Caged (Caged series Book 1)

by Destiny Hawkins

  “Tryouts are next week!” Cameron tried to say over the music. Abigale laughed and turned it down, “So, tryouts are next week. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”

  “I’ll be there,” I smiled. Tryouts are going to be exciting.

  “Yeah, I talked to coach. Since you’re a girl, and we’ve never had a girl on our team, he wants to have a private tryout only for you Saturday.”

  “A what?” I leaned in between the seats.

  Cameron had a smile on his face, “he wants to make sure that you could even perform in the real tryouts,” he faced me, “So you’re going against me.”

  Cameron and I stared at each other for a moment, then I said, “Just have it in the back of your mind that if you grab me in any uncomfortable places, that I have a really good grip...and I don’t. Let. Go.”

  It was quiet for a moment, and then we all burst out laughing.

  Abigale pulled up to a small apartment complex and we got out of the car.

  “Is this where you live?” I asked.

  “Yup,” Abigale answered.

  “Yeah, and I live in those apartments over there,” Cameron pointed to some apartments next to the ones we pulled up in front of.

  We walked up the walkway and through the back door. Then we made our way up the stairway, and down a long hall. The hallway was pretty clean, but smelled like all the foods people were cooking in their homes. There was a dim light that lit the hallway, and the carpet was stained with dirt from people walking on it. Altogether, though, it was pretty decent.

  “Mine is all the way down this hallway,” Abigale said.

  On our way to her apartment, I heard yelling coming from one of the apartments ahead of us. I would say that there was an argument, but there was only a man screaming. I didn’t hear anyone else yelling back, and it reminded me of Arnold’s yelling during training. I took a deep breath and shook the thought away.

  The door flew open, and a familiar face came storming out of the apartment. I didn’t know who he was, but he went to our school. He was a tall Caucasian boy that was well built, with black hair and a pale face. Only right now it was red from anger.

  “H-hey Josh,” Cameron said. For a moment Cameron looked afraid of him.

  “Hey bro,” Josh calmed down a little. I looked down at his fist to see that there was blood on them.

  “You alright?” Cameron was looking down at his hand too.

  “Yeah, I kind of punched the wall. I’ll be okay though.”

  Abigale frowned and continued on past him, leaving the three of us confused.

  “You have to stop doing that man, last time you couldn’t wrestle because you broke your hand.”

  “I know, bro...” Josh shook his head in disappointment.

  “Oh- this is Rose. She’ll be trying out,” Cameron introduced.

  Josh looked up and smiled as if trying to contain his laughter, “Right. Look, hey I have to go, I’ll see you at school next week,” Josh looked at me as he passed me by, “I’ll see you too Rosie.”

  I turned to Cameron who had a smile on his face, “Rosie?”

  “Guys are you coming in or not?” Abigale asked.

  Cameron and I jogged down the hallway and into Abigale’s apartment. Inside looked totally different from the outside. This place was nice.

  She had light grey carpeting with a soft grey couch in the front room. In front of the couch was a glass coffee table that faced the fifty inch flat screen up on the wall. Under it was a PlayStation 3 and a Wii. The kitchen was on your left as soon as you entered the apartment. It was a small kitchen, but just big enough for two people to fit in, and looking down the hallway you could see that there were two bedrooms and a small bathroom.

  “This place is nice,” I said sitting down on the couch.

  “Thanks,” Abigale went to put her stuff away in her room, then she came back and turned on the PlayStation.

  Cameron picked up a controller and waited for the game to start up, “I’m about to whoop yo’ ass in some 2K boooy,” he said.

  Abigale picked up a controller and sat down on the other side of me, “Riggghhht.”

  “I call winners,” I said, trying to seem interested in the game. I was never a big fan of video games.

  As they played, they threw a few curse words at each other and then laughed about it. Abigale was winning. I actually found myself enjoying the time that I was spending with them, because they were pretty funny.

  “So, who stays here with you Abs?” I asked.

  “My older brother,” She said making another basket.

