by Zoe Evans
I realized at that moment just how much the fear of possibly having messed things up with him had been weighing me down. I didn’t know what to make of him being here—and whether that meant all was forgiven—but I took it as at least a step in the right direction.
I gave my friends the brief lowdown on the situation—the fact that Clem was here, Tabitha Sue’s injury, Katarina’s wardrobe malfunction. Evan was laughing along but still wasn’t giving me his usual “Maddy is awesome” stare, though. I could tell he was trying to act like the cool guy. He barely looked me in the eye the entire time I told my story, and sometimes he was even looking around the gym like he wasn’t really paying attention to what I was saying.
In other words, we were still universes away from how things were just over a week ago. I really tried to not be disappointed and hurt by how he was acting, but it was super hard. A part of me was like, “Why did he come if he was gonna bring this bucket of attitude?” and the other part of me was like, “At least he came! You should be grateful!”
Just then I saw Mom approaching us, with Katarina hot on her heels. Katarina looked like she’d added another layer of makeup to hide the streaks of tears from before.
“It’s all fixed!” Mom said proudly. “Just took a little extra time because we couldn’t find matching thread.”
“Tank you very maches, Coach!” said Katarina. She looked at me. “Soon we are going?”
I glanced at my watch. “Any minute now,” I said. “Guys! Let’s head backstage.”
We all started heading over, but Mom just stood there, scanning the crowd. “Hey, Maddy, do you know if Coach Whipley dropped the iPod off at the music booth?”
I was like, “Coach Whipley? Music booth? Huh?”
Mom explained that since she had to attend to Katarina, she had asked Coach Whipley to give our cheer music to the DJ. But I hadn’t even seen Coach Whipley leave the bleachers where she’d been sitting and scowling at us the entire time.
I DID realize, however, that Clementine had been mysteriously absent since we’d left her with her cheerleader friends from that other school. This was not sounding good.
We waited for Mom to chat with Coach Whipley, and after a few moments, she came bouncing back with her thumbs up. “We’re all ready to go. The music is with the booth guy.”
“Well,” said Jacqui, “at least there weren’t any difficult instructions to follow. There was only one playlist on my iPod, and it was called ‘Get Up and Cheer! Music,’ so it should be a no-brainer to the music guy.”
Once we were backstage, we brought the team into a group huddle and pumped them up one last time before it was our turn through the curtains closing off the mat. The REAL mat.
“Y’all ready to shred this mat up?” Jacqui asked.
“Yeah,” the Grizzlies shouted.
“I can’t hear you!”
“Yeah,” they said. And then louder the next time: “Yeah! Woooooo!”
“Remember, guys, shoulders down, chins up,” I said.
“And no pom-poms below the waist!” said Jacqui.
Mom came running toward us with a can of hair spray. “Wait! Ladies, just a quick spray. Sorry, but we can’t have any flyaways on the mat!” She let loose with a cloud of spray so thick we were all coughing as we stretched out our arms and hamstrings one more time.
I was SO NERVOUS. This was the day we’d all been waiting for practically forever, and the moment was finally here. I looked at the rest of the team and saw that everyone had that jittery-slash-fire-in-their-eyes look to them. Finally, we heard the announcer come in over the mic.
“And now, from Port Angeles, give it up for the Grizzlieeeeees!”
We all started screaming and ran onto the mat, cheering our heads off until our music started up. Or what we THOUGHT was our music. It actually started off normally. The first counts were just as they always were. We did our beginning stunts with all the hard tumbling and jumps. Then something SERIOUSLY AWFUL happened. I was in the middle of pulling one of my tucks when the music changed from our cheer mix to something by Lil Wayne. I suddenly panicked, wondering if all this time I hadn’t been paying attention to our music and just now was realizing that the mix had included this song the whole time. Or maybe I blanked out Jacqui having told us she added it at the last minute. I almost ate the mat, but pulled it together at the last second, making a clean landing, thank goodness. I continued to hit all my motions, until the music changed again. It sounded like a country song that was being played backward, with screeching frogs dubbed over it.
