A touch of fancy

Chapter thirty-three: I have something to tell you, Mare.

"Alright everyone! Get in a line." Coach Ambrose says, blowing her whistle.

I shrug off my blazer, setting it atop my backpack on the bleacher. "Question..." I say, raising my hand.

"Yes, Mare?"

"I'm not really, um, appropriately dressed so do you want me to take my shirt off or...?" I ask tentatively.

She raises an incredulous eyebrow. "Do you have a sports bra underneath?"

I nod. "Yeah that fine." She responds.

I quickly unbutton my shirt after pulling my hair into a low ponytail, taking it off and folding on top of my blazer. I can feel eyes on me and I look over to see like half of the girls looking at me- no my stomach.

They all blush when I catch them, diverting their gaze. I tune into their whispering.

One of them says: "She's very, um, fit." Her and her friends giggle together like they have some inside joke.

Another says, "Oh my god. She fucking hot. Think she's gay?"

She friend says, "Yeah my gaydar is pinging like crazy right now."

I chuckle lowly as that, cuffing my slacks. I walk over, into line. "Alright, first let's start with simple dribbling. I want to see what control each of you have with your feet. Grab a ball, space out, and dribble to the end of the field and back trying as hard as you can to keep the ball in a straight line." Coach orders.

And so it begins.

***

Everyone gathers around at the bleachers at the end of the tryouts, taking swigs of water. The tryouts were much shorter than I thought they would be, about three hours. Everyone is panting, sweating, and even a couple of freshman are laying across the bleachers in exhaustion.

I feel like I'm sticking out like a sore thumb, only a couple of droplets dripping down my face. It's not that bad or hard doing all the drills, it was the concentration to control my power that was more difficult.

It's just I've never had to do that. When I exercise, I'm alone and I never have to restrict myself of my full power.

It's definitely harder than I thought.

Someone takes a seat next to me, and I look up to see Delilah smiling at me. I smile back, seeing a clipboard in her lap.

"Oooh whatcha got there?" I ask curiously as I stretch over, trying to take a peak just to mess with her.

"Nope. You aren't allowed to look." She tells me pulling the board away from my line of sight but I can see her eyes flick down to my stomach and the way they flex and move beneath my pale skin.

I shrug, taking another swig of water. I watch her as she writes something down.
"So, what's that for?" I ask inquisitively.

"Oh, well since I'm the co captain, Coach told me to pick who I personal would choose to be on the varsity team, then she would review her own judgment with mine and decide who gets to join." She spells out.

"Hmm, interesting. Do you pick the people, like, right now, during tryouts, or when you get home?" I ask, turning to face her more.

"Usually here. Tryouts are all about making an impression. That what I base off of- first impressions."

I nod, about to open my mouth to talk, but she cuts me off, "You really like asking questions. You know that?"

I smirk. "I just like being prepared."

She blushes, casting her eyes away from me. I'm about to say something else when Coach stands up along with Delilah and they stand in front of us.

She claps her hands once, saying, "Alright usually I choose who's going to be on the team after a day or two of thought, but after looking at Delilah's notes, I can definitely say we are making the best decision." 

"First I'll begin with the people who tried out this year that were on last years team."

My mind zones out after that. Coach is reading a list of people names, girls that make the varsity team in alphabetical order.

"...Delilah Parkstone, Amaranthine Pike...," I looked up after hearing my name. I know it sounds bad, but I'm not surprised.

I obviously didn't use my powers to their extent, but I was still pretty good. When we played the scrimmage, I used my head just as much as my body and our team won.

Audrey, the center midfield was amazing as well and our keeper Zulema, a senior, is great at blocking the ball.

I played in most of the positions but mainly forward, midfield and striker. I think I'm the best striker because I can kick the ball into the goal very fast, making it unable for the goalie to even have a chance at defending.

"Alright, that's all the people that will be on the varsity team this year. The rest of you will be on the JV team. At gym class she'll pass out your schedules. You can leave now. Varsity stay." She says blankly, and people began to pack their things, murmurs of disappointment settling in the air as they left.

Once everyone was gone except the varsity girls, Ambrose spoke again, more filled with emotion now, "I would like to congratulate everyone on making this years varsity team. Delilah will hand out the schedules and you can look them over before you leave."

We all began to pack our things. I started buttoning my shirt back up, and once I was don't with the second to last one, Delilah came over to me, a piece of paper in her hand and and schedule on it.

I smiled at her, saying, "Thank you." She blushed, nodding before moving on.

I finished changing, shrugging on my blazer, not bother with the buttons. I never do because I always have to end up unbuttoning them when I sit down. I tuck my tie underneath my white collar, not tying it.

Just when I'm done putting my messenger bag over my shoulder, Delilah comes over to me, a smile on her face. I smile back, saying as we make our way out to the parking lot, "So, why don't you want to tryout for captain?"

"I could ask you the same thing." She replied.

I shrugged. "Didn't feel right."

"Oh, ok I guess. Well for I just don't think I'm comfortable with the responsibilities that go with being captain. I don't really like the attention though. But at least when I'm co-captain I can still do some of the same stuff. It's just not as nerve-wracking."

I nodded in understanding, "No, that makes a lot of sense actually. I get that you wouldn't want to do something like that if you weren't comfortable with the attention."

She was about to say something else, but when my car came into view I saw Ead leaning against the drivers side door, her crutches next to her.

I could tell something was off, so I looked over at Delilah, nodding toward my car, "See you later?"

She nodded, waving goodbye.

I walking toward Ead, stopping a couple of steps away from her. "What's wrong," Was the first thing I said.

She seemed taken back by that, surprised I could tell already that something was wrong.

She takes a deep breath, looking away. I took a step closer to her, gently taking her chin into my hand, making her look up at me.

"I have to tell you something, Mare."

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