor, alright?" "Ok, I've got the standings, Hellcats." "Come on." "How does our competition look?" "Currently, Mem-Kris sitting in first place." "Who cares?" "We still have a full day of competition tomorrow." "Except they're sitting with a 98.1." "Is that score or body temperature?" "Can we refrain from the immature jokes?" "Fine." "I'll just stand here in mute silence." "That'll be great." "Thanks, Marti." "Can we just make sure and hang together, no turning on each other." "Only the winning team moves on to nationals." "To beat Mem-Kris, we got to pull off the routine of our lives." "Zero margin for error." "No pressure." "Which means that we have to function with one mind." "So, anything personal gets checked at the door." "Get it?" "Of course we can do that." "Positive outcomes only." "Whoo!" "Come on guys, let's do this!" "Aah!" "Hey, uh, you mind if we work my full up scorpion?" "Sure." "All right." "On 2." "Ready." "1, 2." "Beautiful, Marti!" "Nice job." "Thanks." "Took me long enough to hit it." "Whoo." "That's for sure." "That should be me up there." "Ok, that's a hard 5, all right?" "When we get back, we're going tog ark the routine all the way through." "And I'll be in the back like a good little alternate flyer." "All right, you heard Vanessa." "The personal stuff gets..." "Checked at the door, yeah, yeah." "Easy to say when you get to fly." "Hey!" "How's my little girl?" "Oh, my God." "Dad?" "!" "What are you doing here?" "I am not going to miss seeing you fly at sectionals." "Wow." "I didn't think you'd actually come." "Rick's team is in town." "They're playing Kentucky." "And I figured we could fly in, and I could kill two of my favorite kids with one stone." "He thinks it's funny to say stuff like that." "I'm Alice." "The daughter." "I'm the fiancée." "Kelly." "This year's model." "An upgrade, I'd say." "She's a keeper, huh?" "Mmm." "How's the routine?" "It's good." "Kelly has never seen competitive cheerleading before." "I told her about how well you fly." "Yeah." "I was a cheerleader in high school, but Michael tells me that is nothing like what you guys do." "We also do floor work, and dancing." "Dancing, what?" "!" "Wait till you see my little baby go fly 25 feet in the air..." "Your jaw will be on the floor." "I guarantee it." "I can't wait." "Hey, hey, Mr. V." "What's up, big shooter?" "Hey!" "What do you know, Lewis?" "Great." "Good." "I want you to meet my fiancée, Kelly." "I'm delighted." "Kelly, this is Lewis, my daughter's boyfriend." "So, when you gonna make my little girl an honest woman?" "God, dad." "Can we get out of college first before you have us picking out China patterns?" "Pumpkin, I love you." "You know you've got lousy taste in boyfriends." "I do not." "Josh?" "Ok, Josh I'll give you." "You got that right." "And what about Ricky?" "Damn!" "You know what a ponytail on a man says?" "You know?" "It says, "I am a complete tool."" "Lewis is the first one that's worth a damn." "So, why don't you quit while you're ahead." "Seal the deal before he comes to his senses and realizes there's a lot of other pretty girls out here who are not so high-maintenance." "Honey?" "Aren't you going to defend my honor?" "Uh, well, the way I see it, anything worth having is worth taking very good care of." "Aw." "Thanks, baby." "Ahh." "Hey, I got an idea." "How about we take you two out to dinner?" "Actually, we're in training, right now." "So, it's..." "Come on." "It'll be fun, a double date." "Hey, I'm not taking "no" for an answer." "Right?" "We're going to see you at your motel, 7:00 pm sharp." "We'll be waiting." "Right?" "Um, wouldn't miss it." "Good!" "All right!" "Bye." "Lewis!" "Hey!" "Talk to you later." "What are you doing?" "!" "I had to make it look real in case my dad looked back over his shoulder." "Not the kiss." "I mean, not just the kiss." "What were you thinking, lying to your dad like that?" "I didn't see the point of pulling him into all our drama." "Our drama? "We" don't have drama, Alice." ""You" have drama." "Ok?" "And how can he not know that we broke up?" "Because I chose not to tell him." "That's crazy." "Suppose that I had told him how you stomped all over my heart." "He would probably come to hate you for being cruel and hurtful." "And when you eventually realized what a horrible mistake you'd made and we got back together, he'd have a very tough