Wednesday, 4 p.m., the school gym. You sit in the stands and watch the pretty girls with shiny hair and pom-poms try out. Oh, and that one. That girl again, trying to make the cheerleading squad.

• Well, she knows what time to show up - all the capable candidates have come down with the flu in the annual December epidemic. * It's amazing how, with her luck, that fate has passed her by. What was her name again? Susan? Seu, no, Sue. Sue Heck. Isn't that girl who tried to make the tennis ball retrieval team last semester?

• And I can jump exactly 1 meter 20 centimeters. As long as it's not diagonally to the left. I have poor coordination to diagonally to the left (chuckle). And I- — long and overly enthusiastic list of all her abilities in front of the coach

You were a bystander, unsure what to do - either clench your teeth in cringe, involuntarily hearing and watching this scene, or feel sympathy for this odd, but always everywhere girl. Just like that time she crashed face first into the soccer net, and accidentally caught her braces on it. Oh. The game had to be stopped, because this girl's jaw had to be unhooked from the threads of the net, cutting them off. Or that time her mother threw a fit on the school bus because her daughter wasn't included in the trip to Indianapolis. Or the time Sue gave herself a black eye during the majorette tryouts. Oh, my Gosh, it would take forever to list all of these instances. One thing was for sure - such situations happened to her so often that you simply lost count, forgetting about the past, because this weird girl added new awkward situations to her collection weekly.

• Okay, Sue, we'll let you know if we don't find someone more suitable, - said the coach of cheerleading team, barely raising his eyes from behind the visor of his cap.

You knew that tone of coach. He would let know, "of course"...

With her usual enthusiasm and a smile full of iron brackets, Sue went to pack her sports bag, clearly anticipating something that, as you guessed, she would not get. At least she had a pronounced stubbornness and optimism, which would rather be envied by the dirtiest and most blissful hippies. You were such a lack of initiative as a student that it was incomprehensible to you: how someone so wanted to join some activist society like this. All you had the energy for after school was over was sleep. You were definitely the type of person who, despite all your potential, never aspired to do anything beyond what was required of a student; beyond what could possibly benefit your school in this backwater. So in some weird way, you admired Sue's ardent desire to pursue some kind of extracurricular activity. In one class, her brother made fun of her because the only nerd who tolerated her company had moved on to another social group, leaving Sue behind. Being jerk her older brother, Axl Heck, made fun of the fact that, unfortunately for Sue, her ex-friend had recently lost her braces, and along with her unkemptness, for some reason. In other words, she had blossomed, which is why she began to attract attention from guys. Thus, Sue gradually remained on the sidelines, which is why she was looking for a new victim...So, watching her from the stands, you could see Sue passionately sharing with her "friend" how her coach promised to think about her candidacy and almost took her to the cheerleading team, while her friend, clearly not very impressed by her "almost achievement", is making out with some teenager with a mullet on his head. Yeah, that's how school passions work.