Yes I'm A Girl

3

I see the bright morning sunlight through the thin layer of my eyelids. I yawn and open my eyes slowly, I felt like I was supposed to remember something... What was it? I look at my alarm clock it reads 12:00 flashing, great there was a power outage last night... I slowly get up to go rinse my face and brush my teeth, when it hits me! Tryouts are today! I rush over to my phone and check what time it is, it's 7:00, wow pretty early for me. I'd probably make it just in time if I hurry. I rush to the bathroom and brush my teeth all the while getting undressed. I rinse my mouth quickly spitting tooth paste everywhere, there's no time. I put on my black tempo shorts with white on the sides, and throw on a clean SLU home jersey. I throw my hair up in a loose french braid and grab my soccer bag, which had all my equipment in it, and slide on Nike elites and slip on my exercise sandals.
I run through the lobby as everyone points and whispers about me, but I hope they know whispering doesn't stop someone from doing something. I rush to the parking lot and look for my car. I look to the right side and there's not one single worn down car that even looks like mine. I run through the left side, as I dodge cars and go between parking spaces. Finally I see a old rusty truck,
"Amen!" I shout and throw my soccer bag in the back seat and hop in. I start the ignition and I'm on my way. I try to remember where the tryouts are, LA Galaxy stadium?
I decide to call coach even though he's gonna be super mad at me,
"Hello coach?"
"Jay? What are you doing aren't you at tryouts?!" He says frantically
"-er- yea I am" I lie, hoping he doesn't freak out
"Good, so what'd ya need?"
"I'm at -er- the right place right?" I ask as I stop on the shoulder of the highway, my hands shaking now as I hold the phone.
"It's LA's stadium. You know the Galaxy?" He says like he's catching on to me.
"Ok whew! I'm here." I lie again. I hang up and immediately zoom back on the highway. LA's stadium should be about in 5 miles, it's now 7:30. I pray to god I make it, just imagine if I don't, coach will be so upset!!
-
I close the back door quietly and sneak onto the indoor stadium field. I walk over to the table where the coaches and the tryout scouts are sitting at a long wooden table talking as the players get drinks.
"I'm here to tryout" I say in a straight tone.
"A little late aren't you?" A professional looking man says in a suit, snorts out.
I nod "yes you don't think I see that?" I blurt out but I immediately regret my decision.
"Head on over there" another man says, he's older with wrinkles around his neck, he looks nice but also looks like a person I do not want to mess with. "We'll keep you after a little so you can make up what we've already gone over." He says as I walk to where the others are. They laugh as I tie my laces of my turf shoes, I glare at them and move slowly back onto the field.
I hear one man whisper, "Yeah, like we'll see her make it." The others laugh and murmur. I roll my eyes and line up with the other two men on the field. I kind of awkwardly stand there and see them laugh with each other. I felt like such a loner, but that made me want to prove them wrong even more.
"Now for the miss who showed up late, we are doing simple stuff, shooting, dribbling, passing..." He lists "but if you make it to the next round, it gets more complicated."
"If" The guy next to me repeats it directly at me. The others laugh.
"That goes for everyone" he corrects the man next to me has the man nods and his face turns red, he almost looks like he's about to shrink.
"What's after the next round?" I ask.
"We out you on a team we think could use you." The man says sitting back down in his seat. I nod.
"Don't count on that." I hear another one say down on towards the front of the line.
"You shouldn't really count in anything. We're all here because we were invited" I bend over looking in the direction it came from. I see the man laugh and shake his head at me. I stand up straight again and wait for the directions.
"Single-file. We're shooting now" one of the more built guys say from the table. I turn right and wait for the others to shoot.
One man kicks it straight onto the net, but he's not thinking about if there were a goalie there. One other kicks a low fast ball into the left corner, a goalies weakness. That was a good shot.
It's my turn and I set the ball on the ground in front of me. I take a deep breath and back up. I shoot it with my left foot, which always throws people off. I'm both right and left footed in soccer, so I kick it with my laces as it sails into the right upper hand corner of the net.
"Kick again" the built man says impressed "with the right foot" he says more harsh.
I nod and run to go get the ball. I come back and slowly set it down take a deep breath and kick a power shot to the left post but it makes it in. I smile and the man slams his clipboard down and sits down.
Next is dribbling my specialty.
-
"If we call your name, your in the next round, which will probably be ten of you. If we don't, you must pack your things and leave." The older man says, I think his name is Scott Bullard. I take a deep breath and gulp heavily.
