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Karen groaned as her alarm went off, blindly reaching out to shut it off. Today was the start of cheerleading tryouts and she had to get there early to meet with Elektra and set up the mats. She sat up in bed and ran her fingers through the mess that was her hair. Karen rubbed her eyes as she padded to the bathroom and flicked on the light. God, she hated mornings.
After going through her morning routine, she dressed quickly in small black shorts and a white and silver tank top that proudly exclaimed ‘Bulldogs Cheerleader!’. These were the tanks that every girl on the team bought for practices. She pulled her hair up into a high ponytail and after grabbing a protein shake and a water bottle, she headed to the high school.
When she arrived, Elektra was already there unrolling the tumbling mats in the gym. “Hey, girl.” Karen greeted as she walked into the gymnasium.
“Hey!” Elektra grinned. “You ready for the new year?”
“Ask me that again once I’ve had my coffee,” Karen grouched. Her eyes lit up as Elektra handed her a cup of coffee from a cardboard drink carrier on the bleachers. “You’re a goddess,” she groaned appreciatively as she took her first sip of coffee.
“I know darling, I know. Get some more coffee in you and then we’ll finish getting these set up.” Elektra nodded to the mats, sitting down to finish off her own cup of coffee.
Karen chugged half her cup in one go before setting it back down. “Alright, let's do this.”
They got the mats all rolled out and their table put together, complete with two speakers hooked up to Karen’s iPod for the tryout music. She dug through her cheer bag to get out the list of people trying out. Most of the girls on the list were from the squad last year, and there were a few new names on there as well.
About 30 minutes before tryouts were set to begin, Frank Castle strolled into the gymnasium, his kids by his side. “Hey Page, everything looks good.” Frank was the football coach for the high school as well as a history teacher, who happened to have his class next door to Karen’s own journalism classroom. “Hope it’s okay that Lisa’s here early, I’ve got football tryouts in 45 minutes. Gotta set up.” Frank clicked his tongue against his teeth. He was wearing his own Bulldog’s shirt, a polo, and a pair of khaki shorts. His son, Frank Jr. was in his football gear, a helmet dangling from his hands.
“Yeah, that’s perfectly okay. Frankie, it’s your first year, right? You nervous?” Karen asked Frank’s son. She had met his kids a few times when they were younger, at faculty mixers, and after Frank’s wife had died, they used to sit in on Frank’s football practices. Now Lisa was a sophomore and Frankie was a freshman at Ben Urich Memorial High School. Lisa had joined the cheerleading squad last year and was quickly becoming a pro. Karen even had thought about putting Lisa as the Cheer captain or co-captain.
“Nah, I’m alright.” Frank Jr. gave her a boyish smile. “I been playing ball for a while with dad, I think I’m okay. Thanks.”
Frank nudged his son and gave him a stern look. “I-ah, I mean thank you, Ma’am.” Frankie corrected himself.
Karen chuckled, waving the boys away. “Go do your football things Castle, I’ll see you later.” She smiled.
“Always a pleasure, Miss Page,” Frank tipped his head at her before leaving the gym, heading to the football lockers.
Elektra watched their exchange with bright eyes and a sharp smile. “We will talk later,” She chuckled, raising an eyebrow at Karen before turning her attention to Lisa. “Darling, would you like to stretch with me?” She asked, moving to the mats as Karen sat at the table to organize the tryout paperwork and get it in order for today.
Lisa nodded, putting her backpack on the bleachers and moving to the mats as well. She was dressed in the usual try out gear, a plain white tank top, black shorts, and white tennis shoes. “Yeah, Thanks, Miss Elektra.” She smiled softly.
Karen watched the two stretch out for a moment before more and more people began to come into the gym. She greeted every student, asking how their first month of summer had been, and welcomed the new freshmen. After everyone had stretched, and Elektra had led the first run through of the try out material, Karen had called out groups for the girls to get into. Karen needed to test her vision with different groups of people, finding out who her girls worked best with, who looked best together, and whose strengths were complementary. After they worked in groups for a little over an hour, Karen called a break to let the girls get water.
Elektra turned eagerly to Karen. “So… You and Frank?” She asked slyly.
“There is no me and Frank, El.” Karen huffed. “We’re just friends, okay?”
“Hmmph.” Elektra made a noise of disbelief. “I’ll believe that when Matthew can see me stick the landing on a triple layout,” she grumbled petulantly.
Karen snorted. “That’s messed up El, even for you.” Matt, Elektra’s on-again-off-again boyfriend, and the AP English teacher, was blind.
“And it’s messed up that you still haven’t even talked to Frank.”
“First of all, we have talked. We’re friends. Friends do that. Second of all, he’s still grieving, okay? I’m not going to be insensitive. I’m not going to just... Come to him!” Karen exclaimed, rolling her eyes and sipping her water. “End of discussion.”
“Ah... I just think he likes you, is all. He doesn’t smile at anyone else but you, and he brought you coffee during finals last year. Matthew didn’t even bring Foggy coffee, and he’s his best friend.” Elektra insisted.
