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  CHAPTER 1

  Chloe Davis smoothed her gold NHS CHEER T-shirt over her blue camp shorts as she strode into the Northside High gym, swinging her duffel bag. She was eager to get started with the first Junior Varsity practice of the new year, especially after having been away for the holidays. Her family’s ski trip to Aspen had been a blast, but cheering was the center of her universe. Moguls were cool. Liberties were even better!

  Glancing around, Chloe noticed that the gym had been spruced up over the two-week break. New banners hung above the basketball backboards: HOME OF THE TIMBERWOLVES in blue letters, NORTHSIDE PRIDE in gold. The floor had been refinished and looked extra-shiny and glossy, the color of maple syrup.

  “Chloooeee!” Emily Arellano practically tackled her from behind in a crushing bear hug. Emily was one of Chloe’s best friends. Her long, wavy dark hair was pulled back in a high pony, and the only adornment on her flawless olive face was a temporary tattoo on her cheek: a Timberwolf paw.

  “Ow! I’m happy to see you, too,” Chloe said, laughing. “What’s up with the tattoo? Our game’s not till Friday.”

  “I’m getting into the spirit early! How was your trip? Why weren’t you in school today? Are you sick? You aren’t sick, are you?” Emily jerked back and looked Chloe up and down suspiciously.

  “We were supposed to fly home yesterday, but our flight was delayed. Mom drove me to school right before sixth period,” Chloe replied, brushing back her strawberry-blond bangs.

  “Oh. I texted you, like, a zillion times, but you didn’t text back,” Emily complained.

  “I’m sorry! I lost my phone in the snow. Dad’s getting me a replacement tonight—an upgrade.”

  “Must be nice. Santa didn’t bring me an iPhone this year, like I totally asked for, so I’m stuck with Chad.” Emily held up her ancient purple cell with the faded heart stickers on it. Chad was her nickname for it. “Can you believe I can’t even video chat on it? It’s totally prehistoric,” she sniped.

  “Put that away! What if Coach walks in and sees you?” Chloe warned. Coach Steele had a lot of rules for the squad, and “No phones during practice” was one of her top five.

  Emily rolled her brown eyes and tucked Chad into the pocket of her Northside hoodie. It was common knowledge that she wasn’t a big fan of rules. Luckily, Coach Steele was nowhere in sight. She was probably off creating one of her famous action plans for today’s session.

  Chloe and Emily linked arms and headed over to the bleachers together. Chloe spotted Kalyn Min, Jenn Hoffheimer, Lexi Foster, and Carley Chase-Calloway doing hamstring stretches on the mats. Marcy Martinez and Arianna Clark were gabbing and putting their hair up into high ponies with shiny white ribbons. The rest of the squad practiced double toe touches in the corner.

  “Oooooh, I see Leila over there. Is it my imagination, or did her skin finally turn orange? Must be all that spray-tanning,” Emily remarked as she set her duffel bag down on a bench.

  Chloe stifled a giggle. “Em, be nice!”

  “Because Leila is so nice to us? Yeah, I don’t think so,” Emily said sarcastically.

  Chloe and Leila Savett used to be good friends. In elementary school and middle school, they had baked cookies together and carpooled to the mall. On Saturdays, they had trained together at a cheerleading gym called Sunny Valley All-Stars.

  But when Chloe made the elite team at the gym and Leila didn’t, things changed dramatically. Since then Leila had made it her personal mission to make Chloe’s life miserable. Back in September, she’d even tried to destroy Chloe’s chance at becoming JV captain.

  Lucky for Chloe, Leila hadn’t succeeded.

  “Hi, Chloe! You’re back!”

  Chloe turned. Kate MacDonald rushed up and gave her a quick, affectionate hug. Kate was one of Chloe’s other best friends. She wore a pale green T-shirt that complemented her dark hair; there was a Disney Princess Band-Aid stuck to the hem, probably put there by one of her younger siblings. Devin Isle trailed behind, her face creased in a frown as she tried to pull her wild red curls into a ponytail. Devin was Chloe’s cocaptain on the team.

  “Hi, Kate! Hi, Devin!” Chloe said with a smile.

