Christen's Pov.
Beep beep... beep beep...beep beep. I slammed my hand on phone to turn off the alarm. I groaned at the early morning I had to face.
Suddenly, Nila jumps on the bed, and starts showering my face with kisses, "okay okay, I'm up!" I said in between laughs.
I got up and walked downstairs and made myself some coffee for the school, and ate a bowl of cereal before heading upstairs to get dressed.
I turned on music, and started dancing to the tune of Girls Like You by Maroon 5.
"Cause girls like you run around with guys like me 'til sundown, when I come through I need a girl like you, yeah yeah," I sang softly.
I put on an athletic polo shirt, a zip up that had a logo of the school's mascot, and a pair of khaki pants with tennis shoes. I brushed my hair into a ponytail, and sprayed on some perfume.
I know no one cares what I smell like when I'm an athletic coach, but I need to look/smell somewhat decent.
And finally, I put a touch of makeup and looked at myself in the mirror, "looking good there," I complimented myself.
Jogging downstairs, I grabbed my keys and my stuff and gave Nila a kiss goodbye before heading into my garage and going in the car.
I turned on the radio, and headed to the school, knowing I would be early like I always was.
I turned to the local news station, and listened to the news.
"And now some local news from yours truly, Cara Flinch."
"Thanks Kira, here in Pinewood, the Cardinal football team won their fourth game in the row, man, must be luck, or pure hardwork these boys have put in."
"More news, the women's varsity soccer team plays this week against their rival, Columbus Academy High School."
"So grab some tickets, some food, and a good seat cause it'll be a show," added Kira.
"Sure will, and more news about the town, there was a party at a disclosed high schooler's house, leaving only to have the cops show up and break it up."
"Have they arrested anyone?"
"Not that I'm aware of. I'm sure the parents are wanting to keep this quite, so not much information except there were some witnesses that said a huge fight before cops showed up."
"Hope no one got hurt Cara," said Kira.
"Me too, as long as people are safe, that's all that matters."
"Going back to the Women's soccer team, how do you think that new Coach Press coming along?" asked Kira.
"I think she's doing very well. She checks every box the high school needs, and has the record of playing in Sweden as a professional player," stated Cara.
"Now why would she do that? She could've stayed on that path of becoming a famous soccer player, instead she chose to coach to a high school, not that I think that's wrong, but I suspect she had a reason behind why she left," said Kira.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that she could've been red shirted, or had a personal issue that stopped her, or a disagreement. Know matter what, she had a reason as to why she left, and let me tell you folks, I wan't to get to the bottom of this," said Kira firmly.
"Okay detective Kira, let us know how that works out for you," laughed Cara, who seemed she didin't believe her friend.
"All I can say, I'm..."
I turned off the radio at that moment, sick of hearing Kira getting into my business. Jokes on her if she thinks she can make me talk.
I saw the school coming up and once I pulled in, I parked in the teacher parking area, and shut off the car.
I walked in the building, to see people trickling in, so I headed down to the athletic wing. As I walked in my office, I saw a note on my desk with no name.
Unfolding it, I couldn't tell who's handwritting, but knew immediately when I read it.
We need to talk, meet me after practice .
I suddenly got a rush of butterflies in my stomach, and took several deep breaths. I quickly fixed myself, and told myself I'll try not to think about it too much.
That was a fat lie. I was thinking about it all the time, and I was going to get more nervous until practice came around.
The bell rung, which signaled lunch, so I walked to Kelley's office to walk with her to the cafeteria.
As I walked in, Carli and Kelley were talking to each other, "hey guys, wanna grab food?"
"Sure, we're just catching up with health checks Carli's been doing," said Kelley. She set aside some files, and stood up to go to lunch.
We walked up to the cafeteria, and as soon as we arrived, there was already a long line for food. Lucky for us, we were teachers, which meant we had our own line.
"So did you hear the news today?" asked Kelley to me.
"Ummm... yeah, could you believe what they were saying?"
"I know, some nerve they had!" Kelley agreed.
"I just hope Kira doesn't actually start snooping," added Carli.
I grabbed a tray and a plate of salad and some fruit. After waiting for Carli and Kelley, we walked to the teacher lounge and started eating.
We began talking, until the cafeteria doors burst open. My head shot up, and I saw a woman dressed in nice work clothes. Speak of the devil.