time forgiving you." "Want to know what I think?" "I think that you think dad's gonna be disappointed that we broke up and that you're not flying." "You don't want to disappoint him twice." "When you're right you're right." "I've been telling my dad that I'm the Hellcats' top flyer for months because he doesn't accept anything but the best." "Who cares what he thinks?" "Alice, why don't you just come clean?" "My dad is in a good mood." "He's excited." "He's invested in me." "Do you have any idea how rare that is?" "Alice..." "It's just one dinner, ok?" "A couple of hours." "What happens tomorrow when he sees you aren't flying?" "We'll have to get you a new tie." "Something with stripes, I think." "Who are you?" "Wanda Perkins." "Marti's mom." "And you must be Travis." "I brought music and oatmeal cookies." "Mmm." "Homemade?" "Who's got time to bake?" "I stole 'em from work." "I heard they throw people in prison for stealing." "You're funny." "Marti didn't tell me you were funny." "♪ I've got big things to do ♪" "♪ cause too soon my life will be through ♪" "♪ got no time to stop ♪" "♪ pick me no flowers ♪" "♪ I've got catching' up to do ♪" "♪ I've got big things to do ♪" "I love that." "Did you write it?" "A folk singer by the name of Ted Hawkins wrote that." "He used to sing for tips on the Venice boardwalk." "Did a long stint in the Mississippi state pen for stealing a leather jacket." "I guess you can relate." "Yeah." "He lived a hard, hard life." "But that never stop him from creating great music." "Marti's dad was a musician." "Played locally." "Rex Perkins." "Did he teach her how to play guitar?" "Nah." "She taught herself." "My daughter is a very driven girl." "I've noticed that." "You know, she makes my life a lot better." "Yeah?" "Hopeful." "Like I've got a shot of getting out of this place when I'm still relatively young." "That is a wonderful thing for a mother to hear about her child." "Thank you for that." "Yeah." "Can I ask you a personal question?" "You're in here for a long time?" "Long time." "It's my third strike." "I didn't do the crime they say I did, though." "Uh-huh." "What about the first 2 strikes?" "Did you do those?" "Yes, ma'am." "Simple assault and resisting arrest." "Ahh." "You're a bad boy." "I guess so." "It's ok." "I like bad boys." "Mmm." "What's this, lamb?" "Yep." "Amazing." "I know." "It's a little spicier than I'm used to." "Try cutting it with the yogurt." "Oh, see?" "Shows what I know." "I thought that was sour cream." "So, Lewis." "Tell me more about this new job with the athletic department." "It's really no big deal." "I'm just reviewing game tape for Red Raymond." "Analyzing plays." "You're working one on one with Red Raymond?" "You know, that guy did magic at Louisiana." "You ever think about getting back in the game?" "There are guys with much better hands." "Lewis is right where we need him." "Helping the Hellcats win at sectionals." "But, you know, you could get on the coaching track." "You're getting face time with Red Raymond." "You don't want to squander an opportunity like that." "Lewis is on a team." "I'm aware of that, darling." "But shut your mouth for a minute and let me to finish my point." "I know you rely on this cheerleading thing for your scholarship." "But if you were to get serious about coaching," "I could log in a call to Bill Marsh..." "On your behalf." "Get you out of the film room, out there shadowing Red on the field." "Now that would be a good experience for you." "I appreciate the offer." "But the football job is just a part-time thing to help out my folks." "I'm serious about being an architect." "And cheerleading, of course." "Hah!" "Wow." "That's smooth." "See that?" "Oh, come on now." "So what?" "It's "smooth" that" "Lewis says he's serious about cheerleading?" "You think he's handling me?" "Wow." "She this touchy with you, Lewis?" "See, that's what the men do in our house, Kelly." "They handle their women." "Just so you're warned." "Uh, thank you for the warning." "Thank you." "Now, that's just the problem you have when you have successful children." "They all fall in love with the spotlight." "When she was little, you know what she did?" "She thought we were paying too much attention to one of her brothers." "She lit a fire in the garage." "That was an accident." "Ok." "Dessert?" "They've got these little cookies here with