The Beta and His Human Mate

Chapter 6: Making the Team

Ashtyn’s POV

            I can’t believe that I ran out of the fieldhouse in front of everyone, just because a few guys saw my scars. Yes, everyone has scars, some visible some invisible. I shouldn’t be embarrassed about them but seeing the look on those guys' faces showed how abnormal my scars are. Because how many people have 4 giants scratch marks that go down the entire length of their back. It not only about the ugly scars it is the story behind those scars. That day was one of the worst days of my life and I still have nightmares of the vicious animal that maimed me. I saw the look in his eyes he wanted to kill me, he wanted to see me and Kyle dead. Luckily, he and I were able to escape, and Kyle was able to leave unharmed. But not everyone did. That was the last day I saw my mom alive and there was nothing I could do to protect her.

            I ran straight to my car and opened my car door and slammed it as fast as I could. I hate appearing weak in front of people but at that moment I needed to get out of there or people would start to see me cry. And I refuse to let people see me cry. I hate today to begin with, and someone had to go and remind me of the worst day of my life, the day that took away my mother. I turned on my car and just pressed a random station on my radio to get some music playing. I rested my head against the steering wheel letting a few tears fall against my lap as I waited for Kyle letting “Midnight Sky” by Miley Cyrus drown out the world around me.

            I heard a knock on my window which brought me back to reality. I turned off my radio and hit the button to roll down my window without picking my head up from the steering wheel. Then I caught a whiff of his scent, pine trees, reminding me of Christmas. I never realized how good he smelled until he helped me stand up after I made an embarrassment of myself in front of everyone.

            I sniffled out still resting my forehead on my steering wheel, “Aaron, what do you want?”

            He crouched down and rested his arms on my window opening and asked, “I wanted to see if you were okay.”

            I mumbled, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

            He placed his hand on my shoulder which sent a small shock in my body before saying, “Ash, I know you are crying, just look at me.”

            I looked up at him, for some reason his presence is calming down. I sigh, “I’m just having a bad day, okay. And why do you care?” He wipes away one of my stray tears which I couldn’t help but give him a small smile.

            He returns my smile, “Well, I don’t like seeing a pretty girl cry.” I slightly chuckled and rolled my eyes at his comment. “And I heard what today is. I’m sorry about your mom.”

            I start playing with my ponytail nervously and say, “I was doing fine today, but that kid had to point out my scars in front of everyone and it just ruined it.”

            “You don’t have to be embarrassed about them; everyone has scars. And I find people who own their scars to be badasses.” He chuckles the last part as his eyes roam all over my face as if he is taking in all my features. I blush slightly as he is looking at me and I realize my makeup is probably down my face.

            I pull back and bring down my visor to look in the small mirror on it, and I notice that my makeup is slightly smeared on my face but not as bad as I thought it would be.

            Aaron places his finger under my chin to bring my face towards him again. He smiles at me with his perfect smile which brightens his brown eyes. He then says, “You look fine. So, you going to be okay.”

            I smile back at him and nod. Right at that moment, I see Scott and Connor walking down the steps looking over at Aaron and me as the two of them are smiling as if seeing the two of us together makes them happy. Aaron follows with his eyes at what I was looking at and he notices his friends staring at us and he just glares at them, but I noticed while he was doing this his eyes looked a little foggy. That is weird. However, I stop thinking about that when I hear Kyle climb into the car, he must have taken a shower because his hair is wet.

            Aaron turns back around since he probably heard him too. Aaron greets him and Kyle returns the greeting. Before Aaron can say goodbye Kyle passes me my phone, “Here is your phone. By the way, Hunter called.” I see that Aaron started to clench his jaw when Kyle said that.

            For some reason, I felt like I needed to place my hand on one of Aaron’s, so I did and he looks down at me and smiled as I said, “Thanks for seeing if I was okay, I will see you tomorrow.”

            He smiled and nodded before saying bye and walking over to Scott and Connor who were still watching us.

            Kyle looks at me, “Were you crying?”

            I nod slightly, “A little, but I’m fine now.”

            He nods at me and mumbles, “I miss her too.”

            “I know, Hun. Now let’s go home and get ready to go out to dinner.”

