Into the Mix #4

by Diane Muldrow

  “Good,” said Mom. “There’s no time for a wardrobe panic. breakfast in ten minutes.” She closed the door and went to wake Matthew.

  No one said much at breakfast, except for Dad, who kept cracking corny jokes. Mom never said much in the mornings, but she seemed to be smiling extra sweetly today, as if to say, Everything’s going to be okay!

  Molly drank all her grape juice, but it was hard to finish her oatmeal. She went up ahead of Amanda to brush her teeth.

  Staring at herself in the mirror, she thought to herself, Well, today’s the day. It’s gonna be great! I’m gonna make new friends...and it’s not like I’m really losing my old friends anyway. But maybe I’ll be invisible...oh, I want to be at the beach right now with Poppy...

  Just then, Amanda walked in. “What are you doing in here? You ready? We’ve got to go!” She picked up her toothbrush. “We have to meet Shawn in five minutes. Don’t forget your schedule! And your lip balm!”

  “Okay,” said Molly. The beach was forgotten. She sighed and went to get her backpack and to check for the millionth time if her schedule was inside.

  On the walk to school, the twins picked up Shawn. Natasha and Peichi said they would meet them at the school gate.

  Shawn looked amazing, as usual. She wore a cute sleeveless denim dress, belted. And she had a new bag made out of blue denim slung across her body. It was like a bicycle messenger bag. The perfect outfit for The first day of school, thought Amanda enviously. Amanda suddenly felt that her aqua top was all wrong. It was too bright. It made her stand out too much.

  Shawn was completely calm. “Hi, guys,” she said. Nothing fazed her! How can that be? wondered Molly.

  “Well, here we go!” said Amanda.

  After the girls met up with Natasha and Peichi they all walked through the double doors together, joking and laughing loudly to hide their nervousness. Sunlight streamed through the high windows. WELCOME STUDENTS, said one huge sign. GO WINDSOR WARRIORS! said another. The main hall was full of shrieks, shouts, and laughter.

  The halls seemed to go on forever, and they were covered in gleaming blue files that rippled through the beige walls.

  “Wow!” cried Molly. “Some of these kids look huge, like they’re in high school! I feel like a shrimp!”

  A bell rang so loudly that the girls jumped.

  “We have to get to homeroom!” said Peichi. “Ohmygosh! Byeee! I have to go that way! See you at lunch or maybe before, I can’t remember! Have fun!”

  All the girls said good-bye and shuffled along with the crowd to find their homerooms. Molly and Amanda walked into room 12B, found two seats next to each other, and looked around for people they knew from Jefferson Elementary. Some kids looked bored, some looked scared, and some were chatting with people they knew.

  Just then, a tan, lanky man walked in. He wore khakis and a pale-blue button-down shirt. His eyes were a steely blue. His thick brown hair was brushed straight back and he had a hooked nose. He looks like a bird thought Molly like an eagle. Some people just look like animals...

  “I’m Mr. Flint,” the man told the class. “This is homeroom. Sixth grade. If you’re not in sixth grade, this may not be the class for you.”

  There was silence.

  “That’s a joke, people.” Mr. flint’s face cracked into a tight smile. Everyone laughed weakly.

  “Three minutes,” said Mr. Flint. He paused and his eagle eyes flickered around the room. “You have three minutes to change classes. It’s not much time. Don’t waste time.”

  Another long pause.

  Both Molly and Amanda could hear their hearts beating in their ears.

  “Lockouts,” said Mr. Flint. “What are lockouts? I’ll tell you. A lockout comes without warning. One day you’re supposed to be in your classroom. You’re almost there. Almost. But you’re still talking to your friends. Or you’re trying to shut your locker. You hear an announcement over the loudspeaker. It says: This is a lockout. Any student not in his or her seat has detention for tardiness and must report to the Main Office.”’ Mr. Flint paused and looked around the room.

  “The Main Office,” he went on. Trust me. You don’t want to report there. Ever.”

  A girl giggled nervously until Mr. Flint shot her a look.

  “Use your three minutes, people. Take control of your destiny. Don’t be a victim of a lockout.” Mr. flint looked down at the floor, as if to give the students time to think. Then he quickly raised his head and reached for a notebook. His sharp eyes slowly moved up and down the rows.