  “How was Aspen?” Kate asked, adjusting her shorts over her long legs.

  “It was perfect! It was nice to spend time with Jake and Clementine. Well, except for this one night when they put a plastic snake in my bed, and I thought it was real.” Chloe’s twin sibs were seniors in college, but they still acted like they were in elementary school sometimes. “How was your vacation?” she asked Kate.

  “Kinda quiet,” Kate said, grabbing her elbows above her head to stretch her triceps. “I reread all my favorite Jane Austen books.” Kate was a freshman, like Chloe, Emily, and Devin, but she took a lot of advanced classes, and she was always reading classic novels.

  “Hello? What about our epic horror-movie-marathon sleepover?” Emily reminded Kate.

  Devin grinned. “Oh, yeah. I’m still having nightmares about those slimy green space zombies.”

  “Eww, me too,” Kate said with a shudder.

  Chloe’s smile wavered. Emily and Kate had a sleepover without her? And they’d invited the new girl, Devin?

  Granted, Devin wasn’t exactly the new girl anymore. And she and Chloe had worked out their differences after their difficult, drama-filled start as cocaptains.

  Back in September, Devin had joined the team without so much as a tryout just because Coach Steele was good friends with Devin’s mom, and because Devin was a talented tumbler. To make things worse, Devin had been elected cocaptain even though Chloe was clearly meant to be the sole captain.

  For months, Chloe and Devin had struggled back and forth on how to lead the team. Leila hadn’t helped, sending a fake e-mail trashing Devin and pretending that Chloe had written it.

  But now they were okay. Sort of. They weren’t best friends, exactly, but they weren’t fighting anymore, either.

  Chloe forced herself to put on a brave, cheerful face as Devin, Emily, and Kate gabbed about their sleepover. Jealousy wasn’t her thing. And it wasn’t as though Emily and Kate had replaced her with Devin. The three of them had been best friends since they picked up their first poms together in sixth grade. Their bond was unshakable.

  “So, Devin! Your boyfriend flew down for New Year’s Eve, right?” Chloe asked in a friendly voice.

  “Yeah. I was super-happy to see him,” Devin said distractedly.

  Chloe didn’t know how to translate that. Devin didn’t sound super-happy. Devin and her boyfriend, Josh, had been long-distance since she’d moved to Sunny Valley six months earlier. Shouldn’t she have been ecstatic about spending a romantic holiday with him?

  But Devin didn’t seem to want to talk about it. “So are we all ready for Nationals?” she said, changing the subject.

  “Yes!” Emily thrust her arms up in the air.

  “No,” Kate said at the same time. “I haven’t nailed my back handspring yet. Ugh.”

  “We’re staying at Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort, right? I Googled it—it looks cool,” Devin remarked.

  Chloe still couldn’t believe the Northside JV cheer squad had come in second at Regionals back in November, qualifying them for Nationals. Devin had ac
tually played a big part in that, stepping up to lead the team when Chloe sprained her ankle.

  The thought of competing against the top cheerleading teams in the country filled Chloe with excitement. And fear. Fortunately, the event was taking place at Disney World near Orlando, Florida. If we fail, at least we can have some fun, she thought.

  “I can’t wait to ride the Tower of Terror,” Chloe said out loud. “I heard there’s gonna be a ton of cool stuff at registration, too. A red carpet, an awesome gift shop—”

  “Don’t forget hot guys,” Emily finished with a sly grin.

  “The Tower of Terror? Hot guys? Ladies, let’s get our priorities in order.”

  Chloe and her friends whirled around. Coach Steele stood there, holding her action plan binder in one hand and a silver coffee thermos in the other. With her short brown hair, gold-accented navy warm-ups, and sleek white running shoes, she looked like the epitome of a professional cheer coach.

  “Hi, Coach! We were just… um…” Emily stammered.

  “Yes, I know what you were just, um, doing,” Coach Steele said wryly. “Vacation’s over, my little Timberwolves. We have exactly thirty-three days to prepare for Nationals. So let’s stop goofing around and get to work. Are you ready?”

  “Yes, Coach!” Chloe, Emily, Kate, and Devin replied in unison.

