Be There | A Dwayne Robertson Fanfic ✔️

A Bet

After the incident in town, I walked back to the dorms, alone, and avoided any interaction with the Team USA boys known as Goldberg, Averman, and Jesse. I don't particularly want to see or speak with any of them at the moment.

I'm sitting on my bed, holding a book in my hands as my eyes skim over the printed words on the page. Why can't real boys be like the ones in books?

I glance up from the paperback to see the bathroom door open, and Julie bringing a brush through her sandy hair, untangling the knots. "Hey, Julie. What're you doing?" I ask, curiosity getting the best of me.

"I'm gonna go talk to Coach about me playing," she replies, placing the tan hairbrush on the countertop. I nod, knowing she hasn't played at all, considering she's just "backup". She turns away from the mirror, a pleading look in her eyes. "Can you come with me for moral support?"

I start to decline, but she sticks her bottom lip out, pouting playfully. "Oh, alright," I say, sticking a bookmark in between the pages. I set my book on the bed, straightening my clothes out. "Let's go."

She smiles brightly, wrapping me into a quick hug, before dashing out of the room. We race down the halls, getting annoyed looks from trainers and players from other teams.

When we reach Coach's office, yes he has his own office, he's on the phone, talking about some sort of shoe, whatever it is. Julie hesitantly raises her fist, knocking on the glass quietly. I almost think that Coach can't hear her, but he turns around, phone still pressed to his ear. Julie mouths something to him, and he motions for us to come inside.

"Go ahead and sit down," he tells us as we enter, quietly so he can still listen to the conversation on the phone. We place ourselves in the seats in front of him, waiting for him to finish. "We'll talk about it at dinner, okay." Coach ends the call, sitting at the desk before us. "What's up?" he asks, kindly.

Julie wastes no time in being extremely blunt. "I wanna play," she says simply, her grey eyes staring at Coach beggingly. "When am I gonna get my chance?"

Coach frowns slightly. "Julie, Goldberg's on a hot streak. I gotta stick with him as long as we're winning," he answers. Ugh, just hearing his name makes me want to throw something. Geez, I need to stop spending so much time with Dean.

Julie sighs, "I understand," her face is emotionless, but I can tell she's not very happy. "But, I left my team in Maine to show the world what I can do."

"Just give it time," Coach nods knowingly. I know that he wants to let her play, but he can't take out our goalie who has been stopping shots left and right, preventing other teams from scoring a single point. "You will show the world, I promise. 'Kay?" Coach leans forward some, a small smile on his lips.

Julie's face brightens as she returns the smile, her hope restored thanks to Coach. She nods as we stand up. "Alright, now get outta here," Coach chuckles as we wave good-bye to him.

"See, that wasn't so bad," I tell Julie as we leave the office. She rolls her eyes, shoving my shoulder. "Let's go get some food, yeah?"

"Okay, I could go for some of those cookies, if Goldberg hasn't eaten them all yet," she laughs as I force a smile onto my lips. "Oh, and you're paying!" She takes off in a sprint towards the cafeteria, as I run after her not wanting to buy her food.

We burst through the doors of the cafeteria loudly, and it turns silent as eyes from all around the room glare at us. Our faces burn with embarrassment as Team USA's table laughs at us.

We slowly walk to the line, the room getting louder by the second as people return to their food. Buying our dinner, Julie and I make our way to the table, and I plop down next to Luis and Adam, and across from Charlie, as far away from Goldberg as possible.