- Basketball season starts and Stargirl is her usual enthusiastic, cheerleading self. She is getting a little unorthodox in her cheerleading, though:
- (1) She goes over to the opposing team's side and does a welcome cheer to them.
- (2) She cheers whenever anyone scores a basket, not just her team.
- (3) She extends her cheering off the basketball court and into the regular day-to-day life of Mica High. For example, if she sees a random person do something good in the hall, like pick up a piece of garbage off the floor and throw it away, she'll put on a big show of cheering for him or her.
- You may expect people to die of embarrassment when she does this, but Leo assures us that they don't because she is giving them honest credit for doing good things. Frankly, it makes people feel happy and appreciated, and hey, who doesn't like being appreciated?
- Overall, most people agree that she is pretty crazy, but they seem to accept her brand of craziness as, well, the good kind of crazy.
- But that all changes soon enough.
- Let's dig in. The basketball team is really good. In fact, they are great, and they win game after game after game. They're undefeated all the way through December and January.
- Then comes February.
- The fans are really pumped up, proud, and definitely not willing to go back to their usual losing ways.
- The more people love their team, the more they despise the opposing teams. Shmoop smells trouble.
- Their hatred for the other teams translates into a whole lot of booing. Basically, the Mica fans become carried away and lose all sense of sportsmanship.
- They don't just want to win anymore. They want to slaughter the other teams.
- Enter, Stargirl. True to herself, she still cheers for every basket made regardless of which team gets the points. Yep. Trouble is definitely coming.
- Sure enough, the fans start booing her. Luckily, Stargirl doesn't seem to notice.
- Leo notes that she never seems affected when bad stuff happens to her, but she is very affected when bad stuff happens to other people. Hmm. That's interesting.
- We arrive at the 19th game of the season. The Mica team is hoping to continue its winning streak at Red Rock, a nearby school.
- They slaughter Red Rock worse than any other slaughter. It's just plain painful to watch.
- Stargirl gets up and leaves half way through the game and chats with the bus driver because she feels bad for the other team. She says she doesn't want her cheers to make the slaughter worse.
- The other cheerleaders are majorly ticked off. They tell her that her job is to cheer for their team no matter what.
- Everyone rides the same bus home, and when the team boards the bus, and hears about what Stargirl has done, they decide to get revenge.
- They tell her that someone left something in the gym. Would she mind getting it? Of course, she does this. Stargirl is always doing people favors.
- While she is gone, they tell the bus driver that they are all on the bus and leave her stranded at Red Rock, the jerks.
- A custodian from Red Rock drives her home that night, and the next day people tell her that it was all a mistake. Poor Stargirl believes them.
- Oh, and by the way, tomorrow is her interview on "Hot Seat."