Do you have any mascara with you by any chance?
No. Why? Who needs some?
I forgot to put some on my bottom eyelashes, so I feel naked.
You look beautiful.
- It's been a rough morning. - I can't tell.
- Are you Monica? - Yes.
Hi, I'm Abby.
- Hi. I'm Monica. Nice to meet you. - It is so nice to meet you!
My goodness. This is Bryan, our videographer.
- Hi. Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
We're excited to film your showoff today.
- Hang on, one second. Um... - No, go ahead.
Look at the girls.
- Is that not incredible? - I know. I know. They're stunning.
- It's really, really cool. - Awesome. Well, we're excited.
This is the first time we've done anything in them, so...
Besides try them on.
- So... - Really?
So, they haven't done a routine in 'em yet?
No, we just wanted to do this little private showoff
just to kind of see where we're at and--
And doit for the alumni.
And, yeah. This is one of my alumni that was on the 2000 team.
- Right. How are you? - Yes!
Y'all, do y'all know Eric Avara?
- This is 2000. - Hi.
What a legacy that you've got--
Yes.
...kids that come back from 19 years ago.
Hello, love! How are you?
- You look good! - Thanks. You too.
I know it's a lot of pressure for you guys, having the alumni there,
but literally, I'm telling you, it's like a family.
Like, it's just like your family watching you go full-out.
They literally want you to succeed.
And going to Daytona, too, and seeing them at the front of the floor,
I feel like I only perform to them. Like, I do it for them.
Like, I don't feel like I do it for the crowd.
There are some great athletes, great people
that came here to watch you,
because they want you to be as great, if not even better,
than how great they were.
So, what is it gonna be? Are you going to literally be a champion?
And, y'all, just remember that smart cheerleading,
that's what it's gonna come down to.
Expect the unexpected.
And you know where you need to be sharper, tighter, cleaner, perform more,
because you've seen it, and we do that for a reason.
- Do you believe in yourself? - Yes!
- Do you believe in each other? - Yes!
- You believe in Monica and Andy? - Yes!
Then let's do this.
And now, finishing the Junior College Division,
all the way from Corsicana, Texas,
give it up for Navarro College!
NC! NC!
NC! NC! NC!
Navarro! Let's go!
Come on! Yeah!
Yo, let's go!
Come on, Ashlee, let's go!
Let's go!
Yeah! Yeah!
Let's go!
Yes! Come on!
Yeah!
Let's go!
Yes!
Yeah, that's not good.
It is still bruised.
- So, it's just a painful bruise? - Yeah.
That's all, we're sure?
Was it hurting when you got to the pyramid?
It just was the basket.
I don't know the exact diagnosis for her injury,
but we just say it's "ribiosis." She gets hit in that one spot,
and she's out.
- Where's Andy? - Andy?
She's too important to this routine...
- Andy, come here. - ...that we cannot go on
crossing our fingers, hoping that it won't hurt too much
to where we have to take her out.
What if we put Allie in the pyramid on her side?
Because the pyramid still needs work.
- Right. - And so...
Yeah.
I'm sure she wants to be in the pyramid,
but at this point, I don't feel like she can rep it out like we need to.
I'm gonna tell Ashlee that,
because I know she's gonna be really sad about that,
but at this point, there's no other choice.
Ashlee, I know you don't want to hear this,
but I'm gonna put Allie in your spot in the pyramid permanently.
I need you for the stunt and I need you for the baskets,
which means I need you healthy.
You understand, right?
I know you don't wanna do that, but that's the only way
I think we can get you doing what you need to do by next weekend.
One, two, three, four, five, seven. And...
Hold her.
Get her, get her, get her.
It's not ideal to switch people out at this point, obviously, but...
it's gonna be a much bigger push.
We're gonna probably really have to push ourselves this week.
Dude, I think Ashlee just needs to push.
One, two, three, four, five.
I don't wanna make any more changes. Hopefully, I don't have to.
It freakin' sucks, I get it,
but it's a part of the process, it's a part of the journey.
And I just want to make sure that when y'all step out on the mat,
you look like a Navarro girl.
Because, if you have not competed in Daytona yet,
it is the best feeling ever
because everyone is like,
"My gosh, there's Navarro! There's Navarro!"
So, understand and realize
that you are a freaking Navarro cheerleader!
- It's a privilege. - It is definitely a privilege.
So, wear your heads high,
and look like you belong on that mat.
Because some of you, like your face,
- you could tell that you were scared. - Yes.
And that affects how you do in your routine.
Y'all have a strong bond, do you think?
You have to!
Yeah, that just got awkward.
Yes or no.
- Do y'all have a strong bond? - Yeah.
If y'all... I- I'm just gonna be straight,
like, if y'all don't have that bond, y'all aren't gonna win.
There's just no way.
