The Beta and His Human Mate

Chapter 5: Tryouts

Ashtyn’s POV

            I walked out of Chemistry confused as ever. Why did Aaron look so pissed off when I said I had a boyfriend? Why should he care when he refused to talk to me? And what did Scott mean by “That isn’t it.” I’m sorry, Aaron not talking to me, kind of seems like he doesn’t like me. Whatever. I don’t understand him.

            I head to my locker and luckily Scott, Aaron, and Connor are nowhere in sight. I don’t know how I am supposed to face them after I told them I have a guy’s name tattooed to my butt. I really hope no one else heard me in class say that, because that is super embarrassing. I grab the books I need for homework and shove them into my backpack and head to the library.

            I texted Casey telling her that I will not be going to tryouts. She was a little disappointed with my decision. She of course told me there is another round of tryouts in the morning and I better be there. But honestly, I have zero pep in me, so I would be that pissed off cheerleader during the games. Casey made the joke that we could just Vaseline on my teeth to make sure that I smile the whole time. That is kind of gross and I don’t want to do that.

            I found a seat in the corner of the library and pulled out my homework. I needed something to keep me busy while Kyle is at tryouts since I am his ride. I put in my headphones and start listening to music as I am working on my stats homework. Hopefully, I can get a decent amount of homework done while sitting here.

            After about an hour and a half, I decide to make my way to the gym to see if he is done yet or will be heading in soon. Our gymnasium is large and we have multiple rec areas. I head into our fieldhouse which has an inside track. The field house is actually two levels. The bottom floor has a track and space inside the track can be used for multiple purposes since it is so large. The top floor holds the weight room and a small one-lane walking track surrounding the entire fieldhouse. You are able to look down the railings that run along the track and look down onto the bottom floor.

            I look around the field house and notice that the guys are upstairs in the weight room. Okay, I don’t know how long they are going to be. I then notice that the mats are still down from cheerleading tryouts, which makes sense since they have more tryouts in the morning, so why bother putting them up. I place my bag down along the wall and remove my shoes and socks. I head over towards the mats and jump on them to see how they feel. The mats expand almost a third of the field house, so I have plenty of room to tumble.

            I notice the stereo system in the corner with an aux hook up and connect my phone to it and put on my Eminem playlist. His music always pumps me up. I press play and the first song to start playing is “Not Afraid”. I walk back over to my bag and take off my shirt and sweats, so I am just in my sports bra and spandex. I am so used to wearing a leotard when I am doing gymnastics that baggy clothes are going to make me trip. I also don’t feel bad being in just my sports bra and spandexes because I saw the girls walking out of cheer tryouts and they were dressed just how I am now. So, I don’t really care.

            I walk back over to the mats and do some basic stretches. After I was injured it took me about a month to get back on the mats. It took a couple of weeks to heal from my injuries and dealing with some of the trauma of the abuse that I wasn’t able to go to the gym for so long. Being on the mats always made me feel so free and relaxed. I would get so lost in the music that is playing in the background and being able to run and flip made me feel like I was flying. I finish stretching and a new song comes on, “Lose Yourself” and I start getting lost in the music.

****

Aaron’s POV

(Earlier that Day)

            As I walked to my second period, I couldn’t stop thinking about Ashtyn. The blue of her eyes, the lack of blemishes on her skins, the reddish tints in her dark brown hair which made her blue eyes pop more, and her pink lips that just begged me to kiss. I will be honest I wasn’t expecting my mate to have a bunch of piercings, but honestly, her lip ring was sexy as hell. It just kept drawing my eyes back to her lips.

            I only saw her for a few minutes and there was so much I learned about her. First, the girl knows how to fight. I have no clue where she learned those moves but the way she was fighting proved to me that she was fit and strong. She is also one of those people who will do anything to protect the people that she loves. She didn’t care that Chris was twice her size, according to Chris she ran in and without a second thought punched him in the face. It was clear to me that she would do anything to protect her younger brother.

