Friday, September 18th- 4:53 p.m.
The last few practices had passed by like any other. Ashton did everything he could to make my life a living hell, like refusing to stop bringing up the 'win' he had gotten over me, and continuing to use me as his human punching bag. But that was nothing new.
What was new was Thursday's practice.
For the first time ever, Ashton didn't treat me like shit the entire time. Yeah, he tried to stare down my shirt a couple of times or trip me with a soccer ball as I ran, but nothing like Gatorade over my head.
I was hoping it would stay like that, but nothing good ever happens to me.
I followed Calum off the field after yet another draining practice, grabbing my water bottle and preparing to head to the locker room. I turned with Cal by my side and started towards the exit until I heard my name being called from behind me.
"Hemmings!" Coach called. I turned around to face him, seeing as Luke did too. We looked at each other before looking back at Coach.
"Annie, I mean!" he continued. "You're fine, Luke." I looked at Calum before starting to walk back toward Coach.
"I'll wait for you," Cal said as I continued to walk away. I smiled back at him as he dug out his phone for a distraction.
I jogged up to Coach, smiling as I finally reached him. "Hey, Coach. What's up?"
"Hey, Annie!" he greeted from the bench he sat on. "I just wanted to talk to you about positions for games and getting you a uniform."
"Okay," I nodded, my smile no longer fake as a small level of excitement rose inside me.
"So I think based on your sprints and shooting, you'd be perfect as a wing and then backup on forward," he explained. "But I wanted your opinion too."
"Oh," I said surprised, starting to shift back and on my feet in nerves. "I don't really know. I only ever helped Luke practice. I've never truly played a position, so I guess where ever you think is best I can learn."
"Okay, great. When we start scrimmaging, remind me to explain your spot to you when I lay out the whole team," he told me. I nodded along, listening closely to what he was saying. "And then for uniforms... we're in a bit of a situation."
"Oh god, what type of situation?" I laughed nervously.
"Well, all the girls' uniforms that we have are different than the uniforms the boys play in because they're that old, and the only uniform we have that is going to fit you is number 15.." he started slowing down his words, hoping I would connect the dots.
"Which is Ashton's number," I finished his sentence for him. I kicked the turf below me as I thought out loud. "Is 16 taken?"
"Well, no, but we don't have a 16 in your size," Coach explained.
"Okay, but if I took the 15 in my size and put a piece of duck tape on the 5 to make it a 6 and therefore 16..." I explained my thought process.
"I guess that would work," Coach laughed lightly at me. "But you have to make sure the duck tape stays because I can't have two 15s on the field."
"Believe me, not a single bone in my body wants to take Ashton's number," I laughed, getting ready to turn around and go back to Calum.
"I'm sure he appreciates that," Coach laughed back at me. He turned back to look at Calum waiting on his phone, pointing behind me to him. "Are you and Hood like a..?"
"A thing? No!" I quickly answered. I had been asked this question too many times. I had the answer at the ready. "I love Calum but he's like a brother to me."
"Ahh, okay," Coach nodded. "He's a good kid, though. Keep him around."
"That's the plan," I smiled back, starting to turn around to go back to Calum. "See ya next week, Coach!"
"Bye, Hemmings."
I walked back up to Calum, catching his attention as I got close. "Everything good?" he asked as he put his phone back in his pocket. I nodded to him, walking with him back toward the locker room.
When we reached the locker room door, Calum held it open for me to walk in first. I headed towards our bench, setting down my water bottle and reaching for the lock on my locker. I put in my code, pulling the door open per usual.
What wasn't usual was the waterfall of things that came falling out.
I jumped back, staring down at the ground to see what they were. Calum looked over at me, just as surprised as I was.
"Are those..?" he started from beside me.
"Jockstraps," I finished the sentence for him, listening to the chuckles coming from behind me. I sucked in a deep breath, trying to keep my anger from boiling over. Their expectation of me would be to stop and cry about it-- they want me to be weak-- but I knew damn well they can't stand it when I refuse to give in to them.
I listened to their laughing stop as I leaned down and picked one up at the end of my finger by the straps. I slowly turned around, holding it out in front of everyone as I locked eyes with Ashton, Andrew, and surprisingly, Mikey.
I cocked an eyebrow at them, keeping my focus on Ashton specifically. I held it up in eye view of all the boys, laughing to myself lightly. "You'd think... if they were going to be big enough jackasses to fill my locker with jockstraps and cups, they'd at least get some that were big," I chuckled to myself, lowering it back down out of eye view so I could see Ashton again. "You have to make up for that ego somehow."
I saw Ashton's jaw clench, obviously mad at the low blow I had taken. I honestly wasn't even mad I had done it, he deserved it. "And I hope for the rest of you," I continued, looking away from Ashton and scanning the room, noting how Luke was sitting right beside Mikey, refusing to look at me. "I hope insulting all of your dick sizes was enough to get a rise for you."
"You don't even know the size of anyone's dick in this room," Andrew finally spoke up from behind Ashton, obviously angry.
My head shot back in his direction, a small smile creeping on my face. "Well, I mean, consensually, no, I don't," I said, watching the smirk fall from his face as I struck that same nerve. "But I'm gonna take a wild guess and say this-" I continued, holding up the extremely small jockstrap off my finger. "-is too big for every person in here."
As it clicked in their minds that I'd just taken another shot at the size of their dicks-- which is the only insult that truly affects men. I watched all of them look down from me, like they were all too ashamed to look up.
I locked eyes back with Ashton again, shaking my head lightly. I took a couple of steps towards him, watching as he took in a deep breath as I got closer. I dropped the cup right between us on the bench, never breaking our glance.
"Next time. Try harder."