Y'all need to do
whatever you need to do to fix it before you get on that mat.
It's spring break, everyone's gone but cheerleaders,
so we just stay here and we practice, like,
maybe three times, two to three times a day.
So, yeah, I'm extremely tired.
And I'm sore.
This week starts our hell week,
which is basically where we take, like, spring break
and we prepare for Daytona.
Pushing our bodies, perfecting skills, like, going full-out.
We're aiming to do 41 full-outs,
so, we have about,
you know, 15 more if we want to make that goal.
There's just so much stress these couple weeks leading into Daytona.
You are realizing this entire season and all this work is coming to an end.
Yeah, I'm, like, stressed about Daytona.
At this point, I wanna be there now,
so nothing else can happen.
Like, we don't have time for nothing else to happen.
We don't, because we don't have time for more injuries.
Are we ready to slay in Slaytona?
"In Slaytona."
Obviously, I wish you were still in the pyramid, but...
it is crazy that Allie, like,
didn't have to do it, and is doing it again.
Come on, Allie! Let's go, Allie!
Relax!
We gotta do the whole stunt again because that was trash.
When it's good, it's decent, and when it's bad, it's horrible.
It's not necessarily the stunt I'm nervous about, it's the pyramid.
Yeah. It's too late to change.
We really can't afford to lose another girl.
We are basically, yeah, we're down to the last people that we have.
Like, we don't have any other girls.
Wait, when is-- When is showoffs? This Sunday?
The first showoff is important,
but second one is a huge, huge, huge, important night for us
because this is the first time that we perform in front of other teams.
Hey, we got our shoes in. Y'all, come here.
The people that are at our showoffs,
they're not our competitor.
They're all in different divisions, but it's very important.
Really, this is like our pregame of Daytona.
We have to take it as serious as that.
La'Darius, 13. Anthony, 13. Jerry, 11.
I feel like it's a big deal to all of us
because I would say it's like a mini competition,
but, like, there's no judges.
It's kind of to see how you would do, like, under pressure
with, like, an actual crowd.
Because when we go to Daytona, we only get one shot.
- Hey. - Girl, what is goin' on?
You know, just casually relaxin' and stuff.
- Good to see you. - How are you?
- Wonderful. - Thank you for coming.
- How are you doing? - Hi, I'm Lexi.
- This is Lexi. - I remember you. I saw you before.
- Really? - Um, at the Palace.
Yeah, when we did the, performance downtown.
- Yes, you were there! - Yeah, awesome. Man, I love it.
- Thank you. - This is Sean Frasier.
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
- Hi, nice to meet you. - Sean is one of our detectives,
- Okay. - and I asked him to come along with us.
And, So, I understand you got a little story to tell us.
Yeah, um... Just some girl I don't even know
was, like, posting... um...
provocative, photographs of me on Twitter.
Provocative photographs. So, what? Nude photos?
- Yes. - Okay.
Now, I have to ask you another uncomfortable question.
How old were you when these were taken?
Anywhere from 16 to 17.
Okay.
That can put it into what would be basically, like,
possession of, child pornography.
'Cause in Texas, that's still considered a minor.
And you're not in trouble,
but the person who...
- That posted it. - ...posted this,
it can be a pretty big deal. Actually, a felony.
At first, I was honestly worried about, you know, what she would think,
because it's her program.
That's me in her program, you know,
making, you know, Navarro look a certain way.
I thought she would be really upset with me.
But she was, like, really understanding
that I was, like, the victim of the situation.
In your mind, that was an intimate moment that was just for you
and your boyfriend, and not for someone...
I mean, you know, you take the power back.
You just say, "Yeah, that was me," but you're not the person that looks bad.
She really reaches out to all of her kids.
Like a mother would.
And that's whenever I started to feel like we really had,
like, a strong connection,
and-- and how much she truly cares about all of her athletes.
Okay, what do you say that I get an officer to come down,
and we'll go ahead and take an official report of this,
and we can get the ball rolling?
- Thank you guys so much. - Just, y'all are gonna bring home
another championship, right?
- There you go. - We're gonna try.
You know, I'm-- I'm, like, Monica's biggest fan.
Yeah.
- Thank you. - Thank you, guys.
- And thank you, Monica, for helping out. - Of course, girl.
You know I've got your back. Always gonna protect you.
Everyone has your back no matter what.
No matter who you are, once you're a part of this program,
if you need something somewhere in the world,
there will be a person that has been a part of this program,
and they can help you out.
Once you're a part of the family, you're just in.
She was thinking that, like, people weren't gonna have her back,
and I just told her, like, "At the end of the day, we all love you,
and we all, like, will defend you till the day we die."
Gabi.
What color is that?
Your band?
Cream.
There we go, that's a good one.
You know, at first, she wasn't quite bought in.
She's more of a kind of a loner and a free spirit.
