Love Me Anyways

Chapter One

I'm going to my first and probably last rugby event in my life this afternoon, but I don't want to think about that right now.

I walk onto the pitch, just like a normal Thursday afternoon. Every Thursday in the summers we have open fields for rugby. My best friends are all here, or more like my only friends are here. My best friend Taytum sprints over and jumps on my back.

"Jayla I thought you'd never show up!" Taytum exclaims. I haven't been the best at showing up to rugby, I just haven't had rides in. "Jeez sorry Tay," I laugh. I look around, I know mostly everybody here.

There is one girl that I don't know, she's really pretty. She also stands at about five inches taller than me, I'm five foot nothing. Her blonde hair is in dutch braids. "Who's that?" I whisper to Taytum, as I sit on the bench and pull my cleats onto my feet. "That my dear friend, is Raya," Taytum reports. I like that name, Raya.

"Watch out for her, she's a hooker like you, and she's really strong when she tackles," Taytum adds. When people hear the word 'hooker' they think about strip clubs, but in rugby the hooker is the most dangerous position. We could break our backs or necks if a scrum were to collapse on us.

I study Raya, she's beautiful. Raya has dirty blonde hair and the lightest green eyes I've ever seen. Raya's wearing a black tee shirt that fits her perfectly, and she's wearing mens basketball shorts.

I finish tying my old dirty blue cleats, the coach blows the whistle for us to circle up. "It's good to see our returning hooker here tonight," Coach Dallas comments. Everyone drifts their gaze towards me for the moment, even Raya.

I feel myself smirk just a little. "Jayla and Raya are the Team captains," Coach Dallas announces. Raya and I stepped up beside Coach Dallas, he splits our teams evenly. The rugby game begins, I chose side, Raya got the kick.

Eventually we have to scrum down for the ball, once I'm in the scrum my head is forced together with Rayas, for some reason butterflies are in my stomach.

My scrum-half is Taytum, I'm pulled out of my trance when she taps my arm to let me know she's putting the ball in. The rugby ball enters the scrum, I try to rake it behind me but Raya's force as a hooker is stronger than I've ever competed against. I lose the rugby ball to her.

"Ball out!" I here Taytum alert. The game goes on, a girl on my team tackles black haired Gretchen, who's on the other team. Taytum grabs the ball and passes it to me, I get a breakaway while I'm running.

I get thrown across the pitch from behind, I fall to the ground. Raya has tackled me, she is really strong for her size. My team forms a ruck over me, I crawl out of the ruck that has formed. We gain back the ball and continue playing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rugby open field has finished. "Do you need a ride home?" Taytum asks, she's about to leave. "No, my mom should be here soon," I lie. I have no idea how I'm getting home, but Taytum doesn't need to drive an hour and forty five minutes out of her way for me. "Suit yourself," Taytum smiles. "See you later Jay," Taytum calls. Before I can respond she gets in her car and drives off. I'm left alone with Raya.

The boys from the football team start showing up for practice. Lister trots up to me, he's probably going to try and hit on me again. "Hey babe," He sits next to me. "I'm not your babe," I grit my teeth. I can't believe he's doing this in front of Raya.

I glance up from the muddy ground, Raya meets my gaze. "Babe, I was thinking you could wait up for me to finish practice, and we could grab a bite to eat," Lister insists. "No thank you," I grunt. I start to fidget with my hands, Lister has hurt me before when we used to date.

Lister puts his arm around my shoulders, I quickly jerk away at his touch. "Give me another chance Babe," Lister snaps. My heart feels like it's going to stop, I'm really scared right now.

"Maybe you don't deserve another chance," Raya finally speaks up. Raya took me by surprise, I didn't think she'd do that, I send Raya a silent thank you.

"Mind your own business," Lister snaps. Raya walks from the other side of the bench and wedges herself between Lister and I.

Raya's warm arm is touching mine, it's wet from the mud but it makes me feel secure. Raya's presence makes me both comfortable and uneasy at the same time.

Lister scoffs and leaves to go join his buddies. "Are you okay?" Raya asks. "Yes I'm fine," I whisper. Raya makes me nervous, she's really strong and could easily take Lister in a fight.

I still don't have a ride home, I guess I'll walk down to my cousins house. "I should get going," I state. "But you don't have a ride, and I thought you said your mom was coming," Raya speaks. I did say that, but I didn't think she heard me. "Well I guess I misspoke, nobody's coming for me," I mumble. I get up before further questions can be asked, and I walk off the pitch.

My bag is heavy because I didn't know where I'd be for the night. I start the walk down the road, it's already dark out. I see the lights come on from the field behind me. I hear approaching footsteps. "I can't let you walk alone, not in the dark," Raya states. Why is she doing this? Why does she want to walk with me?

"Yeah okay," I whisper. Raya struts up and walks beside me, I want to say something but I have nothing to talk about. "You're good," Raya speaks. I look at her, I can't read her face. "At rugby, you're good at rugby," Raya states. "You too," I shyly respond.

"Where are we going? we've been walking for awhile," Raya speaks. I live really far out of town, my closest relative to town is a twenty minute walk. "We have to get out of town to get where I'm going, you don't have to walk with me if you don't want to," I speak.

"It's on my way," Raya responds. I wonder where Raya lives, I hope it's not to close to my cousins. My cousins house is a shit hole, or at least the front yard is.

Raya's presence makes me uneasy, in a good way I think. My stop is coming into view, for some reason I don't want this walk to end. "My cousins house is just up here," I state. Raya slightly nods her head in response.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wake up in my cousins house on their couch, they've all left for work or summer school. I'm thinking I should go to the running track down at the high school, I need to build my strength back up in my legs.

I'm amused by Raya, and her sudden protectiveness over me. I can't wait to see Raya next Thursday, oh god she's going to be on my mind all week.