‘You guys ready?’
‘Are you kidding me? Let’s just get this bullshit over and done with,’ Abby muttered at my questioning. I rolled my eyes at her and led the way towards the field where the rugby boys were already doing their warm ups. I had told them we had to go or face disbandment of our team. That made all of us trudges slowly towards the field.
I can’t believe I’m here.
Sure I was somewhat on friendly terms with Blake but spending time with him and practicing the sport that he loved was not what I expected at all. I knew a little of rugby but it looked painful. All the shoving and tackling without the pads just muscle and bone grinding against the grass was not what I wanted to do.
Ahh fuck.
I saw all of the rugby boys tackling each other. Dude, I am so not strong enough for this. When I hear the sound of bone against bone, I winced. I’m sure the rest of my team shared the same horror as me. These boys are huge, how the hell would I managed to tackle them I have no idea.
‘Oh there you are softball people, you’re late,’ Blake accused us as we neared the death match that was enfolding right in front of my eyes. His gaze lingered on me a second longer that was necessary before he stared at the rest of the team. ‘Well gather round, see how we tackle.’
We actually wince and let out cries of disgust as we watched them tackle the other to the ground. We were actually becoming the best audiences. The rest of the rugby team just looked at us amused at our reactions. The girls were nervous, I could feel them jittering. I don’t know what will happen to us. Clearly, we can’t beat these guys.
Oh my god who are we kidding?
Henry is crazy for thinking of this idea.
Blake made us do jumping jacks, a series of sets for stamina, another set for strength, another set for our thighs. I don’t know how many we did but this is as strenuous as my own conditioning. By that time, my own team was puffing and breathing heavily. I was too since it’s been a week since I did any conditioning and this cut on my shoulder was irritating me.
I was sweating buckets and had abandoned my softball uniform on the small pile of uniforms at the bench. Blake finally told us to relax and I sank to my knees, wincing at my shoulder. I was wearing a tank top underneath so the cut was visible. It didn’t need any stitching but it was itchy. I was tempted to scratch it.
‘Ally! Don’t you dare touch that scar!’ Abby shrieked at me from the other end of the line. I looked at her innocently. She huffed at me and made her way towards me, her eyes flashing. She placed her hands on her hips which made her look aggressive. She will make a very scary mother in the future.
‘What?’ I asked her innocently. ‘I wasn’t doing anything!’
‘I know that look on you girl! If you touch that, I will personally make your life a living hell!’ she exclaimed at me, jabbing a finger at my direction. ‘It’s going to hurt more if you scratch it and we need you for the upcoming match. We can’t win if you’re injured on that day.’
I stared at her and pouted her words. ‘I wasn’t going to even touch it,’ I mumbled.
‘Aww you know you look cute when you do that,’ Conner cooed at me.
I huffed and curled my arms around my chest, pouting at his words. That made my team even worse. They started making sounds like ‘awww’, like as if they were looking at a cute baby who just laughed or something which made me blush under their cooing. In the end, they were laughing like maniacs even though I was asking them to shut up.
‘Interesting,’ Blake’s sexy voice interrupted my team’s teasing. We all looked at him who was giving us an amused look. His eyes slid to me for a moment and that made me flush for no reason. He smirked at that and turned his attention back on us and his team. ‘So since the softball team had seen how we tackle and being the best audiences, why don’t we give you a chance?’
Oh no.
He called out a name-Trevor and a tall man rose from the ranks. I paled at his sheer form. He was heavily built, more muscles on his legs which tell me that he did a lot of running to pump up his strength. He looks like he can tackle anybody and everybody. ‘Oh my god, you’re the fullback,’ I said without realising.
He broke into a smile. It seemed that my guess was right after all. Blake gave me an appreciative look before looking at us with rapt attention. ‘As what Ally had said, Trevor is my fullback. He is able to chase and tackle any player who breaks the first line of defence, and must be able to catch kicks made by the attacking side. Hence his size.’
‘And what position are you at?’
I gave an eye roll while Abby scoffed beside me. That junior was a loss cause. He usually doesn’t involve within this school at all. ‘He’s the wingman,’ I replied my ignorant team mate before Blake could, seeing that he was too shocked to actually say anything. ‘Fastest players.’
‘I didn’t know you know rugby,’ Blake spoke to me, his expression a little bit mysterious to me. I didn’t like that look at all. There was a glint of evilness in his eyes. ‘Come here, I want to demonstrate how to tackle the fullback.’
Oh shit, see I said I didn’t like that look.
‘You’re kidding me,’ I told him with a flat stare and curled my arms around my chest in defence. ‘I can’t stand a chance against him, he’s huge!’ That made the rugby boys laugh at my sentence. What it was true!
