And of course, it was, practice drained Raelle out more than it originally does. Abigail was being a bully on the turf, bumping her teammates with her entire body weight, her stick in hand was on a whip, and she was ultimate—unstoppable.
As for Raelle, though she was still on her game being one of the smallest on the field, was on her A-game. Her speed was up a notch, her passing was to the T, and her shots were a bullet. Everything about her game today was on point.
Coach Sara Alder wasn't the only one that noticed.
"Ladies!" Assistant Coach Anacostia Quartermaine called out, getting all the attention from the players. In an instant, everyone was jogging towards both the coaches while the Defensive, Offensive, and Goalie coaches were already discussing the next practice plans on the side; though they could still hear what both coaches were saying.
"Bellwether and Collar, great practice; but please, it's practice. We don't want injuries going around for how fast the ball is going, "Coach Sara looked at Raelle, "And shoulder or any. other body injuries for how hard you're bumping into other people," She said looking at Abigail.
Both of them just nodded their heads in understanding. (It was mostly because of the argument they had earlier that fueled their playing this afternoon.)
"All in all, I think we're going to be ready for our first game in two weeks," Alder said in a straight face, but the fire in her eyes said that she was ready for this season.
All the girls cheered, a few were giving out high fives while some others were hopping around on their tip-toes and looking even more pumped at the statement of winning this season—even for a championship.
"But!" Coach Anacostia interrupted, "That means practices are going to be more demanding. They're going to be normal, but we're going to be running sprints every day, jogging on the treadmills in the weight rooms, running the track. Your lungs—your stamina—needs to be on point. Why, may you ask?" The smirk on Anacostia's face said it all. "Because our first game will be playing against Syracuse University!"
"Fuck yeah!" One of the players yelled in excitement, making everyone cheer along.
Sara laughed and used her hand motions to make everyone go quiet again—listening.
"You have fourteen days exactly, starting from today, to get your mind straight and your body's right. Healthy eating, make sure you log it because I will be tracking it, sleeping regular hours, and regular training. If you guys want to stay after practice and train more, email me or come to my office and schedule the times where we can meet. Nothing after eight p.m. and nothing before 7 a.m. If you are going to do it that late, you're also responsible to get your homework done on time and make sure everything in your life is also being prioritized. You call behind, that's your fault and you're the one that needs to be resilient in fixing your problems. Capiche?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Got it, coach."
"Yes, coach."
All players agreed to the statement and when everything was finished being said, "Quartermaine, call it."
"Hands in!" Anacostia called and everyone put their hands in a pile. "Trojans on three, family on six!"
"One, two, three, Trojans! Four, five, six, family!" All the women yelled together and started off to the locker rooms where all their clothes and showers were.
***
Getting back to her dorm, Raelle was dragging herself into her room and bed. Dropping all of her things and letting her body bounce on the twin-sized bed the university provided.
"Well, aren't you into dramatics," A voice said to her right, an angelic laugh following behind the statement. It was dark, after sunset to be exact. Raelle went with some of her team, Abigail and Tally also tagged along, to go and get some early dinner before heading their respective dorms and getting started on organizing their schedules—since they came out at 2 this afternoon.
"Shh, I'm tired," Raelle said, making Scylla giggle again.
Though she noticed that Porter wasn't here (thank god) and turned her head blinking her eyes at the brunette sitting in a chair wedged under her desk that they most likely set up while she was at practice.
"You ate dinner?" Scylla asked when she saw the blonde's eyes open.
"Mhm," Raelle nodded her head in acknowledgment and started to close her eyes again. She was comfortable, in an oversized t-shirt and some basketball shorts, she was ready for bed all-in-all.
"Don't fall asleep yet, you have to get ready for school."
"It's in two days," The blonde grumbled, shoved her face into her pillows.
"And yet you're probably going to be busy this entire school year since you're in sports, now c'mon!"
Internally rolling her eyes, Raelle grumbled in a mumble and started to sit up. I should've taken that two-hour nap.
They started figuring out the fastest ways to their classes on a map that was sent with their schedules. But during that, they found out that they share two classes, Biology 101 and Statistics.
Though they were on different career paths, they both seemed to have their minds set on trying to get together as much as possible between their schedules. Finding out when they can get lunches together, studying together, and everything in between.
By then, two days had passed and it was the first day of class. Raelle's alarm woke both of them up a bit too early, well, for Scylla. Raelle had another early morning practice in the weight room, which was connected to the gym, so she had a walk to go. Luckily for her, the first class she had was at noon, she had plenty of time for at least a two-hour nap.
"Shut it off, Raelle," Scylla grumbled. She had a six a.m. class to get to, so she should be thankful, but that wasn't until another hour. Raelle's practice started at five-thirty.
"Shh, go back to sleep, I'll wake up in ten," Raelle softly said, and in a split second her roommate was going back to sleep.
Hopping into the shower to wake her up, Raelle did her best to stay quiet and get the side of her hair braided like it usually was whenever they had practice.
Soon enough, she woke Scylla up and was walking around in basketball shorts and a sports bra, not even caring about the gay mess that the brunette was in.
