I'm going to start this by letting you guys know I knew ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about lacrosse.
I googled most of the information I incorporated into this chapter, but it was kind of time consuming
and hard to write the tryouts scene. Sorry if that scene seems to drag, it'll probably be the only time
I include an actual description of the sport, so bear with me? Also, spelling and grammatical errors; I
apologize for them in advanced. I still haven't purchased a better word processor and I'm also in the
last week of my accounting class, which would kick anyone's ass. Again, can you bear with me please?
Also, the song mentioned is 'The Best of Me' by The Starting Line. I loved the song in high school
and when I heard it recently I was like I MUST USE THIS.
The people on the football field all stared at Marie with incredulous faces as they waited for the coach and the actual team to arrive. Because of her lack of gym clothing throughout the day she had merely taken off a few layers of her clothing and folded them into her bag before putting on some of the generic padding the student manager provided. Marie's eyes wandered over the crowd of hopefuls, some of them looked like they were built more for cleaning the equipment than using it but she kept her mouth shut, even the scrawniest freshman was probably thinking the same about her.
Her eyes were trained on the doors that lead from the gym onto the sports field, waiting for the lacrosse team, and that was how she was able to see Nazz walk onto the field dressed in her cheerleading outfit and talking animatedly to some of the other girls on the team. Before Marie could decide on a course of action her hand moved automatically, waving at the blonde who was moving toward the opposite end of the field near a section of metal bleachers. Marie retracted her hand, but it was too little too late and Nazz was already in the process of returning the salutation. If it hadn't been for the fact that the rest of the people trying out were waving back at the head cheerleader, hoping it was them in particular she was waving at, they would have all seen her embarrassed blush.
But my heart shouldn't be racing. She thought, pulling her right arm across her chest, the movement a little harder than it should have been because of the bulky shoulder pads.
"Alright, everyone trying out line up opposite the actual team." The coach's voice rang out, snapping her out of a daze. There were eight people standing in official uniforms, smirks on their faces as their eyes ran over their perspective teammates. Two out of the ten people lined up opposite the team would be passed on if they were good enough and as their eyes fell on Marie chuckles began to erupt among the group.
"Coach, I think Smurfette here is confused, cheerleading tryouts are on the other side of the field." piped up one of the players, causing the coach to smirk as he tried to get his team to calm down.
"Regulations state that if there is no female team in a high school girls are allowed to try out for the only team available of the sport in question. If she makes the cut, she makes the cut. Until then hold your tongue until I finish briefing the newbies." And that was how tryouts began. Running laps didn't bother Marie, nor did throwing the ball back and forth between the partner she was set up with, and she kept up with ease. Eventually the coach blew the whistle for the eighteen lacrosse players to gather around. In the distance Marie could see Nazz and the other cheerleaders sitting on the bleachers watching the lacrosse tryouts with their feet up, Marie's arm almost went up involuntarily again but it was an impulse she contained, instead pointedly fixing her attention on the coach.
"We're going to split up in teams of nine, four teams players on each team and five newbies. Decide among yourselves who will be on who's team while I run in and grab a notebook I forgot." With that the coach turned, leaving the eighteen teenagers to make their decision. It was pretty quickly that the actual team split into two sets of four, and from there they went about dividing up the remaining players.
'
"Seeing as you guys got our strongest offensive player you get Smurfette, that way you have a handicap." the boy from earlier laughed, causing the number 13 on his chest to rise and fall. Marie narrowed her eyes but said nothing as she went to join her makeshift team, which cause groans to echo from player to player. By the time the coach returned they were evenly divided, Marie's team with orange shreds of fabric tied to their ankles.
"Good, good. Alright, now that we're even you all should know most of the rules, body checking is legal but don't try to bruise your teammate's organs. It doesn't matter which side wins and which side loses, I just want to see your skill." The silver whistle when to the coach's lips as everyone got into their positions, and with one loud, quick sound the game began.
At first it went without incident, the ball going between teams as everyone tried to show off their skills. The first goal was made by a team member on the other team, the second by Marie herself. Within a half an hour of the start of the game her team's score was nearly double that of the other team and she had made quite a number of the goals herself, the coach blew his whistle to indicate there was only another ten minutes left of the game before it would be time to call it quits, and that was when Marie felt the cold metal of the shaft of a lacrosse stick meet her ankle, causing her to trip.
"Jesus fucking christ dude, what is your problem?" Marie spat from the grass, rubbing the injured leg as her teammates ran over to help her up. Number 13 just shrugged, eyeing the coach to make sure he didn't see what had happened. Marie herself didn't see whether or not it was actually intentional, but a gut feeling told her it was because his team scored right after she hit the grass.
Standing up the ball was in play again, and Marie inserted herself into the action with relative ease, chasing after the ball as it made its way down the field toward her team's goal, Number 13 at the head of the group cradling the small object as he went. Marie smirked, picking up speed as the throbbing in her ankle died down she threw her body forward, catching up with the boy before he got all the way down the field.
