by Brann Garvey
Monica’s jump wasn’t as high as Kristin’s, and her split wasn’t as wide as Linda’s. She wobbled a little bit when she landed, but she kept smiling.
“Look straight ahead next time, Monica,” Gina said. “That will help you keep your balance.”
“Okay, thanks!” Monica said cheerfully.
Gina praised Anna, Carly, and Karen. She frowned at Kristin and said, “You have to speak up. I couldn’t hear you.”
“Okay,” Kristin whispered.
She stared at the floor. I wondered why Kristin wanted to be a cheerleader. She was a math genius. She wasn’t quite as smart as Peter, but she was just as shy.
Then Gina looked at Holly. “Your cheer was okay, but the jump wasn’t high enough,” Gina said.
Holly nodded. “Jump higher. Got it,” she said.
Gina taught the girls two more cheers. Monica forgot some words and missed a couple moves, but she smiled the whole time. I thought she did a good job.
Kristin and Holly got the cheers right. Kristin shouted louder, smiled, and started looking up. Holly jumped higher.
Gina ignored them. She loved Anna and her friends.
And she loved Monica.
CHAPTER 8
Cheerleader Dares
In homeroom the next morning, everyone stopped talking when Anna and Carly walked in.
I didn’t want to say it looked like a freak show. But it looked like a freak show.
“What’s going on?” Becca asked.
“I think we’re asleep,” Adam said. “In Anna’s nightmare.”
“Maybe Anna turned colorblind overnight,” Becca said.
“Or she wants to be a clown when she grows up,” Tommy joked.
I didn’t laugh. Something was weird.
Anna loves clothes. She pays attention to all the fashion trends and only wears cool clothes. Her outfits always match.
But today, Anna was wearing a top with red and white stripes, a green skirt, and purple socks. Her sneakers had holes in the toes. She looked really strange. Her outfit didn’t match at all.
“You guys, look at Carly’s hair,” Becca whispered. We all turned to look.
Carly’s hair was SPIKED with gel. The spikes were colored yellow, red, and green. They stood up all over her head. She looked like an exploding beach ball.
“It’s just Cheerleader Dare Day,” Jenny Pinski said.
“What’s Cheerleader Dare Day?” I asked.
“The girls on the cheerleading squad dare the girls trying out,” Jenny explained. “They have to do something embarrassing. To prove how much they want to be cheerleaders.”
Adam, Becca, and I turned to look at Monica. Monica pretended she didn’t notice.
Then the bell rang.
* * *
Becca and I have first period math with Mr. Chen.
Kristin is in our class too. Kristin wasn’t wearing weird clothes. Everything seemed normal. Mr. Chen asked a question, and Kristin raised her hand to answer it. She was a math whiz and always knew the answers. But she said, “I don’t know.”
That was weird!
Kristin did the same thing later that morning in history.
Becca stopped her after class. “Are you doing a cheerleader dare, Kristin?” Becca asked.
“I don’t know,” Kristin said.
Just then, another cheerleader walked by. “Does two plus two equal four?” the cheerleader asked.
”I don’t know,” Kristin said.
The cheerleader laughed and kept walking.
Becca and I followed Kristin to the cafeteria. “I wonder what Monica has to do,” I said quietly.
“I think we’re about to find out,” Becca said. She pointed into the cafeteria.
I looked at our table. Monica was standing on a chair. She held up one hand. Her other hand was on her hip.
“I’m a little teapot, short and stout,” Monica sang. She did all the little kid motions that went with the song. We learned it in kindergarten. Monica sang the whole thing.
“What are we going to do?” Becca asked.
“Tell her the truth,” I said.
A Real Friend
… tells a friend when she’s making a mistake, even if it makes her mad.
Anna and Carly ran over to Monica before Becca and I got there.
“Tryouts will be over Friday,” Anna told Monica. “It’ll be worth it when we make the squad.”
“See you later,” Carly said. She smiled and waved as they walked away.
Monica’s face was SWEATY. She smiled and waved at Carly and Anna.
Becca and I sat down at the table with Monica.
“Was that your cheerleader dare?” I asked.
Monica nodded. She blushed with embarrassment.
“Why did Gina make you do that?” Becca asked. “Isn’t being a good cheerleader enough?”
“It should be enough,” I said.
Monica poked at her fries with her fork.
“It’s pretty stupid to do stuff so the eighth graders think you’re cool,” I said.
“You’re just jealous because the popular kids like me now,” Monica said. “Gina said I have a good chance to make the squad. I don’t need your help anymore, Claudia.”
“Okay,” I said quietly. I didn’t ask if we were still best friends. I wasn’t sure I’d like the answer.
CHAPTER 9
Greater Cause
I didn’t sleep well that night. I was too upset about Monica. But I wasn’t tired when I got up the next morning.
I was really WORRIED. I might lose my best friend. But now I had found a greater cause than recycling straw wrappers.
At lunch, I stood on a chair. Everybody stared at me. Maybe they thought I was going to sing another kindergarten song, like Monica had the day before.
“I think we should change how Pine Tree Middle School picks cheerleaders,” I said loudly.
