The Hardest Cut by Jamie Bennett (book club recommendations .TXT) 📕

with him.  I tried to smile at the coaches but I felt a tear drip down my cheek.

Sam sat up straight.  “Ok, we have an issue with you two ladies,” he told us, and Addison stopped smiling and looked confused.  He turned to her first.  “Addison, you’re a better dancer.  But Gaby, you kicked some a—booty today.  Addison’s better at tumbling, but you’ve improved,” he pointed out to me, and my heart started to fall down into my shoes.  She was better.  She was going to make it and there was only room for one more dancer.

“But the thing is,” Sam continued.  “The thing is…”  He looked helplessly at Rylah.

“The thing is, every single vet has come in here and told us that they don’t want you dancing next to them, Addison.  They say that you’re mean.  You’re not a team player.  They don’t like you much,” Rylah said plainly.  “And they say the opposite about Gaby.”  She held up a paper, and I saw a lot of signatures scrawled on it.  “Twenty-five vets signed this,” she said to me.  “It’s a letter saying that you would be a great addition to our squad.”  She sighed too and pushed the tissue box across the desk.  “Take some.  I think Caitlyn left a few.”  Then she rattled the letter.  “They all like you.  They say that you’re encouraging, friendly, big-hearted, and fun.  They want you to be with them on the sidelines.”

“That’s wonderful,” I sniffed out.  “That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard!”

“That’s…that’s…” Addison sputtered.  “That’s bullshit!  I’m much better than she is, you said it yourself!” she told Sam,and pointed accusingly, first at him, then over at me.  “I’m prettier, too, and I have a better body!  She’s a fucking mess!  She’s lying about being so nice, nobody’s that nice!  I bet that she’s faking that injury, too.  And I think she’s screwing one of the coaches.  That’s a violation of the rules.”  She swiveled in her seat and smiled.  She had me.

I took a deep breath.  “It’s Ben Matthews.  I love him,” I admitted quietly.  “I’m sorry.  I can’t help it.”

“Good grief.”  Sam slapped his hand over his eyes.  “I can’t take this drama.  There’s no rule that you can’t screw a coach.  You just can’t screw a player.  Have relations,” he revised, when Rylah poked him.  “This was an issue with the former mascot and the quarterback a few years ago.  I read the contract real carefully after that.”

“Really?” I asked.  “Then we can be together?”  But it didn’t matter, if Ben didn’t really love me back.

“Are you fucking serious?” Addison howled.  “Are we actually worrying about her pitiful love life right now?  Who cares about that?  I want to know who’s getting cut!”

Now Sam pointed his finger.  He pointed it right at Addison.  “You are.”

She jumped up so fast that her chair turned over.  “How dare you?  Nobody does this to me!”

Sam stood up.   “Addison, calm—”

“You’re just a stupid little man,” she yelled at him, “and you don’t know anything about history, foreign languages, or anything else!” she screeched to Rylah.  “You two think you can criticize me?  Screw you both!  I shouldn’t have just torched the car and thrown that crap, I should have burned down both your fucking houses!”

Oh, gravy.

“Get the police!” Rylah yelled, but Addison gave her the finger and stormed out before Sam could even pick up the phone.  And then, the next few moments were full of frantic calls and paging Lyle the security guard on the radio and Sam swearing and Rylah talking about the Battle of the Bulge, which I had to secretly look up on my phone to see that it wasn’t anything about being fat.  I wasn’t exactly sure how it applied to this situation, either.

When things finally calmed down a little, I ventured a question.  “Um, sorry, but does this mean that I made the squad?”

They both looked up at me in surprise, like they’d forgotten that I was there.  “Hell yes, you made it,” Coach Sam said.  “Go put on your uniform and get down to the field.”

I made it.  I made it.  I floated to the locker room and there was my name above one of the cubbies: Gaby Carter.  And in it, there was that orange halter top.  I touched it reverently.  I made it.  I put on the uniform and stared at myself in the mirror, still not believing it.  I made it?

“Gaby!”  The girls screamed and surrounded me when I walked out of the tunnel and onto the field.  They were jumping up and down and saying how happy they were, how glad, and then Emi pulled her phone out of her bra and looked at the screen.

“OMG!” she yelled.  “My brother is a deputy sheriff, and he just texted me that there’s a warrant out for Addison!”

“Circle up and take a knee,” Sam barked as he came out of the tunnel, and we did.  I had no idea at all what he talked to us about, but probably it dealt with Addison, and probably the upcoming season, and probably a lot of important things that I missed.  I felt almost dizzy, almost like I was hovering above the hallowed grass we were sitting on in our matching Woodsmen football cheer uniforms.  I looked down at the orange polyester to convince myself.  Could this be right?

“G?”  I looked over when Caitlyn nudged me.  “Picture time!”

It took forever to get a good picture, even if it wasn’t an official one.  Then Sam had us all jump at the same time and yell, and Rylah wanted one where we spelled out Woodsmen with our bodies on the grass.  “You’re not working as an O,” she kept telling Jess.  “Try to imagine how Queen Victoria would handle this assignment!”

“Are you coming?” Caitlyn asked me, removing her feet from my stomach.  We had been the E.  I glanced around and realized that all the other cheerleaders were standing up from our letter formations and some