The Unknown Road

10 - Tessa

Keeping my voice low, I continue, "Well, the best bit was that, but when she spotted Matt and Mils coming back toward us, she basically panicked. She said she had an early morning meeting with Coach about hockey. So, thinking there was a meeting, I kept badgering her until finally we both realised she'd lied."

"Was there not?"

I shake my head, "She had me believing there was until I caught Archie laughing silently to himself."

She laughs once.

"I think she thought of the first thing that came into her head," I snort as I take a gulp of water.  "I felt a bit bad actually."

There's a pause between us as she mulls it over. "Wait, hang on, how did you know all this?" She turns awkwardly.

"Charlotte..." I shrug. "I was there!" I swat her on the arm.

"You didn't leave?! Oh my god, what is wrong with you?" I know she wants to shriek it but thankfully she manages to keep it relatively quiet.

My cheeks pink, knowing I stayed for Archie, even if he hadn't actually said the words out loud.

"He had my bag," I offer.

She shakes her head, not believing me. "He would have put it in the common room, surely?"

"Yeah that was why I didn't want to leave it with him. He would have put it down, then forgotten where and what it looked like."

"That does sound like him," she giggles. "But I can't believe you stayed. You have a death wish," she half laughs.

All I can do is shrug.

"Oh look, Coach is coming back." She nods with her head to the path so I turn around.

He was making his way back down to us, and behind him we could see the bus turning the corner to head back to school. When he arrives back on the pitch, he rubs his hands together and starts his speech as we all start to gather.

"Right. Tomorrow. Chigwell," he claps his hands. "As I'm sure you're all aware, we've lost to them for the last two years, and I want that to change tomorrow." He starts looking around the circle and his eyes rest on me. "Tessa," he points. "What do you think we could do better?" He asks, smiling.

I hate being put on the spot and I feel my cheeks pink as all eyes turn to me. "Erm, keep moving? If we stand still, we'll lose the ball?"

"Yes!" He claps his hand again. "Good. So, that's exactly what we're working on today: footwork. So can we get into groups of five, and practice moving those feet. One group at a time will also be practicing goal-scoring and finding gaps with Charlotte as well." He tacks that on the end when Charlotte was about to protest about not having anything to do.

As groups are chosen, my heart sinks when I see just how awful my luck was today.

***

MY GROUP ENDS UP being being a four with myself, Chloe, Becca and... Dee. Trust my bloody luck. But having said that, despite Dee's reticence to work with me, the drill wasn't actually too bad.

It was a good chance to work with Chloe. She's one of the newer girls, who joined the team last year, and I could see myself being friends with her. She's a great player too. She's our Sweeper, and she's done pretty well at sweeping up balls and passing them forward to us quite successfully, as well as tackling opposition. Our best Sweeper left last year so Coach will be pleased.

"Move your feet!" A call comes from our left, and I notice Coach is watching our group, particularly Dee, who is now just passing the ball lazily, not bothering to actually move her feet at all.