Protect the ball

Chapter Four: Day Four

"ELLIE WATCH OUT!" I peered up from my phone only for a football to hit me dead on. The pain from the impact was not immediate but it did come shortly after, as well as my cousin. He frowned, checking me for an injury, his hands patting my forehead before stopping to pick up the ball. With a twist to his wrist the ball went soaring through the air and into the hands of an awaiting Wyatt, a twinkle in his eyes.

"Get back to practicing!" Another coach yelled, smacking his hands together. Gavin bent my head back, muttered a 'stay' and then left to return to coaching. I frowned, moving my head to its upright position; my nose throbbing in pain.

"That was...painful." I muttered to myself, as I went to wipe my runny nose with the back of my hand; there were no tissues around. When I saw the red liquid on my hand my mind began to go at an extremely fast pace, my nose was bleeding.

I jumped up from the bench, sending my phone to fall on the ground. I bite my lip and gave a light groan, wasn't this just my day. Where was Knox when you need him, I thought bitterly.

"I got it." A feminine voice said, a hand reaching for my phone; a girl almost half a head taller than me smiled, while handing me my phone.

"Thank you so much!" I smiled, grabbing my phone and slipping it into my back pocket. The girl gave a small smile before turning on her heel and running towards a group of people. It was then that it dawned on me, why was she here? No one, unless they were staff, was allowed to be here watching the boys practice.

"KNOX! I'm here baby!" She screamed, jumping on the back of Knox. My eyebrow twitched, blood still running down from my nose, as I began to grow agitated with the girl. Just those few words from her mouth and I already had a dying sense of hatred toward her, well maybe not hate but certainly dislike toward her.

"Juliet, babe, what are you doing here?" Knox asked, letting her jump off of his back. She quickly gave him a peck on his lips before responding to him.

"I just wanted to visit; Daddy said I could come, so here I am!" I practically barfed at the word 'Daddy', that wasn't the point though; who was her Daddy?

"He did? Okay then, why don't you go sit next to Ellie and watch us practice then. Behave." Knox commented, pointing over toward me; I rolled my eyes. He was almost treating her like a dog, which in a way was really funny.

"Okay, love you!" She smiled, giving him one last kiss before sashaying her way back over to where I was sitting. Most of the players were staring at her until Knox began to call out the play. She smirked as soon as she walked passed me, an aura of arrogance surrounding her; she is the definition of a she-devil.

I hastily walked to the closest bathroom in order to clean my face from all the blood. My reflection in the mirror looked not as bad as I had thought but was still far from good. Blood caked my upper lip and the bottom of my nose, I sighed and ran to a stall for toilet tissue. Returning to the mirror I plugged my nose up, tilted my head back and prayed for the nose bleed to end fairly soon. I'd probably been in there for around 10 minutes trying to stop the bleeding when Juliet walked in.

"OH! I had no clue you were in here!" The fake surprise in her voice irritated me; I gave a hum as a reply, trying to keep my contact with her to a minimal. But the girl just had no desire for the talk to end just with the lack of words.

"I don't think we met earlier, I'm Juliet Scott, the head coach's daughter." She stated, tossing her hair off her shoulder and posing in front of the mirror. Suddenly the air in the small bathroom began to reek of expensive fruity perfume, along with her arrogance.

"Ellie," I replied, biting my tongue, a sarcastic remark just begging to be said.

"Okay, Ellie," She stressed, her tone becoming serious, the atmosphere thick and murky. "Stay away from Knox, he's mine." The comment wouldn't have irked me so much, if only she hadn't claimed him as if he were her property.