Karen sighed, a small blush coloring her cheeks as she remembered the little notes that Frank wrote on the cups, hidden beneath the coffee cup sleeve. “Yeah... Well, I’m not gonna mess it up. If there are feelings…” Thankfully, this conversation was cut off by all the girls coming back to the gym to finish tryouts. The last hour of the day was spent doing the individual component of the tryouts before Karen and Elektra dismissed everyone, promising the squad list would be up tomorrow and then practices would be held for two days more, before releasing the kids for the rest of the summer.
Lisa helped Karen and Elektra roll up the mats and store them in the cheerleading closet, just making small talk with her coaches. Elektra waved goodbye to the both of them, as she needed to go home to meet Matt.
“Lisa, you’ve gotten so good. I’m so proud of you,” Karen smiled softly. “I know I mentioned it right before school ended, but have you given any more thought to being a flyer this year?”
“Yeah.. kinda. I would like it. I.. I’ve been practicing too. Last year with Bailey, the main flyer? She was helping me with my stunting. I think I want to do it.” Lisa grinned widely.
“Perfect. I think it’s a great fit for you,” Karen smiled back at the girl. “I think your dad is still in tryouts. I’ll walk you down to the field okay?”
“Okay,” Lisa murmured, pulling out her phone to start texting as they walked outside the athletic building to get to the field. Karen walked with Lisa up into the bleachers, sitting down to watch as Frank and his assistant coach, Curtis, wrapped up their tryouts.
“Alright boys, you did real good out there. Lots of energy and lots of passion. Keep it up! Okay? I wanna see you all back here tomorrow, same time same place. We’ll split up into defense and offense and work through some drills. I’ll announce strings at the end of the week, so I want all of you to keep up the great work! Don’t get lazy, don't get complacent. If you want a position, you gotta work for it, alright?” Frank yelled in that gravelly voice of his.
“Yes sir!” the team yelled back in unison before they ran for the locker room.
Karen and Lisa clapped dramatically from behind Frank, causing him to turn around with a crooked smile. “Yeah, yeah, make fun all you want.”
“Who me? I’m not making fun,” Karen chuckled, pressing a hand to her chest. “But now I’m ready to be led into battle.”
Lisa giggled at that, beaming down at her dad.
Frank’s heart always broke in the best way when he saw his kids really smile. After Maria passed away, it was hard for the whole family to grieve and to process her death, but now they had moments where they felt real joy. And for Frank, the joy overwhelmed him when he saw his kids really truly smiling and being happy. For Lisa, that had been cheerleading. In middle school and in high school the girl had taken such a strong liking to the sport, and now Karen was Lisa’s unofficial mentor. The girl had taken so strongly to the new coach last year, and Frank was helpless against anything that made his baby girl happy. “Laugh it up, Page,” he snorted. “Lisa, how were tryouts?” He asked while gathering up his bag.
“They were good dad. I think I’m gonna be a flyer this year- I mean, if I make it,” the girl smiled shyly at Karen.
“You’re a natural Lisa, just be open to constructive criticism and try your best. You’ve got so much potential,” Karen murmured with an encouraging smile.
“Isn’t that kinda dangerous?” Frank asked gruffly.
“What’s dangerous?” Frankie asked, walking up to his dad.
“Being a flyer on the squad. And not really. I keep my stunts as safe as possible. There’s always that risk of danger, but I could say that football is dangerous too,” Karen smirked.
Frank shrugged a shoulder, his way of conceding the point. “Alright, kids. Let’s get going, I gotta make dinner- and no, Junior, we ain’t getting drive through. That crap’ll make you sick and you know it.” Karen stifled a laugh against the back of her hand. “Let us walk you to your car, ma’am.” Frank flashed a rare smile at her.
“You don’t have to..” Karen protested weakly, but Frank cut her off. “Of course we do. You parked in front of the gym?” He asked. At Karen’s nod, he shouldered his bag and nodded to his kids.
The four of them walked to the parking lot in front of the gymnasium and Karen waved goodbye to the Castle’s, tossing an “I’ll see you tomorrow” over her shoulder as she unlocked the door to her old sedan. She waited until she saw the kids getting in Frank’s car before she started to drive off, waving at Frank one more time.
The thirty-minute drive home to her apartment was quiet as she thought about Elektra’s words. Frank did smile a lot at her, more than was normal for the man. And he did bring her gifts a lot, coffee, a set of new pens once, and one a memorable occasion, a bouquet of lilies on her birthday. But she’s never been great with guys, and those were normal men with limited problems. Frank was… complicated. First, there was his previous wife. Karen couldn’t even imagine the pain of seeing the love of your life dies, especially the long drawn out suffering of breast cancer that Maria had. Karen also had never dated a man with kids. Granted, she was comfortable with Lisa and Frankie, but it’s just an awkward position to be in. She wouldn’t be trying to replace Maria in anyone’s hearts, just add herself to them.
As Karen mulled this over in her head, she came to a startling conclusion; she really did have feelings for Frank Castle.