Teams | A Jamie Johnson FanFiction

Part 60 - The Trials Part 2

I stared at the girls - there was something strange about them. It was an obvious lie, first of all, that they were here for the trials, and second, I was sure she saw the older one put something back on the wall stealthily, hoping I hadn't seen.

"Okay, well follow me. I'll take you there."

"Thanks." Aimee replied, dragging her sister Erin by the hand as they descended the steps of Duncan's office.

I left them at the registration desk where there was already a short queue forming, before heading over to the rest of the current team. I could feel Zoe's eyes especially on me and the two new girls.

"Who are they?" she asked sceptically as I took a seat in the stands.

"Apparently they're here for the trials. The taller one anyway." I said, and noticed Zoe shuffle in her seat; she was worried about the competition as much as me. "Are the Under-12 trials happening today as well?"

"Yeah." she replied. "By the way, afterwards Duncan wants to have a word with us about the Gothia Cup."

"But I thought he told us about it yesterday?" I replied, wondering why we needed two talks about it.

"Yeah. Who knows? He's probably gonna tell us we can't go now."

"What?" Jamie said as he walked past, alarmed.

"Calm down." Zoe said. "He's not taking your precious tournament away yet."

"Where are you off too?" I said; he seemed impatient, like he needed to be somewhere.

"Molly wants me to go and find one of the Under-12s."

"Why, have they run away?" Zoe asked, a smug grin on her face like she was glad the team was failing already.

"No. He  just didn't show." Jamie said, getting visibly frustrated that we were keeping him from his captain's duties.

"Was he obliged to?" I asked, and Zoe smiled; we enjoyed winding Jamie up from time to time.

"No. Molly wanted him to come." he said.

"Why?"

"Shut up Bella." he said, shaking his head as he walked off towards the Cage.

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At around lunchtime I got bored of the Under-14s tryouts - the main person we needed was a keeper, and yet there were only a few who tried out for that position. The girl i'd found in Duncan's office was good, but I realised after a while that she was trying out for my position: Centre Forward.

Apart from her and another couple of boys, none of them were really up to anything, so I wandered around to the Cage where the Under-12s tryouts were being held.

I noticed Jamie leaning against the wall - I had no idea if he'd found his mystery player yet but he seemed more relaxed than when I last saw him. But Jamie wasn't the only spectator: from the back, the girl looked tall, around 15 years old maybe, with dark brown hair pulled back in a low ponytail and wearing dungarees.

It took me a while to realise that I was staring at my ex-best friend. "Ruby?" I said, and she turned around, before her face melted into recognition. "What are you doing here?"

"Bella? I should have known this was your club - my sister's trying out for the Under-12s." She laughed. If it wasn't for a previous encounter last season it would have been the most awkward conversation ever, but thankfully, we'd made up since the incident with Jethro.

"Who's this?" Jamie suddenly said, walking over. He'd been very protective recently; I wasn't sure wether it was his determination to get to the Gothia Cup or...something else, but it was strange.

"Jamie, this is Ruby. We used to be friends, back when I was at Thornlake."

"You know Jethro then?" Jamie asked out of the blue.

"Unfortunately." She said with a smile.

"How's Alba getting on?" I asked, peering over the fence into the gate where Molly was holding the trials.

"Good, I think, although I'm probably not the best one to ask." Ruby replied.

"And where's your missing player, Jamie? The one you were looking for?" I asked.

"There." He pointed to one of the players. "Not sure why he bothered turning up though. He's not even trying!"

"Doesn't look like they're gonna be much of a threat to us." I said, trying to reassure him.

"Yeah. Anyway, how's the Under-14s trials going?"

"From what I've seen, not great. Definitely no contenders for a new keeper since Wozza left." I replied.

"Great. Even if the Under-12s aren't great at the moment, it won't take much to beat us." He said in a defeated tone, wandering out of the training ground completely, and not looking back.