  “It’s time for attendance,” he said. “Mathers. John.”

  A boy cleared his throat. “Um, here,” he said.

  Mr. Flint stared straight ahead. “Where?”

  The boy raised his hand. “Over here, sir.”

  Mr. Flint slowly turned his head to his right to look at John, who’d furned beet red.

  “Matthews. Benjamin.”

  Benjamin knew to raise his hand and say, “Here.”

  Oh, boy, thought Amanda.

  Ginme a break, thought Molly.

  After homeroom, Molly and Amanda had to split up.

  “See you at lunch, Molls,” said Amanda. “Remember, we’re all meeting up in front of the cafeteria.”

  “Okay, bye,” said Molly She waved to her sister.

  For all the girls, the rest of the morning was a blur of loud bells, crowds of students rushing in a panic to find their next class, scurrying up and down steps. Meeting one new teacher after the next.

  And then there was gym.

  Changing clothes in front of everyone else. Trying not to look at anyone else as they changed into the horrifying gymsuit. No one looked good in it, not even Shawn. Striped on top, solid below the elasticized waist, it was the school colors of red and white.

  Finally, it was time for lunch.

  Molly was the last one there. She found the others pointing to a bulletin board studded with announcements.

  “How’s Spontak? Amanda asked Molly. ”Is Justin in your class?”

  “How about those gym suits?” joked Shawn. “Well, Molly you got your uniform!” Everyone laughed.

  “Justin’s in my class,” reported Molly. Actually. Miss Spontak seems okay. Some kid actually asked her if it’s true that she gives a pop quiz every day!”

  “What did she say?”

  “She laughed and said that an urban legend.”

  “What’s an urban legend?” asked Peichi.

  “I guess it’s, like, a really weird story that gets passed around,” replied Molly with a shrug. “Anyway, she does give a quiz once a week. Every Friday to make sure we learned everything from the week. That’s not so bad.”

  “Omars in two of my classes,” reported Shawn. “He’s really quiet without Connor! Hey, look! Cheerleading tryouts are this Friday!” She pointed up at the announcement. “ressss! I’m there. I’ve been practicing all summer for this.”

  “I’m gonna fry ouf, too,” said Amanda. “I’m ready.”

  “What?” said Molly. “You’ve never mentioned cheerleading.”

  “Oh, Molly, I have so,” said Amanda impatiently.

  Sixth-graders never make it,“ muttered Molly.

  “I don’t know what to go out for.” said Peichi. “I’m learning Chinese now, too. I don’t know if I have time for anything else.”

  “I know what you mean,” Natasha told Peichi. “I have Hebrew school in the afternoons. But I really want to work on The Post, the school paper. ‘Cause I want to be a reporter when I grow up.”

  “I thought you wanted to be a lawyer,” said Molly.

  “No, I changed my mind.”

  Molly looked at all the announcements. “‘Check’ It Out! Chess Club starts Sepfember 12... Windsor Volunteers Make a Difference in Brooklyn—join us next Tuesday!... Intramurals for Everyone! Field Mockey, Soccer, Come on Out!”

  But nothing sounded very exciting to her.

  “C’mon, let’s go in,” suggested Shawn. “I’m starved.”
<
br />   “I hope the food isn’t too bad!” exclaimed Peichi. “but I have granola bars for everyone just in case!”

  “I didn’t know you were going out for cheerleading,” Molly told Amanda after dinner, as they sat in their large room flipping through their new textbooks.

  “You didn’t? Oh, yeah, Shawn and I are gonna have so much fun. If we make it. We’ll get to wear our cheerleading uniforms to school on game days. The whole school will know who we are. Then we won’t just be shrimpy little sixth-graders. Molls. We’ll be sixth-grade cheerleaders. That’ll make such a difference. It’s important to try to be popular now, at the very beginning. You know? Everything will be so much easier!”

  “Oh,” said Molly. She wasn’t so sure.

  Amanda began writing some notes in her notebook, but then she looked up at Molly. “You really should go out for some activity, Molls. Don’t you want to meet new people? Don’t you want to be popular?”

  Molly snorted. “Of course I do!” she said. “I know I’ll make friends. I always do. Easier than you do...sorry I shouldn’t have said that.”