"David Sean, Chris Flayard, Greg Kranz, Lukas Samuel, Adam Taylor," I hear them shout and "whoop" but I still listen intensely for my name, "John Sinclair, DeAndre Harris, Jayden Hamburg" I pause and let go of my breath. I did it. One step closer to a team! "Christian Ordell, and Tobias Long." I scream along with the other guys who made it. I walk over to get a drink, I'm so rushed and energized I didn't even recognize the others leave. All that I do know is that I'm stuck with the two men who have already been hard on me, but they can forget me "quitting" because of them.
"Congratulations, you've made it!" The built man comes up to me.
I smile, "I know."
"The next level will be more challenging, I certainly hope you make it." He says sarcastically. "You belong cheer leading or dancing. NOT on a soccer field!" He shouts harshly as spit flies left and right.
"Well I'm standing here?" I smile proudly. He nods and grits his teeth as he walks away to the judges table. I see him lash out by the other coaches as they try to calm him down and give me dirty looks. I shrug and walk back onto center field.
-
I take a sip of water and breath heavily, I did well, could've done better. I look over at the judges as they look through score sheets and applications.
"Hey didn't they tell you? They're not accepting cheerleaders for soccer yet." The man that said stuff before to me says, his name is Greg Kranz.
"Oh, really? Why are you her?" I tilt my head asking innocently. Tobias snorts but Greg nudges him hardly stopping him. It's like high school drama all over again.
"Grow up." He says walking closer to me "were not in high school anymore." He walks away along with Tobias and David. I shake my head and turn away taking another sip of my water.
"Everyone! Attention!" Scott Bullard shouts as loud as he can but no one hears him.
"Hey!" I shout loud as everyone gets quiet and I can hear a slight echo of my voice. They all look at me the focus on Scott.
"Thank you Jayden" he nods at me "we have made a final decision, we're taking 7 of you, since teams are pretty full right now, we'll tell you what position and tema and everything." Everyone nods and he goes on "Lukas Samuel, left defender on the Milwaukee Wave." Scott announces as Lukas celebrates and people pay him on the back. I gulp, "Christian Ordell, Middle Mid for the Tulsa Resolution." My heart beats faster, I can now hear it in my ears and it's blocking out everything else.
Greg made it on St. Louis Ambush as a right forward, and DeAndre is on San Diego Sockers.
Then suddenly I hear, "Jayden Hamburg, Left forward for Chicago Mustangs." I scream and I punch my fist in the air. No one claps, no one stares at me, no one makes a move. I head over to the bench as the other people make it or don't make it. I immediately look up the Chicago Mustangs on my phone. They look pretty good, but also very rough. I stay after for a little bit to get to know Scott, "hey, I wanted to say thank you" I say in my "man-voice"
"You don't need to thank-" he starts but a coach comes over patting him on the back and completely distorting the conversation. I walk away awkwardly and sit in the "box" where the announcer sits when a game is going on. I can believe I mad the team, I knew I could do it, but it's just now kicking in. A rush of adrenaline comes through my chest and into my head, I smile, knowing that I've just made history.
I decide to go to the truck and not "party" with the other men, because we all know how that will go, drunk men around one girl... I think your getting my point.
I turn into the parking lot of the hotel and see the sun setting down from the west. It's pink gold and a hint of blue still sneaking in, it looks like the ones from St. Louis. I walk into the lobby with my turf shoes on not caring what people night of me.
"Mrs. Hamburg right?" The lady who I always see at the front desk asks.
"Yeah that's me?" I say curious to know what she wanted.
"Mrs. There's someone who's been waiting for you, I sent him in the café direction." She smiles at me giving me a hint of excitement in her eyes. I smile and nod a little, who could it possibly be? No Blake, it can't be! I run through the hall and turn right into the café. I look around and see a crowd of people on lap tops and talking about business stuff. I walk over to them and see a man whom I recognize. He has brown hair with hint of grays, he's older and has a broad chest.
I look at him again and say "dad?" I walk over faster to him dropping my soccer bag and keys.
