"No fucking way." He says.
Harry frowns.
Louis starts circling the boy, checking him out as he speaks to him.
"First, you want to talk to me like I am your equal or less than you, then you show up, expecting me to be lenient on the fact that you are...
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Fear.
That was all Harry had at this moment as the ball is kicked to him and every team member runs after him. He scans the field quickly, his head dizzy and his vision blurred by his panic.
He quickly kicks the ball forward, in no particular direction, and covers his head so that the crazed teens don't attack him. He finally has the courage to look up when he hears some cries of cheer, and some of despair and anger.
He is met with his team looking down on him ashamed.
"Dammit Harry you had one job. All you had to do was kick the ball to Joe." A team member says.
Harry looks over to the opposite team who is cheering at their victory.
"It's practice for god sakes! What are you scared of?" The same member scolds.
"I-I'm sorry." Harry whimpers out, hanging his head low in shame.
"You've gotta be tougher than that if you wanna stay on the team boy!" The coach yells, walking over to the losing team.
He makes a motion for the rest of the team members to leave as he talks to Harry one on one. "Do you want to be kicked from the team Styles?"
"N-no sir." Harry shakes his head, still not looking up to face the man whom he knows he's angered.
"Look at me when I'm speaking to you! Geez kid have you no respect?"
Harry darts his head up to look at the middle aged balding man who holds a stern glare on his face.
"S-sorry sir."
"And stop stuttering. I oughta have you go to Tomlinson from the Doncasters to learn a little about toughness and discipline. Bet you he'd get the job done."
Harry's eyes widen at this. Team Captain Tomlinson is said to be the most ruthless, unforgiving high school football player in the county since 2014. Anyone he deems not good enough for his team is immediately booted out and replaced within a day. It's a long hard process to get onto the same team as him because his rules are so strict.
It's rumoured that the coach has no say in what the team does, and only shows up to games because it'd be against the rules for the team to have no coach. Tomlinson calls the shots and there's no messing around with that.
"No, sir. I'm sorry. I'll be better next time I promise. Trust me please."
The old man grunts and gives a firm nod.
"Sit out for the rest of practice Styles, and if you're not better by next practice, you're sitting out at the first game. Got it?"
Harry nods and clears his throat before speaking clearly. "Yes sir."
••
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"Run for the damn ball Johnny! What the hell are you doing out there?" Tomlinson yells at his player.
Johnny soon picks up his feet and rushes for the ball that the opposing team has in their possession. He trips over his feet and lands face down into mud, twisting his ankle in the process. The entire team sees it, but knows not to stop and interrupt practice. Tomlinson would have their asses for that.
"F uck." The captain mutters under his breath.
The red team scores a goal, and Louis stomps over to the injured boy who is attempting to stand and clear the mud from his newly purchased shorts that he had to beg his mother to buy.
"The f uck was that?" Louis shouts at him.
"I-I tripped. I'm sorry."
"Sorry's not gonna cut it. You've just lost the winning point for your team. Can you imagine if I let you play in an actual game? Especially now that you've gone and broke your damn ankle?"
"Captain please! I'm trying." Johnny pleads.
"Trying? I'm not here so you can "try". Im here so you can do your absolute best. You should know the sport before you decide to get into it. I'm only gonna make you excel at the game, not help you learn it. And where are your cleats? You can't play f ucking football without cleats."
"M-my mum is getting them in a few days. She gets her check then, we just don't have the money right now."
"Well don't waste the money you need, because you're off the team anyways." He sashays his way back to the rest of his team to congratulate some and critique others.
Johnny holds back a sob as he sniffles, grabbing his bag from the locker room and leaving.
"First game is next week boys. We're playing Cheshire. If we lose, you know I'm not afraid to kick every single one of you out in favor of people better than you."
