The Dating Class

39 // The State Game

DELILAH // NOVEMBER 21

It looked like Belway managed to get their shit together because we were playing them in the championships. At the end of the first half it was tied, 0-0. Mikayla Floor literally didn't leave my side once and it was the most annoying thing ever. And to make things worse, she wouldn't stop talking to me. I was two seconds away from knocking all her teeth into the back of her throat with my field hockey stick.

"Alright, girls listen up," Coach Marie said to us while drawing on her clipboard. "They are on us like bees to honey," she began launching into her speech. "We need to spread out on offense and really shut them down on defense. Let's get the ball moving across the field rather than up and down and let's pick up the pace a little bit. We're slacking. We don't do sprints for nothing!" She shouted and some of the girls banged their sticks on the floor of the locker room in agreement. "I know it's cold and windy, but we're used to this. We can beat these girls. They are no better than us." She encouraged us. "So let's clean it up out there and take our shots when we can. We need to capitalize on our opportunities, now bring it in!" She commanded as we cheered before running out onto the field for second half. I stripped off my sweatpants and pullover, thankful for the fact that I wore a base layer under my jersey today.

Belway came out strong, catching us off guard and scored within the first nine seconds of the second half, but then we knocked one right back into their net, tying up the score. They almost scored again but we managed to stop them.

I met up with Chelsea and Suds on our side of the field.

"This ends here." Suds tapped our sticks before jogging back to centre circle. She passed the ball over to me and I immediately sent the ball back to Jessie in the midfield, giving Suds some time to run up. Jessie gave the ball a solid hit, sending it bouncing up the field and right onto Suds's stick. She took a shot, and it was as if the crowd held their breath... waiting. We all followed the ball with our eyes watching as it skipped along the frozen grass... and right onto the goalie's stick.

"Mark up!" I heard Chelsea call out. I turned to find a man, but Mikayla was already on me.

"That was a truly terrible shot." Mikayla sneered. "I can't believe you call her your captain," she rolled her eyes.

"Mikayla, if you say one more word to me, I will not hesitate to punch you." I told her solemnly, watching as her eyes stretched wide, like she couldn't believe a person would ever do that.

With nine minutes left in the second half, Coach Marie took out Chelsea and put Lauren in. "Wow, your coach just took the captain out to put, like, the worst player on the team in. What is she, barely even a sophomore?" I gave Mikayla just enough time to get the words out of her mouth before casually reaching my stick out in front of her. I laughed to myself as Mikayla and the ground became very good friends. I continued running and shouted for the ball, since I was now Mikayla-free.

Seven minutes. Belway's offense was in our defensive end, just peppering us with shots and we couldn't seem to find our bearings. And to make things worse, it had started to rain. And it wasn't this peaceful, warm 'let's-go-dance-in-the-middle-of-the-street' summer rain. It was the cold, stinging, 'I-can't-see-where-I'm-going' winter rain. It pelted down, feeling like little needles on my skin. Anything but pleasant.

Two minutes. Finally, one of our defensemen got their shit together and cleared the ball out, and it was a good thing that people in the midfield were ready, or else Belway would have popped it right back into our area. The midfielder carried it up the side of the field, evading a few Belway players before chipping the ball down into the corner on Belway's end. Suds got the ball and passed it to the other side of the field, to me. And just like that, Mikayla was there and ready, quicker than a five-year-old opening presents during Christmas day. I saw Lauren standing in the middle of the field, wide open. I passed the ball to her, hoping for the best, because I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that told me we weren't going to get another opportunity.

One minute. Everything happened in slow motion. Lauren wound up to take the shot when a defender appeared out of nowhere, blocking her shot. Then she pulled a move that she had seen one day while watching film from a few years back. I hadn't taught her it so she must have worked on it alone, without me. She faked the shot before side stepping the defender and raised her stick to take her shot again. I saw her look up at the goal, then down at the ball. I saw the goalie watch the ball slip underneath her glove and then I heard that beautiful sound: the ball hitting the wood at the back of the goal. I dropped my stick and ran over to Lauren, screaming wildly. At that point, I didn't care how mad Lauren was at me, I was going to hug my teammate, and more importantly, my friend.

"I scored," she told me quietly. "Holy shit. I scored."

"You scored! Lauren, you scored!" I told her. "Lauren, we won State!" I hugged her tightly. The rest of the team was hugging us by now and the rain no longer felt cold. It felt welcoming... congratulating even. We broke apart after a few minutes to see Belway walking off the field.

"Fucking sophomore..." I heard Mikayla say as she was walking by me.

I grabbed Mikayla's arm forcefully and whipped her around, making her look at me. "Yeah, that fucking sophomore just scored the goal that won State. So, that's why we take our captains out to put what you like to refer to as the worst player on the team in. Now get out of my sight," I growled at her before turning around to see Noah running through the rain towards Lauren.

Lauren looked up at Noah just in time for him to pull her into him and kiss her passionately. At that moment, I knew that Ben, nor Noah had ever kissed me like that.

"What are you doing? You're going to fail Mr. Hart's class!" Lauren shouted at him over the rain.

"I don't care!" Noah shouted back. "You're worth it!" He kissed her again and I couldn't help but smile at her.

△

After we were awarded the state trophy and took pictures, we walked back towards the bus.

"Ahhh that's my girl!" My dad hugged me tight once I got to him. "I'm so proud of you. You played great, kiddo!" he told me.

"Thanks, Dad," I smiled up at him, my biggest fan.

"I was gonna give you a ride home, but there's someone here to see you," Dad stepped aside revealing a very cold and very smiley Shane.

I walked slowly over to him. "What are you doing here?"

"Well my sister, Jessie, is on the team but I actually came to see you play," Shane told me.

"I can't believe you drove three hours to come see me play." I shook my head and Shane just shrugged in response.

"Hey, Delilah," he began, his hand lingering close to mine. "I know you're with Noah right now for that class thing, but, um, after the semester ends... Do you think I could maybe take you on a date?" he asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his rain jacket.

A smile slowly spread across my face. "That'd be nice. I'd like that a lot," I nodded my head.

"Let me walk to your car," he stuck his arm out for me to take.

RA Knows: Congrats to the Varsity Girls Field Hockey team for winning the State Cup, but that's not all that was won today. We heard that Lauren Rhodes finally won Noah Copeland's heart over. And we salute you.

Friday, November 22nd

I was sitting next to Hannah in my history class and couldn't stop staring at her knuckles. They were so chapped and red. Instead of taking notes, I watched Hannah's hand as she took notes. A wicked idea formed in my mind. Last year, in health class we learned all about eating disorders and whatnot, and a sign of bulimia is that the person's knuckles become all chapped, red, and cracked. I pulled out my phone and send a message to RA Knows via Facebook, then attempted to take notes. I walked out of class with Vivi talking about what we were going to do for practice today since we won the State Cup.

RA Knows: Rumor has it that PG, Hannah Montague is bulimic. We're sad to add that one to the list, but we're dying to hear more.

I saw Ben and Hannah walk by me after class laughing about RA Knows. Hannah was pretending to throw up and Ben was holding her pretty hair back. God dammit, why was she so perfect even after all these stupid rumors I had started. I was beginning to think that there wasn't anything I could do to upset the Popular Girl. Maybe she really was good after all. My plan was starting to sound foolish to me. What was I, five?