Stop it, now; you have a boyfriend! Scylla reprimed herself and went to start breakfast. Something small since Raelle had to be leaving in five minutes.
She scrambled a couple of eggs and made some buttered toast. Placing them on a paper plate and wrapping it in tinfoil, Scylla placed the plate on the counter before going back and making herself some breakfast.
"Okay, I'm headed out," Raelle called, she was walking towards the door, her keys rustling with her movements.
"Wait! I made you breakfast, eat it on the way or save it, I don't care. But you need to eat something."
Unknown to her, the student-athletes usually have food given to them after practice in the team room after every practice; But Raelle wasn't complaining.
"Thank you," Raelle said softly next to her ear, kissing her cheek goodbye and quickly walking out of the dorm and rushing to her car so she wasn't late.
Scyll touched her cheek softly with nimble fingers and a blush covered her cheeks.
***
Raelle got there on time, thank you for parking.
When she walked in, without the food because she left that in the car for later, she went straight to the locker rooms to get the uniform for today. The regular dark navy Nike tank top with her number and matching colored basketball shorts. She quickly stripped and put on the uniform before grabbing some running shoes from her bottom cabinet and quickly slipped those on with some white Nike socks.
Walking out while also doing the last braid in her hair, she noticed that everyone was waiting and there were still a couple of people they were waiting on, not just her.
"Hey, Collar," Abigail said, not smiling but just an acknowledgment, and went back to looking at her workout routine for the day.
Tally smiled at her and went back to looking at the same paper in Abigail's hands. Every time they have a weight room workout, everyone has a partner. Someone to work out with instead of a giant group taking turns on one piece of equipment and not having everyone scattered to do their own thing when they have specific muscles they need to work on.
Today though, today was leg day. That means squats, deadlifts, calf raises, stairs, and more that could kill you in not under an hour.
"God damn it," Raelle whispered when she got her paper. The first workout that she and Julia, one of her teammates, had to do was waist thrusts.
At that second, Julia walked next to her and asked, "What?"
Looking up, Raelle saw her partner standing in front of her and said, "We have thrusts first."
"You have got to be kidding me," Julia groaned.
"Nope, then we have stairs, three-set with different positions."
"This is gonna fucking kill us."
"Yes, they are."
***
As for Scylla, she was in her first business class. iPad and pencil in hand with her laptop up and operated. She was waiting for the professor to walk in before she saw Porter walking in. Remember? Her boyfriend.
Oh shit.
Not gonna lie, she forgot that she had one—a boyfriend. She forgot about Porter. Too occupied looking and thinking about her blonde roommate that she remembered that they both had their first periods together.
"Hey babe," Porter smiled at her, kissing her cheek.
"Hey," Scylla more grimaced instead of smiled, hoping that Porter didn't notice it wasn't something that was going to happen. He was very observant about everything.
"What?"
Shaking her head, she said, "Nothing. I just forgot that we had this class together. Too busy thinking about everything I need and all first-day jitters," laughing nervously, Scylla started to bounce her left knee to add to the little anxiety she had.
"That's okay," Porter smiled, taking the bait. "I had that too last night, pre-packed everything, and made sure that all my stuff was packed away."
Their conversation was cut off when the professor walked in with a booming voice.
"Alright class, welcome to Business 101. This is just the 'main' class you'll be taking through your senior year until you graduate and go to business school," The old woman said. "My name is Professor Smith, not Ms. Mrs. or Professor. Professor Smith or it'll be a write-up. Now, I don't do many of those so if you don't mind and just follow my simple rule of how you address me, please leave and don't come back."
Jeez, this woman is pretty lethal, but Scylla could tell that this exact one was pretty common and that the older woman hated being addressed any other way but what she stated.
"This may be the first day, so I'll be keeping it very mellow for today. I have a syllabus that everyone needs to read and get signed by themselves by the end of class. You have to read this, don't skim, read. It's a skill that you'll be learning fr contracts that you'll be needing to read in detail for this class and maybe your future job if you'll be using your degree," Professor Smith stated and passed a packet of light pink papers to each student sitting in the front to back to their classmates behind them.
The class was mostly filled except for the few spots.
"When you read this, please keep the secret quiet and don't spoil it for your classmates that have finished after you and after this period."
With that, she sat at her desk in the front and started to go through the beginning paperwork for the class and others after this period.
Reading through her paper, Scylla noticed that it was very detailed and descriptive so everyone knows what they'll be getting into this year. She was very happy with what was typed until she reached the end where she starts quoting the ending sentence.
*When finished reading the syllabus, sign and place it in the green basket on my desk and you're free to leave class. This won't happen often so make good use of your time while gone and be prepared for the next time we meet. Have a good rest of your day and if you have any questions email me at or look on the universities website for my office hours.*
Well shit, in an instant, Scylla grabbed her pen and signed her signature at the bottom of the page. She quickly packed her things and made her way down to her professor's desk and placed it in the green basket with other students that left before her.
She was happy that her first class was like this, but the rest of her day wasn't near as good as she'd hoped.