Halftime

chapter 16

We got to Columbia around forty minutes later. Well it wasn't exactly Columbia. It was the Columbia athletic complex. And god was it massive. Hayden lead me through the building and fields while I marvelled at our surroundings.

We walked past the rugby stadium and my eyes widened when I saw how massive it really was. American sports culture was so strange to me. I'd never thought that a school stadium would be so big. It wasn't even the professional league.

Hayden cut through one of the buildings and stopped at a door with a male symbol on it.

"I need to get changed," he said, nodding his head towards the door. "The lacrosse field is just through that door. The team will be on it, so you can't miss it."

I nodded and gave him one last smile before following his directions. Hayden was right. There was no way to miss the massive grass field to the left of the path. The lacrosse team was already on it, running what I assumed were drills.

All of the players were geared up, wearing helmets and pads across their shoulders and elbows. I assumed their chests were also padded since they looked too buff to be normal.

I stuck to the side of the field, not wanting to interrupt their training, and took a seat on the stands. The stands weren't nearly as big as the rugby stadium, but they were still pretty big.

I sat in the front row but near the end of the stands, since all of the team had left their bottles and lacrosse sticks near the middle.

I squinted my eyes, trying to recognise which players were Ty, Zack and Aiden. So far I could only pinpoint Zack since he was the one yelling out orders, and Hayden had already told me he was captain of the team.

The team coach was standing near one of the goals, with crossed arms and a whistle between his lips. The goal he was standing next to was a lot smaller than I thought and my appreciation for the sport grew a little. I would probably never be able to score a goal. Especially with a goalie in the way.

I watched as Zack raised his head and looked around, his eyes landing on me. He yelled out, instructing his team to take a drink break before jogging over to me. Two others followed after him, and I assumed they were Ty and Aiden.

"Hey Vee," Zack greeted me, and plucked me out of my seat, wrapping me in a hug. I laughed as he set me down. I stared up at all three of them.

"Jesus," I said, "it feels like you guys have doubled in size overnight."

Ty pulled off his helmet shaking his hair out before smiling, "it's the pads."

"Where's Hayden?" Zack asked.

"He's getting changed. He'll be here soon."

"You're lucky we like you, you know," Aiden said, "otherwise Zack would rip your head off for making Hayden late to training."

I held my hands up, "not my fault. I didn't even know Hayden had training."

"What were you two doing anyway? I called him like ten times," Zack grumbled.

"We actually went to your parents' cafe," I told him.

Zack's mouth opened in surprise before dragging his hand over his face, which was still covered by his helmet, "oh god. Please tell me mum didn't say anything embarrassing."

"Nope. But she did tell me that you've been talking about me with her," I said with a smirk.

Aiden and Ty laughed as Zack groaned.

"She also invited me to dinner," I said.

Zack groaned again, "oh my god. I'll tell her no."

"No, don't. I'd love to come. Plus Clarence said if I came he'd give me his cookie recipe."