Everyone groaned and went back to their lunches. I kept going anyway. “A group of students and teachers would pick the best cheerleaders,” I said. “We shouldn’t just keep picking the most popular kids. Unless they’re the best, of course.”
I didn’t mention cheerleader dares. The dares would stop if the older girls didn’t pick the new girls.
“That’s all,” I said. Then I sat down.
Nobody clapped. My announcement was a flop.
Monica leaned over and glared at me. “You don’t want me to make the squad,” she said quietly. Her eyes flashed. She was really mad.
“Yes I do,” I said. “That’s why I helped you practice all last week.”
“Gina likes me,” Monica said. “I was going to make the squad. But now you want to change the rules.” Monica picked up her tray and left.
Anna and Carly waved her over. Monica sat down with them. They were glad to see her.
I felt awful. We were having macaroni and cheese with brownies for dessert. It was my favorite school lunch, but I wasn’t hungry anymore.
“The eighth-grade cheerleaders have always picked the new cheerleaders,” Adam said.
“But the tryouts should be fair,” I said.
Becca sighed. “Will Monica ever be our friend again?” she asked.
“Sure,” I said. “When she stops being mad.”
I’ve known Monica since kindergarten. I didn’t believe she’d pick cheerleading and Anna over Becca and me. For one thing, Monica always plays fair. She just wasn’t thinking straight. RIGHT?
Anna came over to our table. She put her hands on her hips. “The popular girls have always been cheerleaders, Claudia,” she told me. “It’s a tradition. You can’t change tradition.”
“I can try,” I said.
I wasn’t as sure as I sounded. I knew that people didn’t like change. Not even if change was going to make things better.
My great cause might be another lost cause.
Like saving a tree.
I didn’t tell my friends to recycle their straw wrappers, so they all forgot. I recycled mine
before I dumped my tray.
I could save a tree by myself. It would only take three thousand years.
“Oops!” said Adam. He pulled his straw wrapper out of the trashcan. Then he put it in the recycling bin and smiled at me.
I smiled back. “Thanks,” I told him. It wasn’t a big thing, but it made me feel better. Adam recycled because he saw me do it.
Too bad leading by example wouldn’t help me change how Pine Tree Middle School chose cheerleaders.
CHAPTER 10
Who Cares?
After school, I stopped at Mr. Gomez’s house. He lives across the street from me with Mrs. Gomez and her poodle. Mr. Gomez treats me like an adult. He listens when I talk, and he always has good advice.
“How’s the cheerleading practice going?” Mr. Gomez asked.
“Monica’s working with the squad now,” I said. I didn’t want to talk about Monica. So I asked, “How do you get people to change something they don’t want to change?”
Mr. Gomez scratched his head. Then he rubbed his chin. “Why don’t they want to change it?” he asked.
“Because it’s always been done one way,” I said.
“Ah, I see,” Mr. Gomez said, nodding. “It’s a TRADITION.”
“But the tradition isn’t FAIR,” I said.” There’s got to be a better way.”
“Maybe people don’t know that,” Mr. Gomez said. “Maybe they’ve never really thought about it. So get their attention. Make them think about it.”
“Thanks, Mr. Gomez,” I said. “That’s good advice.”
But I wasn’t sure how to make anyone think about cheerleading tryouts.
At home, Mom was in the kitchen baking cookies. I didn’t see Nick, so I sat down.
“How do you get ATTENTION for a good cause?” I asked.
“Well, when I worked for a charity in college, we made telephone calls,” Mom said.
I loved talking on the phone, but I couldn’t r call every kid in school.
“TV and newspaper interviews help,” Mom went on.
I thought about that. An article in the school newspaper would help, but the editor of the Pinecone Press wouldn’t print an article if he liked the way cheerleaders were picked now.
“Sometimes we asked people to sign a petition,” Mom said. “That works really well.”
“It does? Why?” I asked.
“People ask what the petition is about,” Mom said. “Then you can explain why they should support your cause.”
PERFECT!
* * *
My petition looked great. My brother, Jimmy, designed it on his computer. He printed out 20 copies. Each page had lines for 20 signatures.
20 signatures x 20 pages = 400
There were 500 students at Pine Tree Middle School. I probably wouldn’t get 400 signatures. But my dad always says, “Think big, Claudia!”
I was pretty sure Coach Campbell and Principal Paul would listen if 100 people signed the petition. That was my goal.
I went to school the next day prepared to push my cause.
I put the petition pages on a clipboard. I carried a pen. I also wore my tree t-shirt with the “Save Me!” note. Someone might ask about it. Maybe I could change how cheerleaders are picked and save a tree too!
I stood outside the main doors. Larry Kyle was the first kid to walk by. “Do you want to sign my petition?” I asked.
Larry noticed my shirt. “What are you trying to save?” he asked.
“A tree,” I said. “If I recycle my straw wrappers at lunch, it will take three thousand years.”
“To save one tree?” Larry asked. “So it would take 10 kids 300 years or 100 kids 30 years. 500 Pine Tree Middle School kids could save a tree in 6 years!”
“Exactly!” I said, smiling.
“Even quicker if we recycle homework and test papers, too. Where’s the pen?” Larry asked, reaching out. “I’ll sign.”
