My Life with the Avengers

Gym Class

Steve drove me to school the next morning and Caleb was being dropped off at the same time I was.

"Jackie!" he called running over to me.

"Hi Caleb." I said with a smile. "What's up?"

"Not much." he told me. "Oh, you weren't here when the teacher announced this, but we're doing a project in physics and I was wondering if you wanted to be lab partners."

"Sure. That'd be fun." We walked through the school and I kept getting the feeling that everyone was watching me.

"Jackie, how come everyone keeps looking at you?" Caleb asked.

I shrugged. "No idea. Maybe they heard about the fight yesterday."

"That'd be a good guess." he said. "Thank you, by the way. No one has ever stood up for me like that before."

"You're welcome." I said with a smile.

We walked into Physics and sat down at a table in the front. The project was pretty simple. We had to build a rocket and a capsule for an egg that could survive "re-entry". The two of us brainstormed for a while but we couldn't come up with anything good enough to work. I figured that I would ask Tony or Bruce for ideas when I got home. My next two classes were fine and lunch went significantly better than yesterday. Fourth period gym, was another story.

The fact that I wasn't comfortable changing into my gym clothes in front of everyone in the girls locker room was the least of my problems. Those girls from yesterday who had confronted me after school just so happened to be in my class. I did my best to avoid them, but when the coach announced that all three of them were going to be on my team for flag football it was no longer an option.

"Why hello, Jackie." Ashlyn said in a bitter-sweet voice.

"Hi Ashlyn, how are you?"

"I'm doing just great, especially now that I know that you're going to tell everyone the truth about yesterday's little incident."

"They already know what happened. You're boyfriend was picking on my friend and I stopped it. I'm not changing my story. There's nothing you can do to make me do so either." I said firmly.

Ashlyn looked skeptic. "Nothing?"

"Nothing." I said.

She gave me a sickly smile. "Alright then." Ashlyn said. "But we'll see how long you last."

"You'd be surprised." My team and I walked outside to start the game. To say that half my team wasn't participating was an understatement. But I tried motto let that get me down. My uncles and I had been playing football since I was a little kid and I loved it. One of the girls threw me the ball and I started sprinting. The defenders ran after me but I dodged them and kept running. 40 yards... 30... 20... another girl came at me from the side and I spun out of the way. 15 yards... 10... 5... Touchdown!! This pattern continued until the teacher pulled me aside. "Jackie, I want you to switch teams."

"Alright."

The teacher led me to where the boys gym class was playing. The boys were a whole lot bigger than me and no doubt faster. I was nervous, but I pushed that to the back of my mind as the play started. I caught the ball and ran for my life. The boys swarmed around me. 35 yards... I ducked under and spun around them. 20 yards... 15 yards... I kept running. 10... 5... they were so close to grabbing the flag on my waist. 2... 1. Touchdown!! The teacher stepped in and pulled me aside again and this time, she was with a man I'd never seen before.

"Jackie, this is Coach Stockton." My teacher said. "He'd like to talk to you about the football team."

Coach Stockton reached out his hand and I shook it. "Jackie, you just out ran several of my varsity players. Now, our starting Junior Varsity running back is out for the season with a torn ACL. Would you be willing to take his spot?"

My eyes went wide. "That would be awesome!" I said.

Coach Stockton smiled. "Then I'll see you on the field in twenty minutes. I'm sure Mrs. Clayton will help you get your gear."

Mrs. Clayton took me to get my helmet and pads then I went to practice.

It was brutal. By the time school was out, I was pretty beat up.

"What happened to you?" Caleb asked as we walked out.

"Oh, I tried out for the football team and made it."

Caleb's eyes went wide. "How? They never let girls try out."

"Coach Stockton saw me running in gym and he offered me a spot as the JV starting running back."

"And your parents are okay with that?" Caleb asked.

I shrugged.

"You do know that he's going to talk to your parents about joining the team. Right?"

I shifted uncomfortably and looked down at my feet. "Caleb...?"

"Yeah?"

"There's something you should know."

"What is it?"

I took a deep breath. "My parents died in a car crash when I was two years old."

He looked shocked and ashamed. "Oh, Jackie. I'm sorry. I didn't mean—"

I cut him off. "It's alright. You didn't know."

Caleb suddenly threw his arms around me and gave me a hug. I was so shocked that I almost pushed him away. But then, I realized how nice it felt and hugged him back. "I'm so sorry, Jackie." He said.

"Don't worry about it, Caleb." I said as he let go.

"Are you sure?" Because--"

"Caleb." I said firmly. "Its fine."

"Alright."

We sat in silence for a while until Caleb spoke up. "So football, huh?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I've been playing with my uncles for as long as I can remember and I was on a recreation team for a few seasons but I never thought about playing for high school."

"What position?"

"Running back. The same one that Coach Stockton offered me."

"Cool."

Caleb's mom and Uncle Steve showed up at the same time.

"I'll text you about the physics project." I told him as we walked to the cars.

"Okay," Caleb said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

I waved and got into Steve's truck.

"Was that Caleb?" Steve asked as we started the drive home.

I nodded. "Yeah. We've got all of our classes together."

"He's in your gum class?" Steve asked skeptically. "I thought you were in girls fitness."

"I am. We have gym the same period but he's in the guy's gym class." I explained. "But I may be dropping that class."

"Why would you drop it?"

I smiled. "Because I was offered a position on the football team."

"Really?" Steve asked. "What position?"

"Running back." I said proudly. "And I really want to do it."

Steve thought about it for a minute. "We'll talk to everyone about it later. But I'm not a huge fan about the idea."

My eyes went wide. "What? Why not?"

"Because I don't like the idea of two hundred pound boys tackling you. You could very easily get hurt."

"But that's only if they catch me." I insisted.

"We'll talk about this later." Steve said firmly.

We didn't say anything for the rest of the trip home. I needed to formulate a plan.