And I don't think she's ever had these expectations set on her
from not only myself, but her teammates.
But, as the season has gone on,
I think she realized how much she needed that structure in her life...
...and also realized how everyone loved her,
and felt like she was, you know, an important piece to this family.
Bulldogs, let's fight!
Red, black, and white!
When I first came here,
I felt like I was an outsider, almost.
But we spend so much time around each other
that we pretty much become like brothers and sisters,
fight like brothers and sisters,
there for each other like brothers and sisters.
It did take a while, but I like everyone,
and I know all they want is the best for me.
While we're tired, we need to hit that pyramid. Stand up.
While you're tired, let's go. Come on, you guys got it.
With a positive attitude! Here we go, ready? And...
One round-off!
Okay. Pray for me.
We're just breathing.
- It hurts! - It hurts?
Yeah. Actually, just this side.
- Okay? - You okay?
- Yeah. - I'll grab some water.
You just frustrated?
- No. - No, her ribs. Yeah.
You lost your air?
- Want me to get you water? - Her ribs have been, like, in...
in a lot of pain.
No, from the baskets.
Okay, let's do it again.
I almost died four times.
When Monica says full-out, I'm going full-out.
Let's go, Morgan! Push.
- Come on, Morgan! - Go!
Let's go! Hey! Hey!
Come on!
Go!
Get her up!
Are you gonna do what Keke said to do?
You're gonna go to the ER in between practices?
Yeah.
Did you tell Monica?
No.
There's no one that can replace you
in doing everything that you do.
Monica trusts you and believes in you, so you can do it.
- This sucks. - I know.
Cheerleading sucks.
Morgan, clear your mind, babe. Clear your mind.
She doesn't know that your ribs hurt that bad.
She thinks you're stressed--
I'm not stressed about the baskets.
It's just my ribs hurt.
Keke told me to go to the emergency room after this practice
to get 'em popped back in.
Okay. Cute, okay.
- We're good. - Okay.
So then you went to the ER, but, like...
they couldn't do anything to help you?
They were like, "You understand you-- you're not practicing?"
- I was like-- - Did they say that?
Yeah, and I was like...
"Okay, but you see, like, the way that it's worked out,
like, I have to go to practice."
And then they came and, like, gave me all this medicine.
And it was, like, muscle relaxers and, like, pain medication and stuff.
And I was like, "How will that make me feel after I take it?"
And she was like, "It's a babo-- " I don't know what the words are,
but she's like, "It's a thing, it'll, like, do this and do that."
And I was like, "I'm not gonna take that." And she was like,
"You have to take them before you leave."
And I was like, "I'm not taking them." And she was like,
"Okay, then you need to sign this paper, like, I don't know what to say to you."
And I was just like... I was like, "I can't. Like, I just can't."
The doctors told me if I keep doing the same things,
like, keep cheering,
that if I get hit in the ribs hard again, they could all fracture.
Like, if they, like, poked my organs and my lungs popped or something crazy,
that would obviously not be good.
And you can't do anything for fractured ribs besides take time off,
and that's why I said, I said, "We gotta just push through it."
Let's do, like, one of these. Hold it in the corner there.
I like how this is a team function.
Duh.
Like, you know about, like, Ashlee's ribs and everything, right?
Okay.
Well, Monica said that
if, like, it's more than, like, just her ribs are bruised or whatever,
that, like, I, like, am gonna go in for her.
- So... - No, you're not.
No, I can't-- I can't do it unless you have clearance
from, the doctor.
Like, my hands are tied.
Like, even if I wanted you to go in, it's not my call, it's the doctor's.
I know Monica's kind of stressing because we're in our last week,
but my hands are tied.
I would love for Sherbs to be able to take that spot.
My mind works 24/7.
It's constantly thinking
of Plan A, B, C, D, all the way through, you know, down to Z.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
She is not gonna set herself up for failure.
She's always prepared for everything.
Preparation. She loves to prepare. We love to... prepare.
We literally go through the whole entire Daytona warm-up
like, how long we're gonna get to warm up,
how long we have time on the mat,
how far do we have to walk and come back, because we have a walk,
there's a walk from the Ocean Center to the Bandshell,
so we prepare for that too.
We put them through practice outside in the heat.
We prepare these kids for every circumstance,
and I would say each full-out that we do is a little bit different.
You know, we don't want to be surprised by anything,
so now, in hell week, we're also doing full-outs
to make sure that we're prepared for any situation,
that no matter what happens, we're still gonna make it
through the routine.
Okay, let's practice doing some mess-up scenarios.
So, y'all go to the Arabian,
and let's practice going from a cradle to the stomach to the shoulder set.
We actually spent one night doing some what-if situations.
If we had a mess up, and you landed on a cradle,
it would be two counts behind,
and you'd have to pick back up on the front flip,
what's not gonna happen.
