Disclaimer- I do not own JONAS or anything else in this story...except Nikki and her family and background because guess what??? She's based off me! haha!

Chapter Five: Tryouts

Lunch on Monday rolled around fairly fast for the group. They didn't get the chance to really talk before hand because now that it was after the first week of school, the teachers were starting to crack down immensely. Joe groaned as he plopped down into his chair at the lunch table.

"What's wrong?" Stella asked, lacing their fingers together.

"Mrs. Tolbert! She's already assigning us a four page paper on Natural Selection. It's ridiculous."

"I know! We've been there already today. And we were having to take notes so fast, Nikki and I didn't get to pass notes," Stella pouted.

"When's it due?" Nick asked.

"Friday," Joe mumbled.

"Then you've got five days. You're good," he said.

Nikki shook her head. "No. I suggest you do it now. Get it done."

"Thank you! Somebody else on my side!" Macy said.

"Why?" Nick moaned.

"Because the chances of you doing poorly on it increase if you wait until the last minute because then you're cramming unneeded information into it, and it's poorly organized. It's best to start now that way you have time to perfect it and get a better grade. It doesn't have to be completed by tonight. I'm just saying, spend maybe fifteen minutes a night on it, and it'll be A+ material by Friday. I promise."

They all looked warily at her, except for Macy who was beaming, before Kevin said, "Well, do you want to come over to the firehouse tonight to help us out?"

Joe, Nick, Stella, and Macy grinned as Nikki's cheeks tinged pink. "Yeah. I'll head over there after softball tryouts."

"Those are today?" Nick asked.

Macy nodded. "Yes, goober. I've told you for the past like week."

"You guys wanna come watch them with me?" Stella asked.

"I'm in," Joe said immediately.

"Me too," Nick said, which earned a huge smile from Macy.

"I'll be there," Kevin said, smiling briefly at Nikki.

"Great! We get our own personal cheering section, Nikki!" Macy said excitedly.

Nikki nodded with a smile before she went back to her lunch, suddenly very nervous.

That afternoon, Nikki emerged from the locker rooms dressed in a red jersey with a big black number five plastered across the back, and the word Hamilton faded across the front, black softball shorts, and white sliding shorts. Her red and white cleats echoed across the gym as she walked out the door and out to the field, glove in hand. She arrived at the field to see about twenty-five girls out there, warming up. She spotted Macy stretching over by the fence, and made her way over to her. Macy saw her coming her way and smiled.

"Hey Nikki!" Macy said, as Nikki jogged up to her, dropping her glove on the ground.

"Hey Mace. You ready?" she asked.

Macy nodded. "Yeah. Are you?"

Nikki bit her bottom lip as she started to stretch. "I'll admit I'm a little nervous."

Macy grinned. "About the tryouts, or a certain someone coming to watch the tryouts?"

"The latter," Nikki mumbled.

Macy chuckled lightly. "Well I'll let you in a little secret. When Nick first started coming to my games and practices, I was nervous. But it turned out, he was my good luck charm because every time he was there, I always played my A game."

"Nikki! Macy!"

They turned to see Nick, Stella, Joe, and Kevin sitting in the bleachers near the home plate. They two girls smiled and waved before Nikki turned back to Macy. Macy set her hands on the red head's arms before she said, "Close your eyes." Nikki did as she was instructed. "Deep breath in. Slowly let it out." Nikki did as she was told, and after repeating that a few times, she opened her eyes and smiled.

"Thanks Mace. I feel much better."

Macy smiled. "Glad I could help. Now. You ready to throw?"

Nikki nodded as she leaned down to pick up a bright yellow softball, and Macy jogged back a ways from her. "I'm going to warn you though. Once I get warmed up, it's gonna be coming fast and hard."

Macy smirked. "Just how I like 'em. Let's go!"

Nikki tossed the ball to Macy, and Macy nodded her head. "Side arm. Not bad."

Nikki smiled as she caught the ball. "Thanks."

After a few more throws, Nikki said, "Alright. You ready?"

Macy nodded, understanding what she meant. "Ready!"

Nikki threw the ball, and it landed in Macy's glove with a loud 'slap!'. Macy removed her hand from the glove, and shook her hand. "Ow!" she said.

Nikki frowned. "Sorry!"

Macy shook her head as she slipped her hand back into the glove. "No. It's cool. That's awesome! I know better now that I need to catch it in the web," she said, as she threw the ball back to Nikki. "Again!"