  “Chloe and Devin, are you ready to lead this team to victory?” Coach Steele barked.

  “Yes, Coach!” Chloe and Devin shouted.

  Coach Steele reached for the whistle around her neck and blew it, hard. All the cheerleaders in the gym stopped what they were doing, scrambled to their feet, and gathered around their coach in a wide semicircle.

  “Welcome back, ladies! It’s nice to see all of your bright, shining faces,” Coach Steele called out. “We have a lot to do between now and February eighth. Your routine is good, but it needs to be great. And at the moment, it’s far from that.”

  “Ouch,” Emily muttered under her breath.

  “In Orlando, you will need to impress a panel of judges who are used to seeing the best of the best,” Coach Steele went on. “You, my lovely Wolves, will need to electrify. You will need to project. You will not be performing for a few hundred hometown fans at a basketball game. You will be performing for ten thousand strangers in a huge arena that’s three, four, five times the size of our gymnasium. And make no mistake—most of these strangers have their own schools to root for. They won’t be cheering for you.”

  “Did she say ten thousand?” Devin whispered to Chloe.

  Chloe gulped and nodded.

  “This is the big league, ladies,” Coach Steele continued. “We need to turn it up. Are you with me?”

  “Yes, Coach!” all eighteen cheerleaders shouted.

  “Timber! Timber! Timber-wolves!” Chloe chanted, pumping her fists in the air.

  The other girls joined in: “Timber! Timber! Timber-wolves!”

  Coach Steele nodded approvingly. Then she raised her hands, and the chanting ceased abruptly. “I’m glad we’re all on the same page. And while we’re on the subject of turning it up… I wanted to let you know that we will be adding weekend practices to our schedule for the next four weeks. I’ll be announcing dates and times shortly, as soon as I’ve had a chance to confer with Principal Cilento. Now, everyone give me ten laps and twenty push-ups! After that, we’ll be breaking up into groups to practice our stunts.”

  Weekend practices? “Did you know anything about this?” Chloe whispered to Devin.

  Devin shook her head.

  “Good-bye, fun!” Emily said glumly.

  “Farewell, sleeping in!” Kate added.

  As she started to jog, Chloe thought about Coach Steele’s words. Nationals called for a whole new level of performance, and preparing for it had to be the number one priority in their lives. Chloe had to make sure to keep her teammates’ spirits up and everyone’s motivation high.

  Chloe rounded the first corner of the gym. She passed Gemma Moore running alone. Like Chloe, Gemma was a freshman.

  Chloe slowed down while Emily and the others continued on, discussing their busy schedules. “Hi, Gemma. How’s your standing tuck coming along? Maybe I can help you with it later,” Chloe called out.

  Gemma didn’t reply.

  Glancing over, Chloe realized that her teammate’s face was red and blotchy, as though she’d been crying.

  “Omigosh, Gemma! Are you okay? What’s the—”

  Before Chloe could finish her sentence, Gemma redoubled her speed and took off in a fast sprint.

  What’s wrong with Gemma? Chloe wondered.

  CHAPTER 2

  “Sweetie, can you please pass the garlic bread?”

  Emily grabbed two big pieces of garlic bread from the basket before passing it around the table to her mother, Irene Arellano. Monday was spaghetti night, Emily’s favorite.

  “Uh, could you save some for the rest of us?” her older brother Chris complained. He was a senior at Northside High and a forward for the Varsity basketball team.

  “Hey, you’ve already had, like, five,” Emily pointed out.

  “Yeah, well, I had a tough practice today,” Chris told her.

  “Yeah, well, me too!”

  “You two keep arguing. I’ll just finish that up,” their brother, Eddie, said, grabbing the basket. Eddie lived at home and worked as a barista at a local café called the Mighty Cup. He was also studying business at Sunny Valley Community College.

  “Seriously? The three of you? There’s more garlic bread in the kitchen, so stop squabbling,” Mrs. Arellano said, laughing.

  “I made two extra loaves. I’ve learned from past Mondays,” Mr. Arellano piped up.

