by Zoe Evans
Then, a little while later, Jacqueline Sawyer came in, looking pretty confused and a little p’d off.
She marched up to Katie, who was doing her lunges with those long, perfect legs of hers. “Um, Katie?” Jacqui asked, tapping on Katie’s shoulder. “When did you all decide to move practice to the gym? And why didn’t anyone tell me? I’ve been standing out there like a loser for a half hour.”
At first Katie didn’t look up from her stretch. You could tell she felt totally awkward, because for once she didn’t have this smooth look on her face. This was a first for Katie, or at least in my experience of watching her. (I’m not a stalker, it’s part of my training! Promise!) Then she stood up to face Jacqui. “Actually, Jacqui, you won’t be needed today.”
Gasps all around the room. Or maybe it was just me gasping very, very loudly.
“Wh-what do you mean? I’m the top flyer in the routine for next week’s game,” said Jacqui defensively. And then she started getting angry. She did the whole eyes-getting-narrow, voice-getting-lower, hands-on-hips thing. “Did you replace me for next week’s game without telling me? This is so not fair, Katie. We always talk about switching flyers out as a team.”
Katie grabbed Jacqui’s hand and took a step back as if to pull her away to tell her privately what she wanted to say. But Clementine beat her to it. “Jacqui, this isn’t just about switching you out for a game. You won’t be needed today or any day. You’re off the team.”
Jacqui was so shocked at first, it took her a couple of moments to respond. “Excuse me?” she asked, almost in a whisper. She looked around at the other cheerleaders as if perhaps Katie and Clementine had gone crazy. “Off the team? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” Clementine said with a smile, “that we know about your little problem.” Clementine mimed throwing back pills.
Hilary laughed at Clementine’s mime.
“Hilary, stop,” snapped Katie.
“Seriously, I have no idea what you guys are talking about,” Jacqui said, taking a few steps back in protest.
Katie looked almost sad. “We were going to talk to you, but . . .”
“Look, we found the pills you were trying to hide in your gym bag, and we looked them up online. You need professional help, Jacqui,” said Clementine gravely. “And we can’t have a teammate who’s on steroids. We’ll totally get disqualified from Nationals.”
There were murmurs all around the team. Apparently, Katie, Clementine, and Hilary hadn’t told the rest of the team their reason for eliminating Jacqui until now.
All of a sudden Jacqui burst out laughing.
“See? It’s serious, guys,” said Hilary, pointing to Jacqui. “Look at her!”
“No!” said Jacqui, clutching her stomach. “I’m laughing because you guys are idiots! I don’t know if you have problems searching or reading—or both. But the pills you found in my bag are a prescription from my doctor for a pulled muscle. If you had read the label correctly, you would have known that. I can even have my doctor call Coach Whipley.”
Oddly enough, I realized that Coach Whipley happened to not be at practice that day. Surely she would have defused the situation a bit, right?
“Clementine, you really looked it up, right?” Katie hissed at Clementine.
Clementine appeared slightly unsure. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I typed it in the right way.”
“Hey, Jacqs, let’s talk about this after practice, ok?” said Katie with a friendly smile. “If what you’re saying is true, then of course you’re back on the team. We just need to talk it through and make sure our facts are all straight so we’re not putting the team in danger of disqualification.”
Jacqui stood there with her arms crossed. “Wow, that’s really big of you, Katie. But don’t you think you should have gotten your facts straight before kicking me off?” she barked. “You know what? If this is what being a team means to you, then I don’t want any part of it. No, thanks.” Jacqui turned on her heel and walked away, her sneakers squeaking noisily on the gym floor.
Clementine made the “loonie” motion with her hand, spinning her finger around her ear, but Katie slapped her hand to stop her.
“Ow!”
“Don’t be immature,” Katie scolded her.