            She had a weird look in her eye though when she was yelling at Chris. She didn’t look scared at all, but at the same time, there was a level of her needing to prove herself. Like she has been in situations before similar to that and they didn’t take her seriously. I don’t know how to explain it, but there is a reason why she knows how to fight. As if she learned to prove to herself that she can win against someone that size.

            After the third period, Scott did tell me something interesting about her. Someone used to bully her and fight her. After getting beat up enough she decided to learn how to fight. Who was this person fighting her and what did they do to her that she feels the need to prove herself? However, I doubt I will find that information out. After speaking with Scott and Connor who both have classes with her is that she is pretty private and doesn’t share much personal information about herself, just the bare minimum such as her moving her with her dad and brother.

            According to Connor, she had the same lunch period as the 3 of us, but she was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she was in the library catching up on a week’s worth of classes that she missed. That would make sense. I am kind of glad she wasn’t present though because some crap went down with Rachel.

            I was talking with Scott who was sitting across the table and he motioned to someone behind me. Before I can turn around, I feel someone behind me running their hands down my chest and nibbling on my ear. Honestly, after finding my mate the touch of another female feels a little weird. But I know I can’t flat out tell her I found my mate because she is human. Knowing Rachel, she will do something to scare her off and I need to tread lightly with Ash since she is human and has no clue who I am.

            I shrug my shoulders to get her hands off of me. She looks taken back and I stand up to speak with Rachel. I can see out of the corner of my eye that Scott and Connor are smirking because they get the front row ticket for the show about to happen.

            I run my hand through my hair and sigh before saying, “Rachel, I think we should stop what we are doing.”

            She looks at me shocked, “Excuse me!”

            “You heard me. I think we need to end this little relationship.”

            She crosses her arms and c***s her brow, “Why did you find her?”

            I shake my head, “No, that isn’t it. I just think it would be best if we end this before either one of us gets hurt.”

            She laughs, “Sweetie, you tried to end this in the past, but you were in my bed by the end of that week. I will see you in my bed after Becky’s party.” She flips her hair and walks away before I can say anything else.

            I groan and sit back down. Connor and Scott chuckle. Before Scott says, “You know, I thought it was going to be a lot worse.”

            Connor laughs, “We just have to make sure you don’t end up in Rachel’s bed on Friday night.”

            I roll my eyes, “Oh, screw you.”

            The two of them laugh at my misfortune and I just groan at them as I eat my burger. I do notice that a few people are staring at me. Nosy pack members listening in on my conversations. I know there a few pack members that are rooting for Rachel and me, mostly girls that idolize her. I don’t understand why we all know we aren't mates. Do they expect us to reject our mates to be together? I never really liked her that much, but Scott is right when he says she is obsessed with me. Ugh. This is not going to be easy. Even if I want to stay away, doesn’t mean she will stay away.

            The rest of the day was uneventful until I smelled her scent walking into AP Chem. She was off in the corner of the room working on her study guide. She noticed us and just rolled her eyes. I am assuming that was at Scott and not me. Scott decided to sit next to her, and honestly, it made sense I have yet to talk to her so it would have looked weird if I sat next to her.

            I wanted to speak to her, but she looked annoyed before class and I didn’t know what to say. Even after the test, I had no clue what to say. I wanted to turn around and introduce myself, but then she brought up that she was supposed to live with her male friend. That pissed me off a lot. Who is this guy? Is he her boyfriend? But she said friend, not boyfriend. All I know is I am annoyed out of my mind hearing that. Scott noticed my discomfort and quickly changed the topic. When I heard her laugh it was such a beautiful sound. It wasn’t one of those annoying cackles but a pleasant noise that makes you smile. I then see her smile and it was absolutely beautiful. I hope I can make her smile every single day because I want to be able to see that gorgeous smile every single day.

