Falling for Ben & Other Impossible Things (Garcia Brothers Book 1) Read online

  It was interesting.

  Audrey gave Rachel this knowing look then turned back to me. Nora covered her mouth with her hand.

  I looked down, a little embarrassed. They had to think I was so weird. “Sorry.”

  Rachel smiled. “Hey, when it comes to the Garcia brothers, we get it. They are…beyond cute.”

  “Brothers?” I asked. There were more of them?

  Rachel nodded. “Yep. Plural. Their little brother is still in junior high, but Ben over there is the oldest.”

  “Arguably the cutest,” Nora added. “Some days it’s debatable,” she added with a wink.

  I giggled, wondering when I would get to see the other brothers.

  Rachel leaned forward. “Unfortunately, Ben is the one brother who doesn’t date. He doesn’t do girlfriends or even ask girls to prom. Nothing.”

  With a quick glance back at him, I shook my head a little. “Why?”

  Why would the cutest guy in the entire school say no to dating?

  I mean, I’d only been a student at Jefferson High for a few hours. No way had I seen the entire boy population in that amount of time, but one thing I knew for sure. Ben was THE guy at Jefferson.

  Tall, tan, athletic, and handsome.

  Rachel shrugged and turned to Audrey and Nora.

  Audrey kept her voice low but casual. “I hang out with Cade a lot, and he says football is too important to him. Not to mention he has like two jobs to help his mom cover bills and stuff.”

  Ben gave a yawn, covering his mouth. All of a sudden, I could see faint circles under his eyes. His hair was messy, and I thought before that it was on purpose, but now I realized maybe he just hadn’t had time to pull a comb through it.

  Don’t get me wrong. The bedhead look worked on him.

  But what Audrey was saying made sense.

  “That’s too bad,” I heard myself say. Then I turned back to my food.

  Rachel shrugged again. “It is what it is. Believe me, you’re not the first girl to be sorely disappointed by Ben Garcia not doing the dating thing.”

  “You too?” I teased.

  The hint of a smile played at Nora’s face. “Not quite.”

  Rachel threw a French fry at her.

  I looked between them. “What?”

  Audrey grinned as Rachel took a swig of her water. “She has it bad for one of the other brothers.”

  Rachel coughed a little, and the rest of us laughed. “Okay, change of subject!” she said. “So, Scarlett. What’s your thing?”

  “My thing?” I replied. “What do you mean?”

  Audrey and Nora waited for a response.

  Rachel nodded. “Yeah. Your thing. Mine is cheer. Audrey’s into music and stuff. Nora…well, Nora is just kinda weird, but we love her.”

  “Hey!” Nora laughed and pushed her playfully.

  “What about you?” Rachel finished. “What are you into?”

  I thought about that for a second. One thing came to mind. “Well, I was on the dance team back at my old school.”

  The girls looked thoroughly impressed.

  “Dance?” Rachel said. “Like, did you compete and stuff?”

  I nodded and kept eating. “Sometimes we did pretty well.” I had a few medals to show for it.

  Audrey turned to me. “Makes sense. You totally have a dancer’s body.”

  “Thanks,” I said with a smile. “I love it. My mom is a good dancer. I must have inherited it from her.”

  It was kind of our thing. We loved dancing, whether it was hip hop or merengue. Mom was half Latina so it was in our blood.

  If I could get on the dance team here, then it would be awesome. I definitely missed it. “Does Jefferson have a dance team?” I asked.

  Audrey shook her head. “No. Sorry.”

  Nora gave a me an empathetic look. “The closest you’re gonna get is cheer, and I have to say I’d recommend band over cheer.”

  She sounded serious until a teasing smile gave it away.

  “Hey!” Rachel cried. “Our cheer squad is awesome, thank you very much. That’s a biased yet true opinion,” she huffed. Then she looked at me. “Seriously, though, Scarlett, our squad does a lot of dancing, not just cheering, in our routines. Our tryouts are tomorrow afternoon. You should totally come.”

