Then came Wednesday. Oliver and I had only been split up for 72 hours but it had felt like a century of war. I got to practice and everything was even worse than it had been before. Oliver and I were constantly yelling at each other and nothing really got done.
At the end of practice Henry stopped me on the way out of practice.
"Bell can I talk to you?" he said
"Sure what about?" I asked.
"It's about you and Oliver." He said awkwardly.
"I can talk about anything other than that" I said, turning to try to walk away.
"Well unfortunately we have to…I can't have you two fighting on the field all of the time…we normally don't allow relationships with quidditch players in the same league for that reason. But when I saw you two together I didn't think I had to worry about it. Now we do and if two members are on a team together and they don't get along then we lose one of the team members because a team is supposed to be a family and they don't work well when members are fighting the whole time." He started preaching.
I looked at him strangely, panicking internally that I was getting kicked off the team.
"I'm bringing this up because if you two can't learn to get along, then one of you will have to be traded or dropped from the team. So do you think you'll be able to get along while you're on the pitch?" He finished.
"I really don't know sir" I said, looking at the floor.
"Okay…well, have it decided by next practice." he said, patting me on the arm.
Suddenly I felt like all I was ever doing was eating. That night I went out with Angelina and Alicia and had this HUGE steak dinner. I finished it all while they stared at me in disbelief.
"You sure you're going to be okay Kates" Angelina asked me, looking at me like she was watching a nature documentary.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Relationships come and go every day. Just clearly wasn't meant to be" I answered, gnawing on my last bit of steak.
"But this wasn't just any relationship, this was you and Oliver. We've been waiting for this for years, and it seems like you guys should be able to work this out. You've fought over bigger things than your strange eating habits." Alicia continued with a similar look on her face to that of Angelina's.
"Yeah, your mom always said that you ate like a big cat or something, large feasts for a few weeks and then fasts for months. And everyone knew that." Angelina agreed.
"Whelp, apparently Oliver forgot. Or he was just looking for something to fight me about. He just wanted to control me. It's better off this way guys, I'm fine" I shrugged. The more I said this, maybe I could convince myself it was true as well.
The truth of the matter was that I was eating everything, going to practice, crying myself to sleep, and about nothing else. And they knew this, and I knew this, but that's just getting over a break up right? I was going to be fine.
"Do you think you guys will still be friends after this? You were always so close and it would be sad to throw it all away again after just reconnecting" Alicia asked and immediately looked as if she was about to run for cover.
"I don't know, we have to play on the same team together unless Henry drops me, so I imagine things will smooth out. And I hope they do. Maybe we were just never meant to be more than just friends" I concluded.
"Yeah...maybe" Alicia said, shooting a look at Angelina that I chose to ignore.
The following day I went to practice and everyone was looking at me in a concerning manner as soon as I walked through the door of the locker room.
"Hey Kates, Henry wants to see you." Mica said as soon as I got to my locker.
So I walked into Henry's office and Oliver was already in there. The moment I walked in Henry asked if Oliver was sure, Oliver nodded and then turned to walk out the door without ever looking in my direction. I sat down in the chair in front of Henry's desk and could hear my heart rate increasing.
"I've come to a decision of what I'm going to do about our conflict. It is a hard one but it is what I feel must be done." He said looking me straight into the eyes. This wasn't a good thing.
"I got a call from Wimbourne Wasps the other day, and they were very interested in having you on their team. They even offered their chaser Thad Strutt for you so that we wouldn't have to deal with the troubles of trying to find a replacement. Thinking of the situation that we are in I held a conference with the team captain and the two of us decided that this is really the best we can ask for." I could feel the hate running through my body as it started to well in my eyes.
"So how do you feel about this decision?" Henry asked.
"It sounds like a good choice on your behalf." I said using every muscle in my body not to flip out and start screaming and throwing things.
"Good…then, go ahead and pack your locker, they expect you for practice in two days' time. It has been an honour working with you Miss Bell." Henry said almost shooing me out the door.
I walked out the door accidentally slamming it behind me as I was too livid to be able to hold it back. I walked through the locker room, emptied my locker, and walked out without looking at anyone except Mica and John…I gave them a hug goodbye and they each expressed true sorrow I was leaving. Then on my way out the door Oliver came into view and walked by me. I shoved into him on purpose and said "I hope you're happy right now…because after I walk through that door you will forget what it's like to have happiness" and stormed away. I've never in my life felt so much rage.
