"And with that class is dismissed. Please remember that there will be a test on Monday. Be safe and have a great weekend."Mrs.Samson states as she left her spot right beside the white board and headed to her desk. The older woman, about mid-60's taught at riverside since she graduated and had taught a few of my classmate's parents. She had grey hair that she colored an obnoxious blonde and had cankles that scared small children.
The seniors stayed seated waiting for the final bell to ring, dismissing the students to their weekend. Cory unlike the other students wasn't too excited about the weekend. She wasn't invited to parties nor would she want to be but her dad is making her come to a business dinner. The only reason was to show that her dad was somewhat human and for him to brag about how awesome his daughter was.
The dismissal bell rang allowing the students to rush the halls. Cory brought up the rear of students leaving Mrs.Samson's room and heading to the student parking lot. Her spot was #12. It was easy to spot in between two elaborate murals. One of Dory saying they have short-term memory, and another one that resembled a Polaroid of a sunset. Cory's spot was the school colors; Black and Maroon with her number and the school mascot on it.
She wasn't artistic. She needed a scholarship; without one she would surely never leave this stupid town. The town was nicknamed Bermuda by the locals.
She unlocked her 2010 Jeep Grande Cherokee. It was a used car bought off of a friend. Hence why it had a 2 inch lift and was running 27x12 wide. It was the ultimate beach buggy except they didn't live at the beach. They just so happened to live in Georgia just north of the Florida line.
She pulled herself into the obnoxious vehicle. She chucked her backpack and soccer bag into the backseat, she had practice today but had 45 minutes before her coach arrived. She was going to treat herself to some food before the Shit show that was bound to await the players.
Her coach- coach Acre was as old school as they get. If you didn't beat your opponent by 3 then it wasn't really a win, if you didn't hit a certain amount of miles per game you would run the rest of your miles the next day. Everybody hated him for it but loved him since he pushed them to succeed. He also ran early morning practices quite a bit which created a rift between him and the players that liked their snooze buttons a tad bit too much.
She drove to the Gate station and bought a monster and a pack of Fruit snacks. She paid for her purchase and got back in her car driving back to the school. She sat in her car with the windows down filling out her math homework. She wouldn't want to do it over the weekend so why not kill two birds with one stone?
Her alarm rang signaling 15 minutes till coach came. She put away her stuff, rolled up her windows, and grabbed her kit bag. She walked to the girl's locker room being shared by the girl's softball and volleyball team.
She walked to the last row of lockers that was dedicated to the soccer girls or at least they liked to think so. Cory stripped from her sweatpants and old tournament t-shirt into her practice gear. Black compression shorts, red 5-inch inseam shorts, her practice jersey, and a headband. She exited the locker rooms after peeing and putting away her stuff.
She walked to the field with her socks, studs, shin pads, and athletic tape. She got to the field and tapped her right ankle and right wrist. She slid on her socks and put in her shin pads before slipping on her boots.
She got a head start on stretching wanting to stretch her tight hamstrings before coach showed up. She did her routine as she awaited the arrival of her coach. He finally showed up after all the girls had come out of the locker room and were juggling to pass the time.
"Alright. Ladies, please gather round. As you guys know you are ranked the best team in Georgia as of last year. Due to that, we will be having a scrimmage against the Stanford Women's team. This was a last-minute thing. Go hard, win, and don't do anything stupid. The last thing we need is to either Injure one of their players before their season or injure ourselves. With that said the game is tomorrow. We will do some tune-up stuff just to congeal as a cohesive unit but nothing too vigorous. The game will be played at the bulldog's stadium so we will be taking a trip to the university of Georgia. The bus leaves this parking lot at 10 am if you aren't in the parking lot by 9:45 you will be left here. With that said split into two lines and we will start off practice."
The rest of practice was calm. A few finishing drills and a couple of crosses ended the two-hour practice. We wait for coach Acre to dismiss us to the locker room. We walk in a line messing with each other, Well everybody but me.
