Melody In The Locker Room

Chapter 24

Four months later….

So many firsts had accompanied the last four months: Harry and Louis made love for the first time, Ed Sheeran played his first game with the Stanborough football team, and Niall made dinner for Zayn for the first time (among other mischief that they got up to together). On top of all that, Liam dragged Sophie to a Kylie Minogue and Madonna concert and she fell a lot more in love with the eccentric boy.

In two weeks was the final game between Winterberry and Stanborough, both teams were in the playoffs and had very close wins vs. losses on their record. The teams were both strong; Liam had faith in his team but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to run the hell out of them.

Today was a conditioning practice; Harry and Louis had had a ‘late night’ on the roof of the locker room. They had discovered it about a month ago and had been using almost every moment they had alone up there. Louis was sore in places he didn’t even know he could be sore in but when he looked over at a grinning Harry warming up, he knew it was all worth it.

Zayn was on the sidelines, chatting blissfully with Niall when Liam tweeted his whistle to start the practice. Niall gave his boyfriend a little peck on the lips, reminding Zayn to be careful of his arms before the goalie ran toward the group.

Ed walked onto the field, yawning, but then when he saw that Liam had already started the practice, he sprinted to join the team. He hated the fact that he had a tendency to always be late, but at least he had tried his best.

Harry winked at Ed and the redhead relaxed considerably. Ever since he had joined the team, Ed felt completely part of the family. Zayn, Louis, and Harry had fully taken him under their wing at the school from the very first day he arrived.

Niall, on the other hand, was an entirely different story. The blond had a grudge against Ed still for being a part of the attack but Ed just had to accept that for Zayn had told him many times how stubborn Niall could be. He would just have to accept that Niall didn’t fancy him and not take it super personally.

“Ok, lads, it’s time for the crack down. The final game is in two weeks against Winterberry and we need to kick their sorry asses.” Liam instructed, furrowing his brow with intensity. “No offence, Ed.”

Ed shrugged at the comment on his former team. “None taken, they were a bunch of losers anyway.”

The team broke out into laughter and enthusiasm at Ed’s comment.

“Jokes aside, we need to start getting serious about this if we went to win the championship. You have worked too hard this season to simply lose your final game. So at the start of each practice, we are going to do a mile run as a warm-up. I don’t want any complaints or it will double!” Liam ordered and received a wave of groans in response.

Louis perked up a bit though, because he could do running. He might even be the fastest runner on the team. This lifted his spirits and when Harry noticed Louis’s positive reaction, he decided to emulate it as well.

“I think that’s a great idea, coach, do you mind if we listen to music as we run?” Harry inquired.

Liam rolled his eyes at the Captain. “I don’t care if you want to wear frickin’ ballet slippers, just do what you have to do. If there are any stragglers, we will do pushups when you get back. Run as a team and help the people falling behind. I want you to blokes to think as a group mind, which is what it will take to win against Winterberry. All right?”

Zayn liked the idea of a group mind because while he was a goalie, he could still be in the same mental set as an offensive player.

It wasn’t just about winning the game, it was about seeing the game play while the ball was crossing over the blades of grass. You have to look at the big picture of the game of football, or it would just be a wank fest of one person running the ball up and down the field.