Hellcats: Welcome To Cheer Town
We’re introduced to the Hellcats world by our trusty narrator, Marti Perkins, a pre-law major at Lancer University in Memphis. She rides her bike everywhere (without a helmet but WITH cycling gloves that she never seems to take off) because she’s poor. The school is run by its sports, and where there are sports, there must be cheerleaders. They even live in their own dorms -- with the very imaginative name, "Cheer Town."
What makes a person decide to become a cheerleader?
Marti and her cynical but cute BFF Dan (aka Psycho Derek from OTH!), spend the morning watching the cheerleaders but don’t trust cultures that build pyramids (and have rockin' abs). However, when Alice, a flyer, is injured and out for six weeks, there’s suddenly an opening on the squad.
Unconventional scholarships rock
When Marti discovers that her unconventional and sometimes drunken mother didn’t make up the payments for her schooling, she realizes that she must find a different way to pay for college. And then she discovers that there’s a scholarship for being a "football groupie." Yes, cheerleaders get scholarships. So Marti rents "Bring it On" and makes some pom poms and after a montage that is fairly reminiscent of Kevin Bacon in "Footloose," she’s ready! Apparently she taught herself those moves in Country Western bars that she was forced to hang out in with her mom. And then when Marti can't keep up with the rest of the real choreography at tryouts, she makes up her own moves, and it’s...different. The coach likes the "crazy dancing thing." Marti clearly has what it takes to wear Hellcat Blue.
Marti, meet your new roomy
After she makes the cheer squad, Marti moves into Cheer Town and her new roomy is none other than Team Captain Savannah. She’s quirky, but it's Alice who surfaces as the troublemaker for Marti. She makes it clear that Marti is just around for the six weeks' recuperation, and then she’ll be gone. Alice is clearly a crazy, disparaging beotch.
Alice in Wanda Land
The college announces that they will cut the cheer squad (What? It’s the South!) if they don’t kick butt at qualifiers. When Alice learns how much of a freak Wanda, Marti’s mom, is and how she ruined Marti’s high school gymnastics career, Alice makes sure that the woman is invited to the big competition. Alice isn’t exactly a team player. But don’t underestimate Marti just yet.