"Yoo! Cor you heading to Jason's tonight?" Roe questions from her spot in front of me.
I can only shake my head. Justin and I have scattered history. He "spilt" his drink over me in freshman year and his girlfriend tried to sleep with me so he beat me up. Safe to say I try to keep my distance from the egocentric basketball player.
"Why not?" The redhead presses.
"I have plans." I rattle off not knowing how to respond.
"With who?" She questions making suggestive eyebrows. Which is sorta funny since her eyebrows are like a quarter centimeter thick.
"My dog!" I panic.
"You have a dog?" Emily our starting right winger questions.
I can only nod. I have a cat that's basically a dog. She comes when I call, likes belly rubs, plays fetch, is okay with water, and is codependent on me. She's basically a dog.
They just nod as we walk into the locker room. We all head to the showers. Georgia sun has us all sweating like dogs.
I dry off and put back on my sweats and t-shirt before tying my vans and packing up my stuff. She opens the energy drink and sips it slowly before exiting the locker room. The volleyball team is still practicing. As she goes to walk out of the gym the Athletic trainer waves her down.
Cory bows her head and walks to the woman whose hips were wider than her shoulder and ass jiggled with every step she took. "Yes coach C?" Cory questioned in front of the raven-haired woman.
"How's your knee feeling?" Coach Cristina asked knowing that the veteran forward just had her meniscus clipped.
"Good. I got the all clear about two months ago. I've been doing all my pt stuff and I feel better then ever." I state honestly. Starting on varsity as a freshman caused the forward a lot of injuries and a lot of trips to the AT.
If she was honest Cory would confidently say that she talked to coach C more than her own father.
"Okay. Well, I'll be on the sidelines of tomorrow's game."
"Okay." Cory waves goodbye to the woman and heads out of the gym. She heads to the parking lot listening to the constant screams coming from the football team occupying the field next to the car park.
I get in my car and chuck my stuff in the back seat before starting my car and rolling down the windows to air out the car. I reverse out of my spot and pull out of the school lot.
I drive home listening to early 2000's pop. Miley Cyrus blast through my speakers as I head to my house. Pulling into the driveway I get a call from my dad.
I accept the call. "Hey dad what's up?"
"Since you have a game tomorrow I pushed back my meeting to tonight. I know you get off practice soon so please change into something nice and head to nico's as soon as possible?"
"I'll be there in 45."
"Okay." He sighs out. I shut off my car and grab my stuff. I drop my practice bag into the laundry room to wash my gear before tomorrow and head up to my room. I don't have to shower but I do have to get ready.
I throw my hair into a bun. I touch up my undercut seeing as it's been about 2 weeks since I last trimmed it. Once it's all even I wash off the little hairs coating my shoulder. Drying off dressed in boxers, dress pants, a white button-down, a black tie, Jordan 1's black white mids. I throw on a watch and a nice belt and head back to my car.
I head downtown. The last place I want to be at today. I pull into the Italian restaurant that was dedicated to fancy occasions. Due to it being Friday night I have to park 3 blocks away. I make sure I have my keys, phone, wallet, knife, and sunglasses. I put the Oakley alphas on my face as I walk towards the upscale restaurant. I make sure to keep my space from the single woman walking infront of me. I notice the way she's gripping her keys causing me to cross the street.
The last thing I want is to peeve this woman out. I see the darker-skinned woman visibly relax as soon as I get to the other side. I continue the 7-minute walk to Nicos.
I walk across the street again and enter the restaurant. I approach the hostess stand. "Hi, how can I help you tonight?" The chipper woman questions.
"Meeting friends?" I say awkwardly. I don't know who the reservation is under.
"Do you have the name of the party?" She says.
"Rodger Demarcus?" I reply with my father's name out of habit.
"Right this way." I follow her lead as we walk to the back room where 7 men are seated with what I can only assume are their kids, successors even.
