Girls, Gifted

by E K Ballard

  “You lost weight? That’s good!”

  “Yeah, I feel good. Except I can’t stop thinking about her and I don’t know what to do.”

  Izzy thought a few seconds. “It’s easy. You got to make it right. Talk to her. Call her when you get off with me.”

  “That’s the thing. She doesn’t have a cell phone—”

  “She doesn’t? Are they poor?”

  “No, that’s just it! She lives in this big house, drives a nice Jeep, and I think her jeans are tailor made because she’s so tall.”

  “So why doesn’t she have a phone?”

  “I don’t know. I can try her at her house, but she has a game after school.”

  “Well, go to her game, then.”

  “So you don’t think me liking a girl is weird?”

  “No. Love is love is love. I’ll be honest, I never thought you would though.”

  “I know! But I can’t stop thinking about her. She’s the nicest person and, every time she touches me, I just about melt.”

  “So, make it right. Hang up with me and go apologize. If she likes you she’ll forgive you!”

  “Okay, I will. And Izzy?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks.”

  Kristin breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t realize how much she needed to hear those words.

  She checked and saw her missed call had left a voicemail, so she listened.

  It was Jamie. She must have called from Lissy’s phone. She thought of calling back, but knew lunch was over and she didn’t want to talk to Lissy.

  When she heard Jamie’s voice, she put her head in her hands. Why was she doing this to both of them? What sort of moral authority wanted to keep Kristin from being with the person she loved the most? She listened to the message four times, hearing the hurt in Jamie’s voice when she said she missed Kristin.

  Being separated was torture for both of them.

  Kristin would have to catch Jamie at her game and straighten things out.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  After lunch, Jamie went out to the parking lot and sat in her Jeep with the seat reclined, depressed and alone. She didn’t want to see or talk to anyone. She got out two hours later when she heard the last bell ring.

  As Jamie walked to the locker room to get changed into her uniform, she ran into Charlotte, who talked about the matchups and how they just needed to get a lead on Middleton and the defense would be able to hold off Middleton’s weak offense. Jamie agreed absently.

  Would Kristin come and watch the game? She doubted it. Kristin had made it clear that she didn’t want anything to do with Jamie.

  Jamie got changed and put on her socks, shin guards, and cleats with the motions of a robot. She went out to the fields and saw Coach Abbott and Coach Detmer bring the balls and first aid kit out.

  “We need a big game from you today,” he greeted Jamie.

  Jamie didn’t respond. She looked up at the stands and down the sidelines, searching for Kristin. She led the team through warm ups, stretches, and then Coach Detmer had them work on scoring plays against the defense. Jamie’s head didn’t feel like playing a game. No amount of trying to warm up would get rid of her malaise, mentally, physically, or spiritually.

  “Come on, Jamie, you need to get those!” he barked at her after she missed getting to a loose ball. Jamie tried running some sprints to get her legs ready, but that only made her feel worse. She felt like she her cleats were made of cement and she was wearing a 20-lb. bag on her back.

  She saw her mother, father, and Jack sitting in their usual spots in the stands and she waved to them. She looked again for Kristin, but the stands were filling and she didn’t see her anywhere. Her heart dropped.

  * * *

  Kristin got to the game five minutes before it started. She found a spot by herself, sat on the cold metal bleachers, and shivered. She wore her coat and had jeans on, but her feet were in sandals. She had stopped wearing the clothes Angela had given her and what she had wasn’t warm enough.

  The wind was picking up and the sun was starting to get lower in the mid-October sky. She watched Jamie go out for the coin toss. Jamie stood out from all the other players mainly because of her sheer size and physique, but also because of the presence she brought to the field.

  Today, though, Jamie seemed off.

  Kristin saw Dylan and some of his friends walking towards the bleachers where she was sitting. Kristin got up and hurried away to the opponent’s side of the field without him seeing her. She had ignored his calls and texts since they had kissed and she just didn’t feel like dealing with him right now. She sat by herself, behind the parents of the other team’s players.

