Chapter 26

We climbed up the bleachers and Robbie sat. Then Tami and I sat on either side of her. Robbie looked from Tami to me and back again. "How come you're not sitting over there?" she asked Tami, pointing at the empty space next to me.

"'Cause I wanted to sit by my best friend."

Robbie looked from me to Tami. "Un huh. Afraid I'm going to cause trouble?"

"Of course not," I said quickly. Then softly added, "If we win."

"I heard that."

I grinned.

Robbie glared for a minute, then smiled and nodded. "I'll be good. I promise."

I relaxed. Robbie knew how competitive she was, and if she was thinking about it, she'd control it.

The bleachers filled up while we talked, mostly about the football game tonight. Mikee and Allie came in together, Mikee sat next to Tami and Allie next to me. After a few more stragglers wandered in, Mr. Reed stepped up to the lectern.

"Settle!" he ordered, holding up both hands. "We have a few things before we get to the good stuff."

"The Cheerleaders!" some boy yelled.

I reached down and gave Allie's leg a squeeze, and she slapped my hand playfully.

Mr. Reed held up his arms again. "First off, where's Kelly Dubrey?" I looked around and eventually saw her at the far end of the bleachers holding up her hand. "Kelly, come here." While Kelly maneuvered her way out of the bleachers, Mr. Reed continued. "This summer, NASA and the Gates Foundation sponsored a competition to design software that could be used to guide automated research vehicles on other planets. That's a fancy way of saying artificial intelligence for you sci-fi buffs. The competition was open to anyone who had not graduated college as of the first of September. They received just over a thousand entries, but only fifteen from high school students."

Kelly was standing next to the lectern now.

"Mr. Nye and I have just been informed that the twenty-five finalists include two high schoolers, and the other one is from Boston." It took a second to register before the applause started. I think Tami was first. "Kelly will be invited to Houston to discuss her entry with the judges' panel in December, and invited back for an eight-week internship this summer. If she wins, her prize is a fifty-thousand dollar SCHOLARSHIP, so don't start hitting her up for loans." The applause was even louder this time and Kelly turned a delicious shade of red before shaking Mr. Reed's hand and running back to the bleachers.

Mr. Reed made several more announcements before, "Girl's volleyball will be in Portland for a tournament this weekend. They left yesterday. The cross-country team will be in Olympia for their tournament. Now I'm sure no one cares about football, but the Seattle paper this morning said there were only seven undefeated teams in four-A. Anybody want to guess one?"

"REBELS!" about six hundred voices yelled. Everybody started stomping and clapping as the cheerleaders and football players made their way down out of the bleachers.

Paula took Mr. Reed's place in front of the microphone. "Who's gonna play football tonight?" she yelled.

"REBELS!"

The other cheerleaders had formed in front of the bleachers, and the football players lined up behind Paula and the lectern.

"Who's gonna score some touchdowns tonight?"

"REBELS!"

"Who's gonna make the Pirates cry?"

"REBELS!"

"Who's gonna win football tonight?"

"REBELS!"

"Who's still gonna be undefeated tomorrow?"

"REBELS!"

The cheerleaders all started jumping around, and I enjoyed the view from the back as their short skirts fluttered up and down.

Cassie Tate, the cheerleader on the far end, ran to the wall and picked up some large cards, then handed them out to the other cheerleaders as I walked up to the lectern. I gave Paula a hug, then adjusted the microphone and looked out over the crowd.

"We're not very good. We've even got a girl on our team. And everybody knows, girls can't play football."

"Monster Girl!" somebody yelled, then the chanting started. I turned and smiled at Robbie, and she gave me a I'm-gonna-get-you stare in return.

I turned back to the audience. "It's pretty simple. We've got the best team in the state and the prettiest quarterback. They might as well give us that trophy now."

The audience started clapping and stomping again. I walked back to the line and gave Robbie a hug.

Paula stepped back to the microphone. "Who's gonna throw that football till the Pirates think that pigs can fly?"

Mikee held up a white card about three feet by two feet and the audience yelled, "Mike!" It was blank on our side, but I guessed it had Mike's name on the other.

"Who's gonna sack their quarterback till he cries for his mommy?" Paula yelled.

"Robbie!" the crowd yelled as Darlene held up a card.