Playing the Game

Chapter 42: Friendly Competition

Chapter 42

"Welcome to States Week!" Coach Turner announced, speaking through his megaphone as he stood on a bench and addressed the entire field.

The whole squad was out today, nervous about the fact that Coach Turner told us all to show up in workout clothes with running shoes...

No pads only meant one thing: hell.

"Today we're gonna have a little bit of fun." Coach Turner grinned, fixing his baseball hat.

"Kill me now." Elizabeth muttered, resting her hands on her hips.

She absolutely refused to wear her own clothes today, claiming that that would only make her stand out more amongst the other guys.

So she was wearing a pair of my basketball shorts and my grey t-shirt. The clothes had absolutely no form to them and she straight up looked like a squish ball.

In the most endearing was possible?

Elizabeth glanced back at me with a frown and for a minute I thought she could tell what I was thinking and I offered a slight smile to reassure her of my feelings.

But then Coach Turner's voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

"McKinley!"

"Huh? What?" I mumbled, running a hand through my hair as I glanced up at him.

"Glad to see you're nice and ready for practice." Coach Turner said seriously. "Have a good weekend?"

"Yes, sir." I nodded once, crossing my arms.

Elizabeth laughed softly, shaking her head as she turned back to face Coach Turner.

"You feeling awake?"

"Yes, sir."

"Ready to go?"

"One hundred percent." I nodded, squaring my shoulders. "Never better, Coach."

"Great." Coach Turner said happily.

The megaphone shut out and the moment was filled with suspense as he had to get one of the booster parents to help him.

I took the moment to glance over at my dad and my stomach squirmed at the determined look on his face.

This week was about to be rough...

"Great." Coach Turner returned his voice to the loud volume. "Line up along the fifty."

I made sure to stand in between Elizabeth and Reggie, knowing that if it came down to sprints I'd be able to out run Reggie in a heartbeat and it would add a little friendly competition to have Elizabeth so close.

"Garret, lead us off. Indian Run." Coach Turner called before stepping down from his podium.

Groans erupted along the line but we were quickly silenced as we started running.

I was behind Reggie and I could not be more annoyed. Elizabeth was behind me with the nice view while I couldn't even watch her...

~*~*~

"Alright alright alright, get some water." Coach Turner called, the megaphone squealing with an unpleasant noise. He winced and decided to ditch the thing all together. "Ten more minutes left of practice and if you're lucky, I'll make it easy."

Elizabeth was talking to the twins while they sipped their water and I quickly made it seem like I was invested in the conversation so my dad wouldn't try and strike up a conversation with me.