Mark My Words

55 | Game Plan

a/n: Oops—I seem to have—dropped another chapter 

*3k of gay trash slips out of my back pocket* oh dear I was saving that for another day. Just gonna... put that over here for safe keeping... *stuffs the 3k of lesbian content into a heavily armored vault dated APRIL 3RD*

When the team gathered in the gym, they found Coach Maguire standing at the bleachers. That sight on its own wasn't bizarre, but the kid sitting next to her was. Coach's kids frequented summer and weekend matches, so seeing Kayla Maguire on a weekday was a surprise.

Like Coach, Kayla was stocky, blonde, and overall kickass. Competitive sports didn't technically start until middle school, but by now, the Maguires had Kayla on every Club team they could think of. So far, softball stuck with her, and so Rosalie wasn't all that surprised to find Kayla in a pair of softball sweats buttoned up to her midsection, and her narrow duffle on the ground at her feet.

Coach was tapping away at her phone as Kayla eyed them all down. A shiver went down Rosalie's spine as Kayla's gaze went past her. The look on her face reminded Rosalie of her first encounter with Maguire back in middle school. Back then, Coach was intimidating, and was her chance at getting into varsity soccer in high school.

Joanna sidled up next to Brynn at the far side of the team gathering. Kayla's gaze went to her next, since both Rosalie and Joanna were the last to arrive and deemed unworthy for the day. Joanna crossed her arms, narrowed her eyes, and nodded at Kayla.

"Who's the runt?" Joanna said.

"Your boss for today," Kayla said.

Joanna scoffed and nudged Brynn with a laugh, but Brynn wasn't laughing. Rosalie could see the nervous sweat shine on Brynn's temple when Kayla glared at her.

"What are you, six?" Joanna said.

Coach pocketed her phone and sighed. "She isn't the boss for today. No practice—we're just here to talk and set up a schedule."

Kayla pursed her lips in distaste and glared at the back of her mom's head until Coach turned around, eyebrows raised.

"I didn't realize softball players had hard edges," Joanna said, and a snicker went around the group now that Coach was the buffer to Kayla.

Kayla pushed to her feet, and if it weren't for Coach blocking her, Rosalie was certain all of them would have taken a wide step back—aside from Joanna, anyway, who smirked at Coach's offspring with every intent of starting a fight.

"Since the season's technically over," Coach went on as everyone relaxed, "we'll start practices again next week at the indoor arena. I have Field A booked for six to nine, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and weekends."

The indoor arena was often used for Club soccer during the winter months. It was the only one in Montgomery County, so it was shared amongst the conference—which meant it was Lion territory as much as it was Knight turf. Based on everything she learned from Blake, she wouldn't be surprised if they crossed paths with the Lions, both guys and girls. Despite the girls' season being over, they'd continue practicing through winter and spring on artificial turf.

Adam boys, on the other hand, had just as much work to do as the Knights.

"In the meantime," Coach said, gathering everyone's attention as she walked away from the bleachers and to the whiteboard beside them. She wheeled it out, and as she uncapped the marker, Rosalie noticed how the girls hid their groans. She knew what was coming because she and Coach had talked about it on the bus back from Loyola. On top of that, though, was the dread that came with evening practice.