I just like to know that if it-- if anything ever does,
that we have a-- a plan.
The exhausting part is just...
when my mind won't shut off when I'm trying to sleep.
I don't want any decision that I ever make
to be the reason that we fail,
and I think my mind's constantly playing those different scenarios.
Austin, come here.
Hey, we're gonna teach Alex Bouhuys your part.
Just in case your back jacks up again, someone can do your whole routine.
He's not gonna be able to do the tumbling that you do.
Okay, let's do that.
Hey, y'all. Um...
Alex, will you do this part and learn his whole routine?
Everyone at the competition is striving for the same thing.
So, how are we gonna set ourselves apart?
That's why we put so much preparation into what we do.
Please don't be taking a nap.
- Hello, Magpie. - Hello.
Did you just wake up from a nap?
No, I was eating.
Sounded like you just woke up.
How's your side doing?
Good.
- Pushing through it. - Good? Is it sore now?
I mean, it's been sore, but...
I'm, like, getting used to, like, the pain of it now, so...
Yeah. Yeah.
Daytona's soon.
Yeah. Scary.
I know you'll do good.
I wish you guys could go.
Well, I wish we could too. Haven't seen you in forever.
I know.
My grandparents were more like my support system,
and I would never want to disappoint them
because they basically dropped everything to help save me as a person
and make my life better.
I feel like I owe them the whole entire world and so much more.
There's a lot of intricacies to that story,
and it's difficult, it's an...
We still, to this point,
still don't understand the whole situation.
It's...
It was tough on everybody.
My sophomore year of high school,
my dad went and moved back in with my stepmom
and three other kids.
I kind of mentally shut down
when all that stuff was happening when I was younger.
My son had left his kids in the trailer.
I have no idea what his thoughts were and where he was coming from at that time,
and we don't talk about it because it's basically over.
I was away from her for quite a while, so...
I don't know, I...
When you usually just go through and, I mean, you do what you need to do
for everybody and try to make everybody happy,
but it doesn't always end up workin' out.
Sometimes you make the wrong decisions for the wrong reasons, and...
end up living with 'em, but...
she handles everything, and...
knows how to take care of herself, so...
Emotions are kind of a hard thing just for me and my family altogether.
It's a struggle I have, she has, and it's just kind of a...
a thing that we've all gotten used to is hiding our emotions
and trying to kinda... hide how we feel and...
make it seem like everything's okay.
When my brother turned 18,
he decided, since he was an adult,
that he was gonna go try to find our mom.
So, I stayed behind
and ended up living in that trailer by myself once my brother moved out.
I was, like, kind of panicked and scared.
Though, I didn't quite figure out how to deal with the stress and anger.
I got into running. Like, I would go down a dirt road and just run.
Just as far as I could. Past fields of emptiness.
That was probably one of the darkest places I have ever been in
in my whole entire life,
and probably ever will be in.
I felt like I wasn't good enough.
I wasn't, like, important to anyone, that's what I felt like.
I was just over life itself. Um...
Just felt so alone.
My dad had, like, a gun safe that he had that had guns in it,
and I thought multiple times about...
like, how I had easy access to it and stuff.
But my grandparents are the biggest difference, obviously.
If it were not for them,
I would probably not be in this world anymore.
And, um, just, like, little things would happen
at school that made the difference.
Like, literally just going to school and just dragging my feet,
and going from class to class and just...
this person just smiled at me in the hallway,
and that just made the whole entire, like, difference to me.
- Ready? - Morgan, I'm so proud of you.
My God. That was so good.
I was just like...
Seven, eight. One.
- Here we go! - Good, Morgan! Good!
- Yes! - Okay.
I still, to this day, feel like I'm never good enough for anyone
or anything.
But I think of my Navarro Cheer team to be my family.
Morgan, are you okay or no?
I think I just need a new set of ribs.
I'm just gonna do it regardless.
Five, seven, eight. One, three...
Five, six!
Like, I would do anything for any of them.
I'm gonna do everything in my power to make sure
that in Daytona I will not let a single person down.
I don't look back on my past and don't let it define me
because I've grown from it,
and it's made me into the person I am today.
So, I just push through the pain,
because pain is temporary.
All right, what's up?
Okay, so I went up to, like, the-- the office, like, at Navarro.
And, um, I talked to a lady about, like,
how to, like, send my transcripts to, like, different schools.
Are you gonna try out for Louisville?
- Um... yeah. - Okay. Okay.
Just remember it's always best to have a backup.
You know what your Plan A is,
you know what you wanna do, but Plan B and Plan C is always important.
You forget what I went through in Louisville.
My gosh.
- I'm sorry, what we went through. - What we went through, yeah.
Towards the end of my senior year of high school,
I went to try out at the University of Louisville.
Because that was, like, literally my dream school.
