Chapter 8:

                                    

                                          
PART II: Thicker than water?
                          
A COUPLE WEEKS later we were already preparing for the last football game of the season. Our team was playing a school from inside the city for the District Championship. Both of our teams had one loss, but were otherwise undefeated. Since it was such an important game, we had traveled to one of the main stadiums in Albuquerque. The size of the stadium made even our high school's stadium look tiny in comparison. We were all so excited that the game was being held there!
                          
Normal games for our junior high varsity team were held at five in the evening, but this one was scheduled for seven-thirty like a high school game. The cheer and dance squads from both schools had arrived right after school to decorate the stands.
                          
"Hey Tiff!" I heard from behind me as I was trying to tape up a piece of poster board. 
                          
"What?" I replied turning slightly.
                          
"It's crooked!" Coach Holt told me.
                          
"No, it's..." I started to say before looking at it again. "Oops, sorry." I told her sheepishly.
                          
"It's okay, just fix it!"  She told me laughing.
                          
As soon as I had the sign taped up right, I jumped off of the fence that I had been taping it onto. I looked around to see how we were doing. As the other team was an Albuquerque team, they were using the home side of the stands and we were of course on the visitor's side. Actually, the sad thing was that their visitor's side was bigger than our high school's home side at home... We had decorated all along the rail of the fence on our side with blue and gold bunting, and signs like the one that I had just hung up said, Go Team, Send the kitties home, and other messages supporting our school. Along one of the fences on our side up at the top of the stands, some of the girls had used Styrofoam cups to make another sign that said, Coyotes #1, and had all of the football players numbers too. 
                          
It was really impressive what we had accomplished in two hours. "Okay ladies, come here!" Coach bellowed at us.
                          
I skipped over there and stood by Amy and Kristina. 
                          
"I think we've got the stands decorated enough for the game. Amy's Mom just picked up some McDonald's for everyone, so let's go eat it. Please be sure and say thank you to her!" She said pausing. "You'll have about thirty minutes to eat and then I want the dance squad back here for a run through of the routine. See you all then ladies."
                          
With our dismissal Amy, Kristina, Ashley, Lindsey, and I linked arms and began skipping down the track to the exit so we could meet up with Amy's Mom. As we got to the edge of the track, we climbed up some stairs that led us up to the parking lot and saw Melanie standing next to their car. She'd picked up happy meals for everyone, with chicken nuggets. 
                          
"What toy did you get Tiff?" Amy asked.
                          
"Umm... hey it's a Barbie!" I said giggling. It wasn't a very good one, but it was a Barbie. Soon all of the two squads had gathered on a patch of grass and ate. It was kind of sad though, it was like there were really two squads – the dance squad and the cheer squad. Anyone who was just on the cheer squad was in one circle and the other girls, including myself, were in another circle. 
                          
I didn't think about it too much though as Amy started talking to me, "So this is the last Thursday night that we'll lose this year!" 
                          
"It's kind of sad though, isn't it?" Kristina said.
                          
"Yeah... But now we'll be able to focus on the competitions instead!" I said with a smile on my face.
                          
"I'm with you Tiffany, I think it's going to be awesome to go to the two competitions in January!" Ashley said with a smile.