  “Yeah, I was wondering if you lived by yourself too,” I thought of Lorena.

  “I thought you lived with your Aunt?” Abigale asked, “You by yourself?”

  “Oh, not me. Lorena lives by herself.”

  Abigale frowned and got quiet.

  “Wow, doesn’t look like you like Lorena much,” Cameron laughed.

  “No, that’s not it. Lorena is cool.”

  Cameron and I both waited for her to continue.

  “What?” Abigale paused the game.

  We were both just looking at her, still waiting.

  Abigale sighed, “Can you guys keep a secret?”

  “Yeah.”

  Abigale bit her lip, “Well, Cameron you already know how I am. I used to have a small crush on Lorena.”

  I squinted, “A crush? Like you liked her? Like gay?”

  Cameron chuckled.

  “That’s not the point, but yeah. Anyways, she ended up getting with that asshole Josh. I just feel bad for her. Josh has a really short temper and almost every time I pass her door, he’s yelling at her or breaking something. I don’t even really see her much anymore.”

  “Wait, so that’s where she lives? Where Josh came out of?” I asked almost excitedly.

  Cameron leaned over my shoulder, “Looks like you’re not the only one with a crush, Abigale.”

  I felt my face getting hot like earlier, but this time from embarrassment. I didn’t even see Lorena like that. She was just very interesting to me.

  “Shut up, I don’t even like her anymore. Not like that at least. She’s just a really nice girl, with a dickface for a boyfriend.”

  I frowned at the thought of Josh hitting Lorena. He was probably the reason why Lorena didn’t show up to school, “Do you think he puts his hands on her?”

  “What?” Cameron started, “Josh is an ass hole, but he wouldn’t hit his girl.”

  “Why are you backing him up anyway? You don’t even really like that dude,” Abigale said.

  “Josh is like a brother to me. I’ve known him since grade school.”

  “So that's why you look afraid of him?” I asked.

  Cameron smacked his teeth, “Dude, I am not afraid of him.”

  “Whatever you say,” I said laughing.

  “But anyways,” Abigale said, “I don’t really think he hits her. He just cheats on her, and yells all the time. Not to mention he’s controlling. If he did hit her, we would know anyways, because Josh is a strong guy. Lorena would be limping or bruised up if he did.”

  I thought of how Lorena was walking earlier. Yeah, he hit her, “Not if he hit her in all the right places,” I said thinking back to Arnold.

  “Look,” Cameron said, “my bro doesn’t do that, okay? Let’s get off the subject.”

  I sat back and watched them start playing the game again, but this time not enjoying myself so much.

  After a full day of playing games and eating snacks, Abigale took me home. It was only ten O’clock when I got in and saw Aunt Shannon asleep on the couch. She must have been waiting the entire day.

  I sighed, feeling bad for a moment. Then the feeling went away when this morning’s incident came to mind. I closed the door lightly, but Aunt Shannon still woke up.

  “Hmm? Rose?” She asked tiredly.

  “Don’t feel like arg-”

  “Are you okay? Your counselor called back and told me what happened. Why didn’t you just te
ll me?” She slowly sat up.

  “Tell you what?” I turned around to face her.

  “About what happened at school, I would’ve understood. I know that you have a little Post traumatics going on.”

  “A little what?!” I snapped, “I don’t have a little bit of anything going on! I’m fine. Fuck that counselor, she doesn’t know shit.”

  “Rose, she isn’t the only one that has said that about you.”

  I didn’t have anything to say. I could feel my insides start to boil, “Whatever,” I turned around and headed back to my room, “There is nothing wrong with me. “

  Once I got in, I threw my stuff on the floor and started to do my regular workout. I told myself it was to be ready for tryouts, but it was really to blow off steam, and a bit of a habit.

  I got down on my hands and knees and then started to do push-ups. As soon as I felt the burning in my arms I began to hear Arnold voice, only this time he wasn’t training me....it was punishment.

  I could feel the pain in my stomach as blows were thrown, “This is your fault Rose.” Arnold said, “This is happening because of you. You just keep fucking up.”

