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The empty cafeteria at Manzano High School comes to life after school as the Majestix dance team hits the floor for practice.

Shoes squeak against the floor and pompoms swish through the air to the music's beat. Sweat pours from their faces.

They work hard. They giggle, laugh and make fun of each other. Then, it's back to work.

"We're like a family. We're all very close," says Jomar Lean, 16, the first male to make the school's dance team.

It's not always easy being the different one, the only guy. But for Jomar, it's all about good dancing and great friends, without caring too much about what others might think.

He has heard taunting from the stands at some performances. Someone threw a wad of gum at him. Another time, after a routine at a football game, a paper cup was thrown at him.

"It was OK. I just brushed it off my shoulder," he said. "I got mad, but I can handle it. I have to. It was worse at the start of the season, but it's better now."

The girls on the team support him. They call him their brother, the guy who was always there to kill the scary bugs on the floor at summer dance camp and the one around whom they build dance routines.

"We're the only dance team in the city, probably the state, to have a male dancer, and it's great," said dance director Leanne LeCompte. "It makes our team different, and we can include new elements that you can't do with only girls."

Up next for the Majestix is the State Spirit Competition on March 30 and 31 in The Pit, a first for Jomar. He hopes he can make a difference and lead the team to a title.

"I've been dancing since fifth grade, and it's just something I like to do," Jomar said. "I think, for the most part, people are excited to see a guy on the team because they haven't seen what a guy can do."

For Jomar the close friends he's made are just as important as the dancing. He feels comfortable with his teammates, and they feel the same.

"He's a guy, but he's also one of us," said teammate Page O'Brien. "He's like one of the girls."