All eyes are on her, and she can feel every single one of them.

"Let me tell you how this works." begins Sarah, "We're only looking for the best of the best. This team is doing some restructuring and we need people who are up to the task. Our new way of doing things will require you to eat, sleep and breathe this team. It's not going to be a part time thing that you do whenever you feel like it or any time there's a game coming up. This is going to be a 24/7 life for everyone who gets on. And if you can't hack it, you'll be out. If you're not sure you can do that... there's the door."

She pauses, watching everyone in the bleachers, all of whom are watching her with wrapped attention. None of the students move, least of all Pandora herself.

"Okay then, let's do this. We're going to be starting off with the newest member of our school and the principal's daughter, Pandora. If anyone's got school spirit, it would have to be her don't you think?" suggests Sarah.

The head cheerleader leaves the mat in front of the bleachers that had been set up for the try outs just as the crowd starts cheering for Pandora. She gets up from her seat and makes her way down to the gym floor, taking her place at the center of the mat. Sarah has set herself up at a table between the mat and the bleachers facing the mat so she can observe the performers, which at this particular moment, is Pandora. On either side of Sarah is Nina and Kat, both of whom are looking on with a very intense and very critical look on their faces. Sarah looks much more relaxed by comparison.

There's a long pause as the crowd calms down and Pandora tries to keep herself calm in front of all those people.

Sarah decides to egg her on, "Whenever you're ready Pandora."

Pandora takes a deep breath and then nods towards Nina who has a playlist hooked up to a decent sized speaker. Nina plays the song, it's a simple techno piece, without words and a steady beat. Pandora takes a few moments to find the beat and get comfortable with it before launching into her fairly simple routine.

"So I can't really rhyme... but that's fine. Some other fine cat... will do that. All I have to do... I'm sure... is make sure the others... don't go splat. So there's that. And my promise to you... is this is something I can do. So put my on your crew... and let me show you how I move. I won't make you look bad... and I catch on really fast. I'll even go to bat... for Nina and Kat. No matter where you put me... you'll never lose me. And now I'll end things... with a back flip like this."

Pandora launches herself just as she says those final words into a back flip on the mat, landing it perfectly and ending it with her arms in the air in a similar pose to a gymnast who has just completed a perfect routine. Almost immediately, the crowd starts cheering for Pandora. However her focus is on the three judges at their table. Sarah seems very happy about Pandora's performance, though the other two are harder to read. They're talking behind Sarah's back and out of Pandora's view. It isn't long before Sarah pushes them to focus on what they're there for.

Sarah speaks as the crowd's enthusiasm slows, "Thank you Pandora. We appreciate the effort."

Pandora takes a deep breath before heading off the mat and back to the bleachers. Several students congratulate her as she does.

"Great job." one of them says with a happy tone.

"Awesome stuff." another one insists.

"You were really great out there." says the other one earnestly.

"Thanks." Pandora responds, enjoying the feeling the praise gives her.

"All right, let's have the next person please..." Sarah beckons.

*          *          *

Some time later, Pandora is at her locker, going through it. She finishes up and as she closes it, Jemma is there suddenly, somewhat startling Pandora.

"Oh, geez, you know you really gotta stop doing that." Pandora says.

"So... cheerleading eh?" Jemma asks, almost as if it's an accusation.

Pandora looks around, trying to figure out where the question came from. She eventually returns to Jemma.

"How did you hear about that?" Pandora wonders in response.

"The internet. It's all over the school chats." responds Jemma before adding, "Apparently you're a shoe in."

"Is that what they're saying? I'm surprised my life is that interesting." insists Pandora, trying to avoid talking about it.

"Well, you are the principal's daughter. It kinda makes you important... to the school, I mean." Jemma tries to deflect the implication of her words.

"Really? Just to the school?" Pandora prods playfully.

"Yeah... why?" Jemma responds just as playfully, before adding, "Well, also I was kinda curious."

They smile at each other as they start to move away from Pandora's locker. Neither of them says anything for a few steps.

"So?" asks Jemma.

"So what?" fires back.

"Cheerleading?" Jemma tries again when Pandora tries to evade the question.

"Right... well, I... I guess I just wanted to find a way to be a bigger part of the school. I'm still new here and I figure it's a good way to get to know people. Make more friends and all that... you know?" suggests Pandora with uncertainty while trying to make it work.

"Didn't your big party kinda do that already? Wasn't that pretty much the whole point?" Jemma comes back with.

"Yeah but, turns out... lots of people came to the party, but most of them forgot who actually threw the party in the first place. I got almost no friend requests after. Although that could be because..." says Pandora but stops herself.

"Because what?" inquires Jemma.

Pandora doesn't answer right away, taking a few moments, "Never mind, it's not important."

"Come on, tell me." insists Jemma.

"Well... things got kinda crazy after the party. That probably has something to do with it. So, yeah... I figured I should get more involved and maybe get people to like me. Besides, it's like you said, I'm the principal's daughter. If anyone should have school spirit, it's me." again Pandora tries to explain without making it seem suspicious.