Um, I thought I did everything I could to, like, make the team,
but a couple of hours later, they posted, like,
the people that made the team on, like, the door,
and I wasn't on it,
and it broke my heart tremendously.
Um, I was crying a lot...
um, with my cheer mom...
the whole five-hour drive back home.
That was a hard day for all of us.
It was.
- But... But, like, - Wow.
But, look where you are, look what you've done.
That's right.
Well, everything has been a blessing, yes.
It's so amazing. I'm so proud of you.
Thank you so much.
It's important to hear.
Your mama would be telling you that every day, too.
She would. She definitely would.
And she is.
Yes.
Five, six, seven, eight. One!
- Come on, Allie. - Come on, y'all.
Okay. [We need to bring in more flyers.
My fucking God.
Yeah.
You good?
No, the dumb bitch is annoying.
Get a break.
La'Darius can definitely let his emotions overcome him.
You know, your partner stunt,
if you don't do your part, it's not successful for her.
If she doesn't do her part, it's not successful for you.
It requires y'all to work together.
The situation I'm having with Allie right now, I'm over it.
She be crying too much.
The other thing I've really talked to La'Darius about,
a lot, is, you know, the world's not against you.
You know, you don't have to be the victim all the time.
Like, self-accountability.
Like, figure out what you're doing that you could do better.
Like... to spin her.
With all the crying and all the being scared and all the,
"Okay, La'Darius is always the issue." They always made me the issue.
And I was like, "No, because I'm not like everybody else."
You cheering on all these amazing teams,
You having the ability to pay for all the stuff
and all this private stuff. People don't have that,
and I'm one of those people.
So, when I come here,
I expect you to give 110% just like I'm going to give 110%.
Last time--
Yeah, how you did it last time was really good.
Like, it wasn't too big, and it wasn't, like, small either.
That's good.
I hate the pouf.
Yeah.
My God, the pouf? I'm not even gonna attempt that.
Jade's gonna do it for me.
I am not capable of doing that.
It would look like I got mauled by a squirrel
if I tried to do my own pouf.
So, the higher the hair, the closer to God,
because if your hair's really, really big...
...you're closer to Heaven.
I used to do my little sister's hair.
Because she, I mean, my whole family was cheerleaders.
But... So, I would always do her hair,
and it was rough at first.
It was really rough. But I learned.
I used to watch YouTube videos all the time when I was bored.
And then I figured out the process,
and now I just do the same thing every time.
And luckily it's paid off,
because everyone wants me to do their hair.
It's the Navarro Girl look. You've gotta have big hair, big curls.
Pretty uniform. Big bow.
It adds to the full effect
and the beauty of the ladies that we have here.
Y'all are not ready.
It brings, like, a certain confidence,
but people don't usually spend
two to three hours getting ready to play their sport.
I give up!
My hair's gonna look like crap, and I don't care.
My freakin' God!
As soon as we go into that, like, competition mode,
and the crowd is hyping us up,
it's like a switch that we just...
You have so much fear but so much adrenaline and so much hype.
Monica doesn't like, I guess you could say, the word "ugly."
She wants everything to look perfect.
And she just makes sure
that we drill that over and over and over again.
The second you step on that mat, you should look like you own the world.
But it's very important that we hit it today.
Alumnis are there,
and people drive and people take a lot of time
of their personal lives to come and watch us.
This is our hometown.
These are the teachers that teach these kids, our administrators.
They're out there to watch us and, you know, other teams.
We wanna put our best foot forward.
Not only because we want to look our very best,
but also because we wanna feel good
before we leave to go out and compete that we can do this.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,
and welcome to Navarro College showoffs, 2019.
These young men and women have worked so hard throughout the year,
polishing and perfecting their dance and cheer routines.
On deck is the Texas Tech Cheer.
That was so good.
Navarro! Let's go!
Hey, let's go. Circle, circle, circle.
We all here?
Okay, today it's about you. It's about you stepping it up, okay?
This team is it. You don't need anything or anybody else.
Every single person in here is it.
Go out there, hit a zero, hit your routine,
know your why and know who you are.
- Yes? Okay? - Yes, sir.
Trust each other. Know what you have to do.
The gas is turned on.
If you light yourself on fire, the world will come watch you burn.
- We can, we will, we must. - We can, we will, we must!
Let's get it!
Now taking the mat is the 13-time
and defending national champions,
Navarro College Cheer!
NC! NC! NC!
NC!
One, two, three...
Come on, dogs!
Come on, bulldogs! Come on!
Do this, guys!
They're yelling at each other...
Hey! Hey! Y'all, listen. Are y'all serious?
We're gonna practice at 8:30 tonight at CTA, Okay?
You're gonna leave this circle with a smile on your face
because otherwise you look like a really crappy competitor, okay?
Yes, ma'am.
So, there's a lot of people still in here that want to talk to y'all.
