Game Theory × NH

002 | helium

× Mercury

"This is it!" Coach Sharp yelled, her voice echoing off the locker room walls. If anyone wasn't paying attention before, they were now. We still had an hour before the game started, but Coach was continuously giving us pep talks throughout warm ups, which wasn't anything new. "North Carolina, the team we lost to last year; the team that kicked us out of the finals..."

Okay, so I never said her pep talks were all that peppy.

"And it was utter bullshit!" Macey snapped from a few benches over. There was erupted noise from the girls around me in agreement and Coach had to blow her whistle to quiet everyone down.

"Okay, okay," Coach was saying as the noise quieted. "We all know that there was an unfortunate incorrect call and an even more unfortunate accident, but that's done and over with. It's a new year and we need to prove ourselves again. We are undefeated, ladies, and we are not going to break that streak tonight!"

If you've ever been in a room filled with nineteen girls looking for blood and victory, then you know what I'm talking about when I say the room erupted with cheering and high spirits. And if you haven't, then you were seriously missing out.

I couldn't help but smile at the energy in the room. These girls were my family, have been since I joined the team last year. We had been waiting all year for the time we would play against North Carolina again. It wasn't the last game to see who would be going into the College Cup, but from the liveliness in the room, you could have fooled me.

"Now get out there and kick some ass!" Coach shouted over us and we all ran toward the doors.

A sea of baby blue and white morphed together through the hallway like the sea and the sky met for the first time. I threw the wrapper of my string cheese I was eating in the trash and took up the end of the group. Coach Sharp came up and wrapped her arm over my shoulders.

"Do good tonight, kiddo," she said, her smile genuine and bright. "Make your dad proud."

My teammates had already run out through the door and onto the field beyond, leaving the two of us in the shadows as Coach's words echoed around me.

I lived off those three simple words for the past three years now: make Dad proud. If I had a catchphrase, I was sure it would have been that. He was my biggest inspiration, after all. Without him, I wouldn't have been on my way to achieving a goal I had wanted since I was seven. Without him, I would have giving up years ago. Without him, I wouldn't have had the guts to show my face outside on the field after what happened last year. And I knew by doing that, I had already made Dad proud.

The crowd was already big and growing by the seconds as I pushed through the doors to the Drake Stadium. People were walking around with drinks and popcorn trying to find their seats and chatting to the people next to them. North Carolina was our biggest rival and everyone knew it. No one wanted to miss out on the drama, especially for what happened last year. And I couldn't blame them.

"Lynn!" I spun to see Bradley standing on the edge of the seating area. My heart filled with dread from the sight of him. His face was menacing like always and his eyes bore into mine. "Come here," he ordered.

I gave him a small smile, though it was forced, and made my way over to him. When it came to Bradley Milton, my emotions were anything but black and white.

"You made it," I said halfheartedly, not sure if I was happy about that or not.

Yesterday he told me he wasn't sure if he could make the game because of work, but something had obviously changed because there he was in tattered jeans and a gray shirt. I almost wished he hadn't of came.