Connor and I headed over to the team locker room. When we got there we were the only two boys there. Connor showed me over to a free locker that I could use.
He stopped me for a moment and whispered into my ear, "Congratulations."
He then kissed me and at that very moment, someone walked into the locker room. It was the boy from earlier. His blank expression on his face turned to one of disgust. Just great someone saw Connor and I kiss. Just what I needed.
"fggttts...." He muttered something under his breath but I couldn't quite make it out.
He proceeded to change for practice, ignoring Connor and I. I sat down and put the bag that Coach Lillian gave me into the locker. I also took the other thing she gave me and put it into the locker as well. I took my practice cleats out of my bag and took of my sneakers, swapping them for the cleats. I slid my shin guards into place and stuffed my bag into my locker. I slammed it shut and locked it with the combo lock I brought.
"You ready Andrew?" Connor asked.
"Yea."
The two of us left the locker room and headed down to the practice field. When we got there, most of the team was already there waiting for practice to start. Connor and I just sat down on the bench next to Josh. I guess he decided to stay and watch our practice. After a few minutes, the brown haired boy came down to the field. He was followed by Coach Lillian a few minutes later.
*PHEWWWW*
The coach blew her whistle.
"Alright! Listen up boys! We have two new additions to the team today. Would you two come over here," she announced and then instructed me and this other new player.
The boy from earlier stood up and walked forward. I followed. I stood on one side of the coach and the boy stood on the other side.
"This is Aiden Valez. He's a freshman," she said gesturing to the brown haired boy.
"And this..." she began, gesturing towards me, "...is Andrew Neely. He's a junior."
"And as of today, Andrew is the team's new acting-captain."
There were shocked faces everywhere. Others were arguing and protesting and the coach just ignored it all, until one person in particular called out.
"YOU'RE LETTING THE FAGGOT BE THE TEAM CAPTAIN!" Aiden called out.
*PHEWWWW*
She blew her whistle again.
"How dare you! You will speak to me with respect Mr. Valez! IS THAT CLEAR!"
He sighed, as he could clearly tell that Coach Lillian was pissed.
"Yes, ma'am," he said.
"Secondly, you will speak to and about your teammates in a respectable manner! If you can't handle that, then you're off the team! Do you understand me?"
"Yes, ma'am," he said.
"Finally, I never said that he is the captain. I said he's the current ACTING-CAPTAIN," she continued to spew out at him, clearly enraged.
"You will apologize to Mr. Neely immediately, otherwise you'll be on the bench for the game on Wednesday and I'll have you referred for disciplinary action. Is that clear Mr. Valez?"
He sighed again and said, "Yes, ma'am, it is."
He walked over to me and looked me in the eyes. I could tell that what he was about to say was disingenuous.
"I'm sorry, Captain," he said to me, clearly pretending to have a guilty look on his face.
"Acting Captain," I corrected, "And yea, it's alright I guess."
"Andrew, here," the coach handed me a brand new whistle.
"You're in charge of practice today. I want you and the team doing drills to practice the very basic, fundamental aspects of soccer: dribbling, passing, receiving, trapping, and shooting," she explained to me.
"Understood Coach Lillian," I acknowledged.
I had the team working on basic soccer skills the whole afternoon. Although most of the team didn't agree with me being made acting-captain, they knew it was in their best interests to follow all my instructions, especially with Coach Lillian watching the field like a hawk.
My first day of practice didn't go anything like I expected it to. My first day, as a brand new addition to the team, I was given the title of 'Acting-Captain'. It really made me wonder what Josh had told the coaches about me. Hopefully he didn't oversell me or my abilities. I was certain that Aiden was going to cause more trouble but I figured that I'd deal with it when and if it came up.
YOU ARE READING
Testing My Feelings
Teen FictionThis is a story told by and about Andrew Neely, a 16 year old boy. The story is ever changing and evolving as it is still being written and worked on but, the basic plot follows Andrew and his struggle to come to terms and understand his feelings f...
