Girls Like Athletes (Chapter 4)

So far, Lizzie attended all of her desired tryouts and did not get into any single one. Since she tried to get in all of the school sports for girls, she decided to take a break from even thinking about sports. Plus, she focused on her position in cheerleading. A couple of days after her failed attempts, she attended cheerleading practice once again in the football field in which the football team practiced as well. After Pamela told all the girls to take a break, Lizzie sat in the bleachers with her best friends, who decided to visit her before going home. As they chatted, Lizzie couldn't keep her eyes off of Warren who was playing with his teammates from afar.

"You shouldn't change yourself for a man," said Madeline.

"I know," responded Lizzie, "but I was going to play only one sport."

"Lizzie, if you're bad at one sport, that means you're probably bad at all sports," commented Skye. "And you are."

"Don't be harsh, Skye," said Debra.

"No, it's true," said Lizzie. "I was terrible at all of them. I should've stopped at volleyball."

"Yeah," agreed Madeline. "But look at the bright side: if you played sports, you would have had scratches on your face. And your face is too beautiful to be scratched."

"Thanks, I've been told. Not to sound conceited. I didn't know until a bunch of people said that to me so I know... not to brag. Or am I bragging? I--"

"Lizzie, you know there's a thing called 'stop talking'?" asked Skye.

"Hey, no visitors!" yelled Pamela from below.

"Suck it, Pam!" responded Andrea.

Pamela rolled her eyes then walked off to Mauricia.

"Don't worry, Lizzie," said Debra. "Maybe Warren's not the one."

Lizzie paused, still staring at Warren. "I need another chance."

She got up and scooched pass Andrea and Skye then down the steps.

"Where are you going, Liz'?" asked Madeline.

Lizzie exit the fence in front of the bleachers and ran towards the field of football players, confusing the cheerleaders. Lizzie approached Warren who was standing around and didn't move when he saw Lizzie.

"Hey, Warren," she greeted kindly.

"Hey, Lizzie," Warren smiled. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm a cheerleader, obviously. A very athletic cheerleader."

"Yeah, I know but what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I thought maybe I can help your teammates play football."

"Um, okay."

Lizzie turned around. "Hey, guys, I'm gonna help you play!"

A few of the teammates wolf-whistled and cat-called.

An African-American boy walked up to Lizzie. "Are you sure?" he asked. "You're a girl."

"But a very athletic girl," said Lizzie.

"Okay, just keep tossing the ball, guys," declared Warren.

The boys continued to threw the football to each other while some of them chased and blocked one another. Lizzie didn't move around so much but tried to stay near Warren.

Once she saw a boy getting blocked by another as he cradled the ball, Lizzie waved her arms and shouted, "Hey, over here!"

The boy shrugged and threw the ball over the other boy's shoulder. The ball flew over several guys' head but came down very fast. Fast enough to strike Lizzie on the top of her head with lots of force and knock her down unconscious, almost flat on her back.

"I don't want to sound a bad person," started Skye to her shocked friends, "but I told her so."

Girls Like Athletes (Chapter 3)

The week after, Lizzie signed up for multiple tryouts for various types of sports at her school from softball to swimming. First, she attended a tryout for volleyball as they started on Wednesday right after school. Before going, she put on clothes meant for exercising just like the other girls had to. She waited on the front bench of the bleachers in the gymnasium with the other participants. They waited for half an hour until the head volleyball player stepped up to them.

"Welcome, ladies," she announced. "I appreciate you all for coming. But let's cut the chitchat because I only have time for good athletes." She looked at her clipboard. "Alright, I want Abigail Pinewood, Lizzie Duvall and DeeDee Kerosene to come up."

Lizzie stood up along with the other two girls. They joined the players that stood around the volleyball net. The three connected themselves to the smaller team divided from the bigger team due to the net. The captain joined the bigger team and stood at the edge of them.

"You guys ready?" she asked.

"I know I'm ready," replied Lizzie while hopping. "I'm so ready."

The captain's teammate handed her the ball by tossing it to her. She held out the ball and hit it with her other hand. Each team hit it back and forth until one girl in front of the net struck it hard enough for Lizzie to get instantly hit in the face. She immediately fell down and covered her face with the palms of her hands.

"Ahh!" she uttered in a muffled tone. "Oh, my golly God, that hurt! Aw, it burns! Oh, my God, I haven't felt pain like that in a really long time. Ah! Oh, my God! It hurts! It hurts so much. Ah, somebody help me! It feels like I'm dying! Aw, oh, my God! Ah, ah!"

"Is she out?" asked one of the girls on the captain's team.

"Yeah, she's out," answered the captain.


The next day, Lizzie attended her tryout for girls' basketball right after school. She was so terrible that the basketball captain had to kick her out. She tried to push Lizzie out of the gym's door but Lizzie tried not to budge.