Nikki threw the ball effortlessly once again, and Macy caught it, a wide smile on her face. "Beautiful!"

"Nice arm, Rivera."

Nikki turned to see Coach Franklin standing there with a smile on her face. "Thanks Coach," Nikki said.

"Why don't you head over to the pitchers mound so I can see you pitch a bit. Misa? Head over to catcher why don't you?"

Macy's eyes lit up. "Catcher?! Really?!"

Coach Franklin nodded. "Well if you can catch that, I'm confident you can play catcher well."

"Yay! Thanks Coach!" Macy said, as she and Nikki turned to go to their designated area. Nikki saw two other girls standing there on the pitchers mound, and when they saw Nikki, they glared at her.

"What's their problem?" Nikki asked.

"You're the competition. The team's only allowed two pitchers. The regular and a back-up. And they were the only pitchers. They're just threatened by you. But they're real jerks, so kick some butt!"

Nikki smiled at the younger girl before heading to the pitcher's mound, while Macy headed behind home plate.

"Alright! Misa, suit up. You're catching for these ladies. Pitchers! I want to see three pitches. A change up, a curve ball, and fastball. I want them clean and in the strike zone, got it?" The three girls nodded. "Good. Thompson. You're up first." Nikki and the other girl stepped off to the back of the mound and watched a girl with long blonde hair up in a ponytail throw her pitches.

Nikki had to admit. She was pretty good. The next girl up, Freeman, who had short, curly brown hair, Nikki could spot as the back-up pitcher. She wasn't as good as the first girl, but she was decent. After she had thrown her pitches, Coach Franklin called Nikki to the mound. There was an eruption of cheers from the stands, and Nikki looked at her friends with a smile, as she dug her cleat into the dirt to perfect the whole in front of the plate. She locked eyes with Macy who nodded her head once before Nikki took a deep breath, stepped back, wound her arm up while stepping forward and released the ball while jumping up slightly after the ball left her fingers.

"Nice change up, Rivera. Curve it for me."

Macy threw the ball back, and Nikki held on to it in her glove as she kicked the dirt. She licked her fingers before wiping them on her shirt, taking the ball, making sure her fingers were set in the proper position, before repeating the same process again. Coach Franklin's eyebrows rose up. "Those are coming pretty fast, Rivera. What's your fast ball look like?"

Nikki grinned as she snatched the ball back from Macy. "You asked for it."

Coach Franklin smirked as she gestured for her to continue. Nikki repeated the process again, this time, letting out a small grunt as she released the ball.

"Whooooo! Nice one!" she heard from the stands. Nikki looked up to see them all standing there clapping and cheering. Macy stood from her catching position, took off her mask, and smiled at Nikki.

Nikki looked to Coach Franklin who's eyes were wide. "Wow. That was what? About 70mph?"

Nikki shrugged a shoulder. "No less that 73mph."

Coach Franklin looked taken aback. "73mph? How long can you throw that speed?"

"I can throw an average of three innings with nothing but straight fast balls before I start to slow down."

"About how fast are your other pitches?"

"About 60 mph."

Coach Franklin blinked before she said, "You know what? You've got the position! Thompson! You're back-up. Freeman? Head over there to infield tryouts." Nikki watched the two girls slump off, but her smile remained as she turned back to the coach. "Very nice work, Rivera. Misa. Since you've been assigned, you can go ahead and leave. First practice is Wednesday after school."

Nikki and Macy smiled and nodded. "Thanks coach," they chorused, before they rushed off the field. Kevin, Joe, Stella, and Nick came off down the stands to meet them.

"Hey guys! How'd it go? We couldn't hear what coach was saying," Nick said.

"Well, you're looking at the new star softball duo team of catcher and pitcher!" Macy said, slinging an arm around Nikki's shoulders.

"Really?! That's great!" Kevin said, stepping forward to hug Nikki, which Nikki returned, earning knowing looks from everybody else.

But Nick stepped up and hugged Macy for a few moments before Macy and Nikki stepped back and said, "Well, we're going to go shower and get dressed. Meet you guys at the stairs?"

"Sure thing. See you there," Stella said.

Macy and Nikki ran off to the locker room to shower and change clothes. They emerged about twenty minutes later, hair still damp. Nikki's now curly hair was in a high ponytail on her head, making her curls bounce with every step and flick of her head. Macy's remained down, the edges of her hair making her shirt damp. They approached the group waiting at their usual lunch table for them. "So? Now what? I didn't think we'd get done so soon, and I don't have to be home until six," Macy said.