So, when y'all leave this circle, you go out there and represent us well,
and talk to them, and we will figure this out tonight.
Because I would much rather figure it out tonight
than when we get to Daytona.
- Yes, ma'am. - Right?
Don't point fingers.
Exactly. Thank you.
She's not even looking where her feet go.
You gotta know where your feet are going, and she didn't know,
'cause she don't look and she don't listen, and I'm over it.
Everyone's mad. TT walked off the floor with his hands up.
Were you able to sit on her shoulder?
I tried, but I was, like, literally like this on her.
Yeah, I forgot that's how you landed.
It happened so fast, I couldn't remember.
So...
I wonder why that happened.
- Thank you. - Yeah. For sure.
Because she's not listening to what you tell her to do.
You threw too hard on that second one.
- That's why she flew up so fast. - Bap, bap, bap. Bap, bap.
I felt it.
- Bap, bap, bap. Bap, bap. No. - Because--
See this energy that's coming through here? It's called positive.
Yeah, I am being positive. I was just like...
Because I was like, "Let me get it up there."
Don't throw too hard. Listen, easy.
I wasn't throwing that hard. But I was trying to get her body up there.
- Monica-- - No, listen.
- You do not understand... - I do.
...how, irritated...
Listen to me. You know what I'm saying.
We've already had this talk. So, listen. Breathe.
Do you understand?
We can't do this without her.
She's, like, probably is beating herself up right now.
Call her. That would be a great thing to do.
He definitely has insecurities,
and that powerful personality is what he uses to kinda hide it
and, you know, keep it and protect it.
So, but you know-- you know what she needs, right?
Okay. So, this is your time to, like...
He definitely doesn't want to show those weaknesses.
I mean, maybe it's from, you know, how he's grown up
and just always having to put that, you know, defense up,
and just always trying to protect himself.
There is not one place in Fort Walton, from head to toe,
that we have not lived, literally. Literally.
Right.
The house by Green Acres, remember I used to always have
all those frogs and stuff?
Yeah, you used to have 'em all in your drawers and stuff,
and I'm up there going in your pockets,
and I'd get snakes and worms and everything out your pockets.
- That's not my fault. - Yes, it is.
He was a good kid when he was little.
Sometimes he had a little attitude.
Dude, I can't. I can't.
But a lot of them people told La'Darius he wasn't gonna be nothing.
They was like, "He gonna end up in jail or this and that."
No, he didn't.
And it's every so often that you see La'Darius, like, kind of sad.
Sometimes when he's sad, he just start thinking about
the stuff, like, he been through.
And I'll never forget,
it was, like, one day me and him just riding around,
and he was like, "Mom, I got something to tell you."
And he was like, "Mom, you don't know what I went through."
He hold it in for a long time before he told me.
When I was at Miss Edeora's house,
which is the lady that had the custody of all the four boys,
in that time,
the abuse that I endured
was just so much.
There was this guy that was, like...
I was nine years old, I remember it,
and he was, like, at least 16, 17, like, around that age.
We used to always play, like, forts.
Like, we always used to build forts and stuff like that.
And he just wants me to go into the fort with him.
So, I'm, like, going into the fort, just playing around,
and he made me touch him in, like, a lot of places.
So, I used to, like, try to avoid being around him
because I didn't really wanna go through all of that stuff.
And this is when all the rumors about me being fruity started.
What really hurt me... I feel like they knew.
And it's like they turned a blind eye to it,
like it didn't even happen.
So, everybody's gonna know what happened to me,
but nobody's gonna sit here and say anything about it?
Nobody's gonna be like, "La'Darius, are you okay?"
Everybody was always like, "You're fruity, I don't got time for it."
I just felt like if my own family does not have my back,
then I don't have nothing, and I'm just here alone.
I felt like nobody cared, so I shouldn't care.
I was just outside one day.
I just laid there on her little slide...
and I was like, "This is just not for me anymore.
I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to keep being bullied."
And I was like, "I'm tired."
So, I took so many pills.
And so, I looked at my hand right here, and I was like, "You know what?
I wonder how it feels... to have a knife run across my skin."
So, I cut myself,
because...
I had cut myself because I was like, "I don't want to be here."
I said, "I do not want to be here.
I feel like this is not my family.
This is not where I want to be."
And that's how I felt.
I really felt like I was really alone,
and that there was nobody that was gonna come save me,
that I was... I was gon' literally just die.
Because my life meant so, so less to everybody else
that I was gonna be just another person that was just,
"He dead. Nobody gonna care."
I'll-- That's how I literally felt.
When I, like, woke up,
I just saw the blood going down that slide,
and I was just like, "My God."
If I let my emotions win and I do go and kill myself,
then I feel like I let them win.
And I was like, "I can't let them win.
What am I gonna do? Just sit here and just be a nobody?"