"Get out!" ordered the captain. "Go!"

"Please, give me one more chance!" Lizzie pleaded.

"No!"

"Come on! I can learn how to play!"

"The point of trying out is because you already know how to play."

"I didn't think about that."

"No, you had your chance. Just go!"

The captain gave her a shove, powerful enough to scoot Lizzie a distance from the door. The captain quickly closed the door and locked it. Lizzie pulled on the unmoveable door and banged on it.

"Come on!" she shouted. "Can't a girl just win the man of her affections?"

"Go away!" yelled the captain from the inside.

"Please!" Lizzie leaned against the door. "I'll make you cookies!"

Girls Like Athletes (Chapter 2)

Few days later, after school, Lizzie participated in cheerleading practice nearby the football field as a game was coming up. The cheerleaders practiced a choreography together with Pamela walking back and forth looking at the squad for flaws. Once the squad were done dancing, Pamela certainly had something to say.

"That was good," she announced. "But I don't want good; I want perfect. So keep practicing and maybe you'll be better than Beyonce which is highly impossible but I want to see you try."

"Pamela, can we have a break?" asked one of the cheerleaders.

"No."

"But some of us are tired."

"Some as in you?"

"Yeah, I'm tired."

"Well, did Moses get tired? No, he kept pushing the red sea so that the followers can cross."

"I don't think he exactly pushed the sea apart," said another cheerleader.

"I will kick you out of this squad, Janie. Remember that."

"I agree with Pamela," said Mauricia, Pamela's fellow Cow Belle. "We don't need a break."

"Thanks, sister."

"You're welcome, sister."

"They're like Siamese twins," muttered Kari, the red head, to a fellow teammate.

"What did you say, Kari?" asked Pamela.

"I said my Siamese cat had twins," Kari spoke up.

"Huh, that's what I thought you said."

"Oh, I love cat babies!" commented Lizzie.

"No one cares what you love," said Mauricia.

"Yeah, no one," Pamela agreed. "Alright, girls, let's take a break."

The cheerleaders made confused faces but shook them off. Pamela and Mauricia walked out together through the open fence while the other cheerleaders sat down on the nearby benches. Lizzie noticed the boys from afar playing football. When she looked even closer, she spotted Warren who she met a couple of days ago. Once he kept still, Lizzie waved with her pom-pom to catch his attention. Eventually, his attention was caught and he happily waved.

"Are you flirting with Warren Kerr?" asked Kari.
"No, I'm just waving," Lizzie responded. "I mean waving can be mistaken for flirting so I guess I am flirting with him. Wait, does that mean I've been flirting with my friends?"

Kari looked away. "How do you know him?"

"I met him a while ago. He's so cute; I think I might ask him out."

"Oh, I don't know about that."

"Why?"

"I don't think you're his type."

"What are you talking about? I'm everybody's type... someone said to me. I didn't know until someone told me so I kind of accepted it... not to brag. Or am I bragging? I don't even know anymore."

"Warren only dates girls who play sports."

"How do you know?"

"Because I had a friend who thought she had a great connection with him. But when she asked him out, he refused to go with her because he said he likes girls who were on sports team and my friend was in math club."

"But cheerleading is a sport. Plus, being very good at math takes skill so that's like a sport as well."

"Cheerleading is not a sport... well, not to the guys. I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. All I have to do is play one sport; it's no big deal."

"Are you seriously thinking about joining a sports team?"

"Kari, Warren is cherry pie and I need to get myself a slice. Know what I'm saying?"

"Okay, you got to stop talking to me like that."

 

Girls Like Athletes (Chapter 1)

One day, at the end of school hours, Lizzie opened her locker and took out her backpack. She dumped all of her books inside and shook the bag so the books can slide all the way down. She closed the locker and picked up the backpack from the bottom. Instantly when she did so, a boy bumped right into her and made her backpack almost slip between her hands. When she tried to catch it, she gripped the bottom, making all of the books fall out.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," said the boy.

"It's okay," responded Lizzie. She turned to look at the boy and almost immediately, she was mesmerized. He was Caucasian with brown, thick hair and stubble tracing his jawline. He held a Blackberry cellphone that reflected in his chocolate-colored eyes.

He crouched down and picked up Lizzie's book. Lizzie held her backpack by the top strap. The boy inserted the books into the backpack.

"Sorry, I was texting my mom," he said.

"Oh, you're a mama's boy," Lizzie perceived.

The boy let out a subtle chuckle.

"Sorry, that wasn't meant to offend you."

"No, it's okay. I love my mama."

Lizzie grinned instead of giggle.

The boy shifted his attention to the backpack and zipped it closed. "There you go. Now the books can't fall out."

"Yeah, unless there's a secret hole under my bag."

"Is there?"

"No."