            The two of us drive home in silence with the only sound coming from the radio. We arrive home and both of us head inside to get changed and showered. Dad isn’t home quite yet from work. I jump into the shower and wash my body since I don’t need to wash my hair today since I did yesterday. I climb out of the shower and wrap my towel around myself as I reapply my makeup and straighten my hair. After that, I head into my room and put on my navy-blue skater dress with cap sleeves. I put on my brown booties and head downstairs to wait for my dad and brother. I work on my art project while I wait for them.

            After a few more minutes dad arrives home and the three of us head out to the Italian restaurant. We always go out for Italian for mom’s birthday since it is her favorite. Dinner went fine. Every year we have a tradition where we go around and say something that reminded us of mom that year. I saw mom this year in many ways one of those being every time there is a full moon. I feel close to her on those days for some reason, but I didn’t tell my family that because it doesn’t make sense. What I told them was I saw mom in Kyle wanting to make cookies on Christmas Eve, which we always did with mom. We used mom’s recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and watched Elf, mom’s favorite Christmas movie. Christmas was always a special time for our family.

            After dinner, I returned Hunter’s call.

            Hunter, “Hey Ash!”

            Me, “Hi babe. I miss you.”

            Hunter, “I miss you too, I will see you in a few weeks. Now, how are you doing today.”

            “Same as usual, but some interesting things happened today.” I caught Hunter up on the different events and he was not surprised that I got into a fight, but he was curious about Aaron. I just told him he was some strange kid who I thought was attractive. He didn’t fully believe me on that and kept pestering me about until I told him to drop it. He then changed the topic over to me becoming a cheerleader which he found hilarious. But he understood my reasoning and he couldn’t wait to see me try to be all peppy. Yeah, that is going to be hard.

            The two of us talked for about 30 minutes catching up on life and he was telling me all about his college experience. Man, I miss him. After our conversation, I finished my homework and went to bed early since I must be up early for the tryout and this day tired me out.

********************

(Next Morning)

            I wake up to my alarm and quickly head to the bathroom to do my business and get ready for the day. I pack a small bag with some clothes in it so I can change into them after tryouts. I throw on some short black running shorts, a sports bra, and a more fitted t-shirt because I was in no mood to be only in my sports bra in front of these girls. I completely forgot about my scars when I was tumbling, but today I am not letting these girls see my scars. I don’t want anyone seeing them and I’m not making the same mistake as yesterday. I quickly take out all my piercings and put them in one of those 7-day medicine organizers to make sure I don’t lose any of them.

            I grab a small breakfast and head to my car to go to school. Dad is dropping Kyle off on his way to work since I was not going to convince him to come with me to school at 6 am. I arrive at the school in a few minutes and head inside. I drop my stuff off in the locker room and throw on a pair of gym shoes before heading into the gym. When I walk into the gym there is like 15 girls standing around doing basic stretches while 5 girls sit behind the table, I guess I found out who is judging these tryouts, one of them is Casey. Casey sees me and runs over to give me a hug. As a few more girls walk into the fieldhouse.

            Casey, “You came! You look weird without your piercings.”

            Me, “Yeah, I decided to come to tryout so you would shut up about it. And thanks!”

            Casey, “No you came because you wanted to be here.”

            I roll my eyes, “Fine, whatever you say.” Then smile. I will be honest I am a little excited to try out for cheer. I miss gymnastics and this is at least giving me an alternative to it.

            Casey, “I can’t wait to see you blow everyone out of the water with your tumbling. I heard you were having some fun yesterday in the fieldhouse.”

            Me, “Yeah, I put on quite a sh…”

            I get rudely cut off when Rachel walks up to us and says, “You know piercings aren’t allowed.”

            She was behind me and I cross my arms and turn to face her, “I know, that is why I took them out.” I’m not stupid, I know you aren’t allowed to keep piercings in when it comes to sports. It is a safety hazard.

            She looks me up and down as if she is trying to find a way to kick me out of tryouts. Her face lights up when she says, “Tattoos aren’t allowed.”

