Ruin Everything

“Alex, you’re gonna make me late for the game!” I squealed as Alex tickled me, his legs pushing me into his couch.

“No! Apologize first!”

“I’m not gonna apoloGIZE!” I started to say when he attacked me with another round of tickles. I kicked my legs out and squirmed and tried to capture his wrists, although unsuccessfully. He was quick and had me on the floor, with my arms up over my head, both of my wrists held captive in one of his hands while the other was relentlessly torturing me with wiggling fingers and gentle pokes to my sides.

“Cassara, seriously, just apologize,” Rian insisted as Alex held me down. It was during one of their many “practice days” that turned into “hang out, eat and watch bad science fiction movies” days. I’m not sure the label would approve but it seemed to me that they didn’t much care what the label would approve of.

“Listen, asshole, I’m gonna be late and there’s gonna be a scout there today. So get off!”

“Apologize and I will,” he stated, sitting back on my hips, staring down at me. Water still dripped from the ends of his hair and his clothes.

“You deserved it, now get off.”

“I did not!”

“You did, dude,” Zack piped up. I smiled at him over Alex’s shoulder.

“I did not!” he repeatedly desperately.

“Alex,” I said, giving him a look, complete with wide eyes, fluttering lashes and lower lip trembling. Over the years of getting Alex and Jack to do whatever I want had perfected this look.

“Damn it,” he cursed and got up. He held his hand out to me, which I took. He pulled me to my feet, our chests touching. I took a step back and checked the time. We had to be at the field by 3 to start warm-ups, and it was 2:55.

“Oh fuck, oh fuck. Coach is gonna kill me!” I cursed, heading towards the door, forgetting my shoes and purse, and my phone. I didn’t have time for all that stuff. I had to get to the field, and change in the next 5 minutes. This was an impossible task, and I decided to hold it over Alex’s head forever if I missed this opportunity. I barely grabbed my keys before I left, slamming the door and bolting across the lawn to the end of the driveway where my Aveo waited. I hurried to the driver’s side, hopped in, cranked her up and was on my way, speeding and checking to make sure I had everything in my sports bag.

I looked up from my bag to notice the light ahead of me was red, but the other side’s was too. I bit my lip and slowed down, cursing at the light. It turned back to green before I came to a stop and I took my foot off the brake, pushing down the accelerator. Just as I was passing into the intersection, a truck went barreling towards me, at full speed through the red light. I slammed on the brakes, and watched as the large truck sped past where my car should’ve been. My heart pounded in my chest as I reached for my phone and wrote a quick text to my brother.

almost died. Come to game and make better, plz

I started off towards the field once again, taking my time and slowly creeping into intersections. I was late when I finally got there, but nearly dying made me lose any fear of Coach. Speaking of, she was waiting by the parking lot as I pulled in and I stepped out, fully aware that I was about to have my ass chewed out for being a few minutes late. Okay, I was closer to 10 minutes late, but I almost died. I was allowed.

“Cassara,” she said tersely. She was a big woman, with broad shoulders and manly hands. She reminded me of an ox in a way, with her square jaw and smushed in nose, her short greying brown hair blowing around her in the slight September wind. Her large grey eyes stared at me as I walked over to her.

“Yeah, Coach?”

“What’s going on?” she asked, her voice softening. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Coach wasn’t a gentle woman. She was rough, with sharp ridges and, what the team thought, was the emotional range of a teaspoon. I never expected that out of her.

“What?”

“You’ve been getting later and later this entire season. It’s worrying me.”

“I’m fine, Coach Risby. Or, I will be,” I said with a small, forced half-smile.

“Okay, well, pull it together, Ace. We need you, and your future is sitting sidelines, watching you. Keep it tight, okay?” she commanded, her voice returning to its stony rasp. I was glad our little share time was done. I hurried back to my car to try and change out of my street clothes in private. It was hard but I managed, somehow even traded my regular push-up bra for my smaller sports bra that was much better for running. I hung my legs out the open door of my car as I searched for my left shin guard. A car pulled up behind me and four figures got out. Jack appeared first, his eyes filled with worry.

“You can’t just text me that you almost died and then not text back!” he said loudly, his voice cracking with worry.

