𝘋𝘐𝘍𝘍𝘐𝘊𝘜𝘓𝘛-𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦

𝑺𝒌𝒚𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝑶'𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍

I rushed into the changing rooms, where everyone was already there, including the coach, who was explaining our strategy for today's game. The minute I pushed the door open though, everyone's eyes landed on me, making me feel slightly uncomfortable.

'You're late O'Connel!' Coach scolded, turning his full body to face me.

'I know, I'm sorry, I just slept in.' I lied, trying to even my voice out, so the rasp caused by the cold I was running, would not be heard.

'Get changed quickly and then warm up, we have like twenty minutes until the start.' he told me, his tone tunring less enraged and more encouraging.

One thing is that I always got away with anything. Let it be being late from trainings or just as of now, from matches. Coach never really scolded me on anything, because he knew I have my reasons and besides that I was always playing good, there were only a few times when I couldn't gather myself and wasn't able to do my best on the pitch, but those times were exceptional.

So without a word, I found my own part of the bench, besides Matt's, put my stuff down and started to get changed into my gear, while the others, including me, listened to Coach's instructions, but something was off. I felt a pair of eyes glued to me, so I turned my head to my right, only to see my best friend staring at me in horror.

'What the fuck is wrong with you?' he whisper hissed, when he the shape I was in.

'Nothing, everything's good.' I lied, while I pulled the shirt over my head, but just after I put the gears on my body. To be honest with you, being shirtless never bothered me, but it wasn't that day, because the minute the coldness of the room touched my skin, goosebumps appeared all over my body. But I needed to get a hold on myself, so I shook it off and continued on dressing up for the match.

'What do you mean nothing-' Matt retored, but Coach roared at him.

'Young, shut up now or you won't play today.'

'Yes sir!' Matt responded quietly, closing his mouth just as the man asked him to, but that didn't mean his spontain staring contast didn't last, because man, he was eyeing me up like I was some hot girl on a holiday he'll never in his life see again.

'Can you stop fucking staring at me?!' I whispered, turning my attention to him, when I was all dressed up, I just needed to put my helmet on, but that remained to be done on the pitch.

'Sorry, you just look-' Matt started, voice barely above a whisper so Coach wouldn't hear it. 'You look terrible Skyler.' he blurted out as if he was afraid of my reaction.

'Well thank you for your observation, but now shut your mouth!' I glared at my best friend who just frowned, not getting that I wanted to let go of the topic. Is that how Mila felt?

'What's it with you two today?' Coach turned to us with a sigh, putting his clipboard down to the table that was placed in the middle of the changing room. 'Can't you just stay quiet until I tell you what you should do on the picth?'

'Sorry Coach.' I apologized, bowing my head in embarrassment, while my best friend did the same and from then, the both of us stayed silent, not wanting to get kicked out of today's match.

***

I warmed my body up as the best as I could in the around fifteen minutes I had left, before the referees called us on the pitch.

The two teams were standing in front of eachother, some students jumping up and down to have their muscles warmed up, but I wasn't doing anything uniqe. I was simply doing some breathing technics that helped me a lot to calm down when a stressful situation occurred.