Page 74 of The Cheerleader

“One more thing,” Dr. Perry says, and I listen hard, overwhelmed by this response, emotions churning and my heart beating fast. “The alumni director said they got a request to have the cheerleaders fly to the Navy game in two weeks. He was given a sizable check by someone who is very impressed with your dedication.”

“That’s amazing,” Liz says.

“Thank you,” I say. “I can’t believe how generous you all are, and we all appreciate it very much. I’ll have to call the alumni director and thank him too.”

“You’ve all earned it,” Pete says. “Liz has the squad doing fantastic things. Really excellent.”

“Thank you, sir.” Liz smiles. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so restrained. Not in years, anyway.

We shake each of the men’s hands. “I’m grateful to you for understanding what a difficult situation we were in. I appreciate that instead of chastising me, you have been generous and kind to forgive my mistake. I promise that you can depend on the UConn cheerleaders to represent the university with pride in the future.”

As Liz and I walk out of the office, the weight of anxiety lifts, and in spite of the fact that it’s replaced by a new weight, that of responsibility, I’m smiling like a lunatic.

“Oh my god, Susie!” Liz shouts as soon as we’re outside. She starts bouncing like we’re at a game and the team just scored a touchdown. “We’re going to the Navy game—to Annapolis, Maryland. In two weeks. I’ve never flown on a plane before!” Her voice reaches such a high pitch that I feel her excitement like my own.

Chapter Nineteen

Susie

All week after the speeding ticket incident was resolved, I keep my nose to the grindstone, like I owe the President of UConn my total dedication to being a model student and cheerleader. I go to class, to practice, and I study. The only thing I do outside of those things is tutoring Bryan.

We decide it’s best to meet in front of the library from now on, which I don’t mind even though it’s starting to get chilly. I told him if it’s raining, he needs to come to my dorm, and he accused me of being a sissy. I laughed.

The memory of that phone call makes me smile. That he called surprised the heck out of me because I never gave him my number—until I remembered that it’s the same as Liz’s number, and of course, he has it. My smile fades as I close my book.

Josh, Carol, and Liz met with the student activities office and finalized the arrangements for the beer fest this week. They also met with our cosponsor, the UConn soccer team.

I was shocked that a varsity team ranked in the top five in the country would need to do fundraising to supplement their budget. That makes me almost feel guilty about the athletic department’s recent generosity with us.

The beer fest starts at seven. It’s almost four. I’m wondering where Liz is until she pushes the half-open door wide and comes in. Her cheeks are red from the cool air, hair windblown, face beaming. She gives off a wall of energy that almost blows me back when I stand.

“Are you ready? Tonight’s going to be a long one. We need to get there by five thirty for setup.”

“I’ll be there. I’m sorry I haven’t been helping with⁠—”

She waves a hand as she goes to her desk, offloading her books and folders. “Don’t worry. You’ll be working tonight long and hard enough to make up for it. We have a lot to do. Set up, ticket sales, beer pouring, resupplying, and cleaning the restrooms—they’ll get gross if we don’t keep them up. We could have hired someone, but the soccer team agreed with us that it would cut too much into our profits.”

“Wow. There’s a lot more to this than I realized.”

“Someone from the student activities office will meet us there and orient everyone, assign responsibilities, and make sure we have everything covered.”

I nod, determined to do more than my part. “I’ll do whatever you need, Liz. I’ll even clean the ladies’ room.”

“I know. We’ll all do our part. We have such a great group. We don’t have as many people as the soccer team, though, so we won’t be sharing the profits equally. That’s the rule.”

“That makes sense,” I say as I push open the curtains of my closet to find something to wear.

“Make sure you dress neatly, but in work clothes. And remember we decided on team colors. Plus, it’s going to be hot in there⁠—”

“Hot?”

“I forgot you’ve never been to a beer fest at the ROTC hangar.” She smiles like I’m in for something.

“It’s a huge building, so⁠—”

“It’ll be filled wall-to-wall with students, and it’ll get hot, believe me.”

“Okay. White short-sleeved polo shirt with blue jeans it is.”