"Jay!" He stands up and fast-walks over to me, spreading his arms out for a hug. I stay where I'm at in shock and let him hug me before it takes awhile for me to hug back. I haven't ever been "close" to my family. I was when I was younger, but till high school soccer was my thing and I practically did it 24/7, and if I wasn't doing soccer, I was hanging out with a friend. And college didn't help the situation at all. "Coach Cline told me about the tryouts and everything! I've spent most of my weekend figuring out how I could reach you! I love you so much Jayden," he goes in for another hug. I step back and see the lines on his face, worry lines, he's always been so focused on work. Soccer was always a big joke to him, and now when I tryout for a major league team he's all exited?!
"H-how'd you get here?" I ask looking around him and at his fellow workers. He holds my face in his hands and laughs.
"Coach Cline told me everything! I'm trying to get my meeting off early Sunday to see your first game in Chicago!" He says excitedly raising his eyebrows. I shake my head a little and smile,
"That's great but, I thought you said soccer was for men, girls were to do dance or cheer?" I say as he loses his excitement.
"No Jay, I was always doing that to push you. I knew you would be here today. I love you so much!" He hugs me again. I feel like this is getting too weird for my liking but I let him hug me. He turns around while holding my head to his chest "you guys can leave, we've established everything that needs to be done." His voice vibrates against my head.
We sit there at a café table laughing, joking, and catching up. I couldn't help but feel as if my dad was all in on this, the money, the commercializing? We finally end and part ways. I walk back to my room and think about how much me and my dad have changed, or how excited I was for Blake, but Blake hasn't reached out to me ounce. Maybe I should call him? No there's a good reason he not calling me. Right?
I wake up at 12:00 that night getting a phone call from The National Soccer League Offices.
"Hello?" I say in a groggy voice.
"Hello Jayden, we wanted to let you know something has... Well come up..." The man says over the phone "Chicago has -er- enabled you to play with them..."
I immediately feel a burning in my chest, "Oh..." Is all I can manage to get out. What do I tell my dad?! I pace back and forth.
"But don't worry!" He sounds happy "we're moving you to St. Louis Ambush, the coach well Scott wanted you on that team."
I laugh a little even though it's not good knowing my coach doesn't want me, "will I still be left forward?" I say eagerly.
"Yes, and your coach is Brent Eastwood." the man says. I don't know who that is but I take it.
The phone call ends and I flop back down on my bed. I made it. I proved Blake wrong, I proved everyone wrong! Even my dad!
That night I couldn't sleep, not with everything that was happening, doors were opening up for me! But then my brain got a hold of me, Greg Kranz was out on that team...
-
I wake up to my cell phone ringing, it's 6:30 am and I roll over with a moan.
"Can I get some damn sleep?!" I yell as I reach for my phone and pick up.
"Jay? You there?" I catch myself dozing off.
"Mhm" I say closing my eyes,
"Well it's Brent Eastwood, the coach of the Ambush, your new team." He says in a monotone voice. "I'm picking you up from your hotel in about and hour, be ready by then. Meaning everything packed and then we'll be off to Nevada for your first practice."
"Nevada?" I say slouching.
"That's where our first game is." He says. I nod, even though he can't see that.
"I'll be ready" my voice says muffled by sheets. He hangs up and I immediately get up slowly to go pack and get ready.
I throw one last thing into my last bag and decide I have enough time to eat breakfast and get ready. I out on my black tempo shorts by Nike, these are just plain black, and throw on a light gray STL sweatshirt. I then brush my hair and teeth and put my hair in a pony tail and straiten it with my flat iron.
I go downstairs to the café where me and my dad had met in over 5 years last night. I get a to-go cup of hot coffee and a muffin that was packed in a small container, so I could save some of it. By the time I walk out of the café its soon time for Brent to be here. I pick up my heavy bags and wait in the lobby
"Coach" I wave Brent over. "I'm Jayden Hamburg." I smile and out out my hand to meet him. He ignores it and wipes his mouth with his arm. I bite my lip holding in what I have to say. We walk onto this huge black and greenish bus that reads: "STL Ambush" in huge letters on the side. I yawn as I step onto the bus.
"Okay we're picking up all the payers, even the original ones. So get comfortable, but not too comfortable." He slumps down in his seat. I plug in my headphones and close my eyes, maybe I can get sleep now.
I wake up to chatter on the bus, as I see men crowded around in small seats all talking to each other. I sit up right and place my pillow behind my neck as I turn on my music.
I suddenly see a hand appear right beside me from the man behind me, at first it doesn't bother me, but suddenly it becomes a nuisance but patting on the seat. I sit up straighter and sit on my calves like w preschooler. I stare at the man as he talks to the men beside him. He's tiny with a faint six pack shown by his dry-fit shirt. He has light brown hair and a pointy nose. His eyes are big and a dark brown, with faint dark circles underneath them.
