Trey Harrison, I blamed Trey Harrison.

He was the blame for me standing out here on a football field on a hot summer day for four hours. And did I say making a fool of myself?

"We all got together and this is what we said.
We're gonna F-I-G-H-T
We're gonna S-C-O-R-E
We're gonna fight
We're gonna score
We're gonna win tonight! WOOHOO!"

I cannot believe I'm chanting those words with about 50 girls. Did I mention I'm at cheerleader tryouts?

"Okay group B, you're up!" yells Ms. Girado, our cheerleading sponsor.
I'm in that group. Got to run.

"Touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, boys.
You make the touchdowns, we make the noise.
A boom, boom!"

We jump and turn to the left.

"Hey, a boom, boom!"

We jump and face the back.

"Hey, a boom boom!"

We jump and face the right. And then face the judges.

"Can you feel it?
A boom, boom!- Hey"

Did I say these cheers are hard to do and sound, well like a guy? My voice really hasn't changed. Somehow, I feel like I'm screeching.

"Hey, Hey you know what to do,
you got to rock with the white,
and jam with the blue!"

I know. Pretty intelligent stuff, right? So why am I out here completely, totally humiliating myself?

Last year, I tried playing football. I was the absolute worst on the team. Trey loves football. It's the one sport a big guy can play and still get respect.

"You, know Taylor, if you're a cheerleader you'll practice when we do," Trey said. "You'll be on the same field. You'll get to watch me practice."

Oh, he forgot to mention that if I actually made the squad I would probably be subject to ridicule in front of the whole school. Around here, boys don't dance. They don't cheer. I would be doing both.

Get that out of your minds though, the picture of me wearing a skirt and those little cute bloomers. I'd love to wear them, as you've probably guessed. But boys have those "macho" matching uniforms...or so I was told. Yeah right!

I practiced for a week with Trey's mom and cousin Amber to get ready. Trey's mom was a cheerleader back in the day. Amber's a year ahead of us. She's already on the squad.

I do have a confession to make. The chants, yes they're annoying. But the dances we've had to do in tryouts have been pretty cool. My jazz, hip-hop and even ballet classes have paid off. I may have sucked doing cheers, but I think I've really amazed some people by how well I've done.

And the tumbling has been really cool, too. My acro classes paid off there, too. Now the pyramids and picking people up thing, well I could do without that, too. Being the only guy out here, I've had to do more lifting than I've done in my entire life. My shoulders are more than sore.

"Okay, ladies and gentleman gather around!" Ms. Girado yells.

The moment of truth has arrived. This whole ordeal thankfully has come to a close.

"You've all done a good job today," Ms. Girado says. "You've all worked hard. But we're only going to be able to keep five of you."

I'm doing the math. Can't wait to tell Trey I gave it my best shot.

"Shelly Whitaker, Olivia Bell, Jessica Daniels, Jillian Graves and Taylor Walker, congratulations, you're on the squad," Ms. Girado says. "I need you to stay for a few minutes. Everyone else, thanks for coming. We'll have tryouts again next summer."

Taylor Walker, congratulations, you're on the squad!

Can you say completely stunned? What have I done? Part of me wants to crawl completely under a rock now. Part of me is actually excited.

The older girls on the squad are standing and applauding as we make our way to the end zone where they've been sitting.

"Taylor, you rocked today!" Amber said as she gave me a hug.

"Actually, your cheering and your moves need some work," Ms. Girado said as she hands me forms for my mother to fill out. "But those are things we can work on. The dancing and tumbling you've got to be able to do. You can't learn those overnight."

"And you're an awesome dancer and tumbler," Amber whispered.

"Cheerleading camp is in two weeks," Ms. Girado told all of us. "It's at UT. Taylor, we'll call around to see if any other teams have boys so we can figure out your dorm situation."

Among the forms was a list of rules. It also included ordering uniforms. Can I say the boys uniforms look kind of dorky?

"We're also going to have to change your schedule around," Ms. Girado said. "I'm going to have to get you pulled out of boys P.E. and into the movement class that all of the cheerleaders must be in."

Movement class? According to Amber, it's a Pilates and dance fest, along with weight training. I'll be in there with not only cheerleaders, but dance team members, gymnasts and volleyball players. All of them girls. So you won't hear me complaining about that.

"New cheerleaders need to pick up their workout clothes before they go," Ms. Girado said.

There may be a different uniform for boys when we cheer. There isn't for practice.

"This looks to be about your size," Ms. Girado said as she tossed me a tank top.

"So do these," she said as she tossed me a pair of spandex shorts, with the emphasis on short. "You'll probably need an athletic supporter under them."

I was amazed when I didn't hear any snickering.

"At least you don't have to wear a sports bra under the tank top," one of the girls said.

#####

"Hurry up!" mom yelled upstairs as we were getting ready to go over the Trey's to swim.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I yelled as I came bounding down the stairs.

"Nice tank top," mom said, noticing my quasi-nerd, quasi-cheerleader look.

"Well, it's clean," I said, trying to act oblivious to the Washington High cheerleading shirt I had on.

I was through pretending I didn't really want to be on the squad. I knew I was going to be in for some humiliation, but I was proud I made the team. And this was the first opportunity for me to wear the shirt.

"We match!" Amber said when I walked into the door at Trey's house.

Well, not entirely. She was wearing a little bikini under hers. I was wearing my dorky swim trunks that came to my knees.

"Dude, glad you're here," Trey said as we walked through the house and out to the pool.

I was surprised to see a huge banner hanging up..."Congratulations Taylor!"

There were blue and white pom poms handing everywhere.

"Trey and Amber worked hard to get everything ready," Trey's mom said.

They also brought out a cake. It had "Washington High's newest cheerleader" on it.

Taylor couldn't help but notice the pictures. There was a football player (Trey). There were two cheerleaders labeled Amber and Taylor. Both were wearing skirts. I wasn't about to protest. I wondered if mom would say anything. She didn't.

"Oh yeah, I forgot something," Trey said as he went inside.

He brought out a gift bag.

"I hope you're not going to wear that dorky suit" he said.

"Dorky suit?" I said. "It's almost the same as yours."

I looked into the bag and there it was:

A teeny, weeny, yellow, polka dot bikini.