  “Tomorrow afternoon?” I asked, hesitation clear in my voice. That was kind of soon. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll take a break this semester. You know, get settled and make sure my grades are up.”

  Rachel rolled her eyes. “Grades? Really?”

  Nora snorted a little, and Audrey cracked a smile.

  Rachel went on. “I mean, yeah, grades are important, blah, blah, blah, but you’re new here. If you want to fit in, not to mention make tons of friends and have fun every Friday night with CUTE FOOTBALL PLAYERS then I highly recommend joining the cheer squad.” She grinned triumphantly, like no person in their right mind would say no to that.

  But I had my doubts. I had been at Jefferson for one day, and she wanted me to commit to cheer? “I don’t know, Rachel. I mean, I’ve never done cheer before. I don’t think I’d be very good.”

  Plus the thought of me in that tiny skirt and top? I mean, Mom would love it and take about a million pictures, but me? I wasn’t so sure about this.

  “Oh, come on!” Rachel said. “Promise me you’ll at least think about it. We could use someone like you.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but she kept going. “You said you guys did pretty well sometimes!”

  “I’m just not sure I’m the cheerleader…type,” I said, not quite meeting her eyes and doing my best not to sound like a jerk.

  Nora began laughing, and Audrey held back a smile.

  Rachel put her hands on her hips. “I don’t know what the cheer squad back at your old school was like, Scarlett, but I promise we’re not all airheads here. The girls are actually pretty cool. We hang out all the time, and like I said, Friday nights are even more fun down on the field instead of in the stands.”

  I glanced at Ben.

  No, he would not be the reason I said yes or no to this.

  I met Rachel’s eyes. “I’ll…think about it.”

  3

  Rachel found me first thing the next morning. “Where’s your gym bag? You said you’d think about it!”

  I gave her my best “please don’t hate me” smile. “I don’t think I’m going to try out.” Her face immediately fell, and I tried to explain. “I don’t have anything ready, and I’m probably not gonna make it anyway. I promise I wouldn’t know what I’m doing.”

  Rachel practically deflated but gave me a half smile at least. “It’s okay. I get it.”

  Then she walked me to my next class, her arm in mine.

  I had to hand it to her.

  Rachel came on a little strong, but she was kind. Audrey and Nora too. I couldn’t believe it was only my second day at Jefferson, and somehow, I’d already made some friends. It helped that Audrey and Nora had been nice to me from the start.

  I waved goodbye to Rachel and went into class. A little bit of guilt made its way into my stomach. Rachel had been so cool about me turning her down. The least I could’ve done was go to tryouts, even if I didn’t make it.

  So what if I made a fool of myself in front of everyone? What were friends for? She’d definitely been a friend in the past day, lending me her notes in math and making sure I knew where I was going.

  Then again, I just wasn’t sure about potentially becoming a cheerleader.

  What if I did make the squad?

  That possibility was even worse than falling on my face in front of the prettiest, most confident girls at Jefferson.

  This was a new school, where no one really knew me yet.

  Did I want my identity to be that of cheerleader?

  That was the last thing I’d ever seen myself as, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to start now.

  At the end of the day, I put away my books in my locker, only grabbing what I needed for homework that
night.

  The gym wasn’t far, so I could hear the sound of basketballs bouncing around. A group of girls in sky-high ponytails and carrying bright gym bags walked past me and into the gym.

  Including Rachel. She gave me a kind smile and quick wave before joining the rest of the squad inside the gym.

  Now it was my turn to sigh.

  I looked down at my blue jeans and over-sized sweater. Then I pulled on my backpack and headed into the gym.

  I was sooo going to regret this, but whatever.

  After going into the girls’ locker room, I found Rachel and gave her a nervous wave in the form of a large rainbow.

  She looked at me, clearly confused as she eyed my outfit. “Scarlett, is everything okay? What are you doing here?”

  I shrugged. “I’m trying out.”

  She laughed but not in a mean way, more like disbelief. “You said you weren’t going to. Listen, it’s okay if cheer isn’t your thing.”