I thank the woman as she heads back to her stand. "Come Cory sit down." My dad stated pointing to the open seat next to him.
I take my seat and glance over the menu. "I already ordered you a water and a side salad." My dad states.
I bite back my facial expressions. Bruh I just ran for 2 hours I want pasta. I need my crabs, not your stupid ass kale and cucumber.
I can only nod as the food is placed in front of us. Everyone else getting heaping plates of pasta, some splitting small pizzas, and yet here I am eating a small garden salad with oil and vinegar.
I try my best to tune out the conversation of all the men trying to one up eachother by their son's accomplishments.
Until my dad steps up. "Well, Cory here is a 5-star recruit. and has offers from all the big colleges for women's soccer, and even has academic scholarships." he says clasping his hand on my shoulder.
"And where are you going Cory. Who has offered you a scholarship?" Mr. Marguire. Tyler Marguires dad, the captain of my schools lacrosse team.
"Umm a few schools." I mumble embarrassed by the sudden focus on my college offers. My dad takes this time to really overwork his friends and fellow businessmen.
"She has offers from the top two women's football teams. Unc, Stanford, a few offers for both academic and athletic such as duke, UCLA, Penn state, and a few oddballs such as Washington, BYU, Texas, University of Georgia, FSU, and the gators. She has some options." I didn't even know he paid attention to those schools.
I tune out the conversation for a 5th time as the other dad follows up my dad's statement by telling each other about their son's scholarship offers from each university.
Some of their kids were already committed. Logan, John Abrams's son was committed to Clemson for football. Decklin, hank O'Donnell's son was committed to duke for basketball. Austin jr, Austin Whitehall sr son was committed to ole miss for baseball.
I wasn't committed but had narrowed down my options to UNC, UCLA, Stanford, Penn, and Duke.
Finally, I was tapped on the shoulder by my father. "You can head out if you want to. Me and the rest of the guys and their sons are heading to the bar down the street. Feel free to join us?" He said in a tone that told me not to join them.
"I'm going to head home. Tell them goodbye for me."
"Okay will do. Drive safe. I might not be home tonight and I fly out tomorrow afternoon. I love you Cor."
"I love you too dad. Stay safe." We hug quickly and go our separate ways. I keep my hand on my knife as I walk the three blocks back to my car. I see the woman from earlier continuously glancing over her shoulder as her grip on her keys gets tighter. I look back and notice a white man trailing a little too close. I cross the street and walk towards the man. "Yo bro." I say once within arm's length. He doesn't even turn to look at me.
"Yoo bro." I put my hand on his shoulder. He turns to face me huffing angrily.
"What the hell do you want!" He shouts gaining the attention of a few couples around us.
"I-Umm-I wanted to know what the score was between the giants vs the Browns last night. I missed the game. And no one knew the score and I thought you would know." I ramble on not knowing where I was going with this impromptu conversation.
"The browns lost now I have something to do." He turns quickly only to find the dark skin woman nowhere in sight.
My quick thinking did work. I leave after making sure he doesn't follow me to my car. I get in my car and drive home.
I pull out of the parking lot and drive the streets making sure to follow all the rules of the road. Our town has had an uptick in DUI and traffic tickets due to illicit substances and alcohol. Due to that, they have more cops on the streets after 10. I drive 5 over the speed limit all the way home up until my driveway comes into view. I park on the right side leaving room for my dad if he does decide to come home. Which I doubt.
I lock my car and unlock my front door. I set my alarm for 6 so that if I oversleep I could at least wake up at 7 which would give me time to wash my clothes and shower before heading to school. It also allows me some flex time to get breakfast if needed.
I make sure all the doors are locked I head to the kitchen heating up a microwaveable burrito with chicken and rice. After eating I throw away my trash and head to my room stripping off my clothes.
I brush my teeth before laying down after double-checking my alarms are set. I try to sleep but the thought of playing in front of my possible future college coach is enough to keep me tossing and turning late into the night.
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