The Once and Future King

Most of the team was asleep as the bus chugged along on the dark road. Coach Kilg plopped down next to El surprising the young woman out of spacing. “Hello, El.”

“Hi, Coach?” She was confused as to why he was with her instead of his assistant.

“I want to talk to you about two things. First, I want your take on the boys playing today. I saw you jotting down notes.”

“Oh, um okay.” She leaned down and pulled out two pieces of paper with thoughts and comments on each playing player. “They do really well overall, but um… most of your midfielders aren’t very… sneaky. It’s pretty obvious or at least from far away how they’re planning on shooting. The defensement kind of need to work on their foot work. They’re feet weren’t always moving fast enough to get in between the attacker and our goal so we let a few fly by. It isn’t terrible but if you watch their feet they don’t always look coordinated. And lastly the attackers. The only thing I really noticed is they really like the corners. Some seem to not have as much confidence about being on the field with an opposing team and run towards the corners to pass the ball off.”

Coach Kilg nodded, “May I keep these? Thank you and I appreciate your input. I can’t always watch details when trying to coach the whole.”

“I understand.”

“Anything else?”

“Not really, other than trying to patch up a player who wants to be back in is like trying to put a band aid on a five year old. They move around too much.”

He chuckled at the mental image knowing exactly what she meant. “I can’t help you there, you’ll get used to it though. Since there’s nothing else about the game, Lance told me what happened.” El groaned dropping her head into her hands. “You should have gotten someone immediately, El. No one should ever talk or treat you like that.”

“I know. I don’t want it to be a big deal.”

“It is a big deal though. I plan on talking to Steven about this.”

El crossed her arms like an angry child. “And whatever his name is will get a slap on the wrist.”
“Not if I have anything to do about it.”

“It’s my word against his and he has more people to back him up. No offense coach, but it’ll be like every other time. He’ll say I was being over dramatic about what transpired and Lance was being over protective or whatever, his friends will agree because by now they’ve had time to come up with the same story, and nothing will be done. Same old, same old.”

“Do you really believe that, El?”

“Why shouldn’t I? I’ve seen and experienced it.”

“Did anything happen to you?” Coach Kilg looked concerned if not a little pissed off.

She waved her hand. “Not really, I always made sure I was with other people whenever we had to work together. We weren’t allowed to work alone anymore.”

“I don’t agree with what your boss did, but I carry more weight with Steven than his asshole of a player.”

“You may, but is he really going to risk losing one of his best players over a manager of another team that they only see twice, maybe three times a season?”

“Maybe he’ll keep him, but Steven will keep his eye on Carson throughout the season and especially when we’re at their or our stadium. The brat may be an amazing player but Steven won’t risk Carson effing over the team. One is not worth the whole.”

El was quiet a moment before whispering, “I don’t’ want this to be a big deal… I handled it.”
“Punching someone is not the way to handle a situation.”

“I was defending myself…. He was a lot stronger than me.”

His face softened as he sighed. “From now on I don’t want you alone when we are at an away school.”

“Sorry coach, but I’m the only female on the team, I’m going to be wandering around alone. It’s not like any of you can go into the woman’s bathroom or locker room.”

“El.”

“Honestly it’s not possible for me to have a constant escort.” She growled to herself as she ran her fingers through her hair. “This isn’t fair.”

“I hate to say it, but the world ain’t fair. Guys and girls are going to try to take advantage of you. It’s a flaw some of us humans have. Just try to be around us as much as possible. I know it’s tough being the only female on the team, but believe it or not the guys will help you out. I haven’t seen Lance so pissed since freshman year and his sister’s boyfriend cheated on her. Any of the boys would defend your honor.”

“I don’t want someone to defend my honor, I can do it myself.”

“It’s okay to have help, you know.”

“So the guys can get into fights but I can’t?”

The coach laughed quietly at his defiant young manager. “No, I’d whip their ass if they tried, but I’m saying knowing that they’d still help you.”

“I’ll think about it, but can we try not to make it a big deal? It’s hard enough, I don’t need me being labeled the girl who got the star lacrosse player benched or kicked from the team.”

“Does it really matter what other teams think?”

“Have you seen the sh-crap angry people will do to the victim?”

“Alright, point made. I’ll do my best, but I can’t guarantee that asshole won’t make a ruckus about it.”
“Thanks coach. I’ll do better at not making myself an easy target for assholes.”

“That’s all I ask… and that you find me before punching someone.”

“I’ll try to stay my fighting hand.” Coach patted El’s knee with a laugh before getting up and returning to his seat.