  I thought about that for a second. “I know. I just feel like it’s the least I could do, you know? Do this for you and see if maybe cheer could be my thing. It’s not the same as dance, but—“

  I did miss dance…Cheer wasn’t the same, but maybe it would be something?

  Rachel wrapped me in a tight hug, then took a quick step back. “Tell me you’re wearing something under that tent of a sweater.”

  I laughed a little. “Thanks. And yes, I am.” Still not ideal cheer tryout clothing, but it would do.

  After joining the rest of the girls in the gym, I took off my sweater, leaving it on the bleachers. Good thing I had worn high-waisted jeans that day.

  The shirt I was wearing stopped just above my belly button. I hadn’t planned on taking off my sweater today. This wasn’t the kind of thing I usually wore to school.

  Rachel walked over to me, eyeing my figure. “Girl, is it hot in here or is it just you? Don’t let Ben see you.”

  I shook my head but grinned. “As if.”

  The loud and shrill sound of a whistle practically made me jump. Mrs. Collins stepped onto the court, the silver whistle still in her mouth. She let it drop to her chest and put her hands on her hips. “Ladies! Let’s get warmed up.”

  Her eyes found mine while I stretched. “Scarlett.” She paused. “I didn’t expect to see you here, but I’m pleasantly surprised.”

  I smiled back. “Thanks. I wasn’t planning on trying out,” I said, indicating my clothes,” but Rachel convinced me at the last minute.”

  Mrs. Collins nodded. “I wouldn’t usually let you try out without the proper attire, but you’re new, so I’ll make an exception. I can’t wait to see what you can do.”

  She gave me a wink and continued walking, reminding everyone to stretch their hamstrings or demonstrating the correct way to stretch.

  I took a deep breath, now a little nervous because I had no idea what to expect. Eyeing my sweater on the bleachers across the gym, a big part of me wished I was on my way home to a couple hours of Netflix instead of preparing to make a fool of myself at cheerleading tryouts.

  CHEERLEADING TRYOUTS.

  I could hardly believe I was there.

  What had I been thinking?

  At my old school, the cheerleaders had been the last girls I would ever choose to interact with. They may as well have been pulled from Mean Girls.

  I blew out a breath and tried to focus on the instructions Mrs. Collins was giving us.

  Something about earning points for this and deducting points for that. “And remember to smile! Very important.”

  Smile. Got it.

  Didn’t get much of anything else.

  I tried not to throw up.

  Pretended this was just like dance, except there wouldn’t always be music.

  It would be over before I knew it. Hopefully with minimal embarrassment.

  A tall slender girl with dark hair like mine stepped up to the front next. “As you all know,” she began. Then her gaze found mine. “Or most of you know. I’m Lily, this year’s captain. I’ll be demonstrating the moves that you’ll be scored on. Do your best to do what I do with precise form and enthusiasm. We’re not looking for perfection, so don’t worry if you don’t get all of the steps of the routine exactly right. We’re more interested in your attitude and how you handle pressure. You guys ready?”

  Just about everyone nodded, and I took a deep breath.

  Not really, but what choice did I have?

  (Insert a dozen nervous laughter emojis here.)

  Lily gave us a big grin. “Good. Let’s do this.”

  She pulled over a chair with a bluetooth speaker and took out her phone. A few taps later, she stood back up and handed it to Mrs. Collins, who stood at the ready with clipboard in hand. The rest of us moved well out of her way.

  Lily took a soldier-like stance, much like we did on the dance team before the start of the routine. Straight arms at her side, big smile, thousand-mile stare.

  Mrs. Collins hit play and the music came on.

  A few seconds into the hip hop song, Lily began by putting her hands in the air, a pop of the hips to the left, pop of the hips to the right while she crossed her arms. Step forward, one-eighty. I bobbed my head slightly as I counted the beats in my head and visualized myself doing the same moves Lily was doing.

  Lily came to a stop, and Mrs. Collins hit pause. Lily looked around at all of us. Most of the girls seemed confident, but a few looked nervous.

  I wasn’t sure what I was.

