Just Us

Protect Ya Neck

Chapter 10: Protect Ya Neck
Stella's POV
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"First game of the season," Darnell smiled at me as he walked me towards the lacrosse locker room. "Are you excited? Nervous?"

"I'm calm," I responded with a smile as well.

"How are you so calm?" Darnell questioned me as we came to a stop by the building that leads into my locker room.

"Because I know that I'll be playing my heart out there and that I will have my friends out there cheering me on."

"You're gonna make me blush," Darnell joked as he pushed my shoulder softly.

"Hey love birds!" Beth called out as she walked over to us. Darnell and I laughed and shook our heads.

"You do know we're not together, right?" I questioned Beth as she approached us.

"I don't believe it," Beth smiled. "Sorry, Darnell, but I gotta steal this girl from you so we can win our first game of the season."

"You are free to take her," Darnell chuckled. "See ya afterwards, Stel?"

"Yeah," I smiled at him. "Don't cheer too hard for us, Dee," I added before we walked away from Darnell and headed inside the building. Before I knew it, it was game time. Coach Taylor already gave us the game plan before we showed up, so we are all set to take the field.

Even though we are back to back state champions, we are not like the football team. We don't get the fancy announcer commentating as we storm the field. All we get is our starting line up called and that's it. Maybe an occasional comment or two after a goal is scored, but we don't get much as the lacrosse team.

I took my place out side of the circle, waiting for Beth to scoop the ball up before the opponent does in the opening face off. Beth scooped up the instantly as the whistle was blown. The team took off towards the goal and tried to use one of the plays Coach Taylor created earlier this week.

Beth passed me the ball and I caught it in the net perfectly. One of the opposing girls tried to smack my stick out of my hands, but I dodged her blow and tossed the ball to one of the rising star freshman, Mary Kate. Mary Kate took the ball and launched it towards the net, but unfortunately the goalie stopped it.

There was three minutes before half time and the score was stuck at zero for both sides. I was defending the tall girl in front of me when I noticed the person with the ball shift towards the left. I quickly sprinted towards the open competitor and intercepted the pass that was being made. Beth took off down the field and I launched it towards her before running to catch up.

Beth got double teamed, leaving me open. Beth lobbed the ball through the air and I jumped up to catch it. I spun around the upcoming defender and launched the ball towards the net. The goalie moved her goalie stick towards the ball, but was too late. The ball already soared past her and ended up in the back of the net.

Mary Kate and Beth ran over to me and gave me a giant group hug as they screamed in excitement. "That's my best friend!" I heard a voice call from the stands. I turned around and saw Darnell pointing down from his seat at me. I gave him a smile before zoning back into the game.

"Nice work, Morgan. Keep it up," Coach Taylor yelled from the sidelines with a small clap.

There was only a minute left in the game and we were winning one to zero still. It had been a rough game for both sides. After I scored, the level of intensity on the physicality aspect of the game was turned up by the opposing team. They would "bump" into us hard, sending us to the ground every time we got the ball.