Imminent

I don't think I'd ever hated my life more than I did now.

Okay, so that was a little dramatic. But in all fairness, if it involved being up before the crack of dawn, I generally hated it or, in this case, 'hated my life' because I had to be up doing it. In the past year of being in soccer, I don't think we ever had a practice that started before 6 a.m.

Until now, I mean.

"Who the hell does he think he is?" Raegan, one of the co-captains complained, slumping over in the bleachers.

A few of the other girls gave noises of complaint when the gym lights came on, and I picked my head up, giving my best friend a look. Lindsay was the other co-captain and she hadn't told me much of anything besides the fact that Coach was being transferred to another school. The other girls were just as upset as we were, but the JV team acted like they couldn't be bothered. Most of them hadn't met Coach Patterson and those that did didn't like him. I couldn't say that I blamed them, though; up until last season, I hated the guy.

He was a good guy outside of school and an even better teacher, but when it came to soccer, he was pretty serious. When we lost our homecoming game last year, we did laps until he was bored of sitting out in the rain. Again, Patterson was a dick sometimes, but he never made us come to school this early.

"Morning, ladies," Principal Richards greeted us, smoothing the front of his suit out. I narrowed my eyes as he stopped in front of us, a few of the Senior girls beside me mimicking the action. "I know you're wondering why I asked Lindsay and Raegan to tell you to be here so early, hm?"

He paused for a second, gauging the reaction he was getting before continuing. "As you know, Coach Patterson was transferred out of state last week, and his replacement just finished signing paperwork and making things official yesterday afternoon. He wanted to formally introduce himself before classes started later on today, and I hope none of you hold any grudges."

"Sounds like a dick," I muttered, Lindsay shooting me a look as Richards laughed, pointing a finger at me.

"Missed that humor of yours, Miss Davis."

Everyone went silent when another pair of footsteps echoed in the small space, a loud thud emitting when a bag hit the ground. He smirked as he surveyed each of us, folding his arms across his chest. I spared a glance at Raegan and Lindsay to find them staring, his eyes flitting between all of us.

This had to be a joke, right?

No way was he a goddamn soccer coach. He looked like he could've been a model. He wasn't that tall, maybe an inch or two shorter than Richards. He had an average build from what I could tell, but it was hard to tell with a sweatshirt and wind pants. He had a strong jawline with a little stubble on his face, mossy green eyes and sandy hair styled neatly.

Yeah. Model.

"I hope I didn't intrude on your morning, ladies. Sorry if some of you found that it was a dick move," He started, his eyes landing on me before moving to the younger players. I coughed and leaned into the seats behind me, my cheeks flaring with heat for a second. "I just wanted to go over what I expected of you and get a general sense as to who you all are as players. I'm not cutting anyone yet, but if I find that you don't perform as strongly as your teammates, you'll be expected to try out again. We're going to start with laps and we'll move onto drills if time allows. Any questions?"

Ellie, another one of the Varsity girls, cleared her throat and raised her hand expectantly. He smirked, nodding in her direction. "What's your name, sir?"

"Ackles. Coach Ackles."



"God," I gasped, nearly collapsing onto the bench as soon as we got in the locker room, resting my hands on my knees. Every muscle in my body burned, and I couldn't remember the last time I had a workout that intense. I took a few breaths before collecting myself, leaning against my locker as the rest of the team filed in after me, just as tired.

The only one of us that didn't seem that affected was Lindsay.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Some of us don't spend off-season binge watching Grey's Anatomy, babe," she smirked, quickly ridding herself of her shirt before tossing it into her locker.

"Yeah, well... good point," I muttered lamely, kicking my shoes off.

Lindsay let out a laugh at my expense, pulling her strawberry blonde hair back into a neater ponytail, fishing around in her bag for her clothes. The other girls started their showers and I made a show of scoffing when I walked by, tossing my gym clothes into the hamper. They weren't bothering to hide any of their thoughts on the new coach, and I clamped my mouth shut, biting back any replies when I realized that a few years ago, I would've been saying the exact same things to Lindsay and Raegan.

I mean, yeah, Ackles was attractive, I'd give him that. But he seemed like a total tool. And I'd dated and fantasized about enough of those kinds of men to last a lifetime.

"Lauren?"

"What's up?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at Raegan, running a brush through my hair. I grimaced when I realized how oily it'd gotten, reminding myself to grab a shower once the underclassmen were finished.

"Coach wants to see you in his office."

"For what? I said, like, two words to the guy," I groaned, shutting my locker.

"And maybe those shouldn't have included dick," Lindsay teased, sliding her jeans on.

I mocked her before letting out a sigh, walking out of the dressing room with Raegan. He was in his office, sitting on top of the desk as he flipped through the pages on his clipboard. She'd obviously been called in here prior to this because she didn't seem all that nervous for me, but it did little to ease the feeling rising in my throat.

I knew I was mouthy, but most of my teachers had gotten used to it because they just knew that was who I was. It wasn’t like I was that misbehaved, otherwise my record would've showed it. But I had to remind myself that he didn't know any of that about me, let alone if I had a record or not.

"You can sit," he muttered lowly, refusing to take his eyes off the paper in front of him. He gave Raegan a small smile as she shut the door, thanking her.

Another beat of silence passed before he eventually set his clipboard down, raising his eyebrows at me. Shit, he was a little more than intimidating when it was one on one.

"You're not in trouble, Lauren," He got out with a small laugh, leaning forward slightly as he did. "I just wanted to talk to each of my Senior girls before I let you go."

My shoulders visibly slumped when he said that, and I let out a sigh of relief. "Okay. Good."

"Though I didn't appreciate that comment earlier."

I made a show of rolling my eyes, sitting up straighter in the chair. "You'll learn it's just who I am, sir."

He chuckled at that, running a hand along his jaw before fixing his gaze back on me. "And you'll learn that I don't tolerate that behavior, Miss Davis. Next time, I won't hesitate to bench you or make you run laps for the entirety of next practice. That's just how I am."

I nodded, making a mental note to be more respectful towards him. I bit back the comment that was at the end of my tongue, giving him a polite smile. "Yes, sir."

"Glad we could come to an understanding. Now, the reason I wanted to meet with all of you was because I'm considering cutting some of you and I'll need all of you to help with tryouts and bringing out the underclassmen's strengths and weaknesses. I need the best team this year as it's my first and your last. Scouts will be coming to the games and looking at all of you and you can't afford to be held back, and I can't afford any of you to reflect bad on me. This time tomorrow we'll start our first real practice and I'm expecting the best."

His eyes searched mine for a second before I let all of this register, chewing on my lip. I wasn't exactly sure how to react, so I nodded, muttering another 'yes, sir' before he told me to send Lindsay in so he could relay the message.

I didn't like change. But it was looking like I didn't have a choice.