pollypocket

The Tricky Tryouts is a book part of the Polly Pocket Book Series collection.

Summary

Snap! It's the first day of school. Polly and her friends think trying out for cheerleading is a rad idea. But When Beth doesn't want them on the cheerleading squad and tries to stop Polly and her fab friends from getting on, watch how they roll as they devise a cunning, tricky plan to make the squad despite her interference to see if practice makes perfect!

Plot

It's the first day of school, and Polly has been tossing and turning all night the night before and got up at 5:04 am to get ready. After washing her face, brushing her teeth, and pulling her long blonde hair into a loose ponytail, she raced down the spiral staircase to the dining room where Samuel, who had to remember how she was trying on clothes by 5 am last year and the year before was 4:45 am, was already waiting for her with her breakfast under cover of an engraved silver tray in front of her: a grapefruit sectioned and sugared before heading to the kitchen to make a one egg white omelette. Polly was trying not to wolf down her food but focused on the most important part: choosing the first day of school outfit and finishing the last piece of grapefruit. She left the room before telling Samuel to forget the omelette. After a quick shower, Polly put on her plush pink robe and walked inside her walk-in closet, which has a room of its own, stretching along every wall and cleaning up to the ceiling. There were shoes and clothes, tops, tees, tanks, pants, and dresses of every cut and style imaginable. She had the best and most extraordinary of everything for any other day of the year, always looked stylish, and had the just right outfit for any occasion. But what should you wear for the first day of school? Polly, tried by color, walked over to a section and pressed a button, and the clothes began to move on the automated conveyor. At first, she chose pink and picked pink things from the hangers and shoes from the shelves, then she decided on green and turned the dial to go faster, next orange and then blue before switching to pattern and then dresses, but she had great tops with her one of her stylin' little skirts. The conveyors were whirling so fast at top speed that after giving up, Polly reached her cell phone and called Lila. Lila, who had been best friends with Polly since 1st grade, had been waiting for Polly to call since 5 am and was going through her fashion magazines the night before for ideas for her. Lila showed up in a too-cute two-tone outfit with a matching purse and Mary Jane shoes, and her brown hair was slightly tousled and perfectly framed her face. It wasn't long before Polly put on the perfect outfit. Then Lila gave her a headband, and Polly loosened her hair and put it on. By the time Polly was finished, since the walk-in closet automated cleanup feature, it was 8:20 am, and Polly and Lila raced down the stairs to the front door where Samuel had been holding Polly's bookbag since they had been late like last year. After climbing into the limo, Polly and Lila were wondering if there would be any new students in their homeroom since they weren't split up and how they wanted Ms. Marklin as their homeroom teacher instead of their strict teacher from last year, Mr. Cromwell. when they reached to school and stepped inside, the girls were already talking about a new student who was captain of his old school's football team and took the team to state and won MVP and is a total sweetheart and super cute name Mark. he was a year and grade ahead of Polly and Lila's grade. Hence, he wasn't in any of their classes and wouldn't have lunch with them. It wasn't hard to find him because he was taller than the other boys, had very dark hair and bright blue eyes, and walked confidently. Of course, everything was going well until Beth Anderson, Polly's rival, came from the end of the hallway when she stubbed her shoe against the carpet and took a stumbling step. Luckily, Mark didn't notice, but Beth was furious and stormed past Polly and Lila before shooting them a mean look because she figured they had seen that and disappeared into a classroom. Polly looked at her class schedule and noticed they were in the same homeroom as Beth! After they entered room 233 and sat down in their seats as soon as the bell rang to start the school day, Ms. Marklin, their new homeroom teacher, stood at the front of the room and began taking attendance. Somewhere between the Bs and Ps, Polly was lost in her thoughts until Lila reached over and poked her to snap her out of it when her name was called. Polly was thinking about the new kid, Mark. Ms. Marklin began announcing the lunch schedules, clubs, and activities. After announcing cheerleading tryouts, Polly told Lila about joining a club.

After homeroom, Polly and Lila split up for classes: Polly had English, then math, while Lila had history, then science before meeting up back for PE, which was held in a classroom right outside the gym. There were other kids from their homeroom, including Beth, who would turn to talk to her friends Evie and Tori and laugh. As head cheerleader or cheerleading captain, despite being pretty and having good grades, she was always jealous of Polly, who had much more than decent grades. She was pretty and even had her own amusement park, which was true. Polly and Lila planned on signing up for cheerleading, posted on the board right outside the gym after class. After the bell rang, the class began, and Coach Stewart lectured on gym uniforms and horseplay. After class, several girls besides Polly and Lila were around the signup sheet waiting to put their names. After Polly and Lila left, Shani Burton was waiting to sign up when she overheard Beth, Evie, and Tori, who were already cheerleaders, plotting to ensure Polly and Lila didn't make the team. After they walked away, Shani signed up and wondered what to do.

Shani was in the girls' restroom and held her thick dark hair up in a glamorous style before letting it drop. She put some lip gloss from her purse and was about to text someone with her new multifunction 3in1 raspberry cellphone when lea a freckleface redhead burst in and strutted the empty stretch bathroom floor like a catwalk. Shani put away her lip gloss and told Lea everything about how Beth planned to ensure Polly and Lila didn't make the cheerleading squad. After that, Shani and Lea got their lunch, went across the cafeteria to Polly and Lila's table, and introduced themselves. Lila recognized Shani from their homeroom and their gym class. Then Shani told them everything she had heard Beth and her friends say. Beth isn't very fond of Polly, so anyone who is friends with Polly is her rival. Polly wanted to try out for cheerleading to make friends with Mark and something for her and Lila to do together. Lea was so busy polishing most of her lunch when she abruptly devised a plan to beat Beth and make friends with Mark.

