CHAPTER 7
Jump Start
I wore a Pine Tree Middle School T-shirt on Monday. It has a picture of a big pine tree on the front. I taped a note to the tree. The note said: Save Me!
Everyone was too busy talking about cheerleading tryouts to notice my shirt.
“Are you NERVOUS, Monica?” Adam asked at lunch.
“A little,” Monica admitted.
“That’s okay,” Peter said. “Even rock stars get nervous before they go on stage.”
Tommy looked at me. He cocked his head and asked, “How many straw wrappers can you make from one tree?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. I didn’t have an answer. Someone had finally noticed the note on my shirt, and I didn’t know what to say.
“Beats me,” Becca said, shrugging.
“Thousands,” Adam said. “Maybe even a million.”
“Let’s say it’s A MILLION,” Peter said. He found a pen in his backpack and started to scribble on his napkin. “Six kids times five days a week. We’d have to save our straw wrappers for 33,000 Weeks to save one tree,” Peter said.
“How many years is that?” Becca asked.
Peter scribbled more numbers.
“Six hundred and thirty-five,” Peter said. “If I don’t subtract vacation weeks.”
Sometimes I wish that Peter wasn’t so smart.
“Let’s say we recycle straw wrappers until we graduate from high school,” Tommy said. “We might save a twig.” He held his hands two inches apart and added, “A twig about this big.”
“Unless everyone at school recycles straw wrappers,” I said. “Then it wouldn’t take so long to save a whole tree.”
“Okay! Okay!” Adam yelled. He threw up his hands. “I’ll recycle my straw wrappers.”
All my friends put their straw wrappers in the recycling bin. But I would have to remind them the next day, or they’d forget again.
My idea was starting to seem pretty dumb. needed a greater cause. Something everybody really cared about. I couldn’t think of anything.
* * *
Adam and I went to the cheerleading tryouts after school. Becca wouldn’t go. She didn’t want to watch Monica’s hopes get crushed. She also didn’t want to watch Monica become a snobby cool kid.
“Does Monica have a chance?” Adam asked me as we sat down in the bleachers.
I looked around the gym. Six girls were warming up. I was sure that Anna had made Carly and Karen practice, so her friends wouldn’t mess up and look bad. Gina would definitely pick them.
That left Monica and two other girls, Kristin and Holly. One of them would be the fourth new cheerleader.
“She’s got a one-in-three chance,” I told Adam.
Adam shrugged. “That’s not too bad,” he said.
“Let’s get started!” Gina yelled. “Everyone who’s trying out, line up.”
Adam gave Monica a V for victory sign. I smiled at her and waved. Then Monica started giggling.
“Oh no,” I whispered. I’d forgotten that Monica giggled when she was nervous!
Monica took a deep breath. She stopped laughing, but she couldn’t get rid of her GOOFY GRIN.
“Everyone follow me!” Gina yelled. She started doing some exercises.
The girls did jumping jacks, waist bends, and toe touches. Monica bent her knees a little during the toe touches. You’re not supposed to do that. But she was the only one who smiled the whole time.
“This isn’t a joke, Monica,” Gina said.
“I know!” Monica exclaimed. She stopped smiling for one second. Then she giggled again and said, “I’m having fun! I love the Cougars! And I love cheerleading!”
“That’s the spirit!” Gina said, grinning.
I stopped holding my breath.
Anna blinked with surprise. Then she smiled too.
Next Gina showed the girls a basic cheer. She used two lunges and a spread eagle jump. She went over it three times. Then the new girls tried it.
“Pine Tree Middle is our school.
Go, Cougars! Go, Cougars!
Pine Tree Cougars rule!”
Monica’s jump wasn’t as high as Kristin’s, and her split wasn’t as wide as Linda’s. She wobbled a little bit when she landed, but she kept smiling.
“Look straight ahead next time, Monica,” Gina said. “That will help you keep your balance.”
“Okay, thanks!” Monica said cheerfully.
Gina praised Anna, Carly, and Karen. She frowned at Kristin and said, “You have to speak up. I couldn’t hear you.”
“Okay,” Kristin whispered.
She stared at the floor. I wondered why Kristin wanted to be a cheerleader. She was a math genius. She wasn’t quite as smart as Peter, but she was just as shy.
Then Gina looked at Holly. “Your cheer was okay, but the jump wasn’t high enough,” Gina said.
Holly nodded. “Jump higher. Got it,” she said.
Gina taught the girls two more cheers. Monica forgot some words and missed a couple moves, but she smiled the whole time. I thought she did a good job.
Kristin and Holly got the cheers right. Kristin shouted louder, smiled, and started looking up. Holly jumped higher.
Gina ignored them. She loved Anna and her friends.
And she loved Monica.