Finding Your Person

Chapter 3

Finally the bell rang, and I was headed to the locker room. As I started to walk down the hallway, I saw Garrett waiting for me right by the staircase. He had a huge smile on his face, and whenever he smiled, I couldn't help but smile, too. Garrett and I had truly been through a lot over the past two years, and sometimes I wished we could start over. Just so we could be more happy, and any problems we had with one another we could forget about.
I walked over to him and he bumped his shoulder into me. "Are you excited?" he asked with an endearing smile.
"Yeah, I'm ready," I replied confidently.
"That a girl," he laughed.
I always had uberconfidence when heading into a game. I would feel my heart racing but not a nervous feeling. It was more of a feeling of excitement and getting hyped up for the game. The nerves didn't really kick in until I started to put on my shin guards, socks, and cleats.  Sometimes I would get the worst nerves when we were all in the huddle, about to break to head onto the field. There were even times I felt like I might throw up.  Thankfully, my nerves usually would diminish with my excitement to play.
"We are still going to the party tonight after my game, right?" Garrett looked at me.
"Yeah, I promised Gabby and Scotty we would go together."  Gabby and Scotty were my best friends.
"You don't want to go with me?" he asked
"I do. I just feel bad.  I already told the girls we'd go together and that they could sleepover after."
"And you aren't sleeping over my house? Wow, I'm a little hurt," he said jokingly.
"I'm always sleeping over your house. One night with my friends won't kill you," I said.
"Well okay, but you better drink tonight. I want you to have fun."
"I can have fun without alcohol, and besides I told you coach said we aren't allowed to drink during the season," I replied. Which was true, but I also didn't like to drink, but I think that was because I didn't really like parties. Plus Garrett drank enough for the both of us, and I felt like if I drank then who would watch Garrett.
"Fine, whatever." He paused then continued, "Do you have to go get your ankle taped before the game?"
"Yeah, GC told me from now on I should just tape it for safety precautions," I replied. GC was the school Athletic Trainer. It stood for George Carter. No one called him Mr. Carter, because his brother was a teacher here. So, instead of there being two Mr. Carters there was one GC. He was awesome, and we got along really well. I think that was because he loved Brady. He would always let me and a couple other athletes sit in his room during gym class to ice our knees, ankles, or do any other preparations we needed to do before games.
As we made it to the boys locker room, Garrett looked at me and smiled. "Alright, well good luck at your game, Mag."
Before he could continue, I quickly added, "You too."
"I love you, and I'll see you after my game." He pulled me in for a hug.
"I love you too," I replied looking up at him, and then he gave me a quick kiss.
Before anything else was said, one of his friends called out to him, "Let's go, Garrett, we are going to be late!" Garrett ran toward his friend who was standing at the locker room door. Before they entered, Garrett jumped on him and a couple more of his guy friends joined in, which made them all fall into the locker room.
The whole reason he couldn't come to my game was because his team had to go over plays before every game, and then the whole football team would eat dinner in the cafeteria. You'd think he'd be able to take some food to go, so he could come see me play for a minute. I quickly caught myself becoming agitated and shook my head. I wasn't going to let his not coming to support me get in the way of how important this game was. I continued down the hallway. This was my favorite part of the school, no doubt, the athletic wing. In the front of the school you would enter and there would be a gym lobby. If you would go to your right you would enter the weight room. It was a decent size, and a couple years back our school upgraded all the equipment. I know schools that had multiple gymnasiums, but this school only had one. It was a nice size, though; it fit pretty much our whole town. It had to, everyone always came to support our girls' and boys' basketball teams. If you continued to walk through the gym, you would reach where I was standing. It was a hallway that, on the left end, had the boys locker room and, on the right end, the girls locker room. Right in the center of the hallway was GC's office.
Many of the athletes would stand outside of his office. Everyone was laughing and joking around. Upperclassmen boys would be flirting with the younger girl athletes right outside of his office. Everyone was talking about the big games going on that day, and wishing each other luck. I loved seeing this.
I threw my book bag against the wall right outside GC's door and headed in. We weren't allowed to take our bags in the room.  With so many people walking in and out, GC didn't want the room cluttered. Scotty and Gabby were already sitting in there, talking to GC. They both were already dressed in their uniforms because they had gym class last period, and were able to change right away. GC turned and looked at me.
"Yo, little Schmidt!" he yelled. He was a goofy, but sometimes scary, serious man. He was probably early forties and had two daughters both in grade school still. Pictures of them and his wife were all over his room. There were three tables with drawers underneath of them, that most athletes would sit on when they needed something taped, like their ankle or wrist. And then there were three bed tables, the kind you would see in a doctor's office, all next to each other on the right side of the door when you walked in.
"Hey, GC," I said as I hopped up onto the middle table, the lowest of the three.
"Are you going to win today?" he asked as I began to take off my shoe so he could tape my ankle.
"I sure hope so." I was feeling more anxious today than normal.