  I got a few more push-ups out of me before I started to feel queasy, and rolled over to my back while breathing heavily. I tried to calm down, but it was just getting worse.

  “Stop!” I could hear myself say, “I’m sorry!”

  My hands started to shake, and it felt like the room was closing in on me. I tried to get up, but I couldn’t move as if I were paralyzed, and my eyes started tearing up. I just couldn’t get rid of the past. I couldn’t get it out of my head. With every little situation that happens, every conversation, Arnold comes back up. The pain, the abuse, the loneliness. It never goes away.

  “Stop,” I whispered to myself. I held my hands together to try and get the shaking to stop. Finally able to move, I rolled over to my side, “Stop...”

  Chapter 12

  Abigale and Cameron picked me up the next morning. It was time for tryouts. Before they came to get me, for some reason, I was very nervous. The last time I wrestled, I lost my temper, or I would say my mind, and I was a little afraid that it would happen again. It was only because of my old counselor-

  “You ready?” Cameron said as he closed the car door behind him.

  Abigale got out and locked the doors to her green 1996 Honda, then she gave me a reassuring smile, “Dude, she is going to kick your ass.”

  The nervousness went away, “Yeah, what she said.”

  “You look nervous!” Cameron teased, “The other day you looked so confident!”

  We were walking towards the school now, “Well, I have a lot on my mind.”

  “It’s cool. Don’t worry about it, this is just to be sure you know the basics before the real thing. Coach doesn’t want you coming into tryouts with all those big guys just to get tossed around.”

  “I understand, but really. After he sees how I throw you, he’ll want me to be captain this year.”

  Cameron chuckled, “We’ll see about that.”

  We walked into the school and down the front hallway. I saw as we passed the main office that the secretary was still inside. Apparently she had to work on weekends too. I sped up, hoping Miss Shy wasn’t working today, but if she did, I didn’t want her to see me. Miss Shy had seen the weaker part of me, and that’s not a side I like people to see.

  I looked over to Abigale who was smirking. She knew what I was thinking, “Don’t worry about it. Soon it’ll all be old news.”

  “What’s old news?” Cameron asked.

  “Nothing,” Abigale said, “Personal stuff.”

  We continued down the maze of hallways until we got to the back of the school.

  “OK, I'll see you on the mats,” Cameron went off into the boys’ locker room.

  “You ready?” Abigale asked, looking almost worried. She was a pretty good friend to me so far.

  “Yeah, just a little- Yeah,” I nodded.

  “Alright, I’ll be in the bleachers cheering you on.”

  “Thanks,” I went into the girls’ locker room and dropped my bag. I was already dressed, but I needed to take a moment. I didn’t have a singlet yet, so I just wore a tight black t-shirt, and my Vale Tudo shorts. They fit like tights, but were a lot shorter and allowed me to move freely.

  I took three deep breaths and tried to get into game mode. I couldn’t let the past catch up with me right now, and had to keep it off my mind. No more black-outs. I’m in control.

  I took one last deep breath and left out of the other end of the locker room that led to the gym. Inside the gym the bleachers were out and empty accept for the two people sitting in them, and then I saw one large mat in the middle of the floor. Cameron was already out there stretching.

  Abigale waved to me from the bleachers, then gave a thumbs up. I looked over to see who the second person was, thinking she was for Cameron, but I was mistaken. Miss Shy was sitting down, watching me. She gave a slight smile and waved, but I didn’t wave back. Now this woman was stalking me.

  “Rose!” Mr. Clothorn walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder. It reminded me of Arnold, and how he would hold my shoulder while he spoke to me. I shook the thought from my head, “I’m glad you could make it.”

  “Oh, I wasn’t going to miss this.”

  “Sorry I couldn’t tell you myself -about today, but I was just too busy. So Cameron said he would let you know.”

  “Yeah, it’s OK. He seemed excited to tell me about it.”

  “I bet he is after your little challenge session in class the other day.”