  “Your turn,” she said. “We’ll call up three girls a time, lined up right here. We’ll play the music again, and I’ll do it at the same time as you while Mrs. Collins scores.”

  Mrs. Collins called my name for the first round. Of course.

  I took a deep breath and pretended once again that this was pretty similar to dance, and I was good at dance.

  Mrs. Collins pressed play again, and I kept my peripheral vision on Lily. But I breathed a sigh of relief at the end when I realized I barely needed to follow her.

  I’d always been good at memorizing dance routines at my old school. Enough that the coach had almost always placed me in the front row. And now that skill was coming in handy.

  Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

  Mrs. Collins even gave me an impressed look.

  Then, a few minutes later, Lily began doing backflips and round-offs.

  Ummm….

  I shot Rachel a desperate look. Stunts were definitely not my forte. I was nowhere near some of these girls’ level.

  I’d done tumbling for a while as a kid, but these days, all I did were moves that usually kept me well within range of the ground.

  Rachel gave me two thumbs up and a reassuring look before it was her turn to go. Just like that, she nailed three backhandsprings —one more than even Lily had done—plus a split to top it all off.

  When it was my turn, I showed Mrs. Collins what I could do. A solid round-off, a decent split, but that was it.

  She jotted down something and moved on.

  I was sure it couldn’t get worse than that, being one of three people there who couldn’t land a backhand spring, but up next, we had to do actual cheer stunts.

  As in throwing people in the air.

  Several of the more experienced girls spotted me. Since I was the smallest person in my group, I got chosen to be the flyer.

  I wasn’t one to chicken out or break into utter panic, but that was about the closest I’d ever come to it.

  I focused on not hyper-ventilating. Before I could tell Mrs. Collins that it was time for me to go (run) home, though, Rachel pulled me aside.

  She could probably see the panic on my face. “Rachel, I can’t do this!” I cried. What had I been thinking? Never had I asked myself that question as much as I had today.

  The thought of me being launched like a faulty rocket into the air and then coming back down to unsure hands…

  I gulped. Goodbye, cruel world.

  Okay, maybe I was being a tad over drama
tic, but I hardly felt guilty for it.

  Rachel took my hands in hers. “We’ve got you. Don’t worry. It looks a lot harder than it actually is. Just keep your whole body rigid. As rigid as you possibly can. And trust us. I can already tell you were made for this.”

  Trust people I’d only just met this afternoon? SURE OKAY.

  And what was that nonsense about being made for something I’d NEVER done before?

  She gave my hands a squeeze. “I promise you’re gonna be fine.”

  Mrs. Collins gave a blow of her whistle, and I got in the middle of my small group. Rachel gave me a reassuring smile as I put my right hand on her shoulder and my right foot in her hands. The girls held onto my feet tightly and pushed me up into the air in one swift motion.

  Fighting down a fresh wave of panic, my stomach doing more flips than I ever would, I fought to keep my body rigid. Arms at my side. Smiling more out of sheer fear and shock than anything else.

  “Told you you could do this! Go for a heel stretch!” Rachel called from down below.

  Huh? Did she expect me to figure out what that meant, all while hoping I didn’t break my neck?

  She called out again. “Lift up your leg! Touch your toe to your hand!”

  I finally knew what she was talking about, but I couldn’t believe she was asking me to potentially lose my balance and die.

  In school.

  But for some reason, I thought to myself: what the hay?

  May as well go for it, right?

  If I’m gonna risk my life out here, I may as well go down attempting a fancy move.

  The girls let go of my right foot, and before I could think too much about it, I gritted my teeth hard through my smile and lifted my foot as high as I could.

  Thank goodness for all the dance practice because otherwise, I probably would’ve fallen. It took every ounce of strength in my core and remaining leg to stand steady.

  After a couple of seconds, I brought my leg back down.

  Rachel’s voice somehow reached my already at-capacity brain. “Ready?”

  They tossed me up, I gave a small scream, and then I came back down in a basket toss.

  The girls stood me back up, and I seriously thought I would keel over into a heap. Maybe it was the course of adrenaline that kept me on my two feet.