“You’ve got a lot of room to talk,” Matilda grumbled. “Who are you to tell me about quitting?”

Ben and Molly looked at each other. “I guess you think we deserve that,” Ben said. “You think we just gave up?”

Matilda was furious. “Didn’t you?”

Molly shook her head. “Actually, no. We didn’t just give up. We worked on our marriage for many years.”

“You should have worked harder!”

Ben sat down on the bed and took Matilda’s hand. “That’s hardly a fair thing to say, Matilda. Your mother and I went to counseling. We tried very hard, but nothing we did could fix the fact that we just weren’t meant to be together.”

“But you love each other,” Matilda said. “People who love each other stay together.”

Molly took Matilda’s other hand. “Love is a mysterious and complicated thing. Some people who love one another can also make one another miserable. Worse still, they can make the people around them miserable, too. Look what we have done to you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, the outfits and the crazy hair,” Ben said. “You think we don’t understand what that’s about?”

Matilda looked at her outfit. “There’s nothing wrong with being different.”

“Of course you are right,” Molly said. “But being different should be a celebration of who you are—not a cry for attention.”

Kylie’s words came back to Matilda. Was she just wearing these odd clothes to get attention? Was she just acting out because her mom and dad were separating?

“Your mother and I have realized we are not right for each other, and that staying together isn’t good for you and the boys. You deserve to see parents who are happy.”

Matilda turned to her mother. “You’re not happy?”

Molly shook her head.

“Not like she should be,” Ben said. “Same with me. It’s hard to explain, but somewhere along the line your mother and I lost each other.”

“And someday we’ll be friends again,” Molly said. “Until then, we will still be your parents. We will still expect good things from you, including honoring your commitments. Those girls depend on you.”

“Your mother is right,” her father said. “You started something and you should finish it.”

Ben and Molly left Matilda in her room alone. She sat on the edge of the bed looking at the cheerleading outfit she had crumpled and tossed into the trash can.

Twenty minutes later, Ben and Molly dropped her off at the National Mall. Matilda was relieved to find Team Strikeforce’s bus in the parking lot near the competition stage. She wasn’t surprised that Tiffany insisted that the girls come even though they were short a person for the squad. Tiffany was probably thinking about next year’s competition and how they might beat this year’s winner with a team free of secret agents.

Matilda banged on the bus door. “I know you girls are in there, so open up! I want to say something to you.”

The door swung open. Kylie stood at the top of the steps. “They don’t want to talk to you.”

“It’s important! Please tell them!”

“I can’t. I don’t want to talk to you, either,” Kylie said.

Matilda frowned as she climbed aboard the bus. “You don’t have to talk. You just have to listen.”

She walked to the back where she found Jeannie, Shauna, Toni, Pammy, McKenna, and Tiffany in their street clothes.

“What do you want?” McKenna said, not looking up from her phone.

“Get into your uniforms,” Matilda said. “We’re going on, and we’re going to win this competition.”

Tiffany scoffed. “No thanks. You’ve made fools of us enough this week. We’re not going out there to have you quit again.”

“I’m not here to quit,” Matilda said.

“Well, we don’t want you,” Pammy said.

“Listen, I’m going to be honest with you,” Matilda said.

“That’s a nice change,” Kylie said.

“I didn’t want to be a cheerleader. My boss forced me to do it. Before I got here I thought this was a stupid sport filled with stupid girls. I couldn’t wait to finish my mission so I could leave. When I found out Lilly was the girl I was looking for, I didn’t think twice about how it would affect all of you.”

“Wow, this honesty thing kind of stinks,” Shauna said. “I liked you better when you were a liar.”

“I was wrong about all of you,” Matilda continued, ignoring the comment. “I’m not saying I get everything you do. The clothes still seem a little silly. But I do get that you love cheerleading and that you’re good at it and that you should have a right to at least compete to be the best. I shouldn’t take that away from you. So, listen, you have no reason to trust me and you don’t have to like me, but I’m here. I’m standing right in front of you and I’m saying I want to go out there and win.”

The girls stared at her for a long time until Tiffany shook her head. “Absolutely not.”

Matilda was crushed, but she said nothing. She only nodded and walked to the front of the bus. These girls had no reason to trust her. She was a liar. Winning was important to them, but so was winning with someone they respected. She stepped out into the parking lot, trying to tell herself that she had done her job. But her heart kept telling her the truth. She had been happy to destroy all these pretty, popular girls’ dreams. She was a jerk.

“Unless, of course, you put on some makeup,” a voice said behind her. Matilda turned to find Tiffany and the rest of the girls stepping off the bus. “Pammy, Shauna, get to work on the newbie. She looks like a walking sack of dirty clothes. Oh, and get her a new uniform. I think she ruined the last one when Lilly whooped her butt.”

“Lilly did not—”

“Don’t push me, Maddie,” Tiffany said. “Suit up, everyone.”

Matilda was polished and primped, and before she knew it she and the rest of the squad were backstage waiting for their chance to perform. She was nervous, as were the other girls. Even Tiffany, who had always been confident, seemed shaky. Lilly’s absence forced them to re-choreograph their routines for an eight-girl team—no easy feat for a squad that spent nearly every waking hour striving for perfection.

“All right, everyone,” Tiffany said. “I’m not one for pep talks, but here goes—”

McKenna squealed. “OMG! I have to post this. Tiffany is giving us words of inspiration!”

Tiffany snarled at McKenna but then composed herself. “We’re short a girl, which is not good, so if any of the rest of you are spies speak now. No one? Good. Now what’s important is that we’re a team. Each of us has our own skills and backgrounds and quirks and that’s what makes us great. Toni can do a standing handspring that’s amazing. McKenna has a flawless split. Maddie, here—”

“It’s Matilda!” she interrupted.

Tiffany rolled her eyes. “Fine, Matilda here, well, it sounds like she knows eighteen punches that will kill a man where he stands. I don’t know how that’s going to help us win, but if we don’t it might be useful in dealing out revenge to the judges.”

“I won’t kill the judges,” Matilda said.

“What I’m trying to say is that what makes us great is our differences. For instance, I’m stunningly beautiful, which draws a lot of attention and distracts from Kylie’s awkward dancing.”

Kylie groaned. “Tiffany, what kind of a lousy pep talk is this?”

“If you would let me finish!” Tiffany roared. “I was going to say that you have a loud, clear voice that distracts the judges from my occasionally whiny and nasal cheers! Sure, we’re cheerleaders, and people might think that cheerleaders are a bunch of brainless clones who only care about being pretty and perfect. But we know better. We’re actually a bunch of flawed people, but when we work together our strengths outweigh our weaknesses.”

“Wow!” Toni said. “That was inspirational.”

“I’m crying. Let me update my profile,” McKenna said as a tear ran down her cheek.

“I hate all of you,” Tiffany said.

Matilda reached out and shook her hand. “Good job, captain.”