Wild Horses

Chapter 16

"Yes, come in." He said gruffly, and I headed inside the office. It was dimly lit, and the desk light provided almost no light to add to the celling lights.

"Sit down." He said and motioned to the chair across from his desk. I did as I was told.

"So, what can I do for you? I heard about Bryan, I'm terribly sorry. But, between you and me, he was the best player on the team."

"I don't need any sympathy; I want to take Bryan's position on the football team as Quarterback." His eyes widened, and any hint of smile before deteriorated.

"Are you nuts?" He asked.

"Possibly." I said.

"But that's not the point; I want to take over his position. I know all the drills and plays; I taught them when I helped him train." The coach pursed his lips. Coach Braxton leaned back in his chair.

"Impressive, not many teenage girls would know that." He said.

"I am the ONLY girl who probably knows those." He cracked a smile.

"Are you 100% serious?" He asked me, and I nodded.

"Can I call Bryan down here?" He asked me.

"Sure, I'll wait here." I said.

"One last thing, what did your parents say about this?" Coach Braxton asked me.

"My dad told me to do what I thought was right." I said, and he went outside to call Bryan down. Bryan walked into the room a couple minutes later and sat down in the chair next to me. He looked over at me and smirked.

"You finally caved?" He said, and I promptly ignored him.

Coach sat down and leaned back in his chair, this time propping his feet on the desk.

"Bryan, she told me that you asked her to do this, is that true?"

"Yes." He said with no hint of joking or laughing. Coach Braxton turned to me.

"Are you SURE you want to do this?" He asked me.

"Positive." I said.

"Fine, be at practice on Monday, 3 o' clock, a half an hour after school. Don't be late. Just because you are a girl, doesn't mean I will cut you any slack. I will inform the boys at practice today."

I couldn't believe he had let me join the team. Bryan told me practice would be like hell. What a great way to the start of my season. I came into school Monday struggling with my backpack, and a huge bag of equipment. Coach had given it to me the other day. I avoided eye contact with Christian, and dropped my bag off in homeroom.

Caroline bounded up to me.

"What's with the big bag?" She asked me.

"Football equipment," I said and her smile got huge.

"You're doing it?!" She almost screamed.

"Yeah, so you can spread it around. I know it has been killing you not to gossip about it," I said.

"Oh.My.God! Ainsley has to know! I'll catch you later." She said and skipped off.

I struggled with my bag as I headed up to the locker room. My bag was almost bulging full of gear. I put on the shoulder pads over my tee shirt, and yanked on the padded pants and my shorts. Funny enough, Bryan's old cleats fit me, so I laced them up. I felt like one thing was missing. I grabbed the eyeblack from my bag and drew two lines under my eyes. There. I grabbed my helmet and headed downstairs.

"Guys, this is Bryan's sister, Haven. I expect you to respect her and to treat her like part of the team." Coach jiggled my shoulders.

"Start out with 5, 100-yard runs to warm up your legs." Coach said and we all started to sprint up and down the field with our helmets on.

"Haven! Get over here!" Coach yelled, and I sprinted over to him.

"Come on, grab the ball and start tossing it to Chris , I'll be over in a couple minutes." I grabbed it, and hustled over to Chris.

"Hey," he said and smiled.

"Coach told us to toss it around."

"So, how do you like practice so far? It gets to be hell on earth, trust me."

I smiled, tossed the ball as hard as I could and smiled when the ball started to spiral rapidly towards him. With a grunt, he caught it with some trouble.

"I already hate it." I said.

"SO, you did this all for your brother?" He asked me.

"Yup"

"Pretty fucking brave to do, almost all the guys but me are pissed about having a girl on the team. They say it ruins our chances, but I already heard how good you are from Bryan, so I know it really improves them."

"Thanks, I think." I said and he smiled a big cocky grin.

"Haven!" Coach yelled and walked towards me.

"Let's work on some plays." He said and gave me a wristband with all the plays on it.

We ran through all of them, and coach was impressed with my strong knowledge of them.

After about two-and-half hours, coach called off practice, and I endured more angry stares from most of the guys. Coach patted me on the shoulder.

"You did good Haven, I expect that every day. You know playoffs start soon, and we need to be prepared and ready to kick ass."

I smiled, thanked him, and walked to the parking lot where Bryan was picking me up.

As I got in the car, Bryan smile at me and said, "I saw you play, you look good."

We pulled out of the lot, and my eyes scanned the field. Before we left, I noticed one person standing next to the fence. Christian.