The night before the Winter Sports Pep Rally Brian stood before the large bathroom mirror. He rehearsed several casual positions he could adapt while he waited for his name to be announced with the varsity basketball starters.

He tried folding his arms, with his hands tucked in his arm pits, thumbs out. No good--he’d be in a jacket and tie. Plus he’d crush the boutonnière the varsity cheerleaders would pin on him beforehand.

Then he stood with his hands folded in front of him. No. The school photographer always told the team not to stand like that--it looked like they were trying to cover up their package or something. He put his hands behind his back and felt like he was standing at attention.

He finally tried his hands in his pockets, left leg slightly extended. Perfect. He was standing this way when Diana spotted him down on the floor before the pep rally started.

"Look, there’s Brian and Richard," she said, pointing.

Pat looked across the gleaming gym floor at the varsity basketball and wrestling teams. "Hmm-mmm," she said.

He was cool, she had to hand it to him. If she was down there waiting to run out in front of the whole school she would have at been fidgeting. Brian was standing there like he was at the bus stop.

There was a French teach named Mr. Rollins that did all the announcements for the games and pep rallies. Besides a deep, rich baritone, Mr. Rollins had a dramatic style--he rolled consonants and extended vowels, letting his rich voice run up and down each name.

Pat tried to imagine what the Coppenhagen name was going to sound like. It was long, he probably say it pretty quickly and stretch out Bri-an for days. She decided if their was ever a one in a million chance Mr. Rollins had to call out her name she wouldn’t use just Pat. Why waste that voice on one syllable? It would be worth the aggravation of people teasing her afterwards: Patellaaaaa Coppenhagen! Well, fat chance that would ever happen anyway.

"Welcome all Canons to the Sebastian High School Winter Sports Rally!"

The gym erupted into cheers divided by class. From behind the team, SEN-IORS! To the left of them, FRESH-MEN! The right, SOPH-MORES! And in front, JUN-IORS! The four cheers fused together into two beats which Brian felt though his chest as he continued to hold his casual pose in front of the bench.

The announcer introduced Coach Don James, who gave his yearly speech while nearly being drowned out by a resurgence of the class cheers. The couch remained on center court as the announcer took over again to introduce the varsity basketball starters.

Everyone knew who would be first. The seniors were on their feet as Mr. Rollins called out, "First up, your team captain and starting point guard, number twelve, senior Daaaanny Willis!!!"

The senior varsity cheerleaders began to clap in unison, shouting "DAN-NY! DAN-NY!" until the whole senior side was cheering with them.

Over on the sophomore side, Anne had positioned herself on the end of the line where Brian could see her. She waved. He smiled and kept position although his hands were getting sweaty.

Mr. Rollins continued. "Starting forward, number fourteen, senior Mikeeeeeeey Boudroux!" Brian saw Mike shake his head a little at "Mikey." He ran out and smacked Danny and the coach’s hands in center court.

"Number eight, at center, junior Big...Ben...Kraniiiiich!" Ben jogged sideways, waving his arms comically at the junior stands.

"Number six, starting forward, senior Cliiiint Vick!"

Brian tried to take a deep breath without looking obvious. He was next. As Clint ran out, Brian looked back at Richard, who winked and pantomimed a jog. Brian smiled. He turned around and remembered to take his hands out of his pockets. Clint slapped hands and Brian prayed silently, "Please God, just make at least half of them cheer." He knew he couldn’t match the noise for Danny, but he’d never hear the end of it if he got just a bunch of polite clapping.

And then it happened.

"Number ten, rookie starting guard, sophomore Briaaaaan Coppenhagen!!!"

Most of his last name was covered by a tremendous roar from the sophomore side. Anne and the other cheerleaders made jumps in such rapid motion they dispensed with their nice form and simply popped up and down.

The jog out seemed to take forever to Brian. By the time he reached center court and dutifully hit hands with Danny and the other starters, the crowd had switched to the cheer created the day of the scrimmage. Many bent at their waists, arms extended.

"C!C!C!C!" Standing center court in the middle of all those cheers, Brian felt like he was trying to move underwater. His arm felt heavy when he lifted it to wave at his class--something he forgot to do on his jog out.

