I limped off the field, ready to go home. Mom came to give me a big hug. I winced. After the game, I felt as if every bone in my body had been jarred. There were going to be bruises for sure.
"Oh honey, I don't even know what to say!" Mom said with teary eyes. "The whole time I can't believe that was my daughter!"
Her voice quivered and tight. She was about to cry.
"It's just a stroke of luck, mom," I said. "We were a mess back there and you saw it."
"Oh Darci," she sighed.
Dad came straight up to me then. His mouth was moving but I couldn't connect with the words he was saying. He was mumbling, almost embarrassed. Then he reached out to put his hand on my shoulder. Dad kept talking. I'm pretty sure he was trying to be nice, but the weight of his hand was uncomfortable. I shook his hand off me.
Dad looked hurt by it.
"Honey, are you coming home with us?" Mom tried to pacify the situation.
"That's okay. I want to take the bus with my team," I said.
"Alright then," Dad said and walked off. I could see he was mad now, telling Mom it was hopeless between him and me.
Then I realized that Felik had seen all of this. Standing there watching us creating a rift.
Felik felt like it was his responsibility. He darted through the crowd to get to Dad.
"Mr. and Mrs. Bloom. Excuse me," he said.
I didn't hear what he was saying to my parents, but Dad's expression seemed to relax. He nodded and even managed a smile.
When they left, Felik walked back. He called everyone over. He was going to deliver his usual post-game talk, but this time it took him a couple of minutes to speak.
"First of all, let me make an apology to the team," he said. His voice came out a bit strangled, like his throat clogged up. "I know - trust me, I know this in my heart. We haven't been in our best behavior as of late, and we are ashamed that you all see us like that."
Felik made a helpless gesture. All the words that usually poured out of his mouth had dried up like an exhausted spring.
"We're sorry to let you down," Grigor added. He had come to stand behind Felik. "I lay too much hope on you all, pushed you too hard, led the team in the wrong direction. As you coaches, we're deeply sorry."
"We have so much shame," Felik said.
"Shame," Grigor repeated.
They both looked pretty upset that for a moment, none of us knew what to say. Olive reached out to me in a desperate gesture that meant 'please do something'.
Suddenly I realized everyone else was also looking at me, waiting for my reaction. Charlotte was watching and waiting too. And when so many people depend on you, you'd bust a gut not to let them down.
"Well...uh...I think we all got a bit overwhelmed," I said, shifting myself awkwardly. "We have never been this far before and...and you two have done an amazing job. Everyone fails sometimes even with things we're good at. I think we shouldn't be too hard on ourselves, right?"
"Darci's right," Tonya said.
"And we won today," Melissa joined in.
Everyone murmured and nodded in agreement. The two coaches looked at us. We could tell that they didn't want us to win because of luck. We won without honor there.
"Thank you, everyone. Now let's go home, girls," Felik said in a heavy sagging voice.
"We'll rest for now," Grigor said. "Maybe we can pull things together at training."
Everyone dragged themselves off the field.
~*~
On the bus, I sat by the window. Olive was slumped on the other side. Everyone was exhausted. They couldn't wait to leave. At the front of the bus, I could see Felik and Grigor sitting in silence. I didn't know if they had made up, but at least, they didn't argue anymore.
Charlotte got on the bus a moment later. She walked down the aisle. When she saw me, she smiled and came forward.
"Can I sit with you?" she asked.
"Yes, sure," I said.
But as she moved over, the bus lurched forward without warning. Charlotte stumbled and fell onto my lab. My arms went around her waist as her body pressed against mine. My nose was right at her smooth cheek, our bodies separated by a breath. The bus kept moving fast down the hill. I could feel my pulse racing along, but at that moment, I thought the world had stopped.
"Sorry," Charlotte murmured and moved to the next seat.
"It's...it's alright," I said, but the shape of her body'd already been engraved in my mind. I could still feel her soft skin in my arms.
She was checking her equipment in her bag, probably making sure she didn't break or forget anything.
"So, how's the documentary going?" I said, trying to make a conversation again.
"It's not."
"What you mean?"
Charlotte shoved the bag away with a sigh.
"I wanted it to be perfect, but it's not," she said dejectedly. "It's not good enough. Everyone got overexcited and expected this great thing, but I can't...I'm not going to make a fool of myself on TV. I'm thinking about pulling out of the competition."
My eyes widened in shock as I stared at her. This came from the most confident person I knew. She always seemed to have all her ducks in a row, but now she was on the verge of tears. Without thinking, I put my arm around her shoulders.
"Hey...hey...it's okay," I tried to soothe her.
The heavy clouds made things dark much earlier than normal that day. The rain began pelting down. Maybe it was because of the weather that made us a bit gloomy.
"You're really great at what you do, Darci," Charlotte murmured after a while. "I wish I could be like that, but I'm just a girl making videos."
"You've got to be kidding!" I squeaked. "You clearly have no idea how many people are impressed by your work. Felik said you have some serious talent. I, for one, am very proud of you. Trust me, I know exactly how it feels, being not good enough."
"But you seem to prove yourself otherwise," she said.
"Well, I still don't know what I'm doing," I admitted. "I never thought I would be playing softball again, but here I am anyway. But what I'm trying to say is that everyone chokes sometimes. Even the best of us."
Charlotte looked at me. Her face was close to mine. The light glinted from her eyes.
"Thank you, Darci," she said with a smile. "You're a true Kapitan."
She tried the Russian accent, and it made both of us burst out giggling. From the corner of my eye, Olive pretended to be asleep but she was smiling.
There was a traffic jam on the highway because of the rain. The bus could barely move an inch. Everyone on the bus was sleeping. I noticed Charlotte rub her arms. It was quite cold, and she was wearing short shorts without a jacket.
"Are you cold?" I asked.
"No, it's fine," she said. I took off my baseball jacket.
"Here, wear this, I promise, it's clean," I said.
"Darci...it's..."
But I wrapped it around her shoulders. I could see a relief spread over her face.
"What about you?" she said in concern.
"I have another one in my bag," I told her. "Oh, maybe I should give you that one instead."
Charlotte laughed. "You're so sweet, Darci, but it's alright. I like this one."
Then she sighed, pulling her blonde hair back and making herself comfy in my jacket. I was glad my reddened face didn't show in the dark.
"You look great in it, too," I blurted.
"Yeah?" Charlotte turned her head back at me. There was a silent moment, and it wasn't just any silent moment that lingered in the air without meanings. I felt my heart pound again the way it always did when I thought I was about to do something risky. Like kissing Charlotte Grace in the back of the moving bus.
And just as I began to move, the bus lurched forward, hurling me back into the seat. I wanted to know how the driver got his license.
We didn't speak again.
And an hour later, we reached our neighborhood. I realized we had fallen asleep. Charlotte's head was lying on my shoulder. I didn't want this moment to end, but the bus came to a stop. Everyone stirred to life including Charlotte. She handed me back the jacket before she said goodbye and left. The jacket was filled with her fragrant scent, and I would never wash it again.