Or at least that’s what it sounded like to me. We all tried to just go along with the rest of the routine, and I prayed that the rest of the Grizzlies were watching Jacqui and me so they could keep up with the count. But eventually, we all started losing it one by one like fallen soldiers on a battlefield. Tabitha Sue was the first to turn to me and say, “I can’t do this! I’m sorry!” before running off the mat. The rest of the team soon followed, leaving just Jacqui and me doing cartwheels across the mat with smiles plastered on our faces.
“We seem to be having some, uh, technical difficulties,” said the announcer. “We’re, uh, we’re going to, um, hold on just a minute—”
Finally the music went off. The whole auditorium went up in a roar of gasps and shrieks (and of course, a few snickers). I have never heard of anything like this happening during a competition.
Jacqui looked at me like, “Let’s get out of here.”
I couldn’t have run any faster.
When we got backstage, I saw Mom looking completely horrified, as the team practically clung to her side. Her usually rosy cheeks were stark white. I felt like throwing up.
“What happened?” asked Jared, to no one in particular. His hands were shaking.
Mom put an arm around me. “I don’t know what half the stuff you guys dance to is. But in all our practice sessions, I know for a fact that we’ve never cheered to anything like that.”
Jacqui, for the first time in history, had tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, guys. I don’t know what to say. But that wasn’t my playlist!”
“What WAS that playlist anyway? I’ve never even heard that last song in my life,” said Tabitha Sue.
Jacqui shook her head, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “No idea. I uploaded the final mix last week and never changed it. I checked it every night! And even just the other day, I erased every other playlist on my iPod, so that’s the only one that could have been there!”
She looked like she was going to start hyperventilating. Mom started making circular motions with her hand on Jacqui’s back to help calm her down, like she always did for me when I was little.
“You have to believe me,” said Jacqui more steadily. “That was NOT our playlist.”
Mom bent down to Jacqui’s height, holding her by the shoulders. “Listen, I’m going to go talk to the judges and explain the situation. I’ll see if we can have a do-over.”
Jacqui crossed her arms over her chest and started walking away from the group. This was BAD.
“Jacqui,” I said. “We all know this wasn’t your fault.”
She just stared down at her sneakers, sniffling. Then the rest of the team came over to her to say that they believed her. “Jacqui, you’re, like, the most together person on the whole team,” said Matt. “We know you of all people wouldn’t mess up something like this.”
“Yeah, no one thinks this is your fault,” said Ian.
Jacqui smiled. “You know what? If we do get a do-over, the good news is, I borrowed my mom’s iPod mini and uploaded the playlist there as a backup.” I could see the clouds over Jacqui’s head begin to literally part. She wasn’t happy unless she was coming up with solutions, so I know these past few minutes had been utterly horrifying to her.
The whole competition seemed to grind to a halt as we huddled backstage, wondering how this had happened in the first place. I knew we needed to talk to Coach Whipley. I had a suspicion that she wasn’t the
one to switch iPods on us. She was mean, but she wasn’t cruel. I snuck around to the bleacher area and saw Evan, Marc, and Lanie talking nervously with one another. I knew they must all have been freaking out for us, but I didn’t have the time just then to explain what was going on.
Then my eyes landed on Clementine. She was sitting by herself, her legs crossed daintily, with a big smile on her face. And she seemed to be laughing into her cell phone, like whoever was on the other end was in on a joke with her.
It was like I’d been punched in the stomach. Could Clementine have taken things THIS far? Was she so out to get me that she would sabotage our competition? Even I had a hard time swallowing the idea. But I had a feeling that whether or not I liked it, it just had to have been her.
When I got back to the rest of the team, Mom was already there, grinning proudly.
“Good news!” she said. “I got you a do-over. You’ll be last at the competition, but at least they’re giving you a second chance!”
Everyone gave each other a round of high fives. I was happy, but also worried about what this might have done to everyone’s confidence level.
