Pyramid of One

by Zoe Evans

  I’ve never really thought about this before. I mean, when I was upset about how the Titans always have the nicest, newest uniforms and the Grizzlies had, well, the grizzliest, grimiest uniforms, I just assumed it was because the school preferred the Titans over us. And I didn’t really blame them. But I never imagined that the Titans were getting special treatment over EVERY sports team at school.

  “So, your article is going to be about how the Titans don’t deserve the amount of money they get from the school?” I know I must have been frowning when I said that. Even though they get a lot of moola from Port Angeles, it doesn’t seem all that unfair. The Titans rock at every game and take home tons of trophies at competitions every year. Can our school’s other teams say the same? Of course, this also means that teams like the Grizzlies get, well, nada . . . not even a paid coach. Which sorta ticks me off. So . . . I guess I’d have to say I’m torn on this one.

  “Give me some credit, Mads. I’m an honest reporter. I’ll do the research and show whether the Titans really deserve the extra dough. If they’re really all that, then it will be obvious that they’re worth the money.” Lanie shrugged. “And now that you guys are going to the Regional Qualifier too, I can get even more juice.”

  “Juice?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. I really don’t want her to say anything in the article that will put the Titans in a bad light.

  “Info. The full scoop. The whole enchilada. So, will you help me? With the article?”

  Ok, so Lanie is my best friend, and even though I have some small doubts about this, I have to just believe that she’ll do a good job of reporting and be fair when she writes about the Titans . . . right? Besides, she’d kill me if I got all secretive about talking cheer stuff. Lanie and I don’t keep secrets from each other.

  “Duh, of course,” I said, more brightly than I actually felt. “But I’m warning you: Once you get me talking cheerleading, it will be hard to stop.” I hoisted my backpack onto my shoulder and turned to go into class.

  “I’m counting on it.” She smiled.

  “See ya later.”

  Just as I turned to wave bye to her, I saw Bevan leaning against a locker across the hall. He was talking to a soccer friend. We locked eyes for a second, and he gave me the most adorable smile. I waved back dorkily-I’m talking full arm extending up into the air, swaying back and forth, like I was waving at someone departing on a ship. I’d really hoped this idiotic behavior would stop once he actually asked me out. Oh well. Anyway, that time I actually had a real reason I couldn’t talk to him—I had to duck into class or I’d be late. If I’m really lucky, this might be my only Bevan run—in of the day. My fingers are crossed.

  In other news, right before lunch I was finally able to do my “big reveal” to Jacqui. We met up by a group of unused lockers outside the caf. I slowly unzipped my backpack. “Are you ready?” I asked.

  “You’re killing me, Madison Hays,” said Jacqui, tapping her foot. “Just what is so exciting that you had to keep it a secret, like, the whole day?”

  “Ta-da!” I said, holding The Spirit Rules out in front of her.

  It took a second for it to register, but then Jacqui smiled. “Hey! This is awesome! You know, we had a version of this book last year—I think Katie has it as cheer captain. But she never uses it, really. Once in a while she talks about looking at it for, like, the big problems, but I don’t think she uses it like Titans did a long time ago. This is supposed to be the book of books on cheerleading.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I heard,” I said. “And you told me about it a couple weeks ago, remember?”

  “Oh, right!” She hit herself on the forehead. “Guess I’m not the best at keeping secrets.” She shrugged.

  “It can’t hurt to try out some of the tips-that’s what I’m thinking,” I said. “For example, one of the rules in the book is ‘Always Set Goals and Accomplish Them.’ I was talking to my mom last night, and I think we need to set a goal for the Grizzlies. Like, what about some kind of novice competition?”

  Jacqui stared down at the book. “That’s an awesome idea. That’ll definitely give them something to work toward so they can stop all their whining.”

  I nodded. “Exactly-that’s why I went looking for this book in the first place. I thought it could give me some ideas.”

  Jacqui closed her eyes, thinking. “We could do something for beginning cheerleaders. Why not? There’s the Washington Get Up and Cheer competition at the end of the year. They take all levels and sizes of squads.”