He finally looks at me and says, "can I help you?" And turns his head to laugh with the men beside him.
"Actually, can you get your hand off my seat?" I say flicking it away and into his lap. He gives me a dirty glare. "Thanks!" I smile in a smart ass way. He sets his hand back on the seat and begins to talk to the other men. I clench my jaw and stand up.
He looks up at me, "what're you gonna do about it?" He raises his eyebrows and stares, "tell on me?"
I stop and take a deep breath, "no. I'm going to ask you again, maybe you'll listen this time." I sit back down, that's not want I wanted to say. Not even close. What I really wanted to say was get your fucking hand off the seat, but I sit down and try to ignore his hand he hasn't moved away. I hear someone say his name, Chris Mattingly. I plug in my earbuds and notice we've made another stop at a hotel. I look above all the heads and I see the most nastiest person get on, Greg. He waves at the other guys and smiles and nudges them. I roll my eyes as he stops at me, "you?" He says staring at me head to toe. I ignore him and look out the window as my favorite song turns on.
"Chadwick!!" I hear Chris say behind me as I feel him get up. I look up ahead and see a tall blonde man, about in his 20's, and he wears sweat pants and a black jacket. He's handsome and you can tell he's pretty strong, even though he doesn't look like a body builder or anything. You can see his abs faintly through the white shirt he has underneath his jacket. He waves to people as they shout his name,
"Thanks Chris, but it's Chad" he laughs and puts his bags in the over head compartment of the bus. He looks at me confusingly and I turn my head even more towards the window, hoping it doesn't turn red.
"Here we'll make room, don't want you sitting next to her." I hear Greg snicker as he tries to get into my head.
"Um thanks" he laughs. I hear him faintly whisper to Matt, "what's she doing here? I thought she got put on the Mustangs?" Matt hits my seat, where my back is, hard and I ignore the rough bump it gave me.
"Nah, that coach didn't want her." Matt says out loud. I know what he's doing and I can tell you now it's only gonna push me harder. But at least Chad had the decency to whisper, even though it wasn't all that good.
"And our coach does?" He says getting a little louder with anger.
"I never said that. Scott wanted her on this team. She played for SLU. Didn't you too?" Matt asks. I can feel my face turning red so I click on the music to block them out. Maybe I should just go back to sleep. That's always a good thing. Or should I call Blake? No, I'll sound desperate. Sleep is the best option.
-
"Hey snoozer, we're here." Someone shakes me awake, great it's Chad. I shake my head awake and stretch out a little. This time my face doesn't turn red, thank god because he's staring right at me while I'm awakening.
"Everyone!" Brent yells settling down the bus, "we're at the hotel they assigned us to!" He shouts as people keep talking. "Everyone stay, except Jayden I need to talk to you." His face turns a certain way and he snickers with one of the men next to him.
And now my face is red. Brent makes a motion with his hands for me to come in front of everyone. I walk up to him trying not to show how embarrassing that is. When I finally reach him he holds up a clipboard.
"Okay face the front." He orders. I turn slowly around and I see angry faces greeting me, although not all angry faces. Some of the older men look more welcoming. "This is Jayden Hamburg everyone!" He shouts as people stare blankly at me, "now Jayden we do have some heels in the locker room, incase you want to wear those instead" he shouts as most of his players laugh. I nod and laugh along too thinking of anyway to come back at him,
"You know I would but, I don't want to look like a joke more than you already do." I say and walk back to my seat. I hear people "oooo-ing" and laughing, as what they call I "roasted" him. I laugh a little to myself.
But as I am about to reach my seat he says, "Yea because I'm the girl here" he laughs as everyone laughs louder with him. Chris stops me with his arm and looks at me giving me a nasty look. Greg laughs as he nudges Chad to too, but all Chad does is smile and laugh a little. I sit down at my seat waiting for it to be my turn to unload everything. It reaches Chad, slowly rising to Greg then Chris and I. I get my bags out of the over head and make my way to the front of the lobby.
"So how do we establish who's sleeping where?" I ask an older men, about 37, if I had to guess.
He adjusts one of his bags and says "The coach picks. But for you he may put you in your own room, depending on how much he likes you. But by what I saw in there... You'll probably be stuck with Chris or someone in that 'posy." He laughs a little, maybe thinking about what happened in the bus.
