Chapter Five

May 30th, Eighth Grade

Gretchen Grundler walked down the hallway of the junior high that she was about to complete. She had never felt like a more useless person than she had in the last twenty-four hours. Vince LaSalle had just been named class valedictorian for the class promotion of their junior high career. She knew that her and Vince's friendship had pretty much been laid in shambles from the beginning of Vince's career as a serious student. This only helped solidify the split. Gretchen had even lost her best friend, Ashley Spinelli, to suspensions, detentions, and rule-breaking. The others in the group had quickly followed as TJ Detweiler was caught up in being the school's biggest basketball star, Gus Griswald was busy pulling harmless pranks, and Mikey Blumberg spent most of his time composing poetry and working on the newspaper.

Gretchen decided she needed a new purpose in life if she wasn't allowed to be the smartest in the school anymore. She had to be the best at something. She needed to be the best at something.

"I hear the high school cheerleaders are accepting only three girls for their squad," a girl said to her friend as she passed by Gretchen, "what does that say about the Ashley's?"

Gretchen ignored the girl's comments and continued to walk, until …

"I think that Ashley Q. won't make the cheerleading squad," another girl predicted to her friend.

Gretchen shook her head in response to this one also, and walked into class. But, Gretchen couldn't help but wonder why she was so interested in these cheerleading try-outs for high school.

Mikey Blumberg watched his old friend Gretchen enter the classroom with a mixture of sadness and deep thought on her face. He knew that Vince had just recently been named their valedictorian and that Gretchen must be trying to find someplace else to fit in, someplace else to be the best, or close to it."Mikey Blumberg," the teacher said, coming up behind him. The teacher who happened to be the entire gang's homeroom teacher in seventh grade was also the newspaper editor and usually let Mikey leave to help put the paper together, or go write his article."Hello," he greeted the teacher respectfully."I was wondering if you would like to take the school newspaper article on the high school cheerleading try-outs. The normal sports writer is out sick for the week," the teacher informed him, "I can find someone else to do it if you would rather not. But since the high schoolers are only allowing three spots, I thought it would be an interesting news paper article about those who didn't make it.""No, I would be happy to do it," Mikey assured him. He then turned around to face the front as the teacher began to make his way forward to teach the class. He saw Gretchen quickly glance up front as if she was trying to listen to what the teacher was telling Mikey. Mikey didn't know what was going on, but he just let it be, ready for a new article.

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May 30, Eighth Grade

Vince LaSalle walked down the hallway of the junior high that he was about to complete. He had never felt like a more talented person than he had in the last twenty-four hours. The coach of the high school basketball team had pretty much guaranteed him a starting spot on the high school team. Not to mention the fact that his best friend, TJ Detweiler, was well on his way to becoming known as the prankster king of elementary, junior high, and high school. Despite the fact that Gretchen Grundler had gone totally nerdy and just cared about school, and being named class valedictorian just yesterday, Gus Griswald getting suspended every five minutes, and Mikey Blumberg joining the newspaper and never seeing him again, Vince, TJ, and Ashley Spinelli had managed to keep a fairly decent friendship.

In fact, Spinelli had even become a cheerleader for her eighth grade year, sealing the deal on the three's absolute ability to run the junior high. And Spinelli had grown up a lot, a fact that had not escaped Vince's notice, or anybody else's for that matter, as she swept by him with a brief smile before turning back to the other Ashley's. He wondered if she was going to be able to make it into the high school squad because they were only accepting three of the junior high cheerleaders.

"Thinking about Spinelli again?" TJ questioned Vince as he joined his friend by his locker.

"No," Vince rolled his eyes.

TJ was convinced that his best friend had a crush on Ashley Spinelli. He had known for about six months, ever since Vince had been injured at a game and the only person he wanted to go with him to the hospital was Spinelli, who as his friend was more than willing to take him. TJ tried to convince himself he didn't have a problem with this, but his stomach got all knotty every time he would think about it.

"Are you going to watch Spinelli at cheerleading try-outs?" TJ asked, deciding to change the subject.

"I think so," Vince answered, "I hope she gets the spot. She's pretty good though. Must be from all those years of wrestling."

"Yeah," TJ smiled, "she's pretty impressive, especially with those lifts, she can lift people pretty well."

"I know," Vince smiled back, "and could you imagine the three of us next year? We'd have the three most prominent places as freshmen."

"And since we know its all about the status," TJ was the one to roll his eyes this time, starting to walk towards class, "high school will be fun with or without the popularity contest."

"But it will definitely be a lot more fun with it," Vince caught up to him, "actually, you should try out for the basketball team."

"Why would I?" TJ asked, "I was awful this year, didn't even make second string."

"True," Vince didn't try to conceal a lie, "but, that could really seal the deal on our popularity if you made any string."

TJ just rolled his eyes again before walking into the classroom.

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Ashley Spinelli was in shock as she walked down the hallway to her detention classroom. She had just seen her old best friend, Gretchen Grundler, heading into the gymnasium for cheerleading try-outs. She didn't know what had suddenly come over Gretchen, but cheerleading try-outs? Only a complete idiot would try out for cheerleading. Spinelli knew Gretchen must have been going through a hard time with her not being named class valedictorian, but why cheerleading? She could have become a basketball player, or even break rules with Spinelli. But, cheerleading was one of those things that made Spinelli never want to admit she was friends with you.

"Hello Spinelli," Shawn, her detention friend, greeted her as she walked into the classroom.

"Hey Shawn," she greeted back, plopping down in the seat next to him.

As Shawn talked about his latest plot to get into detention, Spinelli started to think again about Gretchen and the cheerleading squad. And what it would be like if Gretchen made the cheerleading squad, TJ Detweiler was already guaranteed a starting position on the high school team, and Gus Griswald had a cool factor that nobody had ever known him to possess in elementary school. With the three of them together, her high school years could be a disaster experience.

Not that she planned on spending much time actually in school.

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Gus Griswald watched in disgust as his best friend, Mikey Blumberg, walked into the gymnasium to write an article on the high school cheerleading try-outs. Gus didn't understand why Mikey took such stupid assignments for the paper. Who really cared about cheerleading? He knew Spinelli was trying out for high school cheerleading, and that TJ and Vince would probably be there to support her. The mere thought of Spinelli as a cheerleader made him want to barf. Of all the things for Spinelli to do to fit in, she chose cheerleading? And with the Ashley's, Gus had always had more respect for Spinelli than to think she would do something that ridiculous and wrong.

"Hello Gus," Shawn, his detention friend, greeted him as he walked into the classroom.

"Hey Shawn," he greeted back, plopping down in the seat next to him.

As Shawn talked about his latest plot to get into detention, Gus started to think again about Spinelli and the cheerleading squad. And what it would be like if Spinelli made the cheerleading squad, Vince LaSalle was already guaranteed a starting position on the high school team, and TJ Detweiler had maintained his cool image throughout junior high and no doubt would continue to possess it through high school. With the three of them together, his high school years could be a disaster experience.

Not that he planned on spending much time actually in school.