            But how comfortable she is with Connor and Scott annoyed me and I was worried I would just make things awkward, so I stayed quiet. And then she asked Scott why I didn’t like her, and I realized I messed up. I should have said something instead of looked pissed off. How do I recover from this, especially because she thinks I am weird the guy who growls at her? I wanted to speak up right then, but she had to start talking about how all the guys at this school are attractive. I get why said it, most of this school is made up of werewolves, and we all have a gene that just makes us naturally attractive.  The way she is talking, I am assuming her old school was more split in the middle for werewolves to humans. However, when she said this, I had to bite my bottom lip and repress and growl. I don’t need to freak her out and confuse her more.

            I just remained facing forward gripping my pencil as I am working on the lab report with Connor. I do catch a glimpse of Scott staring at me before asking Ash if she has a boyfriend. Okay, Scott, I get you are trying to play wingman, but can you be any more obvious? I really wish he didn’t though. My claws were starting to come out and I had to form a fist to calm down. I could feel myself drawing blood as my claws puncture my palms. I needed to get out of that room before my anger got the best of me. I was so thankful when the bell went off. I hightailed it out of that room.

            I was livid. What am I supposed to do now that she is in a relationship? Scott grabbed my backpack and dragged me into the empty classroom across the hall. I walked in and kicked over a desk right away.

            Connor grabbed my shoulders before I did anything else, “Calm the f**k down.”

            I growled, “Why should I? She has a boyfriend.”

            Scott, “Ugh, no she doesn’t.”

            “Yes, she does!”

            Connor, “No, she doesn’t. You were too pissy to notice that she was lying when she was saying she did.”

            Me, “What do you mean?”

            Scott, “While you were being angry, Connor and I noticed that her heart rate increased, and her breathing changed as she was saying she did. You just didn’t notice.”

             “Are you serious? Why would she say she did?”

            Connor shook his head, “I’m not sure why she lied. But you really can’t be upset when you refused to say a single word to her.”

            I roll my eyes, “What I supposed to say? Hi, my name is Aaron. I am a mythical beast, also known as a werewolf. We don’t really know each other, but I am your soul mate.”

            Scott chuckles, “Well, we finally found something you two have in common. You’re both sarcastic. Because I was really worried for a second since she is kind of a badass and you’re just a little bitch.” Connor laughs while I shove Scott into the wall.

            Me, “Screw you!”

            Connor, “Well now that we established that Aaron needs to talk to Ashtyn. Can we get to practice?”

            Scott and I nod and follow Connor out of the classroom to the locker rooms. We quickly change and head out to the field for practice/try out. Hopefully, we can find some decent new players.

            I notice that Ashtyn’s little brother is trying out. All of his injuries seemed to be healed now. That is a little interesting since Ash still has a slightly black eye. I nudge Scott and Connor then motion to Kyle, “He healed fast.”

            Scott looks at his slightly confused, “Okay…maybe there was some truth behind what Chris and Derek were saying.”

            Connor, “How is this possible?”

            Scott shakes his head, “I don’t know. But keep it on the down-low until I talk with my dad and the elders. Because I doubt Kyle knows what he is if he is indeed that.”

            Connor and I nod and head over to the rest of the team and new guys to start practice. The football team doesn’t really cut anyone from the team, just some make the JV team and others make the varsity team.

            The rest of the practice went great and we got some new guys for the varsity team, including a kicker. Kyle was impressive. After practice, we all head inside to the fieldhouse and head upstairs to the workout room. As I am heading in, I notice the girls are still doing tryouts for cheerleading. Of course, Rachel is staring at me and trying to push her boobs out of her sports bra. I know exactly what she is doing, trying to show what I am missing. Well, I am not missing much. I notice a few of the guys having lingering eyes on the girls so Scott clears his throat and growls out, “Everyone upstairs now.”

            We all get upstairs and start our workouts. We are in there for about 25 minutes for some conditioning.

