My Journey to Varsity Cheerleading

by Abby Moody

  After class, I grabbed my books and walked up to her. This was the first time I really had talked to anyone in that class. I wasn’t much of a socializer, so this was a big step for me.

  “Hey, did you happen to put that cockroach there today?”

  She looked alarmed. She obviously suspected me of telling on her, so she said, “I don’t know. Why?”

  I smiled and said, “Well I thought it was absolutely hilarious.”

  She smiled back, letting her guard down, and said “I’m glad someone appreciates my sense of humor.” We became friends that day. And we bonded over our pranks and awkward social encounters ever since.

  We were concocting our new exciting plan for the evening. Serena wanted to pull pranks on people in our school, and started scribbling down ideas on a notepad. Hannah wanted to prank call the popular, football boys in our school, and Emily wanted to make music videos. And I wanted to jump off my deck onto my trampoline. We agreed to try to fit in all our plans for the night.

  Suddenly I heard my mom walking down the stairs, and we all stopped talking.

  “Girls, I have chips, dip, cookies, and donuts if you want some.” My mom was carrying a platter of food. I helped her get the rest of the drinks and snacks to the basement. Before I knew it, we had pounded through a bag of Little Debbie chocolate donuts, all of the cookies, and were continuing to stuff our faces with chips and cheese dip. Until 3:00 a.m., we made a music video to the song “Ridin’ Rims” by Dem Franchize Boys, and secretly jumped off the deck a few times without waking my parents.

  The next morning, my mom made pancakes for all of us. Serena, Hannah, and I were eating in the kitchen when Emily walked into the room.

  “Guys… there is cheese dip in my socks.” Emily was holding up a soaking, cheesy sock.

  We all started busting out laughing. Emily was the first to fall asleep last night, so we filled her socks with left over cheese dip.

  CHAPTER FOUR: SUNDAY MORNING’S

  The sun was beginning to peak through the wispy clouds, and the birds were singing their spring tunes. Rose bushes in the front yard were sprouting their pink blooms, and the once dead trees had dots of bright green glittering from the morning rain. There was something cheerful and exciting about the day. I could feel it.

  I started getting ready for church. I put a blanket over my parakeets to block out their morning screeches. I played my favorite song, “Temperature” by Sean Paul, which was also my ringtone. I put on a blue, cotton dress from Hollister and brown sandals. I knew I would see Dawson that day in church, so I had to look my best.

  A rush of giddy excitement overcame me as I walked into the sanctuary. I felt extra cute in my new blue dress, and was the first to sit in the “kid’s row”. More kids began filing in, but I sat on the end holding a spot for Dawson.

  “Hey Abby, can I sit with you today?” Dawson asked, walking up from behind me, then standing next to me in the pew.

  “Of course!” I said, tingling with nerves. I turned my head the other way so he wouldn’t see me smiling awkwardly.

  “I saw you at the game on Friday.” He said, putting his hands in his pockets, and looking down at me.

  “Yeah I saw you too... You were wearing a Batman outfit.”

  “Didn’t it look great?” He raised his chin a little higher.

  “Yep, it really did.”

  We both laughed, and then the conversation fell. About a minute passed, so I tried to fill the silence and said, “So I saw you at school the other day too.” Immediately I regretted saying that.

  “Oh, you did?” He fixed his face so he would look confused.

  “Yeah, I said hi but...”

  “Oh yeah! I’m sorry Brandon interrupted… I turned around to talk to you, but you had disappeared.”

  “I was running late for class I guess.”

  The worship music started right on time to save me from our awkward silence. Everyone stood up and began to sing together. The sanctuary was full that day. The balcony above us sat about one-hundred people, with well over three-hundred people on the floor in the pews. I had been going to our Baptist church my entire life. The navy-blue carpet, old-fashioned cushioned pews, and dangling dim-lit lights felt like a second home to me.

  I was baptized when I was six-years-old in the small pool on stage, below the towering, wooden cross. I remember thinking: Wow. This hot tub is great. People are taking pictures of me swimming in it... I wonder if they would let me do this again next week…

  I clearly didn’t understand why I was being baptized.

