Pretty Ugly

When practice begins, Jamee is excited to hear that they’ll be focusing on tumbling skills. Jamee is athletic and has been working on her gymnastics skills for years. She is familiar with all of the moves Coach Seville lists—“toe-touch, tuck, hurdler, and herkie” (68)—but can see that some of the other girls are not. Coach Seville calls up each girl one at a time to see what they can do. Vanessa and Tasha both do the basic moves and then add a more difficult move. When it’s Jamee’s turn, she adds a series of cartwheels followed by a roundoff, which she hits perfectly. Amberlynn goes next and adds a backflip into a walking handstand. Coach Seville praises her but says that “all this showing off might be going a bit far” (70). 

Next, it is Angel’s turn. When she is called, someone coughs “Loser,” which causes Coach Seville to sternly tell the group that she demands respect between teammates on her squad. Shaken by the bullying, Angel struggles to do even a basic cartwheel. Coach Seville is kind about it, but as Angel reapproaches the bleachers, she has a change of heart and asks Coach Seville if she can try again. This time, Angel does “a perfect aerial, a kind of mid-air cartwheel where hands never touch the ground” (73). Coach Seville praises her. Jamee checks Vanessa’s reaction and finds her looking serious and intent. In the locker room, Jamee confesses to Amberlynn about the math test retake that conflicts with cheerleading try-outs.

Jamee meets Dez in the park, where he greets her with a hug that quicky turns into a hungry kiss. Jamee pushes his hands away from her backside. He is confused and hurt by the change in her level of affection toward him. He points out that she’s never stopped him from kissing her before, then adds, “From what I heard you never stopped Bobby Wallace neither, and you two were together for, like, what? A month?” (76). Jamee challenges Dez, asking if he thinks she went “all the way” with Bobby Wallace (76-77). Dez seems unsure and says he heard some people talking but won’t tell her who it was. Jamee is angry and leaves, wondering who has heard this story and who believes it. 

At home, Jamee’s dad asks if she’s okay. She says she’s just tired from cheerleading, and he brings up her grades. She promises herself that she will lock in and work on homework that night but is so tired she just falls asleep. 

The next day in school, Dez apologizes for what he said the day before. Jamee says they can still meet later that afternoon and talk then. She notices Tasha watching her and feels uneasy. At practice, Jamee sits next to Angel, who smiles at her. Jamee tells her she should smile more. Another girl, Crystal, agrees and points out that good cheerleaders always smile during routines. After practice, Coach Seville explains how tryouts will work: One group at a time will enter, show off their jumps and flips, then perform a cheer routine. After practice, Jamee changes in the locker room and thinks about how she doesn’t want to hang out with Dez. She reflects on how she’s had a boyfriend since the beginning of middle school and wonders if that was a mistake. Jamee ignores the other girls in the locker room, including Tasha, who is watching her with an “odd, guilty stare” (84).

Jamee meets Dez, Darcy, and a few other people at Niko’s, the local pizza restaurant. Dez asks why she is five minutes later than the others, who had also been at cheerleading practice. Jamee lies and says the coach wanted to talk to her. Darcy asks if it was about Jamee’s grades, as she’ll have to keep them up to stay on the squad. Jamee snaps back, telling Darcy to stay out of her business and suggesting that if she does make the squad, Darcy might get to have Jamee’s experience of always being compared to her sister. The group gets quiet and tense in response. 

Dez points out Vanessa, Tasha, and their friends at a booth in the corner. The girls are looking at something on Tasha’s phone and whispering and giggling. Angel walks in soon after, with a younger girl that Jamee guesses is her little sister. Vanessa moves to approach Angel, but Jamee quickly steps between them and starts a bright, forced conversation with Angel. As Angel goes to leave, Vanessa tries to knock her pizza box out of her hands, but Jamee balances the box so that it doesn’t spill. Vanessa tells Jamee that she just made a mistake. Dez and the others approach, providing a buffer. Outside, Darcy asks why Jamee embarrassed her in front of her friends. They argue again. 

Back home, Jamee finds her parents clearing her grandmother’s belongings out of her old bedroom to make way for the baby. This gives Jamee a sense of profound grief as she remembers her grandmother and confronts her absence. As they work, a phone call comes in—it’s Mrs. Guessner, who tells Jamee’s parents about the failed test and the missed tutorials. They are furious and tell her she won’t “amount to anything in this world” if she doesn’t change (102). Jamee’s mother tells her she needs to start being more like her sister in school or they’re going to have problems. Jamee explodes, yelling at her mother, and her mother slaps her. Everyone is shocked. Her mother tells Jamee to get out of her sight, and her father rushes to her mother’s side and asks Jamee to please just go because the stress is not good for her mother or the baby. Jamee wonders why no one cares about what’s good for her, then she runs to her room and slams the door.