Attention Hog Part 1

“Oh, that Sarah!” thought Katie. “We’re both co-captains, but everyone listens to her and disregards whatever I say. She gets so much more attention than me!”
Katie was co-captain of her high school cheer team. She was about 5’2” with raven colored, shoulder-length hair, which she often wore in a short ponytail. She was quite popular, which made sense, since she was something of an attention hog. She’d do almost anything to get noticed.
Sarah-though Katie would never openly admit it-was her rival. Sarah was blonde with blue eyes-your typical cheerleader, little Mrs. Perfect. Everyone loved Sarah, and she hardly had to do a thing to be the center of attention. She was one of the few girls in school more popular than Katie.
*Tweet* The coach blew her whistle. “Ok everybody, let’s try a pyramid.”
It was at this point that a sinister scheme began to form in Katie’s mind. “Gee, it sure would be a shame if Sarah were to have a little accident,” she thought. The squad got into position, and began forming the pyramid. Katie was 2nd from the top. Sarah, of course, was at the pinnacle. After a few seconds, Katie went into a fake wobbling motion. “Whoa, woah…” she went from side to side, faking an attempt to hold Sarah up. Then, with one final jerk to the side, she let herself fall. The team below her was able to catch her when she fell, but she had dropped Sarah off to the side. There was nobody to catch her. Sarah crashed to the ground with an audible grunt, which was followed quickly by an even more audible crack. Sarah curled over and grabbed her right leg with both hands. “Ow, ow, ow, it hurts!” The team gathered around her franticly, with a stream of questions. “Where does it hurt?” “Are you ok?” “Is it broken?”
The fall had fractured Sarah’s right leg. An ambulance was called, and she was taken to the hospital. Katie had to hide her smirk for the rest of the day. “Success!” she whispered under her breath.
The next day, Katie had assumed the role of full captain. It was perfect-she got to boss people around, everyone had to listen to her, she was the center of attention. Things were going exactly as she planned, and she was in heaven….at first. The following week, Sarah returned. She was on crutches with her leg in a cast. The team was just about to start practice, and Katie was addressing them. “Ok team, today we’re going to-” Suddenly, one of the team members shouted “Look, it’s Sarah!”
Sarah was hobbling on her crutches in the direction of the practice. The whole team ran over to her and helped her get to a bench. Katie continued to lead the practice, but she could tell that everyone’s focus was on Sarah’s return.
After practice, as Katie was leaving, Sarah stopped her. “Hey, you led a good practice. Maybe I should let you take over more often,” Sarah said with a giggle. “Uh…thanks!” was all Katie could muster, feigning a smile. Katie was almost feeling sorry for what she’d done. Immediately, the two were swamped by the rest of the team rushing over to sign Sarah’s cast. Katie’s hatred of her rival instantly rose back to the surface, and she turned to leave the melee, grumbling under her breath. Katie knew what this meant. This meant Sarah’s popularity would increase tenfold now that she was back with crutches and a cast.
She was right. The next day, Katie watched in disgust as everyone waited on Sarah hand and foot. They carried her books for her, they held doors for her, teaches even excused her for being late because of her crutches. Katie’s perfect plan had backfired horribly.
After a few days of this, Katie was going insane. She thought her plan was fool proof. She was sitting at lunch with a group of her friends, as usual, but she couldn’t concentrate. She could only sit there and ponder what to do. “What do I do?!” she thought. “I’ve got to come up with something to counter Sarah’s broken leg; something to even the playing field. But what?” She was beating her head against a wall trying to come up with something to get some of the attention away from Sarah and back to her.
Katie was angrily eating her lunch. When she finished, she would go back to refill it.
“Excuse me. Mrs. , you’ve already had-” Katie cut her off. “I’ve got money in my account, right!? Take it out of that.” Katie went back for a 2nd and 3rd lunch, not realizing how much she was eating…well, either that, or she didn’t care. She was eating out of anger. When she had finished her 3rd tray of lunch, one of her friends felt compelled to pipe up.
“If you eat anymore, Katie, you’re going to end up with a food baby,” she giggled.
It was at this moment that Katie got the answer she’d been looking for. A twinkle appeared in Katie’s eye. “That’s it,” she thought, “I’ll pretend to be pregnant! That should give Sarah a run for her money. I’ll just order one of those fake inflatable things off the net and wear it during school.” She was now getting giddy. “I can already see the look on Sarah’s perfect little face when she notices me getting more attention than her!”
Katie could hardly contain herself. She decided to announce her ‘pregnancy’ to the cheer squad at practice after school. She went through the rest of the school day smiling ear to ear, making sure to flash Sarah an extra sweet smile whenever she passed her in the hall.
After school, the cheer squad was all assembled, complete with Sarah sitting on her usual bench since she broke her leg. Katie got up in front of the group as usual at the start of practice. “Ok everyone,” she said, “I have a special announcement to make before we start practice.” Suddenly, a hush fell over the group. Everyone was anxious to hear what Katie had to say. Even Sarah was alert. All eyes were on her, and she paused for effect. “…I’m pregnant!” Katie exclaimed. Everyone rushed to Katy to congratulate her and gush and shower her with praise. Everyone but Sarah, with her broken leg. It was quite a sight for Katie to see Sarah sitting there on her bench, all by herself, as everyone fawned over someone else for a change. Even better for Katie, that someone was her.