Just One of the Boys ( Or Not)

Chapter 1: Tryouts from hell

Hey. My name is Maya Carter and I am 17 years old. I'm 5'7, 145 pounds with eyes that are grey as steel and hair as light as the sun. I'm not super jacked like my older brothers Ethan and Taylor but I have some muscle to me.And there's one thing that you wouldn't be able to guess just by looking at me. You wouldn't  even believe that this girl is an all american football player. You heard me right. I am a football player and I am pretty damn good at it.

I started playing when I was around 4. My brothers were playing peewee level one day for the league in our home town of Sundown Falls and I told my dad one day that I wanted to try out football. My mom was about as against her daughter playing football as you can get but she let me play anyway. The coaches however were less than enthusiastic about having a girl play on their team so my career in the all american sport of football was kinda less than ideal for me. But I didn't let a bunch of misogynistic men tell me that I couldn't play and I racked up some pretty damn good stats during my career so far. I play quarterback usually so when I found out the high school was having tryouts for their 18 time state champion football team, I knew that this was my calling but tryout day for me went less than how I imagined it to, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Lets take a little trip back in time to how the day of tryouts went prior to me even getting to the locker room and what followed.

The day of tryouts happened to be the first day of my junior year at Sundown Falls High School. I rolled out of bed that day not too psyched about going back to school but the only upside was now I was able to tryout to be a member of the Sundown Falls High School Cougars Football team. After waking up, my brother Ethan pops his head into my room and chucks something at me. " What the heck Ethan ? Why did you throw your old disgusting worn out mouth guard at me ?" I yell at him. " Well baby sis, that is the exact mouth guard I wore when I played QB and won State with the team 2 years in a row. Thought it'd bring you some luck at tryouts today" Ethan explained. Did I fail to mention that both my brothers are seniors on the team and already worry about me playing ? I roll my eyes at his sweet but also gross gesture of brotherly love. " Well thanks bro but I think mine will be just fine if the coach even lets me try out. I hear Coach Carver is super traditional and the last girl to try out he didn't even let her walk onto the field. " Just as I say those words, My overprotective dad comes into my room and starts asking me a million questions about the tryouts and if I truly want to do this, my other brother Taylor in tow. Taylor was the bigger of my brothers but Ethan was the stronger of the two. They always had been protective of me but when our mom died, they went from protective to psycho. But I guess that came in handy sometimes.

Ever since my mom passed away, my dad has had to play mom and dad with me since I was 11 years old. I didn't really know what happened all that well but It kinda just happened. I grew to kinda just deal with her not being there but I guess that makes me less normal ? I don't really  know but I push the thoughts out of my mind and get ready for school. My best friend Jason drives up to my house and honks the horn about 30 minutes later.  Jason has been my best friend since I was 4. We actually met when we were put on the same peewee team. We just bonded pretty quickly. I am trying to run down the front stairs of my house while also trying but ultimately failing to put my sneakers on. I get to his car after falling flat on my face a few times and hop in the car. " Well look who decided to make an entrance today!" Jason said while trying not to laugh at my expense. " Looks like tryout day is starting off great for you Maya. You ready to show em what maya carter can do ? " " Well if you must know, I have been ready for this since I was like 5.This team is just my stepping stone to going pro. Well after I play for Stone-bridge U and then get drafted and be the youngest person to be drafted but I gotta make the team first. That's priority number one right now." I say matter of factly.
I lean my head on my hand with my elbow propped on the edge of the window. Jason turned his head and saw the nerves behind the steel gray of my eyes. " Are you sure you're ready to do this maya ? I don't wanna see you get hurt again like that night last year when those guys put you in the hospital after that pile on. " I remember pretty little about that night that I ended up in the hospital. I was on the JV team at the time and let's just say it's nothing like playing for the varsity team. All I remember is that I was on the field throwing the ball to Jayden waters, the wide receiver at the time, and the next minute my head is colliding with the ground. I black out and the next thing I know, I was in a hospital bed, an IV in my arm and my head pounding like a herd of elephants did the moulin rouge on my head. I was told by the doctors I had a severe concussion and that I wouldn't be on the field again for about 3 months while my brain healed and my body healed. Those 3 months were the worst months of my life. " Jason that wont happen this time. That guy sacked me for the sole purpose of being able to say he sacked a girl and took her out. But this time, that's not gonna happen. Plus I don't think my head can take another round of the Texas two step!" I say trying to not laugh as we pull up in front of Sundown Falls High, home of the 18 time state champion Cougars.  The cheerleaders were in their usual spot, right outside the front door making sure every girl that wasn't one of them feel like a pile of dirt. The head cheerleader, Amberly Jackson, was probably the worst human being on the planet. As I'm walking to school weighed down by my backpack, tryout bag and my lunch, Amberly sticks out her leg and I trip, skinning my left cheek on the pavement. My bags go flying everywhere and the contents of my backpack are strewn across the quad and I had never been more embarrassed. " Oops! Sorry Maya. Didn't see you there" she says, her words dripping with sarcasm. She then turns her attention to attempting to seduce Jason. She knew he was my best friend and had been trying to get him to go out with her since she transferred to our school 3 years ago. I never fully understood why she had it out for me but I learned to just stay out of her way and then things were good.
I brush myself off and just get through the day until that glorious 2:30 bell rang and I am in a death sprint to get down to the locker room and get changed for my tryout. Just as I push open the door, all the guys who already were in the room freak out and try to  cover themselves up. " Guys, coed locker room remember ? Don't need to cover up around me." I say, my voice dripping with condescension. I head straight to a stall and strip out of my street clothes and change into my usual practice attire, plus a few pounds of extra padding and a helmet that my brother Taylor loaned me. I decide against Ethan's mouth guard and use my signature grey one. We all run out to the field and there was the legend himself : coach carver. " Ok boys! It's time for me to see if you have what it takes to be a part of this team! I wanna see hustle! I wanna see passion! " he yells down the line and then he gets down to me. " Are you lost sweetheart? Cheerleader tryouts are on the other field." " Nope. I wanna play for this team coach carver" " And I don't mean stick me on JV again like you did last year. I'm just as good at your varsity level team. "I say as confidently as I can. " I can handle anything you throw at me, literally and metaphorically. Let me prove to you what I can do!" What I didn't realize was that sentence was what would seal my fate and probably be my biggest screw up ever.