Huddle Up

Girls Can't Play

Dolan's POV
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I shut my mouth when I realized it was hanging wide open.
She smirked and dropped her helmet on the bleachers. All the boys glanced at each other, confused.
"What is she doing here Dad?" I demanded.
"She's here to play." My dad shrugged.
"She can't play! She's a girl." I hissed. Girls shouldn't be out on the field, they should be in the stands with signs and banners cheering on their boyfriends. The girl ignored all this, and continued untying her cleats.

"Oh, she can play. Better than most of you! If more girls would play, I would take all of them and kick y'all off the team." My dad glared at me and I lowered my gaze.
The girl could play, and fairly well, but that doesn't mean she should. I didn't realize I was thinking out loud until she dropped her pads on the ground in front of me.
"Okay. Throw me the highest, longest throw you got." She said, staring at me.
"Okay." I was slightly taken aback. We walked out to the field and the whole team hoped up to the bleachers. The girl stood about two yards from me.
"Hike!" I yelled. She took off, flying down the left side of the field. I chucked it in the opposite direction. High and fast it ripped through the wind like a bullet. There's no w- My thoughts interrupted by the cheering of my team mates. Not for me, but for the girl. I could tell she was grinning under her helmet as sprinted into the end zone. Reaching one hand above her head, she thrust upwards in perfectly timed leap and snagged it the ball before it flew out of bounds.
The bleachers exploded in a wild cheer and I slowly walked back to the sideline. After the excitement subsided, my dad spoke."She's still a girl." I muttered silently. Or so I thought. Damson elbowed me and the girl walked as far away from me as she could. "Get to the locker room." Coach said with a small grin. "And good job." He finally said.

We hauled our gear to the locker room.
"What the heck was that?" Damson said. "You saw her catch and run, she's amazing!" Damson said, slamming his locker shut. "No need to say, 'she's still a girl.'! He said mockingly. "She's going to hate you now, and me too, for being your friend." He added, muttering.

"So what!? The girl does no good and plenty of harm on our team." I said after ripping off my practice jersey and
putting on an underarmour shirt. I faced him.
"You know 'the girl' has a name, right? Might want to know, since she's the starting wide receiver." Damson said, shaking his head in disbelief at me.
"And she has skills." Sean jumped in the conversation.
"Well if she has skills she's going take your spot, Johnson." I shot back angrily, using his last name.
"Dang dude, don't get all defensive." Sean backed away with his hands in a mock surrender.
"Girls. Can't. Play. End of story." I slammed my locker shut and trudged out of the locker room.