  We both slowly started walking towards the mat. As we approached it, I saw that there was a police officer standing at the entrance of the gym. He had his arms folded as he stared me down, and I ignored him.

  “Don’t worry about him,” Mr. Clothorn said, “he’s just here to...make sure no one gets hurt.”

  I looked up at him. We both were thinking the same thing.

  “OK, so just like Cameron told you, this is just for me to see what you got. I’ll decide if I want you to come into tryouts or not-”

  “You just want to make sure I can hold my own.”

  Mr. Clothorn smiled, “Exactly.”

  I smiled over at Cameron, “I don’t think it’s me that you have to worry about.”

  We stopped when we got to the mat, “I’ll give you a moment to stre-”

  “No, I’m ready. You ready Cameron?”

  Cameron jumped up with his red singlet on, “Are you?”

  Mr. Clothorn backed up, “OK, we are only going three rounds. 2 minutes each. I want to see what you got. Make every second count.”

  I nodded and stepped into the small circle. Then I looked over to Miss Shy, who had her eyes focused on me. I gave her a devilish grin, then turned to Cameron. We both got into our wrestling stances.

  “Just say the word coach!” Cameron said.

  “Woooo! Go Rose!” Abigale cheered.

  We both laughed.

  “Alright, ready....” Mr. Clothorn blew his whistle.

  Me and Cameron slapped hands, then soon after that he shot for my right leg. My reflexes didn’t kick in and he got a hold of it, then he just took me down with ease. I gasped as my back hit the mat. What was that? Cameron was fast, and I wasn’t in my top shape.

  Cameron tried to take advantage of the shock I was in and hurried to get on top of me so he could get a pin. He was on my right side trying his best to hold me down, and for some reason I felt like I was paralyzed. Cameron was only about ten pounds heavier than me, but it felt like he was one hundred.

  My. Clothorn blew his whistle and Cameron got up. I was pinned in the first round.

  I got up, not even breathing heavily. I didn’t really do anything. What was that?!!

  Mr. Clothorn had a surprised look on his face, and heavy breathing Cameron was smiling.

  I frowned. I had to get my head in the game. I had to take over. There was no way that I was going to l
ose to this guy after all of the big ass people I’ve beaten.

  “Next round,” I said. I got back into a wrestling stance. This time there was no smile on my face.

  “No hard feelings after this, right?” Cameron laughed.

  I didn’t answer. I just kept watching him, and this time he wasn’t going to be so lucky. If Arnold were watching this, he’d be disgusted.

  Mr. Clothorn blew his whistle again.

  Cameron went for another shot, but this time to the left. I bent my knees a little more, making him bump his lip against it. Before he got a grip I sprawled and wrapped my arms around him. Then I tightened my grip and let our bodies fall to the floor.

  “Go Rose!” Abigale cheered.

  Now we were both down on the mats. I was almost confused on what to do because it had been so long since I wrestled. Cameron was trying to break free, but I made myself heavier. I had more muscle than fat. Shit, I was solid.

  I kicked over until I got on his right side and figured I'd just pin him the same way he pinned me. Using all of the strength I had, I pushed Cameron onto his back and got on top of him. He tried to bridge, but I put more pressure down so that his shoulders would both be on the mats. He was really struggling to get out of that position and I guessed that he really didn’t like the thought of being pinned by a girl.

  Mr. Clothorn blew his whistle. I had pinned Cameron.

  We both had gotten up. I felt good, but I still hadn’t finished. I didn’t win just yet, and that round wasn’t very impressive. Not compared to the things that I used to do. I had to show the coach what I’m really like on the mats. That last round was just me trying to get things over with. This next round I’m going to toss this dude around.

  “Last round,” Mr. Clothorn said.

  Serious Cameron and I got back into a wrestling stance. This time I wasn’t going to play defense. After I heard the whistle, I shot out for his right leg, and before Cameron could sprawl, I got a hold of his wrist with one hand and used the other to go in between his legs. I quickly slid onto both knees and put my shoulder against his lower stomach, then I just flipped him over my shoulders and onto his back.