A/N: Great to read that both field hockey players and field hockey muggles (I love that term!) are enjoying the story. Thank you for all the support, you're amazing!
Beca spend the rest over her Saturday with Chloe. They first talked over the upcoming match, but soon the conversation diverged and they spend hours talking about all kinds of random stuff. Around dinner time Chloe made soup for Aubrey and ordered pizza for Beca and herself. Beca really enjoyed herself and was reluctant to leave, but Chloe insisted she should get enough sleep, especially considering her newfound responsibility the next day. Chloe walked her out and made sure to thank Beca a dozen more times before encompassing her in a big hug.
When Beca was with Chloe everything seemed simple and clear, except for the physical attraction she had for the redhead. However, as soon as she stepped outside her worries returned. What had she agreed to? She couldn't possibly be a good captain. She knew it was too late to cancel, because anyone who was going to do the job would require a briefing by Aubrey, but she really wanted to back down. Either way she would probably be disappointing the team. That damned redhead.
Beca had trouble falling asleep, which was only worsened by the worries she had about getting too little sleep. Eventually she fell asleep, only to be tormented by dreams about screwing up the next day. She woke up on several separate occasions, and at six in the morning decided it would be best to just get up. She never got up this early and was still feeling quite tired. The two cups of strong coffee she drank didn't help much.
She prepared her stuff for the game, double checked everything twice and walked to the was an away game, which meant that Aubrey and Chloe had arranged for transport. The girls would travel together, while their coaches would again take their own was half an hour early, so nobody was present yet. She put her bags down and sat down on a nearby bench.
Beca didn't have to wait long for her first teammate to arrive. Chloe was looking a lot fresher than Beca was and skipped towards her.
"You're early! Wow, you look like hell, didn't you sleep well?"
"Thanks, always a charmer, aren't you? I had some trouble sleeping."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that, you're still beautiful. Is badass Beca Mitchell nervous?"
Beca averted her eyes. She didn't want to admit her nerves. She had created the aura around herself that she didn't care about anything, and though Chloe had probably seen through that long ago, she had a reputation to uphold. She also didn't want to make Chloe nervous, so she recomposed herself and looked at Chloe.
"No, I'm fine, the team is looking great, so there is nothing to be nervous about."
Chloe nodded, indicating that she agreed, but Beca also noted a hint of nerves in her captain. Before Beca could think of anything soothing to say, a few of the other girls arrived. They all greeted each other and soon everybody was chatting away. When all the girls had gathered, Chloe leaned into Beca.
"Could you maybe do that whistling thing again?"
Beca managed to produce a loud whistling sound and soon Chloe had everybody's attention. She informed the girls of Aubrey's condition and their solution to the problem. Nobody protested against Beca taking on the role of captain, so soon everyone was piling into the bus. A few girls gave Beca an encouraging nod or pat on the back. She got in last and was walking towards her usual seat in the back when she was stopped by a hand gripping her arm.
Chloe pulled her down into the seat next to her. Simultaneously she pulled the brunette towards her, so Beca could rest her head on the other girl's shoulder.
"You should get some sleep now. It's a long drive, you will feel refreshed when we get there."
Beca happily obliged and soon dozed off. She actually got in some quality sleep, because by the time Chloe softly woke her up, she did feel refreshed and a bit calmer. She blinked a few times and sat up, looking at the girl next to her.
"You were right, I do feel better. Sorry I'm not the best travel buddy."
"No problem, you're cute when you sleep."
Beca blushed and turned to Amy, who was driving, to distract herself from the flutters in her stomach that were the result of the remark.
"How long is it until we get there?"
"Hey, good morning. We'll be there in about five minutes."
Beca nodded and sat back in her seat. She felt Chloe's eyes on her, but didn't want to look her in the eyes, fearing she would give her feelings away. Chloe seemed to interpret her behaviour as nerves for the game and laid a soothing hand on her leg. At initial contact Beca tensed, but she managed to relax a bit due to Chloe's soothing movements.
They arrived with plenty of time to spare. Their coaches had already arrived and were waiting for them in the parking lot. All the girls quickly got off the bus, which was quite a task with their enormous stick bags, and gathered around the coaches. They found the dressing rooms and everybody entered. Before Beca could entered she was stopped by Dawson.
"You don't have to be nervous, you're going to do fine, believe me. Just be yourself, do things your own way."
Beca nodded and proceeded to enter the changing rooms. She had gone over the pre-match procedure with Aubrey the previous day, so she knew what she had to do and say. She got dressed and allowed the girls a bit of time before she started her speech. Most of it had been prepared by Aubrey, so Beca just went through the points the blonde had told her to. Afterwards Chloe asked the coaches to come in, who both had some points of their own. Then everybody made their way to the pitch.
Their opponents were already running drills and Beca's team soon followed suit, lead by Chloe and Beca. They had agreed to lead the warming up together, which turned out to work very well. All the girls were completely focussed and ready to go when the match was about to start. Beca had wanted Chloe to do the toss and wear the armband on the field, but the redhead had refused, so Beca made her way to the center of the field.
She won the toss and chose to take the ball. She shook hands with the two umpires and her opposing captain and made her way to the top of the circle. The other girls were already huddled together and were waiting for Beca to speak to them one last time before the match. Beca had received instruction on what to say here as well, but chose to ignore them this time.
"Nerds, I want to see the best you've got, make Aubrey proud. Don't be afraid to walk the ball in yourself if you see fit, but try to keep an eye on your teammates at all times. Be creative, score a few goals, win some penalty corners and above all, have fun!"
