Wow! Hey guys, I can't believe its already February, time sure does fly. Anyways here is the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy! Read and Review!

Chapter 25

Four months later

"Come on girls, pick up the pace," I heard Clay yell from across the field. Right now I was about to die from suicides. I lost count after we did thirty, but apparently our performance isn't good enough for this season. Some of the girls next to me were struggling to breath. One collapsed on the field, but today for some reason, Clay decided to push our bodies beyond breaking point. He wasn't going to stop until the last person couldn't continue. About five minutes later it was just me and Carmen left running. Spencer dropped about a minute ago. I don't blame her, Clay was acting like a real ass. Apparently last week he and Chelsea got into a fight and she walked out on him. They haven't talked since from what Spencer told.

"Sanchez, Davies, pick up the pace!" he yelled louder. My lungs were burning, everything in my body ached. I wanted to stop so badly, but my brain just kept telling me to keep going.

Spencer's POV

I watched as Ashley and Carmen suffered through another round of suicides. I wish that they would both give up, but at the start of practice Clay said that there has to be one person still running when he blew the whistle. If there wasn't, well we had to the drill over again. They were only doing it for the team, but you would tell that their bodies were screaming at them to stop. Ashley had a grimace on her face as she knelt down, touched the line, and sprinted back. That's it I've had enough.

I felt my legs storming over to where my brother was standing with his arms crossed.

"Clay," I shouted just enough so that only he heard me. He turned to me and then back to the Ashley and Carmen."

"I'm not planning on blowing the whistle anytime soon, until I see some real effort ladies!" Ashley and Carmen looked at each other. Carmen's face was full of rage, but Ashley's was somehow calm, but in pain.

"CLAY JORDAN CARLIN!" I shouted. This time I got his real attention, along with some of the other players. I walked right up to his and stared him straight the eye. "Blow that whistle now!"

"Spencer go back and sit with the others," he said before turning away.

"Not until you blow that whistle!"

"Spencer…"

"Don't Spencer me Clay! You have no right to Spencer me! Just because you and Chelsea got into an argument doesn't mean that you have any right to take out your anger on my team!"

"My team?" he laughed. I had never seen Clay like this before.

"NO, MY team!" Not that I felt that the team was in fact mine, but more like I had a responsibility for looking after them.

"Spencer, I'm not going to blow the whistle just to save your girlfriend from this exercise. Now go sit back down!"

"Ashley's not just my girlfriend. She's my friend and my TEAMATE! We look out for our own. If you're not careful, you might not have a team tomorrow," I threatened him. I knew that Clay was a genuine guy, and cared about others, and his team, but I felt like his eyes were piercing through my skull.

Ashley's POV

I watched as Spencer ran over the Clay and they started arguing about something. I could tell because Spencer put on this serious face and started to act things out with her hands. A minute later I few Clay blow the whistle and storm off the field with Spencer right behind him. Carmen and I stopped and immediately crumpled to the ground. My whole body was shaking. I fell back onto the grass and lay their panting, along side Carmen.

We both lay there until we could breath normally. I rolled over onto my stomach and gently pushed myself off the ground. Carmen had rolled over and her face was in the grass.

"My body feels like jello," she said mumbling into the grass. I let out a chuckle. She rolled over and attempted to get up.

"Here," I said offering her my hand. I hoisted Carmen onto her feet. We started to make our way back to the locker room, supporting each other weight. It took us forever to get back to the locker room. When we walked by the parking lot, Spencer's car wasn't there anymore. She must have gone with Clay or something or gone home.

"Davies," I heard Carmen from the other side of the locker room. I heard water running and then the scooping of ice. I rounded the corner. Carmen was scooping ice into an ice bag. I helped her lug the ice into the tub. Carmen stripped down to her spandex and sports bra before lowering herself into the tub. She let out a shutter before looking at me.

"Are you gonna get in?" she asked.

"Umm…"

"Don't worry Davies, I'm not into you," she said rolling her eyes at me. "I won't bite."

I quickly strip down to my spandex and sports bra before I dipped myself into the ice bath. The cold water spread throughout my bath, numbing the pain. We sat there for a few more minutes before the rest of my body went numb. I watched as Carmen dunked her head before she got out. I repeated her actions and quickly hopped off, grabbing a towel from my box. The pain in my body had subsided, but the soreness still remained. I tossed on a tank and sweatpants and started to pack my things.

"You need a ride?" I asked Carmen as I shouldered my belongings.

"No don't worry about it."

"Seriously, it's not a problem."

"Okay," she said quietly following me out to my car.

Carmen didn't live that far away from me, maybe ten minutes. The car ride was mostly silent, except for the occasional directions here and there. When we pulled up in front of Carmen house, she turned to face me.

"Thanks Ashley," she said gathering her things, "take it easy."

