Out of Her League |Lesbian Story|

Chapter 12

The Reject players warmed up on the field, urged on by a cage fighter-looking man and a baseball mafia member.

The mob of noisy Russian supporters passing around food. Zoya went straight up to Mom and offered her some Russian biscuits and cakes on a tray. Mom pointed me out - that one is my daughter. Zoya gushed and carried on, giving free treats.

"Here they are! Moya komanda! My team!" Mitko whooped in excitement. He had hooped up an espresso coffee machine with electric cords and water hoses.

"What does everyone want?" he said, throwing his arms wide. "Cappucino, latte, cocoa?"

Mom stared with her mouth hanging open, amazed.

Mitko bowed to her with a flourish. "Gorgeous lady, what can I get you?"

"This is Darci's mom," said Zoya.

"Oh, mother of the Kapitan!" Mitko gasped and shook Mom's hand vigorously. "Do you know what a great player your daughter is?"

Mom mumbled something, embarrassed and overwhelmed.

Meanwhile, we'd finished the warm-up and the game was close to starting. That's when Harper appeared. She gabbled out a pile of apologies and excuses about not getting lifts and stuff. Felik put up his hand to stop her. When he spoke, he sounded pretty tough.

"Harper. You miss training. You're late for games. Today - you aren't here to warm up with your team. We can't go on like this, can we?"

Harper shook her head, scrunching her eyes to squeeze out the tears that were welling up. She didn't know what to say. Maybe she should quit the team. She couldn't promise to be on time. There was so much stuff she didn't have any control over.

The coaches didn't know what we already know that Harper's parents were separated and it was especially gruesome. The parents used Harper as their shield and sword in the fights and that was probably why she was always late.

I stepped forward.

"Coach, let her play, the game hasn't started yet," I said, "so technically, she wasn't late."

Felik looked at me then at the sadness on Harper's face. Then he came and put an arm around her. No way did he want her to quit the team.

"Listen, I noticed that you might have some troubles you can't say," he said to Harper. "It's alright. You also have your friends here."

He waved his arm to us and to the sideline where Mitko, Zoya, and the others. "We have cars and time to bring you to the games next time you can't find a ride, just give us a call. Are you with me?"

Harper nodded, trying not to burst into uncontrollable bawling. Felik gave her a squashy hug and checked if she was okay to play. Mom was smiling at me like she had been eavesdropping on all of this. She was trying to catch my eyes, but I was looking at the sideline, hoping to see a blonde head among the crowd. Charlotte was nowhere to be found.

A few moments later, the whistle blew for the game to start and the field was swamped by a loud burst of cheering.

The Rejects versus the Wanderers.

We played the best we'd ever played. I'm not saying we suddenly looked like international champions but we'd definitely improved.

The coaches' work on each of us was paying off. Our skill level was high enough that a few of Grigor's fancy tricks almost worked.

Almost.

Melissa was turning out to be a star for catching three executive balls. Harper played better that day than I'd ever imagined she could, even without the regular training. I guess it was because she set her heart to it. Even the not-so-good player Tonya managed one or two good hits.