He looked around the gym by moving his eyes and not jerking his head around. Anne made him promise not to stand out there with his head up like a country tourist in Manhattan. Brian swore he would only look at the sophomores, since they’d be the only ones cheering. Anne smiled mysteriously and said she wasn’t so sure about that.

Anne was right. As Brian scanned the senior and junior bleachers in front of him he was astonished to see figures jumping up and down in other classes, some doing the C cheer. He wanted to wave at them too, but thought that would look too conceited. He dared not smile or show any pleased expression as Danny and the others looked over at him. But he was thinking one thing. Wow.

Mr. Rollins voice broke in over the din. "And please welcome the rest of the boys’ varsity basketball team!"

The entire gym sounded again as Richard and the others ran to center court. Richard went straight to Brian with both hands out. They jumped up simultaneously, and met mid-air. From the left the sophomores were still gamely shouting, "C!C!" Brian and Richard waved together.

After the girls’ team was brought out, it was time for the contest for the loudest class. Mr. Rollins told the teams to head back to their respective classes. Richard grasped Brian by the shoulder.

"Let’s go C!"

"Wait up C!"

They ran back over to sophomore side. He and Brian, now joined by varsity wrestlers, ran the gauntlet of excited cheerleaders. When Richard got to Anne, he lifted her up by the waist. Brian smacked her hand when she came back to the floor. He then turned and looked up in the stands for Maria. She was in the knot of drill teamers a few rows up. It was a uniform day for the drill team, so they were easy to spot. Maria herself was also easy to pick out, as all black students were. He waved.

His heart leaped at her excited expression. In the middle of all the noise and jumping bodies they were looking straight at each other. Brian stood at the spot, trying to record the moment for mental playback later. After a moment, he noticed Dawn and Sherri next to her, motioning and pointing at an empty space between them.

But just then, someone grabbed his arm and whirled him around.

"Wooo!!" He called, caught off-guard. Anne was dragging him back towards the cheerleaders’ line. "Stay down here!" she said.

"Why?" asked Brian, trying to turn and wave to Maria and her friends. He hoped she understood. Once you got Anne in cheerleader mode, she was hard to argue with. He saw Richard already standing with the cheerleaders. The expression on his face matched what Brian felt--confused but excited. Anne brought them together.

"You guys can help us, okay? It’ll be fun!!!" Anne had to yell over four classes of cheering. Which actually didn’t seem to strain her voice at all.

"But...we’re not cheerleaders," Brian said. The thought of cheering in front of the whole class, the whole school, didn’t exactly thrill him.

About five girls then proceeded to show Richard and Brian the hand gestures for the cheer.

"No, like this." A girl named Tracy said to Richard. She took his arm and moved it to demonstrate. Richard shot Brian his "Isn’t this great?" look. Brian didn’t want to show any reaction in front of the girls, so instead he turned his smile on a brunette he’d seen in his geometry class. She was straightening his boutonnière.

"Thanks," he said.

"You’d think varsity squad would know how to pin these on by now," the girl answered.

Brian flapped his hand at the senior bleachers. "Amateurs," he said. The girl laughed. "Yeah, right."

"Hey Suz, Anne wants you to do signs with her." Someone handed a large sign to the girl Brian was talking to. One side had "SOPH" in block letters and the other had "SHHH!"

"What’s this for?"

"The class contest," Suz answered as Richard turned around.

"Soph? What’s that?"

"Brian, duh?" said Anne. She held up her sign, which had "MORES" written on it.

"Ooooh..."

Anne turned to Suz. "Richard’s lifting me up while I hold it."

"Oh," breathed Suz, "like college squads."

"We gotta use these guys when we can." Anne said to Suz. She put an arm around her shoulders. "Maybe you convince Brian. I just had to promise a shoulder rub." They looked up at Brian. Behind them, Richard lifted his eyebrows up and down. Brian grinned.

"It’s up to Suz," he said.

"I’m not as small as Anne," warned Suz.

Brian frowned. "You can’t be even a hundred pounds, what are you talking about?"

"So you’ll do it? Suz?" Anne looked between them.