            After 25 minutes we turn off the music that was blaring in the background and start putting the weights away. However, I notice the song, “Not Afraid” is playing outside the weight room where the girls are. Which is weird because I know they left the field house 10 minutes ago.

            We all walk outside the weight room to investigate where the music is coming from. I know a few of the guys are hoping it is the cheerleaders still to watch them practice. All the guys spread out along the walking lap and look down to watch whoever is down there. But it isn’t the cheerleaders, but a single girl down there stretching. I am standing next to Connor and Scott as we watch her stand up and walk towards the edge of the mats as the song “Lose Yourself” comes on. That is when I notice who it is, it’s Ashtyn. What is she doing?

            I do notice that a few of the guys are checking her out since she is in just a sport’s bra and spandex. I am going to rip these guys apart if they touch her. She has an absolutely amazing body though. I also notice she has another tattoo on her ribs. Damn, she is hot.

            She starts by doing a handstand than dropping into a forward roll as the music plays the lines: His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. Before standing back up and doing a back handspring.

            Kyle then looks over the ledge and mumbles to himself, “What the hell is she doing?”

            Ash starts running then does a round-off, multiple back handsprings, back tuck, and some kick twist thing, before landing and doing a front flip. I only know the names of a few of the moves from Casey. This chick is just flipping so many times that I don’t know how she isn’t getting sick. She starts to dance a little as she leaps across the floor.

            Connor asks Kyle, “How can she do this?”

            Kyle chuckles, “She is a gymnast.”

            Scott and Connor look at me because all of us are confused and would not expect that.

            Ash ends up in another corner of the mat again and starts to run to do more flips again. She must not notice the 30 something guys watching her. She does a round-off and two layouts before dropping down on the mats in the slipts right as the music says “Blaow”

            I hear a guy breathe out, “Holy fuck.” As she does this.

            Man, this girl impresses me. She continues to dance and flip as if she is in her own little world.

            She is smiling and mouthing the words as she goes. She starts to run and does a cartwheel, back handspring, layout, and starts doing this 360-twist, but some of the guys start cheering which I think spooks her because stumbles her landing and falls on her face.

            I quickly run down the stairs to see if she is okay with Connor, Scott, and Kyle behind me.

            She rolls on her back and is turning slightly red. I make my way over to her and extend my hand to her asking, “Are you okay?”

            She smiles as she grabs my hand and stands up. I can feel slight sparks as she grabbed my hand. She nods as she stands up with her cheeks still slightly pink, “Um, yeah. I have hit the mats way harder than that before.” She looks around at the different guys who are now either on the main level of the field house or still on the walking track. “I just didn’t realize I had an audience.”

            I chuckle trying really hard not to stare at her body, she has belly button pierced too, that and her tattoo keep making my eyes go to her flat stomach. “Well, you were pretty amazing.”

            She shakes her head and laughs, “I’m glad you guys enjoyed the show.”

            Kyle walks up to us with Scott and Connor, before throwing her sweats in her face, “Put pants on, all these pervs keep staring at your ass.”

            She rolls her eyes and puts them on asking Kyle, “How did tryouts go?”

            Scott pats Kyle’s back and says, “You are looking at the new varsity kicker.”

            She smiles at Kyle, “Nice job little bro.”

            Kyle, “So, what were you doing.”

            Ash, “Well, I got bored waiting for you and I saw the mats and decided to pass the time.”

            He just rolls his eyes at her. She then speaks up, “Hey, I was having fun. There are no gyms around here, so I got tempted. Guess what!”

            Kyle, “What?”

            She smiles and places her hands on her hips like a power pose and says, “I am trying out to be a cheerleader.”

            Kyle heaves over and starts laughing, along with Scott. As Scott says, “Hold up, what? Little miss, I don’t smile is going to be a cheerleader.”

            She laughs and nods, “Yup…Casey kept begging me to tryout. So, after getting back on the mats, it’s the only way for me to do what I enjoy.”