Jemma watches Pandora for a while, "You're sure that's it?"

"What else would it be?" Pandora responds.

Again Jemma watches Pandora, clearly not convinced, "It's just..."

"Pandora!" a voice calls out, cutting Jemma off.

Both Pandora and Jemma look to the voice, which is Nina. She walks up to both of them.

"Don't you check your email?" Nina angrily asks.

Pandora is confused as she pulls out her phone and checks her email, "Why?" then finds the email and opens the attachment, "What's this?"

"It's a manual." declares Nina as if the answer seems obvious.

That takes Pandora a minute to register, "Sorry, what?"

"A manual, you know, the playbook? For our cheers? Read it, study it, don't screw it up." explains Nina, again annoyed and trying to get away as quickly as she can.

There's a few more distracted moments as Pandora and Jemma look at each other trying to decide what to think.

"Does this mean I'm in?" Pandora finally asks.

"No, we only give our moves out to people who aren't on the team. That makes it a lot harder to do our job." Nina fires back sarcastically.

"Awesome, thank you!" says Pandora appreciatively.

"Just try not to drop me and get me killed will you?" Nina says as she walks away, "First practice is tomorrow. Make sure you know what you're doing."

Jemma turns to Pandora, "I guess the internet was right."

"I guess so."

A long silence follows as Jemma watches Pandora for a moment with a smile on her face.

"What?" asks Pandora, clearly curious.

"Nothing... just... I'm looking forward to seeing you in that outfit." Jemma says with a playful grin growing on her face.

That makes Pandora smile, "Play your cards right, and I'll let you be the first one to see me in it."

*          *          *

Sarah and Kat are sitting at their table for lunch in the cafeteria. The place is packed with people at various stages of their lunch break. Sarah is clearly paying attention to the students around her, apparently anxious that someone will notice what they're doing. Kat on the other hand has her focus squarely on her phone, busy doing something. She occasionally looks up at Sarah to watch for a reaction of some kind.

"Is it ready?" asks Sarah, clearly anxious for something to happen.

"Just give me a minute." insists Kat, her anxiety focused in the direction of what Sarah has her doing.

Kat taps away on her phone as she tries to finish sending out the message as quickly as possible. While she's doing that, Nina comes into the cafeteria and sits down at the same table.

"Did I miss it? You haven't sent it out yet have you?" Nina asks in a hopeful tone.

"Kat's dragging her feet." Sarah says, annoyed.

"I'm going as fast as I can." responds Kat.

"If she doesn't get to it soon, maybe we'll have to put her on it." threatens Sarah.

That makes Kat look at Sarah for a moment while she keeps tapping away on her phone, "Wait... one more... there."

Suddenly, the phones of everyone in the cafeteria go off and almost all of the students pick their phones up to check out the notification. Sarah, Nina and Kat all watch for a reaction. They don't have to wait long as many in the cafeteria get very upset.

"What the hell?" asks one of them in a way that most of the cafeteria can hear.

"Oh come on!" declares another one, annoyed.

"Seriously?" rhetorically asks one of the others.

Ian, one of David and Sarah's friends, rushes up to Sarah's table clearly upset, "What the hell are you doing Sarah?"

"What's necessary." insists Sarah.

Before Ian can respond, Sarah gets up on the table she is sitting at and raises her voice, "Attention you apathetic weirdos."

This makes everyone in the room look in Sarah's direction.

"This school needs a wake-up call. We've been falling behind on our school spirit and on so many other levels. A few weeks ago, we basically destroyed this school. And we need to do a better job. So as the cheerleaders of this school, we've decided that we get to decide how much school spirit you have and whether or not you really deserve to be a part of this school. If you got a message just now, you're failing and you need to work harder. We'll be keeping an eye on all of you to make sure you measure up." explains Sarah.

"And who the hell put you in charge of school spirit?" Ian asks angrily.

"I'm the head cheerleader. Who else would you put in charge?" responds Sarah before adding, "If you really want to boost your spirit score, there's a game coming up. We suggest you be there."

*          *          *

The bell rings, signaling the end of Jemma's class. Her and the other students begin packing up so they can get to their next one on time.

"Ms Epimetheus?" Hermes calls out to Jemma fromthe teacher's desk.

"Yes?" Jemma responds.

"Would you hold back for a moment? There's something I'd like to talk to you about." Hermes requests.

Her other classmates all file out of class as she approaches the teacher'sdesk.

"Is everything all right? I handed in my assignment." insists Jemma.

"Yes, I saw that. Everything looks fine with your assignment. This is about something else." suggests Hermes, adding "I noticed that you were friends with Ms Jupiter... the principal's daughter."

"What about it?" Jemma asks, both concerned and somewhat suspicious.

"Well, I'm not sure if you're aware, but I'm a friend of the family. It's how I got this job." says Hermes.

"No... I wasn't aware. Is everything okay with Pandora?"

"Yes, it is... for now at least." Hermes says.

"What do you mean?"

"I've known her family a long time, and I just wanted to make sure that you're careful." Hermes says with what appears on the surface to be concern.

"Careful? About what?"