            Ding, ding, ding, she found a reason. But I came prepared for that one. I hate when sports and other things discriminate against people with tattoos. I smile at her, “Actually I read your guys' bylaws. Tattoos are allowed as long as they are covered somehow during competitions. And all of my tattoos are hidden by the uniform, except for the one behind my ear, but I can easily cover that with concealer.” I used to have to conceal that tattoo all the time at my gymnastic tournaments. That is also why I have no tattoos on my legs, the rules at my meets were way stricter than these.

            She rolled her eyes. She really doesn’t like me. Before saying, “Well, don’t you have all the answers. I don’t care if you are an amazing gymnast you still have to make it through the rest of the tryouts to make the team.”

            I salute her again to show that I understand. She then stomps off to join her little minion cheerleaders.

            I look over to Casey, “I don’t think she likes me.”

            Casey laughs, “Maybe because you keep saluting her.”

            I shrug and laugh, “What do you expect she is a captain.”

            Casey laughs before saying she has to head over to the table to start tryouts.

            Rachel approaches and clasps her hands together. She introduces all of the girls who will be judging today. There is Casey and her, of course, the two co-captains. Then there is Alexis and Trish who I have picked up to be Rachel’s minions. Then there is this girl named Emily who seems to be one of Casey's friends. Well, I got 2 out of 5.

            Rachel then states, “Okay, before we start. If you can’t do a standing back tuck or do the splits, leave now.” I watch as 4 of the 20 girls stand up looking disappointed as they walk out of the gym.

            Rachel then states, “Got to weed out the weak. By the way, there are only 4 open spots left on the team. So, you better be good, or you are getting cut. There will be a few rounds and if myself or the other girls deem that you aren’t good enough you are cut.”

            Casey then steps forward, “So for the first round of tryouts is dancing. We will show you, 2 eight counts. You will need to follow along and keep repeating the dance until we turn off the music.”

            I stand there watching as Casey and the other girls show the short dance routine. It was a pretty basic dance to do. As soon as they finished the one time of showing us, I started doing the dance. One of Rachel’s minions came over and stood next to me watching me closely to see if I would mess up. I don’t c***k under pressure. After watching me for a while she walks away to watch the other girls. I noticed that a few girls messed up the routine and were immediately cut. Casey was being lenient on mistakes but if Rachel or her minions saw they were out. The music stops and I notice we are now down to 11 girls.

            Rachel steps back up, “Congrats, you survived the first round. Now it is time for jumps.”

            We had to do a hurdle, pike, and toe touch. After doing the three jumps 3 more girls were cut. According to Rachel, their jumps made her want to puke. Well isn’t she nice. There are is now 8 girls left, meaning half are getting cut during the tumbling round.

            Rachel instructed us to line up and we would each get one and only one run to tumble. If we mess up, we don’t get a redo. I get in line and I am 5th in line. There is this small blonde behind me who is not even 5 foot and looks to be 14. She is shaky her hands out because she is so nervous. As the first girl starts to do her run.

            I look at her and ask, “You okay?”

            She nods, “Yeah, I am just nervous.”

            “What’s your name?”

            “Allie, you?”

            “Ashtyn, whenever I get nervous, I find a spot on the wall across from the mats and imagine something that makes me happy. I then just go for it and if I screw up who cares because the thing that makes me happy is at the end.”

            She c***s her brow, “And that works for you? What do you think of?”

            I nod, “Yeah, it is all about being relaxed and not overthinking. And usually pizza.”

            She laughs, “Thanks! I think that might help.”

            When we are done talking the third girl had just finished going. She did a round-off, back handspring, back tuck, but she stumbled her landing a bit. I watch as her face drops realizing she probably won’t be making the team because of that.

            The fourth girl goes and sticks her landing. It is now my turn. I find my spot and I think of my brother and I start running. I do a round off followed by 3 back handsprings a layout then a full twist. I land it perfectly and smile. I don’t care if I make the team, I just enjoy being able to do this. Feeling weightless for a moment.

            I walk off the mats and walk over to the girls who have already tumbled. I notice that Alexis and Rachel are giving me a look while Trish is just shocked.

            Allie is up, she takes a big deep breath before she starts running. She does a cartwheel, back handspring step out, followed by another back handspring then a full layout. When she lands it she is smiling ear to ear. She did well.

