An Accidental Midriff

Try-Out Trouble - Part 4

The rest of the school day passed without much incident. She had managed to keep her exposed skin to a minimum, but now came the try-out. She wasn't too worried about it, but she could feel a pang of nervousness creeping up. 

She walked into the gym, expecting there to be a chaotic whirlwind of flips, kicks, tumbles, and countless cheerleaders warming up. Instead, it was completely empty, save for a hamper and some P.E. shirts piled high in the corner. She was confused for a second and then remembered: Ah, everyone must be at the fight with its teenage angst and boy hormones that cheerleaders can't seem to get enough of. 

It didn't look like the try-outs were going to happen, but before spinning around and walking out of the door she stopped for a second: This is where I had my first kiss with Ben. That moment was magical. The way his lips fit perfectly into hers, the way she fell into his arms, and the way he had played with her bellybutton. It had all been perfect and she found herself reminiscing and fantasizing about that moment every once in a while. 

Having had her soul-searching moment, she turned to leave, but heard footsteps coming from the far side of the gym. There was a door that led to a different section where the coaches had their personal offices and through it walked Coach Bahl. If his height wasn't the first thing you noticed then it would definitely be his mustache. It was the only facial hair he had—like a giant hairy black caterpillar was perpetually crawling on his face. He noticed her in an instant.

"Ahhhh... if it isn't the troublemaker herself," he said. 

"T..troublemaker?" Stephanie asked confused. She hated how he dragged out his words. 

"Yea, yea troublemaker. You don't follow rules. The dresscode!" he waved his hand up and down, as if to demonstrate her offense to an invisible jury. 

Stephanie looked down. She was only showing a sliver of belly, practically imperceptible. But Coach Bahl had trained eyes; he could spot a lick of belly from miles away. "Oops! I didn't notice." She wasn't about to argue with him. 

"Of course you didn't. You girls and your very small shirts. I will never understand." He puckered his lips and sweeped his mustache against the bottom of his beak-like nose. For a split-second his eyes connected with the bit of flesh that stubbornly refused to hide beneath her shirt. That worried her a bit. 

"Ok, well I gotta go! Bye!" she said as fast as possible and spun around. 

"You're not going to try out?" he called after her. She stopped. 

"B..but Coach Tania always handles the try outs. I thought she wasn't here."

"She's not," he paused. "That's why I'm here."

"You? But you're not the cheerleading coach?"

"No, but I am the administrator of all physical activity on this campus. That includes cheerleading. Coach Tania let me handle it." 

At first Stephanie took his word for it. But a drop of skepticism gnawed in her subconscious. I know Coach Tania. I would've thought she wanted to handle the try outs herself.  "Oh.." was the only thing Stephanie could mutter as she dealt with this conundrum. 

"Yes, so come on in. Come, cooome." he aggressively waved her over. Overwhelmed, she followed. Just before she walked through the doors, she noticed something move out the corner of her eye. It came from the great pile of laundry off to the side. She couldn't tell what it was but she swore that there was a little red light blinking amongst the heap of dirty clothes. 

The strange occurrence did not sit well with her but she quickly forgot as she succumbed to Coach Bahl's authority. His gait was lanky but quick and she struggled to keep up with him as they maneuvered through the maze-like locker room. His office was adjacent to a large stack of lockers. Usually girls weren't allowed in the boys' side so the layout seemed to subtly disorient her. 

He turned around, "You can't have try out without uniform. Where is yours?"

"Oh.. um, Coach Tania usually hands them out. We don't keep them." A real coach would know that?

"Yessss, right of course." He paused again. Is he improvising all this? "Ok, well due to Tania's absence she did not leave the uniforms ready. Luckily, I might have a replacement. Come, wait here while I go grab it." 

Stephanie nodded and sat down, wondering where the coach had gone off to. She couldn't deny that the entire situation unsettled her. She was seriously contemplating grabbing her things and bolting for the door. But, her chances of getting on the team were slim to none if it were up to Coach Tania. But what does Coach Bahl know about cheers? This might be my only chance to get on the team. 

A small smile snuck onto her face, but it was quickly eviscerated when she saw him coming back. What is that he's holding?

"Ok, here you go," he said, handing what felt to her to be a small piece of fabric. "I would've told you to begin running the drills but the uniform is the best guarantee for an accurate assessment. You can change in the closet over there." He pointed to a door behind his desk. 

"Umm.. Coach? What is this?" Stephanie asked innocently. The shirt wasn't even the standard-issue cheerleader uniform. 

"Well, this is your replacement. I know it's not exactly the same but I'm sure it will still fit perfectly on you." There was a peculiar smile on his face. 

"But.. there's no bottom. Where is the skirt? Or shorts?"

"Dirty. It's laundry day so all you have is the shirt. C'mon chop chop. I don't have all day." 

Stephanie looked at the shirt. It was tiny—a great many sizes below the shirt she had on. It seemed as though the coach sensed the hesitation within her. "It's standard procedure to have students wear the uniforms during try-outs. That way we can visualize what you'll look like if you were actually on the team. I know you'll only be wearing half but half is better than nothing. Now, please go change. 

Confounded, Stephanie dropped her backpack, walked over to the closet, and closed the door behind her.