"Who's in the posy?" I ask as we walk into the entrance of the lobby waiting in line behind other players.
"Well Chris, that newbie Greg, Corey Dowell, and I guess you could consider Chad" he says setting down his bags, "but Chads actually the nicest one, he's quiet if you first meet him, he hangs out with the 'posy', but also talks to the nice people here. He's actually extremely nice, surprised he's even in that group. I'm one of the nice ones by the way," he winks and laughs "I'm Jeff Dimaria, nice to meet you Jayden."
I smile "this sounds like high school" I roll my eyes.
I step in line with the other players as we all face coach, "here is the rooming list, if you have a problem about something come talk to me." He flips to a bright yellow sheet "Jeff and Ross, Axel and Greg, Chris and Odaine" I let out a deep breath, "Kory and Alan, Pat and David," the list goes a while on, which includes the backups for the team. Luckily I made a spot on the team, "Jayden and Chad-"
"Your sticking me with a girl?" Chad interrupts just as Brent was going to list off the rest of the names.
"You should be fine, take turns showering and everything will be okay." Brent says and soon finishes the list. I stand there as Chad and Brent argue. The others take off to their rooms. I decide to head up to our room, which was room 180.
"Hey, it'll be okay. He's nice!" Jeff says and heads off to his room. I hope we're neighbors or something so I can at least talk to him and not be so quiet.
I reach the room and slide my room key in. It clicks and I walk in. The room was a decent size and there was a huge window over looking Las Vegas. I drop my bags and jump onto my bed laying flatly so I can go on my phone. I hear the room key slide in and I wait for Chad to walk in awkwardly. I hear him slump his shoes against the floor and take them off. He lets out a breath and sits in the little office chair as he unpacks his stuff into the drawers the hotel had.
There's a knock at the door, "I'll get it" I say in a monotone voice. I throw myself off the bed and twist the door open.
"Cha-" Chris stops as he has a surprised look on his face. He walks in pushing me a little to walk in next to Chad, "Chad we're going to the casino, wanna come?"
"Coach said we can't until after the game Saturday." Chad looks up from the drawer he was just closing. The light from the window is across his face and Chris' shadow is blocking the other half of his body.
"Are you gonna listen to the man that put you with her?" Chris says pointing at me as they both look over at me. I stare back, I'm not gonna let them think I'm afraid of them.
"Listen dumb shit, the casino can wait." Chad says to Chris. Chris laughs but Chad doesn't he keeps packing up his things.
"Fine. But there's a whole lot better looking women there," he nudges Chad "I'll see you at dinner." He walks past me and out the door. I close it quietly and sit back on my bed.
"The casino, before a game?" Chad laughs to himself. I walk over to my set of drawers and start to do the same. I unplug my headphones and turn up my music from my phone, which was mostly rap.
"Rap?" Chad asks looking over at me.
I shrug, "what about it?" I say I kind of rudely. I'm not going to be nice to a guy who doesn't even want me on this team.
"I didn't think girls listened to rap." He says laughing and picks up a pair of boxers to pack in the drawer.
"Yeah, well your wrong about a lot of things." I say not looking at him. It's quiet for awhile and just when I hear him about to speak, "I'm gonna go look for Jeff." I say standing up leaving my clothes where they are. I walk out into the hall, I think they said Jeff's room was 170, ten rooms down from ours. I walk silently in the hall my footsteps not making a sound, even though I only have my socks on.
"Hey Jayden!" A hear a voice from behind me shout. I turn around and see a guy around my height smiling. He has black hair and looks like he hasn't shaved yet today. I wave a little and keep walking but I hear him walk closer to me.
"Can I help you?" I ask tensely.
"I was just gonna say my names Gordy, Jeff's in my room along with a bunch of other guys. We're hangin' wanna join?" He asks smiling still. He looks very happy and energetic.
I nod, "I'd love to." I say as he leads me to his room across the hall from ours. I'm glad I have "friends" on the team. He swipes his room key and walks in as I see everyone huddled around the TV playing FIFA 2013. I notice how much shorter Gordy is compared to the players, am I honestly that short compared to everyone?
"Guys I thought maybe the newb could join" Gordy says laughing as everyone ignores him and steadies their focus on the tv. He jumps on one of there backs as they pause the game and complain about how "he messed them up". I laugh a little.
"Oh hey Jayden." Jeff says as he takes a bite of pizza.
