The Play Book

Tatum Parker and Dahlia Brooks were best friends. I didn’t know them, but I knew of them. We’d never been friends and we hardly ever spoke, which was why I was surprised when the two girls asked me to meet them in the locker room when school let out.

We hung out with different crowds – me with my friends from youth group and them with each other – so my mind couldn’t wrap itself around the idea that they would want to talk to me for any reason at all. But, my father had always told me to open up to anyone who would let me, so I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to make new friends, even as strange as it was.

When the final bell rang, I went straight to the locker room without stopping to get rid of my books. I didn’t want to show up late and have them already be gone, especially if it might make them think I didn’t like them – that was the last thing I wanted.

With my books clung tightly to my chest and a smile on my face, I walked into the locker room, passing by the ladies soccer players along the way, who were getting ready for their practice.

I didn’t expect to find anyone but Tatum and Dahlia waiting, but two other girls were there: Grace, who I had art class with the year prior, and Roshin, who had gone to the same preschool as me. I knew them both better than I knew Tatum and Dahlia, but we still weren’t anything more than acquaintances. Still, they made me feel a little bit better about the situation. A little less nervous, at least.

“I guess you’re all wondering why we brought you here,” Dahlia said before I had a chance to greet anyone. She had a serious look on her face and that brought back the little bit of nerves that Roshin and Grace had gotten rid of.

The other girls nodded, and I did just a few moments later as I was a little too nervous to comprehend her question as quickly as they had.

Dahlia must’ve noticed the nervous look in my eyes, as she gave me a soft, reassuring smile before continuing speaking.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have good news for any of you,” Dahlia said, the smile diminishing from her face as she bit her lip. Her eyes fell to the floor before looking over at Tatum as she spoke.

“It’s rather bad, actually,” Tatum said, shaking her head as a chill ran up her body. I didn’t know what could possibly be going on, but I didn’t think I’d ever seen Tatum look so strange before. “But, luckily we caught on before it could get any worse.”

“Caught onto what?” Grace said quickly, looking up curiously from her place on one of the locker benches. I was glad she said something because I wasn’t sure how much more beating around the bush that I could take, and it seemed like Tatum and Dahlia were going to be doing quite a bit of it.

Dahlia and Tatum both stared at one another, their eyes looking soft, before they looked back out at us again.

Dahlia was the one to speak, as she folded her arms across her chest. “Have you ever heard of The Play Book?”

Roshin chuckled, rolling her eyes. “Isn’t that supposed to be a myth?”

The name clicked in my head immediately, but I couldn’t quite place what it was. I had heard the name before, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember where. I hoped that Grace didn’t know either, because I needed further explanation and I didn’t want to be the one to ask.

“It’s supposed to be a myth,” Dahlia said, clicking her tongue against her teeth. “But it isn’t. Turns out it’s real, and it’s been right under our noses this whole time.”

What on earth were they talking about? They were continuing on about this “Play Book” and I had no clue what any of it meant. A few sentences in and it was too late to bring up the fact that I was still clueless, because I was already making myself look slow enough as it was.

It took all the courage I had, but finally willed myself to clear my throat, looking up at Dahlia as I spoke. “What is The Play Book exactly?”

The look on Dahlia’s face showed her shock that I didn’t know what The Play Book was. Truthfully, I didn’t spend much time hanging out with people at my school, so she shouldn’t have been that surprised that I didn’t know all the inner workings of it. Luckily, Dahlia was nice enough to fill me in.

“The Play Book is basically what it sounds like,” she said, giving me a solemn look. “Every year, the soccer boys create the Play Book, which matches them each up with a girl they have to sleep with. If they don’t get her panties off, they won’t win, and they’ll do whatever it takes to make sure that doesn’t happen. It’s all based on superstition, but you know how players are.”

That’s when it clicked for me. I remembered hearing a few of the boys whispering about it once, but I didn’t think anything of it. Now it all made sense though, and I couldn’t believe that the boys at our school would stoop so low as to do something like that. It was disgusting and awful, and it really didn’t seem fair that they’d use girls for their own shallow benefit.

And then it clicked again. Why was Dahlia telling me this? Why had she brought me and the other girls into the locker room to discuss this random but crazy topic? What did it have to do with me?

Roshin made sense of it all before I had a chance to, and I saw the wicked grin plant itself on her face.

“Let me guess,” she said, rolling her eyes. “We’re in it, aren’t we?”