raisins called "fekkas."" "What to try?" "To die for, huh?" "Yeah." "The belly dancing too!" "Delicious!" "That's a lot!" "I probably ate 10 of those fekkas." "All right." "Good night." "Night, dad." "It was a pleasure meeting you." "Yeah." "See you tomorrow?" "Yeah." "Definitely will." "Thanks." "You're welcome." "You upset?" "Why would I be?" "The thing with your dad?" "We kid each other." "Ohh." "Right." "Alright, then." "Night, Alice." "Hey!" "What?" "Believe me when I say I have zero interest in getting between you and your dad, but at some point you're gonna have to let him know you're not flying tomorrow." "Now who said I wasn't flying tomorrow?" "Wait." "What are you up to?" "Alice?" "****" "We're gonna take out Mem-Kris today!" "I woke up in the middle of the night and started worrying that, as alternate flyer, I haven't run through the routine here yet." "What if something happens and I have to step in?" "I should be prepared." "Good call." "I didn't think about that." "Well, you ready right now?" "Of course." "Lewis!" "Help me with something?" "Good job, Alice." "Great job is more like it." "So, why isn't Alice flying in this routine?" "Oh, who knows?" "It was Savannah's call." "Well, at the time, it seemed the best plan." "Marti has the core strength." "I just wonder if Alice might be a better flyer for the routine." "She's got way more experience in competition than Marti." "Um, Marti is actually in the room with you all." "She may have a point, Marti." "What do you think, Darwin?" "Leave me out of it." "Does anyone care what I have to say about this?" "Of course we do." "You're as much a part of the team as anyone else." "Well, ok then..." "Alice is more experienced." "But that doesn't mean I can't hold my own." "I've worked my ass off to get my stunts competition-ready." "I've stayed after practice." "I've come in on off days." "I have more than a few battle scars to prove it." "Lewis..." "Vouch for me here." "Alice and Marti can both do the stunt." "Well, I guess that's why we have a captain." "Savannah?" "Perhaps the fairest thing is to leave it up to your fellow athletes." "Don't be a coward." "If you're gonna stick a knife in me, don't hide behind the group." "That's reasonable." "Alice, you're flying." "Get with Lewis and start practicing." "Marti, you'll be doing Alice's floor work." "Review the steps." "This is not fair." "No, but it is satisfying." "Alright." "Come on, Hellcats!" "Let's run this puppy!" "Nicely done, by the way." "Just give me the jacket." "Genuine venetian leather." "All yours." "You earned it." "Damn right I did." "Cut the music!" "I go to a 20-minute coaches meeting, and I come back to a completely rearranged team?" "Listen ok." "We have to get to nationals." "Alice is the safer bet." "And you made this call without consulting me?" "You let me make calls like this all the time." "Because I like to empower our captain." "But the minute that I think you're taking advantage of my trust, that can end." "Marti understands that this is best for the squad." "She just stormed off in a very understanding way." "Excuse me." "You want to be the one to tell me what just went on in there?" "Alice has more experience." "Just simple as that." "Mm-hmm..." "It's no big deal." "I'll just sit back and collect my scholarship." "That's all I'm here for anyway." "Marti..." "What is really going on here?" "I did something I regret with Dan." "Savannah's Dan?" "He was my Dan first." "Savannah has every right to be mad at me." "And now she's got the whole squad on her side." "No one will give me a chance to apologize or explain or anything." "So..." "I just can't let myself care anymore." "I think you do care." "But the one thing I can't coach is desire." "So, if you want to give up, so be it." "I don't have a choice." "You're as good as any of the girls in there." "I could go in there and simply tell them you're flying, but I don't like to run my team that way." "But if you decide that your spot on this team..." "and this family... are worth fighting for," "I'm going to support you." "I want a cheer-off." "What?" "Alice and I. One-on-one." "If she wins, I back off." "But if I win, I fly." "Sadly, I'm not interested." "This isn't about you, Alice." "We need the best flyer out there." "This is the way to find out." "You worried?" "Fine." "Prepare to get spanked." "You