I stand against a wall awkwardly, maybe I should go back to my room.
"Well just wanted to stop by..." I say making my way to the door.
"Bye!" They exclaim at ounce going back to the game. I walk out feeling awkward, I'm glad that's over. I swipe my key to my room and walk in silently as I hear the shower going. Great this gonna be even more awkward!
"Where'd you go?" Chad asks coming out of the shower with jeans and no shirt on. You can see his six-pack without him flexing and he has a V that shows and disappears where his jeans start. V's on guys were always hot to me, it shows how muscular they really are. He drys his upper body with a towel.
"Oh I was hanging out with Jeff and some other guys" I say trying to avoid eye contact.
"Let me guess playing FIFA," he laughs. I don't answer and I grab a towel to get started on my shower.
-
I walk out of the steamy shower and look at myself in the huge mirror. I can see my six-pack barley showing, and my toned muscles in my arms and legs. I comb my hair to dry it and get out the flat iron to start to heat up. But suddenly I remember I left my clothes that I was going to wear outside of the bathroom. Great. Just great.
"Um I hate to do this." I say covering my body with the towel and peeking out of the bathroom door. I see Chad look over at me and turn away.
"Yes?" He says sounding like he was doing something busy.
"I left my clothes out there..." I laugh a little even though it's not funny at all. "Mind turning away?"
He turns towards the wall and goes back on his phone. I run to the pile I had and get out a thin white V neck top with a pair of blue skinny jeans that were ripped on purpose. I grab my undergarments and rush back to the bathroom.
"Okay!" I shout closing the door.
I walk out wearing my jeans and white top, and my hair was perfectly straightened. I did my eyeliner and mascara and even put a necklace on that had a jeweled cross on it. I throw my white low top converse on and I'm all set.
"Where's dinner?" I grab my phone from the bed and stick it in my back pocket.
"The Bouchon" Chad says keeping his stare at his phone.
"Are we riding the bus?" I ask as I sit on the side of my bed facing away from him.
"No, the bus has left, from now on we either take a taxi or ride with coach.
"Taxi it is." I say. He laughs and grabs a light blue polo shirt from his bag and puts it on covering his skin.
"Do we just wait for other people?" I ask as he stands in front of me and I look up at him. He looks down at me and immediately walks away. "Um we can if you want?" He says standing by the door. I get up and pull down my shirt a little, then walk into the hall as he holds the door open for me. As we walk down Chris and Greg are downstairs getting yelled at, which is very funny to watch for me.
"Hey Chad!" A super tall and sickly skinny guy asks, I think his name is Ross. "You guys riding a taxi?" He asks out of breath.
"Yeah, you guys too?" Chad asks as they walk next to each other and I'm in front of them.
"Yeah, but Jeff is riding with coach. Wanted to talk to him about something." Ross says as we make our wait out the door.
"Do we have dinner every night together?" I ask walking backwards to face them.
"No. Dinner together is every first night of a new town," Ross says. Well I'm glad he's a nice one too. I turn back around and wait until a taxi passes. But for now I decided I should maybe talk with the guys.
"So where'd you go to school?" Ross asks across from me.
"SLUH," I say looking up at him. He was like a giant,
"Oh Chad went there too!" Ross says patting Chads back. I nod and smile at Chad and he just smiles at Ross a little and goes back to his phone.
"May I ask how tall you are?" I say looking at Ross and he immediately laughs. I laugh along as I look over at Chad who's just hesitant on his phone.
"I'm 6'3" he nods and I notice a Scottish accent. "How about you?" He looks down at me laughing.
"I don't keep track" I look at him and move my eyes to Chad who's still on his phone. "Are those aloud at dinner?" I ask Ross. He shakes his head no silently, I nod silently and just keep my eyes on Chad feeling annoyed.
"Here comes one!" Ross says standing on the side of the street and waving. The taxi comes to a slow stop and we all get in.
"Where you goin' " the taxi driver asks. Ross looks at Chad like he didn't know where we were going.
"The Bouchon" Chad says as he scrolls down in his phone. The taxi starts up and we head down the busy street.
"You know it's very rude to stay on your phone all the time." I say to Chad as he stops scrolling. He looks up at me and goes back to scrolling.
"Chad, just for a few hours." Ross says. Chad turns of his phone angrily and shoves it in his Jean pocket. I slowly move my hand in my lap, trying not to touch Ross or Chad. I was in the middle and I was squished and cramped. There was something weird about Chad, he looked nice and friendly to the other guys. Jeff even said he was a nice guy. But why is he for me?
