CHEM- Fitting In

Tuesday, August 7 -Caylan

So I must admit playing football is way different than it looks and might not be that bad after all. Yesterday at practice, I just read through playbooks on the bench while I watched the boys practice, but they either must not have seen me or thought I was just younger because today was a different story. Today at practice, Coach Madison just had Ty teach me a couple of basic techniques while everyone else did some drills. I then threw to a couple of receivers and was impressed with myself. I guess Madison was also really impressed when I threw 37 yards, he pulled me into his office and gave me my official jersey. I felt like screaming, texting all the girls, and then putting it on all my socials but I didn't have time because before I was even able to say thank you, he was already out of the huge office and went over to what looked like an old storage closet. He told me that from now on, I could change here so that I would be more involved in the team. I felt weirded out, not only was I now playing a boys sport, had to be tackled by them, and put up with them all the time at home, but on top of all that I now had to share their locker room with them, I guess the best part was that I at least had my own bathroom with a shower, and it wasn't far from the office so it wasn't like I would be swarmed coming in and out of the locker room. When we got back to the field he had me go and throw a couple more passes back and forth with Ty why he watched carefully every single spin of the ball. After what felt like hours of standing there and having him critique every single throw. He walked away and towards the water table. Ty came running over and congratulated me on making the team. I told him it was easier and a lot more enjoyable than washing his laundry, which I no longer had to do since I made him happy and joined the football team. He tried to think of a comeback, the coach's whistle blew concluding practice as we ran over to the bench, I could already see Madison trying to catch my attention. I went over to him as he made his way to the middle of the huddle, hands on my shoulders as he directed me through the crowd of sweaty boys, who needed to take a shower immediately. As we got to the middle he started telling the boys how they had done a great job at practice today. He then started into a speech about the old quarterback and how he was a traitor letting down his team like this. After what felt like 20 minutes of listening to the coach talk, while I was clearly what everyone was staring at, he finally grabbed my arm and got my attention once again. He then introduced me to the team and walked off. As soon as he did though, all eyes were on me with five hundred names, five thousand questions, and a confused me. The chaos was soon broken when Ty pushed his way to the middle and said "Let's go honeybee". I was thankful and pissed at the same time how could Ty, my older brother, be so rude as to call me by my childhood nickname and especially in front of all my new teammates with which it looked like I wouldn't have a hard time impressing from their needy stares. As I followed him away from the rest of the boys, I followed silently mumbling under my breath. He must have heard me though because he turned around and said: "get used to it princess". As if the boys weren't already starring after us and my feelings weren't already about to go through the roof, I yanked his arm as he turned around and said, "If you want me to stay on this team, you better respect me or next time you'll be playing JV'' I sashayed off towards the direction of the locker room ready for today to be over. If one thing was for sure though I was glad we had Tuesday Talk with the girls, and I was glad that he wasn't my only brother on the team, I still had Elijah and Noah to stand up for me right.