After school, the girls were on the first day of cheerleading tryouts (or the tryout clinic) as phase 1 of their plan, and of course, Beth, being cheerleading captain, was in charge. There were more than 30 girls across the gym, and Beth quieted down the hopefuls, sharing that cheerleading is much more complicated than it looks. Still, the team will teach what the judges look for at tryouts for the next 4 days. Evie, Tori, and the rest of the cheerleading squad from last year stood smiling behind Beth. First, they will teach everyone the first tryout cheer, then split the girls into groups, and they will have one of the cheerleaders help work on it. The first cheer they're teaching is:

We're headed for the top.
Our goal is clear to see.
We won't step aside.
Our aim is vic-to-ry!

Afterward, the girls will do jumps, stunts, and other cheer to prepare for tryouts. After all the girls were taught the cheer, they were split into groups of 4. Luckily, Polly, Lila, Shani, and Lea stayed with each other, and Beth started assigning cheerleading to the group and saved Polly's group for last. As expected, they didn't yell in unison. Polly and Shani said, "Okay!" too fast, while Lila and Lea said it too slow, causing Beth to smile wickedly. Polly tried to do the cheer, but her motions weren't sharp because her arms were limp as cook spaghetti. Lea was practicing with precision and was approached by Beth, who told her to relax her arm and not be stiff. By day 3, the girls were exhausted from the pushups they did that morning, and that day, they were gonna learn the stunts: shoulder stands, shoulder sits, thigh stands, table tops, and a half extension pyramid. Polly had started liking Shani and Lea over the past few (only 2) days. After lunch, they split up for their classes. After school, Beth and the cheerleaders began their lessons in stunts for tryouts. Polly and the girls grouped again in 4 to watch each stunt being performed, with Lila growing nervous, Lea looking excited, and Polly and Shani giving each other self-confidence smiles. Just as the cheerleaders were about to launch into the pyramid, Mark strolled into the gym with another boy from Polly, Lila, and Shani's homeroom, Rick Pratt, who recognized them and waved at them. Both boys were walking up to where the cheerleaders were performing when Beth noticed Mark as she was about to get boosted to the top of the pyramid by Evie and Tori, and missed her footing on Evie's hand and knocked Evie over and tumbled on top of her onto the mat with a muffled "oof!" her face was bright red when she quickly collects herself by the time mark and rick reach the spot where she was standing and she started stammering. It turns out Coach Sharper, the football coach, needed some equipment for football tryouts tomorrow, and the boys needed to borrow the key. Beth looked around the ground when Rick pointed the key at her wrist, and she turned two shades redder and bit her lip. She slipped it off and gave it to Mark in a hurry. Polly noticed Beth had a crush on Mark. After practice, the girls were utterly beaten. They had to run 3 miles every morning, do different drills, turn drills, high knee drills, and cross drills; after all that, they were sore, and their bodies were echoing in pain. Luckily, Polly came up with a solution and a plan for this.

Shani and Lea had never seen Polly's house before. When she invited them to come over, they were blown away! First, she had them change into soft white robes and slippers, then treated them with all kinds of fruits, cheeses, crackers, and fruit smoothies: Lea, a banana protein smoothie; Lila, a perfectly pink strawberry; Shani, raspberry, and Polly, fantabulous fruit fusion, and next treat them to manicures and pedicures. The girls had their hands and feet massaged and prettied up before Lila, Lea, and Shani got permission to spend the night. The girls ate dinner, chatted, and laughed all night before they started to doze off. Shani started thanking Polly for a fantastic week. Lila wondered if they'd all stop being friends after this week, but Polly refused to let it happen. Lea added they needed to sleep to rule tryouts before they ended the night with a pillow fight. The next day, tryouts arrived, and the girls were jittery the whole school day. Being the voice of reason, Polly told them they made new friends, learned new things, and were majorly in shape. After classes, Polly, Lila, Shani, and Lea met in the girls' room near the gym and got ready in silence, putting on makeup and clothes for their tryouts. They looked at each other and nodded approvingly by the time they were done. To the judges and Beth's and the other cheerleaders' surprise, Polly, Shani, Lea, and Lila made it to cheerleading tryouts in football gear! With great precision, they launched into their cheer:

We're headed for tryouts,
but not to cheerlead.
Instead, we're going out
for the football team!

Beth's mouth dropped to the floor, and the judges whispered to each other as the girls finished their jumps and formed a half-extension pyramid with Polly on top before dismounting with a basket toss when Mark came in through the side door and stopped near the judges, looking for them. Just then, Polly brought Mark over to Beth and adequately introduced them to each other before heading out of the gym with her gal pals to the field. Beth sat there shaking her head while one of the judges said Polly would've made a good cheerleader.

Polly, Lila, Shani, and Lea were having lunch the following week, discussing how their plan pulled off. Lea added that the look on Beth's face during tryouts was classic! Polly was right about Mark being a cool dude. But now tryouts are over with, they need something else to do together as a new friend group when Rick, their new friend, comes over and takes a seat, stating how everyone was impressed with the girls at tryouts, even though they didn't make the team, but lea shared that she becomes the first girl kicker in the school's football team. Rick recommended that the girls learn to play the drums because since he made the football team, he would focus on that and start his own band, but his new drum set would go to waste. Hearing the drum set, Polly, stirring her yogurt absentmindedly, suddenly turned to her friends and got a brilliant idea!

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