I got to school early Monday morning and headed for the library. I wanted to do some extra Trig before class so I didn't feel so behind everyone else. The room was almost empty and I sat with my headphones in, trying to get my head around the math problems in front of me. After about ten minutes my mind inevitably started to wander off topic.
I was still exhausted from the weekend - the high of making the team, winning our first game of the season, then of course the after party. I'd dragged myself on a recovery run Sunday afternoon too.
I took out my headphones and tried to refocus onto my Trigonometry book but quickly gave up. I couldn't believe I'd only been in LakeView for two weeks; so much had happened already. It was pretty insane to think that I'd already managed to make the team and make friends, when I'd only been at school for a week. My expectations had definitely been super low.
My thoughts then wandered to the other thing on my mind - boys. Two specific boys in particular. I had decided last night that I needed to be honest with Jake and tell him I had no intention of dating anyone this year, especially teammates. And as for Zack, I just needed to know whether he would follow through with our deal and play nice at soccer practice later.
I sighed to myself, thinking fondly back to my Sophomore year, the last time everything had felt simple, before I'd let guys into my life, and all that mattered was playing soccer every day. The older I got the more drama seemed to follow me.
"Hey nerd."
I looked up to see Adam grinning down at me. He gestured to my trig book, "Early study sesh?"
I grimaced and slammed it shut.
"I tried. My brain didn't want to cooperate."
He chuckled, "I feel you. Mine doesn't work until at least 10:30."
"Why are you in here?" I asked.
"Woah, so because I'm a jock I'm not allowed in the library?" He replied with mock horror.
I hit him with my trig book and he laughed.
"Need to return this, I've had it since before the summer."
He held up a massive hardback about astrophysics, causing my mouth to fall open.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm actually a nerd. Don't tell anyone." Adam joked.
"Dude, I'm impressed."
I waited for him to return his book at the counter and then we walked together back out to the quad.
"So superstar, how d'you feel after your big debut Saturday?" He teased as we walked.
I couldn't stop my face breaking into a satisfied smile.
"I've gotta say, it felt pretty good to wipe some smug smiles off certain people's faces."
Adam laughed, "Our humble captain?"
"Among others." I laughed.
"Speaking of, I'm pretty sure Coach is gonna throw some kind of team building stunt on us at practice later. The shit Zack's been pulling to freeze you out, we're allll gonna feel the consequences."
"How can you tell?" I asked, almost telling him about mine and Zack's deal but reluctant to let anyone know we'd left the party together. I didn't want that bit of gossip spreading; I was getting enough attention as the new girl already.
Adam shrugged. "Coach loves team building retreats. We do one at least once a year. If he senses even a hint of discontent among the team, he throws us together and forces us to sort it out."
I winced. "If we have to do one it's probably my fault."
He shook his head, "No way, this has been coming for a while, before you joined. To anyone on the outside, Zack's pretty much been a jerk since Freshman year. But he's always put his team first and treated us all like brothers. We've never had any beef between us."
"So what happened?" I asked, intrigued.
Adam shrugged again. "None of us really know, but near the end of the semester last year he kinda changed. Since then he's been a lot more unpredictable and way less of team player."
"Could it be stuff at home?" I pondered, thinking about what Kirsty had told me about Zack's parents divorce, and the phone call I'd heard between him and his dad when we were in the gym.
"Probably," Adam agreed, "But if it is he should just say that, you know? Half the team have divorced parents, myself included, so we can relate."
"I didn't know your parents were split up, sorry."
He waved off my apology, "Don't be, it was amicable, not like Zack's parents. Mine are still friends. Anyway, Coach kind of left him to it at the end of last year, I guess thinking it would blow over. But if it looks like it's going to carry on, he'll definitely have something to say about it."
We continued our walk in comfortable silence until we saw Jake, Ryan and Trent sat on a table in the quad. Jake and Trent were deep in conversation and Ryan had his head rested on his backpack.
"Hey sleepyhead!" I greeted Ryan cheerfully, giving his hair a ruffle. "Someone had too much fun Saturday night, huh?"
He just groaned in response and batted me away.
"Don't remind him, after you left he woke up and puked everywhere." Jake grinned.