  Amanda nodded. “You re right, you do,” she stated matter-of-factly.

  “Anyway,” Molly went on, “all I care about is that I have good friends that I have fun with. I don’t care if I’m popular or not. That doesn’t matter to me. And it shouldn’t matter to you.”

  Amanda shut her social studies textbook and looked at her sister. “Good point,” she admitted. “You’re right about that. But, Molly, aren’t you excited at all about middle school?”

  “Sure,” squeaked Molly. Her voice always squeaked when she was faking enthusiasm. She opened her math textbook. “But this summer was great. It was the best summer ever. Aren’t you sad that it’s over?”

  “Well, yeah, but there’s always next summer,” said Amanda with a shrug.

  Next summer, thought Molly that’s not until forever.

  Chapter 4

  “GO, GO, GO! GO MIGHTY WARRIORS! GO, GO, GO! GO MIGHTY WARRIORS!” shouted the cheerleader hopefuls.

  Amanda was breathing hard, and the tryouts weren’t even halfway over. She was tired. They’d jogged, stretched, and done splits and dozens of cartwheels in front of Coach Carson, the athletic gym teacher. Now the girls were learning cheers and the moves that went with them.

  Shawn stood right in front, while Amanda hid out toward the back. She realized that a lot of the other girls were much better at this stuff than she was.

  Next to Shawn was a tall girl with olive skin and long blond hair. She looked older, but Amanda overheard her tell the coach in a shrill, sharp voice that she was in sixth grade. Amanda watched her talking and joking with Shawn. During a break, when Amanda went up to Shawn, the girl interrupted her—and ignored her, too. She talked to Shawn as if Amanda wasn’t even there.

  “This is my friend, Amanda,” Shawn told the girl. “Amanda, this is Angie.”

  “Hi.” said Amanda.

  Angie barely nodded, barely looked at Amanda, then she began talking to Shawn again.

  Ugh, thought Amanda. What’s with this girl?

  Later, after each girl had cheered, clapped, and jumped her heart out. Coach Carson said. “Thanks, everyone. We’ll post the list tomorrow.

  Amanda was relieved when the whole thing was over. “Come on, let’s change,” she told Shawn. “I’m starved.”

  “See ya, Shawn!” called Angie as the girls walked out of the locker room. She didn’t say good-bye to Amanda.

  How was it?“ Molly asked Amanda when she got home. ”How’d ya do?”

  “Pretty good!” said Amanda. “I mean, I wasn’t the best person there. But I was okay. One thing’s for sure—I’m gonna be sore tomorrow!”

  That night, as Amanda tried to sleep, she couldn’t get the cheers out of her mind. She finally dozed off, imagining herself in a cheerleading outfit...THAT’S ALL RIGHT! THAT’S OKAY! WE’RE GONNA BEAT EM ANYWAY!

  When Amanda woke up the next morning, she was nervous.

  As she washed her face, she kept thinking, What if I don’t make it? Everything’s gonna be ruined. But then she’d picture herself and Shawn in front of a crowd in their cute uniforms, cheering their hearts out, and she thought, Nothing could be cooler than that. We’ve got to make it!

  “Is something the matter. Manda?” asked Dad at breakfast. “You look like you don’t feel well.”

  “I feel fine, Dad,” said Amanda, rolling her eyes. “Don’t you remember what day it is?”

  Dad looked hurt.

  “Sorry, Dad,” said Amanda, looking down at her toast. When she looked up, her family was looking at her blankly. Even Molly.

  “Today’s the day we find out about cheerleading,” Amanda reminded everyone. She used her most patient voice, but she was thinking, Duh! Hello! Like, what else is there right now?

  “Oh, right,” said everyone.

  Forty-five minutes later, as the twins and Shawn walked into the school, it seemed to Amanda that the crowd seemed more hyper than usual. There was a buzz that filled the halls. Everyone seemed to be talking about the same thing: who made cheerleading...Or is it just my imagination? wondered Amanda, as she walked through the crowd.

  There it was up ahead, the bulletin board with the list. A dozen girls were reading it. Some were shrieking happily when they spotted their names. But most were stone-faced as their eyes scanned the lists one more time before they walked away. Some seventh- and eighth-grade girls and guys were reading the list out of curiosity, pointing to the names of the girls they knew.

