The Falling Girls

The Falling Girls

YA chiller
Cheerleaders. Along with football players they represent to
many kids the roles to most aspire to in high school and to many
parents an endangered American wholesomeness bathed in the glow of
nostalgia. All is not sunlight in their exclusive world. In her The
Falling Girls Hayley Krischer gives us glimpses into its darker corners.
"The pep rally. I wake up before Jadis this morning because I don't
want to be late. Jadis Braff, my best friend, says pep rallies and
organized sports are archaic. But I keep us on schedule because I
don't miss pep rallies. No matter how Jadis complains."
Shade considers herself and Jadis to be "the same person, but
with different hair. They usually wake up together, look through the
same clothes for something to wear and share toothbrush and
deoderant. They even tattoo each other.
But there's trouble brewing in paradise. Shade is obsessed with
watching their school's cheer team. She wants very badly to be one of
them, performing their complicated routines.
"I want to go up high.
Backflip into it.
I want them to lift me up to the sky, above all of them, so that
I arch my leg out like a goddamned angel's wing."
Despite knowing how Jadis will feel about it, Shade signs up to
be a cheerleader. Immediately she is drawn into the challenging
dynamics of the three Chloes who are the alphas of the team.
Presenting a united front at games, they are anything but out of the
limelight. She's also caught between team loyalty and her friendship
with Jadis.
Then Jadis unexpectedly comes to the homecoming dance. She says
she's following a friend's advice to "open her mind to new friends."
She tells the three Chloes she doesn't want to fight with them. In
fact they all seem to be having a great time together...
...until alpha Chloe (Orbach) collapses convulsing. Later that
night she's pronounced dead. A toxicology report shows a lethal
cocktail of drugs.
Motive and opportunity abound for both Jadis and the two
remaining Chloes. So who committed this ultimate act of revenge?
Shade needs to know.
In her acknowledgements Krischer, who was a JV cheerleader in
high school, points out some of the perils of the sport: the
concussion rate second only to football players, the sexism and sexual
harassment, and the racism in the sport. In light of this, I would
encourage parents and high school teachers, coaches, and
administrators as well as students to add this fine book to their
summer reading lists.
On a purrrsonal note, I was never a cheerleader. But in college I
made up my own form of cheering. My school paid so much more
attention to make sports than to female sports it made me angry. We
only had one cafeteria. Early on I noticed a locked door and had to
know what was behind it. When I discovered a small room with a
microphone I took it on myself to broadcast the triumphs of and the
game schedules for the women's teams to a captive dining audience.
The women's teams loved me, took me to some of their away games, and
encouraged each other to "score one for the Big E" I also met up with
my first frenemy in college. She envied my grades and popularity.
Senior year she ended up being my RA. She tried to do stuff to
undermine me. But it backfired because she never understood me. The
prime example happened to be on my birthday. She and some of the
other women on my floor kidnapped me in my onsie pajamas with bears
and hearts. When they took off the blindfold I was standing on a
table in the middle of a packed restaurant in those pajamas with all
eyes on me. I was thrilled. I thanked everyone for coming to my
birthday party and asked them to sing happy birthday so loudly the
restaurant would provide a free cake. The people sang loudly; the
restaurant provided the cake. Lots of people came over to compliment
me on being a good sport. A number of them slipped me birthday
money. Back on campus it was big news for awhile, boosting my
popularity. My frenemy told me that if I was "normal" I would have
been humiliated. (Jules)
When will this rain go away? (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to all students in UMaine and elsewhere
in the hectic homestretch of the academic year.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway




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