"That doesn't sound confident." He raised his eyebrow at me.
"I don't want to jinx us," I replied, tossing my shoe to the floor. He grabbed my foot and began to tape my ankle and laughed. "Fair enough kid."
I could barely talk; my head was in game mode. Before games I barely spoke to anyone and if I did it was always about the game. I was so focused, it took Scotty saying my name three times before I had realized she was talking to me.
"Hello, Earth to Mag!" Scotty said, waving her arms as she and Gabby sat on one of the three bed tables.
I shook my head, "Yeah, sorry, what?"
"You okay?" Scotty asked.
" Yeah, I'm fine."
"She's just thinking about the game," Gabby butted in. Even though I didn't have a best friend as close as Liam was to Brady, Gabby and Scotty were the two closest friends I had. Scotty was a year older than Gabby and me and was the rebellious one of the three of us. She was thin, but muscular. She was an inch shorter than me with beautiful, dark reddish brown hair. She had big brown eyes and a tan complexion. Overall, she was very stunning. Not only was she beautiful on the outside, but her personality was the reason I loved her. She was such a free spirit. Whenever you spent any amount of time with her you always felt so unstoppable. She always made me carefree and feel like I could achieve anything. Having been dealing with anxiety and depression over the past couple of years, Scotty was always a breath of fresh air for me.
Although I had known Scotty since we were little, we had never been close because we were never in the same classes, since she was a year older than me. She had also played on a different soccer team growing up because of our age difference. Since my freshman year, Scotty and I grew so close almost instantly.
Gabby and I, on the other hand, had been best friends since she moved to my town in seventh grade. Gabby was a couple inches taller than me. She was perfectly proportioned with having everywhere you wanted to be small, thin, and everywhere you wanted to be big, well, big. She had gorgeous, blonde, short hair that was always wavy, and beautiful baby-blue eyes. She had a way of always being able to put a smile on my face. At times she could be sassy to others, but everyone loved her. She was such a goofball. She was the good kind of ditzy, but also I don't think everyone knew just how intelligent she was. I knew without a doubt in my mind, they were both going to be so successful in life.  After Garrett, Scotty and Gabby were the first ones I would tell things to. Whether those things were secrets, or something I was mad, sad, or happy about, I knew I could count on them.
People began barging into GC's office. It always got hectic in here on game days. As I turned to look at all the people coming through, I heard a too-familiar voice yelling, "GC!" I turned my head around to see Brady and Liam come stumbling in the room, pushing each other to try to be the first one through the door. I felt butterflies fluttering in my stomach. I couldn't believe that I was already this anxious for my game, and maybe a little bit had to do with Liam.
GC began to laugh. " If it isn't Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb!" He paused from tapping my ankle and shook their hands.
"How's college life treating you boys?"
"No complaints from me," my brother responded.
"Well, I have several GC, how much time do you have?" Liam replied. A huge smile appeared on GC's face. Liam was such a sarcastic goofball and I, along with a lot of other people, loved it.
I looked over at Scotty and Gabby. Scotty was staring at Brady making googly eyes, then she looked at me and a huge smirk appeared on her face. Gabby looked at her, reaching up she pushed Scotty's shoulder and started to laugh. Scotty always teased me that she had a thing for my older brother, but she was practically married. She had been dating the same guy since she was in fourth grade. They were always on and off, but always ended up back together. Shaking my head at Scotty, I turned to look at Gabby who was staring at me. She raised her eyebrow and jerked her head at Liam. I quickly looked at Liam who was conversing with GC. I looked back at her and farrowed my eyebrows, unsure of what she was trying to say. Before she could mouth anything to me, Brady cut my line of vision off from Gabby while he walked over to them.
"Hey, Gabs!" Brady said reaching his arm around Gabby.
Gabby who was still sitting on the bed table next to Scotty put one arm around Brady's back, hugging him. "Hey, Brady, how have you been?"
"Pretty good, how about yourself," Brady smiled looking down at her. Brady was always sweet to Gabby. Over the years Brady, Gabby, Liam and I spent a lot of time together. We would always go out together or hangout and watch movies.
"I'm doing well," Gabby replied, as a genuine smile began to appear on her face.
Before Brady could speak again, Scotty interrupted, "Hey, handsome," Scotty batted her eyes at him.
Brady shook his head grinning. "Hi Scotty." He then took his arm that had been around Gabby and threw it around Scotty's head, pulling her in for a quick hug.
"Did you miss me?" Scotty asked, smirking.
"Not in the slightest," Brady teased.
"Right, I forgot, you see me every night in your dreams."
"More like terrors," Brady shot back.
Scotty kicked up her leg, hitting Brady in the butt with her foot.
Brady pushed her leg down. "Watch! I wouldn't want you going and breaking a toe on these buns of steel."
"More like buns from McDonalds. Brady, freshman fifteen is a real thing." Scotty mocked Brady's giggling after.