His lips curl into a smirk at my sudden outburst. ‘I was just kidding Ally, you won’t be the only one. Forwards get to your places!’ he said and then his rugby boys, the main eight forwards came forwards and got into position.
A rugby scrum consists of two team's eight forwards, with each team binding in three rows. The front row is composed of the two props and the hooker. The two second row forwards bind together and directly behind the front row with each putting their heads between the props and the hooker. Lastly the back row is made up of the two flankers and the number eight. The flankers bind on each side of the scrum — next to a lock and behind a prop.
I exchanged bewildered looks with my team mates. I will not have my head near someone else’s ass!
Oh my god.
‘So who is the strongest person in your team?’ Blake asked, addressing us as one. ‘I will need eight people for this to complete the scrum. So who is it?’
I glanced at Kenneth on instinct, the brawly six foot five boy that was standing quite furthest away. He raised an eyebrow at me and shrugged with a bored look on his face. Looks like he wasn’t the one who hated being here either. ‘Kenneth is the strongest,’ I told Blake, jerking my head to the brawly boy.
‘Alright Kenneth, you are the number eight. You bind between the locks at the back of the scrum, providing extra weight at the push.Number eights interact with the scrum-half at the back of the scrum to control and provide clean ball for the backs. They can also pick the ball from the back of the scrum and run with it or flick it to the scrum half,’ Blake explained lengthily to us.
He just lost us there.
He just chuckled at our lost faces. ‘Alright, I will form the front row. The front row is composed of the two props and the hooker,’ he continued speaking and ignoring the snickers from my team, he looked at us, his eyes calculating as he sought the players out. ‘You two, number 23 and 56, you two would be my two props. You two are to provide stability at the scrum and support the hooker in quickly winning the ball.’
Numbers 23 and 56-Case and Alex, both had very broad shoulders and very powerful legs so I understood why they were chosen as the props. They are the strongest players in my team. Blake told them to stand together with Kenneth before he directed his attention back at us.
‘Next would be the hooker. You, number 43, will have the chance to play as the hooker,’ Blake sought out Devin which earned laughter by the rest of my team despite the glare that he sent us as he slouched his forwards. He had a short back and long arms, perfect to grab the ball.
‘Flankers and locks are up next. I need two locks, preferably two tall boys or girls,’ Blake told us with one raised eyebrow as his eyes swept over the rest of my team. ‘The locks form the second row and push against the front row during the scrum providing much of the power. They are almost always the tallest players on the team and are the primary targets when the ball is thrown in at line-outs. Locks must also have good catching ability.’
I raised my eyebrows at my team. I know who has good catching ability. The two boys that I was staring at refused to meet my gaze. They were making alarmed faces and shaking their heads slightly at me. ‘Jared and Mike would be ideal. They’re my best fielders,’ I told Blake with a shrug and a smirk directed at them both.
Both boys made sounds of defeat, muttering under their breaths as they made their way forwards to join the other boys. They glared at me as they stood in front. I just smiled sweetly at them.
‘Flankers are next. The flanker's role is to tackle the opposition and try to steal the ball. I will need two flankers, one for the blindside and one on the openside. Both flankers need to be fast at their decision-making. The openside flanker is usually faster than the blindside with good opensides excellent at turning over the ball at the tackle while the blindside is generally the larger of the two and they have the task of stopping any attempt by the opposition eighth-man to run with the ball around the blindside of a scrum.’
I made a face. Judging by the sound of it, flankers get tackled the most. ‘So who wants to be the flankers?’ Blake asked us. None moved. None made a sound. I curled my arms around my chest, blowing air out so that my fringe floated up a little. I knew none of us wanted to be the flankers. It’d be suicide.
I heard Blake sigh.
‘Get Ally to be the flanker!’ Jared piped up. I sent him a death-glare. ‘Since you love diving whenever you get a home-run, I’m sure getting dragged across grass it’s nicer than sliding through sand.’
I gritted my teeth and slapped a hand to my forehead. ‘I can’t be the flanker, I’m going to get mauled,’ I hissed at them.
‘Doesn’t matter! You know you’re the fastest runner!’ Mike scoffed at me. ‘What do you guys think? Captain to be the flanker? We can see her tackle the boys and see her get tackled to the ground.’
‘Shut up Mike,’ I hissed at him, shooting daggers at his gleeful face. ‘I am so going to kill you for this! I am not risking my life at all!’
‘Yeah Ally, go be the flanker!’ Abby chirped at the other end. That made the rest of the team started cheering for me and pushing me forwards despite my protests. In the end, Mike had to pin me to him as I kept going back to the rest of the team members. I stood there glowering at everyone as Mike kept an arm around my waist.
