Hey guys! Here's chapter 4. I like to update as soon as I can so I don't keep my fans waiting so here it is.
Monday morning, Jeanette woke up with a feeling of doom.
It stayed with her while she showered and dressed. At breakfast, it turned her cornflakes to glue in her mouth. It made her forget to bring her Spanish book to Spanish class, it even made her forget her own last name. She had to think before she wrote it at the top of her paper. She even considered asking Brittany what it was.
By the time she and Brittany made their way to the gym after school, Jeanette felt butterflies in her stomach so bad that she'd assume that they would pick her up and fly away with her.
"Good luck guys!" Eleanor said as she walked by them.
"I know you'll do great!" Theodore added walking beside Eleanor.
"Thanks!" Jeanette and Brittany said in unison.
They kept walking toward the gym.
"I'm so nervous!" Brittany whispered as they walked though the gym doors.
Jeanette nodded. "Nervous" didn't even begin to cover it. Jeanette felt like she was about to walk the plank.
Any minute now, the cheerleading tryouts would begin. Brittany, Jeanette and a group of other seventh grade girls stood at the back of the gym, waiting for the coach to arrive.
In the center of the gym, the six eighth-grade cheerleaders, or the sisters, were sitting at a table that had been set up on the half-court line. Courtney, lip-glossed and perfectly coiffed, as usual. The twins, whose red hair was braided into identical pigtails. At the end of the table sat the two other girls, named Alyssa Craig and Renee Ramirez. Alyssa was pretty, with arched eyebrows and black hair that curled up at the ends in a smooth flip. Renee was very fair with dark hair she usually wore pulled back in a ponytail. And of course, there was Muffy, right in the center where she always was.
They were the most popular girls in the school and any minute now they were going to give their undivided attention to shy little Jeanette Miller.
Jeanette closed her eyes. She hid her hands behind her back so no one would see her cross her fingers as she made a wish.
Please, please, please, don't make me make a fool out of myself, she pleaded.
She jumped as the door to the gym banged open. A short blonde woman walked briskly into the room. She wore a yellow T-shirt that said CHEER ALL OUT OR DON'T CHEER AT ALL. Two other woman followed her in.
The blonde woman clapped her hands for attention, which wasn't necessary. All talk had stopped the moment she entered the room.
"Okay ladies!" Her voice seemed to reverberate through the entire gym. Jeanette was surprised that such a loud voice could come from such a tiny person.
"I'm Madeline Charge, the adviser for the Meridan Middle School cheerleading squad. I've been coaching for more than ten years, and I like to say that every year our cheerleaders get better."
She flashed a brilliant white smile around the room.
"And of course," Ms. Charge went on, "you already know our other judges, the eighth-grade cheerleaders."
The girls smiled smugly from their chairs.
"So, let me tell you how this works," said Ms. Charge. She held up a worn looking baseball cap and explained that each of the teams would draw a number from the hat. That would be the order in which they went. "Got it?" she bellowed.
Around the room, girls nodded.
"And another thing," Ms. Charge began, "We have twenty-eight girls trying out. There are six open spots on the team. You might end up on the team and your friend might not, or vice versa. I asked you to try out in pairs today because cheerleading is about teamwork. And teamwork means that you respect your teammates whether they win or lose. I don't want to hear about sore losers or sore winners. Got it?"
There were a few tentative nods.
"Alright," Ms. Charge said, clapping her hands again. "Let's do this!"
She held up the hat. Several girls hurried over to pick numbers.
Brittany nudged Jeanette. "Go ahead, you get it," she whispered.
Jeanette walked over to Ms. Charge and fished a slip of paper out of the beat-up hat. On it was written the number four.
Four? Four was too soon. Four meant there were only three pairs of girls ahead of them. Jeanette's heart quickened. She took a few shallow breaths.
As Jeanette turned to bring the slip back to Brittany, she tripped. Her arms flew out and she barely managed to catch herself before sprawling face-first on the floor. Several people turned to look, including Ms. Charge.
Ms. Charge raised her eyebrows and waggled a finger at Jeanette's sneakers. Looking down, Jeanette saw that one of her shoelaces were untied.
Cheeks burning, she knelt to tie her shoe. Perfect, she thought, now everyone thinks I'm a klutz and a slob. Again she wished she were anywhere but here.
Jeanette stomped back over to Brittany and handed her the slip of paper.
"Great! Four is perfect! Brittany said brightly. She didn't mention that Jeanette had just made a total fool of herself.
Jeanette stared at her sister. What had happened to Brittany all of a sudden? How could she act like everything was great and perfect when everything clearly was awful? She was already acting like a cheerleader, and they hadn't even gotten through tryouts yet!