ready, Lewis?" "I'll be your base, Marti." "Darwin, get ready to kick some serious ass." "Full up scorpion!" "Guess this is your opening." "Don't screw it up." "All right, folks." "We have a winner." "Marti is our flyer fair-and-square." "I don't want to hear another word about it." "Thank you." "Thank you." "You're the best." "Can you not hug me so much?" "I don't want to look like I'm taking sides." "Ok." "Darwin." "You got beaten by Darwin." "No." "You got beaten by Darwin and me, actually." "Mind if I work with my base now?" "Marti..." "Save it." "Let's just be professional." "One final run-through." "Let's rock it, Hellcats!" "What's up, Alice?" "I need you to give up your spot as flyer." "Is that a joke?" "Look at my face." "Do you see a single laugh line?" "Yeah." "It's not gonna happen." "My dad is coming today." "I want him to see me fly." "Well, I'm sorry to hear that." "But it sends a bad signal for the judges not to see the captain out there leading her team." "What kind of signal would this send?" "You got to be careful about getting photographed." "Never know what's gonna end up on the Internet." "I found out the hard way." "Where'd you get that?" "I wonder what this would do for morale?" "If the squad knew that their captain helped Mem-Kris win a free ride to sectionals?" "I had reasons." "Good luck explaining those reasons 2 hours before we perform." "How would I explain bowing out?" "Not my problem." "You'd really tell the team and create all that friction?" "Potentially destroy the entire squad's future, just so your dad can see you fly?" "Of course not." "Because I know that you would never let that happen." "It's what makes you such an excellent captain." "Squad comes first." "It's open!" "Oh my gosh, Savannah, what happened?" "Are you ok?" "I hurt my ankle during practice." "I can barely walk." "Alice, will you cover for me?" "Obviously, this isn't ideal." "But I promise you I'll go out there and give it everything I've got." "And I'll be on the sidelines cheering for all of you." "Just a second!" "Thought I'd come see how you're doing." "I'm not hungry." "Well, I figured since your ankle's hurt, you couldn't run away from talking to me again." "Not now, Marti, please?" "You can't stay mad at me forever." "I only have to keep it up until you quit, graduate, or die." "Then actually be mad." "Stop all the passive-aggressive crap you've been pulling." "And be honest." "You want honest?" "Yes." "That's honest." "You just hit me with a pillow." "Damn right I did." "Stop laughing!" "Ok!" "Ok!" "Ok!" "Don't laugh!" "This isn't funny!" "Stop?" "I think it's kind of funny." "Ok." "Ok." "Are you done?" "No!" "Really?" "Ow!" "Yeah." "Now you're done." "That's for giving my spot to Alice." "You're going down." "Oh, yeah?" "I really am sorry about Dan." "It was an awful thing I did, and I'd give anything to take it back." "But you can't." "Yeah." "I know." "But if you could forgive me anyway," "I promise you won't regret it." "I'm supposed to take a promise from you at face value?" "Really?" "After all this?" "I'm really scared I destroyed something I'm not going to be able to fix." "Well, then maybe you should have thought about it before you messed everything up." "Savannah..." "You're my best girlfriend." "I don't have one of those." "I never did before." "And I can't lose you." "If it helps..." "I enjoyed hitting you with a pillow." "You can do more." "I can take it." "No, I'm good." "That lamp over there looks pretty lethal..." "If I do decide to forgive you..." "Yeah?" "Will you promise to never let me regret it?" "I promise I'll try." "That's fair." "Deal." "Well, this is formal." "No hugging yet." "We'll work up to the hugs." "I can live with that." "Wait a minute." "You were just bouncing all over the room on your foot." "What?" "No." "You're faking being hurt!" "No." "It was adrenaline." "Like when mothers lift cars." "Savannah!" "See?" "Look." "Ouch!" "Still hurts." "Wrong foot." "I hurt them both." "I'm alternating." "Savannah, what's going on?" "It's bad." "Ok." "Tell me everything." "It all started with my sister..." "And then Alice..." "Lose the bandage." "What?" "You're flying in my place." "No." "I gave my spot to Alice." "And I'm giving mine to you." "I'll do floor work." "This is your first time at sectionals." "You have to fly." "I can't let you." "This is so