"Okay, let's pray for that."

"Okay. Wait, you mean right now?"

The boy chuckled. "You're so cute."

Lizzie's eyes widened.

"I mean you're... not ugly."

"It's okay. I've been told 'cute' before. Enough times to accept it. Not that I think I'm cute... or ugly. I just know now I'm cute not to brag. Or am I bragging? I don't even know."

The boy chuckled.

"I think I made it awkward so we're even?"

"I guess so. Now, so I don't appear as some odd stranger, my name is Warren to break the ice."

"I'm Lizzie and is breaking ice your job?"

"I'm very good at it."

"Oh, you make ice sculptures?"

Warren laughed. "You're funny."

"That was a joke?"

"I would like to resume speaking to you but I have to continue having a conversation with my mother through my phone."

"Sure, I get it."

"See you around."

"Around I'll see you."

"Bye," he chuckled.

He turned around and walked off as Lizzie put on her backpack. Almost at the same time, Lizzie's girlfriends arrived and sided her.

"Hey, Liz', what's new?" asked Andrea.

"I think I just found my Channing Tatum," answered Lizzie. She walked forward, making the other girls follow.

"You know someone who looks like Channing Tatum here?" Madeline questioned with interest.

Ready? OK! (Chapter 5)

Less than a week later, Kari went through with her plan of blackmailing Pamela with the photograph of her eating chicken wings. Pamela agreed to let Kari include whoever in the cheerleading squad and one of the people she let in was Lizzie. So afterwards, Lizzie and four other new girls were some of the cheerleaders that were part of the basketball game taking place in Laguna Beach High's gymnasium. Madeline and Andrea came to the game just to support Lizzie.

"I'm so happy for Lizzie," stated Andrea.

"I'm happy she's happy," Madeline added.

"It's good to know that Pamela doesn't have power over anything."

"I know because I have power over anything."

"Really?"

"Of course. I'm the school president."

"Okay."

"Seriously, I could've gotten Lizzie into the squad."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Because I wasn't asked to. Besides, Kari had the right mind and because of her, Lizzie is the cheerleader she wanted to be."

"So you support blackmail?"

"No, of course not. But I can use Kari. She can be my top spy agent."

"No, she can't."

"Yes, she can."

"You don't have that type of power."

"Yes, I do. I'm the Jesus of this school."

"No."

"Yeah."

"You're not."

"I can hire anyone for anything."

"This is a school. You're not a real president."

"Hurt my feelings some more, why don't ya?"

"I'm telling the truth."

"Telling the truth won't make you my ambassador."
"¿Lo dice en serio? You can do that?"

"Yes, yes, I can. Or I did because you already were my ambassador."

"Oh, mierda, that's so cool."

"It is. I'm president."

Andrea looked down at the basketball players sitting in the front bench. "Do you think Roger can see me from up here?"

"Roger Tate? When did you start liking him?"

"Once he grew pit hair."

"Ew."

"Says the girl who likes taco meat."

"I don't like a lot of it. A little does justice."

Andrea waved her arms. "Roger!"

"Don't call him."

"Why?"

"He'll see you."

"That's what I want."

"But he doesn't know you."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take. Roger!"

A buzzer was audibly heard. Instead of the players, the cheerleaders in maroon uniforms got up and took positions in front of the bleachers. The visitors lowered their volume when an amplified voice said, "Time for the cheer-off. First, Laguna's own Breaker cheerleaders!"

Madeline and Andrea was two of the people who applauded. Lizzie stepped forward in front of her fellow cheerleaders with a megaphone.

"Give me a 'B'!" she yelled into the megaphone.

"B!" repeated the crowd.

"Give me an 'R'!"

"R!"

"Give me an 'A'!"

The crowd hesitated a bit. "A?!"

"Wait, how do you spell 'breakers'?" Lizzie turned and asked without the megaphone.

"Oh, dear," Madeline sighed.

Ready? OK! (Chapter 4)

The day after, Lizzie came to school by herself, still having cheerleading on her mind. When she got out of her red car, she noticed that her backpack was not zipped. So while she walked through the halls, Lizzie tried to zip her backpack closed. Once she got it sealed, she looked up to see one of the judges from the day before. It was the quiet red-headed girl with a funky sense of fashion. Lizzie put on her backpack correctly and put on her "mean girl" face. She approached the girl who was inserting her backpack and a few books into her locker.

"Hey," Lizzie barked.

The red-head turned her head. "Hey," she responded nicely. She closed her locker and faced her body toward Lizzie. "I know you."

"I know you know me," Lizzie's voice deepened. "I know you, did you know that?"

The girl's forehead crinkled. "I guess."

"You guess? You better know, know what I am saying?"

"Do you have a problem with me?"

"If I didn't know you, I'd have one less problem... without you."

"Okay."

