Chapter 1
Today was the day, my first day of my senior year at a brand new school. I had football tryouts after school today and I was prepared for the onslaught of insults and dirty looks.
I got out of bed and put on one of my old football jerseys and a pair of dark distressed jeans. I grabbed my new school’s sweatshirt and my black vans as I headed to the kitchen.
Mom and dad were already at work so I was on my own for breakfast and lunch. I grabbed a granola bar and a banana. I grabbed my clothes for tryouts and threw them in my nike duffle bag along with my cleats. I threw more stuff in my bag then looked at the time. 8:00, I had half an hour until school started and I needed to be there early. I quickly dutch braided my long sandy brown hair around my head and let it fall over my left shoulder. I grabbed my bags, phone and keys and walked out the front door.
I had no need for unlocking my car since I took off the doors and roof since it’s a jeep wrangler. I threw my bags in the back and jumped behind the wheel. I started the car and quickly devoured the rest of my banana and threw it to the open trash bin at the curb, making it. I did a small victory dance and then set off towards school.
I pulled into a front parking spot and got out after taking the last bite of my granola bar. I ignored the stares from everyone as I walked straight to the front office. I grabbed my schedule and walked to my first class of the day, AP calculus. I walked in and took a seat in the back of the class where there weren’t many people.
I pulled out a random notebook and deemed it for calculus. Class started and we went through introductions and then started straight away. Of course in the middle of class a group of boys walk in.
“Mr. Moore you are late and the rest of you, get to class,” The teacher who introduced herself as Mrs. Miller said.
All of the boys walked back out of the room except for a tall muscular boy. He was probably the school’s playboy. I was right because as he walked to the back he winked and smiled at all of the girls in the class. Including me, but I didn’t swoon like the others did. I just rolled my eyes and continued paying attention to the lesson.
“And what’s your name?” He asked.
I looked up to see that he was talking to me, and he was sitting next to me. I just rolled my eyes and continued to try and work, keyword tried. Mr. Playboy Moore wouldn’t quit trying to talk to me. After several attempts of him trying to flirt with me I wrote a quick note saying, ‘My name is Charlotte, and I’m here to learn so if you could kindly shut the hell up, that would be great.’
I then asked to go to the bathroom and when I passed by his desk I slyly tossed the note on his notebook. His face was confused and I didn’t stick around long enough to see him read it. I went to the nearest water fountain and took a long drink of the icy water.
Of course before I stood back up, someone slapped my butt. I snapped around to see who the culprit was and it was one of the boys from the group who came in earlier with what’s his face. I was shocked and angry to say the least. I was more like seething anger and they must have felt it because a couple of them turned to see my reaction and instantly regretted it. Looks of terror filled their faces and they nudged several other boys. At this point they had stopped in the middle of the hall and I was slowly walking towards them with both of my fists clenched.
“Now, who did that?” I asked through gritted teeth.
Everyone pointed to the guy in the front. I didn’t even wait for a response. Before I kicked his manhood. “How does it feel? Not fun huh? All of you, just go to damn class,” I said while I walked back to class. I was still seething with anger but tried to make it as inconspicuous as possible. I slowly opened the door and walked back to my seat. I saw that my note was back on my desk. I opened it and below what I had written was, ‘Mine’s Jack, just thought you were lonely sorry. Didn’t have to be a bitch about it.’
I crumpled it and put it on top of my bag for me to throw away later. The rest of class was extremely boring and pretty much all of my classes were boring but I had to at least make it to lunch. I walked into the packed lunch room and got in line for a chicken sandwich and some fries. It took forever but once I got it and paid I looked around for anyone from my first few classes. I didn’t see anyone so I just walked over to an empty table and sat down. I was eating my fries in peace and scrolling through my phone when a huge group of boys came over and stopped in front of the table. Most of them giving me dirty looks.
“Umm, can I help you?” I asked after I swallowed the couple of fries that were in my mouth.
One of the underclassmen stepped forward, “Yeah, can you move? This is the football team’s table.”
He had a lot of attitude. I shook my head laughing slightly, “Then it seems that I’m at the right table.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me, if this is the football team’s table then I’m sitting here.”