Another teacher who was "patroling" the cafeteria, walked towards them, "excuse me ma'am, may I help you?"
"I'm looking for Coach Press. May you direct me to her?"
"Sure, but who are you and why?"
"I'm doing an interview with her, just want to put her in a more public spotlight ya know?"
I gulped. Although their voices were muffled. It was still enough for me to know what Kira wanted.
"Ummm... Christen did you know about this?" asked Carli.
"No, I didn't, you know what, I'm going to take off early if you guys don't mind."
They both nodded. I quickly threw the rest of my food in the trash, and fast walked towards Kira.
"Let's take this downstair?" I asked her sharply.
"Oh Chirsten, glad you have the time to talk on short notice..."
"Yeah, very short notice," I said shortly as I began showing her to my office. As we were walking through the hallways, I kept my eyes away from other's sights, trying to avoid facial expressions.
I just hoped Tobin isn't here to see this. As we got down to my office, Kira stopped at the trophy case, and started browsing through.
"Did you know Coach O'hara brought the girls to the Championships and won?" she asked me.
"Yes, of course I knew that."
"Big shoes to fit in, I guess," she pressed. I rolled me eyes. This woman was getting on my nerves.
"We should go to my office," I reminded. She nodded, and followed me. Once she was inside, I closed my door, and closed the shades for complete privacy.
"So, what do you want to know?" I asked as I sat at my desk.
"The basics, how you were able to join the Sweden national team, what brought you here, and what's your plan for this team," she rattled off.
"Doesn't sound like basic questions," I said.
"There "simple" questions then."
"Doesn't sounds like 'simple' questions either," I said shortly.
"Listen, Christen, can I call you Christen?" I sighed, but nodded yes, "Christen, I'm just here for my job. I'm a reporter and I just happen to be a broadcaster for this town, so if you can please help me out here, I think we can find us both benfitting from this," she stated her case.
"And why is that?"
"For a size of 10,000 people in this town is pretty decent. Don't you want to be known? You could gain more popularity and potentially go off with a better job. I'm doing you a favor."
"Kira, I'm going to be flat with you here, I don't want to be popular here. I just want a quite, normal life here. You trying to kick me out or something? I came here so I be closer to family. Why don't you try living abroad for five plus years."
"I don't trust a girl without a dark side to her, I like to know the truth about you coach, and when I do, I'm going to expose you to the whole town, where they'll force you out," she smirked.
At this point, both of us were standing on either side of my desk, face to face and both breathing heavily.
"I think you need to leave. I'm afraid I have work to do."
"Alright, I'll go, but I'll get to the bottom of this," she said as she grabbed her things and walked out.
God I hate that bitch! I took deep breaths before sitting back down and recollecting myself.
A wave of fear came over me if Kira did find out about my past. I had to do something about it, but I don't have any idea how to stop her.
I looked at the time, and it was 1:00. I needed to get my mind off of things, so I grabbed my duffel bag and changed into athletic shorts and a shirt before heading down to the weight room.
I plugged in my earbuds, and warmed up my body before getting into my workout. I ran for five minutes at a semi sprinting speed before stretching.
I then went to the bench press and put a total of 150 lbs. and started lifting. I then went to work on my legs, and did some squates with 100 lbs. on.
I worked at for about an hour, before seeing it was 2:15. School ended at 3:00, so I decided to head back to my office.
As I walked in, I ran into Kelley.
"Oh, hey Christen!" she said.
"Hey, how's it going?"
"Fine, but let's not talk about me, what was going on with you and Kira?"
"She started accusing me of having a "dark side". Apparently she thinks its weird I went from a professional athlete to a high school coach," I looked at Kelley, and she seemed she was holding something in.
"What, wait... you don't agree with her do you?"
"I-I mean its kinda weird, you definitely don't get that often."
"Look Kells, you know what happened, I had to get away from all that."
"I know Christen, I gave you this job because I belive in you. But I'm now asking you as your boss.. but please don't get your drama affect the school. If that happens, its both our heads the principal is looking at."
I nodded, "okay, I'll keep this out of school," in the back of my head, that was harder than it sounded, but I couldn't make Kelley start doubting me.
"Glad we cleared things up, but looks like we gotta get ready for soccer practice before our big game!"
