Free The Winning Element by Shannon Greenland Page A

you’re not going to do this by yourself?”
     
     
    Beaker smirked. “You take it right. If you want it done so badly, you do it.”
     
     
    Coach shrugged. “Very well.” She grabbed Beaker’s wrist, twisted it behind her back, and smooshed the cotton ball across her right eye.
     
     
    Beaker jerked away, leaving a black mark smeared across her cheek. “Hey!”
     
     
    “Well, if you’d hold still.”
     
     
    Beaker jerked away again. “Let me go.”
     
     
    “You going to do it yourself?”
     
     
    “No,” Beaker snapped.
     
     
    Coach Capri backed her up against the bathroom wall. For such a little woman, she was very strong. And her drill sergeant personality made her seem six feet tall.
     
     
    Holding firm to Beaker, Coach cleaned her eye while Beaker rolled her head, trying without success to dodge Coach’s efforts.
     
     
    “Get me another one,” Coach said to me.
     
     
    Quickly, I sopped another cotton ball with the remover and handed it to her. Beaker shot me a deadly look. I wanted so bad to laugh, but I held it in. She was purposefully being difficult, as usual. And a big, huge, giant baby.
     
     
    Still holding Beaker, Coach cleaned off her other eye and then let her go. “See. Was that so bad?”
     
     
    Beaker growled.
     
     
    Coach Capri didn’t even seemed fazed. “Now hair.”
     
     
    “What?!”
     
     
    “You heard me.” Coach picked up a bottle of color. “You can’t look like a skunk if you want to fit in at America’s Cheer.”
     
     
    Beaker dodged for the door.
     
     
    Coach intercepted her. "GiGi, lock us in from the outside.”
     
     
    I rolled my eyes at the ridiculousness of the situation. “All right. You two have fun.”
     
     
    Beaker cursed.
     
     
    I left, locking the door from the outside at the same time someone tapped softly on our bedroom door. Bruiser tiptoed over and peeked out.
     
     
    “Shhh.” She put her finger over lips, shushing whoever stood on the other side.
     
     
    Cat and I exchanged a “what’s up?” look.
     
     
    Bruiser widened the door a little, and in crept Wirenut, Mystic, and Parrot. The guys spread out in the room: Mystic cross-legged on the floor, Wirenut next to Cat, and Parrot stretched out on Beaker’s empty bed.
     
     
    A muted crash came from the bathroom, followed by a stream of curses.
     
     
    Bruiser suppressed a giggle.
     
     
    Coach Capri was one little woman I did not want to mess with. I was scared of her, and I wasn’t ashamed to admit it. If she snapped an order, I hopped to it. Beaker, on the other hand . . . They went head to head over everything. Literally. From Beaker’s clothes, to her oh-so-pleasant demeanor, to her gum chomping, to the way she walked. Coach Capri got in her face about everything.
     
     
    A bang rattled from the bathroom, shaking the door. Another stream of curses followed.
     
     
    Everyone in the bedroom exchanged an “oh no” look.
     
     
    Beaker was going to be so upset when she found all the guys in here. I almost felt sorry for her.
     
     
    Almost.
     
     
    More banging, rattling, and yelling came from the inside, while my teammates giggled on the outside. A half hour later, a blow dryer kicked on and minutes after that the bathroom door opened.
     
     
    Coach Capri emerged. Clearing her throat, she smoothed her short hair into place. “Well, everyone’s here. Good.” She smiled a little too sinisterly. “ Real good.”
     
     
    In the short time I’d known her, I’d gotten the impression she enjoyed her battles with Beaker.
     
     
    “You can come out now,” Coach Capri called.
     
     
    Nothing.
     
     
    “You can come out now,” she called again, her voice a bit harder.
     
     
    Nothing.
     
     
    “Get your butt out here,” she barked. “Now.”
     
     
    This time I held in a giggle.
     
     
    The bathroom door slammed open, and Beaker stomped out.
     
     
    My jaw dropped. Beaker had gone through a complete transformation. Like an