I told Alicia when I got home what happened and she hugged me and immediately called Angelina who showed up an hour later with a tower of junk food taller than me and four hours worth of crappy sappy movies. Thankfully they didn't try to defend Oliver, or give me advice, we just watched the movies and cried together. I'm starting to forget what it is like to see without tears in the corners of my eyes.
So here I was, I had to go to practice this morning….for the Wasps…..not Puddlemore….without Oliver….I didn't know whether to be happy or depressed.
I woke up super early so I could take a long cold shower and walk to the stadium. Of course I got lost because I started towards the Puddlemore stadium. Luckily they aren't that far apart from each other. Unfortunately, as I was walking my path from where I realized I was going to the Puddlemore stadium to the Wasps' stadium I walked past Oliver who looked at me with a sorry look on his face. I noticed that I was clearly walking in an aimless and depressed manner, so I stood up straight and decided at that moment that I wasn't going to let this break me down. I was stronger than this and I would come out better than ever and the next time Oliver saw me not only would he regret every decision he's ever made, but I'm not even going to notice him there.
I got to the stadium and the coach was standing near the locker rooms waiting for me.
"KATIE BELL! I can't believe we actually got you on the team!" He said reaching out shaking my hand so hard that my duffel fell off my shoulder.
"I'm Coach Jon Gordon. It really is a pleasure to have you on the team after all of the troubles we had with Thad." The coach said while still shaking my hand vigorously.
"Why, what happened with Thad?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, he isn't the easiest player to work with. Often gets good results, but was bringing the team down a bit. Likes to think he is the coach from his broom, shouting orders over mine at the other players and just does whatever he wants. So when my secretary saw you play we got talking to Henry right away, we just never told him about the troubles Thad had with being a quaffle hog." Jon winked.
"So really we get the better deal. We get the far better athlete, and some nicer...well optics, and they…well they get Thad." He chuckled. I laughed at the thought of Thad trying to coach Oliver…I would almost go to one of their practices just to witness it.
"Well, go ahead and get changed. You have a locker and your kit in the locker room and I'll introduce you to the boys when you're ready." Jon instructed.
I walked into the locker room where in a corner there was a private cubby with BELL written across it.
"Cool…I didn't get anything like this at Puddlemore." I thought to myself out loud.
"That's because Puddlemore doesn't know what girls are," a male voice said from behind me. I turned around to see a tall man with shaggy brown hair and green eyes standing there in a practice kit.
"Jake McDermott, I'm a chaser." He said shaking my hand.
"Don't worry about missing Puddlemore…we'll convert you on to our side and you'll forget that you were ever on that team" he continued smiling and then left for the pitch.
I walked out onto the pitch and the team was standing in a line waiting for me with Jon.
"Bell, come on over and I'll introduce you to the team." Jon shouted over to me.
"This is Justin Chilton and Edward Aaron. They are the beaters" Jon said, pointing to two tall men with brown hair that shook my hand.
"These two you'll see a lot of, This is Jacob McDermott and Joshua Bailey, the chasers." Jon said now pointing out the man from the locker room and a man with blonde hair that was put up in a sort of Mohawk with blue eyes. They each shook my hand.
"This is the Keeper, Brandon Wallace." A shorter man then the rest of them with dark hair and brown eyes walked forward to shake my hand.
"And last but not least, this is Benjamin McLachlan, he's the seeker" A short man with strawberry blonde hair smiled and shook my hand.
"Now let's get this started!" Jon said and the boys and I all cheered and hopped on our brooms.
"Bell, show me what you can do" Jon yelled from his broom on the side of the pitch.
Jake passed me the quaffle and I went flying towards Wallace as fast as I could possibly go and threw the quaffle in the top right corner of the middle hoop. It was Oliver's weak spot so I figured it could be anyone else's as well. I soared flawlessly through the hoop.
"Wallace you should have gotten that!" Jon yelled.
"Just need to center yourself more" I said to Wallace who looked gutted that I had gotten one past him so easily right away.
He flew more towards the center of the middle of the center hoop.
"Now fly out just a bit more so that if you need to you can get to the other two hoops in a hurry!" I shouted as I flew back out towards the center.
He did so and Jon looked at me with a smile on his face. Jake threw me the quaffle that he just got from the ground.
"Now let's see what you can do with bludgers in play as well!" Jon yelled and Ed and Justin smiled evilly as each released a bludger that was still down in the box.
They came back up and I started to fly, I tried to swerve in and out of the bludgers but Chilton tapped one right back at me. I just barely had enough time to pass the quaffle to Jake before spinning out of control. He threw it toward one of the lower hoops. Brandon rushed towards the hoop and hit the ball away with the front of his broom.
"Good job Wallace!" I congratulated Brandon and he started to smile a little bit.