Ryan groaned again but lifted his head up. "It was really bad."
"Sorry I missed it." I smirked.
"Where did you disappear to, anyway?" Jake continued.
"I didn't feel well so I bounced," I replied casually, not quite looking him in the eye.
"Lies," Trent retorted accusingly, and my heart stopped. Had Zack told him we'd left together?
"You ditched because you felt guilty for cheating in PWF."
Phew.
I looked at Jake and we both laughed.
"Dude," I responded, "It's not my fault you're so easily distracted. Anyway, it was Jake's idea."
Trent scowled at Jake, who threw his hands up in surrender. "Hey, Adam helped."
"It was a pretty easy plan really, we all know you think with your dick." Adam chuckled.
"Not true, my brain does stuff too!" Trent spluttered in outrage, making us all burst out laughing.
Zack appeared behind Trent and put his hands on his shoulders.
"Hate to break it to you man, but they have a point."
Trent pouted, which just made us laugh more.
"You guys suck."
Zack sat down on the same side as me, with Ryan between us. He nudged Ryan, who'd managed to shut his eyes again.
"Sup man." Ryan grumbled in greeting. Zack grinned at him and then caught my eye over the top of his head, subtly greeting me with an almost indistinguishable nod.
Huh. That was a good start, but soccer practice later would be the real test.
"So whilst we're on the topic, did anyone get laid Saturday night?" Trent grilled.
"Dude." Adam slapped him round the head and nodded in my direction.
"What? She's cool."
I laughed, "Well I definitely didn't, I hope Ryan didn't in his state, and I slept at Kirsty's so I know Adam didn't get any. So that just leaves you three." I pointed at Trent, Jake and Zack.
Trent leant forward in anticipation, looking back and forth between the other two.
Jake shook his head firmly. "Nope."
We all turned to Zack, who just shrugged.
"Naah me neither. Got interrupted by some girl barging into the bathroom."
I covered my laugh with a cough.
"I figured you must have scored," Trent pushed, "Didn't you disappear like straight after PWF??"
My eyes wandered around the quad as I did my best to look disinterested, and Zack brushed off the question with a casual, "The party got lame."
I could feel Jake looking between me and Zack intently and I hoped he wasn't putting the pieces together in his mind.
Trent sighed dramatically. "You're all SO disappointing. It's senior year! Last year of high school, man, we should be making the most of it! Now's the time to go crazy!"
"Have you ever thought about dating Becca?" I considered out loud. "You're a lot alike."
Trent sighed again, this time almost wistfully, as the others laughed.
"He's been in love with Becca since like 8th grade." Adam explained.
"But," Ryan added, the conversation peaking his interest enough for him to sit up fully. "She won't give him the time of day."
"She's a goddess, man. Only girl I'd go exclusive with." Trent declared.
He clearly had it bad for Becca, and even in the very short time I'd known her, it was obvious how stubborn she could be. I wondered why she wouldn't date him, and made a mental note to interrogate her about it some time.
"Well I think you'd make a great couple." I said.
He looked over at me with pleading eyes. "Could you tell her that?"
I grinned. "Maybe. But it'll cost you."
"You can have my money, my dignity, anything."
"You do have it bad." I laughed.
Ryan nudged me. "He acts like he's all tough but really he's just acting out to get Becca's attention."
"Soo did anyone else have that English assignment??" Jake suddenly asked, unnecessarily loud. We looked at him in confusion until we spotted Becca and the girls heading our way.
The guys seamlessly diverted their conversation away from Trent's crush, impressing me with their sensitivity.
"I'll catch you guys later." I got up and hurried to join the girls, who were also talking about the party.
They quickly brought me up to speed. "We're just talking about all the stuff you missed after you bailed on us."
"Didn't we do that already?" I frowned.
Kirsty shook her head. "We forgot to tell you about Chelsea."
I pulled a face. I'd managed not to bump into the cheer captain for the entire party, and had assumed she wasn't there.
"She showed up in the back yard super late with Chad and some of his team, not long after you disappeared."
"She was pretty pissed off, we think she was looking for Zack, but he left right after PWF." Becca added.
"Probably to hook up with some other poor cheerleader." Anna chimed in.
