Read Online The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading by Charity Tahmaseb, Darcy Vance - Free Book Online Page A

dinner—something Mom did only for special occasions.
    Moni stood alone inside the lobby, pom-poms clutched in one hand. The slap of mats landing on the floor and the clank of bleachers rolling out echoed from the gym.
    “Where’s the rest of the squad?” I asked.
    “You got me.” From her coat pocket, Moni pulled the cheer schedule. “There’s supposed to be six of us here: Kaleigh, three seniors, and us.”
    “So what do we do now?” We looked at each other. Both of us had been counting on the seniors to help break us in.
    What the Prairie Stone High wrestling team lacked in student support, it made up for in parental sponsorship. Tons of moms, dads, and grandparents filed in to cheer on the boys.
    “Hey, there’s Mrs. Dunne,” Moni said. “My mom knows her.” She dashed off but returned a minute later, looking more confused than before. “Mrs. Dunne says wrestling doesn’t have cheerleaders. She looked at me like I was crazy.”
    So much for counting on the seniors. I peeked at Moni’s cheer schedule, although I already knew it by heart. No cheerleaders? That didn’t make sense. Dread crept into my stomach, and it was like that dream I always had around final exams. The one where I was late for a test and couldn’t find the classroom. Wrong place. Wrong time. Just plain wrong.
    We inched inside the gym. Two young girls grinned up at us. One reached out to ruffle the gold and purple fringe of our pom-poms when Moni and I walked by.
    Otherwise, we really could’ve been invisible. Parents rushed by us without a glance. The coach turned his back on us as we approached. The wrestling team huddled in one corner, stealing looks at the two of us. At least that meant we weren’t totally see-through.
    A lone boy wearing a Prairie Stone High Athletics sweatshirt over his purple uniform stood and turned in our direction. A second later I saw who it was. Rick Mangers. He walked straight for us. My thoughts went to the cafeteria earlier that day, and my heart rate doubled. This couldn’t be good.
    Rick put an arm around each of our shoulders. “Ladies, perhaps I can be of some assistance?”
    I waited one beat, and then another. Between the two of us, Moni was always the one to talk to guys first. But tonight her wide-eyed stare and open mouth made her look like she was hypnotized.
    Uh-oh. Like I said, not good.
    I cleared my throat. “Well, see, we’re just not sure what to do. I mean, we’re new to this cheering thing and…we’ve never been to a wrestling game before. When do the cheerleaders usually get here?”
    “They’re called meets, and I’ve been coming to them since my oldest brother was on the team,” he said. “Believe me, no one’s ever cheered before.”
    “You’re kidding.” I looked to Moni for support, but she continued to stare, her eyes slightly glazed. I pried the schedule from her hands and pushed it toward Rick.
    He released me then, but kept his arm around Moni.
    Double uh-oh.
    “I can tell you this,” he said, scanning the roster. “The rest of the squad won’t show. You might as well go home.”
    In theory, I suppose we could have. That seemed to be the unofficial cheering procedure for unpopular sports. Sure, we could call Sheila to ask for help—but ratting out the others on the squad? Probably a bad idea.
    “What,” I said, surprised at the words coming from my mouth, “what if we stayed?” After all, no one knew unpopular like me and Moni.
    Moni snapped out of her stupor and nodded.
    A strange look crossed Rick’s face, but this one I understood. He was impressed. “You want to stay?” he asked.
    This time we both nodded. Moni even managed to shake her pom-poms a bit.
    “Well, in that case…” He led us over to the other boys, who let out a cheer of their own. While a few freshmen played keep-away with the pom-poms, Rick covered the basics: Never block a parent’s view, especially a wrestling dad’s view. And never slap the mat. Never. One of the