I would've just been somebody that's just,
"He could've been this. He could have been that person,
but he's not."
And I would've never met the people, like,
that are helping me change my outlook on life
and changing my empathetic side, as Monica would say,
because she needs me to be more empathetic.
But it's hard to be like that when you are mentally battling...
yourself, basically.
When you're trying to be the new person,
but the old person is right there, like, just right there.
Everybody has a right to be irritated or mad,
- if something goes wrong. That's life. - You do. That is.
This the showoffs, like.
Everybody keep saying, "You gotta talk to her or call,"
I'm like, I'm not gonna speak at all,
because if I speak, the truth gonna come out.
And that's just the--
That's just how I am. Like, the truth is just the truth.
- Yeah. - I'm not gonna sit here
and baby anybody. Like, I'm not gonna baby you.
If you can't handle someone telling you the truth,
then you should not be in a sport where you gonna be told the truth.
You should not be in sports, period.
You should just stay home
and be crying with your parents and sucking on their titties.
'Cause there's people that have came from,
like, crazy backgrounds,
that have fought and clawed their way to the top
to just get this one chance.
I don't have friggin' time for it.
So, how do you feel going into Daytona?
I feel like she better get it together.
Okay. Any-- Any other feelings?
- That's it. - That's it?
She's the only person I worry about.
La'Darius, I'mma keep it real with you.
It's what you're putting out to the world.
What am I putting out to the world?
That you're mad.
Don't go there with me, Jerry. You know I'll fight.
You know I can handle me too.
Don't play with me. I am-- I am from Bad Girls Club.
- Don't play. Don't do that. - You are. And you are.
- Don't do that. - And you are.
We have to, like, get it together. We have to, like, work together as a team.
We literally only have a couple more days left with each other.
Like, how far do people just gotta get out their heads
and just be...
grown enough to, like, handle their own when it's time.
Inhale, exhale.
Well.
Jerry taught me, honestly,
how to be just a nicer human being and, like, a sweeter person.
Like, I want to be. That's what I'm changing.
Hey, I wanted to talk to you real quick
because I know that you were a little down after our little showoff.
It was-- It was a collective. All three of us, we all messed up.
It was me, Shannon. We all three messed up.
And that was our fault, like, it was not just you.
Girl, we love you too.
You are becoming a part of, like, a big family, like,
just come in, and I promise you, you gonna be good,
and we're gonna make it work, Okay? Bye-bye.
That was good. We handled that pretty good.
What'd I say??
I'm very happy I met a person like La'Darius.
I look up to him because it was awesome to, like, meet someone
that has that much confidence.
That made me want to be even more confident, you know?
I didn't think I was gonna make it this far.
Like, to Daytona?
Yeah.
I knew you were.
And he tells me a lot of the time that he looks up to me,
because I always try to make everything that comes out of my mouth positive.
It makes me feel good about myself that I have an impact on him
as well as he has an impact on me.
As we're, like, coming to an end, I feel like
we want to hear about what Navarro means to you so far.
You've gone through so much, and, like,
we want to hear what you think, what you feel.
Um, for me, Navarro's been, like,
a huge learning experience.
Like, I appreciate this program, and especially Monica,
for really showing me, like,
you know, how to be, like, more independent
and pretty much just helping me become a better person.
Like, some of you say, you need to not, like,
be under your parents so much and, like, get away from your parents,
but, like, I had those parents that were always, like,
on my back and, like, always took care of me,
and, like, did whatever I needed.
And, like, not having them was really different and weird,
but it made me grow up in, like, a really good way.
And, like, I have brothers and sisters now
that I never thought that, like,
I would get that close to, and I would not trade it for the world.
So, like, growing up, I didn't really have, like, that family,
like, thing, like, I didn't really have that, I had a broken family.
So, I blurred out that portion in my life.
And being here and meeting all of you guys
has literally filled that gap
of my brokenness in my family,
and made it so that I do have a family.
If people didn't give me a second chance, I would not be here.
Like, last year, I didn't really have a lot of unity with a lot of people,
and I really burned a lot of bridges, and I'm getting there
and we're coming back, the bridge...
...the-- the bridge is being built.
And I felt like without everybody coming together,
we're gonna fail and we're gonna to fall.
But, as long as we're all together and we're helping each other,
we're gonna rise and we're gonna get where we need to go.
My first year here, I hit, like, a roadblock.
I got into, like, a really, extremely dark place in my life
where I didn't make the best decision,
and I unfortunately had to go spend a night in jail for.
I didn't know what to do
because the following day, I was kicked off the team.
And this was, like, a week before we left for Daytona the first year.
And it was so hard for me
that my mental health crashed,
and... I wanted to...
I wanted to kill myself.
So, I spent hours and hours and hours wandering
in the middle of Corsicana, I don't even know.
Scared us to death, make sure you include that part.