“Sorry, Jack. I just, I don’t know. It scared me. The first thing I thought was, where’s my brother, and I had to get you here so I could hug you,” I said. He smiled and he pulled me into his arms for a tight hug.

“I love you, Cassara,” he muttered.

“Love you too, Jack.”

He let me go, and stepped back with the rest of his bandmates.

“All of you came? You hate soccer.”

“We do not HATE soccer. We just like it less than other sports,” Alex clarified. He tossed me my left shin guard. “You left this at my house.”

“Thanks, Lex.”

I pulled it on, securing the straps around my calf and under my heel. I pulled on my socks and then my cleats, although walking on pavement in cleats is a bitch, it was easier.

“Alright, boys, I have a game to get to, so you have fun having less fun than you would if this were any other sport,” I said with a grin, hopping out of my car and shutting the door behind me. I waved as I sprinted across the parking lot and down the side of the field to where our pre-game huddle was happening. I squeezed in between Olivia and Becca, having missed our warm-ups already.

“Great, your captain has finally arrived. She’ll take over from here,” Coach said, stepping out of the huddle. She always left the pep talks for me. She wasn’t a squishy person, and I had a feeling that she didn’t really like us. She didn’t have time to inspire us. That was my job.

“Alright, girls, we can do this. This is cake. We’re gonna walk all over Masonville and then send them home limping to Momma. But not only that, we’re going to go out there, and we’re going to impress the fuck out of that scout and we’re going to show him that we’re the best goddamn team in the state.”

“He’s just here to see you,” a junior named Samantha reminded me.

“Maybe, Sammy, but you know what? We’re going to show him that this team is made up than more than just me, that the entire team is strong and we’re all going to win this game. Together. Do you know why, Sammy?”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because we have something Masonville doesn’t have,” I stated.

They stared at me.

“Alright, we have 13 things they don’t have. They don’t have me, you, Becca, Crayon Box, Cici, Roxy, Barelli, Pat, Dorsey, Edginton, Tumbleweed, Rita, or Maxine. And they don’t have Risby. So you know what? We’re going to go out there and show them just what they don’t have. Are you prepared to go out there and fight for what’s yours?”

“YEAH!” they all yelled.

“ARE YOU READY?” I yelled back.

“YEAH!”

“FIGHT FOR WHAT’S YOURS!”

“FIGHT!”

“WE’RE GOING TO SHOW THEM THAT WE AIN’T FUCKING AROUND. WE’RE GOING TO SHOW THEM WHAT COYOTES CAN DO! WE’RE NOT GONNA ROLL OVER AND SHOW THEM OUR BELLIES. NO!”

“NO!”

“WE’RE GOING TO GO OUT THERE AND PROVE TO THEM THAT THEY PICKED THE WRONG TEAM TO PLAY TODAY! HANDS IN!”

Everyone stuck their hands in on top of my mine. I looked around my little huddle, my circle, my family and grinned.

“We’re gonna kick their asses, right?”

They all nodded, smiles spreading across their face.

“Coyotes on 3…. 1. 2. 3.”

“COYOTES!”

We broke apart and ran towards the field, taking our positions. I did a quick stretch as I took my position, as right mid-fielder for the time being. I’d get moved to left and center to let the girls rest. Me? I didn’t need to rest. I was built for this.

“Captains, come forward for the coin toss,” the referee called. I left my position and strode forward. The other team’s captain was tall, taller than me, with wide shoulders and a sharp looking jaw. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a ponytail and her eyes glared down at me. If she thought she was going to intimidate me, it wasn’t going to work. I’m not easily intimidated, especially just because you’re bigger than me.

“Coyotes, it’s your field. You get the call. Call it in the air.”

The referee flipped the coin up into the air.

“Tails.”

We both watched as it came back town, landed in his hand and he flipped it over onto the back of his other hand. He uncovered it.

“Tails. Coyotes get possession of the ball.”

I flicked up my eyebrows at her, smirked and started towards my position. Becca high-fived me as I passed.

“You’re the best at that, I don’t understand.”

“It’s a science, perfected over many years. I could teach you, but, I’d have to charge.”

