During lunch, Rachel had to meet with her science teacher to go over the science club requirements. She always loved science and hoped to win the Intel Science Award one day. When Rachel finished her meeting, she only had a few minutes to quickly eat her PB&J sandwich she packed from home. She wouldn’t be caught dead again in the hot lunch line--not to mention her parents were appalled when Rachel told them it cost eight dollars for lunch. They said she was only going to bring her lunch from now on, and that eight dollars was way too expensive for them.
Towards the end of the school day, Rachel’s excitement turned into nervousness. What if the cheerleaders don’t like me? What if I’m not dressed right? What if I’m the only one trying out? So many scenarios streamed through her mind.
RING. The final bell.
Rachel rushed to her locker to gather her things, and headed straight for the girls’ locker room. She had fifteen minutes to change and get ready before the 3pm tryout.
As Rachel entered the locker room, she saw many girls changing and getting ready. Some were putting on sneakers, some cleats, and some were even changing into skates. She was surprised: she hadn’t realized AHS had an ice skating team.
She opened her duffle and pulled out her red tank and blue skirt. They were balled up, and she was mortified to see some yogurt had spilled on them.
She took the clothes over to the sink and tried washing them off with water and hand soap. Most of the yogurt came off, but now her clothes had big wet spots on them. Rachel had no other option but to put them on anyway.
When she looked in the mirror, she was horrified. She thought she looked ridiculous. She looked around and spotted a hand dryer at the end of the locker room and ran to dry her clothes off. As she stood there drying , she looked at her watch: three more minutes.
Rachel rubbed her clothes even quicker: they were mostly dry. She felt much better. She gave her hair a comb and touched up her blush and lip-gloss, and ran out of the locker room.
As Rachel ran up the stairs towards the gymnasium she tripped on her untied shoelace and fell on her ankle.
“OUCH!” she screamed.
Heads turned and looked. She quickly pulled herself together and slowly hobbled up the remaining stairs.
Rachel limped into the gym, her ankle still hurting and getting swollen. She wouldn’t let this stop her from trying out. She knew she had to suck it up and deal with the pain.
She looked around at all the girls waiting for tryouts to begin. They were all chatting and going over cheers. She saw a crowd of girls standing near the bleachers and did a double take: She couldn’t believe her eyes. Rachel was stunned to see Sarah standing there, with a group of seniors, waiting for cheerleading tryouts, too. They were stretching and practicing their high kicks.
What am I doing? Rachel thought to herself. I have no chance.
Anger filled Rachel’s body. She so desperately wanted to be part of this group, and now her sister was there, too. This wasn’t how Rachel had imagined this going in her head. Sarah had never expressed any interest in cheerleading before: she hadn’t been on the team in Pennsylvania either.
All of a sudden the team appeared in their uniforms, dancing, jumping, kicking and cheering. When they got to the center of the gym, they broke out into a dance routine, while the crowd cheered and clapped.
Rachel smiled. She suddenly felt excited again, envisioning herself doing that dance alongside the team.
When the team finished the dance, the captain stepped forward to welcome everyone. Rachel looked around: there must have been at least forty-five girls standing, waiting for their shot on the team.
“I’m Arielle, the captain this year! We are so excited for this season!” Arielle said as she did a high kick.
“It’s going to be the best yet. We have twelve open spots on the team, so good luck to each of you!”
“We need everyone to get into rows!” shouted Coach Glass.
The girls who were already on the team took their seats on the bleachers as Rachel, Sarah and the rest of the girls lined up in rows, staggering themselves.
Coach Glass explained how the tryouts were going to go: “Arielle, the captain, is going to lead you all in a cheer. She will do it once alone, then she will break it down step by step, then you will do it as a whole group, and then we will break you up into small groups to do the cheer for your tryout.”
Arielle took the floor and did an awesome routine. Rachel knew she would be able to do the dance, although there were a few tricky parts to it. Rachel had taken dance lessons as a child and didn’t consider herself to have two left feet.
Arielle started teaching the girls the routine step-by-step. Rachel picked it up rather quickly -- except her ankle was killing her. After she learned all the steps and the group did the cheer together it was time to be break down into small groups.
“Sarah, Rebecca, Katie and Jen!” shouted Coach Glass.
Rachel watched, as Sarah was in the first group to tryout. Sarah stood confidently in front and hit every move perfectly, and even added an extra high kick and a jump for added flair at the end.
The girls clapped as Sarah and her group walked off the floor. Sarah brushed by Rachel and said, “Hey, what are you doing here!”
“I came for the tryouts, too!”
“Really? But you always do sports,” Sarah said.
“I wanted a change,” Rachel answered.
“Well, good luck! I hope you make it!” Sarah said with a smile as she walked to the sidelines of the gym.
Rachel knew she had to make the team now. If Sarah made it and she didn’t, she knew she would be so upset.
“Rachel, Amanda, Jessie and Brynn, your turn!” Coach Glass said.
The music started and Rachel began the cheer. She was nervous and the pain in her ankle was almost unbearable. Rachel fumbled on one of the steps but pulled it together quickly. She hoped nobody noticed.
Rachel was riding high. She felt good about her tryout, and couldn’t believe after all that build up, the tryouts were over in a flash. Coach Glass thanked everyone for coming out and wished everyone good luck.
When the tryout was over, Rachel walked out of the gymnasium. She saw Rob coming off the football field and over to the water fountain.
“Hey,” Rob said. “New Girl. How’d tryouts go?”
“Great, I think!” Rachel said trying to sound enthusiastic. “My name is Rachel by the way.”
“Rob,” he said. “Cool, so welcome to AHS, where you from anyway?” he asked.
“Pennsylvania.”
“Whaddaya think so far?”