Thanks to Vanessa’s wish, Karyn left them alone. Throughout the day, they saw her a couple of times, and it looked like she wanted to talk to them but something would always stop her. She seemed to grow more frustrated with each attempt. Jonchelle felt a little bad for her—she was her best friend, after all—but as Vanessa kept pointing out, she had done very little lately to deserve that title.
Jonchelle tried to put Karyn out of her head and concentrate on the rest of the school day, but it was hard. Aside from Karyn, Jonchelle was also growing excited because today was the day of the cheerleading tryouts. She was nervous because she had never tried anything like this before but also excited, because she knew that Vanessa would be there as well (and that they’d make the squad regardless).
When the bell signaling the end of the day rang, Jonchelle and Vanessa looked at each other excitedly and quickly dashed off towards the gym, joining a throng of students heading in the same direction.
“Wow!” Vanessa gasped. “Look at how many people showed up. That’s practically half the school.”
Jonchelle nodded, the nerves suddenly filling up again but she had to calm herself. Thanks to a last-minute wish, she knew that she would get in, along with Vanessa. Even then, it was still nerve-wracking.
As everyone filed into the gym, Jonchelle looked around. There were several girls that she had started to recognize: she even saw Shawna, Vanessa’s friend, in the distance. Standing to one side were the two coaches, Coach Barnett and Coach Reed, along with Ryan McMillan and Tyler Sanders and a bunch of other boys, who Jonchelle assumed were members of the original cheer squad.
There were so many new girls turning up that they ended up having to split them up into two groups with one group heading outside. Fortunately, it wasn’t too cold. Coach Reed was shocked. He had never seen so many girls turn up for tryouts.
“All right girls!” he called out. He had to shout several times in order to be heard as everyone was excited and chatting away to each other. “It looks like we’re going to have to split into groups,” he announced once he had everyone’s attention.
“The boys here will go around and give each of you a number. If you’re a one, you’re in here with me, and if you’re a two, you’re outside on the field with Mrs. Barnett.” There were a couple of giggles at the mention of Mrs.; some people were still getting used to the fact that their big head coach was now a woman.
Jonchelle watched as the boys began their walk through the crowds, hoping that she would get the same number as Vanessa. As Ryan McMillan walked up to them and eyed each of them, he flashed his trademark smirk—which didn’t look out of place on his boyish personality—and then leaned into Jonchelle and whispered a number.
“One.” He stepped back and winked at Jonchelle, pressing a finger to his lips. He then moved over to Vanessa and did the same. Jonchelle looked at Vanessa but she just smiled and shook her head.
Eventually, everyone had been given a number, and once all of the boys had returned to their spot beside the coaches, Coach Reed gave everybody the go-ahead to split off into their groups.
Jonchelle stood there patiently as she watched several girls head outside. She didn’t dare turn around to see where Vanessa was; she wanted it to be a bit of a surprise.
Once all the girls and a couple of boys had headed outside, Coach Reed smiled and called for everyone that was left to gather in a circle around him. Jonchelle smiled when she finally noticed that Vanessa was standing, as usual, next to her.
“Okay,” Coach Reed began. “This is going to take a lot longer than I originally thought. Here’s how this is going to work…”