small." "But..." "It's something I can do for you." "Something I can..." "I can give up for you." "So let me." "Please." "How do we explain that my ankle miraculously healed?" "Acupuncture." "That's good." "Thank you." "You're welcome." "C'mon." "And now, put your hands together for the Lancer University Hellcats!" "♪ shake the ground with the sound and take off like a missile ♪" "♪ I got this fever for the flavor of anything in disco ♪" "♪ and when it goes down, it goes down I should warn ya ♪" "♪ now throw up your hands like ♪" "♪ and if you do what you can then want to then just let go ♪" "♪ if you want to let go ♪" "♪ stop holding on to what you used to be ♪" "♪ yesterdays are no use to me ♪" "♪ let go ♪" "♪ if you wanna let go ♪" "♪ just step up and bring it ♪" "♪ the only thing if yesterdays are no use to me ♪" "♪ just put your hands in the air, and sing it ♪" "♪ f-m-s-t-a-t-i-c ♪" "♪ that's the way we do it when we do it correctly ♪" "♪ f-m-s-t-a-t-i-c ♪" "♪ that's the way we do it when we do it correctly ♪" "♪ f-m-s-t-a-t-i-c ♪" "♪ that's the way we do it when we do it correctly ♪" "♪ throw up your hands like ooh, ohh ♪" "♪ and do what you can then you just let go ♪" "♪ if you want to let go ♪" "♪ stop holding on to what you used to be ♪" "♪ yesterdays are no used to me ♪" "♪ let go ♪" "♪ just step up and bring it, don't ever forget ♪" "♪ just put your hands in the air and sing it ♪" "Marti!" "Get your butt over here!" "Hey, I really am sorry about everything." "Upwards and onwards from here, alright?" "Alright?" "With a score of 98.6, the Lancer Hellcats win it!" "Yes!" "Way to go Hellcats!" "We're going to nationals!" "Hey, Kelly." "Hey, Alice." "Oh my gosh." "You were amazing out there." "You know, your dad will be really proud." "Where is he?" "Um, you know what?" "Can we take a walk?" "Where's my dad?" "Your brother's football game went into overtime." "Come on." "So, why are you here?" "Consolation prize?" "I just didn't want you to find 2 empty seats and no explanation." "Well, you wasted your time because I don't need an explanation." "I need my father." "Well, if it helps, I think he was wrong to choose" "Rick's event over yours." "How could that be wrong?" "Rick's a winner." "He won when he was born with a penis." "The macho alpha male." "Yes." "Well, that's an easy stereotype." "Well, you're clearly the expert on my father, being a complete stranger." "I don't claim to be an expert." "Good, you're not." "But I think that being forced to choose between hanging around a big football celebration and a cheerleader event, your father is always going to choose football." "Because it's football." "It's what he lives for." "But I do know that he loves you and he's very proud of you." "Then he should have been here." "Yes." "He should have." "But?" "But he is who he is." "He's charming and funny and loving." "But he can be insensitive." "And he can be selfish." "He did what he wanted today." "And later he'll show up at your motel with flowers and a big charming smile, expecting you to forgive him." "That sounds about right, actually." "So, you're right." "Dad's unfair." "Life's unfair." "What are you gonna do about it?" "Hey, tiny dancer." "I know." "I know." "I'm in the doghouse." "Kelly explained it to me." "And I deserve it." "Rick's game went into O.T., and guess who was in the box next to me." "Arnold Hamm from the State Department." "Lewis and I broke up months ago." "What?" "I didn't tell you because I knew it would disappoint you." "But then I realized it didn't matter because you have been disappointing me for years!" "You didn't show up today, and it hurt." "You need to know that." "Alice..." "Keep your flowers because I am getting on a bus to go home, and they would wilt." "Take some time to think about how you're going to make this up to me." "And if you choose not to, then we'll see each other at Easter, and we can both pretend I never said a word about anything." "And you're right." "This one's a keeper." "Alice..." "I'm sorry!" "Good!" "Can we talk about this?" "!" "I live in Memphis." "Fly in sometime." "You can watch us cheer." "We just made it to nationals." "So I can guarantee a good show!" "What the hell just happened?" "Sounds like a wake-up call." "If I were you, I'd take it." "You ok?" "You know what?" "I am." "I have uno." "Want to play?" ""Go fish" a little too spicy?"