            After the remaining two girls go, we were instructed to sit down on the mats while they discuss who is on the team and who is cut. I can hear Casey defending the one girl who stumbled saying they need to think about the whole tryout instead of just one mistake. Plus, even though she made a mistake she a better tumbler than a few of the girls.

            I then hear my name mentioned. Alexis is trying to point out every little thing a did wrong like my elbows were not fully straight at one moment during the dance. I just roll my eyes at that. However, Trish tells her that I was the best tumbler out of everyone, and I am better than the other girls who are already on the team. Well, at least one minion recognizes my greatness.

            A few minutes pass and they finally come to their decisions. They call up two girls at a time. The first girl to make the team is Jenni. They then call up Allie and another girl, and Allie makes the team. I am happy for her. The next group that goes is the girl who stumbled, Nicole, and another girl. And surprisingly Nicole made the team. It is now left between me and this girl named Shannon. I watch as Rachel rolls her eyes and says my name. She then instructs the girls who didn’t make it to leave and for us to step forward. At that moment we are instructed to grab a uniform, they had more than 4 and in multiple sizes. The uniforms consist of a skirt and shell top in the school colors blue and maroon. Then we have a cropped bodysuit thing, spandex, and socks (luckily those things were unused). Casey then has us order the specific cheer shoes they want us to have. After I ordered, I head to the locker rooms to get ready for school. My outfit today is ripped light washed jeans, a black v neck cut out shirt, and black converse. I put back in all of my piercings. I fix my makeup and pull my hair out of my ponytail and it is still straight. I give myself one look over in the mirrors above the sink and I see Casey walking up behind me and she gives me a hug from behind squealing that she is so excited that I made the team. She then looks at my outfit and asks, “Wait you have boobs?”

            I roll my eyes. “Yes, sorry my sports bra has flattened them for yesterday and this morning.” I have nice boobs with my 34D bra size, and my boobs look amazing in this shirt. Showing some cleavage but not out in your face.  

            She laughs, “Sorry, you actually look like a girl today.”

            “Yeah, coming from my teacher thought I was a dude yesterday, need to make sure people know I am a girl.”

            Casey is all dressed in her white summer dress and light blue flats. She looks adorable. The two of us walk out of the locker room and head over to my locker so I can put my uniform away. I say goodbye to Casey and head to my first class.

            I walk in and see that Scott is sitting in my seat all smug looking. I walk over a sit down next to him. I really don’t like this seat, but I trust Scott for some reason.

            He sees me and laughs, “Should have gotten here sooner.”

            I roll my eyes, “Yeah, whatever.”

            He then looks at me and gives me a double-take, “Holy s**t, you look like a girl today.”

            “Haha, your so funny…Casey said the same thing to me.”  

            Scott laughs, but then leans in and whispers to me, “Can I ask you a question?”

            “Yeah, what?”

            Still whispering he asks, “Why did you lie about having a boyfriend?”

            I look taken back at him, “I didn’t lie.”

            He gives me a look, “I know you were, so why did you.”

            I sigh, “It seemed liked you were trying to see if I was single because someone was interested in me.”

            “Okay, and why would that be a problem.”

            “I don’t want a boyfriend for a while. When my ex and I broke up it ended really bad and I don’t feel like being in a relationship for some time.”

            “You know not all guys are your ex.” Honestly, I expected to be annoyed and pissed off at Scott’s comment, but it didn’t bother me. He reminds me of Hunter because he is willing to be straight up with me.

            I shrug, “I guess. I just don’t want to get hurt again.” He has no clue what I have been through because of Ricky. I know I can’t shut out every single guy because of Ricky, but it is hard not to. I quickly change the topic and ask Scott, “What did you mean yesterday when you said I was wrong about thinking that Aaron doesn’t like me.”

            He opened his mouth to speak but right then the teacher walks in and telling us all to quiet down so she can start class. I wanted to know what he meant by that. I look forward to pay attention to the class, but then I feel Scott tap my shoulder. This small action makes me jump slightly. Scott looks at me weirdly that I responded this way but then shakes his head to let it go. He holds up his notebook for me to read. I can’t be the one to tell you that. You will find out eventually. I just look at him like “what is he talking about”. He chuckles and whispers, “Stop overthinking, you are going to hurt yourself.” Why is this whole situation so damn confusing.