The rest of practice was pretty much like that, I would try to do something and if I saw that someone was doing something that could use some tweaking, I would give them tips quietly and then congratulate them when it proved to be helping. After a while Jon just sat with his arms crossed on his broom and watched us practice.
After practice was over I went and got changed trying to hurry out of the pitch because I had told Alicia that I would help in the shop after. I also knew I would have to walk by the Puddlemore pitch to get there and their practice was over as well, so I wanted to get past there before the guys started to come out.
"Bell, can I talk to you for a second?" Jon asked.
"Sure…" I said, eyeing the door but knew that I didn't really have any other choice but to talk to him.
"You seem to fit in well here… do you like it?" Jon asked
"Yeah…I really do." I said. I really did enjoy practice more than I used to at Puddlemore. I felt like I had a purpose here. I guess that's why Oliver used to love Gryffindor practices so much.
"You were a lot of help. I could tell what you were doing. But don't worry, compared to Thad you're like a god send. The team has been falling apart and now that you're here they seem to look and feel like a professional team again versus the depressed whining school boys they had been acting like." he chuckled.
"I do really think I'm going to enjoy playing here. I have to go though. I told my friend that I would help out at her coffee shop tonight." I said, still trying to side step towards the front door of the locker room.
"Alright, well I'll see you tomorrow." he smiled.
I headed off to the shop pulling a uniform out of my duffel as I walked to put it on over my shirt. I ran into the busy muggle side of the shop and put my duffel behind the front counter.
"KATIE!" Alicia came running with her arms flying all over the place.
"So how was practice?" she asked once she got to me.
"It was fun actually. I really enjoyed it." I smirked.
"Really, because I can't tell whether or not you're being sarcastic" she said, taking a step back to get a better look at me.
"No really, it was great. The team members were funny and very accepting of me right away. I already feel like I'm making an impact there and have a roll on their line up." I explained as I threw an apron around my waist.
"Really, so you're not mad that they traded you?" she said, flinching for the response of bringing it up.
"No, I'm still absolutely livid that they traded me, but only for the reason that they did. Not because they did. If Oliver could have just acted like a man instead of handing me off like yesterday's rubbish I would have been fine with this. If anything I like Wimbourne a lot better than to Puddlemore." I explained.
"Well that's good. Will you work on the other side tonight?" She said while putting money into the till.
"Sure" I said, swinging my arms to turn myself around and head towards the magical side of the shop.
I walked through the barrier and saw that it was basically empty minus an old regular in the corner reading some old tombs to himself and stirring his coffee with his wand. I decided to attempt to read some of the magazines that were on a shelf near the counter but as I should have expected, most of them had something to do with me and Oliver. I ended up just sitting at the counter playing with my fingernails and thinking about quidditch at Hogwarts.
"Does anyone know why Olle wouldn't come here after practice…he acted really strange when I asked him to come along" said a familiar voice that took me from my reminisces. I looked up to see John Berry, Mica Owen, and Nigel Wayne walking through the door of the shop.
"I think I might have some idea as to that." I said getting up to greet them.
"KATIE! I didn't know you worked here!" Mica screamed, basically jumping on top of me.
"Yeah, well my best friend Alicia owns the shop so I help her out when I have nothing better to do." I explained laughing.
"So, what can I get you guys?" They all told me their orders and I charmed it to the table and then went back and sat down behind the counter.
I have to admit it was killing me to see them all. It's almost like those cheesy movies when a girl gets dumped and then she gets rid of everything that he ever gave her and shreds all their photos. Well, at this moment, I wish I could get rid of them. So I just stared at them hoping that they would leave soon.
"Are we really that interesting?" Mica said. I hadn't realized that he was now right next to me.
"What…oh no I'm just in another world" I said, coming back to and looking at him.
"Yeah I tend to have that effect on girls" he smirked
"Ha yeah except I wasn't thinking of you at all" I pushed him
"So I have to ask. How upset are you that you have to play for the Wasps" he asked leaning over the counter.
"Actually, I enjoy playing with this team and coach, but nevertheless I am furious that they traded me. Just because Oliver and I broke up it is not a good enough reason to ship me off" I shrugged.
"Really? The Wasps aren't bad?" He leaned back in shock.
"What? I like all the players and really feel like I could fit in there." I explained.
"Well lucky you, Thad is absolutely horrible. He runs around like he is the king or something and couldn't catch a quaffle if it was nicely handed to him! Oliver is constantly fighting with him and we aren't getting anything done. I swear Oliver was on the verge of crying the other day" he sighed.
