"Sew....do you want to try out?"

Part four Fourth Term arrives and I find myself and Marsha in the same Home Economics Class--Sewing. Alan moved on to a shop class and I hardly got to see him except at lunch time in the hall with Marsha. I was excited to be in a sewing class. I loved to sew, but I shared the class with Marsha which made me uncomfortable. Then lo and behold, she was placed at the same sewing table with me. Now, is that fate, karma, or just my bad luck? So I decided that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. At first we were a little leery of each other, but we soon came to know where we stood with one another and started to enjoy each other's company. At the end of the school year tryouts for Tigerettes ( a marching/performing club) were held. Now, I definitely was going to try out because my sister, Terry, was in the Tigerette Club and I wanted to be just like her. From watching the experiences that Terry had in the club, I knew that being in the club was something that I hoped would come true for me. It was a coveted club to be a part of, all the "popular" girls seemed to be on the team, and you got to do fun things like being out of class, traveling to different schools, and the best part, being with the athletic teams, which meant- BOYS! Tryouts were pretty stiff, and not everyone who tried out made the team. So, one day in sewing class, I brought up the subject of trying out with Marsha. She said that she was interested in trying out but was a little nervous about it. I told her I was nervous too, but that we should work together in preparing for the upcoming day. We stayed after school for the practices and worked hard on the marching. The hardest part was getting the marching down, you didn't want to look like a dork when you marched. And of course the splits, which you were required to be able to do. The "Tryout" day came, and man was I nervous. Terry had previously told me to just do the best I could and to keep smiling no matter what..."even if you mess up, just keep smiling." There were over 250 girls who were trying out that day. As we checked in we were all given a number to pin on us. (sounds so much like TV Land doesn't it?) We were all placed into groups alphabetically, so Marsha and I were in the same group together because our last name started with the same letter. Everyone was taught a short routine in just a few minutes and we had to performed it back immediately. Stress!!!! That part was hard for me but I did pretty good. I never found out how Marsha did, I was too nervous for myself. The splits were easy, the marching was easy too, I thought. All that practicing with Terry had paid off in my performance . You had to know how to do a correct right turn and left turn, they were both different. I had practiced a lot on the turns and could do them pretty good. The turns and marching were where a lot of girls messed up. Some girls looked pretty retarded (sorry- but it's true!) I felt lucky that I had my own personal trainer in my sister Terry, but of course you HAD to have talent. At the end of the tryouts we never found out if we made it or not. The judges would write down your number if you had made it through the tryouts. They also informed us that those who made the team would find out next week. UGHHH! We had to wait? I recall that waiting was really hard for me, the inpatient me wanted to know now! The judges never told us how we would find out but the information somehow leaked out. Those that made the team would be kidnapped at 5 in the morning and taken to the school. The only drawback in our information was that we didn't know what day that would be. Each day was waited in anticipation. Marsha and I would talk every day hoping that we would make the team.