  “Do you think we can even qualify as a level?” I asked, half joking.

  “Who needs a dose of spirit now?” said Jacqui, shoving me in the side with the book.

  “Ow! I was joking!” I said. “Sort of.”

  “All right, let’s tell the team about it later. They’ll love it. But we’re gonna make them work for it.”

  “Totes,” I agreed.

  Hurrah! I love this plan .

  AFTER PRACTICE, LOCKER ROOM

  Man oh man. Of course I ran into Bevan again later today, right before practice, in front of the locker rooms. And this time, I couldn’t just duck into another class. Unless I wanted to pretend I’d gone crazy—pants and be like, “Oh, Mr. Hobart’s class moved to the girls’ locker room!”

  “Hey, Madison. ’Sup?” he said. He was wearing those kneesocks that I heart so much.

  My face turned beet red because that’s just what happens when I’m around him.

  “Hey, Bevan. Not much. You off to practice?” I couldn’t believe I even asked that. Ring, ring! Hi, Maddy? Yes, this is Logic speaking. Of course he was off to practice. Why else would he be in the gym, dressed like that? Piano lessons?

  Loser!

  Bevan looked down at his cleats. “Yeah, I’m hitting the weights first with some of the guys. So . . . how was English class?”

  “It was, um, English.” I laughed. “We took turns reading from Hamlet, and Mr. Cooper yelled at us for not being ‘emotive’ enough. Then Evan was texting me lines from the play mixed together with popular movie lines and had me cracking up.”

  “I bet now Mr. Cooper thinks he has a great sense of humor,” said Bevan.

  “Either that, or he thinks I was delirious. Take your pick.” I felt myself getting less nervous, thank goodness. But then I remembered-ahhh!-our date. He was probably going to ask about it. And then what would I say?

  “You want to hang out after practice tonight?”

  OMG, OMG, OMG. This wasn’t the way things were supposed to go. What about our PLANNED date? Was THIS the date? I thought I’d have a chance to say no to, like, a specific time and day. I didn’t think he would ask me to just “hang out” after practice—which gave me no time to think of an excuse. “Quick, Mads,” I was saying to myself. “Think of something!!”

  “Uh, um . . . I . . .”

  Bevan smiled halfheartedly. “Hey, it’s cool. If you’re busy, whatever.” He turned around to head toward the weight room.

  “It’s just that-that-,” I stammered. And then I burst out with the first thing that came into my head: “Jacqui and I have to plan this car wash thing after practice.”

  It was actually kind of true. We did have to plan our car wash—and soon. Which meant Jacqui and I would need to talk about it. But as soon as I said it, I realized it sounded lame. A car wash?! Like any girl in Port Angeles School would choose a car-wash-planning session over a date with Bevan Ramsey.

  He nodded, looking a little surprised, and started to walk away. He didn’t even turn around as he shouted, “Maybe another time!”

  Even though this is the right thing to do—to not go out with Bevan because it will make Katie mad with the fury of a thousand suns (or so I’ve been told)-I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings. I mean, I knew it would crush ME into billions of pieces, but that I can handle. The thing is, I didn’t think it would turn out like this! He seemed really sad when I said no. And the fact that he didn’t turn around when I tried to talk to him—that kind
of hurt MY feelings! Gah! I am so confused. Is making Katie happy really worth hurting someone else—and myself—in the process? New goal for moi: Figure out who I want to hurt less, me, Bevan, or Katie.

  Even though the Bevan sitch was (and still is!) unresolved, I vowed to put it behind me during practice. My teammates needed me to be on my game. It was time to introduce them to Spirit Rules #1 and #2: Set Goals and Accomplish Them, and Know the Basics.

  I ran up to Mom while everyone was getting ready for practice to tell her what Jacqui’s and my plan was. She gave me a big thumbs-up. Yay!

  Before we started our usual warm—up and stretches, Jacqui and I had the team gather around so that we were in the middle and everyone else made a circle around us.

  “All right, guys, your captains have heard your complaints and now we’re responding. We know you want to be more than just the kids who cheer at chess club. Right?”

