Trust me - A Liam Dunbar fanfiction

IV - RUTH

The tryouts for the lacrosse team started after the final class of the day. Ruth had met up with Malia before the two went back to the field and found seats on the bleachers. The boys trying out had been running laps for the past five minutes, with Stiles running noticeably slower than all of them. Scott had started out running by Stiles' side, but quickly given up and caught up with the other boys.

Coach Finstock was standing on the sidelines with a clipboard and stopwatch and he kept calling out how pathetic the boys looked as they ran past him. Most of them didn't; most of them stood up straight as they ran, including Scott and Liam.

But there were a couple, including Stiles and kid Ruth only knew as Greenberg, that looked closer to death than life when they finally reached the finish line. Scott actually had to run over and carry Stiles to the bottom bleachers so that he could catch a sip of water before they continued onto the next trial.

"I don't know why Stiles even bothers," Ruth said to Malia as the boys sat down in the field and rested. "When they were kids it didn't matter that he sucked so much, but now..."

"Because he thinks it's fun," Malia cut her off. "And he's also way too stubborn to quit."

Ruth laughed, purely because it was true. Aside from his father, Stiles was the most stubborn person Ruth knew. Even when they were kids, Stiles would refuse to quit when he had started something. And he always had to have the last word - always.

"What's wrong with you?" Malia suddenly asked.

Ruth looked up and saw that Malia had stopped writing in her math textbook and was looking directly at her. "Me? Nothing." Ruth tried to sound as casual as she could.

"You reek of anxiety," she said after sniffing the air around Ruth. "It's distracting."

Ruth opened her mouth, intending to insure Malia that she was fine - that nothing was wrong - but the stern, narrowed-eyed look on Malia's face made her think twice. "OK, fine. Do you see the new guy?" Ruth pointed Liam out in the crowd of boys. All of them were either sitting or laying in the grass, trying to catch their breaths. All except for Liam - he was doing push-ups, his form annoyingly perfect as his hands brought his body up and down up and down of the grass. "His name is Liam. Scott is worried he's going to take the Captain position away from him and when I ran into him earlier...I sorta went off on him."

"Did you win?" Malia asked, suddenly looking excited.

Ruth frowned. "Win what?"

"The fight? Did you win?"

"It wasn't a fight! Not a physical one at least." Malia's shoulders seemed to slack, like she was disappointed in the lack of violence. "I just told him not to interfere with Scott's trials. But I just got so mad for, like, no reason at all. I didn't mean to be so rude to him, it just sorta happened. And I don't want him to think I'm a mean person."

"You like him," Malia said matter of factly.

"I don't even know him, Malia. Do I think he's hot? Sure..."

"Then what are you so worried about?" Malia cut her off. "Just go up to him, apologize and see what happens." Malia had clearly lost interest in the conversation, because she turned back to her textbook without letting Ruth answer.

Ruth turned back to the field. The boys had lined up in front of the goal, with Stiles at the front of the line. He struggled to pick up a ball with his lacrosse stick and eventually gave up and placed it in with a gloved hand. He then brought the stick back over his shoulder and threw the ball with all his might. For a second it looked like it might go in, but then it bounced right into the net of the goalie's stick and it was all Ruth could do not to laugh with the entire row of boys lined up behind him.