-
I step out of the car after Chad and say thank you to the driver. We arrive at this small building that was white and old looking. It had a light pink color at the tops of the building and was very rich and classy looking. We walk inside and see part of the team in a dining room area that had only one huge table in it. There was glass doors your could open or close, for privacy I guess, but it's glass so if anyone was going to get "romantic", it's not going to work out very well.
"This place is huge?!" Ross shouts in an airy whisper. I nod looking around more.
"That's us over there," Chad points to the table "not much players showed up. Only Gordy, Jeff, Coach, Blake-" I suddenly stop listening. Blake... I feel as if I need to reach out to him but he said he would call me. "And us" Chad finishes up. There's only 13 people here including us. I guess these dinners are optional. We find three open seats, I'm next to Gordy and Ross, and chads on the other side next to coach and Jeff.
"Who told her about this?" Coach asks Chad trying to whisper but I can still hear him and how angry he is.
"Um I did," Chad says to Brent. "I thought maybe she would, you know, get some more friends I guess..." Chad says looking straight at Brent with confidence.
"Oh ok." Brent has a smirk on his face, as he looks across the table at me. "Make any 'friends'?" He asks. I bite my tongue trying not to say anything like the bus incident.
"Actually Chads lying. I asked him where he was going and he told me, but I decided to come." I look over at Chad who's staring at me blankly. Chad shakes his head at me and mouths the words: "what are you doing"
I turn my eyes to coach who is gritting his teeth.
"Well, usually this is a boys outing." Coach says spitting across the table with fury.
"Okay, I'll um go..." I stand up and take the napkin off my lap.
"Jayden. Stay." Jeff says looking at coach disgustingly.
"No it's fine. I understand." I nod and walk through the doors. I hear complete silence in there. I walk out the restaurant doors and sit on a bench that's outside of a nearby store. What do I do now? Go back? I rest my head in my hands and think of some place I could go. But I decide to walk back to the hotel which is just a few blocks down. I walk down the street getting shivers as the day turns into a cold night. The moonlight reflects on the damp street and I see lights flicker through out the city. Las Vegas was beautiful.
When I reach the hotel I notice that the lobby is completely empty and most of the lights are all off. I walk down the hallway leading to our room and suddenly feel a hard pound on my back making me fall as three set of hands grab me.
"Get off of me!" I grunt/shout. They tie a black blind fold on me and I can't see anything besides the darkness of the cloth.
"Stop!" I grunt out back kicking the one behind me. I hear him groan shortly and I try pulling my hand out of they're reach to undo the blindfold. One presses their knee into my calve making my leg give out. I fall to my knees and fling my elbows here and there. I can feel a presence of a person in front of me. I bring my knee up and knee him at what felt like the inner part of the leg. I feel a rope tied around my wrists and I slash and move to get it off as they kick me and pick me up trying to move me somewhere.
"Help!" I shout as I elbow an arm.
"I think someone's coming." A digitally made voice says. These guys were obviously planned to do this, if they even thought about disguising they're voices. They let go dropping me to the floor. I scream and trip one of them hoping someone could catch them. But now I don't hear they're running shoes anymore.
"Are you okay?" I hear a familiar voice. I can't recognize it but I defiantly have heard it before. They help me up and untie the ropes behind me. I immediately fall into the person as they stand there. I try to catch my breath but I have a major cramp on the side of my stomach. I clutch on tighter and hold grasp. He takes off the blind fold and all I see is blurred shapes. I blink my eyes a couple of times trying to have my eyes adjust.
"Jayden?" He says surprisingly. The blurred body suddenly disappears and I see a tall blonde man. Chad. I slowly get away from his grasp on me and lean my hand against a wall trying to catch my breath.
"Who was that?" Ross asks coming from behind me and looking straight at me. His face was serious and his tone sounded harsh and terse.
"I-" I breath while sliding down the wall and curling up. "I don't know." I say fast so I could breath.
"Where's Chris?" Chad shouts angrily to Ross and me. I look at Ross as he looks at me and we shake our heads. Chad takes off at a dead sprint down the hall.
"Chris and Greg aren't here, that wasn't them. Brent said they were sticking with him all day, so they don't wind up in trouble." He shakes his head. I nod and take a deep breath.
But there was a third person...