Loving the Enemy

Settling in- El's POV

By the time I arrived the bus was crowded, floor a mess of piled kits and abandoned backpacks, the rest of the team already seated, most kneeling up across the aisle to shout out to their friends. I felt out of place, alone, and I steeled my resolve. This was why I needed to be popular, so that I would never be left alone again, so that I would aways have people fawning around me. There was a shove behind me, someone forcefully pushing past me where I loitered on the top step into the bus, knocking my very expensive kit from my hands and sending me colliding with the side of the door. It hurt, and I turned my glare to the boy that was jostling past me, elbows deliberately extended, but he didn't even seem to notice, sneering at me as he jabbed me with his shoulder, skilfully stepping over the mass of bags on the floor and making his way to an empty seat part-way down the bus. I guess I could understand his anger, but it wasn't my fault that I was just genetically better than him, I was a Ruth, granddaughter of The Babe himself, he should be grateful that I was taking his spot. But somehow no one saw it that way, leaving me with a lot of enemies where I should of had people falling over themselves to fawn over me. I didn't understand it, what had I done wrong? 

"Hey," I looked up, seeing a boy with a deep tan and cropped, dirty brown hair. He was attractive without a doubt, with the look if not the social standing of someone I'd usually go for, clearly not high up the group's social hierarchy given his spot right at the front, but I wasn't about to turn my nose up at the only person who'd shown me any sort of recognition. "There's a seat up here," he said, motioning to the empty spot beside him. It was right at the front, I thought frowning, casting a look to my left where I could see down the aisle to the group squished in to the very back row: The Jet, his girlfriend and sister, and his long-time rival clearly comfortable in prime position. I took the open seat, turning to the boy beside me.

"You don't hate me?"

"Nah," he shrugged "I get it, they're all mad at you for one reason or another. Half of them are píssed that you gave Cole the boot, and the rest are cross that you made state without being part of the team that won regionals, but I don't care, I'm not friends with any of those Tigers ássholes, and you're a direct descendant of The Babe, I think they're crazy for not wanting ya on the team"

"Thanks," I said, smiling. Finally, someone who was acting the way they were supposed to. "So you're one of The Jet's crew then?" I asked, recognising the animosity I'd heard people talking about at school. It was always good to have as much information as possible when dealing with a new social scene, even better to corroborate rumours with insider testimony. Maybe if the hatred between the two groups was as strong as everyone always said then I could use it to my advantage, split the group and reign over the fallout. It was a good working strategy at least, and

"Hell yeah, been runnin' with Benny for years now, the man plays a mean game" 

"Hm," I said, nodding. It was clear that the boy liked and respected his leader, and that I wouldn't get any sort of dirt about the man in question out of him. The other kid took my silence for distraction, he held out a hand, introducing himself.

"The name's Yeah Yeah"

"Yeah Yeah?" I questioned.

"Yeah yeah" he grinned, and I laughed in spite of myself. Maybe, with an inside source, and proof that at least not everyone hated me, things would work out after all.

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If things were going to work out, I decided, then it wasn't going to be for a long, long while, or with considerable effort from me. The first training session of the trip had gone very very badly, even I could tell. I hadn't been at my best it was true, too focussed on watching the others interact to pay attention to what was happening in front of me, too caught up in my head to be on the ball, but that was no excuse, I knew I wasn't the best player on the team but still, being part of a team meant giving my best and I wasn't living up to that. It didn't help that things were rapidly heading towards an explosion, tensions rippling along the clear divide between the two teams, the groups poorly fused and turning on each other. I could use that, I knew I could, but it would be a long term plan, and a part of me wished I didn't have to. But still, I was perfectly willing to tear the team apart if it meant I got to reign over the ashes. In spite of how good the Rodriguez siblings and their partners were at pretending they got on I could see the cracks in the facade, Ash glaring resentfully at the eldest Rodriguez whenever the captain made a call she disagreed with, The Jet itching to back up his boys whenever one of Phillips' people laughed at their expense, almost eager to get back in his face, making his sister play peacemaker between them while Ash mouthed off... it would be almost too easy to tear the quartet apart, I only needed the right catalyst. 

The sound of a foot scuffing against concrete drew my attention away from my musings, and I looked up to see Yeah Yeah arriving in the dugout, leaning on the mesh across from me.

"Don't let all that get you down," he said, and I realised how it must look—me sulking in the dugout after Ash exploded in my face after I dropped the ball (unfortunately literally), mucking up what was looking to be a spectacular double-play because I wasn't paying attention. I didn't correct his assumption, just sighed and hunched my shoulders, playing the dejected athlete perfectly. If baseball wasn't in my blood I so would have made an expert actor. 

"Everyone hates me" I lamented, sighing mournfully and throwing my head into my hands dramatically. Yeah Yeah reacted just as I thought he would, coming to sit on the bench beside me.

"Look, this is only the first trip of the competition. We win this first game, everyone backs off a bit, and when we get back I introduce you to some more of my friends, okay?"

"Yeah," I said, although I didn't feel like things would be that easy at all. Still, it wouldn't hurt to meet some more potential allies, especially if I had to build my popularity organically "yeah I can do that"

"That's the spirit" He said, aiming for encouraging, and I laughed at his sincerity. "You're not a bad player," he admitted, gratifyingly. "But you spend too much time in your head rather than watching the game"

"Yeah," I agreed, looking away "I know"

"Chin up," he told me, patting me on the shoulder consolingly "I'm sure you'll get the hang of it soon enough, probably aren't used to having people who can keep up with you right? It's throwing you for a loop?"

"Sure is," I forced a laugh.

"Remember what I said okay?" He told me, getting to his feet and looking back towards the field. "we win the game tomorrow and everything will be fine after that, you'll see." I nodded, but my thoughts were going in a completely different direction, plotting my next move in the increasingly likely event that we lost, hard. I knew just what to do.