"Well…why don't we go out for coffee?" Nick suggested.

"Sounds good," Nikki said, hoisting her bag higher up onto her shoulder.

"Then lets go!" Kevin said, as they headed out to the parking lot. But Kevin stopped. "But wait. Mom and Dad texted me earlier telling me they came to pick up my car to go get the oil changed and get a tune up on it. So we don't have a car."

Nick and Joe seemed to slump slightly at this but Nikki waved a hand. "No biggie. We can take my truck. It seats six," she said.

"Really? Ok then. We'll just let you know where to go," Kevin said, as they headed to Nikki's truck.

They get to her truck, and after she unlocks it, Nick, Joe, and Stella quickly climb into the back seat. Macy climbs into the passenger seat, leaving the middle next to Nikki obviously for Kevin. Kevin climbs in, and as Nikki's climbing in, she glares at the passengers in the backseat, knowing they plotted this in their heads. She turns on her truck, and blasts the heat to get the bitter cold out. They sit there for a minute just warming up before Joe asks, "Are we leaving?"

Nikki grins at him through the rearview mirror. "I gotta wait a minute to let the truck heat up, or I could mess up the engine. These bigger trucks may look intimidating, but they're quite sensitive."

They sit there for about five more minutes, just chatting before Nikki says, "Alright. Let's go."

She reaches for the joy stick in front of Kevin, and he looks down with furrowed eyebrows. "This is a standard?"

Nikki nodded as she shifts it into reverse, and turns her upper body to check behind her. "Yup. They run better, last longer, and are actually more fuel efficient."

Kevin nodded his head, impressed. "Nice. Not many girl's know how to drive a manual vehicle."

Nikki smirked as she pulled out of the parking lot. "Well I didn't either until my brother-in-law said he'd teach me. We had this old clunker pick-up truck, and we were driving through the field. He told me how to start it, and how to get into first gear, then he bailed out of the truck to leave me to figure the rest of it out on my own. I figured it out real fast needless to say."

"That's just cruel!" Stella said, shocked.

"It worked though," Nikki said.

Kevin gave Nikki directions to their favorite coffee shop, and they were there within ten minutes. They walked in, ordered their drinks, and headed to a large booth in the back corner.

"So when's the first game?" Kevin asked.

Nikki shrugged and Macy looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well the first real game isn't until the beginning of February, but I checked the schedule earlier today, and our first scrimmage is next Friday, the 15th."

"Oh really? That's the day before my birthday," Nikki said lightly, taking a sip of her caramel and vanilla bean frappacinno.

"Your birthday's coming up?" Kevin asked.

Nikki nodded. "Yeah. I'm turning 18 on the 16th," she said.

"Good to know," he said with a smile, smirking at the others.

"Yes. Very good to know," Stella said.

"What? Oh no guys. No way!" Nikki said.

"Oh come on Nikki! Why not?" Macy said.

"I couldn't ask you guys to throw me a birthday party. Not with y'alls busy schedule!"

"Your accent really is cute," Kevin mumbled so only she could hear. Nikki smiled and blushed, looking down at her drink, as Kevin grinned, looking down at his own.

"But we want to! It'll be fun! The best birthday party you ever had. And it's on a Saturday, so that makes it even better!" Joe said.

Nikki sighed as she took in the anxious and excited faces around her. "You guys aren't going to let me out of this are you?"

They all shook their heads and a chorus of 'no way' and 'not a chance' filled Nikki's ears. She sighed again as she dropped her head momentarily, before bringing it back up and said, "Ok. Fine. I give."

"Yay! I'm so excited!" Stella said.

"So? You're fixing to turn 18? That would mean you're only about two months younger than Kevin here," Nick said, clapping Kevin on the shoulder.

Nikki nodded slowly, staring at the table, while Kevin slowly looked at his brother with a glare. Nick just smirked before removing his hand.

"Well! It's about 5:15, so I say we all head home, have dinner, and then meet up at the fire house afterwards to work on the essay," Stella said.

Everybody agreed, and Nikki dropped everybody off at their houses before heading to her own. She drove home with a smile, thoughts of the kind of party her new friends might throw for her.

A/N-- So? What'd ya think? Reviews would be awesome. And you know what? Since I'm posting everything today except the last chapter, if you don't want to review each chapter, I won't make you. But reviewing at the last chapter you read would be VERY nice indeed. Thanks bunches!!!

-NikNak5

P.S.- Softball is my FAVORITE sport ever!!! Just FYI. :P