Blake laughed at our antics and chose Marcus as the blindside flanker much to everyone’s delight. Muttering under my breath, I followed the instructions of Blake. Since I was the only girl there, I find it damn awkward and embarrassing to place my head behind someone else’s ass.
Finding myself crouching beside Mike, I shoved him hard on his ribs which made him hiss in pain. ‘You’re going to get it from me,’ I hissed at him, watching him double over at my sharp jab. Jared just laughed which made me hit him on the head. Grumbling under my breath, I found out to my utter disgust that my head was directly behind Alex.
‘Please don’t fart at me Alex because if you do, I’m going to kick your ass,’ I threatened him as Blake pushed me until my left shoulder was pressed against Alex’s ass. I swore heavily which made Blake laugh at my discomfort. I could hear the rest of my team mates giggling over our embarrassment.
I groaned.
Wrapping an arm around Mike, I felt his strong arm wrapping above mine and they were pushed against Alex’s back to support him. This is so going to hurt a lot. Blake did the call. I felt the front row crouch as Blake commanded crouch. When he called touch, the props-Case and Alex touched the opposing props’ shoulders. This is it, the game is about to start. He made us pause to inspect the scrum and then he yelled engage.
I felt the whole team of boys crash against the rugby boys. I saw the ball being kicked back towards Kenneth and he grabbed it. I felt Mike falling away and I exchanged glances with Marcus. He nodded and we took off like lightning. I raced towards the other openside flanker who was racing towards me.
He was tall and very strongly built. He saw me gaining speed and he veered to the left, not wanting to hit me hard. I grinned, adrenaline pumping in my body and dove at him. I managed to clip him with my shoulders, making him soaring above me to fall heavily with a loud thud.
I heard a whistle so I looked back and saw the ball soaring towards me. Marcus had thrown that ball before being tackled by the opposite team. The ball was too high for me to grab it but I saw Mike and Jared flanking me so I jumped towards them knowing their reflexes were fast. They saw me jumping towards them so they gripped my legs and thrust me upwards with ease. I soared towards the sky, my arms out and I caught the flailing ball.
I made a whoop before the two boys let me go. I dropped down from them and together, the three of us ran towards the other end. When we were far enough, I slammed the ball down to the ground and did a little dance of mine. ‘Fuck yeah we rule bitches!’ The three of us made a fool of ourselves, making hilarious dance moves.
When the rest of the team and the rugby team caught up with us, they held mixed expressions. My team obviously were cheering for us and congratulating me, Jared and Mike for the fast thinking. Abby and the girls were squealing at me, gushing aloud that I managed to tackle a full-grown boy.
Blake looked amused.
The other rugby team weren’t so amused. They looked quite peeved actually. It’s like they had underestimated my team, thinking even though we didn’t know much about rugby, they were able to beat us easily. They didn’t realize that we were best in sports. We do what comes natural to us. Even if we didn’t know anything about rugby, it comes naturally.
The other openside flanker-the rugby boy just looked at me with newfound respect. I grew quite conscious at their staring so I turned my attention back at Marcus. He grinned at me and I nodded at him, sharing a moment of happiness at our silent teamwork. After the adrenaline had rushed out of my body, I could already feel the ache from the tackle I had pulled earlier.
That was going to hurt in the morning.
‘Well, that was interesting,’ Blake spoke first.
‘Interesting? That was awesome! Did you see the way Mike and Jared just flawlessly carried Ally like that? How did you know they’d carry you like that Ally? That was brilliant!’ Abby exclaimed at me, firing off a million questions at once. ‘I have never seen like it before. you guys just do it so easily!’
‘I don’t know it’s just instinct,’ I told her with a shrug.
‘We totally rock dude!’ Jared said with a huge grin on his face. ‘I can’t believe we actually thought the same thing at the same time!’
‘I know right!’
My team and I burst into laughter, still high about the game. Blake just laughed, shaking his head a little. ‘So now you guys know the gist of rugby, I think we have enough fun for today. Next fortnight, the other half of the team would be going through the same thing. But not as brutal anyway. I hope you guys had fun today,’ Blake spoke to us earnestly.
‘Yeah we certainly did,’ Kenneth answered for us, a smile framing his face. ‘See you guys next week.’ All of my team bid them goodbye, smiling and waving, thanking them for their team before we made our way towards the exit. They started talking amongst themselves, laughing, giggling over something as they grabbed their uniform that was discarded earlier.
I had a small smile framing on my face as I left with them.
So far so good.
…