Finally Brady just started to laugh. Scotty and my brother used to have the same friend group when Brady used to be in high school. Scotty never truly had a crush on my brother, she just always thought he was 'hot.' She was never shy about letting him know her thoughts on him being attractive. However, usually after a compliment from Scotty came a heep of insults. All of which were never serious.
I watched Scotty and my brother jokingly flirt and tease each other, and it made me wonder why they never dated. Of course I knew Scotty had a boyfriend, Jay, but all the times when they were broken up, I wondered why she never thought about dating Brady. They just always seemed good together. Regardless, I loved how Brady got along with all my friends.
Gabby looked at me, motioning to Liam again. I just shook my head and mouthed the word 'what?' Brady, who had been laughing at something Scotty said, looked over at me and noticed the nonverbal conversation between Gabby and me. He then looked at Gabby and leaned his head down to her, whispering something. I was trying to make out the words, but I couldn't. He then put his arm around Gabby who turned her head to whisper something back in his ear. A smile appeared on his face. When he lifted up his head, he nodded.
I was so lost in what was going on, and it kind of made me mad. I knew I had more important things to worry about then getting stressed about what my brother and my best friend were whispering about. Either way, I knew one of them would tell me later.
I decided to turn my attention elsewhere. I focused back on GC and Liam. GC had been laughing at something Liam was going on about. GC then turned back to me and began to continue to tape my foot.
Liam looked over to where Brady was standing next to Scotty and Gabby and  then he walked over.
"Hi guys," Liam greeted them cheerfully, hugging Scotty then Gabby.
Brady made his way over to me, hopping up onto the taller table to the right of me.
Gabby and Scotty stood up, beginning to make their way to the door.
Scotty looked at me. "Hey, Mag, we are going to the locker room to finish getting ready."
"Okay, I'll be there in five," I replied.
"See you later, beautiful man," Scotty said.
"See you never," Brady replied with a big smirk.
Scotty rolled her eyes. "I was talking to Liam, not Satan's spawn."
"Don't call my sister Satan's spawn," Brady called out. Scotty just rolled her eyes, knowing we had all known she was actually calling Brady that. Then she waved to Liam and Brady threw his hand in the air for a high five. Scotty jumped up, slapped his hand and then started to open the door.
"Good luck, Scotty," Brady said.
Gabby then followed, and Brady, instead of high fiving her, squeezed her arm. "Good luck, Gabs! I'll see you after." Gabby just smiled.
"GOOD LUCK, LADIES!" Liam screamed. Then he looked at me with his hands on his hips and, in a serious voice, he asked, "What am I--chopped liver?"
I just laughed, and then he smiled.
"Are you ready to win?" Brady asked.
Before I could even answer, GC intervened, "Already asked her; she hopes so."
"Hopes so?" Brady shot back.
"Yes. I don't want to jinx it," I quickly blurted out.
Liam walked over to my left side. Leaning on the table right next to me, he put his hand on my knee. Looking at me, he said as genuine as he always was, "You don't have to say anything. I'll say it for you. You're going to kill it, Mas."
I gave him a tiny smile back. "Thanks."
"Mas? Who's that?" GC muttered in confusion.
"It's my nickname?" I replied casually.
"I've never heard of it. Who calls you that?"
"Pretty much just these two and my little brother and parents. Sometimes Gabby and Scotty do, but that's really it, come to think of it."
GC looked at me then lightly slapped my calf. "That's pretty cool; personally, I still like mine better, Little Schmidt, but you are all set. Get out there and kill it!" He then looked at both Brady and Liam. "You boys also need to get out.  This room is getting smaller by the second, and I have lots more ankles to tape. Come back in about a half an hour, okay?"
"Yes sir!" Liam said with a jokingly stern voice, shaking GC's hand again.
"We will see you then!" Brady added.
I looked up at GC. "Thank you, GC!"
"You are welcome, lady," GC responded then walked away. I let out a deep breath then lifted myself off the counter as I made my way to the floor.   Liam put both his hands on my waist, helping me safely down.
"Thanks," I said with my hair falling in my face. He then grabbed the hair that had fallen out of place and tucked it gently behind my ear.
"Thanks," I whispered. I don't know why, but I could feel myself blushing, and for an instant, I wondered if Liam liked me as more than just a friend.
"Anything for my best friend's little sis," Liam replied, and just like that I was propelled back into reality. Clearly he didn't have feelings for me. Did he just see me as a little sister? Just thinking those words made me feel awkward and weird. I just laughed, and thought it wasn't a big deal; it's not like we were ever going to be together anyway. "Okay, well I need to go finish getting ready," I said as I moved around Liam to make my way to the door.
Once I made my way out of GC's room, I grabbed my bag that I had left outside of the door and headed to the girls' locker room.
I heard Liam's voice over the crowd of people calling out my name. As I whipped my head around, I saw him mouth the words, 'Good luck, wifey.' I began to smile again. Then I mouthed back, 'Thanks, Hubby.' I turned back and continued to the locker room. Just like that, I had felt so much better.