"I will. It's good to have you back on the team Carmen," I replied giving her a smile. She returned it gratefully before closing the door and heading inside.

By the time that I pulled into my driveway the sun had gone down and the lights in my house was completely dark. I stumbled my way out of the car, forgetting how sore and stiff I actually was. I grabbed my bag from the back and hobbled my way to the front porch.

"Hey," I heard a voice. I wiped around and saw Spencer sitting on the bench in the dark. She appeared from the shadows dress in sweatpants and a sweatshirt.

"Hey," I said unlocking the door, "do you want to come it." She nodded and we made out way into the house. I laid my bad down on the floor. Spencer followed me into the kitchen. I opened the refrigerator searching for something to eat. My mom had left me a bowl a salad that had my name written all over it.

" About today, I'm sorry," she said picking at a napkin, "I don't know happened to him. I've never scene him act like that before."

"Don't worry about it. I think we all need reality to kick us in the ass," I said taking a bite out of my salad. "I take it that he and Chelsea haven't talk since the fight."

"Nope. Apparently one of his friends saw her at the singles' club in the city warming up to some guy. But he and Chelsea haven't actually broken up," Spencer explained to me. Well that would definitely explain why Clay was acting like such an ass today.

"Anyways how are you feeling?"

"Like reality just kicked me in the ass," I replied.

"Did you ice?"

"Yeah Carmen and I did an ice bath, but I don't think that it did much good."

"Wait, Carmen?" Spencer asked a little shocked.

"Yeah," I responded taking another bite of lettuce.

"Oh." Spencer said looking away from me

"Spencer, it wasn't like that," I said grabbing Spencer's hand. "We're done fighting. We are just friends, okay?" She nodded and we continued on a simple conversation.

My legs were getting sorer and stiffer by the minute. It started getting harder to make my legs move. I watched as Spencer took a seat on the couch and then patted the area next to her.

"Come here." I wobbled my way over to her and thudded onto the couch. I leaned against the arm of the couch as Spencer laid my leg on her lap. I felt pressure being applied on my lower calf. I jumped on contact but realized that it was only Spencer taking off my shoes. Her fingers began to massage my leg. The sudden stiffness and soreness vanished. Everywhere that Spencer put her hand there was a faint tingling left. I accidently left out a moan. What, a massage feels good when you're sore. She stared at me for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. She continued to massage up my leg, but stopped when she got close. I would have taken her right then and there, but the only thing that was stopping me was that my father and Sid where probably asleep at the moment and they wouldn't want to wake up to…you know…that.

We lay there together. Spencer was resting her back against the inside of the couch, using my arm as a headrest. My legs and body had become less sore, but I knew that tomorrow was going to be rough if Clay decided that he wanted to be an ass again. I felt my eyelids starting to be come heavy, and soon I started to drift off to sleep.

Spencer's POV

I noticed that Ashley's breathing had evened out, and her eyes were shut. I took in her beautiful appearance, even though Ashley would say her looks gross; I completely disagree. Her hair was tied back into a messy bun, with hair sticking out in all directions. She wasn't wearing any make-up, but then again, Ashley look great either way. She was wearing a white tank top, that clung to her muscular body perfectly, and sweatpants that didn't quite fit her, so they slid down a bit. She looked so peaceful, just sleeping.

Today at practice I tried to keep up with them, but I just couldn't, my body wouldn't allow me. I felt that Clay has every right to be angry with Chelsea, but he didn't have the right to take his anger out on his players. To be honest, he might not actually have a team tomorrow. He worked almost everyone to her breaking point.

I glanced over at Ashley, who had snuggled herself closer to me.

"I love you," I whispered her into ear, before curling up next to her.

Ashley's POV

"Ashley," I heard someone say, before being gently shaken awake.

"Whhhhatt?" I groaned out. Yup, I'll definitely sore.

"Ash, get up," I heard Spencer demand. I opened my eyes and she was kneeling down in front of me. Wait, did she stay the night? She was still in the same clothes as last night. She must have. I sat up but immediately regretted it. My muscles ached along with the rest of my body.

"What time is it?" I asked fixing my hair.

"Well let's just say that if we hurry, we can make it to the end of second period," she said standing up.

"What!" I said jumping up, not caring how much it hurt.

"Just get in the shower," she said thumbing towards the stairs.

"What about you? Do you want to shower or need clothes?"

"Yeah, but I'm more worried about you," she said pushing me up the stairs.

We rushed up to my room and threw a pair of clothes before I hopped in the shower. I let the hot water run over my body. Just wanted to sit there forever, but I knew that if I didn't hurry we would be later for third block. I quickly changed and ran down the stairs. That was probably not the best idea. Spencer was already waiting near the door with all her things. How is she so fast?

