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Authors: Nancy Krulik

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BOOK: Three Cheers for...Who?
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“I videotaped your whole performance,” she told the squad. “Watching the tape will help us figure out what went wrong so we can fix it before the big competition next week.”
Katie glanced over at Lacey. She looked a little sick to her stomach. It was obvious she didn't want to watch what had happened during the halftime show.
Neither did Katie.
“Hey, Emma W., do you want to go to my house for a while?” Katie asked her friend. “I can call my dad. Maybe he'll pick us up now.”
Emma W. shook her head. “I promised my mom I would stay with Lacey,” she explained. “But you can go home if you want to.”
“No, it's okay,” Katie said. “I'll stay here with you.”
Katie and Emma W. followed the older girls into their locker room. They sat in the back of the room and waited for the coach to set up the video.
“Okay, now see how wonderfully you guys were doing the defense cheer in the first quarter?” the coach asked the girls. “Your rhythm is perfect. And every single herkie is championship quality.”
Katie felt herself relax a little. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
“But things definitely went downhill during the halftime performance,” the coach continued.
“Downhill is one word for it,” Tess said. “Down
pyramid
is another.”
Lacey turned beet red.
Katie couldn't believe it. “That girl is acting like she's never made any mistakes,” she whispered to Emma W.
“Come on now, Tess,” the coach said. “Anyone can have an off day. Let's watch the video and learn from our mistakes.”
“They weren't
our
mistakes,” another cheerleader said. “They were
Lacey's
.”
Okay, now Katie was really mad. That was meaner than mean!
Katie stared at the video of the girls beginning their pyramid formation.
“Your timing was off, Lacey,” the coach said. “The pyramid needs to be built really quickly.”
“I know,” Lacey said. “I don't understand why I was just standing there.”
On the TV screen, Katie watched herself spread out her arms and shout, “I did it! I did ...”
And then ... WHOA!
The cheerleaders all started laughing. All except Lacey. She looked like she wanted to cry.
“No! Wait! That could be a great move,” Katie shouted out.
“Oh, Katie, not now ... ,” Lacey began.
“No, seriously,” Katie said, turning to face the squad. “Didn't you guys see how I ... I mean how
Lacey
went backward in the air? And then when everyone fell out of the pyramid, they sort of made a V shape. You know, like
V
for victory?”
Katie stopped and took a deep breath. She waited for someone to say something.
“With a little more practice, that could be an amazing trick,” Katie said. “At least, that's how it looks to me.”
At first, no one spoke. And then Rachel said, “The kid's right. We did kind of make a
V
.”
“Jumping off backward
is
kind of cool,” Tess told Lacey. “Well, except for all the arm flapping you were doing. Were you trying to fly or something?”
Lacey laughed in spite of herself. “I have no idea what I was doing.”
“If you girls can clean this routine up, we might have a championship-winning pyramid,” the coach told them. “But it would take a lot of work—especially on your part, Lacey.”
“I'll do whatever it takes,” Lacey said.
“The state competition is only a week away,” the coach reminded everyone.
“Then we should start practicing now,” Lacey said, grabbing her pom-poms.
As Lacey and the other cheerleaders raced back into the gym to begin practicing, Emma W. turned to Katie. “You really saved the day for my sister,” she said. “Thanks.”
Katie smiled. “It wasn't a big deal.”
Emma W. said, “You have no idea what Lacey can be like when she's upset. It was a
huge
deal.” To prove it, Emma W. raised her arms high in the air.
“K-A-T-I-E! Katie is the friend for me!”
Chapter 10
“Hey, do you guys want to play football?” Kevin asked Katie at recess on Monday.
Katie shook her head. “I already promised Mandy and the Emmas that I would jump rope.”
“Maybe they'll want to play football instead?” Kevin asked her.
“I don't think so,” Katie said. “Why don't you get Jeremy or Manny?”
“None of the guys from class 4B are here,” Kevin said. “They're all in the library.”
“The library?” Katie asked. “At recess?” That didn't make any sense at all.
Kevin nodded. “It's the only place they can get away from the pom-pom squad,” he explained. “There's no cheering allowed in the library. So Suzanne and the rest of the girls are pestering other kids. Just look.”
Kevin was right. The 4B squad was cheering for the third-graders who were playing hopscotch.
“Throw that key. Hop to three. Reach the ten. Come back again!”
They also cheered on the second-graders who were playing tag.
“Run, run, run. Don't get hit. Because if you're tagged, you are it.”
Katie sighed. “The 4B pom-pom squad is splitting up our whole grade.”
“It's different for high school cheerleaders,” Emma W. said. “They're cheering for their whole school, not just one grade or one class, the way the pom-pom squad is ...”
Suddenly, Katie got one of her great ideas. A huge smile flashed across her face. “Emma W., you're a genius!” she exclaimed.
“Thanks,” Emma W. answered happily. Then she paused. “Why am I a genius?” she asked.
“You'll see,” Katie said. “I think I know how to make everyone friends again. I just have to get Mr. G.'s permission. Will you guys come with me to talk to him after recess?”
Mandy and the two Emmas all nodded.
“Mr. G., we think this school needs some spirit,” Katie told her teacher a little while later as the kids in her class came back from recess.
“
School
spirit,” Emma W. added. “Not just class spirit.”
Mr. G. nodded. “There has been a lot of cheering in class 4B lately.”
“And nowhere else,” Katie said. “That's the problem. We all go to one school. Shouldn't we be cheering about that?”
“It makes perfect sense to me,” Mr. G. said.
“That's why we thought the fourth grade could host a pep rally for the whole school,” Katie explained. “Every grade would be there. We could do it in the gym. That's big enough to hold everyone.”
“We could have pom-poms, and maybe write a school cheer,” Mandy said.
“One that
everyone
could learn,” Katie added.
“I think that sounds like a great idea,” Mr. G. said. “I'll talk to Principal Kane about it.”
As Katie and her friends took their seats, Emma W. whispered to Katie, “Do you think Principal Kane will say yes to a pep rally?”
Katie held up her right hand and crossed her fingers tight.
Chapter 11
The fourth-graders piled into the auditorium on Tuesday morning. But they did not sit together. Class 4A was on the right side of the room. The class 4B pom-pom squad sat in the front row on the left side of the room. And the boys in class 4B sat as far away from the pom-pom girls as possible.
“What do you think this is about?” Katie heard Suzanne ask Miriam.
“I have no clue,” Miriam answered.
“Do you think it's something we can do a cheer for?” Becky asked. “Because I've been writing a new one. It's for Jeremy.”
“
All
your cheers are for Jeremy,” Suzanne pointed out.
Just then, Mr. G. and Ms. Sweet stood up in front of the kids.
“I bet you dudes are wondering why we've gathered you all together,” Mr. G. said. “Well, it's about all the cheering that's been going on around here lately.”
“Yeah!” The pom-pom squad began to cheer. They waved their pom-poms in the air.
“We think spirit is a great thing,” Ms. Sweet told the kids. “But only when it's done nicely, and not used to hurt other people's feelings.”
“Or make them crazy in the bathroom,” Sam shouted from the back of the room.
The kids all started to laugh.
“Exactly,” Ms. Sweet said with a smile. “There's a time and a place for cheering.”
“And that time and place is next Monday in the school gym,” Mr. G. said. “Because that's when we're going to have the first ever Cherrydale Elementary all-school pep rally!”
BOOK: Three Cheers for...Who?
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