You scared us to death.
And I didn't know that...
my family was looking for me.
Like, everyone on the entire team
was scouring Corsicana to find me,
and I was just on some metal thing, getting an...
old hose ready. And I put it around my neck,
and I had it ready,
and I jumped off.
We already know the story.
And I'm too heavy, because...
...that hose snapped!
But on a serious note,
the team comes up to me, and they finally find me,
and the police get me.
But I got myself out, and I said, "You know what?
That's it. Like, I need to change."
And I remember talking to Monica and asking her for a second chance.
And... there's, like, a zero tolerance here.
And, for Monica to believe in me,
and give me another chance to come back, I don't even know how to explain it.
The experiences, the lessons, the people you meet here,
are the tools that you need and are gonna guide you
through the rest of your life.
Obviously, this is, like, my life.
I mean, this is all I've done for 24 years,
and I've sacrificed so many things with my family,
but I do it because I want to,
because I want to be an impact on y'all's life,
and I want to be here with y'all.
It's not to win.
I mean, I've won. I don't-- I don't have to win.
Like, in 2017, we lost,
and I took it hard on myself, like,
I felt like... tell them what a wreck I was.
I was... It was awful.
She was, like, on the floor of the hotel room having to--
- You don't have to tell them that much. - Pick her up.
Literally.
I mean, it was just such a devastating loss to me,
and it wasn't because I lost,
it was because I felt like I let everyone down.
And I didn't want that to happen again
because I didn't want anyone to come from Canada,
or California, or Hawaii, or wherever...
I didn't want you to move your whole life here
and not finish with that expectation that you had, you know?
Like, that's why I do this.
And, I mean, not to toot my own horn or anything,
but I have a finance degree from UT,
which is one of the best business schools in the world,
and I have an MBA...
Wow!
So, you know, I could be doing other things,
but I'm not,
because this is where I feel God led me to be, so...
The queen has spoken.
Does she need any more trophies? Does she need any more rings? No.
Obviously it's nice and sweet to say that she has another title,
but she does this purely for us.
And we do this for ourselves,
but, at the end of the day, we do this for Monica.
Whatever happened, happened.
That's in the past, right? We're about to go full-out.
That's right here, right now.
Did you leave Jerry in?
- Yeah. - Good.
Give it your all.
Just own that pyramid.
Own it.
Come on, girls!
Go! Go!
Come on, Morgan. Let's go. Come on, baby. I love you!
That was good!
Two good full-outs today.
Confessional gangster!
Dude, I don't know what happened to my knee,
but it's so bruised.
Look how dark it is. Like, what the f...
Get your lives together!
- We are. - He hurt his toe.
You have nine others.
- Okay, from the beginning! - Yeah.
Three, five, seven. Eight. One, three, five.
Seven, eight. One.
You're doing amazing, girl. Come on.
- Is everybody Okay? - Was that Gabi?
I don't care if I have to walk out with a freaking pound of tape on my ankle.
I don't care.
You got it, Gabi.
Your mom is calling.
Let's go, y'all, come on! This is it!
You're almost in Daytona!
Fu...
Get her up!
Hold it!
Really? Really? Really? Really?
Y'all, if somebody gets hurt!
Get back.
Bad Girls Club is the worst thing
that's ever happened to us.
Okay. Okay. We needed that. We needed that.
So, we got stuff done, and we had fun.
Why are you here?
Why did you leave your hometown and your family?
And why are you in Corsicana on this team?
If you don't know the reason that you're doing this,
then there's no purpose.
You have to know your why. Like, what is your why?
The pressure's on, so do what you are here to do,
and leave the legacy you want to leave behind.
Whoo!
That was the best save I've ever seen on that hand-to-hand.
It wasn't even... It was so good, y'all.
Let's go to Daytona!
- Shannon, you okay, babe? - Is it hurting to breathe?
Yes, but I'm good. I'm good. I just need a second.
Okay, well, we can't have that! Okay?
You know, I definitely think the kids look to me to see,
"Is this gonna be okay?" And, I'm like, "Of course it's gonna be okay."
And I act like everything's completely fine,
but what's going on inside is
I have terrible nerves, I have lots of anxiety,
and I don't want them to see how nervous I really am.
You know, normally I don't think too much about it,
but ever since 2017, it's something that I'm really fearful of.
We had two different tumbling mistakes
that never happened in practice.
It was not even something I would worry about.
Maybe you got too comfortable with all that good tumbling,
so, now we know we gotta check back in.
And I think that's why I'm so crazy about preparation.
I want to take away as much fear as I can.
There ya go! Thank you. Be smart. That's it.
But there's always that fear.
In other words, you could get the routine to a place
where you're doing it right every time,
and still on the day of Daytona,
something that's never gone wrong could go wrong?
Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's always, you know, in the back of my head.