As Abby was walking across the campus, she was wondering a lot of things about the story Fran had told her.  She’d taken Jim from the cafeteria building, sat down with him in a field, and somehow, got plowed into by a tall cheerleader.  Were Jim in her hands right then, he probably would’ve fallen straight to the ground, injuring himself.  The fact that he had somehow gotten mistakenly kidnapped by the cheerleader was quite astounding.  The one thing that didn’t click is how he managed to get himself kidnapped.

“According to Fran, the girl landed on top of her, which meant that Jim, more than likely fell in front of both of them.  The only real explanation for his kidnapping would be the pom-pom Fran said she dropped and picked back up.  I suppose it’s possible that he could’ve fallen into the pom-pom and gotten carried away.  But that would mean…”

She started getting chills again.  The only way Jim could get carried away on a pom-pom and stay with the girl would be to hang onto something, or get held against the handle of the actual pom-pom.  “If she didn’t know he was there and pinned him to the pom-pom…Oh, no.  He could easily get injured under the pressure of her fingers!”

Thinking that Jim could be injured at that very moment, she stopped walking across the field and started running, carefully trying to avoid all of the walkways the smaller folks walked across.  She was starting to sweat as she ran, worried for the safety of the tiny person that was on his way to the Cheering Zone.  Being carried by someone would be alright for him, but being injured and carried against a pom-pom could be very dangerous.  She had to make sure she got there before the girl did so she could get Jim to safety as soon as she could.

“Okay…” she said to herself as she ran and looked around the fields.  As she talked, she was starting to tire and panting, talking between breathing.  “Fran said…the girl had…crimson-red hair…hopefully I can at least…beat her to the Cheering Practice Zone…but maybe…I can find her…on the way there…and keep Jim…out of as much danger…as possible!”

The girl ran for quite awhile, searching the area for the cheerleader in question, and heading for the practice zone.  Many of the other students stopped and gave her strange looks as they saw her in the state she was in:  Sweating, panting, running across the fields, turning her head every which way.  It was something she’d never really done since coming to the university years ago.  As soon as they looked at her, they looked away as she passed by, going on with their business.

As she ran, a few of the tall people were very close to her.  Seeing them in the same fields she was running through, she occasionally would stop by them to catch her breath and ask them about the cheerleader.  After asking nearly 10 people about the girl Fran had described, Abby had the feeling that the girl was a new student.  Not a single person recognized the description she’d given them.  Most of them suggested that she just head to the practice zone and ask the head coach for the Cheering Squad about her.

Following their advice, she waited until she could catch her breath and continued towards the North side of campus.  She was tiring herself out, but someone’s life could be at stake in this situation, so she was trying to push herself.  Jim had made a huge impact on her when they’d spent time together earlier, and she wanted to make sure he would stay safe, so long as she was around.  She pushed herself more and more as she ran.  Despite being a tall lady, it still took her quite awhile to get across campus. 

“Gotta hurry…Can’t waste time…” muttered Abby, almost wheezing with her breaths as she ran.  Her condition was slowly declining with each extra step she took without stopping to rest.  She was so bent on reaching the practice zone and helping her friend out that she’d neglected her own health.  She was pushing herself to her limits and didn’t even seem to realize it. 

As she was nearing the practice zone, she started slowing down.  He legs started to fill with pain and her lungs felt like they were screaming as she breathed.  With each exhale, she coughed and her stomach was turning and causing her to feel nauseated.  Despite all of this, she forced herself forward.  Slowing down to a slow walk, she moved forward, chanting “Gotta hurry.  Can’t let him get hurt.” to herself the entire way there.

With her considerable decline in pace, it took Abby nearly 15 minutes to cross the single field that had stood between her and the practice zone.  Her pace continued to slow down as she stopped walking and began to drag her feet, causing her sandals to make tear-marks in the dirt.  One of the professors came up to her, asking if she was alright.  Not paying any mind to them, she just kept walking and chanting to herself about hurrying.  They watched as she went on and blinked, not sure what to think about her behavior.

Finally making it to the Cheering Practice Zone, Abby looked through her now-squinted eyes and saw many of the girls already practicing.  There were two sets of stages set up in the field that they practiced in.  One stage had a huge fence around it, and another one had a long building with matting set up on top of it.  On the matted building were the cheerleaders that were small folks.  They practiced up at about 90 feet in order to be able to see and talk to the taller participants. 

Beyond both stages was a large tower-like structure that stood 95 feet in the air.  The tower itself was nothing more than a large elevator.  Mr. Brim, the official coach for the cheering squad, was standing in at the top of the tower, speaking into a microphone, talking to all of the girls.  As he finished telling them that they would begin practice soon, he looked over and saw Abby stumbling in. 

She slowly approached the tower and put her hand on it.  Almost pulling on it for support, she caused it to slowly shake.  Out of the microphone’s speakers came the voice of Mr. Brim. 

“Ms. Abigail!  What can I do for you today?  Ms Abi-..Hey!  This isn’t meant to support tall folks, Abby!”

He quickly called over one of the cheerleaders to help Abby, who’d slowly pulled harder on the tower while muttering to herself.  A tall, blonde woman slowly grabbed around Abby’s stomach and pulled her away.  Abby, almost in a daze at this point, was worn out and could barely think to speak.  Her vision was starting to fog up and, just before falling unconscious in the girl’s arms, let out a small, whimpered “Have to make sure I keep him saf-”

Mr. Brim looked at Abby and then back up at the blonde woman who’d been supporting her weight.  He gave her some quick orders and she took Abby to their fenced-in practice zone.  She laid her down on the soft material they used for practicing and then went back to the tower.  Pulling Mr. Brim out from the top of the tower, she walked back over to the girls, who were all kneeled over, looking at Abby. 

“Girls, we’ll be postponing practice today.  We need to make sure she’s alright.  She went through a lot of trouble to reach us.  We have to make sure we’re here and ready to hear what she has to say when she wakes up.”

The girls nodded as they all sat down, waiting for poor Abby to wake up…