Stacey And The Cheerleaders (8 page)

I swear that girl must have rubber bands instead of bones.

"How do you do that?" I asked.

"The same way you do!" she replied. "Sta-cey, you look good, I promise. You're just thinking too much about the routine. Don't worry, you know it. Just trust your body — and smile!"

"Right." I smiled. My left leg barked at me. (Well, that's what it felt like.)

I was having second thoughts about trying out. (Can you tell?)

We worked and worked until I was ready to collapse. Needless to say, that night I slept like a rock.

The next morning, Wednesday, I literally fell out of bed. My legs did not want to uncurl. I sprawled on the floor and did long, slow, stretching exercises, just the way Jessi had taught me. After a few minutes of that, I was ready for the school day.

Believe it or not, as I walked to school I felt better than I had for a few days. Over the weekend my legs had been like Jell-O. Now they felt stronger and more solid.

Guess who was in front of school as I arrived? Robert and Marty.

They were deep in conversation, but I caught Robert's eye.

He stopped in midsentence. "Hi, Stacey!" he said.

"Hey, Stace," Marty echoed. With a mischievous smile, he added, "Well, I guess I should leave you guys alone. See you!"

He loped away from the school with long, gliding steps.

"Where's he going?" I asked.

"Emergency basketball drill," Robert replied in a flat voice.

"What?"

"Well, that was what he told his homeroom teacher, Mr. Blake." Robert shrugged. "Blake's a big fan, so he lets Marty go."

"But that's not fair."

"Yeah, I know. That's what I was trying to tell Marty."

I was shocked. But it made me think of the time Penny and Darcy had met me outside my homeroom. They had giggled about going to a "practice."

Sheila hadn't gone with them. Ms. Levine would never have fallen for that excuse. Obviously Penny and Darcy were luckier.

"I can't believe teachers let stuff like this happen," I said.

"Mm-hm. It's as much their fault as the kids'." Robert sighed and put his arm around

me. "But don't worry. Some of us are okay."

I supposed so, but I felt pretty funny about the situation. Robert had told me this kind of stuff happened. Still, seeing it was creepy.

Robert walked me to my locker. There we met Mary Anne and Logan.

"Hey, we were just talking about you," Logan exclaimed.

"Yeah?" Robert replied.

"We're going out Saturday night," Mary Anne said. "And we thought you might want to make it a double date."

I thought it was a great idea. But Robert looked a little disappointed. "Well, I was going to ask Stacey to go out with me on Friday."

"You were?" I asked.

Robert nodded. "Is it okay with you if we go out two nights in a row?"

"Yes!" I blurted out. "I accept and I accept!"

Boy, was I psyched. That evening before the BSC meeting, I really threw myself into my cheerleading practice.

That was when I had a breakthrough. I don't know how it happened. Everything just seemed to click. My kicks were sharp, my steps were on the beat, my arms were energetic. I even managed to smile through most of the routine.

"Stacey, you are going to blow their socks

off!" Jessi said. "I am serious. Socks will be flying all around you. The cheerleaders'll be running around in their bare feet. That was fantastic!"

"We're the best! Stace and Jess! Yea, team!" I shouted. I was fired up. For the first time, I knew I had a shot at making the team.

"You should preview this at the BSC meeting," Jessi suggested.

"Are you kidding?"

"No way. Aren't you proud of it?"

"Well, yeah, but ..."

"It'll be like a dress rehearsal. If you can do it well before them, you'll be great at the tryouts."

"Maybe."

"I knew you would!" Jessi exclaimed.

"I said maybe."

You know, sometimes I think Jessi is just as bad as Kristy. That evening, at "new business" time in the meeting, Jessi stood up and said, "I move we all go into the Kishis' backyard at six and watch Stacey's cheerleading routine!"

Claudia cracked up. She thought it was a joke. And Kristy got impatient. But Jessi insisted — and that was how I got my first audience. At precisely six, my friends and I ran out to the backyard. I was on.

How did I do? Not bad, considering I was wearing my down coat and snow boots. Kristy

and Claudia still seemed to think I was crazy, but they applauded.