Jack came over from one of the lunch lines, “So, are you trying out for cheerleading or something because their table is over there.” He pointed to a few tables over where a ton of girls were dressed in skimpy clothes.
I laughed quite loudly, “Are you serious? Hell no I’m not trying for cheerleading. I’m trying out for football. I thought that was obvious.”
They all stood in shock as if they didn’t believe me. So I took off my sweatshirt revealing my old football jersey with Jenkins and my number, 27 in white on the back and just my number on the front.
One of the older guys realized who I was, “Wait are you Charlie Jenkins? You took your team through state two years in a row.”
I nodded in pride and a lot of the underclassmen swarmed me with questions and comments. By now we had attracted most everyone’s attention.
I grabbed my stuff and pushed through the underclassmen, “I just wanted to eat in peace, is that too much to ask?”
I walked off and found myself sitting in the library for the remainder of lunch just reading old playbooks my coach had given me before I moved.
The rest of my classes breezed by and soon I was headed to the locker room to get changed for tryouts. I changed into a black sports bra then a black Under Armour skin tight shirt. I slipped on my football pants and cleats. All the while ignoring the dirty glares I was getting from the volleyball players and the cheerleaders.
I walked out of the locker room and onto the practice field to be met with an already formed huddle. I ran over and stood behind a really tall guy. The coach was going over a list of everyone who signed up for tryouts. I had emailed him before school started to give him a heads up on my situation and to introduce myself. I waited until I heard my full first name being called. Apparently this year’s coach was brand new and he wanted to wipe the slate clean and give everyone a shot at every position. It was my chance to show everyone that I can be the quarterback for this team. I walked towards the coach and shook his hand.
“Nice to finally see your face Charlotte. I’m Coach Hale From the stuff I’ve heard, you’re quite the quarterback and captain. Took your team to state two years in a row. Anyways lineup for conditioning.”
I did as I was told and walked over to the end zone with some of the people trying out. We then waited for everyone else. While I waited I stretched out my legs and shoulders like crazy so I wouldn’t pull anything before I even made the team.
Once everyone was lined up and at least a little bit stretched out, Coach Hale called, “Okay we are going to see who has the most endurance here. 40-yard build ups until we have a winner. Now…” He blew the whistle and most of the guys went off sprinting but I knew better than that. I jogged then eventually went into a sprint but I knew better than to use up all of my energy. We all walked back together and then did them again and again and again.
Sure I was last almost every time but I still had energy and wasn’t that out of breath. It also helped that I ran really late at night on a trail going up high so I learned to control my breathing. We were on our last set and it was me against three other seniors. I was impressed that they lasted this long but they wouldn’t make it faster than I would be.
Coach called out, “Alright I want the four of you to give this everything you have left and whoever makes it first will be the first team captain for a scrimmage tomorrow. Ready? And…” The whistle blew and I took off in a fast sprint and pushed my legs to go faster with each stride I took. After I crossed the forty yard line I started to slow down then fell to my knees trying to catch my breath. I eventually had to lay flat on my back to slow down my breathing and by the time I had gotten back to normal someone’s hand was reaching down to me.
I grabbed it firmly and pulled myself up and walked over to the three other seniors. One of them was in the same position I was just in as he said, “Damn, how did you still have all of that energy? We were already spent but didn’t think you would make it that far since you were so slow the whole time.”
Coach jumped in, “Exactly, when it comes to endurance and saving your energy for when you really need it, Jenkins has got that covered completely. Let this be a lesson for everyone, pace yourself and don’t over exert yourself too quickly or else you will never make it through a full game. Now take five. We’re doing muscle building next.”
I walked over to my water bottle and took some sips from it. I was about to head into the locker room to grab my hand wraps but I heard my name be called, “Charlotte! Hang on!”
I turned and it was Jack along with the guy who slapped my butt. I rolled my eyes but stayed anyways, “What do you want Jack? And what are you doing associating yourself with someone who degrades women anyways?”
Jack was taken back by my question. He turned to the douchebag, “Nathan, what did you do?”
“I didn’t know that she was going to try out for the damn football team. I just saw a good ass and decided to slap it. What about it? I already got my punishment from the prissy bitch over there so no need to punish me any further.”
