Girls Can't Play Football

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next morning my alarm woke me up at seven and I groaned out loud. Whoever had the idea to have a massive party the night before tryouts was an awful human being. Seriously, I hate you for life. From what the girls were saying last night, the cheerleaders have it a lot easier than the football players who start at six, but still. I didn’t even really want to do this! I tried to justify staying in bed, but just the memory of Sophie’s hopeful face was enough to make me get up.

I threw on a tank top, shorts, and sneakers. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail, then ran downstairs to grab something eat. Finally, I filled up the only water bottle that was already unpacked before I ran across the street to meet Sophie. “Ready to go?” she asked cheerily.

I just glowered in my slightly hung over state. She giggled as we both climbed in the truck. “You are a cruel, cruel person.”

“I know, but you still love me.” She started the engine and took us to the school. I could see all the guys in pads already working away on the nicest high school football field I have ever seen. Not to mention, the biggest stadium. I noticed my dad on the sidelines standing with the other coaches in his new Dillon High panther blue polo shirt studying the players.

Sophie led me into the school and I followed her into the blessedly cool gymnasium. I felt a bit bad for the football players working out in the already sweltering heat, but I really couldn’t work up too much sympathy. After all, they were all out there voluntarily.

The cheer coach who insisted we call her Stacy was the typical overly enthusiastic blonde cheerleader. She had all the team members join her in the front and they led the rest of us in easy warm up stretches. After she had us all spread out and she slowly showed us a simple two counts of eight routine. I could do it easily after watching her do it one time. What was hard was remembering to keep the cheesy smile on my face that Sophie kept on pointedly flashing in my direction.

Stacy and Chelsea, the team captain, started to walk through the ranks of girls and whisper to the ones who obviously weren’t making the cut. Chelsea passed by me and flashed me a thumbs up when she thought no one else was looking. I just smiled bigger and continued to perform the same simple routine over and over again. Kill me now.

Stacy and Chelsea returned to the front of the room with about three-quarters of the girls left. “Okay, that was great, girls!” Stacy clapped for us and the rest of the team followed suit. I just stopped what I was doing and allowed the ridiculous smile to drop from my face, blowing out a breath in relief. My face was starting to hurt. “Next we are going to work on some tumbling and other simple stunts.”

This part I was actually somewhat excited for. It had been too long since I had felt the adrenaline rush that always accompanied doing crazy and impossible stunts. I was a bit disappointed that we started off with basics like splits, cartwheels, and handsprings, but it was better than nothing.

After we finished the simple things, Chelsea and Stacy had eliminated three-quarters of the girls. I was now standing among a very small group of girls and starting to feel worried about making the team. Sophie, however, suddenly looked very confident.

“Okay, listen up! You girls have made it far and should all feel very proud of yourselves. Now, you’re each going to get a chance to individually show me what you can bring to the team and I will make my final decision.” Chelsea ushered us off to the side and pushed one poor soul into the middle.

The girl panicked and I didn’t blame her one bit. God, this was not going to be pretty. For her or for me.