I tied my hair into a tight ponytail before grabbing my things and heading out to the field with Carli. I grabbed the bag of balls and tossed some out.
"You know the players could get the balls right?" asked Carli.
"Yeah, but I want to juggle before they get here," I said as I was juggling.
The players started trickling in, and towards the end, I saw tobin walking alone, her hoodie up and her beats over her ears.
I knew we were going to talk after practice, but I didn't know how I would start the conversation.
We began practice how we usually started. They warmed up while I set up the drill. As soon as they were done warming up, I gave instructions and sent them off.
After about an hour, I set up a scrimmage, and split them into three groups where if one team makes a goal, the third team comes right up and starts the game while the second team comes off.
It was an endless game, where the goal was to not have any stops so they could practice fast reaction, endurance, and keeping the game game speed.
I blew the whistle when it said 5 and called them in.
"Good work today ladies, glad I saw a consistant speed in all of ya'll. Game against Columbus is in two days, so tomorrow is going to be an easy practice. Its away, as last year's game was home according to Kelley, so make sure you bring your away jerseys. We're supposed to have a huge crowd tomorrow for both sides, so make your classmates, families, and friends proud we're from Pinewood!"
"Yeah!" they all cheered. Megan brought them in for a cheer, "family on three, 1, 2,3, family!" they all said.
Everyone started gathering their things, taking off cleats, and taking gulps of water, I got a tap on my shoulder.
"Hey coach, I was struggling today with my first touch, could you help a little bit?" asked Tobin. She acted totally normal, and didn't give off a certain vibe.
"Umm... of course! Grab a ball and let's get going!"
She and I went to the middle of the field away from everyone and started working on her touches.
"Hey Christen, wanna leave the ball bag here?" asked Morgan.
"Yes, just leave that there, thanks Morgan!" I said.
As soon as everyone was gone, Tobin and I still "practiced" to make sure the coast was clear. After twenty minutes, we stopped.
"Can we sit on the bleachers?" she asked. We sat down at the bleachers, silent for the first few moments.
"What happened with you and that Kira chick?" asked Tobin. Damn, she saw the whole thing.
"Ummm... it was okay, she just wanted to ask a few questions, nothing too bad," I shrugged.
"Really, cause that's not what it looked like when you rushed over to her and swept her away," she pointed out.
"Okay, guess you caught me," I chuckled, "she wanted to know why I had moved to this town after being a professioanl athlete."
"To be honest, I don't really like her. In this place, I see her sometimes at a coffee place, and I just get a weird vibe from her."
"She was interigating me about my past Tobin, how am I going to make sure my secret stays safe?"
"You can't give in, for starters, and maybe don't act like you got something to hide."
"Alright, but let's talk about us," I hated to say.
"Yeah, after thinking about it I realized I do care for you, but I just don't know how to deal with this."
"Me too, to be honest, I do have feelings for you Tobin, but I can't let that get in the way of my job, or my social life."
"I guess we need to stay student- teacher relationship huh?"
"I'm afraid so..." I hated saying those words. I wanted to be with her so bad. I needed her, but I would be risking everything.
"How about hugging it out?" I suggested. She smiled and we both hugged each other. I gave a tight squeez, until I felt her winch.
"What happened?!" I asked.
"Nothing! I just slept wrong and its been bugging me," she said. Her eyes were not meeting mine, and I knew she was lying.
"Tobin, tell me now," I demanded.
She groaned, "Its nothing," she persisted.
"If its nothing, then you'll let me take a look," I said. she sighed, but slowly lifted her shirt.
I gasped when I saw bruises all over her left side, "Tobin, oh my god," I gasped.
"It looks worse than it actually is."
"Who did this to you?" I demanded.
"I'm not going to snitch. If I did, I'd get even more beat up."
"Wait... is what happened at the party?!"
She hesitated. She started stuttering, lost at words, "y-yes, I was there."
"And you were the one who got in the fight?" I clarified. She nodded.
I sighed in frustration, "Tobin, I don't even want to assume there was alcohol at the party, but I can't stand by without doing nothing."
"What are you saying?"
I sighed, "I hate seeing you getting hurt and this means you can't play."
"What?! I have to. Just don't make me practice tomorrow and I'll be fine!" she pleaded.
"Tobin, I can't put you in that position, I'm risking my position as it is!"
"This game is important!"
"No and that's final!"