Marie slammed her shoulder into Number 13, knocking his breath out and causing the ball to drop from his stick. Scooping the ball up proved no hassle and it wasn't long before she had sunk the hard rubber ball into the net on the other side of the field, leaving some of the players with their mouths agape. She jogged back to the boy, still on the ground trying to recover the breath she had stolen from him, and leaned in close.
"Seriously though, Smurfette if fucking blonde, if you want to call me something try Sailor Mercury or something so you at least sound like you fucking know what you're talkin' about." Applause had erupted from the bleachers as the cheerleaders began to wave their pom-poms around, calling out Marie's name as the boy on the ground wallowed in his anger and the coach made notes in his book. Marie turned around as the whistle blew, walking toward the box of equipment on the ground. Before she could make it even halfway she felt two hands press firmly into her shoulder blades, pushing her with the strength that rivaled perpetrators entitlement complex, causing Marie to hit the ground a few feet away from where she had been pushed.
"Dude, what the fuck is your problem?" rang the voice of another team member, a white number 32 on his jersey, as Marie stood up, her jeans even more grass stained than before. Before the he had time to chuckle or even blink Marie pulled of her helmet and balled her fist, bring her arm back as she ran at the kid, who had left his own helmet on the ground where he had fallen previously during the game. Before her knuckles could meet his face, however, the coach had grabbed her wrist.
"You know better than this, Wesley, poor sportsmanship is what makes you a loser, not the score. Get back to the rest of the team before I suspend you from it." The coach released Marie's hand as soon as Wesley had put some distance between them. "He's a jerk, I get that, but you cannot deck your teammates." Marie didn't immediately catch had been said, but as he turned to walk away she thanked him.
"That was a dick move Wesley." Marie heard Nazz yell as the two teams walked back toward the gym for the locker rooms. Marie wasn't going to take a shower just yet; why bother? She would only have to put her dirty clothing back on, so instead she began to make her way through the school, aiming for the front door. She walked with no purpose, dragging her feet slowly as she passed her English classroom, locker, and cafeteria. If anyone had actually seen her, they probably would have mistaken her for a zombie, and her slight limp didn't help situations much. That's going to be a nasty bruise in the morning.
It took a lot longer than it should have for her to finally make it through the school, her pace wasn't exactly the fastest and she didn't exactly have somewhere to be. By the time she could feel the early spring sun on her face again she was a bit chilled, not wanting to pull on her cardigan and get it dirty. The sound of a car turning over immediately met her ears as she closed the heavy front doors behind her. A quick look towards the school parking lot told Marie that the car in question was a relatively new silver Honda and as Marie got closer she also saw that they were there alone, no other cars were in the parking lot. Marie moved closer to the car as it continued to turn over and not start. The person in the driver's seat was barely visible as the hood was opened from a button under the dash and it wasn't until the owner walked around that Marie realized exactly who the care belonged to.
"Oh, hey Marie." Nazz chirped, clearly perturbed by the way the vehicle wouldn't start, her eyes roamed the engine looking for something that could be the issue, but finding nothing. "You should just ignore Wesley, he's kind of a jerk, y'know? He's one of those sexist pigs who think they make all women weak in the knees." Her eyes were still roaming the engine as she spoke and Marie could see the tip of her tongue hanging out of the corner of her mouth as she focused and that's when she realized she had started to stare.
"I can take a look for you, at the engine I mean." she offered, looking to the ground and noticing for the first time exactly how dirty her clothing was.
"Would you? It would certainly beat waiting for my dad to get out of work or calling Kevin." she beamed as Marie dropped her bag on the pavement and began to look over the engine. She made quick work of the issue, excelling at mechanics and the like, and before Nazz could read more than a few pages in their English book the car was running smoothly. "Thank you so much, Marie. What would I have done without you?" Nazz threw her arms around the girl in an excited hug, making Marie place her arms out to hold her back.
"I'm fucking filthy, you're going to ruin your top." she said quickly, worried she had hurt Nazz's feelings. Nazz, however, smiled.
"Really, thank you. Would you like a ride or something? It's not like it's out of the way." Marie shook her head, not wanting to ruin the upholstery in the vehicle. "I will absolutely take no for an answer, you know."
It took a little bit of pouting from Nazz and some stammering from Marie, but eventually she was sitting on her cardigan in the front seat of the Honda as Nazz was pulling out of parking lot. Nazz pressed the little button that turned on the radio and plugged her phone into the AUX port and soon the car was filled with music.
"You actually have some good taste." Marie exclaimed as a song she recognized poured from the speakers. Nazz looked at her with an expression of fake offense as she hummed along to the song, causing Marie to look down at her hand and bite the inside of her cheek.
"It's actually a good song." she responded brightly in a slightly sarcastic tone. "But seriously, you tore it up on the field today. I knew you were tough but the way you floored Wesley, just about shattered his self-esteem." As she spoke Marie noticed there wasn't much more distance they had to travel before they would have been in view of the trailer park and she was surprised to find herself wishing they would miss every light. They made small talk for the rest of the way to Marie's place, and their goodbye was quick as Marie climbed out of the vehicle and waved as Nazz headed for her own home.
What was most surprising of that afternoon, however, was as Nazz drove the remaining two blocks to her own house she kept running the happenings of the day over and over in her head, focusing on the parts that involved Marie.