Lissa on the Sidelines: #6

By Liz Adams and Jen Jones

When Lissa is sidelined with an injury, the Greenview girls need to perform without her. She can't wait to get back to what she does best! After a few weeks, Lissa is ready to return, but it doesn't seem the cheer team wants her back. Is Lissa stuck on the sidelines for good?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
• Release date: Dec 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781496532039

Book preview

Jones

Who doesn’t love a good TV night? Some people love soap operas, others devour bad TV movies, and some, like my sister, Dulci, can’t get enough of cheesy teen dramas. Me? I’m all about watching the cheer competitions I’ve DVR’d from ESPN.

The national high school cheerleading champions are so inspiring to me! For what was probably my hundredth viewing, I’d recruited my BFFs Gaby, Brooke, and Faith to watch with me. It was sure to pump us up for our upcoming regional competition.

Liss, can you pass the kettle corn? asked Gaby. She had a deep and everlasting love for all things sweet.

Sure thing, I said, jokingly throwing a piece at her before actually handing her the bowl.

Brooke grabbed a handful and returned to her cozy spot on the loveseat. She was curled up with a fuzzy blue blanket decorated with cursive letters that read Greenview Vikings.

Can I play couch commando? she asked, reaching for the remote before I could answer. One thing was for sure about our Brookie: she loved to be in control!

Dulci butted in from the kitchen where she was slurping down cereal as a snack. "Go for it, Brooke! And while you’re at it, can you delete the bazillion hours that Lissa has taken up on the DVR? No one needs to watch that many cheerleading competitions!"

Yes, and you have nothing better to do than eavesdrop! I called back, sticking my tongue out in her direction. I almost added that I practically paid for the cable anyway, since I gave Mom my babysitting money to help out, but figured it wasn’t worth wasting my breath.

Dulci just didn’t get it. She was a cheerleader at Greenview High School, but her main cheer goal was to bat her eyelashes at boys from the sidelines. Personally, I had bigger plans for my cheer career. I was hoping to pay for college by landing a full-ride cheerleading scholarship to a major school. As far as I was concerned, you couldn’t spell diploma without p-o-m!

Brooke, you are so lucky to be an only child, I grumbled, earning a sympathetic smile from Faith. She and Gaby probably didn’t understand either — they both had brothers, not annoying older sisters!

I guess! Brooke said, taking a break from scrolling through the channel lineup. But to tell you the truth, I feel like I have three sisters, so I get the best of both worlds.

Gaby wiped away a fake tear and pounced to give her a big bear hug. Aww, B, that is too sweet! Faith piled on the hug, too. Though I wasn’t as gushy as everyone else, even I felt a little emotional at Brooke’s statement. These girls were definitely like sisters to me, too, and I was mega-protective of all of them. No one would ever get to mess with this fierce foursome if I had anything to do with it!

You guys are going to give me a toothache with this lovefest! said Dulci from the doorway. But even she was smiling. Can I watch with you?

I started to shut her down, but changed my mind. Yeah, sure, maybe you’ll even learn a thing or two, I teased, scooting over to make room for her on the couch. Not that she needed much cushion space — the girl was a rail! I had a bit more of an athletic, curvy build . . . yet another way we were opposites.

Dulci turned the living room lights down, and Brooke pressed play with a flourish. The announcer’s voice, which was oh-so-familiar to me by this point, started things off. I recited the speech from memory along with him: "Presenting the 2012 Universal Cheerleading Association* National High School Cheerleading Championships!"

The crowd started going crazy and furiously waving their poms and spirit signs. I made a mental promise to myself that I would go see the competition in person one day. No, scratch that — I would compete as a GHS