We decided to take my car, because Spencer was two lazy to walk the thirty feet to her car. But frankly, I don't mind, more time with Spencer. I pulled into my usual spot just as the bell for first block ended. Spencer gave me a quick peck on the lips before hopping out of the car and rushing to her next class.

History class went by in a blur of boringness. I'm not a fan of learning about something that happened centuries ago. I like learning about things that are happening in the now, not the then. I grabbed my lunch from my locker and headed to the quad.

"Hey where were you first block?" Emily asked joining me on my way to the quad.

"I forget to set my alarm and over slept," I said gingerly sitting down at one of the tables.

"Yeah, I would have if I didn't have my mom pushing me out the door. Not to mention I can barely move today," she said stretching out her legs. Emily and Spencer were the last two to drop out besides Carmen and I.

"Yeah, I feel ya. I could barely get down the stairs."

"I've never seen him like that, ever."

"Yeah, I heard that he's having some personal issues or something," I said not wanting to tell her everything, because that would be an invasion of privacy.

Carmen came and sat with us a few minutes later. She was walking as gingerly as the rest of us.

"Anyone else feel like shit?" she asked plopping herself down next to Emily. We both nodded. Emily and Carmen shared a quick kiss, before starting to eat lunch. I really wish that Spencer was here now, but she has the latest lunch block.

"So you think that Coach is gonna hold practice today?" Emily asked taking a bite out of her sandwich.

"Well if he is in the same grumpy mood and probably," Carmen replied.

"I was talking to some of the girls yesterday, they said that if he was going to continue like this they were going to quit. I don't blame them," Emily said.

"We are already one of the top rank lacrosse teams across the region, and we've gotten that far just with the training that we have been doing," Carmen noted.

"I don't think that I can take another day of suicides or something worse," I said playing with my salad.

"Well let's hope that that doesn't happen," Carmen said finishing her lunch.

We sat there until the bell rang. The rest of the day flew by pretty quickly as soon I found myself starting at the locker room door along with half the other girls. We all stared at the door intently hoping, praying that practice was going to be cancelled. Spencer showed up in the line of people a few minutes later.

"He's not going to call off practice; we have to go in sooner or later," she whispered in my ear. I took a deep breath before we pushed the locker room door open. We all quickly changed and headed out to the field. When we all got out onto the field, Clay was standing in the middle with his arms crossed.

"You're late ladies, three miles!" he shouted. Looks like Clay is still his grumpy self. We all threw down our equipment and started to run the loop.

"Davies, Sanchez, not you! Carlin lead!" he shouted. Spencer turned and gave me a worried look before turning towards the loop. "Run the loop around town."

"Coach that's like marathon distance," Carmen protested.

"Then you better get started," he said tapping his foot.

"You're not the person that I thought you were," I mumble just enough for him to hear me, "You're not the Clay Spencer told me about."

I turned and started to jog towards Carmen. We ran for about an hour in silence before either of us spoke. I was too infuriated to even talk about it. Clay was really pushing my buttons at the moment.

"How much longer?" Carmen asked. Our muscles were starting to burn but we weren't even at the half way mark.

"I don't know, but I think were almost half way there," I said looking for a landmark.

"Only half way?" she panted.

"Do you want to take a break?" I asked.

"Maybe just slow the pace down a bit. Everything is killing me," she said. We started to slow the pace down.

We continued on for another hour. I think my knees are going to give way any minute. We passed by the gas station. There were only about three miles left.

"I gotta stop," Carmen said stumbling to a halt. We stood there panting.

"Walk it out," I said glancing at my watch. It was already seven o'clock. It would take us an hour to get back if we walked. We walked for a few minutes stretching out.

"I was thinking about something," Carmen said abruptly. "I know that this is going to sound awful, but I can't handle this anymore. I know that it has only be two days but, my body can't handle being pushed to the breaking point every day."

"So you want to talk to him?" I question, trying to get what Carmen is suggesting.

"Yeah, and if this continues, if we are singled out, repeatedly I'm out," Carmen said stopping. I glanced over at her. If she quits that means that her entire scholarship is out, but she must be desperate at this moment. And, from the looks of things I don't think that Chelsea is planning on getting back together with Clay anytime soon. Personally, I don't think that I can take other day.

"If this continues through the week, we'll go and talk to him, okay?" I said trying to let things play out a little bit. Spencer might be able to talk to him, or if by some remarkable chance Chelsea goes back to Clay. She nodded and we began to run again.

We were back at the high school within the hour. Clay was standing on the field waiting for us. I question if he actually moved while we were running.

"2:58.9," he said looking at his stopwatch. He was timing us. "As I recall I told you to run the loop around town, not walk."

"F-" Carmen started shouting, but I stopped her.

"Sorry Coach," I said angrily.

"You'll continue to run this loop until you are under 2:20," he said before walking off the field.

"Motherfucker," Carmen hissed out.

"Go home, ice bath, and get some rest," I said before jogging after Clay.