I didn’t need to hear anything else from him so I turned and stormed past them trying not to punch Nathan when I passed him. I am not prissy and I am not a bitch. I walked over to Coach Hale and he seemed to sense my anger.
“Have anything to share Jenkins?”
I shook my head shortly and stayed silent. Coach sighed and called everyone back. “Alright head to the weight room and do twenty reps at each station with whatever weight is pushing your limits. Grab a partner, They will be your spot and you will be stuck with them all year so choose wisely.”
I looked around and everyone seemed to be paired up except me. Coach led everyone to the weight room and everyone got to work. Coach Hale ended up being my spot and I did double the reps in order to have the same time as everyone else. I benched 220 for my first 20 reps to get warmed up then added 30 more pounds to make a total 250 pounds. Coach barely had to touch the bar. The only time he did was when my arm started to give out on my last rep. I sat up and Coach made sure I was okay before calling rotate. I went over to the squat area and loaded up my weights to 270. I did 20 front squats then 20 back squats. By the time I finished my legs were dying and so were my arms.
Coach yelled, “Rotate!” I moved to dead lifts and added 290 pounds to the bar then did my 40 reps while trying not to wince every time my back pulled. Coach grabbed the bar from my hands on my 40th rep, “That probably wasn’t too smart to do that much weight with your back.”
I shook my head, “I’m fine just need to ice it little bit tonight.”
Coach shrugged and yelled, “Alright ladies, you’re dismissed! Go take showers!”
I laughed slightly and winced slightly when my back started to kill me. “Except you Jenkins.” All of the guys made different sounds, from Oo, to oh, to she’s in trouble. I stayed behind and once all of the guys were gone I laid flat on my back. This was normally the only way to make the pain become tolerable after some time. I clenched my teeth together when Coach Hale asked, “That bad?”
I nodded slowly trying not to move my spine too much. After a couple of minutes the pain subsided and I carefully sat up. I sat crisscross on the floor and reached forward to relieve some pressure. My back was having slight muscle spasms but other than that I was perfectly fine.
I got up from the floor and looked up at Coach Hale. He had a look of concern on his face. I answered his silent question, “Coach, I’m fine. I just haven’t really done dead lifts since the accident. I was stupid to do that much weight. Trust me I’m okay. I’ll use heat and ice on my back tonight. I know the drill. You don’t have to worry about me.”
“Okay, but you have to promise me to not strain yourself too much.”
“I can’t promise that completely but I can promise that for a couple weeks.”
“I can agree with that. Are you okay to drive home?”
“I’m all good.”
“Well then you are dismissed as well.”
I walked out of the weight room and into the girl’s locker room. I quickly changed back into my school clothes and grabbed all of my stuff. I walked out to my car and Nathaniel was leaning against the hood.
I clenched my fist around my duffel bag, “Nathaniel, what the hell do you want?”
“Just wanted to know what coach said to you after we all left.”
I threw my bags in the backseat, “It’s none of your goddamn business.”
“Why? If you don’t tell me then I’ll tell everyone that you are getting special treatment from him.”
“You really want to know? He said to lay off of you and Jack. Happy now?”
He smirked, “Very.”
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get home. And try staying the hell away from me from now on, got it?”
He scoffed which I just ignored as I got into the driver’s seat and started the engine. I glared at Nathan to get off of the hood of my car but he didn’t budge. So I took the opportunity and put the car in reverse and pressed the gas and pulled out of the parking space. I looked to where Nathan was and saw him sprawled on the cement. I laughed at him and drove off, finally headed home.
I pulled into my driveway and saw that mom was home early. I looked at the clock and it was 6:30. She normally doesn’t get home until 7:30. I was going to be in trouble when I got in there.
I pulled out my phone and texted dad to meet me out here so I could tell him what happened today and hopefully he could sneak me in the house without mom seeing me.
The front door opened and dad walked out to my car. He seemed concerned, “What’s wrong Charlie?”
I grimaced and he seemed to know what happened immediately, “How bad was it and where were you?”
