I watched the rain gather momentum until it was roaring against the pavement. A flash of lightning streaked the sky and a deep thunder followed. I sighed. A couple days ago, I was cleared to play, and we were already being pushed off the field. Stupid weather.

"Ms. Malcolm!"

I jumped in my seat. The rest of the class laughed as I focused my attention on Ms. Simon.

"How can we prove triangle A-B-C is congruent to triangle F-G-H?"

Where the heck was triangle A-B-C? I stumbled over the words I didn't have. I looked at the board, at my notebook, at my textbook, at my worksheet. What were we talking about? Sierra whispered, "Side-angle-side."

"Side-angle-side," I repeated for our teacher to hear.

She nodded and put her dry erase marker to the whiteboard. "Thank you, Ms. Malcolm. Just remember on the test, phone a friend will not be an option. Keep your eyes up front."

"You got it, Ms. S." I grinned at her.

She looked at me unamused and kept going with the lesson. I turned to Sierra. "Do you think we'll do game film?"

The fellow freshman leaned around me to look out the window. Another crash of thunder rumbled. Sitting properly again, she said, "Probably."

I grumbled, "I do not want to relive yesterday's game."

"Yeah," Sierra agreed flatly but didn't add anything else. She turned her attention back to the board. I could tell she was just as upset with yesterday's game as I was.

I took my Chromebook out of my bag and set it on my desk. Ms. Simon kept blabbing about triangle congruence. I typed in my keyboard and scrolled through the results of my Google search. I clicked on a link and elbowed Sierra with a muffled laugh. "Ese," I hissed using Sierra's nickname. Ese is the letter 'S' in Spanish. "Ese, look at this."

Reluctantly, she waited until our teacher was between concepts in her lesson and looked at my screen. She snorted. "What are you looking at?"

I highlighted the title of the article.

She shook her head and glanced at the board. "You're an idiot."

"You won't be saying that if the rain stops."

She pointed at one of the words. "You're looking at a spell. A rain spell. Does that sound real to you?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Desperate times call for desperate measures."

"Ms. Gains. Ms. Malcom," Ms. Simon snapped. "Unless you two want to spend your evening with me, I suggest paying attention."

Sierra put her head down and picked up her pencil. I huffed and slumped in my seat. A rain spell was convenient, but at the moment I needed a get-out-of-geometry spell.

———

"Sarah!" I squealed. "Sarah, stop! You're gonna drop me." I giggled anxiously, wrapping my arms and legs tighter around her neck and torso.

I could hear her grin as she asked, "Do you love and trust me?"

"I love you." I squeezed her in a sort of hug. "But I don't trust you," I teased. She jumped, putting me higher on her back.

"Guess I'll have to do it again since you don't trust me." She leaned forward, squatting low.

I screamed, feeling like I was gonna fall off. I could see both of us collapsing to the ground. "I trust you, I trust you, I trust you," I blurted, trying to get her to stop scaring me. "Sarah!"

The classroom door opened, and El walked in with a CD. Sarah stood back up. I leaned to the side to see what was going on. The mood in the room instantly dropped. "Is that last night's game?" Someone asked.

The senior nodded and sat down to pull the video up. The other two captains walked in after her. I pulled my body tighter against Sarah's. She held my hands reassuringly.

Jessie looked up with her arms crossed. "Last night was a disappointment. I hope you all know that." I didn't want to soak it in, but she paused and I couldn't help it. "We're gonna watch the game and make a list of the good and the bad. Tomorrow will be a regular practice. I'd bring your running shoes."

People groaned. Sawyer huffed, "Everyone?"

Ash looked at her with a don't-test-me look. "We're a team. I don't care if you played eighty minutes or zero minutes. If we run, we run as a team. If you don't want to be part of that, there's the door, and you can give the coaches your uniform."

I glanced between the two nervously. Sawyer was unpredictable, and Ash didn't let people walk over her. I wouldn't be surprised if a fight broke out. Not a physical one. Ash wasn't into that. Thankfully, all Sawyer did was scowl and slump against the wall.

"Get comfortable. We're gonna be here a while," El murmured.

Sarah let me down and sat on a table. I jumped and sat beside her. El played the video. The camera was a wide view from the stands. I thought the game looked bad as a player on the field. Looking at it from this angle was even worse. I buried my head in Sarah's shoulder. "I can't watch."

By the time the final whistle blew, everyone was tired and irritated. We had a list written on the whiteboard and everybody was anxious to leave. The captains dismissed us and people filtered into the hallway.

I squeezed through the group to get to Ashley at the front of the classroom. When she saw me, she smiled. "Hey, kiddo. How was your day?"

I shrugged, leaning into her. I just wanted her to hug me.

She kissed my forehead and wrapped her arms around me. "You'll figure it out. Remember, you're just a baby. You have lots of time to learn the game."

I shrugged again and buried my head in her shoulder. I wasn't really in the mood for anything. I was frustrated with my play and just plain tired.

She rubbed my back. "I have to talk to coach," she said softly. Her chest vibrated against my ear when she spoke. "Do you wanna come with me or hang out?"

I thought about it for a couple seconds. "Hang out," I finally decided.

She kissed me again and ruffled my hair. "Alright, kiddo. I'll be back. Be good, okay?"

"Yes ma'am."

She walked with Jessie and El down the hall and out of sight.

Gil and Sierra came up next to me. Sierra's face was anxious, and Gil's was annoyed. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Sierra blurted at the same time Gil blabbed, "Sawyer is opening her big, fat mouth again."

