A/N: Thank you again for all the great support, you guys are awesome!
No hockey practices were planned for the weekend, so Beca took the opportunity to work on some mixes. She also hung out with Jesse and went running with Chloe. The weekend flew passed, and she was ready to take on the next week of practices. They had now started practicing three times a week and Aubrey had planned a practice match on Sunday. The practices were just as brutal as before, even more so because Beca would start half an hour early each time.
She had noticed her improvement in execution of the penalty corners, even within the first week. She still had some things to improve on, as Aubrey would let her know each time she was present. Since Aubrey was also heavily involved in the penalty corner, she unfortunately joined Beca and Dawson almost every time. Chloe was there a lot too and she always managed to defuse Beca before she could go off on Aubrey.
Aubrey wanted every push to be on target and exactly by the book. Beca relied more on feeling, and didn't feel the need to analyze where she would aim the ball. She just released when it felt right, which worked pretty well for her up to now. Dawson was a midway between the two, she cheered Beca on when she had a successful corner, even if the execution was not perfect, but still wanted her to work on her technique. Beca was really thankful for Dawson being the one to train her. Coach Smith was more like Aubrey and it seemed he listened to her most of the time, instead of the other way around.
As Sunday approached, both Aubrey and Chloe became increasingly stressed. Beca had expected this from Aubrey, but was surprised by the effect of the upcoming game on Chloe. However, on their last practice of the week, Beca learned the true source of Chloe's stress. She was planning a get together for the girls after the game on Sunday. She introduced it as a team building activity. She had noticed that most girls didn't really know each other, and wanted everybody to get to know each other a bit better.
After she learned about the party, Beca had offered her help to Chloe. Her captain already had a list of tasks ready for Beca. Consequently she spent her entire Saturday helping Chloe making decorations and thinking up games for the girls to do. Beca felt like booze and food would be enough to keep them entertained, but Chloe really wanted to go big, because it was her first big task as a co-captain. Aubrey handled most of the other work while Chloe offered emotional support.
Although she complained to Chloe a lot, Beca didn't actually mind spending her free Saturday with the redhead. Making decorations gave them a lot of opportunity to talk. Beca even found herself sharing the problems with her father with Chloe, she just making talking so easy. Chloe talked about her own family and shared some childhood stories. Time flew past, and before they knew it, it was time to go home. They had to get up early the next morning to be in time for the game. Aubrey of course demanded them to be at the meeting room two hours before their match to discuss tactics.
"Thank you so much for helping, I wouldn't have gotten it done by myself!"
"Anytime." Beca really meant it, she really liked hanging out with the attractive redhead, not just for the obvious reason. Chloe was easy to talk to and had the gift to make you feel like you mattered. Even if Chloe didn't reciprocate Beca's true feelings, she still liked being friends.
"Well, goodnight," Beca said as she stood awkwardly in the doorway.
"Oh, come on." Chloe pulled her into a big hug. "Thank you again! Sleep tight."
Beca shot her a smile and turned around. She didn't hear the door close immediately, but refrained from looking back as she walked away. She smiled as she thought about her day with Chloe. This had been a good day.
The next morning, Beca forced herself to get up and even managed to be at the meeting room in time. At least, she thought so, but she still walked in last. Aubrey shot her an angry look and she shrugged apologetically as she sat down next to Amy. As soon as she had entered Aubrey walked to the front of the room. She started to go over all the rules and tactics the team was expected to use. They had already practiced most of the set plays she explained and Beca was really pissed that she had gotten up early on a Sunday morning for this.
She was relieved when Coach Smith took over after what seemed an eternity. He talked a bit about the team they were up against, a team from a neighbouring college. They had apparently never lost to this opponent and he certainly didn't want to break that streak now. Finally he announced the starting positions. Aubrey would start in defense together with Amy, Ashley and Denise. Chloe and Beca would start as midfielders, together with Jessica. Stacy, Lilly and one of the sophomores, called Kate, would start as their forwards. Cynthia Rose was of course their goalie, and the other five girls would start on the bench.