“I couldn’t move it was so painful and I was in the weight room with coach since he knows about what happened. He made me promise to take it easy for the next couple weeks.”
He quickly went back into the house and then about a minute later he had a bikini and an over-sized shirt in his hands and he gave them to me.
“Go on and head to the back. The shed has everything that you will need to recover overnight. Don’t forget to float on your orthopedic raft.”
I nodded and he followed me to the backyard. Once I was in the shed he went back into the house. I changed into the red string bikini that mom made me buy at the start of high school. I slipped the over-sized t-shirt over my head and slowly waded into the cool pool water. My orthopedic float was floating around in the shallow end. I got on it and laid back. I honestly hated this thing but I had to use it in order for me to properly recover. I floated around for quite a long time.
I must have fallen asleep because I jerked and fell into the water. I surfaced and heard my parents arguing. It was probably about me being in football and I heard mom yell that she just wished that I would be more like an actual girl. I tuned most of it out after that because I could barely hear them over me crying. This happened all of the time but mom has never said anything like that.
I got out of the pool and went back into the shed. In the shed dad and I made it my recovery sanctuary pretty much. It had a bed with the necessities. It had a rack with some clothes hanging on it. I had a mini fridge filled with some food and drinks. On top of the fridge was a basket filled with food and random snacks. I had a bathroom but it was small and only had a toilet, bath and sink. The bath took up most of the space in the bathroom since it was a big jet tub. The front of it was glass and it had a back rest. There were jets all over but the main one was meant for my lower back. There was a small TV for my phone to connect to so I wouldn’t get bored while I had to soak.
I turned on the water to the tub to as hot as I could get it. I grabbed a loose sports bra, underwear, and some sweats. I put a towel in the sink with my clothes underneath. I stopped the water and stripped off my wet shirt and my bikini and threw it on the floor. I carefully got into the steaming water and let my back relax onto the back rest.
I turned on the jets and let my muscles relax. I stayed in the bath for about 45 minutes with the jets on for almost half of that time. My back felt a ton better but I wasn’t done yet. I got out and dried off then put on my clothes. I grabbed an ice pack out of the tiny freezer next to the bed. I wrapped a small towel around the ice pack and placed it on my back as I laid on my stomach. I was exhausted from working out luckily the school doesn’t give out homework the first week of school.
I played on my phone while I laid there. It gets quite boring after a while of just laying still. I shot a text to dad, ‘Hey is she calm now?’
‘Yes she’s asleep, the coast is clear. I put some food in the fridge for you if you want it.’
‘Thanks dad see you when I see you tomorrow.’
I got up and put everything away. I stepped out of my oasis into the humid air. I walked into the house trying not to make a sound. I crept my way downstairs to the basement also known as my room. It wasn’t gross and trashy like what some think. It had a couch with a PS4 and too many games to count. My workout gear was set up against a wall close to the couch. My bed and closet were behind weathered white sliding barn doors. I walked through the barn door to be met by the sheer white curtains hanging from the ceiling tied to the sides of the doorway. My walls were a simple white that had two canvases that said ‘Yes I’m a girl. Yes I play football.’ between the two of them. My bed had a grey duvet with black and white polka dotted sheets, The pillows were a mixture of black and grey. I had my grey faux fur blanket laying on top with my Mac book on top of it. I had a white dresser with a full length mirror next to it. On top of my white faux fur rug was my black writing desk. Next to my desk was my bookshelves filled to the brim with all of my favorite series of books. I had a decently girly room but it wasn’t bright pink like some people’s.
I walked over to my bed and moved my laptop before collapsing onto the bed face first in a huff. I turned over to look at my ceiling. I was so exhausted but I wasn’t sleepy.
I pulled my arm over my face, “Why can’t people accept me the way I am? I’m not a bad person. Or am I? Am I a bad person for doing those things to Nathan? I mean he did deserve them. But still I may have gone a bit far with both of them. Oh well he really did deserve them. I do feel bad for brushing off Jack though. He seems like a nice guy, maybe I should give him a chance.” I rambled on. I got up and took off my sweats and sports bra and threw on an over-sized shirt that I stole from one of my exes a long time ago. I crawled under my comforter and slowly let sleep take over my senses.