I couldn’t believe Jacqui stormed out on the Titans like that. Obviously, it had all been a misunderstanding. She’s worked so hard to be on that team—and she was one of the best members of the squad! The Titans were her life. No one on that team can do the stunts she can do. She was the best flyer they had. And yeah, Katie totally should have gotten her facts right first, but she was clearly just looking out for her team. It wasn’t the way I would have handled it, but I understand where Katie was coming from—if she truly thought Jacqui was taking steroids. It’s the most serious offense when it comes to cheerleading. Your team can go from Nationals—bound to disqualified in a nanosecond—not to mention how serious it is if one of your teammates is caught up in something like that.
This was bad.
It was really hard to concentrate on my own practice after that. I couldn’t stop thinking about how shocked Jacqui looked when she heard she’d been booted from the team. At least we didn’t have that kind of drama on the Grizzlies. The most I have to worry about is whether Ian and Matt will pummel each other to death before the upcoming tennis match.
Totally wrong to say (I mean, wrong to say in public, but this IS my journal), but maybe the Titans will be looking for a replacement ?
PRE-DINNER UPDATE, MY ROOM
Ok, Embarrassing Much? I was buckling up in Mom’s car after practice when Bevan walked by with his soccer friends. He looked soooo cute in his cleats and socks! (IF worn by the right person, the right way, socks CAN be cute.) He was walking toward the car, and for a split second I considered saying to Mom, “Step on it please!” because I wasn’t sure if I should, like, wave or smile or just totally ignore him. But the sight of him left me kind of paralyzed, so instead I just sat there, staring at him like an idiot. At the last second before we drove away, his eyes locked with mine, and I think I detected the tiniest smile. I almost got hiccups, I was so excited.
Then IT happened.
“Honey, do you want to stop and say hi to your friends?” asked Mom, blatantly pointing to Bevan and his buddies like they were animals at the zoo.
“Ohmigod, Mom, stop pointing! No! Just drive!” I said. I quickly tried to compress myself into the foot area of the passenger seat, blushing furiously. To the average passerby it must have looked like one moment, Mom had a passenger, the next, just a backpack.
So embarrassing. Whatever romantic moment we had shared was shattered, I know it! I’m certain he now thinks I said to my mom, “Hey, look! There’s that cute boy Bevan Ramsey from my class!”
How loser—y can you get? You’d think I’d have this down by now. What are the chances the Grizzlies are rubbing off on me??
Maybe I should have seen this coming, but Jacqui started hanging out around the bleachers during our practices after she left the Titans. At first I was like, “Hey, she’s coming to check out some of our stellar moves!” Yeah, right. But then I thought, “Maybe she’s up to something.”
Which is much more like the Jacqui Sawyer I know.
Sure enough, after practice today, she came up to me while I was about to practice some advanced tumbling that the rest of my team isn’t ready for.
“You’re not that bad, you know,” she said, standing over me on the practice mat as I recovered from a particularly bad back walkover.
I quickly stretched and got up off the mat. “Oh, thanks.”
“I don’t think the Grizzlies have ever had a cheerleader like you on their team,” she continued.
I practically flipped out (to myself, of course, not in front of Jacqui) because I couldn’t believe someone of Titan caliber was commenting on my skillz. I mean, I know I’m a pretty good cheerleader, but I’ve never gotten noticed by a Titan or, um, an ex-Titan. Unless I count my mom
, which I don’t.
“Thanks, um, again,” I said, suddenly feeling self-conscious. I did a quick instant replay in my head of that day’s practice and hoped that the team didn’t do anything too embarrassing. We walked toward the bleachers together and sat on the lowest ones, by the basketball net.
“I know it might sound totally out there, but what would you think if I said I wanted to join your team?” she asked. She actually looked pretty vulnerable at that moment. For Jacqui, anyway.
This time, I was really floored. Jacqueline Sawyer, an actual Titan cheerleader, wants to join OUR team? She left the best team in all of Port Angeles pretty much on purpose-hey, they offered her a position back—to become a lowly Grizzly?
“Hey, Madison. Hello?” I think I must have looked at her like she was speaking an alien language, because she started waving her hand in front of my face.
“I don’t get it,” I said. “Why would you want to be a Grizzly? You’re, like, one of the best Titan cheerleaders in the school.”
Jacqui laughed. “You mean was one of the best Titan cheerleaders. You must have gotten the memo that I left: Good news travels fast here.”