“It’s still so unfair,” said Jacqui, in untypical Jacqui fashion. She always was the one to look on the bright side, so this was REALLY BAD. “We busted our pom-poms for this. And the whole mix thing totally wasn’t our fault. Something really smells fishy about this.”
I wanted to say, “You can say that again. And by the way, if you’re looking for a stinky fish, take a whiff of Clementine over there.” But I kept it to myself. If I brought it up now, it would only distract the rest of the team, and besides, I had zero proof anyway.
We made our way back to the bleachers, where Coach Whipley and Clementine were chatting. Coach Whipley got up to talk to us Grizzlies and, I guess, offer her condolences. “In all my years,” she said, shaking her head, “I’ve never seen something like that happen.”
“Coach?” I asked. “Are you sure you had the right iPod when you handed it to the music guy?” I knew it took a lot of nerve for me to question Coach Whipley, and that there was a strong possibility that as payback she’d stick me in a locker and leave me to die at some point in the future, but I was willing to take my chances.
Coach Whipley nodded. “Definitely. I got it right from Coach Caroline. Then I had to run to the little girls’ room, so I asked Clementine over here to do it.”
Clementine put on her best sympathetic and shocked face. “I brought it straight over to the booth. I didn’t drop it, blow on it, or anything. I swear I held that iPod like it was a rare baby bird. Are you sure it hadn’t been messed with before?” Now she was looking at Jacqui.
Jacqui knows what Clem is capable of, so she must have put two and two together as soon as we found out it was Clem who delivered the music. But she held herself back from doing anything drastic, and I could hear her doing those breathing exercises she always tells me to do when she can tell I’m about to lose it.
“Jacqui,” I said in a whisper. “Let’s deal with this later, okay?”
She just stared at Clementine, nodding.
“All right,” she shouted to the team. “Let’s get ready for this do-over.”
As soon as the words left her lips, I saw Clementine’s smile falter. She obviously hadn’t expected us to get another chance. As we walked away from the bleachers, I could hear her talking earnestly to Coach Whipley. I can’t say for sure, but I thought I heard the words “unfair advantage” float our way. What is it to her anyway? It’s not like she’s competing.
I suggested to the rest of the team that we take a little breather and grab some refreshments before starting up practicing again. Everyone was still a little shaken by what had just happened. I mean, it was completely HUMILIATING, especially since no one else knew the situation. For all anyone in the crowd knew, we didn’t even know our own music. Or we weren’t capable of making a playlist correctly. Even though none of this was our fault, I felt like the co-captain of the Big Loser Squad. I wondered what Evan and Lanie were thinking, and hoped that Evan didn’t think I’d looked like a complete clown out there as I danced to the wrong music. None of these thoughts were helping. BAD THOUGHTS, MADISON, BAD! And I couldn’t let the team think about stuff like that either. We had to use the time from now until the end of the competition to chill out, then practice.
After everyone had gotten a snack we ran through the routine a bunch of times on the practice mat. Other teams were nice enough to clear a big space for us. That was kind of cool. I guess we were somewhat celebrities. Yay! (Not.)
Even Ian and Matt’s “new cheerleader friends” were cheering us on from the sidelines. But miracle of all miracles, the guys didn’t seem to even notice. It was kind of funny, actually—the girls kept smiling at the two of them and calling their names, but the boys didn’t blink. Not once. I think the fact that something had almost ruined our chances at the competition made them want to be better than ever and show people they couldn’t be defeated. Thank goodness for that old football spirit!
When we’d finally hit all our stunts and gotten to a point where we felt like we were in good shape, Jacqui told the team we were ready. “Let’s just relax and watch some of the other teams from now until we have to go. You don’t want to overdo it, especially since we were ALREADY giving our all out there before.”
One of the key secrets for competition day is to give 99% in all your practices, but never 100. You want to save the 100 for the big moment. Jacqui and I were big believers in that.
When I had a moment, I went over to Lanes and the gang.
“Whoa. We’ve been dying to talk to you!” said Lanie. “What happened?”
