Quiet || hs

8

"I can't believe they made us come this early." someone from JV complains in the locker room. "And it's the weekend."

"It's Rylee's fault, if she hadn't called him then we wouldn't be here." Leslie speaks up then rubs her head.

"Hey back off." Monique defends.

"Why are you defending her?" Leslie spat. "I know you are as hungover as the rest of us and we would be resting if it wasn't for her."

I stay quiet while they argue. The situation escalates and the room got louder. Monique gets closer to Leslie and I saw what was coming.

"Guys stop," I try jumping in.

Leslie swings her arm and slap Monique. The room becomes quiet until Monique swings back. I try pulling Leslie off of Monique who was pulling her hair. There was shouting from the other girls and I couldn't pull Leslie off.

Suddenly, I was pulled away from Leslie. I look up to see Coach Payne splitting the other two apart. Then I glance back, seeing Coach Styles holding on to me.

"What the hell is wrong you?" Coach Styles shouts, making the room become silent. The girls try explaining only making it worse. "Monique go wait in my office now." he orders.

I stood there awkwardly with his hands now resting on my shoulders as if I would attack.

"But I- she started i-"

"I said go." he booms. "Don't make me tell you again." he warns and Monique storms out of the room. "Leslie, you go with Coach Payne."

"Coach, Moniq-" I try defending Monique, but he doesn't let me.

"I want you girls out there in five and I expect you to be running laps when I come out." he demands. He nudges me,"Eversteen will direct you."

Coach leaves the room full of astonished girls. They were dumbfounded by how fast everything just happened. They were giggling about the situation.

"I didn't have a shirt on." someone mutters to their friend.

"I didn't have my pants on." the other girl responds, giggling.

"Lets go ladies before we get into even more trouble." I order, walking out of the locker room.

We all meet in the gym and start stretching. I start the JV off with the laps and that's when Coach Payne comes out with Monique by his side. She looked like she was crying.

"What happened?" I ask immediately.

She just crosses her arms and shakes her head. I try comforting her, but she didn't let me. The JV finishes their laps and Coach Payne orders the Varsity out onto the court. We line up at the end of the court and wait for coach to signal to start.

"I'm sitting out for the next two games." she tells me then coach blows the whistle.

-

"You can't have her sit out." I barge into Coach Styles office after the workout.

It took me a lot of courage to confront him. It actually took me a while because I was debating on taking a shower and leaving it alone or confronting him.

"We're not talking about this. Go take a shower, Eversteen." Coach says, filing something.

"No," I say boldly and he takes a sharp turn to face me.

"Excuse me?" he takes a couple strides to his door and shuts it. "Did you just say no to me?"

I gulp, fearing his glare. "Y-yes, I did."

"Eversteen, I know I told you to become more bold, but now isn't the time."

"But Monique didn't start it." I argue. "Leslie was talking shit about me and she was defending me. Then she slapped her for no good reason."

"I don't have time for this. I already set the consequence and I'm not changing it." he says. "Now hurry up and go take a shower. My wife is already upset that I cancelled our morning plans, but if I'm late then she'll have my head."

"Coach please," I beg, grabbing his arm to stop him from walking away. "I'll deal with the consequences, just let Monique play."

"You do know I have to put this on record." he tells me. "I'm sure a quiet girl like you doesn't have one."

My eyes widen because he was right. I had never gotten in trouble in school.

"I-I'm willing to let you do that then." I say hesitantly. "As long as Monique gets to play."

Coach chuckles. "You're loyal, I like that."

"So she gets to play?"

"No." he sighs, gathering his things. "Now I really have to go, you can shower at home then."

I stand in front of the door to block him from leaving. I know Monique will never forgive me for getting her benched.

"Please, I'll do anything." I beg. "Her family was planning on coming to our next game and they'll be so disappointed to see she's not even playing."

Coach grips my shoulders and pushes me aside. I hold on to his arms, forcing my weight forward. He ends up losing his footing and falling back while still holding onto me. Every thing happened so fast and I was on top of him. I only shift a bit and he groans loudly, pushing me back.

"Shit, Eversteen." his face was red as he held his private area.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry coach." I apologize, crawling to him. I accidentally kneed him in his area. Without thinking, my hand lands on his thigh and I gently squeeze it to make him feel a bit better. "I didn't mean to-"

"D-don't touch me." he snaps, swatting my hand away. "I'm fine, I'm okay." he says, standing himself back onto his feet.

"I'm s-"

"Fine Eversteen, you'll get what you want and sit out instead of Kenneth." he breathes out, straightening his outfit. "Are you happy now? Can we leave?"