"Clay!" I shouted after him. He stopped momentarily before walking again. I ran up in front of him. "Clay."

"Go home Davies," he said in a stern voice.

"No."

"I'm not in the mood to talk to you."

"Well you better be, because I'm not letting you go until you do," I said crossing my arms and stopping his every attempt to get pass me. "Spencer told me what happen to you and Chelsea. It gets better, trust me, but taking your anger out of your team is not the way to make this all go away."

"How would you know?"

"Because I know exactly what your going through and anger is not the way to solve your problem."

"Davies, I know how to run my team," he scoffed.

"No, you don't. Ever since the spring season started you have been gradually pushing us to our breaking point every single day! You don't know how to run your own team. You're pushing us to the point of exhaustion."

"I'm creating you into better players," he said angrily.

"You're training us to hate the sport. I used to love coming to practice and now I dread every minute that I have to spend on the field with you."

"I-I," he stuttered trying to formulate a sentence.

"Every one hates it! And these passed two days are unforgiveable. Why don't I make you do suicides until you actually feeling like dying is better than living."

"Ashley…"

"NO!" I shouted. I didn't realized how worked up I was, until I found myself shouting. "If you don't watch what you're doing, you may be team-less by the end of this week. And I for one, will be the first one line to say 'I quit.'"

"I'm sorry," he said breaking down into tears, "I'm sorry. I don't know what going on with me." I was a little shock by the sudden turn in the mood, but I guess I finally reached Clay's inner problem, or something like that.

"You miss her," I said kneeling down next to him.

"I love her so much, and I-I just let her slip through my fingers."

"Have you tried to talk to her about what happened?" I asked. He shook his head. "Talk to her."

"And say what?"

"Tell her what she means to you, how much you care and love her."

We all waited in the locker room the next day, waiting to see what pain was to come. There was a knock on the door and Spencer went to answer it. Clay came through the door with his back turned to us. We made ourselves decent.

"Girls, gather round," Clay, shouted to get our attention. "There are only a few weeks left in the season and some of biggest games are approaching fast. We need to train hard and focus on our goals. But, first, I want to apologize for my recent behavior. A few teammates have brought to my attention that my practices have become unjust and hard. I've been dealing with some personal issues and I haven't realized that I've been channeling my anger onto you. I'm sorry, if I have changed your opinions about his sport, about me, about everything. I'm truly sorry."

"It's alright Coach," one girl said.

"We all make mistakes sometime," another one said.

"We forgive you, right girls?" Spencer said. We all nodded. A small smile appeared on Clay's face as he was granted forgiveness; even though I'm sure people might still hate him. He's been the best coach that this school has ever had.

"Alright then," he said happily, "no practice today or tomorrow. The weather is supposed to continue on like this for a few more days. Rest up, and do your homework."

We all filed out of the locker room, and heading towards the front of the building.

"Hey are you doing anything right now?" Emily asked me. Carmen was at her side with her hands in her pockets, looking bothered. I saw Spencer walking this way. I didn't know if Spencer wanted to do anything, since we are basically free birds for the next two days.

"Um, not really," I said as Spencer joined me.

"You guys want to join us for coffee?" Emily asked Spencer.

"Sure," Spencer said, butting in.

I follow Emily's car to the local coffee shop. For once, it felt so good just to relax and actually have somewhat of a social life. I guess that's something that I miss a lot. I probably won't be able to have one until I'm eighty and in a wheelchair playing cards. We ordered our coffees and found a nice area near the window. The rain pattered the window, and the sky had become dark grey and cloudy. We sat there for a while; enjoy each other's company and our coffee.

"I'm going to the Naval Academy," Carmen blurted out of nowhere.

"Wait, I thought you committed to Brown," Spencer said.

"Yeah, that was until my mother found out, and Brown cancelled my commitment."

"Your mother cancelled your commitment? I thought that that was like impossible to do," I said. It's hard to cancel a commitment but I guess that it's possible.

"Apparently it is, and I couldn't undo what she did. The only other place I applied to was the Naval Academy. My dad practically had to beg them to take me."

"You're mother just can't do that," Emily said outraged.

"Well it's too late for that," she said sadly. I knew that Carmen's college was Brown. That's what she lived and breathed for, just like me with UNC.

"Hey well you'll have Spencer to keep you company," I said trying to cheer her up a bit. Carmen gave a weak smile, before going back to turning her coffee cup round and round.

"So you're going to Plebe Summer then?" Spencer asked. Carmen nodded.

That was another thing that absolutely sucked. Spencer would have to leave right after graduation for summer training. Which sucks really, because one I don't get to see her all summer. Two, I might see her twice during the summer if I'm lucky and our schedule work out. And three, she would be missing prom. Not that I was all excited about prom, but I knew that Spencer was. And now that she can't go, it really sucks.