Good old Mary Anne said, "Stacey, that was great! If you were a cheerleader I wouldn't be able to watch the game!"

Now that is a friend.

On Thursday I had my second dress rehearsal. This one was planned. I couldn't help blabbing to Sheila about my progress, and I asked her if she and a couple of the others would watch my routine in advance.

I went with her to The Group table during lunch period. She whispered to Penny and Darcy, and the four of us headed for the rear door, which led to the school parking lot.

"We can't go out there," I said. "We'll get suspended."

Penny laughed. "Don't worry."

This teacher, Mr. Schubert, was standing near the door. He began staring at us. Darcy just smiled at him and called out, "Just a little drill review. We'll be back in two minutes."

Mr. Schubert nodded.

I felt a little nervous about breaking the rules, even though Mr. Schubert had okayed it, so I ran through the routine quickly. By that time I was pretty confident, and I don't think I made any mistakes.

The girls' eyes were wide when I finished.

They looked totally surprised. I wasn't sure whether I'd been better or worse than they had expected.

"Did you like it?" I asked.

Penny nodded. "Yeah."

"Any suggestions?"

They shook their heads. "Just do exactly what you did," Sheila said. "You are good, Stacey. Really good."

Well, I was as high as a kite. But I didn't want to assume I'd get in. I practiced really hard Thursday evening, and then again on Friday after school.

Friday night was my dinner date with Robert. He knew I needed to eat right after the BSC meeting, so you know what he did? He decided to surprise me outside the Kishis' at six.

As we barreled out of the house, Jessi was the first to see him. She stopped in her tracks and gasped, "Oh, wow! Is this him?"

Robert blushed, and we all cracked up. (Jessi, by the way, was mortified. She didn't stop apologizing to me for a week.) By this time, the other members of the BSC, except for Shannon, had already met Robert. He'd sat at the BSC table in the cafeteria a couple of times.

Needless to say, every one of them liked him. (How could they not?)

Well, my weekend was off to a perfect start. We ate dinner at Robert's house, and then his dad drove us to a rock concert in Stamford. That was where I learned, in the aisle of Row 34, that Robert was a very cool dancer.

The next day, Saturday, SMS had an afternoon game (which, of course, we won). Watching the cheerleaders, I felt great. I could do everything they could. Watching Robert, I felt even better. One time he actually winked at me from the court.

Our double date with Logan and Mary Anne that night was hysterical. We went bowling, and the only one who was able to roll the ball straight was . . . Mary Anne! It seemed to take years for her ball to reach the pins, but she always managed to knock some down. Logan looked a little upset by this, but Robert thought it was great. He called Mary Anne a natural athlete. He even invited her to try out for the basketball team. We went out for ice cream afterward (I ordered nachos). To tell you the truth, I don't know how we were able to get any food in our mouths. We hardly stopped laughing.

Sunday was another practice day. Jessi came over for a final tuneup. We added a few new flourishes to the routine. I made sure Jessi pointed out even my slightest mistakes.

By the end of the session, I felt that I could do the routine in my sleep. My splits felt fabulous. My arms were strong. A smile never left my face.

I was ready.

Chapter 11.

"Breathe, Stacey. Just breathe."

Jessi's arm was around my shoulder. My knees were knocking against each other. The noise around me was deafening.

On the gym floor, dozens of girls were doing last-minute practicing. The bleachers in the SMS gym were chock full of boyfriends, girlfriends, and siblings. It looked as if half the female student body had shown up for tryouts. I didn't even recognize some of the faces.

Tuesday had snuck up on me. I spent all weekend and all Monday impatiently waiting — but now that it was here, I was petrified.

Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, Shannon, and Mallory were sitting around me in the bleachers, like a wall of protection. (Yes, Mallory, who was getting over mono! She said she wouldn't miss it for the world.) Behind them were Logan and Robert.

The BSC had pulled together to support me, despite the fact that most of them didn't care much for The Group. We went over my routine move by move at the Monday meeting. We almost had to cut the meeting short because Kristy accidentally kicked the phone out of the wall during a cartwheel demonstration.

Now my friends had become my personal cheering squad. I couldn't let them down.

