Ch. 9: Practice Makes Perfect
Brrrriiiinggg! Brrrriiiinggg! "Fuckin' a," Santana groans, haphazardly swiping at her alarm clock. After the fifth time of trying to reach it, Santana finally succeeds in shutting it off – by knocking it to the ground with a loud think. "Six AM comes way too early after only three hours of sleep. I sure don't have the stamina I used to from my college days," she mumbles to herself as she attempts to start her stretches before getting out of bed. But her actions are hindered by a weight on her chest. Santana attempts to sit up, but flops back down, choosing instead to try to push the weight off enough for her to slip out from underneath. After struggling, Santana gives up. "Ugh, Onyx, you big oaf, get off me." Onyx lifts her head up to look at her master for a few moments before getting up. "Finally, you damn dog. I still don't know why I left Erica talk me into getting you," she says as she rolls out of bed, skipping her morning stretches when she sees what time it is.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck. I have got to get my ass moving so I can do my warm-ups before the rest of the team gets to the field for the clinic today. Nothing like having to come teach a clinic during the off season when you've just pulled a twenty-hour shift at the hospital." And with that, Santana rushes out the door, but not before placing a kiss on the top of her French bulldog's head.
"Lopez! How's it hanging, bitch?" Erica asks her teammate, clapping her on the shoulder I greeting. "You're dragging ass today. Does that mean you were up late getting some last night?"
"Yeah! Tell us all about it, Lo!" another one of her teammates calls out cheekily.
"One, watch your fucking language, ladies," Santana reprimands her teammates. "We've got a bunch of girls coming to train with our clinic, which starts this week and we can't be cursing like sailors around them."
"But you just cussed!" Someone grumbles from the circle.
"Fine, I'll pay up in the swear jar if I cuss when there's kids around, deal?" Santana asks, to which everyone hoots and hollers since they know that Santana has the filthiest mouth of them all. "And two, unless me "getting some" means a twenty-hour shift at the hospital, then having to share a bed with a fifty pound French Bulldog and then having to come see all your ugly mugs," Santana says with a grin and a pause for effect, "then I certainly "got some" last night!" Everyone laughs at Santana's statement, knowing that their captain was focusing on the start of transitioning from her career on the field to her future career off the field. "Okay everyone! Now let's get warmed up before these girls get here!"
"Okay my little Thorns and instructors, gather 'round!" Santana shouts to the groups spread throughout the pitch. Once Thorns players and campers alike are surrounding Santana, she thanks them for a great first day of the clinic. "For some of you, this might be your first time at a soccer clinic. For others, this might be your 100th time. However, at this clinic, it doesn't matter. For this first week, everyone will be learning the basics, so we'll all be together, regardless of what position you play or think you play. I want everyone to build the same foundation. For the rest of the summer, we'll break into groups. Us players will put you into what group we think is best for you. For some, it might be the same position you've been playing; for others, it might be a different position. Just give it a try and if it works, then we'll keep you there. If it doesn't then, we'll find a spot for you. Our last week of the summer, that's when we'll compete in a tournament against other clinics like ours. For that week, you will be needing to stay with us at camp, so here," Santana grabs a folder of papers from her duffle bag and begins to pass them out to the campers, "is a permission slip that needs to be signed by your parents and brought back by the end of next week." The campers eagerly read the packet being passed around to them before putting them in their duffle bags. "And with that, everyone is dismissed! Well, the campers are! My girls, we still have to work on some drills."
"Awe, Santana!" her teammates groan in unison after the campers all head towards the Thorns' interns, who were in charge of check-in and check-out each day.
"Fine, fine. You can go home," Santana tells them. "But tomorrow, I want to hear no excuses because we're doing our drills tomorrow for sure!" Her teammates all cheer happily and quickly pack their bags to leave before Santana changes her mind.
"Hey Lo," Erica says to Santana, "want me to stay with you until all the campers leave? I know that the interns are the ones who are supposed to be in charge of when the kids come and go, but we can work on some penalty kicks until the kids leave."
"Sure, that works for me," Santana says before heading over towards the goal to get ready for Erica's kicks. They practice penalty kicks in silence, Santana easily stopping the majority of Erica's kicks, which makes Erica try to kick them harder at her teammate out of frustration. "E, you're doing great," Santana tells her. "I'm just doing better," she says with a chuckle. "But, let's end now so you don't wear out your legs before tomorrow when we're actually doing drills." Erica asks for one more kick, to which Santana agrees.
"Beth, who are you and your new friend watching?" Santana hears the older blonde ask the young camper as she gets closer.
"Mom, that's –" the young blonde starts to say but is cut off before she can finish.
"Santana Lopez," the older blonde gasps loudly.
Santana, at that moment, loses her focus from the game she loves for the first time since high school and instead whips her head towards the young blonde camper, her friend and the woman saying her name. "Quinn?" Santana says questioningly before the ball Erica had just kicked moments before connects with Santana's face.
Erica, Quinn, Beth and Beth's new soccer friend all rush over to Santana, who's clutching her bloody nose, eyes watery. "Quinn?" Santana says again.
Beth looks between Santana and her mom, questioning how super start Santana Lopez knows her mother. Erica looks between the two as well, figuring out quickly that the blonde woman standing in front of them is the Quinn that Santana had told her about before.
"Uh, hi San," Quinn says when everyone's eyes stay on her. "I'm not the doctor here, but maybe you should get your nose checked out?"
"Yes, Lopez, let's go get you inside to the trainer," Erica says. "Girls, we'll see you tomorrow for the clinic. Quinn," Erica looks at her, looking like she wants to say something more, but stops herself and just nods instead.
Quinn takes that as her cue to gather her daughter and go, so she turns to Beth, who's staring at her like she's grown two more heads. Thankfully Beth's new friend had left during the commotion because Quinn's not sure if she could have both pre-teens looking at her like that. Nor does she think that she could stay there any longer without a serious case of word vomit happening. "Let's go, Beth."
Santana, once Erica dragged her towards the trainer's office, finally finds her voice. "I wasn't seeing things, was I? That was really Quinn?" Erica pauses and then nods her head in affirmation. "Wow. And to think that I didn't even realize that that was Beth. Why didn't Puck tell me that Quinn was moving here? I mean, I know that we haven't talked in a while, but still, a little heads up would have been nice."
"San, did you ever tell any of them that you liked Quinn? I mean, you even said yourself that after Quinn gave you your box of stuff back, whatever you two had had was gone and then everyone started to drift away with college around the corner." Santana shoots her a death stare, which would make Erica actually afraid of what Santana might do if Santana's face wasn't puffy from resetting her broken nose. "But yes, that does suck with not having a heads up. From any of your friends. What are you going to do about it though?"
"Nothing. Beth is a camper here and should be treated fairly. Quinn never outright knew that I liked her, so I'm not going to do anything but be an instructor to her daughter." Erica looks at her friend and teammate, who sits on the table, swinging her legs and staring off into space, thinking about who knows what. Erica thinks to herself that acting like Beth is just another camper can either go extremely well and not cause any issues or Santana's going to end up getting her heart broken.