The judges took their seats in the folding chairs behind the table. Muffy passed out clipboards and little pencils.
"How do I look?" Brittany asked Jeanette. She was wearing white shorts, a pink T-shirt, and tennis socks with matching pink pom-poms at the heels. She's parted her auburn hair into two springy pigtails that flopped alongside her head like the ears of a cocker spaniel.
"Good. Cheerleaderish," Jeanette told her. "How about me?" She's put on a yellow T-shirt and purple track pants. They were supposed to represent purple and gold, the school colors, thought the violet of her pants was too dark and her yellow shirt wasn't quite yellow enough.
"Great," Brittany said. "You look great."
"Okay, pair number one, you're up," Ms. Charge bellowed.
When the pair was finished, Ms. Charge smiled. "Thank you," she said.
Next up were two girls who were pretty and well liked. One of the girls had straight blond hair she'd pulled into a high ponytail. Jeanette thought she looked like a younger version of Ms. Charge.
When they were done, Ms. Charge smiled and thanked them. "Pair three," she said when she finished writing on her clipboard.
That next routine seemed like it went on for only two seconds for Jeanette.
"Okay. Group four, you're up," the coach said.
For a second, Jeanette thought she wouldn't be able to move. She felt as if someone had injected ice-cold water into her arms and legs. Then Brittany gave her a little nudge, and before she knew it, she was out on the floor.
"I'm Brittany Miller!" bellowed Brittany in a good imitation of Ms. Charge.
"Jeanette Miller," squeaked Jeanette. Her mouth felt as dry as Sahara.
Ms. Charge looked up from her clipboard. "Volume!" She commanded.
Jeanette blushed. "Jeanette Miller," she managed to say in a slightly louder voice. She took a deep breath.
"Ready, O-KAY!" Jeanette and Brittany said together.
They had practiced their cheer so many times over the weekend that Jeanette could have done it in her sleep. Instead, she concentrated on smiling. She grinned so hard her cheeks started to cramp.
In what felt like seconds, the cheer was over and they had come to their tumbling finale. Jeanette was upside down in midair when she realized that Brittany wasn't cartwheeling alongside her. Righting herself, she saw that Brittany was frozen, her arms in the air and her ice-blue eyes wide.
Oh no! Jeanette thought. She's chickening out!
To stall for time, Jeanette did another cartwheel. To her relief, Brittany started to move. But she didn't cartwheel. Instead, she put her hands on the ground and did a big, clumsy somersault, the kind a toddler would do, straight toward the judges.
Brittany came out of the roll with a giant grin on her face. Behind her, Jeanette dropped to one knee.
"Goooo Mules!" the shouted.
Jeanette quickly got to her feet and hurried over to the sidelines. Brittany was right behind her.
"Wasn't that great?" said Brittany, her eyes shining. Jeanette didn't think so. The sisters were laughing, and so were some of the seventh-graders. She looked over at the judges. The three women had their heads together, talking.
They hadn't talked after any of the other pairs. What were they saying? Had Brittany and Jeanette been that bad?
Just then, Ms. Charge glanced over at them. When she saw Jeanette looking at her, she smiled.
Jeanette felt sick to her stomach. The judges were laughing at them, too. Now she was sure of it.
When Jeanette got to her locker Tuesday morning, Brittany was waiting for her.
They've posted the results," she told Jeanette. "The list is outside the counselor's office. The anticipation is killing me."
"You could've looked without me," Jeanette pointed out. She wasn't in a hurry to see who's made the team. It still made her cringe to think about the tryouts the day before.
'I'm too nervous. We have to go together. Come on." Brittany grabbed Jeanette's arm.
Jeanette let herself be dragged down the hall, still wearing her backpack.
By the time they got to the counselor's office, the crowd around the posted sheet was three girls deep. Jeanette would've preferred to wait her turn, but Brittany was already shouldering her way through. Jeanette reluctantly followed in her wake.
The list was printed on yellow paper. Jeanette felt her heartbeat quicken as she began to run her finger down the names.
Then her heart almost stopped. There, right at the end of the list, it said JEANETTE MILLER.
She read her name over and over again, hardly believing her eyes. Then, slowly, her disbelief gave way to another feeling. I made it! She thought. I made it! I got picked over all these girls. Brittany and I are going to be cheerleaders!
She turned to Brittany, ready to celebrate. But the look on Brittany's face stopped her.
Brittany was frowning.
Jeanette turned back to the list. She's seen Brittany's name, hadn't she? Yes, there it was, at the very bottom of the page.
"Oh!" Jeanette said with a little gasp. The list read BRITTANY MILLER-MASCOT.
Okay! There's chapter 4! I hoped you guys liked it. This chapter was pretty fun to write for some reason. Anyway, I will update soon and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE review!