“Yeah,” I said, looking down at my palms. “I know.”
“So, will you have me? On your team?” She was looking at me expectantly for an answer.
A picture began to unfold before me of what the rest of cheer season would be like with Jacqui on the team, and IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! I’ll have a buddy after practice to work on advanced cheer stunts with. Together, we can teach the rest of the team a couple more interesting and cool looking stunts. Maybe the two of us can even do a real routine together—possibly even with Katarina! I’ve always wanted to do a superintense routine that starts out with, like, something mellow from Muse and then builds up into a set of Black Eyed Peas and M.I.A. remixes. With Jacqui’s help I can probably even learn how to perfect my scorpion!
“Yes! Ohmigod! Yes, we’d love to have you on the team!” I almost hugged her—I was that excited—but restrained myself. I can’t wait to tell Mom and Lanie the news!!! With Jacqui’s help, the Grizzlies are actually going to be legit. And quite possibly, so am I.
BTW, we sold more SuperBoys at this week’s tennis match—which goes to show that SuperBoy has more than just nerd appeal. Yay! And in even better news, no one (read: Katarina) got dropped on her butt this time during our routines. Double yay!
Just got off video chat with Lanes to tell her about Jacqui joining the team. She didn’t freak out like I did. I get it-it’s not like Lanie is Miss Cheer (far from it)-but she was all like, “That’s cool,” and I was like, “No, it’s amazing!” And she was like, “Yeah, it’s nice,” and I was like, “Lanes! It’s ridiculous!”
“Fine, I’m just gonna say it. She’s a Titan. And during tryouts, she didn’t go out of her way to rally for you to be on her team.”
Awww. Lanes is the best BFF a girl can have. Holding a grudge against the entire Titan team because they didn’t take me on this year. . . . Now, that’s BFF dedication right there.
“Lanie, it wasn’t up to her. It was really Clementine, Katie, and Hilary’s call. Jacqui was up there, but she wasn’t part of the Royal Triumvirate, as you call them.”
Lanie just sat there looking resolute. “Whatevs. They snubbed my bestie. And you’re an amazing cheerleader. So, that’s what I think.”
Lanie was propped up on her twin bed, where I had a view of the new piece of art she has hanging on the wall behind her.
“What I think, dear Lanes, is that the poster over your bed is C-R-E-E-P-Y. How do you sleep at night?”
The poster is of a big—eyed girl in an alley. The girl’s eyes looked like they might swallow her whole face.
“It’s by an artist named Keane. I’m collecting him now-or, um, reproductions. Isn’t it awesome? I got it in the mail today.”
“Yeah, awesome. And now you have a creepy, dead—looking girl over your bed who looks like she might kill you in your sleep. And you think I have problems?”
“Ok, Mads, if I don’t get any sleep tonight, I’m blaming you.” She pointed at her screen.
We signed off and I climbed into bed, thinking about what Lanie had said. I didn’t really think for a second to be mad at Jacqui just for being a Titan. I’ve already accepted that I didn’t make the team. And with her help, hopefully, I’ll be a Titan in no time. Maybe Lanie is just worried I’ll be spending time with a Titan—someone I look up to a lot. But she has no reason to be worried. Lanes is my best friend. She’ll get over it eventually . . . right?
Get this: Today we had the best practice EVER, all thanks to Jacqui. She kept the whole team on its toes, because she has a little bit of a drill sergeant thing about her, and also, she has Titans experience. First she led us through a nasty session of deep stretches we’d never done before. The Testosterone Twins were moaning in pain, but they didn’t dare disobey her, because if they did, she’d give them fifty push—ups as punishment.
It was a bit of a mess, but everyone was excited to be shaken up a bit by someone with that much training. Now that Jacqui has joined the team, the two of us are more like co-captains, which is fine with me. She can obviously teach us all a lot. Everyone was sweaty and out of breath by the end of practice, but psyched. We could all tell we are on our way to improving.
Jacqui sat down next to me on the gym floor to stretch as everyone else gathered their things to leave.
“That was awesome,” I told her, giving her a high-five.
