Sunday, September 5: Afternoon, my crib Spirit Level: Cheered Out OK, so this was supposed to be the first day of my new, totally fantastic life as a Port Angeles School Titan Cheerleader. BUT instead, it’s the day that I, Madison Jane Hays, got rejected from the Titans and forced to join the dreaded, B-Squad Grizzly Bears. That’s right. My name was sandwiched in between Jared “Jazzhands” Handler and “Toxic” Tabitha Sue Stevens. Oh, and the girl who can’t even speak English, Katarina Tarasov. Yup, we’re one big hairy family. I went from being a god-like Titan to a lowly Grizzly in like, five seconds. My life. Is Seriously. O-V-E-R. I mean, who cheers at chess matches??!! I’m never going to make it to Nationals with a team like this. All I’ve ever wanted to do in life is cheer for the Titans. My mom (the most gorgeous, youngest ex-Titan cheerleader of ALL TIME, BTW) must be so disappointed! How she ended up with such a spastic daughter, I’ll never know. What I DO know? If I don’t whip this team into shape fast, I’ll literally DIE from embarrassment. Thank goodness I have my BFFs Lanie and Evan to keep me sane—otherwise, I might SERIOUSLY lose it. When Maddy's triple flip becomes a major FLOP during tryouts, the whole gym echoes with the snickers from the Titan cheerleading triumvirate: Katie Parker, Clementine Prescott, and Hilary Cho. Forced to join the challenged B-Squad Grizzlies instead, Maddy realizes that to become a Titan she'll need to whip the Grizzlies into shape first. Will Maddy ever land on top of the pyramid with a squad like this? Maybe not, but when her awesome designs for new Grizzly uniforms get revealed at a big game, even the Titans are overheard whispering her name. Does this mean what she thinks it means? Zoe Evans was very upset that her school did not have a cheerleading team, so instead she joined the Pep Squad where she raised school spirit while wearing a football jersey and a tennis skirt. Zoe has written over twenty books for readers of all ages. A graduate of Columbia University, she is also an experienced children’s book editor. Zoe loves reading, eating oysters, and of course, cheering. Brigette Barrager is an artist, designer, writer, and the illustrator of Pocket Full of Colors and Like a Rainbow by Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline Tourville as well as the New York Times bestselling Uni the Unicorn by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. She attended the California Institute of the Arts and spent some time working in animation before taking the plunge into book illustration, where she’s lived happily ever after. She resides in Los Angeles with her handsome husband, cute doggy, and terrible cat. Visit Brigette online at BrigetteB.com. Confessions of a Wannabe Cheerleader “Maaads.” Mom cooed into my ear, shaking a pom—pom under my nose at the same time. This is how she’s been waking me up every day since I was, like, three. And it’s the same pom-pom. Between you and me, it’s lost a few strings since its heyday and is starting to look really sad. “Big day today,” she trilled. “Up! Up! Up!” I opened my eyes and threw off the covers in ÜBERFREAKOUT mode. “What time is it? Am I late?” I scrambled toward my dresser to grab my contacts case. Not much gets me up on a Saturday with this much enthusiasm. Not much, that is, except the idea of tryouts for the Port Angeles School Titan cheerleaders. (OK, that and maybe the Farmers’ Breakfast Special at the Pancake House around the corner.) Trust me, it is THAT GOOD. But back to why I was so excited about cheer tryouts. To start, a list of my favorite fun facts about cheerleading: 1) 3% of all female school athletes across the country are cheerleaders. Who knew? 2) 65% of all dangerous injuries in girls’ school sports come from cheerleading. Insane! 3) 62% of cheerleaders are involved in a second sport. Overachievers much? 4) The first cheerleaders were men! Can you believe?? Mom was halfway inside my closet, selecting one of my red and white pairs of boy shorts and a tank (our school colors are red, white, and blue—patriotic much?) for me to wear to the tryouts. This is another one of our traditions—anything regarding cheerleading, Mom’s allowed to help pick out my clothes. Every other occasion is off limits ever since I learned to use a sewing machine and discovered I have quite a killer fashion sense. And also, um, since I’m not five anymore. “Madington, of course we’re not late,” she said, using a nickname I’ve warned her never to use when my friends are around. “We’re an hour earlier than planned. Thought you’d want some time to digest the special whole—wheat pancakes I made you. I even put in some carob chips.” She winked. “See you downstairs.” Mom laid my clothes on the bed and cheerily bounced out of my room, her wavy blond locks trailing behind her like a mermaid underwater. God, I L-O-V-E her hair. Now might be a good time to mention that my mom is, like, absolutely gorgeous. I’m talking royal