Settling the Score

Chapter Twenty-Three

The tension in the locker room was nothing compared to us heading onto the field. So, we trained separately as per our coaches' instructions.

Coach Connelly sat on a beach chair he'd lugged onto the side-lines from Rosie's car. He wore yellow sunglasses in some lame attempt to hide the fact he was napping. His mustache fluttered in the breeze while drool dripped down his beard. Every few minutes, he roused himself long enough to take a swig from his hydro flask. It was obvious that he wouldn't be leading our practice today.

Coach Miller took a more hands-on approach with the Sea Lions, guiding them through drills on the better side of the field. Eduardo, however, had us form a warm-up circle on the healthiest patch of grass on our side. He led us in a circular formation, counting out the number of walking knee hugs we did.

Izzy nodded toward the snoring coach and asked, "Now isn't the best time to ask Coach Connelly about making me captain, huh?"

"We don't want them seeing any weaknesses to exploit," I agreed.

Izzy cast a suspicious glance toward the other team. "You're right. Let's talk about how Beach Blonde Barbie's hair is it not totally fucked up yet? Styling primer? Hairspray? Hair Cream? Wait a second. Is she wearing a fucking wig to practice?"

"Who cares?" I asked.

"Who keeps long hair down when they exercise, Kate?" Izzy asked, yanking her cleat out of the mud. "Somebody who's sending a message. She's telling me doesn't give a fuck about what happened to their field. She keeps looking at me like she's the one who has some evil plot cooked up. What is she up to?"

Dorothy focused on leading the jumping jack circle and paid zero attention to us. Izzy had the right to be worried. It was Rosie who found out about our prank, and I'd screwed her over by losing her cat. She'd all the reasons in the world to want payback. Let's not forget she'd pranked me before she'd even met me because she'd assumed I'd sneaked around with her girlfriend behind her back. She was sure of what I'd done this time around. Not to mention that the last person who messed with Rosie had had Rosie's sister to deal with, too.

I'd avoided looking in Rosie's direction ever since we left the locker room, afraid of how she'd react to me. One peek couldn't hurt, right? It wouldn't be like I'd be hurting anyone by looking at the girl from a distance. Her beaming smile and fast, strong jumping jacks scared the shit out of me. How could she be in such a great mood? It had to be fake.

Underneath all that pep had to be rage.

"Dorothy's going to strike back. I feel it," Izzy said, bringing my focus back to her.

"She's already dating your brother," I commented, trying to think of the best-case scenario and shake off the unsettling feeling taking over my bones at the same time. Izzy fake-gagged. "She could think love is the best revenge? That she already won? Maybe she'll leave us alone?"