--Day two/day three--
From the window! To the wall! To the sweat drips down my ba-
I’m going to freaking kill Liam! Carly rolled over in her bed to snatch her phone off of the table.
She glared at the bright screen irritably as she read the name on it. It took her sleep ridden mind a couple of seconds to register the fact that it was Elliot’s name that flashed on her screen, instead of one of her three idiots. She had given her number to him only because he had never possessed Carly’s number so he wouldn’t have known it was Carly’s number instead of Carl’s.
Oh shit what the Hell am I supposed to do? Carly thought in a panic as she sat up in bed, all traces of sleep leaving her as soon as the name registered in her brain. I don’t want to talk to him now. I’ll end up saying something stupid. Then end the call stupid.
In her panicked state Carly tapped the answer button allowing Elliot’s voice to spill out from the phone. Shit! I have no choice now; I have to talk to him. Just don’t make an idiot of yourself. Be cool.
“Hey man what’s up?!” Carly said her voice raised an octave or two.
Smooth Carly, real smooth...
“Carl man I need your help!” Elliot shouted through the phone.
“Elliot it’s midnight, what could you possibly need at a time like this?” Carly yawned, surprising herself at how calm she sounded.
“Please Carl I’m in real big trouble!” He pleaded.
Carly frowned, her mind on alert at the desperate plea, “Where are you?”
“I’m on the school soccer pitch,” He said in a scared voice.
“I’m coming right now,” She reassured, as she pulled back her blankets and grabbed a hoodie from the end of her bed.
“Quickly Carl I-” The call ended.
“Elliot?” Carly whispered only to be met with the dial tone.
She quickly stuffed her hair into a beanie and pulled her hood up over her head. She grabbed the boots she was wearing yesterday and quietly treaded out of her room. Her Dad was a heavy sleeper but still, it didn’t help to be quiet. Before slipping out of the house she grabbed a baseball bat that Carly and John had gotten in cases of emergency. She ran quickly towards the school, her arms and legs moving at a fast pace, her hands clutching onto both the bat and her phone.
Nobody hurts my baby Elliot! She thought furiously.
The school wasn’t so far away from her house; Callum just ends up picking her up because it’s on his way there. It would take her at least ten minutes to get there if she carried on running like she did. It wasn’t a problem for her; she did do jogging every weekend.
What I’m surprised about is that I haven’t fallen on my face ye-
Carly tripped over her feet and fell rather harshly onto the ground. Her bat skidded out of her hand as she fell on her side and rolled a bit before coming to a stop.
“God damn it!” Carly cried out, as she got to her feet again.
She wobbled slightly but ignored it; she retrieved her bat and started running again. She pulled her hood back over her head as the school came into view. The gates for the soccer field were now in her eye sight, almost demanding Carly to run faster.
A dark figure could be seen in the middle of the field and Carly called out Elliot’s name. She came to stop right in front of him, dropping onto her knees. She breathed in raggedly as her lungs desperately tried to take in oxygen.
“Elliot,” Carly wheezed, “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, Jesus Carl,” Elliot breathed as he dropped to his knees too, “Are you alright? Did you run all the way here?”
Carly nodded and looked up at him, “Yeah,” She said swallowing, “You said you were in trouble.”
“Sorry Carl,” Someone said behind her. Carly turned to take in the whole soccer team standing in a group behind her. They had torches clutched in their hands and a bucket that looked suspicious as Hell.
“What are you sorry for? And what the Hell is in that bucket?” Carly asked frustrated, as she used the bat to get to her feet.
“Never mind the bucket what about that bat?” Daniel, a senior student, asked, “Were you planning on saving Elliot and killing us with that?”
Carly blushed, “Yes as a matter of fact I was, and what do you mean by ‘was planning’, I still fully intend to use this if you don’t explain to me what the hell is going on,” She pointed the bat at them threateningly.
“Right,” Elliot said, as he stood in front of the soccer group and cleared his throat, “Congratulations Carl, you have been chosen as the new goalie of the Red Gorillas soccer team for Holloway High school.”
Carly let the bat fall from its threatening pose and instead kept a loose grip on it by her side. Her face portrayed confusion and slight suspicion, “Okay?”
“Now all you need to do in order to become a full fledged goalie is the initiation,” Elliot continued.
Benny and Joshua, Eliot’s friend, pulled the bucket forward so that it was by Carly’s feet. She looked down to be met with...“Spaghetti Bolognese?”
“Yeah, my Mom made it,” Benny whispered.
“I love Spaghetti Bolognese,” Carly admitted with a dazed grin. Benny chuckled at Carl’s weird statement, before resuming his position with the rest of the team.
“That is one of your choices, in order to become a part of our team you have to do something that the rest of us have all done in order to get in the team. You either have this bucket of spaghetti thrown on your head or you have to run naked in the field,” Elliot explained.
“I choose the spaghetti!” Carly cried her eyes wide.
“Okay, Joshua Benny get the-” Elliot cut off as his torch caught something on Carl’s arm, “What’s that?” He asked walking towards him.
Carly looked down at where his torch was shining and saw blood coating her elbow, “Oh man,” She whined, turning her arm to get a better look, “I tripped when I was running here and I guess I must have hurt myself,” Carly muttered as Elliot stopped next to her.
“Jesus Carl,” Elliot murmured, as he picked up Carly’s arm gingerly, “Why the Hell did you run all the way here?”
Carly stared up at him in disbelief, ignoring the fact that she was blushing because of the fact that Eliot was touching her, “Because you sounded like you were in trouble!” She tried to defend.
Elliot grimaced, “Sorry man.”
Carly looked down away from his blue eyes, her cheeks reddening even more, “Its okay,” She mumbled.