Sierra elbowed the defender, making her wince. "Shut up. I thought we weren't gonna say anything." The two glared at each other and bickered.

I rolled my eyes and waited patiently for them to figure it out. After awhile, I gave up and interrupted, "What's she saying?"

"Nothing," Sierra insisted. "Sawyer is just—"

"Being a bitch," Gil finished for the midfielder, unabashed. Crossing her twig arms over her chest, she continued, "Complaining about how you only start because Ashley is captain. She's also saying things about Ash, but I don't know what."

That caught my attention. "She's saying things?" I looked at Sierra demandingly.

She bit her lip, looking down. She looked like she didn't want to tell me, but I was getting answers one way or another. She eventually broke and murmured, "Yeah. She's telling people that Ash tried to make her do things and because she didn't do them, she doesn't play."

While the two bickered about who didn't share what, I ran out into the hallway and spotted the Junior with a couple other teammates including Jade. Sarah was mad at her at the moment and I just missed her. Storming towards Sawyer, the older of the two, I growled, "What are you saying about Ashley?"

She blinked innocently. "What?"

I straightened up and stepped close to try and intimidate her. It didn't help that I was at least two inches shorter. "Don't play innocent. Shut up and keep your opinions to yourself. No one asked for your twisted lie-filled version of real life."

She crossed her arms. "Just because you don't have a backbone doesn't mean I'm not allowed to have one." She put her hands on my shoulders and forced me back a step.

I restrained the urge to break them. "Not when you're a bitch about it."

Realizing how worked up I was getting, I moved to back down, not wanting to get myself in trouble. "That's what I thought," she said. She stuck her foot out, and I stumbled onto the floor. "Oh my gosh, are you okay?" She pretended to fret. Someone she was afraid of must've been watching. Kneeling down to help me up, she hissed in my ear, "Try me, bitch."

Without thinking, I took her outstretched hand and yanked her down with me. Rolling us over, I sat on top of her and pinned her to the floor. I looked at her fear-filled eyes in shock. Neither of us expected me to actually fight back.

"Amily!" That was Ash's voice. I looked up at her, but in that moment, Sawyer decided to fight back. She yanked my hair, and I dug my nails into her shoulder.

"Ladies!" Jessie reprimanded trying to control the situation.

Sawyer didn't stop so neither did I.

"Amily, stop it! Get off her!" Jade cried out, trying to pry me off the upperclassmen. She shoved me, and I hit the wall hard enough to knock the wind out of me.

I blinked back tears. Not so much from pain but more because a person I used to call my friend decided that loyalty meant being on the other person's side. So angry and fed up with Jade acting too cool for me and Sawyer being a flat out bully, I ran at them again.

At some point in the skirmish, I was pulled out and my bottom was smacked firmly. "Ow!" I protested. My hand flew back to my rear to protect it. All the anger clouding my head became a tight knot in my stomach. I looked up at Ash's face. She was not happy, and her firm grip on my bicep reiterated that.

"Young lady, I'd stop your 'owing' because I'm about to give you something to 'ow' about," she muttered loud enough for just me to hear. I whimpered pathetically. She dragged me into the nearby classroom we had our meeting in and locked the door behind us. "You better explain yourself real fast because I have half a mind to take you over my knee this very second."

I bit my lip and sat down slowly. "Please don't," I said meekly.

She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows expectantly. "Well?"

I kicked the floor. "She started it," I whined. I winced. I sounded so pathetic and childish. Clearing my throat, I continued, "She's been saying stuff about you and called me a bitch and—"

"And you hit her," she cut me off flatly.

I frowned and gnawed my lip.  "Not right away."

She shook her head and sat on the edge of the teacher's desk. "I'm very disappointed in you. I can not believe you just did that."

"I'm sorry," I whispered thickly. Tears pooled in my eyes. "I just-I wasn't thinking."

"Mhm." She pulled a chair and my stomach started doing that flippy thingy. Reluctantly, I slowly walked to her side already crying. She held my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "I love you so much, kiddo. I don't want you to make bad decisions like that and get into dangerous situations. If I hadn't come back so soon, who knows how bad that fight could have gotten. Do you understand?

I nodded sadly.

"Use your words," she prompted sternly and softly.

I choked out, "Yes ma'am. I understand."

Ash added, "God says to repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. I want you to always be the bigger person, Ams. I know it's hard sometimes, and I don't expect you to be perfect, but this is something I want to remind you of. Does that make sense?"

"Yes ma'am," I breathed out.

She took a hold of both my hands and made complete eye contact with me. "Do you want to wait until we get home?"

I glanced at the door anxiously. Everyone on the team got their butts busted, but it didn't make it any less embarrassing. But I hated waiting above all. "Mm-mm. I mean, no ma'am."

She smiled to try and relax me. "That's fine, kiddo." She guided me over her lap and adjusted me. I stared at the tiled floor, shutting my eyes anxiously. The spanking was quick, efficient, and definitely got her point across. She warmed up quicker than usual and the actual punishment part of the spanking was harder than usual. It was definitely shorter, but she didn't go easy by any means. I was a complete sobbing mess by the time she decided I had enough. My butt felt like I could fry eggs on it.

I wrapped my arms around the senior's neck and tried to sit on her lap in the most comfortable way. She rocked me gently and rubbed my back soothingly. "Good girl. I'm so proud of you," she praised.

I smiled into her neck. I couldn't imagine where I'd be without my favorite senior.