A different view

Chapter 6

There were only 3 games left now, semi-finals with Medical and Science and the finals with Management if we got that far. This evening at practice, Lin and I were at an impasse on ideas to tackle Science. Lin looked at Preeth for support.

"Show us P'Park" Preeth said pushing up her glasses from the bridge of her nose

"What?"

"Prove to us where our defense is weak. It's quicker than talking about it" she said going on to the field.

Ming and I took off our jackets and joined the opposite team. The game started and the girls intended to show no mercy. Ming and I loved the thrill of this. We were so involved in coaching them that we missed playing the game. We were almost at the goal when Preeth tried to tackle the ball from me and we both fell. She was clutching her knee and was crouched up.

"Preeth are you alright?" Lin asked in a worried tone by the time Ming helped me up and we hobbled over. She wasn't moving, she wasn't even conscious.

"Ming, get the car," I said, picked her up bridal style, and rushed to the parking lot. Once in the car, I called Lam and asked him to meet me at the hospital.

We took her into the emergency room giving a quick narration of what happened and the doctor and nurse took over the examination taking her to a closed room. Lam reached at the same time. Ming stepped away to inform Forth.

"She has a scar and bruises on her legs. Has she had any accidents before this?" the doctor came over to ask

"We're not sure. Should we call someone from her family? Is there anything serious?" I asked. I felt responsible as she was injured because of me.

"Just a minor concussion. She is almost waking up now. Her right knee is a little swollen. She might need to rest for a day or two and not put any pressure on it. You can go in if you wish. If the pain continues, we'd recommend an x-ray just to make sure"

Lam and I entered the room. The nurse had taken off her stocking perhaps to examine her knee. I'm not sure when I held Lam's hand but he squeezed back tight. She had a huge scar on her inner thigh that went right up out of view, possibly stitches but also there were other smaller scars all over her legs. These were clearly not sports injuries. Lam immediately pulled out a blanket from the cupboard and covered her lower half with it. She just started to stir at the same time as there was a knock on the door.

"Forth's on his way" Ming said as he entered the room. "Is she alright?"

Beam's POV

Lam assured us it wasn't anything serious in a subsequent call but Forth and I wanted to go and check anyway. It was Preeth, not any of their random engineering girls. When we entered the room, Park already had got a wheelchair.

"Nong Preeth, how are you doing?"

"I'm alright P'Beam. Really it was not necessary for all this attention. I should really be heading home" she said.

"We'll drop you home" I offered

"P'Park has already booked a cab. I'm good."

"Park, how can we send her home in this condition alone?" I asked exasperated

"It's just a minor knee injury Beam and we offered to drop her home too, but she refused." Park replied

"Nong really it's no trouble" I said trying to look her in the eye. She always avoided looking at me when I spoke to her. Right from day one.

She refused again. She took off the blanket so that she could swing her legs down to get into the wheelchair. Her expression changed and I saw the scars on her legs. She hurriedly pulled back the blanket over her legs. I could feel Forth put an arm around me from behind to steady me.

"Nong, you know that all of us are gay here so we prefer more manly legs anyway. Nothing for you to be shy about. Come on I'll give you a hand" Park said as the rest of us watched him offer his hand for support so she slid into the wheelchair. She was a little in shock herself. "Although Lam's are the best of course" and there was an immediate whack on his head from Lam which caused her to smile.

"Considering there are straight men outside this room and it's a little chilly, do you want something to cover your legs as we wheel you out to the cab?" Park continued to ask. She nodded and I took off my jacket and put it on her legs. Park helped her into the cab outside as well at which point she returned my jacket.

"Keep it. You can give it to me tomorrow." I said. 

"I'll let you know once the cab reaches her home" Park said. "Lam, shall we leave?"

"Do you think they know?" I asked Forth

"I doubt it" Forth said

"Then why didn't they ask us anything after seeing her like that?"

"They know it's not our story to tell."

Preeth didn't come into college the next day or the day after. Lin said that her leg was still recovering. On the third day Park asked to talk to Preeth on Lin's phone and put it on speaker.

"Nong your 2 days of rest are up. Are you joining us back on the team?" Park asked. I looked at Lam wondering how he could be so insensitive. He just shrugged.

"P'Park, I'll be there tomorrow but I'll probably have to sit out the match with Science"

"Hear that team? Preeth is challenging us to win the match with Science without her playing!" Ming said to rile up the team. Engineering guys were sure dense sometimes. The entire team booed Ming.

On the day of the match with Science, Preeth was seated next to Wayo eyes on the match. She didn't cheer or show any sign of tension. Lam sat on her other side and Park was standing in the stands and would occasionally walk over to talk to them. They won the match and qualified for the finals. The match with Medical was only a formality but Preeth played anyway. It was the first time I was watching her. She stood out not because of her glasses, pigtails, her traditional black shirt and stocking under her uniform but because of her performance. She was a complete natural. It was her first since she joined the team.

To say the match with management was nail biting was an understatement. Within the first 15 minutes, it was obvious that Preeth was targeted.

"Forth, I have a bad feeling about this. Something's wrong" I said as I saw Kick snicker and smile.

Park came over to talk to Forth and Kongpob.

"They might have a plan. Let's hope it works. They have to hang in there until half time though" Forth said once he got back

Almost close to halftime one of the management girls knocked down Preeth. We were all up in our seats. Ming had rushed over and gave a thumbs up to indicate she was alright. When she got up she didn't have her glasses anymore. A management girl sarcastically held up a broken pair of glasses and handed it over to Ming.

"They've just angered a whole herd of tigers now" Forth said.

Engineering got a penalty kick and management was now at a 1 point lead by the end of the first half. Half time was a buzz in the stands.

"Does she have an extra pair of glasses?" Pha asked Lam

"I don't think so"

"How can you be so calm" Kit said. "We can go get her one, if she needs it"

"I'll bet you she'll come out and play without glasses and play just as good." Lam said confidently. We all looked at Lam.

"You're on!" Kit said

Once half time was up, the players returned to the field. Preeth wasn't wearing glasses as Lam predicted. In fact, we could barely recognize her. The entire team was wearing black full-sleeved shirts and stockings under their uniform and... a mask to cover their nose and mouth. Even their hair was all done in the same style.

"Park's idea," Forth said. "Let's see if they have the guts to bully 11 of us".

"What if they do?"

"Then we can just win with all the penalty kicks it'll result in" Lam said

"That's .... " Kit didn't even know what to make of the idea. Kick had the smirk wiped off his face and the management girls were confused beyond doubt. The second half was a pushover. Engineering won!