  During the sermon, Dawson wrote me a note on the communication card. He slid it over to me, and it read: Where are we eating lunch today?

  I tried not to crack a smile like a giddy idiot. I kept my cool and wrote back: Either Arby’s or food court.

  Our families basically raised us together. We’ve been friends since we were two-years-old. His family, in my eyes, are the most down-to-earth, genuine, kind-hearted family I know. After church every Sunday, it was a tradition to go eat lunch together with our families.

  After church, our families went out to Arby’s. Dawson and I had a table with another family friend named Tyler. He was a sophomore in high school, and played varsity basketball for Joplin high school. His family joined us almost every Sunday.

  Dawson began talking about his football team already practicing to get a head start for the next season.

  “Next year will be my junior year... Doesn’t time just fly by?” He asked, gazing out the window at passing cars.

  “Yeah, it really does. We already have cheer tryouts starting tomorrow.” I said picking up my roast turkey and Swiss sandwich.

  “Oh. Victoria was telling me about that. I think she’s pretty nervous.”

  Tyler had a mouth full of curly fries and asked, “Are you nervous?” He mumbled.

  “Yeah, I am.”

  “You’ll be fine. I’ve seen you cheer.” Dawson said, shooting a quick wink to me. He continued, “Plus, next year you’ll be on varsity… cheering for my team.”

  I could’ve melted into the tile flooring below our feet.

  “Or, you’ll fall on your face at tryouts and not make it.” Tyler added.

  Dawson and Tyler busted out laughing. They thought it was hilarious. I laughed a little, but secretly annoyed Tyler ruined my moment with Dawson.

  Dawson’s words stuck with me. They made me want to practice even more for cheer tryouts. I wanted to cheer him on next year for varsity more than anything in the world.

  CHAPTER FIVE: THE FIELD MOUSE

  Over the next week, cheer tryouts had begun. Since I was currently a freshman on the JV cheerleading team, I was trying out for the varsity cheer team as an upcoming sophomore. You can only be on the varsity team if you’re a sophomore, junior, or senior. No freshmen were allowed. So, this was my year to try out for the varsity team! JV cheered on Monday nights for football, while the varsity cheered Friday nights. Of course, who wouldn’t want to be on varsity cheering Friday nights?!

  There were over sixty girls trying out for next season. We all learned the tryout cheer and dance together. We practiced after school every day in the basketball gym leading up to the final day of tryouts on Friday. Friday was the day we would perform everything in front of the judges – alone.

  The night before the final tryout, I walked outside to my backyard. It was a quiet evening. No neighbors were walking outside. No dogs or cats running around. The only noise was the soft murmur of crickets, and the rustling of new sprouting leaves on the branches above. I found the thickest spot in the freshly mowed zoysia grass, and stood up straight.

  I stood for several minutes to build up the courage. I jumped backwards. I tucked my legs, grabbed my knees, and soared through the air.

  BOOM.

  My body hit the wet, mud soaked grass like a Hefty bag of potatoes.

  I knew I would have bruises the next day. But, that didn’t matter. I knew I had to master my standing back tuck for tryo
uts. I just had to do it. The only place I had landed it was on the spring floor. I was determined to have an edge over everyone, and to be on varsity. I got back up and tried again.

  BOOM.

  It looked like I dipped my chin in dog poop.

  Mud covered my face, hands, and knees. I got back up, and did it again. This time, only my hands and knees touched.

  Over and over again. I flipped over fifteen times before I called it a night.

  The next day, my body ached from the night before. I iced everything I could before school. I didn’t even pay attention in class that day at all. Finally, the last bell rang for the day. All sixty girls filed into the cafeteria repeating all the words and motions to the cheers. Some of us waited for hours for our number to be called. Of course, I was number fifty-nine. A senior cheerleader, Eve, was calling out our numbers and guarding the door to the gym. She had already cheered for four years, and was graduating in May.