"Okay? All you have to say is 'okay'? Do you know any other words that don't require to be spelled? Huh?"

"Listen, if you're mad about getting rejected yesterday, I'm sorry."

"Puh-shaw! I ain't fazed. I only came to check it out. Know what I mean? But you should be sorry for yo'self for even existing... girl!"

"Okay, your spitefulness is coming off very urban."

"Listen, alright? La-la-listen, I don't know who you think you are but I know who I am. And I am the baddest Beatrice in the whole wide world... or school so I just want you to know that in the end of the day, I'm better than you at being a person."

"Okay, number one: what are you doing? And number two: I'm not in charge of who gets in the cheerleading squad; Pamela is. So I am deeply sorry that you didn't get in. I thought you were fantastic. And even though Pamela is in charge, I can still -- or I could've -- make a recommendation for you because I'm able to do that."

Lizzie paused. "Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry for my attitude," her voice came back to normal. "I just thought you were a T-blocker so I was behaving like one, too, so you can include me in the squad. But you seem nice and I wasn't nice to you. So I'm sorry and please don't have second thoughts about recommending me even though you probably already are having them."

"Lizzie, you seem like a nice girl. I've been trying to get more cheerleaders into the squad so I can have someone to talk to. I'm tired of Pamela and Celeste, always talking about nail polish and MTV. But recently, they have been ignoring me so it's hard for me to get a say in anything. So I'm going to blackmail Pamela a little bit."

"How are you going to do that?"

"With this." The red-haired girl opened her history textbook and flipped through the pages until she found a piece of printed paper. She picked it up to show Lizzie. "This is a picture of Pamela chowing down on chicken wings with barbecue sauce. Can you say 'not on a diet'?"

"Ooh, where did you get that?"

"I found it in her home in the trash."

"What are you doing going through her trash?"

"I would not like to talk about that. But she clearly did not want anyone to see that, though it's weird that someone would take a picture of this. I'm gonna tell her that I'll put this on Facebook unless she hears what I have to say."

"Then I'll be in?"

"You'll be in."

Lizzie squealed. "Thank you!"

"No problem."

"What's your name by the way?"

"It's Kari." She put the picture back inside her textbook.

"How do you spell that?"

"K-A-R-I."

"Isn't that pronounced 'Carrie'?"

"No, it's Kari."

"I know but the way it's spelled--"

"Why don't you just ask my parents?!"

Ready? OK! (Chapter 3)

The next day, after school, Lizzie decided to drive Debra to her house since Lizzie planned going there anyway. Once they arrived and finished their homework together, the girls decided to do some yoga in Debra's bedroom. They switched in more comfortable clothing and helped each other stretch.

"I am still in shock about the whole audition," Lizzie shared, reaching her arm over her head, making lean down to the left side.

"Why do you think you didn't get in?" asked Debra, doing the same thing as Lizzie but to the other side.

"Maybe I missed a few steps. But the moves I couldn't remember, I improvised. Overall, it was a good performance."

"Then I don't understand why you're not in."

"Me neither."

The girls switched arms.

"I thought I defined 'cheerleader potential' in my audition," said Lizzie. "I wore a cute outfit, I did a dance I rehearsed twenty times and I even used the song that was in that terrible Bratz movie."

"Did you know anyone who was judging your performance?"

"Well, there was a ginger girl, Celeste from my history class, and Pamela."

Debra stood up straight. "Pamela McAdams?"

"Well, not Pamela Anderson, even though that would've been so cool."

"That's why you didn't get in."

Lizzie stood up straight as well. "Why?"

"Because Pamela hates you."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that."

"It's so unfair for her to do that to you. You are talented."

"I know Pamela hates me but this is cheerleading. Leave what we personally have outside the cheerleading area."

"I agree. She can't just exclude you because she hates you."

"She kind of can because she's the head cheerleader."

"Nonetheless, we should do something."

"Should we tell Maddie do something about it? She is school president. That's like the Jesus of school."

"We can or you can do something by yourself."

"But you said 'we'. I heard you. Or at least I think I heard you."

"I know. But I'm piecing everything together. Okay, Pamela is a mean girl."

"Yeah, meaner that Angelina Jolie from 'Maverick'."

"'Maleficent'."

Lizzie scrunched her forehead. "That's a word?"

"Okay, and mean girls think that they can do whatever they want to do and like whoever they want to like."

"Uh-huh."

"So the only way to get in is to act like a mean girl."

"I'm not sure I'm following."

"You're nice."

"Thank you."

"But that can seem weak."

"Oh."

"So you must face Pamela or the other 'judges' and act like them."

"Okay, I can do that."

"Sooner or later, you'll be a cheerleader."

"So since my niceness comes off as weakness, should I start being more mean?"

"Oh, no, Doll. Being mean is Andrea's job."

"Yeah!"