New Girl on the Block

Chapter Sixteen: Benjamin

Coach almost immediately called me into his office when I walked into the locker room before our morning practice. We've sat in silence for a few moments, Coach leaning back slightly in his black office chair, and me sitting on the opposite side of him waiting for what feels like an eternity. "Okay, here's the deal: you're now Captain of the football team, and I'm gonna need ya to start immediately," Coach says simply, not moving from his clearly comfortable position in his chair.

I'm taken completely aback. Tarver was a great captain! Why in the world is he being replaced with me? "W-what? What do you mean? What happened to Tarver? Is he alright?" I ramble out, and Coach waves me to silence with his thick hand. "Yeah, he's fine. Caught him smokin' a joint with one of the cheerleaders after last week's game. You're practically the only person on this whole darn team I actually trust to be a good captain. You know your teammates, and you can certainly play. I don't see any problems here. Also, you don't exactly have a choice, Anderson," he says, peering over his reading glasses at me.

I sigh and nod. "Right. Thanks, Coach. Is that all?" I tell him, knowing there's no point in arguing anymore. "Not quite. Imma need ya to make sure the rest of the team isn't smokin' or drinkin' or anythin' dumb, alright? Enforce drug tests every two weeks, yes those drug tests are in addition to the already mandated ones from UIL. If any one of those boys comes back positive for anything, you make em' run until they puke it outta their system, capeesh?" That's a little harsh, but alright.

"Caposh," I respond, and Coach smiles. He's always enjoyed callbacks for some reason. Probably because it makes us look just a little stupid. "That's all, you're dismissed," he says, so I get up and walk out of his office.

I jog out to the field where the rest of the team is either stretching, standing around doing nothing, or sitting on their phones. I take a deep breath in and out and call out to them as I come closer, "Alright! Let's start runnin'!" They all look up at me in confusion, then at each other, then back to me. One of the guys stands and says, "We don't listen to you, Anderson! Where's Tarver or Coach?"

"Yeah, it's not like you're our captain!" Another guy calls out, and a small smirk inevitably forms on my lips. "Actually, I've just received direct orders from Coach that I will be taking over Tarver's position. He's unable to join us for the rest of the season," I tell them, and they all look around as if I'm kidding; some of them even laugh. I drop my expression into a scowl and call, "I'm serious. Get your butts on that track before I make Coach come out here and tell you himself!" They don't start moving until his voice booms behind me.

"No need to come get me, Anderson. Y'all heard your captain, get out on that track!" He shouts at them, and they all startle and then jog out to the track. I fall in line with the rest of the guys, but eventually, I pass most of them due to their purposefully slow paces. Due to this, I make them, and unfortunately, myself, run an extra three laps.

"Wrap it up!" Coach calls, so I finish the lap I'm on and motion for the rest of the guys to jog over to the benches. Coach gives us a two-minute water break, extremely generous on his behalf, and then he makes us work harder than in any other practice we've had before. He's probably trying to regain the team he's lost in the last few weeks.

. . .

I don't see Helena until lunch. She walks over to me, waving with a smile and saying, "Can I sit with you today? Lyra's still at her art comp in LA." I take her hand in mine and lead her to my table, saying, "It would be my honor," dramatically, so she laughs.

Just as we're reaching the table, Bethany and her minions of the week walk up to us...or really me with the fakest smiles I've ever seen. "Oh mah gosh!" She slurs as if it's a shock to see me at the school we both go to. Helena starts to walk away, sliding her hand from mine, but I tighten my hold on her hand and pull her back next to me. "Bethany, you remember Helena," I look over at Helena and say something I'm not quite sure how she'll react to, "My girlfriend." Helena's eyes widen, and she looks up at me.

She doesn't seem angry, just shocked. Bethany on the other hand is furious. She clasps her hands together and says with a fake smile, "OH! Why isn't that just lovely! Yes, I do remember you, Halana!" She's clearly messed up Helena's name on purpose. "It's Helena," she snaps back at Bethany.

The two girls scowl at each other for a moment, but then Bethany's way too pink lips break into a mischievous smirk. She turns her focus to me and says, "Well, I'm glad you're getting some practice in. Don't want your skills to be damaged when we get back together." I start to say something, but Helena beats me to it.

"What did you just say?" Helena says with a tone of discontent I've never experienced from her. "Oh, you don't know?" Bethany patronizes Helena. "Benny and I always get back together after one of his little flings!" It looks like there's a fire in Bethany's eyes, fueled purely by Helena's feelings.

"Bethany, that's not–"

"Really? How interesting," Helena cuts me off, stepping in front of me. The two girls are at eye level with one another, yet Helena seems awfully tall at the moment. "What do you mean 'interesting'?" Bethany says, clearly annoyed with Helena's curiosity. "I didn't think flings told each other things like 'I love you' and 'I want to grow old with you,'" Helena says, and I practically pass out. We've never exactly said one of those things, and we've certainly never said the other to each other.

Bethany looks infuriated, so I don't rebuttal Helena's accusations. She's not exactly wrong in making them. "Ugh! Whatever!" Bethany says, flips her hair, and walks off with her minions.

Helena smirks proudly and sits down at the table. Immediately, the guys' girlfriends start talking to Helena. They make the boys switch seats with them, so they can be closer to Helena. "That was totally awesome! How did it feel? Did it feel like you were ripping her skin off her bones?" One of the girls, Rachel I think, says. We all look at her in shock. She's usually quiet and contempt.

"Uhm...I don't know. I guess so. I can't really remember anymore haha..." Helena says, laughing nervously. She looks at me, but I just re-grab her hand and start talking to my friends sitting around me. "What was your name again?" Rachel asks Helena, and she responds with her name. The girls spend the rest of lunch talking about each other, but mostly about Helena. After a few minutes, Helena relaxes and talks freely with the other girls. I'm so glad she's warming up to them; I was honestly kind of scared she would just sit quietly and say nothing to anyone.

After lunch, I walk Helena and her new friends to class. Apparently, they have classes within close proximity to each other. I stop Helena right before her class, and whisper into her ear, "Did you mean what you said at lunch? To Bethany. Because, we can make both of those things happen." Her cheeks flush, and she looks me in the eyes. Once she realizes I'm joking, she hits my chest and storms off to class.