  “Papi, you rock,” Emily told him. Jose Arellano worked two jobs—as a mechanic and a security guard—and yet he always seemed to find the time to prepare the family dinners. Mrs. Arellano, who was a preschool teacher, hated to cook. When they got married, they’d made a deal that he would be in charge of the kitchen and she would be in charge of the rest of the house. They also held hands and often said “te amo” to each other, which Emily teased them about. Secretly, though, she was happy that they were so happy. After all, Kate’s parents were divorced, and so were Devin’s.

  “So how was practice today, Emily? Did Coach Steele make you guys go over the dance?” Mrs. Arellano asked.

  “And how are the stunts coming along?” Mr. Arellano added. The Arellanos had always been super-involved in Northside athletics, including the cheer program. They knew Emily’s routines almost as well as she did.

  Emily made a face. “Practice was brutal. The dance is hard, and so are the stunts. Plus, Coach made us do tumbling passes until our legs were practically falling off.”

  “Nationals is just around the corner and the practices are going to get even tougher. You’ll need to pace yourself,” Mrs. Arellano advised.

  “Yeah, but how? Coach just told us that she’s adding weekend practices. That’s on top of our regular practices on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, tumbling gym on Thursdays, and games on Fridays,” Emily rattled off. “Plus, there’s school. Plus, I’m in charge of the Valentine’s Day dance this year. Plus, I have to come up with an idea for our big fund-raiser on January twenty-fifth. We need to raise more money for Nationals and for charity.”

  The squad held fund-raisers several times a year, with half of the money going to competition fees and other expenses, and the other half going to a charity of their choice. Last fall, they’d held a bake sale, and the proceeds had gone to Regionals fees and a local nonprofit organization called Hearts Heal. Before Christmas, Emily had promised Coach Steele and the other cheerleaders that she’d organize the winter fund-raiser, and she couldn’t back out now.

  Emily had also served on the homecoming dance committee. After the success of that event, the other members had elected her to chair the Valentine’s Day dance effort, and she’d said yes to that as well.

  On top of it all, Emily sang with her friend Trav
is Hollister’s band, Hashtag, once in a while. In fact, she was due at Travis’s house after dinner for an “emergency band meeting,” whatever that meant.

  Just saying her to-do list out loud made Emily feel exhausted. How was she going to accomplish everything? Fortunately, she liked being busy, and she tended to thrive under pressure. She’d just have to make sure to take a lot of mental-health breaks with her friends. And drink more coffee.

  Mr. Arellano reached over and squeezed Emily’s hand. “You can do it, sweetie. But don’t take on any more commitments, okay? You’ve got enough on your plate.”

  “Okay.” Emily hesitated. “I told Travis I could go to his house later, though. Can anyone give me a ride?”

  Mrs. Arellano raised her eyebrows. “Band practice on a school night?”

  “No, not practice! We’re having a meeting. It’ll take, like, half an hour, forty minutes, tops. I finished my homework already, in study hall,” Emily said quickly.

  Her parents exchanged a glance. “Half an hour, okay? Chris can take you, and I’ll pick you up,” Mr. Arellano said.

  “Wait, what? Don’t I get a say in this?” Chris protested.

  “Honey, you should seriously consider putting the band on hold until after Nationals,” Mrs. Arellano told Emily. “Remember when Chris’s team was getting ready for State last year? And Eddie’s team before that? It was nonstop practices—and nonstop pressure, too.”

  “I know, I know,” Emily conceded. Maybe her parents were right. Maybe she should tell Travis that she wanted to take a break for a while.

  Emily wiggled around in the massive beanbag chair, trying to find a comfortable center. The Hollisters’ basement decor was a teen guy’s dream, with its vintage Beatles posters, Ping-Pong table, and collection of musical instruments, including a white drum set.

  “So what’s the big emergency?” Alex Guzmann asked. He was sprawled out on the brown corduroy couch, plucking his bass. One of his sneakers was purple and the other, green.

  “Yeah. I still have to study for Mr. Reaser’s quiz,” Kyle Klein, the drummer, added. “On functions. Who gives quizzes the Tuesday after vacation, right?” Like Alex and Travis, Kyle was a junior.