“Yeah, well, I’ve been dying to kick Matt’s and Ian’s butts since I started watching your practices,” she said, with a mischievous gleam in her eye.
“Ohmigod, me too,” I said, smiling. “But I never figured out how to do it. Who knew that making them touch their toes to the back of their heads would be worse than a noogie?”
“Every bully has a weakness,” said Jacqui knowingly. “So, that Burger lady-what’s her deal?” Jacqui asked.
“Oh, she’s just, like, our chaperone. We don’t have a real coach. We’re kinda like the redheaded stepchildren of the school compared with the Titans. Um, I thought you knew that,” I said, surprised.
“I don’t know. I guess I never really thought about it,” said Jacqui, frowning. “I’ve always been more about cheering and not really into the drama of it. Until now, I guess. I hate that everyone knows my business. It’s, like, the talk of the school.”
“Yeah, I know. It sucks,” I said, thinking of what almost happened to me with the thing at Le French Frog. “Gossip spreads like fire here,” I said, giving myself a good neck stretch. “But it kind of seems to me like it was all a big misunderstanding,” I continued. “Do you think maybe if you and Katie sat down and talked, they’d take you back on the team?” I couldn’t believe I’d just said that, because today had been so great. But I still couldn’t imagine Jacqui not on the Titan squad.
“Are you kidding?” Jacqui said, staring me straight in the eye. “No way would I go back to those backstabbers. I’m going to make them regret losing me to the Grizzlies. And you are going to help me.”
“Me?” I asked, shocked. I’m the last person who wants to get on Clementine’s or Hilary’s bad side. No, thanks, none for me, please. “I, uh,” I stammered.
“Just think of it as a way for both of us to get what we want. I’m going to help you bring the Grizzlies to the next level—like you never would have imagined.”
“Is that humanly possible?” I asked. I tried to picture what Tabitha Sue’s “next level” would be. Not turning left when she’s supposed to turn right? Not constantly coming to practice with the back of her skirt tucked into her underwear?
“The team just needs to be pushed a little harder, but I think we have potential,” she said, as if she were planning the ascension of the Grizzly Bears in her head at that exact moment. “The Grizzlies are going to blow everyone away this year, and with you and me together, we’ll make it happen.”
“So, what is it that you’ll get o
ut of it?” I asked tentatively.
“Me? Well, the Titans hate to see other cheerleaders succeed. It will make them really peeved to see the Grizzlies get good. Really good. And it will just make them even more mad that they doubted me with the whole drug thing.”
I was thinking, “I’ll believe this whole Grizzlies Being Awesome Cheerleaders thing when I see it,” but instead I just nodded. “Ok. Deal. I’m down with making the Grizzlies a great team. That’s been my goal since the first day.”
“Awesome,” said Jacqui, reaching her hand out for a shake. “In that case, I was wondering,” she continued, “what if we had a real coach? Like, someone who actually knew what they were doing? Didn’t your mom go to the National Cheer Association championships as, like, the youngest Titan cheerleader ever?”
The idea of my mom being my coach was about as obvious to me as putting ketchup on an ice—cream sundae. Or wearing skinny jeans to practice. (Actually, I’m pretty sure Hilary did that once. And somehow, miraculously, she succeeded in not ripping her pants. But man, that must have hurt!) But once Jacqui got going with this idea, she wouldn’t stop.
“Yeah, but Jacqui, that was, like, decades ago,” I said, feeling all sorts of weird.
“Ohmigod, this would be perfect! You have to ask your mom to be our coach!” Jacqui said, launching into a brief cheer. She jumped up and put her arms into a V, and then clapped. Whoa. She really is a born-and-bred cheerleader.
Jacqui put her hands on my shoulders and made me face her. “Do you want the Grizzles to be stuck in Loserville forever, or do you want them to finally be taken seriously? I’ve seen how seriously you take this team. You’re fund-raising, for goodness’ sake. The last Grizzly fund—raiser was, what, in 1970? Come on, you’re either going to go all the way or not at all. And if you’re going all the way, you need a coach. Not a ‘faculty adviser,’” she said, making quote marks in the air.