"As long as I don’t crush my little carnation here, it’s finally on straight," Brian said. Suz nodded.

Anne took Richard and Brian’s jackets and laid them on top of several pom-poms. Then she and Suz demonstrated how Brian and Richard would bend at the knees so they could sit on their shoulders.

"You’ve got to hold on to our legs so we don’t fall backwards," Anne instructed.

"Noooo problem," Richard said.

Anne hit him. "Don’t be a pervert. I’m trying not to crack my head open."

"I don’t want to see that either, so I’m going to hold on real tight," Richard said.

"Safety first," Brian said.

"Are you sure you want to subjected to this?" Anne asked Suz.

"Let’s get ready Canons!!!!" Mr. Rollins said.

"Too late now," Richard said.

"Uh-oh," said Suz. But she didn’t look displeased with the situation.

The class cheers began again.

"Soph-mores!"

"Soph-mores!"

Brian felt his face go hot, realizing he was actually expected to do this in front of everyone. He suddenly remembered a trick his father said he used when he had to speak at rallies in college.

"Just let your eyes skim over people while you’re talking," George said, "don’t let your gaze focus on anyone in particular. Because as soon as you see people watching you it’s all over, you’re nervous again."

So Brian tried this. He faced the bleachers, but let his eyes skim over his classmates, especially the girls, and took up the cheer.

"Soph-mores!" Clap-clap.

"Soph-mores!" Clap-clap.

In center court, some varsity cheerleaders rolled out a small float shaped like canon and put it in the middle of the floor. The judges of the class contest trooped out onto center court. Each class was supposed to cheer as loud as possible when their turn came. Coach Don James, the wrestling coach, the girls’ basketball coach and the vice principal were supposed to decide which class was the loudest.

"Let’s start with the seniors!!!!"

The cheerleaders swung the canon around to point it at the senior bleachers. The seniors cheered and the other three classes booed.

"Okay, seniors only. Quiet other classes, unless you want to help," Mr. Rollins said.

And, Suz and the other well-versed had their "SHHHH!!!" signs ready to quiet their classes. The frosh squad was stuck with hand gestures. Richard and Brian booed at the top of their lungs when Mr. Rollins asked, "Well?" after the junior and senior classes cheered for an allotted five seconds.

Before the cheering started, Brian bent down in front of Suz. She draped her legs one at a time over his shoulder. Brian tapped her lightly on the calf. "Scoot up," He told her. She did until she was firmly sitting on his shoulders. Brian stood up.

When he was standing, he looked over at Richard, who rose with a wobble. Anne teetered, straightened, and held up her sign. Brian gave his friends a thumbs-up but privately thought he Suz were smoother.

"You okay?" Suz bent down and looked at him from behind her sign.

"Yeah!" Brian yelled up at her.

"Okay sophomores, let’s see what you got!"said Mr. Rollins.

Richard came and stood next to Brian, and together they yelled at the top of their lungs. Brian didn’t feel self-conscious about that since they were facing center court with their backs to the crowd. When the Sophomores’ five seconds was up, Anne leaned over and to hit Suz’s outstretched hand.

"Wooo!" said the girls together.

Richard held out his hand to Brian.

"Wooo!" the boys mocked them in high-pitched voices.

"Shutup!" Anne laughed, smacked Richard on the head. Brian felt Suz hit the top of his as the freshman were yelling for their five seconds. The four of them booed accordingly. Then Mr. Rollins came back on.

"Judges?" he boomed down at the principal, vice principal and the winter sports coaches. The students in the stands went back to their class cheers. At center court, the coaches playfully grabbed the principals in a huddle.

"Soph-mores!" yelled the class, responding to Suz and Anne’s signs. Suz was first with ‘SOPH’ and Anne followed with ‘MORES’ in a quick jerky motion. Soon that was all Brian could hear over the other class cheers. He chanted along, standing perfectly still so Suz could keep her balance. He held onto her legs and did not look over at where Maria and her friends were sitting.

"Judges do we have a decision?" Mr. Rollins could barely be heard.

The judges broke their huddle, and all the coaches blew their whistles and held up their hands for silence.

