Out of Her League |Lesbian Story|

Chapter 18

I limped off the field, ready to go home. Mom came to give me a big hug. I winced. After the game, I felt as if every bone in my body had been jarred. There were going to be bruises for sure.

"Oh honey, I don't even know what to say!" Mom said with teary eyes. "The whole time I can't believe that was my daughter!"

Her voice quivered and tight. She was about to cry.

"It's just a stroke of luck, mom," I said. "We were a mess back there and you saw it."

"Oh Darci," she sighed.

Dad came straight up to me then. His mouth was moving but I couldn't connect with the words he was saying. He was mumbling, almost embarrassed. Then he reached out to put his hand on my shoulder. Dad kept talking. I'm pretty sure he was trying to be nice, but the weight of his hand was uncomfortable. I shook his hand off me.

Dad looked hurt by it.

"Honey, are you coming home with us?" Mom tried to pacify the situation.

"That's okay. I want to take the bus with my team," I said.

"Alright then," Dad said and walked off. I could see he was mad now, telling Mom it was hopeless between him and me.

Then I realized that Felik had seen all of this. Standing there watching us creating a rift.

Felik felt like it was his responsibility. He darted through the crowd to get to Dad.

"Mr. and Mrs. Bloom. Excuse me," he said.

I didn't hear what he was saying to my parents, but Dad's expression seemed to relax. He nodded and even managed a smile.

When they left, Felik walked back. He called everyone over. He was going to deliver his usual post-game talk, but this time it took him a couple of minutes to speak.

"First of all, let me make an apology to the team," he said. His voice came out a bit strangled, like his throat clogged up. "I know - trust me, I know this in my heart. We haven't been in our best behavior as of late, and we are ashamed that you all see us like that."

Felik made a helpless gesture. All the words that usually poured out of his mouth had dried up like an exhausted spring.

"We're sorry to let you down," Grigor added. He had come to stand behind Felik. "I lay too much hope on you all, pushed you too hard, led the team in the wrong direction. As you coaches, we're deeply sorry."

"We have so much shame," Felik said.

"Shame," Grigor repeated.

They both looked pretty upset that for a moment, none of us knew what to say. Olive reached out to me in a desperate gesture that meant 'please do something'.

Suddenly I realized everyone else was also looking at me, waiting for my reaction. Charlotte was watching and waiting too. And when so many people depend on you, you'd bust a gut not to let them down.

"Well...uh...I think we all got a bit overwhelmed," I said, shifting myself awkwardly. "We have never been this far before and...and you two have done an amazing job. Everyone fails sometimes even with things we're good at. I think we shouldn't be too hard on ourselves, right?"

"Darci's right," Tonya said.

"And we won today," Melissa joined in.

Everyone murmured and nodded in agreement. The two coaches looked at us. We could tell that they didn't want us to win because of luck. We won without honor there.

"Thank you, everyone. Now let's go home, girls," Felik said in a heavy sagging voice.

"We'll rest for now," Grigor said. "Maybe we can pull things together at training."