Chapter 14: Bad Day For Brad

"Yes." Brad grinned smugly, his eyes glinting evilly. "She." Haruka just stood there staring at him, too shocked to say anything. In front of her inner eye, she already kissed her football career goodbye, as well as her popular status at school. They all would hate her, ridicule her, make fun of her, make her life a living. "Wow." One of the other football players suddenly mumbled, tearing the blonde out of her horrible thoughts. She looked at her fellow teammates and at her coach - and was surprised to find them all either grinning or at least smiling. "I never knew women could be that tough!" another player now called out. "For a woman, you really kick butt, Haruka!" a third one piped up. One moment later, Haruka found herself surrounded by the football team, all of them - except for Brad, who stood where they had left him, gaping. The coach slapped her so hard on the shoulder that she nearly fell over, laughing. "I can't believe you fooled all of us for such a long time, Tenoh!" Haruka gave him an unsure smile, not knowing what awaited her next. The coach now looked at the rest of the players. "Okay pals, let's make an agreement. If anybody else finds out that Haruka is a girl, she'll be kicked out off the team, and we surely would lose a lot of games if that happens. So, for us, Haruka is a guy, understand?" The others agreed - again all of them except Brad. "You can't mean that, coach!" he cried out. "She's a woman! She can't play with us!" The coach glared at Brad. "Oh yes, she can. And if you tell anyone else that she's a girl, it will be you who'll get kicked out. Clear?" the coach grumbled. Brad hung his head low and nodded while Haruka grinned from ear to ear. "Brad, move your ass over to the doctor and let him tend to you nose." The coach ordered. Brad walked away, mumbling to himself, while the rest of the team continued with training. Haruka walked away from the school, over to her car, a little saddened about the fact that she hadn't seen Michiru all day. "Haruka!" a melodic voice suddenly called out, causing the blondes heart to jump. She turned around and found herself staring at Michiru, who ran to catch up to her. The aqua haired girl reached the blonde, smiling, but her smile vanished when she saw Harukas swollen lip. "My God, Haruka! What happened to you?" she cried out, her eyes widening. Haruka gave her a cocky smile. "Don't I get a hello-kiss first?" she then asked. Michiru smiled back and gently kissed the blonde before she repeated her question: "Now tell me, what happened to your lip?" "Brad and I got into a fight." Haruka explained before telling the whole story to Michiru. As soon as she was finished, the aqua haired girl was flabbergasted. "Good thing that the coach didn't kick you out." She finally spoke, smiling when Haruka put one arm around her. "And good thing that no one else will find out that I'm a girl." The blonde added. "There are a lot of homophobes on this school, after all." Michiru let out a little sigh and nodded. "You know." she then spoke, "I always thought that I'm straight." Haruka gave her a O_o like look, and Michiru giggled at her expression. "I really did! When I fell for you, I thought that you're a guy. But don't worry now, it's you I love, not your gender." Haruka smiled and blushed heavily when she realized that Michiru just had told her that she loved her. She just was about to tell Michiru she loved her too, when suddenly an all-to-known voice yelled: "Look at the two dykes!" Haruka quickly thanked God that no one else was at the parking lot before she turned around and faced Brad, who glared at her. "What do you want?" the blonde asked, not even trying to sound friendly. "I want you to leave the football team." Brad replied coldly. Haruka grinned at him and spoke: "Yeah right. Dream on, buddy." Brad growled and took one step towards Haruka, as if he wanted to attack her. Haruka shot him a warning look. "I broke your nose already, you want me to break something else?" she then asked, shooting a threatening look towards his private parts. Brad gaped at her for a sec before he growled: "Leave the team, or the school will find out about your true gender.and about you being a fucking dyke!" Before Michiru or Brad himself knew what had happened, Haruka had taken a step forwards and punched the quarterback in the stomach. Brad gasped, suddenly running out of air, and sank to his knees. "Don't you ever call me that again." Haruka snarled, grabbing Brads collar and raising her fist as if she wanted to hit him again. "Understand?" Brad nodded, unable to speak. "And if you tell anyone else that I'm a girl, I'll rip your balls off and shove them up your behind. Understand that, too?" Brad nodded again, and Haruka let go of him. "Good." She turned around to look at Michiru. "Come on Michi, I'll." She never finished her sentence. All of a sudden, Brad tackled her from behind, and both of them fell to the ground, Haruka having her wind knocked out of her.