"Am I supposed to feel sorry for him?" I sniggered.
"No, but it wouldn't hurt to feel sorry for me" he smirked, giving me puppy eyes.
"Well I do feel sorry for you, but I can't say I have any remaining respect for Oliver or your team. Which is a shame. So your complaints about the man that they got for me doesn't gain a lot of sympathy in general from me" I sighed looking back at the rest of the guys.
"Understandable, but that man is just annoying. I would rather listen to you fight with Oliver then him." he shrugged before looking quickly at me like this was the wrong thing to say.
"Well tell that to Henry. But I'm sure there were other reasons for trading me, namely Oliver's pride. Couldn't have his previous love interests taking any of the spotlight from him" I scoffed.
The rest of the team had stopped talking and was now looking at Mica and I because we had gotten into a rather loud tone of voice. I don't know why but when I noticed that they were all looking at us I started to cry.
"Katie I'm sorry I didn't mean to get you upset, it's not like that at all. I'm sorry" Mica said, trying to hold me up by the shoulders.
"It's okay. I don't know why I'm crying. GOD I'm an idiot." I said wiping my eyes with the back of my hands.
"You're not an idiot. I'm sorry I brought it up." he said awkwardly.
"So when do you have your next match?" He asked after things seemed to have settled down a bit trying to change the topic.
"I have no idea at this point. Not for awhile. I don't even know who will be playing" I shrugged, getting myself more composed.
"Bye Katie" the other boys said as they got up and headed out of the shop.
"Well keep in touch…" Mica said, giving me a hug and ruffling my hair before following them.
The old regular got up and left as well and no one else had come in for a while so I went into the back room of the muggle side. There was a TV in there but I could still hear the door if someone did come in. I curled up on the break couch and turned on a football game.
"KATIE! Just the girl I was looking for!" Jon yelled as I walked into the pitch for practice. A few weeks had passed and everything had felt like they were finally starting to get into a groove.
"Should I be scared?" I said, pulling my duffel closer to my chest.
"No, I was just waiting for you to arrive. I have something I was hoping to talk to you about. Meet me in my office when you're ready for practice." he said before marching on his way.
I went and got changed and then went up into Jon's office.
"I have been thinking about how well you've been doing here and then it was brought to my attention that our team is without a captain now that Thad is gone. SO." he clapped
"I decided that, even though you have only been on the team for a few weeks, I would like you to be the new team captain. You deserve it and would be the best person for the position. The boys look up to you and listen to what you have to say, and I honestly think you are the only person on the team that has all of their attention. Heck I don't even have all of their attention most of the time. So what do you think?" he said sitting against his desk with his clipboard in his arms.
"Me…captain…of the team…." I looked at him in shock.
"Yep, so can I count on you?" he smiled expectantly.
"Yeah of course!" I laughed.
"Great! I have a press conference scheduled for this afternoon to announce it. Now let's go out and tell the boys" He said hopping off his desk and ushering me out the door.
"Boys meet your new captain!" Jon said as we got onto the pitch and the team looked over at us and cheered.
And that was it. I, Katherine Bell, was team captain of the Wimbourne Wasps. Things seemed to finally be looking up for me. It wasn't too long ago that I was sitting at home all day screaming at the telly feeling lost and useless. Now here I was, captain of one of the biggest teams in the league.
That night the boys from my team, Alicia, Angelina, Mica, John, and I all went out clubbing. I was having a blast and of course Alicia, Angelina and I were having our same old competition and Jake, Josh, and Brandon joined in as a joke. Yep as in they were trying to see how many people they could dance with.
"So Oliver is mad that you got captain" Mica informed me while we were dancing.
"Oh. Was he hoping I'd be miserable?" I laughed.
"Yeah I think so actually. I think he was hoping that if you were sent to the wasps then you would be miserable and want him and the team back." he chuckled.
"Well that sucks for him because I'm happier now." I said spinning in my dance with my arms up.
"I could imagine. I would be too if I became captain of a team a day after I joined" he joked.
"Hey! It was like two weeks after! But I see your point…" I laughed
"It's probably because you're young, famous, and female." He said catching and stopping my continued spin dance.
"What does that mean!" I said pushing him with a look of outrage.
"Just that you're hot and young, so people will pay more attention to you and well it's obvious that the press pays more attention to you. Perhaps he chose you as some kind of a marketing campaign and it just helps that you're the best player on the team." he said, ruffling my hair again.
"Nice save." I glared, and tried to fix my hair.
The rest of the night I focused on dancing because Mica was probably right and it bothered me a bit. Seems best not to dwell on it.