The Dating Class

20 // The Book

DELILAH // OCTOBER 19

"These milkshakes are amazing!" Lauren told me between sips.

"You've been working really hard these past few weeks and I figured I had to reward you somehow." I smiled at Lauren as a waiter set down the most delicious looking plate of fries that were just begging to be eaten.

"Thanks, Delilah," Lauren popped a fry into her mouth. Her tiny arms reminded me of Hannah. It was hard not to see Hannah in Lauren at times. They looked so much alike, yet they're mannerisms were completely different. Hannah was confident, but Lauren was shy. Hannah was seemingly sweet and innocent, though I knew for a fact that Lauren actually was. "Hey, Delilah, why did you choose to take me under your wing? I didn't know the first thing about field hockey." Lauren told me slowly, searching for the right words.

"I saw a lot of myself in you, actually. You're right, you didn't know the first thing about field hockey." I laughed. "Which is part of the reason why I chose you: you're coachable, easy to work with. You were like a blank sheet of paper." I told Lauren half of the truth. I wasn't exactly about to tell her that I chose to mentor her because I wanted to destroy Hannah's life. That probably wouldn't earn me a gold star. "Which is why I'm giving you The Book for this week's game." I picked up the book that was sitting on the bench beside me and slowly slid it across the table to Lauren. She looked at it like it was pure gold, which it kinda was. I watched as her fingers brushed over the leather cover, just like mine had the first time. She delicately flipped open the cover, as if the book was going to disintegrate if she wasn't careful enough with it. I couldn't help but smile.

Lauren snapped out of her trance. "But we're playing Belway this Friday. Aren't they our biggest rivals?" I nodded. "Shouldn't someone important have the book this week?" Lauren frowned.

"Someone important does have the book this week," I replied staring back at her. "You."

"I meant someone who can actually play," Lauren smiled, rolling her eyes at me as she sipped on her milkshake, so unsure of herself. I laughed quietly.

"Lauren, you should really give yourself more credit. You are not a bad player." I stared into her pale green eyes. Lauren didn't reply. "Well if you really need convincing, we'll just have to wait and see how you do against Belway on Friday, because you're starting." I dropped another exciting piece of information on her. Her eyes stretched wide, like she couldn't believe the words that were coming out of my mouth. She was speechless.

"Shit." The word escaped her mouth so quietly. "What if I mess up and we lose the game? Coach only ever puts me in when we're winning!" Lauren started panicking.

"Lauren, the first game I ever started in, I didn't touch the ball once." I stated, trying not to cringe at the painful memory.

"Why not?"

"Because I was too busy being terrified of everything. I just kinda held my stick up in the air as the other team ran by me. I was about as useful as those cones we have to run around in practice." I ate some more fries as the waitress brought over out check. I slipped some money inside and set the check aside before Lauren could even offer to pay.

"Then what happened?" Lauren leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table, clearly interested in my shortcomings.

"Coach Marie took me out literally like two minutes later and benched me for the rest of the game. It was against Belway. This one girl on the other team, Mikayla Floor, has never let me forget it." I tightened my hand into a fist out of anger. "This game means a lot of Coach, too. Her sister is the head coach for Belway so needless to say, she wouldn't put you in if she thought you weren't ready." I told Lauren as we finished off our milkshakes.

October

"R-A!" Chelsea shouted out the beginning of our cheer as we all started jumping up and down.

"F-H!" The team shouted with the same ferocity.

"P-T-P!" Suds called.

"R-T-D!" All the girls roared.

"Team on three!" Vivi and I yelled. "1, 2, 3—"

"TEAM!" We called before running out onto the field.

Our cheer was all abbreviated. RAFH / PTP / RCD: Ridgefield Academy Field Hockey. Pride, Tradition, Performance. Respect, Commitment, Determination. It was everything we stood for and embraced everything we were working for. The cheer symbolized that we were working hard, not only for ourselves, but for past and future players. It was a reminder to never give up and always give 110%. Lauren took her position across from me at left wing. I saw Mikayla Floor strutting out onto the field like she owned the place. Lauren met me half-way. "You can do this. Just breathe. Have fun." I told Lauren before the ref blew the whistle. The other team had the ball first, which was fine by us.

At one point during the game, I got the ball and was met instantly by Mikayla, who was on me like a guard dog. She was good, I'll give her that because at one point she managed to strip the ball of my stick. After the play was over she walked by me. "I see you haven't changed much since freshman year. Still can't keep the ball on your stick, can you?" Her words cut into me like knives and I wanted to smack her across the face with my stick, but I'm pretty sure that would get me thrown out of the game. So I resorted to scoring a goal instead. Much better idea if you asked me.

"Alright, Liles!" I heard Shane cheering from the sidelines with all his football buddies.

Lauren had the ball and she used the move I had been trying to teach her for two weeks, and she did it perfectly. Coach Marie would be jealous. Lauren wove around two players before chipping the ball over to me. I slammed the ball into the goal, between the goalie's legs and heard the glorious sound of it hitting the wood backing of the goal. I threw my arms up into the air and almost hit Mikayla Floor in the face. I wouldn't have minded that. I ran over to Lauren and hugged her. "Look at you! Nice moves!"

"Yeah well, I have an awesome mentor!" Lauren's smile stretched across her face before a few other girls from our team came up to congratulate Lauren and me. That goal had put us up 2-1, which was just the edge we needed to secure the win against Belway. The buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the game. Jogging off the field, I passed Mikayla and I couldn't help myself. I just had to say something to her.

"Yeah, you're right, Mikayla, I just can't seem to keep the ball on my stick. Oops." I shrugged innocently, a smirk playing on my lips.

"Nice win, ladies!" Coach Marie congratulated us as we began taking off our cleats and shinguards. "Lauren Rhodes, where are you, kid?" she called out. Lauren stood up timidly from the back of the group. Coach tossed the game ball to her. "You earned it," she winked as we all clapped and cheered. "Have a fun weekend. I will see you all Monday," she smiled and left us to shower and whatnot.

Lauren and I gathered our things and left after a quick cheer with the team. We walked across the parking lot when I heard Noah call out. "Hey, Superstar." Lauren stopped walking and I turned around to see Lauren smiling up at Noah like he was her everything. Lauren wrapped her arms around Noah the way a person would only do to someone they really cared about. I watched as Noah smoothed her hair then walked over to me.

"Nice goal," he kissed me. I looked past Noah to see Lauren's smile long gone. There was nothing but defeat in her pretty green eyes.

"Thanks, Noah," I smiled up at him, pushing Lauren out of my mind. She was not allowed to derail my plan... Not for a boy.

"Dinner?" he asked me, to which I smiled and kissed him back passionately, but the thought of Lauren made me feel nothing.