  * * *

  The game was ready to start. Jamie stood in the center of the field behind the offense and jumped up and down a few times. Stowe was kicking off, and when the whistle blew, Charlotte tapped the ball forward to Tessa, who passed the ball back to Jamie, but as Jamie moved to receive the pass, a player from Middleton flew in from left wing and crashed into Jamie, knocking her off her feet and to the ground.

  A whistle blew and the crowd booed. Jamie got up from the ground and looked to see who had blindsided her. It was #18, Alexia Mooney. Jamie played against her in club soccer, and they hated each other. She gave Jamie a big grin. “I’ll be marking you all day,” she said so only Jamie could hear her. Jamie glared down at her and jogged up the field to get into position for the kick, with Alexia running to keep up.

  When Stowe prepared for an offensive corner kick, a third player from offense came back and covered Jamie as well. Despite being triple-teamed, she managed to get her head on the incoming kick and the ball sailed just over the crossbar. The coach from the other team was yelling at his players, telling them to stay with their marks.

  The game remained tied through halftime, with Stowe getting all the offensive opportunities. As Charlotte said, the Stowe defense was able to keep Middleton away from their goal, but Stowe couldn’t get the ball in Middleton’s net. It was a rough outing, with Middleton players being warned by the referees on multiple occasions about their penalties and dangerous play.

  With five minutes left in the second half in a scoreless tie, Jamie freed herself from her two defenders and was dribbling down the field at full speed. She beat the last defender for Middleton and was ready to go in for a breakaway when #18 slid into her legs and feet from the right. Jamie felt the tip of Alexia’s cleat drive into her just under her left kneecap which brought Jamie down face first into the grass. Jamie lay on the ground holding her knee long after the whistle blew. She was trying to get up when Coach Abbott and Coach Detmer knelt down next to her.

  “Just sit back down for a minute; they are giving her a yellow card.” Coach Abbott said. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” Jamie said. “I’ll be fine.” She sat back down as her teammates gathered around her.

  “Come on Jamie, we need a goal from you,” said Coach Detmer.

  Jamie hopped up and walked around in slow circles. The crowd clapped. Her left knee was sore, but it didn’t buckle and she was able to push off and make cuts on it. She looked at where the ball was. It had rolled into the penalty area.

  “Is that a penalty kick?” Jamie asked the referee.

  “No. The foul was committed outside the penalty area.”

  The referee placed the ball just outside the penalty box and the Middleton defense quickly set up a wall to try and block any shots. Stowe asked the referee to move them back ten yards and, while he was doing that, Jamie huddled with the offense.

  “They’ll be expecting a shot, so let’s try the play we practiced last week. I’ll touch it first, Tessa, you take the shot.” They set up and waited for the ref to indicate he was ready.

  The whistle blew. Jamie waited two seconds, then ran towards the ball from the right side of the play. As she ran over the ball, she rolled it backwards with the bottom of her left foot. Tessa was already moving to the right to take the shot, anticipating w
here the ball was heading. The wall broke up, as some players followed Jamie and some followed the ball. Jamie ran around the wall in full stride just as the ball was kicked. It went through the wall, low and hard, but the goalie saw the shot coming at the last second and dove to her right. She knocked the ball down but couldn’t control the rebound. Jamie came charging in all alone, her eyes focused on the slowly rolling ball and the wide open goal. As the goalie sprang up and scrambled to get into position, Jamie got to the ball and shot it high and hard, right into the goalie’s hands.

  The Middleton sidelines went berserk. Her teammates came up to the goalie and congratulated her. She had made the two best saves of her soccer career.

  Jamie couldn’t believe it. She had practiced that shot thousands of times in the past three years. She never kicked those shots high. She was so angry with herself for missing she was slow to get back on defense. The ball was already at midfield and Stowe’s defense had backtracked. They stole the ball from Middleton, but a subsequent clearing pass was intercepted by Middleton and kicked high in the air towards the Stowe goal.

