Stacey and the Cheerleaders Page 9

  Favoritism? Unfair treatment? So says a certain former mediocre player who quit the team. Well, I would like to ask him, where does he think he is? The NBA?

  Maybe it was “unfair” that he missed sixty-three percent of his baskets in the last game. Maybe it was “unfair” that he had to spend part of the second half on the bench. Maybe Coach Halvorsen was showing “favoritism” to the other players, who just happened to be scoring more!

  But it wasn’t enough to bring down his own team. This same mediocre former player decided to bring down the cheerleaders. All because his girlfriend wasn’t good enough to make the squad. “Unfair” again?

  This is not the kind of spirit the rest of us feel at SMS. This is called bad attitude. And it’s one thing we just don’t need around here.

  Nice article, huh? It came out on Wednesday, five days after Robert quit.

  Lots happened over that time. Robert’s quitting really shook up the school. Some kids were furious. Jason Fox refused to talk to Robert.

  The good news was that many others approved of what Robert had done. Wherever Robert or I went, kids swamped us with questions. Apparently a lot of kids had thought the sports teams got away with murder. They’d just been too afraid to speak up.

  Robert was brave. I still had the BSC, but he had a lot to lose, like his best friends. He was prepared to face angry teachers, too.

  But you know what happened? The teachers and administrators called a meeting that Tuesday night to “re-evaluate the sports program.” Robert and I were invited, and a committee was set up to “investigate academic abuses” and “institute a non-biased minimal grade-point standard for athletic participation.” (In plain English, that means if your grades are too low, you don’t play sports.)

  The next day, Robert was asked to rejoin the team — first by Coach Halvorsen, then by the players themselves. To them, it was embarrassing that a star player had quit.

  Robert said no.

  Then, on Wednesday morning, as I was walking to homeroom, I heard someone shout, “Stacey, wait!”

  It was Sheila. I had not spoken to her since the tryouts. I’d felt so betrayed by her.

  “What?” I said flatly.

  She looked as if she were about to cry. “Don’t be mad. It wasn’t my fault. I kept sticking up for you until the final vote. I know how unfair it was.”

  Some of my anger melted away. I believed her. “Well, thanks for telling me,” I said.

  “Um, Stace? I don’t know if you heard — you know, about Kathleen.”

  “No, what?”

  “Well, when she found out what had happened, she was really upset. Last night she quit.”

  “Really?”

  “Uh-huh. So you know what that means, Stacey. That spot has opened up again. And the girls have agreed — you’re the one. No tryouts necessary.”

  For a moment I felt a shiver of joy. But it went away quickly.

  Funny. Just a few days before, I’d wanted to be on that squad so badly. Getting cut had devastated me.

  Now the idea of being a cheerleader seemed silly. It was the last thing I wanted to do.

  And I wondered: Why had it been so important to be friends with those girls?

  I thought of Tiffany Kilbourne. She had taken a long time to realize she was trying hobbies she didn’t like for all the wrong reasons.

  Well, I had taken a long time, too. “No,” I said gently to Sheila. “I’m doing other things.”

  It was true. I had my best friends, my family, my schoolwork, and baby-sitting. And I had Robert.

  That was plenty for me.

  * * *

  Oh! I forgot to tell you about the other editorial that appeared in the SMS newspaper. Unlike the first one, it was signed:

  We are happy about what’s been happening at SMS this week. So many students have given us their support, and we think great changes are ahead.

  SMS is a fantastic school. Our teachers are dedicated and our students are the best. All of us should feel we’re being treated fairly. In a basketball game, every player abides by the same rules. If those rules are broken, the game stops. A timeout is called, everyone sets up, and the ball is put back in play.

  Well, the ball is in play again at SMS. And this time, we can all be winners.

  Stacey McGill and Robert Brewster

  * * *

  Dear Reader,

  In Stacey and the Cheerleaders, Tiffany Kilbourne needs to find a hobby. As a child, I had many hobbies. I was interested in lots of things, and I was always starting new projects. I tried stamp collecting, coin collecting, macramé, and needlework. Although I was not a very active kid, I did try ballet lessons, and I took exactly three tennis lessons! I attacked each new project or hobby (except for the tennis lessons) with a vengeance, even if it didn’t last long. For instance, my stamp collection began when I inherited a partially filled stamp album. I soon discovered that I could get stamps from all over the world through the mail, and I spent hours ordering and arranging stamps. For a long time one of my biggest hobbies was magic. It started when my father, an amateur magician, gave me all of his old tricks. Then, just like with the stamp collecting, I found that I could order magic tricks through the mail. I pored through catalogues, ordering new tricks, and then I entertained my charges with them. So the next time you’re bored, just think of all the things you could try. And you can find out about most hobbies simply by going to the library. You’ll be amazed by what you can find there.

  Happy reading,

  * * *

  The author gratefully acknowledges

  Peter Lerangis

  for his help in

  preparing this manuscript.

  About the Author

  ANN MATTHEWS MARTIN was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane.

  There are currently over 176 million copies of The Baby-sitters Club in print. (If you stacked all of these books up, the pile would be 21,245 miles high.) In addition to The Baby-sitters Club, Ann is the author of two other series, Main Street and Family Tree. Her novels include Belle Teal, A Corner of the Universe (a Newbery Honor book), Here Today, A Dog’s Life, On Christmas Eve, Everything for a Dog, Ten Rules for Living with My Sister, and Ten Good and Bad Things About My Life (So Far). She is also the coauthor, with Laura Godwin, of the Doll People series.

  Ann lives in upstate New York with her dog and her cats.

  Copyright © 1993 by Ann M. Martin.

  Cover art by Hodges Soileau

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC, THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  First edition, December 1993

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-76832-0