Stacey And The Cheerleaders by Ann M. Martin Read Free Book Online Page A

Framed swim team photos hung over her desk. Another swimming trophy sat on her dresser. "That's for the side stroke. I just got it yesterday."
    As Maria sat down at her desk, Kristy said, "Let me know if you need anything. I'll get your sister."
    "She won't come," Maria replied. "She never does her homework. She is so bad in school."
    "Come on, that's not nice."
    "It's true. The teacher sends her home with notes sometimes. Mom and Dad get really mad. Last time they took away her allowance. So that's why she's not — "
    Maria's eyes widened and she cut herself off.
    "Not what?" Kristy asked.
    "Nothing."
    Kristy raised her presidential eyebrow. "Mariaaaaa."
    Maria looked at the floor. "Tiffany got another note today. She told me. But she's not going to give it to Mom and Dad."
    "Maria!" Tiffany's voice boomed from downstairs. "I'm going to kill you! I told you not to tell — "
    "She made me!" Maria gave Kristy an angry and frightened look. "See what you did!"
    WHACK/ The TV room door slammed shut.
    Kristy took a deep breath. "Sorry, Maria," she said. "I'll go talk to her. It'll be all right."
    She left Maria's room and walked through the hallway. She caught a glimpse of Shannon's room — a Stoneybrook Day pennant on the wall, neat stacks of books on the desk, and a poster from a summer camp production of Oklahoma]
    Just opposite it was another room. Kristy couldn't help stopping when she saw what was inside.
    It was a pigsty. Papers, books, pillows, and plastic wrappers covered the floor. The bed was unmade, and the desk was buried under notebooks, paperbacks, CDs, cassettes, you name it.
    No wonder Tiffany doesn't want to do her homework, Kristy thought. She needs a snow-plow just to get to her desk.
    x And every time she does go upstairs, she has to deal with an older sister who's Ms. Star Student and a younger sister who has suddenly become a Future Olympian. Being a normal kid in a family like that couldn't be easy.
    With a sigh, Kristy went downstairs. She wasn't angry at Tiffany now.
    Slowly she pushed open the TV room door. Tiffany was flumped on the couch, arms folded, in her own storm cloud.
    "I didn't forget about 'Walking the Dog,' you know," said Kristy.
    "Go away." Tiffany shifted so her back was toward Kristy.
    Kristy sat down next to her. "You know," she said, "when I was in fifth grade, I poured Yoo-Hoo down a boy's shirt."
    Tiffany scrunched her shoulders tighter.
    "Seriously," Kristy continued. "His name was Alan Gray, and he made me so mad that day. He still does. Anyway, I had done a lot of bad things that year. One time I talked back so much to my teacher, she chased me around the room. But the Yoo-Hoo episode was the last straw. I got sent home with a note."
    Slowly Tiffany cast a glance over her shoulder.
    "Whoa, was I scared," Kristy went on. "But I figured, hey, if I don't show my parents the
    note, they'll never know. So I flushed it down the toilet."
    A teeny smile crept across Tiffany's face. "You did?"
    "Mm-hm. I don't know why the toilet didn't clog up. Anyway, I figured my troubles were over. But they weren't. See, when my teacher didn't hear from my parents, she called them."
    "Uh-oh," Tiffany said.
    "Yeah. She asked them about the note, and they asked me, and . . . whew. I won't go into the gory details, but boy, did I get in trouble."
    Tiffany was frowning. Kristy could tell the story had sunk in.
    She didn't want to push it. "So, where's the yo-yo?"
    Tiffany retrieved it from under the sofa. For the next few minutes they worked on tricks. Tiffany's mood brightened, and eventually she even started her homework — at the kitchen table.
    Kristy was exhausted by the time Mr. and Mrs. Kilbourne returned. The last thing she saw before she left was Tiffany grimly reaching into her backpack and pulling out a small white envelope that was hidden in a textbook.
    Chapter 7.
    The sign went up Wednesday morning. Tryouts were to be in exactly two weeks minus one day.
    Half of me thought it was ridiculous