            I can’t wait to see her in that little uniform. Honestly, she doesn’t fit the typical cheerleading definition, but it will be nice to get some diversity. The song finishes and another Eminem song starts playing, “Monster.”

            We all start walking towards her bag that is along the wall so she can get the rest of her clothes on and we can head to the locker rooms. And that is when we all saw it. The giant scar on her back. It is 4 giant claw marks down her entire back, and we know exactly what kind of thing did that to her, because of how big the scratches are.

            None of us say anything as she puts her slides on before starting to put her t-shirt over her head. As she is putting it on a couple of football players who are members of the pack walks past and notices it and one says out loud in shock, “What the f**k?”

            Ash turns around and notices that they are staring at her back. She turns bright red and quickly grabs her bag and rushes out of the fieldhouse without her phone.

            Kyle yells to her, “Ash wait…” But she is already gone.

            I ask Kyle, “What happened?” as Scott mind links the guys to leave the field house and go get changed.

            Kyle sighs, “She was attacked by an animal when she was younger and is embarrassed by her scars.” I can hear a hint of guilt and grief in his voice as he is saying that suggesting there is a lot to that story. As he was saying this we were standing near the stereo that had her phone hooked up to it.

            We just nod at him and Connor tries breaking the tension by asking out loud, “Is this entire playlist, Eminem?”

            Kyle chuckles, “Yeah, she is kind of obsessed with him.”

            Right at that moment, the music cuts out and the instrumental version of the chorus from “The Real Slim Shady” starts playing. I look down and see the name Hunter appear on her screen with a picture of her smiling while she is getting a piggyback ride from a guy with black hair and green eyes. Who is this dude?

            Kyle grabs her phone and answers, “Hey Hunter, what’s up?”  I can’t hear that well what the other guy is saying into the phone though.

            …..

            Kyle, “I have no clue, around somewhere.”

            ….

            Kyles waves to us goodbye and he starts walking away with her phone and we follow not far behind since we are all heading to the locker room.

            Kyle, “Yeah, guess who told me they are trying out for cheerleading.”

            ….

            Kyle, “I know, it is going to be funny.”

            ….

            Kyle, “Yeah I will tell her you called. We are going out for mom’s birthday, so she will probably call you after that.”

            ….

            Kyle, “Yeah, I am fine. Ash is being her usual self on this day. Trying to put up a front but we both know how she feels about today.”

            ….

            Kyle, “Bye dude. Come visit soon, I know it will make Ash happy.”

            Kyle hangs up and heads into the locker room and we stay outside for a minute to talk.

           I look around before saying, "We all know that wasn't an animal." 

            Scott, "I was thinking the same thing. What happened? And who attacked her."

            I shrug, "I don't know, hopefully, she will tell me soon. As I start talking to her more." 

            Scott nods before smiling, "Well, finally talked to her. Nice job buddy." I just roll my eyes.

            Connor asks Scott, “I thought you said she moved her with just her dad and brother.”

            He nods, “She did.”

            Connor, “Where is their mom?”

            Casey then pops out of the girl’s locker room with her bag and her hair is wet. She then asks, “Where is whose mom?”

            I state, “Ash’s. They are going out for her birthday tonight, but they didn’t move here with her. Are they divorce?”

            Casey shakes her head, “Her mom passed away almost 7 years ago.” She then makes an o-face like she figured something out, “That makes sense why she didn’t want to come shopping with Sarah and me.”

            We just nod and say, “Well she told us she is going to try out for cheer.”

            Casey jumps up and down, “Seriously, yay.” Before running off to Sarah who is now waiting by the gym entrance.

            Scott then sighs, “Well today has been interesting. Let’s get changed and head home now.”

            Connor and I nod and we all head into the locker room to change. 

*****

Tell me what you think of this chapter. Do you think Kyle is a werewolf? What do you think happened when Ash was attacked? Do you think Aaron will get together with Rachel at the party?