Game Theory × NH

057 | lanthanum

× Horan

Lynn was not having a good day. No matter how fast she ran, how hard she kicked, or how aggressive she was, nothing, and I mean nothing was working in her favor.

"Mercury!" Coach shouted once she booted a kick toward the goal, only to miss the net by ten feet. "What the hell was that?"

Lynn ignored him and found a player who was wearing a yellow meshed jersey and blocked them from the ball being thrown in. We were in practice and like usual, Coach was on us a hundred percent, making sure we were playing a hundred and fifty.

Practice went on like that and it was like watching a car wreck - I couldn't look away.

I ran down the pitch on the opposite side of Lynn and singled that I was open, but she was trying and failing to get the ball out from Matt's feet, who was playing an opponent. Everything Lynn tried to get the upper hand wasn't working. It was clear she was getting more pissed by the second as her normal tactics were failing her. She was mad enough that she used all her momentum and slammed her shoulder into Matt, sending him off his feet and falling down to the field.

The whistle blew before Lynn could even get to the ball, halting the scrimmage game.

"Ow," Matt said as he sat up, rubbing his shoulder. "What the fuck, Lynn?"

"Lynn Mercury!" Coach shouted from the sidelines. "If this was a real game, that would've been a red card!"

Shortly after, the game started up again. Matt was replaced with another player, claiming that his shoulder might have been dislocated, but in my opinion he was just being dramatic.

In replace of Matt was Reece, who was a lot bigger and had more muscle tone on him so that if she got hostile again, there was no way he would go down injured. I just hoped she didn't fuck up again, or worse, Lynn ending up on the ground rubbing her shoulder.

This practice seemed to drag on and on and I honestly couldn't blame Lynn's sour mood. I was on the verge of getting there myself.

I was exhausted. Everything was sore, I had grass stains and bruises all over my body. There's a rip in my cleats and the duct tape I used to patch them up was starting to fall off. And the blisters. Oh my god, the blisters on my feet were killing me.

I was distracted, but I was quickly released from my thoughts the second I saw the shift in the players, running down the other side of the turf - toward the opponent's goal.

James ran with the ball on the other side of the field. Open with no one around Lynn, he booted the ball in her direction and she picked up her pace to get to it before anyone else had the chance. I did the same, getting open if she were to get in trouble and need someone to pass to.

That was when Reece was there, shoving into Lynn just as she got to the ball. I was too far away to know what happened, but the next thing I knew, Lynn was falling onto the turf hands first.

Fed up with the unbelievable bad luck, Lynn didn't even bother to get back up. She just sat on the grass with her legs out in front of her and pouted as the game continued.

Then the whistle blew. Again.

"Lynn!" Coach shouted for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. "Get your ass off the ground and get back in the game! Actually, scratch that. How about you just sit out for the rest of the scrimmage."