Always, Abigail
Authors: Nancy J. Cavanaugh
Copyright © 2014 by Nancy J. Cavanaugh
Cover and internal design © 2014 by Sourcebooks, Inc.
Cover design and images by Jeanine Henderson
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A cousin wave to Marissa, Adam, Kiera, Lexie, Kelsie, Isaac, and Austin
Coolest
Thing about Sixth Grade
The pom-pom squad ! ! ! ! !
1.
Alli and Cami, my two best friends, and I saw the Crestdale Heights pom-pom girls for the first time when we were in third grade. It was love at first sight! The sequined outfits, the hats, the pom-poms, and the music. We looked at each other after the first routine and knew why we'd all been born: to be POM-POM GIRLS.
Since then, we've made up exactly seventeen different routines. We've talked our moms into buying us five different matching outfits. And we've downloaded ninety-eight songs we can use for pom-pom routines.
All three of our families, especially our brothers (we each have one), wish we'd never seen those pom-pom girls. But the three of us know that was the day we found our DESTINY.
2.
Everyone
who's
anyone
is a pom-pom girl.
At Crestdale Heights Middle School, pom-pom girls are practically celebrities.
(Okay, Crestdale Heights isn't
really
a middle school; it's
really
Crestdale Heights K through 8. But the little K through 5 kids are NOT allowed in the middle school hallway, so it's sort of like a real middle school.)
On game days, pom-pom girls get to wear their uniforms to school. It's like Oscar night on the red carpet, and the pom-pom girls are wearing the best designer in town.
3.
BOYS.
Boys notice pom-pom girls. (Even seventh- and eighth-grade boys.) And once they notice them, they talk to them, they hang out with them, and eventuallyâ¦(Okay, I'm not really sure what comes next, but who cares?!)
The pom squad always gets their photo in the yearbook.
1.
The pom squad photo is always a full color page in the yearbook.
2.
The pom squad photo hangs in the trophy case hallway for everyone to see, and the pom squad photos go all the way back to the 1980s, which means our photo would be there for a REALLY long time.
3.
At the end of the season, Ms. Jenson, the pom coach, always gives each girl on the squad a shoulder bag with the pom squad photo printed on it. I can't wait to walk around school every day with that bag hanging over my shoulder.
1.
I have the BEST handwriting.
(I'm not bragging here. It's the truth. Up until fourth grade, when we stopped getting a grade for handwriting, I always got A's in penmanship. In fact, it was always my only A.)
2.
I love buying cute notebooks and filling them up.
3.
Lists are much cooler than, “Dear Diary, Blah, blah, blah⦔
(I mean really, I already did that whole “Dear Diary” thing way back in third grade, and I'm so over it.)
4.
People who write lists are more likely to succeed.
(I'm pretty sure that's a proven fact. I just can't remember who proved it.)
5.
I LOVE writing lists!
1.
I'm a superorganized person, and my lists help me stay organized.
2.
When your grades are just so-so like mine, turning in your work on time helps. My lists help me never miss an assignment. (My neatness helps too. Neat, on-time assignments usually get pretty good grades even when all the answers aren't right.)
3.
My lists calm me down. When I'm overwhelmed and anxious and feel like I can't get everything done, I write a list. Some of my teachers have told my parents that if I spent as much time on my schoolwork as I do on my lists, I'd be a much better student. What they don't understand is that without my lists, I wouldn't be able to get anything done.
1.
Alli and Cami (aka AlliCam) are NOT in my homeroom.
2.
Ditto
3.
Ditto
4.
Ditto
5.
Ditto
6.
Ditto
7.
Ditto
8.
Ditto
9.
Ditto
10.
Ditto
Gave me an AlliCam Withdrawal Survival Kit.
1.
A photo to hang in my locker of the three of us at camp last summer.
2.
A blue, braided friendship bracelet.
(They each have one exactly the same.)
3.
A luggage tag for my backpack that says, “SPFâSISTERS, POMS, FRIENDS.”
4.
A small spiral notebook perfect for writing notes to them.
(The front cover of the notebook has three kittens on it that they labeled Abigail, Alli, and Cami. Then they drew little purple pom-poms in each one of the kittens' paws and wrote at the top, “POMS FOREVER.”)