  The Stowe goalie came charging out to field the play, looking up at the ball, but lost sight of it in the lights. She tried to stop and slipped to the ground. The ball bounced over her and rolled untouched into the empty goal.

  The Middleton fans and players were going crazy. Alexia Mooney ran past Jamie to congratulate her teammate and patted Jamie on the back. Jamie watched the whole thing in disbelief. How could they go from dominating the game offensively to being down a goal with two minutes left to play?

  The last two minutes were a frantic effort to tie the game by Stowe, but Middleton had the momentum, and when the long whistle blew ending the game, Middleton’s fans and players swarmed the field in celebration. By beating Stowe, they clinched one of the last playoff spots and Stowe lost their first-round bye. Stowe would have to host a first-round playoff game Saturday.

  Jamie wasn’t really listening to Coach Abbott after the game. She was numb emotionally and hurting physically. Her knee was starting to stiffen up and swell. She just wanted to go to Aunt Connie’s and take care of the dogs.

  Coach Abbott was wrapping up her end-of-game talk when she said, “We won’t be practicing tomorrow because I have a training I need to attend, but check the team website on information for Saturday. We are either playing the winner of the Templeton/Rusk game or Middleton, depending on who wins the other game.”

  “You mean we may have to play these guys again?” someone called out.

  “Maybe,” Coach Abbott answered. “I just don’t know yet. Check the website.”

  Jamie gathered her bag and went to find her family. Jack greeted her with a hug. “Tough game, kid. How’s your knee?” he asked.

  “Fine,” she said quietly.

  John said, “Why don’t we go get something to eat at the diner.”

  Jamie nodded her head. She wasn’t hungry, but she knew her brother made a special trip over from Weymouth to see her game. “Let me get changed and I’ll meet you there.”

  * * *

  Kristin saw Jamie walking with her head down towards the gym with her equipment bag and tried to catch up with her. Out of nowhere, Dylan appeared next to her.

  “Hey, I’ve been trying to call you.”

  Kristin tried to hide her annoyance. “Dylan, I’m sorry, I’m just not interested.”

  Anger flashed across Dylan’s face. “Why? What happened? Everything was great the other night. Why are you being like this?”

  Jamie walked farther away from her and went into the locker room with her team.

  She was going to miss talking to her.

  “Dylan, I said I’m sorry! Just leave me alone, okay? I said I wasn’t interested.” Kristin tried to walk away so she could catch up with Jamie.

  He moved sideways and blocked her from getting around him.

  “Dylan, stop!”

  He grabbed Kristin’s arm and pulled her near him. “I’m not going to leave you alone until you tell me why, what I did! You asked me to kiss you!”

  Kristin couldn’t get her arm loose from Dylan’s grip. “Dylan, let go! Get off me! I just don’t—”

  Kristin saw Jamie had come back out of the locker room and was looking right at Kristin and Dylan. Kristin could see the hurt on Jamie’s face as they made eye contact. Jamie turned and hurried towards the parking lot.

  Kristin was furious. “Get off me!” she yelled at Dylan. People stopped to stare. Dylan let go of her arm.

  “Kristin, please, just talk to me,” he begged as she ran towards where Jamie had been. “Tell me why, what I did!”

  It was too late. Kristin saw Jamie’s Jeep speed out of the parking lot.

  Now what? Kristin could walk to Jamie’s house, but Jamie was supposed to be going to Farley’s party.

  “Sweet stuff, you want to come with us and go to Farley’s house? His folks are out of town, we got a keg coming, and everyone will be there.” Kristin didn’t realize the voice was talking to her until she saw Hank and his buddies walking towards her in the parking lot.

  Kristin didn’t want to go anywhere with Hank, but Jamie was supposed to be there and she didn’t know where the party was. She could pull her aside and get a chance to talk to her.

  She saw Dylan had stopped following her but was watching safely from a distance. “Won’t Paige get mad?” Kristin asked.

  “Nah, she dumped me,” Hank lied. “We’ve got room for one more.” With that, Kristin piled into his car with everyone else.