Amy led the yell with a booming voice and the huddle broke. Chloe made her way to Aubrey's usual defensive position while Beca lined up at center midfield. They had agreed to change up the positions a bit to compensate for the absence of Aubrey. Stacy was standing next to the ball ready to start the game.. The whistle blew and the game got underway.
It was obvious that the girls were not used to playing a tougher opponent and they needed to defend a lot in the first ten minutes. Chloe was fortunately playing incredible in her defensive position, so their opponents didn't manage to break into the circle just yet. They did put the pressure on, so Beca feared it would only be a matter of time. She realized she hadn't been too vocal this game and decided she needed to start leading her team.
On their next free out, she instructed the midfielders to get moving. Their game had been way too static and they needed to get away from their defenders more. Jessica made a nice run to the inside, which allowed Chloe to pass the ball to her. The midfielder walked it a good few meters before passing it to Lilly, who was playing on the flank. She made a run towards the backline before directing her run along the line into the circle. Unfortunately she was stopped at the edge of the circle by a good defensive tackle and touched the ball with her foot.
Their opponents set up to take the free hit, but they didn't hurry, so Beca had enough time to position her team perfectly. The opponents had nowhere to go and soon the ball was back in their possession.
Although Barden did not manage to convert in the circle just yet, they did dominate the midfield and their opponents had no idea how to handle the pressure they were receiving. With a minute or so to play in the first half they had nowhere to go with their free hit. Probably out of frustration, one of the girls of the opposing team decided to scoop the ball. They only had one offender near the Barden circle, who was Chloe's direct opponent.
Chloe was just a step in front of the girl and had positioned herself to bring the ball down. Her opponents wisely waited behind her, knowing she was not allowed to step in. Chloe followed the ball and positioned her stick just below her shoulders. Just when the ball was about to hit her stick, her intuition took over and she moved her stick forward slightly. This caused her to miss the ball, which bounced through towards the offender behind her.
Before Chloe could respond and turn around the girl had already made her way into the circle with only Cynthia Rose ahead of her. Even though the goalie did an excellent job at closing in on the girl, she managed to get a shot away, which grazed Cynthia Rose's left leg guard. The goalie was too late to respond and the ball shot past her and hit the backboard. Before the girls could retrieve the ball to restart the game, the whistle blew for half time.
Cynthia Rose hit her stick against her leg guards angrily as she made her way of the field. Chloe felt defeated, this was a ball she could receive with her eyes closed, how had she missed it? She had seen Beca walk of hastily before, so the girl was probably angry at her. When she noticed everybody had already made their way off the field, she reluctantly followed her team mates to the locker rooms.
Aubrey had of course also prepared the halftime speech, but Beca decided they would need a custom one for this occasion. She had consulted with both her coaches and considering the situation, both had agreed to switch up their game plan, though Coach Smith didn't seem at ease with the idea. They had been dominating this game, but hadn't been converting. They were all still playing according to the set plays they had been practicing, which normally worked fine, but weren't cutting it today. As soon as all the girls had entered the room, Beca took the floor.
"Girls, first of all, you've been playing amazingly. I know we're behind, but that is due to a stroke of bad luck. They weren't playing well, they were just lucky, we have been dominating. We just have not been converting. Our defensive play is fine, but we need to be more creative in offense. Lilly, try to cut to middle instead of choosing the backline every time. Stacy, use those moves we have all seen Friday and just drive them crazy. Midfielders, just try running the ball into the circle. Individually we are better if we're not being predictable. So be creative and go get them! We have still got thirty-five minutes to make Aubrey proud, let's do this!"
The girls cheered and even the coaches smiled. Coach Smith took over and went over some specific defensive plays they could improve. Beca took a seat next to Chloe, who had not looked up from her feet the entire time. Her entire posture was betraying her current lack of confidence. Beca was feeling a rush as a result from her speech, which caused her to lay her hand on the other girls lap, just like Chloe had done in the bus. She still didn't look up, but did seem to relax just a bit.
Coach Smith didn't have very much to say, so soon the girls were making their way back to the field. Since they had some spare time, Beca stayed behind and stopped Chloe from walking out as well. She put both her hands on the other girl's cheeks and pulled her face up to look at her.
"You know it isn't your fault, right? You have been playing amazingly and just had some bad luck. This shouldn't get you down. You need to get back out there and redeem yourself. Show them how it's done."
"Maybe I should take some time on the bench," Chloe responded with a small voice.
"Dude, no! You're going to go out there wearing that trademark Chloe Beale smile and play your heart out."
This caused a small smile in Chloe, who was still looking at Beca hesitantly.
"I think the other girls are not to happy with that goal."
"Of course they're not, but nobody is blaming you. It happens, and now we're going to crush them!"
Finally Chloe's face broke into a full-fledged smile and she shot forward to give Beca a big hug.
"I'm so glad you agreed to be our captain today. You're doing extremely well, it's very sexy."
"W-what," Beca exclaimed, not sure if Chloe had actually said what she thought she heard, but Chloe just smiled and walk out of the room.
A/N: The rest of the match will come soon. In the meantime some more terms I used in this chapter.
Toss: This is similar to a lot of other sports, a toss is executed before a game. The winner can decide whether they want to take the ball or chose the side of the field they will be playing on.
Scoop: This is a special kind of shot, where the ball is played high, usually used to get it out of the backfield. When receiving a scoop, the player first to the spot where the ball is about to land should be given the space to receive the ball. If both players arrive at the same time, the defender is allowed to receive it. Usually, offenders hang back, hoping the defender misses the ball.