“My petition isn’t about that,” I said. “It’s about trying to make cheerleader tryouts more fair.”
“Oh,” Larry said. He shrugged. “No thanks.”
For the next fifteen minutes, I asked everyone I saw to sign my petition.
Everyone had a reason why they wouldn’t sign.
Reasons
1. “I don’t want to make Gina mad.”
2. “I don’t want to make Anna mad.”
3. “I don’t want to be the only one to sign the petition.”
When the bell rang, I only had four signatures.
CHAPTER 11
The Biggest Dare
The next day, more bad stuff than good stuff happened.
In the morning, ten sixth graders signed my petition. Adam, Tommy, Peter, and Becca signed it too, but mostly so that I’d stop asking.
Before lunch, I saw Brad Turino in the hallway. I knew I had to ask him to sign the petition. I’d regret it if I didn’t.
I talked fast so I wouldn’t get tongue-tied. “Will you sign my petition to make picking cheerleaders more fair?” I asked.
“Sure!” Brad said. He smiled. “That’s just good sportsmanship,” he added.
That’s why Brad is the love of my life. He’s cute, cool, and totally not conceited or selfish.
Then I had a total of 19 signers. I only needed 81 more to reach 100.
At lunch, Monica wouldn’t talk to me. She talked to Becca a little. But she sat with Anna and Carly.
All my friends recycled their straw wrappers. Adam reminded them. That was TERRIFIC.
After school, I saw Monica walk into the locker room. It was time for her last practice before the final tryouts the next day.
I went outside and waited for Becca on the sidewalk. After a few minutes, she ran out the doors. She was breathless when she reached me.
“I’ve got something terrible to tell you,” Becca said. She sat down on the grass to catch her breath. Then she added, “It’s about Monica.”
“What’s the matter with Monica?” I asked.
“I’m not exactly sure,” Becca said. “This morning she told me that she wouldn’t be going through all this if she didn’t have a chance to make the squad.”
“Going through all what stuff?” I asked. “Practice? Keeping her hair combed? Smiling at everyone except us? Being nice to Anna?”
“I thought Monica meant practice,” Becca said. “Then I heard her talking to Kristin about the final test.”
“She was probably talking about the tryouts,” I said.
At the tryouts, the new girls had to perform cheers. So tryouts were like a test.
It didn’t really mean anything. Gina had already decided who would make the squad.
“I don’t think so,” Becca said quietly. She frowned and added, “They said they could get suspended if they got caught!”
* * *
Monica can be ultra-yuper-unbelievably stubborn. When she makes up her mind, she’s like gum stuck on a shoe. Nothing can get it off. Nothing can ever change her mind.
Monica was determined to be a cheerleader. She might even do something awful because Gina told her to.
So when we got to my house, Becca and I called Monica. Becca told Monica that it was IMPORTANT.
After cheerleading practice, Monica showed up in the treehouse in my back yard. I could tell that she thought we wanted to apologize and wish her good luck at tryouts.
“What do you have to do to be picked?” Becca asked.
Monica told us the things she had to remember for tryouts.
Monica’s Tryout Reminders
1. Smile and relax
2. Be peppy and enthusiastic
3. Keep hair off face
4. Use a loud, clear voice
5. Keep going if you make a mistake
6. Look like you’re having a good time even if you’re totally tired, nervous, and stressed out.
“That’s not what Becca meant,” I said. “We’re worried about the big dare.”
“What big dare?” Monica asked.
She tried to l
ook innocent, but she was tapping her foot and nibbling her lip. She always did that when she felt GUILTY.
“The one that could get you suspended,” Becca said. “What did Gina ask you to do?”
Monica sighed. She looked down at the ground.
“We have to put vegetable oil on classroom doorknobs so they’ll be slippery,” she told us. “Then no one will be able to go to class.”
“Can’t they just Wipe it off?” Becca asked.
Monica shrugged. “I guess,” she said.
“What if a teacher sees you?” I asked.
“Why do you care?” Monica snapped. She glared at me.
I knew she wasn’t really mad. Sometimes people act mad when they know they’re wrong.
“We’re your friends, Monica,” I said. “We don’t want you to get in trouble.”
A Real Friend
… tells a friend when she’s making a mistake, even if it makes her mad.
Sooner or later she’ll get over it.
“I have to go,” Monica said. She stood up and headed out the treehouse door.
Becca started to follow Monica, but I grabbed her arm.
“We have to trust Monica to do the right thing,” I explained. Monica had to figure out the right thing to do.
CHAPTER 12
Sun-up Showdown
“Sometimes big change happens one small step at a time” my mom once told me.
I tried to remember that, so I wouldn’t feel FRUSTRATED.
But all of my steps were so small! I’d be an old lady before Pine Tree Middle School had fair cheerleader tryouts.
But great leaders don’t give up.
Later that night, I called Becca. I told her my plan. She agreed to help.
Friday morning we met on the corner. I gave Becca a petition clipboard and a pen.
We walked to school early, but the cheerleaders had gotten there first.
Becca and I hid behind a tree and watched. Monica was standing on the steps with a bottle of vegetable oil and a rag.