Evan was biting his lip with worry. “Are you okay?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. It’s kind of a long story. I think I know what happened, but I need some more proof.” I brought everyone in close so no one else could hear us. “I think Clementine switched iPods at the last minute. But of course she’s claiming innocence.”
“Why am I so not surprised?” said Lanie, sharing a look with Marc. I had a good audience, at least. None of them were big Clementine fans.
“Is there anything you want us to do?” said Evan. SO CUTE! My hero.
“No, but thanks,” I said. “I mean, I’ll figure this out. In the meantime, just scream your heads off when we’re up.”
“You got it,” said Lanie.
Before we knew it, it was our turn again. I could feel the anticipation building in the rest of the gym. Everyone knew it was all or nothing for us at this point. If we flopped, it would be all on us. Clementine and Coach Whipley had made their way backstage, and boy, did Clem not look like a happy camper. It was like the fact that we were going again was causing her physical pain.
Even cold, mean Coach Whipley was trying to cheer Clementine up. Like she deserved that!
The announcer called us onto the mat, and the entire gym started cheering for us. It was hard to hear ourselves over the roar of the crowd. Guess everyone likes an underdog, right? Our music came on—the RIGHT music—and we started again with our opening sequence. I glanced quickly at my teammates and was so relieved to see utter determination on their faces. We were all in the ZONE. Like the ceiling could cave in and it could start raining Skittles and we’d still be cheering like our lives depended on it. Which it kind of felt like they did.
By the time we hit our final pose, with everyone in high Vs, the crowd was losing it. We were all breathing like we’d run the marathon of our lives. Everyone was screaming our name. It was like my wildest fantasy come true!
When we ran backstage, Mom was practically in tears. But for a good reason this time! “I’m so proud of you guys!” she said, opening her arms for a giant group hug.
Coach Whipley congratulated us too. And I think she actually meant it!
I’d never felt this good about one of our routines. We’d totally nailed it! One look at my team’s faces and I could tell everyone felt the same way.
&nbs
p; We packed up quickly so we could leave as soon as the winners were announced. I didn’t expect us to get the highest marks, since I thought it would be hard for the judges to forget our giant flop the first time. So I was completely stunned when we received our scores, but still, I wasn’t sure what that would mean in the end.
BUT GET THIS: We actually won SECOND PLACE!!! When the announcement was made, Lanie, Evan, and Marc came running over to congratulate us. I almost missed hearing who won the whole competition because we were so excited about our own win. We were jumping up and down and screaming. Even Ian and Matt got into it! The Hornets won first place. They’d done an amazing job, as I’d expected they would. They hit their routine without any mistakes. It was almost a no-brainer that they’d win.
“Come on, guys!” said Mom. “Let’s all celebrate! Hamburgers for everyone!”
I started salivating at the word “hamburger.” I hadn’t been hungry all day because of my nerves, but all of a sudden dinner sounded like the best idea in the entire world.
On our way out of the gym, Evan came up to me. “I didn’t get to give you a congratulatory hug.”
He reached his arms around me and hugged me for what seemed like a long time. I wondered if he could feel how fast my heart was beating. I also wondered what this hug meant. We didn’t get to sit next to each other at dinner, so there wasn’t really that much of an opportunity to figure out where we stood with each other. Oh well.
It was so funny, at dinner, Clementine was totally the odd person out. Our whole team was smushed together at one end of the table, leaving her alone with Coach Whipley and Mom. (Super fun, right? Ha. I actually felt worse for Mom.) Clem basically stayed glued to her BlackBerry the entire time and barely ate anything. I tried not to pay too much attention to what she was up to, because she is so not worth it.
The rest of us Grizzlies, however, had already become suspicious of Clementine. I don’t blame them. How could they not? She was the last person who had the iPod in her hands. I think the only person who thought Clem was innocent was maybe Coach Whipley, but I couldn’t be too sure. Throughout dinner, people started coming up with pranks that we should play on her. Even sweet Tabitha Sue! At one point she whispered to me that maybe we should loosen the saltshaker and then pass it down to Clementine.