Beca was pleased with her starting position and she had secretly expected it. She also felt confident playing with Amy behind her in defense, Chloe backing her up on midfield, and Stacy in front of her. These were the girls she had played with most the past week. She also had trained the penalty corner with Stacy on one occasion, so she had gotten to know the girl a bit better. Stacy turned out to have a lot more strategic insight than her exterior might make you assume.
The girls made their way to the field and they started warming up. Aubrey demanded them to all wear the same outfit, so they all ran in their blue Barden uniform, with their top covered by a training jacket in the same shade of blue. Beca already felt properly warmed up and started taking her jacket off when Aubrey yelled at her.
"Not yet Mitchell, we take our jacket off when everybody is warm. We want to look professional, it is the first step to be professional."
Beca rolled her eyes, but really didn't feel like pissing of her captain already, so she complied. They did the rest of the warming up in silence, and soon they were allowed to take off their jacket and start passing the ball. After passing in duos and playing for possession, the team divided in defenders, a combination of attackers and midfielders, and all players involved in the penalty corner. The defenders would be passing some long balls, the attackers and midfielders continued the play for possession and Beca gathered with Stacy, Aubrey, Chloe, Lilly and Jessica at the top of the D. Stacy and Jessica would both be stoppers during the game, Chloe and Lilly were the injectors, and of course Beca and Aubrey were expected to score.
After a while the umpires, two guys of the men's team, blew the whistle and Aubrey went to the middle of the field for the toss. The rest of the girls gathered the balls that were now spread across the field, and huddled at the top of the D. They waited for Aubrey, who ran back to them.
"We won the toss and chose the ball. They chose to keep that side. Okay girls, I expect you to play like this is the championship game. You don't hold back and you give everything. Remember the set plays we practiced. Coach each other in the field and act as a team. Hands in, Barden on three!"
They all jogged to their starting positions. On her way over, Beca made eye contact with Chloe, who gave her an encouraging nod. Beca returned a smile. As soon as Stacy played the ball it was on. Very quickly Barden had made some headway into the opponent's half and they were definitely more dominant in the game. However, the girls passed the ball around a lot, which caused them to lose it a few times. About five minutes into the game, Beca got the ball after a pass from Amy and saw the space. She made her way towards the circle, ignoring the shouts from Aubrey to pass the ball. She skipped a tackle and entered the circle. As she looked up to find either the pass or the goal, she felt a hit on her stick. Immediately the whistle blew for a penalty corner.
They gathered at the top of the circle. Aubrey shot Beca an angry glance as she jogged over. Beca didn't really understand what the blonde was angry about, and wanted to ask her. Before she could say anything, Aubrey was already talking. She reminded the girls of their respective roles in the penalty corner and ordered Chloe to inject the ball to Jessica, who was stopping in front of Aubrey. Beca and Stacy would set up a second castle as distraction, but they knew they wouldn't get any action.
What happened next surprised Beca. Their opponents saw the two castles, but still set up to defend for a direct hit. The keeper was even down before the ball had landed in Jessica's stick. They were obviously expecting the hit and didn't even consider that the ball could be played to Beca. Aubrey's hit was stopped easily, and they only got a long corner out of it.
The next thirty minutes was more of the same. They got some circle penetrations, even some more penalty corners, but Aubrey had hit each of them, and they were easily stopped. As the score remained 0-0, Aubrey became increasingly stressed and the entire team suffered. Beca started doing more solo actions, which just gotten her more angry looks from Aubrey.
Beca had been off the field for a while, but was allowed on again a few minutes before half time. They had just gotten a long corner on her side of the field, and she set up to take it. They had some set plays for these situations, but she saw that her teammates weren't set up yet, and she saw the space towards the circle. She made the split decision to just run the ball in herself. Because her team wasn't set up yet, nobody was able to take their positions in the circle in time. Beca decided to just hit the ball herself, but on the way to goal, it hit a defender's foot.
They gathered once more at the top of the D and Aubrey jogged to them from their position in defence. She was looking particularly angry this time.
"Beca, what the hell were you thinking, we have set plays for this."
