Thursdays After School

Three

THE NEXT WEEK, I ride to the soccer pitch myself, and the reason why is simple: I don't want to be asked questions about training.
      Dad was at work after training on the first week, so when I got into the car Mum said "How did it go?" and I said good and then Mum started blaring music out of her new bluetooth speakers, singing along too loudly to some song from the seventies.
      I hummed along because I didn't know any of the words, and my voice came out wobbly and off-tune. I didn't really care though, and glad that she wasn't making any further inquiries about what happened at training.
      And Dad is always too busy working. He wasn't there to pick me up, and I was thankful. He'd ask me questions like 'how did it go?' and 'what was the team like?' and afterwards, when he saw my expression he would say 'it didn't really go that well, did it?' and then I'd sigh and explain everything that happened to him. And I wasn't in the mood to retell every tiny detail of training to him when I was just recovering from the training myself.
      I sigh at the memory. I shouldn't have to ride to training. It's all the girls fault, Lana's in particular. If Lana hadn't been so rude to me, then I would just be driving there, leaning out of the window and laughing. And if I hadn't left, than I wouldn't be on Accelerate FC in the first place.
      I walk onto the pitch, determined. That's when I make a choice.
      I don't care if Lana's mean to me again. In fact, I couldn't care less. I can just ignore her. It will be like it never even happened. If I ignore her, she'll just stop it. She'll be annoyed that there's no reaction from me, and move on to harassing somebody else. Why is she even being so mean to me? I hadn't done anything to her or said anything to her before she decided that she didn't like me.
      I step onto the pitch, holding my head up high. I don't want to look like somebody vulnerable and weak. The last training, Lana pushed and insulted me every chance that she got. But I can partner up with somebody else. And this time, I'm actually here before the training, which means I can kick the ball around before. If I just avoid Lana, everything will be fine. She's the only mean one after all. I can make friends who will protect me from her. I just need to know the right people.
      I walk on, and look left and right to see who's there. At first it looks like there's nobody there, and I exhale happily, but then I catch sight of them in my peripheral vision. There's Lana, and a girl who I think is called Carli goes and hugs her. I flinch. The hug just seems so wrong, like something that I shouldn't be seeing. Never in my life would I have guessed that Lana hugged people.
      I take a few paces forwards, curious to see what's going on. Maybe they're just hugging hello. That has to be what they do here.
      "Oh glorious captain!" says Carli. I'm even closer now, and can see her frizzy blonde hair. Yep. That's Carli.
      "Don't." Lana replies in a warning tone.
      "Alright then. I was just saying hi!" Carli pouts like small child and they soon both dissolve into giggles. That was the kind of thing I did when I was with the Seekers. It stings. Why can't I have this kind of friendship with the other girls.
      And then I realise what Carli said the first time. Oh glorious captain. Lana is the captain of Accelerate FC. I involuntarily wrinkle my nose up, but force myself to stop when Carli turns, and sees me in the distance.
      "Hi! The name's Keilani, right?" she says. I'm astonished by how nice she's being. She insulted me accidentally when we were about to do the drill, so surely she would keep being mean? I'm so confused.
      "Um yeah. And you're Carli?" I reply stiffly. I wish I had something more intelligent to say, instead of standing there like an idiot. Thankfully Carli doesn't pick up on the awkward vibe, and keeps chattering on, asking me where I'm from. I tell her that I'm from a place that isn't really a city, but is in between here and the neighbouring town, Appleby.
       Carli is just telling me all about the Apple trees she used to have at her house, and a funny story about what her brother did when Lana calls her over to help the coach set up for training.
      "I can help too!" I offer as Carli jogs over.
      "Of course you can!" Carli calls, smiling warmly. She beckons me over, and I gratefully go there. But instead of running to set up the cones, Lana pushes me away.
      "No she can't." she replies with a glare at Carli and me. I take a nervous step back, shocked by her rudeness. Why would she choose specific people to set up the drills, when she could just have everybody and get them done much quicker.
      "Why not?" Carli asks. Is she sticking up for me? I hope that she is. This would be the first kind gesture I've got from this team so far. And even though it's just a question, I feel a warmth spread to me that has nothing to do with the chilly breeze stopping.
      Lana pulls her over and whispers something in her ear. I strain to hear it, but Lana pulls her even more further away, and keeps whispering. I can't hear any noise, just the coach running across the pitch, dropping the cones instead of us players.
     "Are you sure?" I can just make out Carli's words. She looks apprehensively at me, but when she sees me looking back whips her head around and turns to Lana. Lana whispers something else, and Carli's forehead creases up with worry. I want so desperately to know what's being said, but I can't.
      Carli doesn't talk to me for the rest of training.
      We didn't do any real training last week, just ended up doing penalties and dribbling. Not anything that I did back at the Seekers. Not anything that professional soccer players would do. No strategies apart from saying what position we liked.
      "Today we'll be doing a practice match on half of the pitch." announces the coach once we're all assembled in front of her. I smile back at her, but she doesn't even look at me. Carli puts her hand up and asks if that's it, and Wendy says yes. I cringe a bit, but run onto the pitch to start playing.
      Carli is put on the other team, but Lana is on mine. Maya is on my team, a girl who I've decided that I like, as well as a few other girls whose names I haven't remembered. Lana nominates herself as the attacker, with Ren and Maya on the side. I'm in goalkeeper, and there are only a handful of girls in defence.
      But while we file onto the pitch, Maya pulls me over to ask me a question.
      "Do you mind if I'm the goalkeeper? You can say no, I really don't mind. It's just that the other team has all the good attackers, and I'm good at goalkeeping, and I saw your face when Lana put you in goalkeeper -" she rambles on, but before she can anymore I interrupt her.
      "Yeah, sure. Sorry if the gloves are sweaty." I shed the gloves and hand them to Maya who takes them and hugs her to her chest like she's a toddler, and it's one of her precious little teddy bears.
      "Are you the team's goalie?" I ask.
      "No. Well, I want to be but nobody asks me to because, yeah." she trails off, and I wonder why she doesn't ask anybody if she can be the goalie.
      The match is terrible, Lana aiming for goals every chance she gets, but always missing apart from once. And that goal was scored by Ren.
      At one point I'm so frustrated that I take the ball off her and slam it in the back of the net. Lana ends up hating me even more, and whispers to three more girls on the team. But she doesn't do any whispering to Maya.
      But at the end of the match, I'm talking to Maya like we've known each other for years. That is something that will stay on this team, and I'm glad.
      Because even if Lana keeps being mean to me, I'll still have one of the most powerful things in the world: a friend.