  I was replaying the perfect standing back tuck in my head. No one knew I had that skill. This was the first time anyone would see it. And the first time I would do it on the basketball court.

  “Number fifty, you’re up!” Eve said, as she smiled at Victoria walking towards the door.

  “Number fifty-eight!”

  Jenny was sitting next to me on the cool tile floor of the cafeteria, and immediately got up.

  “Good-luck Jen!” I called after her.

  She looked back at me, like an owl in the moonlight, and said, “Thanks Abb. I’m so nervous!”

  I could see her fingers shaking as she walked away. Minutes later, I heard the dance music faintly echoing from the gym. I sat alone and was mentally preparing myself for my standing back tuck. Suddenly, Jenny busted through the double doors of the gym teary eyed.

  “Jenny! What’s wrong?!” I got up and walked up to her, putting my arm around her shoulders. All the other girls watched as we made our way to the corner of the cafeteria.

  “I fell. I touched my knees on my back handspring.” She said with tears streaming down her face.

  “Jenny, you’re totally fine. The judges love you…Thank goodness they’re our coaches. They know what you can do.”

  “But you should’ve seen Coach Brooklyn’s face when I fell...” She said, burying her face into her knees. We talked about the tryout for several minutes. I encouraged her that she would make the varsity team, and we would all be cheering together next season.

  “Number fifty-nine!” Eve’s voice echoed through the eerily silent cafeteria.

  I walked through the double doors, and onto the basketball court in front of a panel of three judges. My high-top shoes squeaked across the wooden floor as I made my way to center court. Two of the judges were our coaches – Brooklyn and Rebecca. The third judge was a friend of Brooklyn’s, whom I had never seen before.

  “Abby, can we see your cheer?” Coach Brooklyn asked, shuffling some papers and getting her pencil ready.

  I completed my cheer with no mess-ups. Adrenaline had taken over my body, and was working to my advantage. I breezed my way through the dance, and soared with extra height in my jumps. I nailed my running tumbling pass – which was a running back handspring layout. I tried to catch my breath while I walked back to the middle of the court. You could slice the awkward silence in half with a knife. The only noise that was heard was my irregular breathing and shoe squeaks. I smiled at the judges, sucking air through my teeth, and kept my chin up as I stood alone in the center of the court.

  “Lastly, can we see your standing tumbling?” Coach Rebecca asked grinning down at me from the stands.

  Even though they were my coaches, I still felt like I was a little field mouse being watched by hawks perched in a tree above. I started to tremble. I needed to land my standing back tuck on the court. I took a deep breath.

  BOOM.

  Jenny was waiting for me when I walked through the double doors. Her eyes flickered with curiosity and she asked, “How’d you do?!”

  “Good... I actually didn’t mess up.”

  I felt someone looking at us as Jenny and I walked back to our corner in the cafeteria. I caught Victoria staring from the crowd of girls sitting around her like she was the queen bee of an ant hill. Victoria was known as the girl who ran our school. She had bestowed her presence upon our cheer squad and joined last year. She was my same age, a freshman, but you wouldn’t know it because she looked eighteen. She had long, blonde, curly hair that were mostly made up of wiry extensions. Along with a fully developed, curvy body, and soul-piercing hazel eyes. As much as I hated to admit it, I wanted to be popular like her. I thought if I was popular, maybe there would be a chance Dawson would like me. So, Victoria and I were friends, one could say. We hung out every once in a while, usually with a few other cheer girls.

  After all the girls had tried out, it was now time for interviews. We had to go in a classroom with four other girls and be interviewed by the judges. The first five girls went into the classroom, and came out about twenty minutes later. This entire process was like a slug trying to cross the highway.

  Being the last group of girls, I anxiously waited for two hours. It was nearly 6:00pm when the final group was called into the classroom. I had never been interviewed before, so I didn’t know what to expect, what questions they would ask, or what I was going to say.

