The Tryout

Content Warning: This section contains racial slurs in reference to Christina’s direct experiences.

Christina, her best friend Megan, and several other seventh-grade girls stand waiting to try out for the cheerleading squad. All of the other seventh-grade students sit staring at an empty gymnasium floor with wide eyes. Christina has a look of fierce determination on her face when her name is called, and she asks herself if she is ready.

Six months prior, Christina and her mother drive up to Venable Middle School for Christina’s first day of seventh grade. Christina is worried that she and her best friend Megan don’t have any classes together, but her mother assures her they can see each other at lunch and that Christina will be too busy to notice anyway. Christina walks up the steps and is greeted by cheerleaders who welcome everyone to their first day. Inside, she feels smaller than all the other students around her, and she rushes to find her homeroom class. There, a boy named Tobin (who Christina knew in elementary school) calls Christina “rice girl” (13), something he is known to do.