Teammates

Game Day

Today was our first home game day. It was the first game of the season. I was super excited for the game. "Nic!" I hear Lizzie yell the moment my foot walks through the front door. I smile hearing her voice. Over the pass few weeks Lizzie and I have become really close.

The moment Lizzie meets me at the door she throws her arms out to hug me, making me internally flinch at the raised arms, when she gets to me she pulls me into a hug. I fight the urge to flinch at the pain on my stomach. My dad left a huge bruise on my stomach last night. Of course Lizzie doesn't notice but I notice Robert give me a look that I don't understand.

"Hey Liz, can I borrow your bestie." Robert joked looking at the brunette, "sure, just bring her back in one piece." "It's not me you have to worry about." He mutters so quietly that I barely hear him. "What do you mean?" Lizzie questions hearing him.

"Don't worry about it." He states grabbing my wrist pulling me to an empty classroom. "Who?"

"What?"

"Who the hell beats you enough that you flinch when Lizzie puts her hands up to hug you?" He questions looking directly into my eyes. I immediately drop eye contact looking at the ground, not wanting to meet his eyes.

"Don't worry about it." I mutter trying to leave, Robert moves to stand in front of me, getting between me and the door. Immediately my mind flashes to what happened last night.

(Trigger warning for child abuse)

Dad stood over me after slapping me for talking back to him while his 'friends' were over.

"¿¡Cómo te atreves a faltarme el respeto así delante de mis amigos!? ¡Eres un pedazo de espacio sin valor! Una boca extra de la que me arrepiento incluso de haber intentado hacerte con la custodia total. ¡Me costó miles de dólares en honorarios de abogados!" (How dare you disrespect me like that in front of my friends!? You are a worthless piece of space! An extra mouth that I regret even trying to get full custody of you. You costed me thousands of dollars in lawyer fees!) Every time he spoke his foot connected to my stomach.

"¡Trevor, detente!" (Trevor, stop!) I could hear my mom plead to my father. I hear skin connect to skin when my dad slapped my mom for speaking. "No la toques." (Don't touch her.) I whisper trying to get up.

"¡Cállate! ¡No eres nada, no puedes hablar!" (Shut up! You are nothing, you don't get to speak!) He yells at me picking me up from my shirt throwing me into the wall, my head against the wall making the world seem dizzy for a moment before passing out.

"It's your father isn't it?" Robert asks suddenly as I come back to reality. "You wouldn't have blanched that much if it was your mother from me standing in front of you."

I glance at him before pushing him aside to get out of the classroom. "It's none of your business." He grabs my wrist pulling me back to him. I intake a breath looking up at him. "Let me go." I growl out. He grabs my shirt lifting it up to see the dark fresh bruise on my ribs. "Holy shit!"

I slap his hand away from my shirt, I grab my wrist back. I quickly make my way out of the room. Chris Evans who has become like a brother to me waved as I past him to get to class. "Nicole?" He questions when I speed right past him instead of stopping like I normally do.

"Nicole, wait up!" He called out closing his locker walking up behind me. He swung his arm around my shoulder pulling me closer to him. See this is why random classmates thought we were dating. "Ready for game day?"

I let out a small chuckle already feeling better with him around. I always felt safe around the quarterback. "You know, yeah I am." I smile answering his question. "Hey, I was wondering if you wanted me to wear your away jersey at the game. Keep the creepy guys in check?" He asks as we stop outside my English class that I had with Flo. I thought over his inquiry. My dad shouldn't show up today. He never does, mom might, but she wouldn't care if he was. She knows that Evans and I are just friends.