  I tried to meet the eyes of each person while I was talking. That’s one of the rules in the book about being a good captain: “Always Make Eye Contact.” But I could tell that the team had no idea where I was going with this. Katarina was picking off some nail polish; Tabitha Sue looked at me sweetly, but she also seemed confused. Ian was like, “Uh-huh, so?” Someone wasn’t in a good mood today.

  “And we also know that you are willing to do whatever it takes to get to the next level,” said Jacqui.

  A couple more people nodded, but not with the enthusiasm I was hoping for.

  “The Grizzlies need to have a goal. Something to work toward besides just getting better. So our goal is going to be to compete at the Washington Get Up and Cheer Competition at the end of the year.”

  “Yay!” squealed Jared. He leaped up from where he’d been sitting and wrapped his froglike body around one of Matt’s beefy arms.

  “Dude, get off me!” said Matt, shaking him off like an annoying fly.

  Tabitha Sue, the one cheerleader on the team who actually hadn’t been complaining lately, looked worried. “You really think we’ll be good enough to compete?” She looked like I’d just told her to attempt a heel—stretch while standing on top of a pyramid.

  I held up The Spirit Rules book like Rafiki held up Simba to show him off to the rest of the animal kingdom in The Lion King. (Side note: I know it’s, like, a kids’ movie and all, but I still totally heart The Lion King.) “Chill, everyone. I’ve got a plan.”

  I told them where the book came from and how it has lots of great cheer secrets about how to make your team stronger, better, more skilled, and most of all, full of spirit. “The Titans have been going by the words in this book for years. Why shouldn’t the Grizzlies? We’re going to stick to the rules in this book and follow them to a T. But it’s not going to be easy.”

  My mom walked into the circle, nodding in agreement. “You may regret having asked for this, kids. That is, until you’re up there on the mat, at a competition of your own, adrenaline pumping through your veins. Believe me, it will be worth it.” We all looked at her face, and just seeing the sparkle in my mom’s eyes told them that she was speaking from lots of experience.

  I’d just gotten a totally brilliant idea!

  “Coach Carolyn is right,” I said, careful not to call her Mom. “And the Regional Qualifier will be your first glimpse into this world.”

  “But we won’t be competing at the qualifier,” Matt blurted out, confused.

  “No, we won’t,” I agreed. “But we will be performing. We’re going to have a lot of down time, so we’re going to put it to good use and practice our competition mode by performing some cheers and stunts in the practice areas and off to the sides. We’ll do some cheers for the Titans, too.”

  “Let me get this straight,” Matt replied in disbelief. “We’re going to cheer on the Titans at a cheerleading competition?”

  “That’s right. We are,” I replied.

  “Ok,” said Ian. “If this spirit book is going to help us, I’m down to see what it’s all about.”

  “Spirit Rules, Ian,” said Tabitha Sue, coming up to take a closer look at the book. “It’s not a ghost story. Pay attention.”

  “Today we’re going to work on some of the basics,” Jacqui said. “Let’s master our jumps. I know we’ve been working on these for a while, but I want everyone to get their legs higher than they’ve ever kicked them before.”

  While everyone partnered up to practice one of the stretching tricks from The Spirit Rules, I told them a story about a girl from a Southern Cali cheer squad who was one of the best tumblers in her whole region, but she’d never really perfected her toe touch. Her team was supposed to be headed to Nationals, but at Regionals a superharsh judge deducted points for her sloppy toe touch and being off—count on her jumps. “So it doesn’t matter how good you are at the crazy—hard stunts. You still have to be awesome at the basic ones,” I told the squad as I went around correcting postures. “You don’t want to hit a superhard stunt perfectly and then find out you lost because you were sloppy on a basic move you could do in your sleep.”

  After toe touches, I got the team working on back walkovers, which were pretty shaky for almost everyone (except Katarina, of course). Ian was petrified; he practically peed his pants every time it was his turn to try one. And he kept on insisting on having Matt as his spotter, even though the only spotting Matt’s ever done has been in the weight room.

  “I don’t trust you girls,” Ian said, motioning for Matt to come over. “You’ve got stick arms.”