"Hey Alex, didn't you leave right after PWF too?" Rachel enquired, eying me suspiciously.
I shrugged, "I don't really remember."
"Hold up." Becca suddenly stopped walking and grabbed my arm. "Did you go home with Zack?"
The girls all stared at me, their eyes wide, and I felt a blush creeping onto my face.
"Dude, for real? You know we can't stand each other." I scoffed.
They didn't look convinced.
Luckily for me, the bell for homeroom rang at that exact moment, giving me an excuse to escape. I linked arms with Kirsty and practically dragged her away.
"Girl, you're hiding something." She stated, side-eying me.
"Okay, yeah, I did leave with Zack, but not like that. I didn't feel well, so I went to the bathroom, and then he knocked on the door and said he was leaving, and he'd grabbed my clothes for me so I just went with him." I babbled. I'd never been good at keeping secrets.
"So you're telling me Zack walked you home?"
"Shhhh!" I hushed her, looking around the busy corridor to make sure nobody was listening.
Kirsty shook her head in disbelief but lowered her voice. "Doesn't seem a very Zack thing to do, that's all."
I shrugged. "I know. It was weird."
"So you just walked home together in silence?" She probed.
"For a while, but then we got food-"
"You got food?" She raised her eyebrows.
"Yeah, we stopped at McDonalds and he got us some food-"
"He bought you food?" Her eyes were wide and the corner of her mouth was twitching in amusement. We were quickly approaching Mr Kipps' room, so I wanted to end the conversation.
"It's not that big a deal, I just needed to get it out. Can we move on?" I said as we entered the room.
"Mhm, sounds like a big deal." Kirsty mused as we sank into our seats.
I pretended to be engrossed in checking my schedule for the day so I didn't have to respond. As Trent and Zack strolled into the room though, I could feel Kirsty watching me with interest, and I squirmed in my seat.
Later on during Spanish, Becca kept pestering me about it until I had to tell her, too. And then for the rest of that period she wouldn't stop giggling, which was made worse by the fact that Zack was in the same class. By lunch Anna and Rachel knew too, but I swore them to secrecy. The last thing I wanted was the whole team thinking we'd hooked up; I'd never hear the end of it at practice.
After lunch, I wandered into Biology and joined Jake at the back of the room.
"Hey partner." He greeted me with a grin.
"Hey." I threw my bag on the desk and sat down. After our heavy flirting Saturday night, I needed to talk to him about my no dating rule and fully intended to get it out of the way at the start of class.
There was still a low murmur of conversation around the room, so I took a deep breath and turned to Jake, ready to tell him.
"Hey, new girl." I was interrupted by the girl in front of me, who'd swivelled in her seat, a mischievous glint in her eye.
"I heard you hooked up with Zack Burns at the party. Nice one."
I wrinkled my nose. "You heard wrong, sorry."
She frowned. "Oh, apparently you were seen leaving Brooke's house together."
"Okay class, copy down today's title and turn to page 87." The girl turned back around and I felt a rush of gratitude for Mr Davis.
I cringed as I copied down the title. Jake was ominously silent next to me.
"I did not hook up with Zack." I muttered.
He shrugged. "No judgement here."
I looked at him but couldn't read his face.
"He happened to be leaving the same time as me so we walked together, but that's it." I explained.
"You don't have to explain yourself to me. It's Zack, he gets all the girls." Jake brushed me off.
"Dude, for real, nothing happened. I spent all night flirting with you, why would I then hook up with Zack?" I whispered.
Mr Davis glanced in our direction so we both diverted our eyes to our textbooks until he looked away.
Jake nudged me as I copied out the diagram from the page in front of me.
"So you were flirting with me, huh?" His mouth twitched into a grin.
I rolled my eyes at him. "You flirted with me first."
"Taylor, Martinez, I hope you've finished copying that diagram." Mr Davis announced loudly.
"Yes sir." We both nodded, and I felt my face go bright red.
I focussed on my work and tried to ignore Jake, but I noticed he'd casually let his knee lean against mine, which was such a tiny thing but for some reason made my blush refuse to leave my face.
I had to tell him.