“Here,” Carly looked up to see Adam, also a senior, handing her a bandage, “Cover it up so that the spaghetti sauce doesn’t get into it.”
Carly took the bandage with a grateful look allowing Elliot to bandage her up, “Wait,” Carly said, smiling in amusement, “Adam do you always carry bandages with you?”
“Yes,” Adam said not looking embarrassed at all, “Trust me, you’ll thank me for my preparation later.”
“Adam’s a bit of a paranoid idiot,” Chris said, slinging an arm over Adam’s shoulder, “He kind of takes anything and everything with him in case something happens. He even brought his own bat so we wouldn’t get molested by strangers.”
“It’s a good thing I did too, I’m pretty sure someone would have attacked Carl with what he’s wearing,” Adam said pointing at Carly’s clothes.
Everyone turned to stare at the black sleeping shorts she was wearing, that came to the middle of her thighs. Carly feeling self-conscious pulled down the ends of her hoodie, to hide just the tiniest bit of her modesty.
“Anyone could mistake your legs for women’s,” Chris said, as he bent down to examine her legs more closely, “They have the same shape and there’s no hair to be seen.”
“Could we not talk about my legs please?” Carly pleaded as Elliot stood in front of her, blocking everyone’s view.
“Alright guys calm down,” Elliot chided, “You can stare like perverts at his legs in practise-” Carly spluttered a protest, “-But for now let’s continue with the initiation.”
Grumbled agreements met Elliot’s ear, “Okay, as a result for hurting yourself in order to help one of your team mates, I have decided that you can keep your hood on when the spaghetti is poured on you.”
Carly sighed in relief and gave a grateful nod towards Elliot. Thank God, what would they have thought if they had seen me without my hood?
Joshua and Benny both gripped the sides of the bucket and held it over her, “Ready?” Benny asked.
“Ready!” Carly shouted, just as a large mound of spaghetti was dumped onto her.
Carly gasped in disgust as she felt the spaghetti noodles dribble down her legs along with the sauce, “Aw gross! It’s getting in my boots!” Carly whined causing everyone else to laugh.
“Welcome Carl, to the Red Gorilla’s,” Elliot chuckled, “You are now the official goalie.”
“Great,” Carly cheered, “Can I go home now?”
“Sure” Joshua laughed, placing the bucket back on the ground, “Come on, Benny will give you a ride in his car.”
“Won’t he get spaghetti on his car seat,” Carly asked, as they walked to the school car park. Carly’s shoes making squelching noises much to the amusement of the other boys.
“I’m sure Adam will have something for you to sit on,” Benny said to her on her right, as the team dispersed going their separate ways, only leaving Elliot, Benny, Joshua, Daniel, Adam and Chris.
“I don’t think Adam can be that prepar-” Carly was cut off as she felt something being pushed into her hands.
“Here, I brought a blanket so you can sit on it in the car. Now you can’t get spaghetti sauce on Benny’s seat,” Adam said, before jogging towards Daniel and Chris.
Carly stared incredulously at the blanket, “You were saying?” Benny asked, as he and Joshua shared a smirk.
Carly held her hands up in surrender, “I was wrong,” She laughed.
**************
“Stop here,” Carly said.
“Okay,” Benny muttered, pulling the car to a stop a few houses down from her own home.
“See you guys tomorrow at practise then,” Carly said opening the door, murmured goodbye’s met her ears. Carly stilled, her foot half way to the ground, as a thought came to her, “Hey guys?” Mumbled ‘yeah’s’ replied urging Carly to continue, “Which choice did you guys choose for the initiation?”
“Naked,” Adam answered unashamed as the rest either muttered or nodded their own agreement of the single word.
“Really?” Carly asked, her cheeks growing a rather shocking red as she thought of Elliot running through the soccer pitch, butt naked; thankfully, it was too dark for anyone to see the blush that was currently moving to conquer over her neck.
“Yeah I mean why not?” Elliot sighed from the front passenger seat, turning a nonchalant look towards Carly, “We’re all guys here and besides, we would have to shower together in the near future anyways.”
“Oh e-er right,” Carly stuttered, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly as she climbed out of the car.
“Actually I’m kind of surprised you didn’t end up taking that choice too,” Elliot continued, turning a curious look towards a fidgeting Carly.
“That’s because our wittle Carl is shy! He didn’t even change with us in the locker room,” Joshua exclaimed as he pinched Carly’s cheeks.
Carly swatted at the hands, stepping back and slamming the door shut. Joshua merely chuckled at Carly’s antics leaning his forearms on the open window, “See you later Carl.”
“Whatever,” Carly dismissed, turning towards the house closest to her and walking up the drive way.
A honk of a horn and the sound of a car engine gradually growing fainter was the only indication that let Carly know that they had left. Sighing tiredly, she turned away from the house she was walking towards and instead started walking down the street to her own home.
How the Hell am I going to get all of this spaghetti off of me? I guess I have to throw these clothes and the boots in the trash. Maybe I can convince Callum or Jasper to buy me some new boots.
Carly couldn’t help but feel attached to the clothes she had been wearing. Normally she would throw on any chequered shirt with dark jeans but she somehow felt more confident with the male clothes on. Maybe it was her hidden fashion side coming out after all these years of being dormant. Or maybe it was always there and she just didn’t take the time to consider it.
****************
Finally...After half an hour of scrubbing and cleaning herself and the mess she made in the bathroom, Carly was finally in her bed. The numbers 2:45am flashed across her vision as she pulled the covers over her head and enveloped her body in warmth. The last thought that crossed her mind was I really need to get some more of that Spaghetti Bolognese from Benny.