  * * *

  Jamie was beside herself after seeing Kristin and Dylan touching each other at the game. She didn’t want to go to the diner, but her family was expecting her.

  Jack, John, and Angela were waiting for her in the booth in the back. “What do you want?” asked Angela.

  “Just water and a grilled cheese sandwich.”

  “Is that it? You need more than that,” said Jack.

  “I’m just not that hungry.” Jamie thought about Dylan and Kristin and fought back tears.

  They ordered their meals and Jamie drank her water. John noticed the disappointment on Jamie’s face and attributed it to the loss.

  “Don’t take it too hard. You played a solid game. Your teammates who had single coverage needed to step up their game.”

  “I should have won it on that open goal shot.”

  Jack said, “This game isn’t the end of the world. One of the best ways for you to learn from games like these is to think about how you’ll do it differently next time.”

  “You’re right,” Jamie said. She was having a hard time caring about anything.

  The food arrived. Jamie knew Jack was watching her to see if she ate, so she forced herself to eat the middle part of her sandwich and hid the French fries under the crusts. Jack just looked at her.

  “What?” Jamie said.

  “What’s wrong? You’re still going to make the playoffs, you know.”

  “I know!” She pushed her plate away from her and looked out the window.

  “What is it with you and this moodiness?” Angela asked.

  “Nothing!” Jamie tried to stand up quickly and had to steady herself on her knee. “Can I be excused? I need to let the dogs out.”

  “Let me see your knee first,” said Angela.

  “I’m fine.” Jamie didn’t want her mother fussing at her.

  “Come on, Jamie, let your mother see it,” John said. “She used to be a nurse once, remember.”

  Jamie rolled up her pant leg. The knee was swollen and discolored.

  “That looks pretty bad. Do you want me to come with you so I can get you some ice and wrap it?” Angela asked.

  “No, I’m not a baby! I can do it.”

  “All right,” Angela said. “Call me if you need me.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Farley’s house was not far from the school, but it was well hidden from the road by a long driveway. When Kristin and the football players arrived, th
ere were about ten cars parked in the driveway by the house. Kristin noticed that Jamie’s Jeep wasn’t there, but Kristin figured she wouldn’t come until later.

  The keg was out on the back porch, where most of the kids were hanging out. Some were smoking cigarettes, and Kristin could smell someone smoking pot somewhere. Hank went to get her a soda and, while she waited, she struck up conversations with a few kids she recognized from class. She positioned herself so she could keep an eye on the door when she saw Paige and some of her friends come in. They walked out to the porch where the keg was just as Hank walked back in the room through the den, bringing Kristin a drink.

  “Oh, thanks,” Kristin said.

  Hank downed his beer in one long swallow as Paige walked back into the room and saw Hank talking with Kristin. Her eyes narrowed to slits.

  “What the fuck is she doing here?” she asked no one in particular. She stormed across the room towards them.

  “Hey, bitch!” Paige got in Kristin’s face, who was more than a little bit scared. “What are you doing, talking to my boyfriend?”

  Kristin turned to Hank and said incredulously, “You said she dumped you!”

  “No, I didn’t,” he denied loudly. The room grew silent as every set of eyes watched the exchange escalate.

  “Bitch, you better get your fucking ass outta here before I beat the shit out of you!” Paige was almost apoplectic with rage. She raised her hand like she was going to hit Kristin and Kristin flinched back.

  Kristin looked at Hank, who had taken a step away from Kristin and was moving closer to Paige. She knew she had no allies in the room and realized that leaving was probably best. She turned to get her coat, but Paige stopped her and said, “Yo, dumb bitch, the door is that way!” and pointed to the front of the house.

  “I need to get my coat,” Kristin said.

  “No, you little slut, you need to get out of here. Now!” Before she could react, Paige stepped towards Kristin and put both hands below Kristin’s shoulders and shoved her. Kristin went flying backwards and fell to the hardwood floor with a crash. Kristin’s drink went all over the carpet and her jeans.