I waited for someone to ask Mr Davis for help and then I nudged Jake, making sure I kept my eyes on my book so it looked like I was working.
"I can't date you." I blurted out in a hushed voice.
"Wait, did I ask you out?" He teased.
I tried not to smile. "I'm just saying, I don't have time to date this year. Not just you, anyone. I need to focus on soccer and my grades."
He observed me for a long few seconds and finally said, "Okay."
"Ouch," I retorted. "You could at least pretend to be upset."
Jake just grinned as he leant in closer, his face inches away from mine.
"We don't have to date, but I can't guarantee I can stop myself from flirting. Okay?"
"Fine." I smirked.
When we arrived at soccer practice that afternoon, Coach met us with a satisfied grin on his face.
"Bring it in." He bellowed, and we formed a loose circle around him.
"Now," He continued, "We may have won our first game, but it seems that some of you -" he glanced at Zack, "have forgotten how to play as part of a team."
The team hung their heads. I felt bad that they were all being tarnished with the same brush, just because of Zack's beef with me.
"Therefore," Coach stated, "Say goodbye to your weekend."
We looked at each other, puzzled.
"As we have no game this weekend, we will instead be spending it engaging in a variety of team-building activities. Here are the details of the camp ground and a kit list."
Camping?
With the whole boys soccer team?
All weekend?!
The team grumbled amongst themselves as I cursed the universe for continuing to punish me.
"But Coach -" Trent piped up.
Coach blew his whistle, cutting him off.
"Anyone who thinks they're too good for a team building retreat, will be sat on the bench for the next 3 games. Understood?"
That shut everyone up. He handed out the kit list and I dutifully took one, trying to look positive. The last thing I wanted to do with my weekend was spend it in close proximity to Zack and his moody face, not to mention Jake and his shameless flirting, but I couldn't afford to miss game time.
Coach blew his whistle again to start practice and we commenced our group jog around the pitch.
"So Alex," Trent taunted, "Who you gonna share a tent with?"
"Not you." I shouted back with a grin.
"She'll be sharing with Zack so they can hook up again." Scott remarked, causing a few snickers throughout the group.
Before I could respond, Zack stropped in his tracks and turned to shove Scott.
Coach - who luckily was just out of earshot - saw this and blew his whistle.
"Burns, Alvarez, give me 30, now!" He roared, and both quickly obeyed and dropped to the floor to do their pushups.
I shook my head in annoyance and just carried on jogging. I couldn't make a scene in front of Coach; I didn't want him thinking I was bringing any extra drama to his squad.
Jake sped up so he was jogging alongside me. "Hey, don't worry about it."
"I'm fine." I responded, but inside I was doing my best to hold in an explosive outburst.
Coach worked us hard throughout practice. Nobody else made any comments about me and my supposed hookup, but I did catch a few smirks and whispers directed my way. I took out my frustration by landing some unnecessarily heavy tackles on the offending teammates.
On the plus side, Zack hadn't reneged on our deal, and instead of freezing me out he was voluntarily passing the ball to me. He still didn't really speak directly to me, but it was a welcome progression.
Standing alone in the shower after practice I found that I was still worked up about the rumour. So without thinking about what I was doing, I wrapped myself in a towel, marched out of the girls locker room and straight through the door opposite.
"Woah!"
"Shit!"
The guys stared at me with their mouths open, some of them quickly having to cover their junks with their towels or whatever else they could find.
I tried to ignore all the naked torsos on show and surveyed the room until I spotted a clearing on one of the benches, jumping up onto it. I accidentally locked eyes with Zack, who'd just emerged dripping wet from the showers, a towel hung low around his waist. I quickly diverted my eyes but instead ended up looking at Jake, who was similarly half-naked and just as frustratingly good-looking.
Control yourself, woman.
"Listen up douchebags." I announced loudly as they gawked at me.
"For the record, Zack and I didn't hook up. I actually don't plan on hooking up with any of you, so get the fuck over yourselves."
Their faces were a mixture of disbelief and hurt.
"And next time someone wants to make a sexist comment, they'll find my fist in their face. Hope that clears things up."
Without waiting for a response, I jumped back down off the bench and strutted out the door, a satisfied grin plastered on my face.