I looked at the gym clock. Three forty-one. Four minutes to go. I tried to run through the combination in my head.

Bad idea.

"Jessi, what comes after chasse right?" I cried.

Jessi rolled her eyes. "Chasse left. Now stop it, Stacey. Don't overthink."

"Sing a song to yourself," Mary Anne suggested.

"Relax," Claudia said.

"Do some wind sprints," was Kristy's advice.

Stop thinking, sing, relax, and sprint.

Right. No problem.

Phwweeeeetl

A loud whistle made the gym go silent. I could hear Darcy's voice call out, "Girls, please clear the floor and be quiet! We have to begin!"

Everyone scampered into the bleachers. The cheerleaders themselves were in front row

center, sitting behind a big folding table. They were dressed in their SMS outfits, and each of them held a clipboard. Sheila's hair was pulled back, and she looked like a movie star. Darcy and Corinne had tucked pencils neatly behind their ears. Penny and Margie were giggling about something with a couple of the girls I didn't know.

They all looked so breezy and confident. I would have given anything to switch places with them.

"All right, listen up!" Darcy shouted. "This is a much bigger group than we expected. We don't want this to drag on until night, so we have to move fast. First you're all going to learn a simple combination. We'll circulate among you and let you know who makes the final cut, Whoever's left gets to show us your own routine."

A girl in the back of the bleachers shouted, "You mean, if you cut us we won't be able to do the routine we prepared?"

Darcy gave her an icy look. "Uh, yes, that's what I said. Now come on, let's line up!"

The girls began running down the bleachers. They sounded like a herd of elephants.

Elephants, however, would never dream of dressing the way some of these girls did. Neon-pattern aerobic suits, French-cut leo-

tards, expensive-looking shorts with button shirts tied at the waist. I was in the middle of a fashion show.

"Go ahead, Stacey!" Jessi whispered.

I stood up to a chorus of "Good luck!" from my friends. I adjusted my Danskin outfit and walked to the gym floor.

A logjam had formed in front of the cheerleaders. Everyone wanted to be in the front row. Girls were standing so close together, they would have knocked each other out if they had had to do a kick.

I guess that would have been one way of making the first cut.

"Whoa, stop it!" Darcy shouted. "Let's spread out! You're all going to get an equal chance!"

The cheerleaders plunged into the crowd, gently pushing and pulling the girls farther into the gym. It made me think of cattle rustling.

When we were finally spread out, the cheerleaders distributed themselves around the gym. Darcy announced, "Okay, make sure you can see one of us. We'll demonstrate the routine twice, and you join in the third time."

I was on the left side of the group, at about the middle of the gym. Sheila had made sure to be the cheerleader nearest me. She saw me over her shoulder and gave a smile.

Darcy pressed a button on a boom box in the bleachers. A rock song blared through the gym.

Well, the combination they did was embarrassingly easy. A few simple steps, kicks, and turns, and one split at the end.

Everyone would be able to do it, I thought. It would be impossible for them to cut anybody.

I was wrong. You'd think some of those girls had never learned their right from their left. And their faces! Half of them looked as if they were being tortured. Not to mention the "cheer," which sounded like a chain gang chant.

"You must be kidding!" Darcy's voice boomed out. "Come on! Have some fun with this!"

After running through the routine a few more times, the cheerleaders began walking around the room. They would casually look over the crowd, then whisper into the ear of a girl.

I was one of the first who got a whisper. It was Sheila, saying, "Get away from these goons. We want to see your routine."

I walked to the stands. My BSC friends were staring at me, all confused. "You got cut?" Jessi exclaimed.

"I got kept," I said, "for the finals."

They jumped up and cheered. We waited patiently until only the finalists (and their friends) were left in the stands — twelve finalists altogether.

In the back of the gym, near the locker room door, the rejected girls were murmuring and complaining. Some were sobbing. The one who had asked the question earlier was at the table in front, pleading with Darcy.

Before long that girl was running for the locker room door, weeping uncontrollably. Darcy just looked annoyed.

"Okay," she announced. "I'm going to assign you each a number. Remember it, because that's the order of your routine."

She pointed to us, one by one, counting out numbers. I was five.