  Jenny was in my group, so that was comforting. We sat in classroom chairs facing the judges, who were sitting directly in front of us. It was intimidating walking in silence while they watched each of us sit down. I sat awkwardly with my hands clasped together on my legs, trying to look as natural as possible. Jenny was sitting directly to my right. We glanced at each other nervously before anyone said anything to us.

  “Thank you girls for being patient with us during this tryout process…we’ll try to make this as quick as possible.” Coach Brooklyn said with a slight intensity in her voice. “Let’s start with you, Amber.”

  Amber was a junior girl on the opposite end of me. She shifted uncomfortably, and swallowed loudly.

  “Why do you want to cheer for our team?” Coach Brooklyn asked, as she started scribbling on her paper before Amber even opened her mouth.

  “Because, I’ve been cheering since I was young, and was on varsity last year. It was a wonderful experience, and I wanted to have the opportunity to cheer again for varsity!” She finished speaking, looking relieved.

  All the judges were scribbling on their papers for several minutes before Coach Rebecca looked up to the next girl in the row. She smiled, and asked, “Julia, you’re trying out for your senior year, what has been your favorite part about cheering for varsity?”

  Julia looked quite confident in herself. She said, “Oh that’s easy! It’s the entire experience of being with my best friends and doing something I love at the same time!” Her answer was short and sweet, and it seemed enough for the judges. They were all smiling and writing on their papers.

  The new judge, Melissa, looked up at Jenny. “Jenny, why do you want to be a varsity cheerleader?”

  I glanced towards Jenny and smiled intently listening. I could feel my nerves rising because I knew I was next. “I want to be a varsity cheerleader, because I love the sport of cheerleading, and it’s always been my goal to be on varsity. It’s an honor to be on the team, and I know it will be an incredible experience. I love the girls on the team already, and know we will all get along great. I don’t like drama at all, and will always be out of it. I have been working really hard on my skills, and know I have room to improve. But I can bring a positive attitude to the team. So – with all that said, I want to be a varsity cheerleader because it will be the experience of a lifetime cheering on the football and basketball team!”

  If my nerves weren’t high before she started talking, they were sky high now. How could I possibly follow a flawless answer like that?!

  “Abby.” Coach Brooklyn looked at me. She was not smiling at all. She looked intense. I smiled and looked her in the eyes with confide
nce.

  “What can you bring to our team next year?”

  I sat in silence. My mind went blank. I sat looking at her, then nervously looked at the other girls. I didn’t know what to say, or how to even answer that question. I shifted my posture, and sat in silence for about twenty seconds. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I finally forced out, “Ummm… could you repeat the question?”

  She furrowed her brow, and asked, “What can you bring to our team next year?”

  I felt Jenny staring at me like ‘what on earth are you doing’. I sat for a few more seconds. I finally took a deep breath and said, “Happiness.”

  “Happiness?” Coach Brooklyn asked, with a very confused expression. All the judges were staring at me, as if they felt sorry for me.

  “Yes… ma’am.” I said with my voice shaking.

  “Well that’s interesting.” She said, and didn’t even write anything on her paper. “Moving on...”

  I had just made everyone in the room feel awkward. You could slice the awkwardness with a knife, it was that thick.

  Coach Rebecca cleared her throat and asked Piper, the very last girl sitting to my left, “Why should we choose you to be on our team?”

  I honestly wasn’t even listening to her answer. I was completely horrified and felt stupid. Did that really just happen? I wanted to cry. I was so horribly embarrassed and wanted to sink into the ground and become a puddle.

  After all the girls had been interviewed, the coaches walked into the cafeteria. The room fell silent, and the nervous tension swept through once again as if tryouts hadn’t happened yet. We were all sitting on the tile anxiously awaiting for their post-tryout speeches. Coach Brooklyn stood in the center of us all, and cleared her throat.

  “The final results will be posted tonight at 8:00 p.m. on the school front doors. Once the results are announced on paper, no one is allowed to call us to meet about the results. These are final. Also, congratulations to those making the team. We will have our first practice in July. Have a great rest of the school year!”