Richard and Brian turned back towards center court to watch. Richard whipped around and Anne yelled, nearly dropping her sign. She grabbed Richard’s shoulder to steady herself. Brian turned smoothly, Suz only had to straighten her back and grip Brian’s body with her legs. Anne and Suz swapped their signs for pom-poms. Suz and Brian easily passed the items back and forth.

"Good team!" Suz yelled down at him.

When the cheering subsided, Mr. Rollins said, "Judges, please aim the canon at the winning class!" The coaches went over to the canon and began to walk around in a circle with it. The class cheers got louder as their speed gradually increased. They turned around once more, then stopped the canon in front of the sophomore class. The other classes booed.

The sophomore class went crazy, they stood as a body like a crowd of fans in the last exciting minutes of a game, screaming and stomping up and down. The bleachers began to sway. In the midst of this Brian felt a hand on his elbow. He looked down to see the cheerleaders’ faculty advisor, Miss Hill, motioning for him to let Suz down off of his shoulders.

"Susan!!! Get down now!!" she was yelling right next to Brian’s ear.

Brian stooped down and Suz put her hands on his shoulders and hopped off with a little dismount that reminded Brian of the game of leap-frog. When she turned to face him, Brian expected a worried expression, but Suz was laughing. Miss Hill swept past them towards Richard and Anne. Brian mocked her determined stride, to the great amusement of Suz.

Corralling Richard and Anne proved a bit harder for Miss Hill. She tried calling Anne, but the noise of the sophomore class proved too great. Brian and Suz watched as Richard, with a tight grip on Anne’s calves, jogged back and forth in front of the class bleachers, to the delight of the first few rows. Anne, now used to Richard’s moving around held up her pom-poms. Several cheerleaders and players hurried after them in a desperate attempt to spot.

Brian was laughing hysterically as Miss Hill tried to follow Richard, comically scooting back and forth in her sensible teacher’s clothes. She ducked as Anne’s foot swung out when the pair completed a lap. Suz leaned against Brian, covering her eyes. "Oh God, we’re in such deep shit..." she moaned. But when she took her hands from her face, she was shaking with laughter.

"He wouldn’t drop her," Brian assured her. The coach dismissed the classes from the pep-rally and Brian and Suz weaved through the chaotic rush of sophomores coming off of the bleachers to see the outcome of the chase.

Miss Hill finally caught up with Richard and Anne when they paused to pose for a yearbook photographer. Miss Hill yanked Richard around by the arm, perhaps jostling Anne more than Richard. Richard, trying to keep the amusement out of his face, stooped down for Anne to get off. Anne didn’t get off with the neat leap-frog move Suz did, instead she began to wriggle off of Richard shoulders. Richard waved his arms around, his head disappearing under Anne’s skirt. He then stood too quickly and Anne was caught by her right leg. She hopped beside Richard on her left, smacking him in the head. Several students who were waiting to get off of the bleachers now watched with great interest; the boys were whooping at Anne’s fluttering cheerleading skirt. Richard bent down again and Anne freed her leg. Richard stood back up to the applause of the boys. Anne put her fist into his stomach and he doubled over. The girls of the group screamed with delight.

While still laughing, Brian shook his head. Anne and Richard couldn’t have done that better if they had rehearsed. Anne, he knew was mortified, and was just trying to play the situation off, but Richard was enjoying every minute; he waved as the crowd booed at Miss Hill, marching off with Richard and Anne each by an arm.

"Susan Coughlin!!!" Miss Hill barked as they passed. "Activity room, now!!"

Suz faced Brian. "Uh-oh," she said. "Are you in major trouble? Do you want me to go with you? I’ll tell her it was me and Richard’s idea." Brian asked anxiously, helping gather her sign and pom-poms. He felt bad now for laughing.

Suz shook her head as they exited the gym in a crowd of students. "Nah, she’ll probably just give us the act like ladies speech."

"Let me know what happens in geometry, okay?" Brian said.

Suz smiled. "Sure. Hey, you know, you’d make a good cheerleader."

"I doubt that."

"Oh yeah, much better than Richard," Suz said. She waved and turned towards the activity room.