Beca was indignant, she had won the penalty corner, hadn't she. Just as she was about to respond, she felt a hand on her arm. She looked up to see two blue eyes begging her to calm down. Before she could decide whether she could resist the look in Chloe's eyes, the redhead was already talking.
"Aubrey, let Beca take this one. They are expecting you to hit and they can defend it easily. They are not prepared for a drag flick."
Aubrey looked from Chloe to Beca and back to Chloe. She first looked like she wanted to reject the idea, but apparently some silent conversation was going on between Chloe and Aubrey. After a while she sighed and nodded. This time, Chloe organized everyone. Just before they went off to their positions, she gave Beca a light squeeze in her arm. Beca smiled at her in response before she redirected her focus to the task at hand.
Because she didn't have a big role in any of the previous penalty corners, she had already had the time to study the defence. She knew she would be good if she flicked the ball high over the goalie on either side. The injection came from Chloe. Their opponent clearly were expecting a hit again, and the first runner was heading straight for Aubrey. It took her a while to adjust her path. The goalie was also already down and both defenders on the line had a confused look in their eyes. Before any of them could adjust properly, Beca had already directed the ball high towards goal. None of the defenders had any change to stop it, and it hit the net hard.
She pumped her fist in the air in celebration. Immediately her team surrounded her and gave her hugs and pats on the back. Chloe was beaming with pride, which was the only thing Beca really registered. On her way back to her own half she received some more high fives and thumbs up from the defenders. Only Aubrey didn't join the celebrations, although she did look a bit less stressed.
The whistle blew for half time only seconds after their opponents had resumed play. As they made their way to the locker rooms, Beca received some more celebrations from the girls on the bench and her coaches. She sat down with a content smile on her face, which faltered as soon as she received another angry look from Aubrey.
Coach Smith started with some positive notes, but soon started to go into what they could have done better. Beca agreed with a lot of points and nodded along. After Coach had finished, Aubrey took the floor. She started her take on the first half.
"Girls, we need to be sharper. We have trained what we need to do in certain situations. If you do not keep to the set plays we trained, the other girls will not be able to anticipate what you are going to do." Now she was clearly looking at Beca. "We all know what to do in the case of a long corner, please just do as we agreed."
Beca couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had won the penalty corner and even scored from it. Aubrey was the one who screwed up the other penalty corners. She felt her body tense, but the tension immediately disappeared when she felt the hand on her knee. Chloe looked at her, now with a warning look. Aubrey saw it as well, and Beca could see the victory in her eyes. She really didn't want to let it slide, but she also didn't want to get on Chloe's bad side.
As she was deciding whether she should respond, the decision was made for her, because all the girls made their way to the field. Chloe stopped Beca from walking out immediately.
"Look, I know you have your own ideas on how we should play, and maybe you are right, but you can't just go for solo runs every time. We didn't see the run into the circle coming, so nobody was set up properly. If you had lost the ball, we would have been outnumbered. Please, just for this game, do as we practiced. I will try to talk to to Aubrey."
Beca felt her resolve disappear as she looked into those begging blue eyes. She could maybe keep quiet for one more half. She did hope that Chloe would be able to get through to Aubrey, because they were sure as hell not going to win the championship like this.
The second half was less than enjoyable for Beca. She didn't go for too many solo runs anymore and the game was mostly played on the midfield. They did win another penalty corner late in the second half. This one was scored by Aubrey, who hit it in the lower left corner. The defense had been forced to expect both the drag and the hit this time, so the goalie wasn't able to get down fast enough and she had to watch the ball pass under her.
Eventually they stepped off the field with a win. Aubrey was not too happy, of course, and immediately started talking to Coach Smith about possible improvements for the next game. Chloe walked next to Beca as they walked off. The other girls grabbed their bags and made their way to the showers, but Chloe stopped Beca from walking away.
"Thank you, I know Aubrey is getting on your nerves, and I know you are bursting to say something. So thank you."
Beca looked back at her captain and nodded. "I don't know how long I will be able to put up with her, so please just knock some sense into her."
Now Chloe nodded and replied. "I will try. Now let's celebrate our win. We didn't make all those decorations for nothing!