  Jacqui and I just looked at each other, knowing this would only lead to both Matt and Ian being sprawled out on the floor.

  “We have arms that know exactly how to catch you if you fall,” Jacqui said. “If you fall on Matt, you’ll probably just crush his wrist. And how will that help the squad?”

  It was pretty hilarious to watch this normally macho jock guy so afraid to do a measly back walkover. We spent the rest of practice helping Ian, and we almost didn’t realize that Tabitha Sue had gotten hers down perfectly!

  “Check it out, guys!” said Jared, flapping his arms excitedly and pointing. “Look at Tabitha Sue!”

  Mom, Jacqui, and I all looked over at Tabitha Sue and saw her arch her back until her hands made contact with the ground. Then, to our surprise, her hips went over her head, and she landed one foot at a time.

  “I did it again!” she said, beaming. She and Jared gave each other high fives.

  “That was crazy good!” I said. I couldn’t believe it. Maybe there WAS something to these spirit rules.

  After practice Mom patted Jacqui and me on the shoulders and told us how great today’s practice had been. “Mads, I’m gonna get a few things together. Meet you by the car in fifteen?”

  I’m psyched because Jacqui and I are planning on going on another mall run together tomorrow. I’m in DESPERATE need of more cheer clothes. The plan is to meet up at our usual spot—the food court (hey, even if it has been only once or twice, it can be called “the usual”-LOL). I’m also looking forward to it because it will help get my mind off this Bevan thing. I can’t believe the way he looked when I told him I was busy today. He could totally tell I was lying. I wish I could go “back to the basics” of talking to boys. What if I just tell him how I feel and why I’m avoiding him? Maybe he’ll understand. Too bad there isn’t a chapter on THAT in this Spirit Rules book.

  Most insane day EVER!! So, I went to the mall to meet Jacqui and was waiting by SubLicious for her for, like, ten minutes. Finally she texted to say she had the worst headache ever and wasn’t coming! So annoying. I still needed to do some shopping for workout clothes—and now I could be on the hunt for cute things to wear to the Regional Qualifier. (Even though we aren’t competing, I want to look good for the judges. Who knows? One year it could be me up there, so I want to look my best.) I decided to hit up Score! They always have pretty good sales on sports stuff.

  I was looking through some supersoft T—shirts when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder.

 
“Boo.”

  I turned around and it was the LAST person on earth I’d been hoping to run into. But of course. Because I just can’t get a lucky break—it was Bevan. I mean, it’s not that I didn’t want to see him . . . I LOVE seeing him. And there he was, looking all gorgeous and whatnot. It’s just the Katie Parker factor. . . . Grrrr . . .

  “Oh, hey. Uh, um,” I said, practically stuttering.

  He was holding a pair of running sneakers. How could I have been so dumb? Going to the biggest sports store in town and not thinking, “Hmm, might I possibly run into Bevan there?” I would have been better off going to the Yarn Barn and making my own cheer clothes.

  “Let me guess.” He smiled. “You were just on your way out?”

  “Kind of?” I said, knowing I couldn’t really get out of this one so easily.

  “Madison, what’s up? One minute we were totally cool, and the next it’s like you think I’m an ax murderer or something. What’s going on?”

  I tried to think what The Spirit Rules would say about this situation. Last night I took notes on a chapter all about communication—and how captains are supposed to be totally honest with their coaches and their team—and I knew I couldn’t back out again. I already learned the hard way yesterday that lying to Bevan felt the opposite of good. So I fessed up. I told him everything—the whole reason I’d decided we couldn’t actually go on our date as planned, how Katie had declared Bevan off—limits to every other cheerleader when the two of them had broken up, and how I didn’t want to ruin my chances of being a Titan by getting together with him and making Katie angry.

  “I really wanted to go on a date with you, but after you asked me out, it kind of hit me—being seen with you would be like a death sentence for my chances with the Titans.”

  I didn’t even realize that I had put down the items I had been holding at the store as I was talking, and so had he. And we had just kind of started walking out of the store together as I continued my “speech.”