  “Here goes, Shawn,” said Amanda, grabbing Shawn’s hand. For some reason, her ears ached.

  “Your hands are freezing!” exclaimed Shawn. She giggled. Of course, Shawn wasn’t nervous at all. She seemed to already know that she’d made it.

  And she had.

  “All right!” cried Shawn. “There I am!” She pointed to her name at the top of the second column. “Ohmygosh! I made it!”

  “That’s great, Shawn!” cried the twins, as they quickly found Shawn’s name and then went back to looking for Amanda’s.

  All Amanda saw was a sea of names. Her heart sunk into her stomach as she looked up and down.

  “It’s not here,” she muttered. She looked at Shawn in a panic. “Is my name here?” she asked.

  Shawn looked up at the list so she wouldn’t have to look at Amanda. “No,” she said simply. She shook her head. “Oh, I wish you could have been with me! We would’ve had so much fun!”

  Molly, who was behind Amanda, put her hand on Amanda’s shoulder.

  Just then, Amanda was jostled by someone. She turned around, and it was Angie. Angie was so tall that she’d seen her name over the crowd’s heads. “There I am!” cried Angie, pointing to her name. “Angie Martinez!”

  Angie turned to Shawn, and gave her a high five, practically over Amanda’s head, as if Amanda wasn’t even there. “You go, Shawn, you made it, too! We’re the only two sixth-graders on the squad!”

  “Yessss!” cried Shawn and Angie.

  Amanda slunk out of their way. For a moment, she felt like she couldn’t see. She reached for Molly, who murmured, “Let’s go, Manda,” and quickly led her down the hall. Amanda looked down, not wanting people to see that she was upset. When Amanda looked back, Shawn seemed to be a million miles away, huddled with Angie, who was saying in a loud voice. “See you at practice. Shawn!”

  Lunch that afternoon was weird.

  Everyone was happy for Shawn, and Amanda tried to be happy for her, too. But she felt as if something had changed. Something between Shawn and her? Something inside herself? She wasn’t sure. “So, um, when do you start practice?” she asked Shawn.

  Shawn was sitting back in her chair, relaxed and confident.

  “Today after school!” said Shawn. “We’ve got our first football game in two weeks.”

  “Wow,” said Natasha. “That’s pretty soon.”

  “Our first football game” echoed in Amanda’s ears. Shawn already seemed
so...in the mix. so much a part of something. Something that Amanda wouldn’t know anything about, now. Suddenly, Amanda felt five years old.

  “Shawn!” cried a shrill voice. “I’ll see you later, girl-friend.”

  It was Angie. She was standing up at her table, chewing a wad of gum, her hand on her hip, not caring that she attracted attention. She didn’t even seem to notice Amanda and the rest of the girls.

  Shawn smiled and waved back.

  Just then, the bell rang, and Amanda was never so glad to get to math class. When she opened her textbook. a note was stuck inside. Amanda smiled. She knew it was from Molly, who’d probably put it there the night before. She opened the piece of pink paper.

  It felt strange to walk home from school that afternoon without Shawn. Molly, Peichi, and Natasha all talked and joked, but Amanda was quiet.

  Shawn could’ve been a little less happy in front of me, thought Amanda. I can’t believe how she carried on with Angie! Like I wasn’t even there—I felt like a total geek!

  “So let’s study at my house tomorrow,” Amanda heard Peichi say. “Since we all have the same social studies textbook...”

  Amanda’s thoughts continued to race on. Oh, well—I guess Shawn was just really excited. I just can’t believe I’m not going to be a cheerleader. It’s so not fair!

  “Amanda and I can come over at four thirty, after our piano lessons,” Molly was saying, jarring Amanda out of her thoughts. “Right, Manda?”

  “Uh-huh,” said Amanda, before her thoughts took over again. She pictured herself at the football games, watching Shawn shine down there on the field, feeling like she was wearing a sign on her back that announced. I’M AMANDA MOORE, SIXTH-GRADE GEEK. I DIDN’T MAKE CHEERLEADING BUT MY GOOD FRIEND DID! I’m so embarrassed that I didn’t make it. Nothing’s going to feel normal now. What’s with that Angie girl? And what’s so great about middle school, anyway?