She laughed as the referee dropped the game ball in front of Cici, our center forward. The referee looked around, blew the whistle and ran out of the way as Cici kicked the ball towards Becca and we all took off. The game had begun.

At halftime, our team collapsed, tired and beaten on the bench. I paced in front of them, taking long pulls from my Gatorade. Finally, I stopped in front of them and faced my team.

“Alright, huddle up and take a knee,” I said. They did as I said, all looking as if they’d been thrown out of a moving car. Those girls were brutal, and they were being way too rough with my girls. I wasn’t going to let them take this win away from us if this is how they were going to get it. No. I refuse.

“We’re all battered and bruised right now, I know.”

“Yeah, because the other team are beasts. Let’s just throw in the towel, Ace. We can’t win this one,” Rita said, pulling an ice pack from Coach’s cooler to rest on her swollen ankle. The team murmured agreements.

“No! We’re not giving them this. We’re better than them. We play fair, we practice every day, and we forsake boyfriends and family time for this. This is what we have been working towards. We may be a few points behind but we’ve faced worse. We can do this. We can pull the rugs right out from underneath their dirty, cheating feet. I know you guys are hurt and trust me, I will make them pay. But you know what?”

They shook their heads.

“They may be bigger and more willing to kill to win, but we’re faster.”

Becca looked up at me and our eyes connected. She stood up.

“No, Ace is right.”

Someone of the other girls looked up.

“We can do this, guys. Yes, everyone is in pain and we would rather just run away with our tails tucked between our legs. Yes, it’s easier to give up. But we’re not gonna go down easy, are we? Are you easy?” she asked.

“No,” they chorused. I stood up beside her with a grin.

“Are we going to take this?” I asked.

“NO!”

One by one, my team stood up and joined Becca and I until just Rita was kneeling. I crossed the circle and stood before her. I held out my hand.

“Together, we’ll do this. We’re strong. We’re fast. We’re the fucking Coyotes, Rita. Believe in us, and I swear to god, we’ll make this happen.”

“How do you know? We’ve already had our ass handed to us.”

“If you don’t try, Rita, you’ll never know.”

She nodded and took my hand. I pulled her up to join us. They spread out so I had room to walk around them.

“Now, listen, we’re down on our luck, but that doesn’t mean we’re beaten. We’ve already made 3 goals. Yeah, sure, they’ve made 3 more but we can take those three back and then make them wish they’d never shown up.”

They let out a chorus of triumphant yells.

“NOW LET’S GET BACK OUT THERE AND SHOW THEM WHAT FOR!”

“YEAH!”

We ran back to the field, taking the opposite side of the field, facing our opponents. They stared at us, cocky smiles on their faces. I felt the need to wipe those stupid grins off their stupid faces.

“Captains!” the referee called. I stepped forward and joined their captain, whose warm-up I had noticed said “The Mountain” on the back. The Mountain grinned at me. “The Soldiers call the coin toss.”

He flicked it up and the Mountain said, “Tails.”

He caught it, flipped it onto his hand and uncovered it. “Heads. The Coyotes get the ball.”

I smirked at her, saluted and headed towards Cici. I stopped and leaned in to whisper in her ear.

“Kick it to me and then run as fast as you can up the field.”

She nodded and I walked past Becca, signaling to her to get ready. She put herself into stance to run as I joined my fellow mid-fielders. I grinned at them and they nodded in return. The Mountain wasn’t going to know what hit her. The Soldiers weren’t going to know what hit them. Because if there’s one thing you don’t do, it’s get cocky over a three-point lead when I’m still running. Sure, my ankle was bruised up from where a girl had tried to flat tire me and my shoulder had taken some abuse when I fought for the ball against a smaller version of The Mountain. But I wasn’t going to quit and looking at the determined faces of my team, they weren’t either.

The final score was the Soldiers: 6, Coyotes: 7.

“Cassara Jankowski, just the captain I was looking for,” a man in jeans and a polo shirt said, coming up to me as I sat on our bench, gently pulling my cleat from my foot. I’d taken a bit more damage in the second half of the game than in the first, determined to beat the Soldiers.

“Yeah, that’s me,” I said with a smile.

“I’m Scott Anderson; I’m a scout for the University of Southern California. I was wondering if we could talk about you coming to play for the Trojans next year.”