The next two hours were exceptionally brutal. No amount of preparation could ready you for one of Coach Muldenhower’s workouts.
“Good job, ladies,” he called, as we sprawled out across the field.
“Ice baths in the locker room.”
“I’m good right here,” I said to Jenica, my body aching.
“You’re going to want it for later,” Jenica said, as she pushed herself up off the ground.
“No,” I groaned.
She nudged my side with her foot. “Get your ass up and let’s get an ice bath before they’re all taken.”
I slowly pushed myself up off the floor and practically dragged myself to the locker room.
“It’s time for Drama Llama,” I reminded Jenica, as we headed into our dorm building.
“We have a communal dorm building TV,” Jenica reminded.
“That’s a lot of people to convince to watch Drama Llama.”
I headed into the main area where the TV was, and a few girls were sprawled across the couches. To my surprise, the intro to Drama Llama was playing on the TV. I hurried over to watch, Jenica right behind me.
The three girls introduced themselves as Amzley, Elizabeth, and Lauren.
“I’m Jenica.”
“And I’m Katelyn.”
The first girl’s eyes widened. “I knew you looked familiar! Are you Katelyn Jackson? Connor Jackson’s sister?”
There was always one. “Yeah.”
“That’s so cool!”
Amzley snorted. “She’s obsessed.”
“Am not.”
“That’s okay,” I said, teasingly. “Jenica is too.”
“A teeny bit,” Jenica laughed. “He’s even hotter in person.” I closed my eyes and shook my head.
Drama Llama came back on, and I turned my attention to the gossip portion.
“Talk about juicy,” the reporter said. “The hunky Connor Jackson was spotted walking the streets of Dallas, Texas, today with ex-girlfriend, supermodel Lana Regas.” The picture flashed onto the screen, where Connor was walking down the sidewalk, a pair of sunglasses on and dressed in his usual designer clothing. He was looking off to the left.
Lana was on his right, and she was dressed in a romper with a pair of sunglasses, and she was looking off to the right.
“The broken-up pair didn’t seem too happy,” the reporter continued. “And proceeded to have a minor dispute outside a coffee shop before going their separate ways.”
I immediately pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to Connor. I knew that Drama Llama wasn’t always accurate, but they did have a picture of the two of them together. And I wanted to know why.
Drama Llama went on to talk about the anticipated release of Mackenzie’s new song.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, Connor’s name popping up on the screen.
We had some loose ends to tie up. Fuck Drama Llama for running a story. I’ve got enough to deal with already, I don’t need the paps blowing things out of proportion.
Things definitely didn’t end well between the two of them.
Be careful with what you say in public.
Someone could record you and it’d explode.
Connor was quick to answer back.
Good. I’m done talking about her and the video.
Ouch.
“Ignore him,” Jenica whispered, as she’d been reading over my shoulder. “He’s uptight about whatever went down with Lana; it’ll blow over.”
I put my phone facedown. “I need to know more juicy gossip.
How long is this commercial break?”
“Hopefully we get to hear about the Nick and Lisa drama,”
Amzley said. “I’ve been following it for three days and I need new details.”
LOS ANGELES, CA
CHAPTER 15
We were back to sitting on the turf. Unlike the night before, the sun was bright overhead, beaming directly down on the fields. I reached up and wiped a small bit of sweat that had already accumulated on the back of my neck.
“Welcome to your first full day of the Limitless Apparel Showcase!” a woman called.
A loud cheer came out from all of us. I let my head tip back, the sun grazing my face as I took in the moment. Took in the opportunity.
“Each of you has been assigned a locker,” the lady announced.
“Inside that locker is the latest Limitless footwear and clothing. You’re expected to wear Limitless at all times.”
Another loud cheer went up.
“Am I not allowed to wear my cleats?” I asked Jenica.
“But if you have your own Limitless cleats and gear, feel free to wear that too.”
Relief coursed through my system. As silly as it seemed, my cleats meant everything to me. I could swap my shin guards, my prewrap, even my sliders, but I couldn’t play without my cleats.
“We’re going to go ahead and split you up,” she called. “These groups will correspond with the schedule, so Group A, you’ll follow schedule A, Group B schedule B and so on.”
I exchanged nervous glances with Jenica. I knew I wasn’t grouped with her. I was in Group C with girls I didn’t know. We were released to our lockers, our first event in thirty minutes.
“It’s time,” Jenica said, catching up with me.
“What?” I asked.
“This is what we’ve been waiting for,” she said, excitement written across her face. “A chance to show these people why we’re the best girls in this sport.”
“Blue pinny,” Coach Fredrickson said, handing it to me.
I slipped on the Limitless pinny over my head, wincing at the stench of sweat. He handed out the rest of them in three other colors.
“These are small-sided groups,” Coach Fredrickson reminded us.
“Four people on a team, two teams on the field at a time. We’ll go for five-minute intervals. Blue and yellow, you’re up first.”
I took the field, taking my position as sweeper. We had two midfielders and a striker.
The five-minute game was grueling. You were constantly moving, never able to stand still. I’m proud to say that they didn’t score on us the entire time, while we managed three goals. Our team left the field at the end, and the red team took our place.
I drank a little water while I watched them play. The red team was dynamite, their footwork and passing much better than the yellow team. They ran circles around them and ended up with nine goals.
We took the yellow team’s spot, having to face the red team.
Going up against the red team’s striker was a challenge. She had good footwork, but so did I. She was fast, but not nearly as fast as Marci. I could easily match the striker’s pace, preventing her from scoring. But they prevented us from scoring, too, ending with a nil–nil tie.
A few of the Limitless Showcase officials stood off to the side, taking notes on our performance. We did these drills for an hour, and I felt the weight of exhaustion at the end. But both my team and the red team ended the day undefeated.
I headed up to the locker rooms, having some time before my next session, and I was in need of an ice bath after my grueling morning.
“Hey!” Jenica called from an ice bath.
I quickly stripped down and joined her, letting out a groan as my body hit the cold water.
“That conditioning session this morning was death,” Jenica said, with a wince.
“Tell me about it. I didn’t know my body could hurt so much.”
Coach Muldenhower had really put us through the wringer.
After only two sessions with him, I felt more in shape than I’d ever been in.
“Hey, Jenica, are you coming?” a girl called, drying herself off from her ice bath.
“Is it time already?”
“Yup, we’ll be late if we don’t head out now.”
“Bye, Katelyn,” Jenica said, stepping out of the bath.
“Where are you headed?” I asked.
“Technical footwork,” Jenica said, thr
owing her sweaty clothes back on. “An hour of juggling, step overs, and pullbacks.”
I smiled at her. “Have fun.”
“Sure will.” She blew a kiss at me before heading out to her class.
Leaning back in the tub, I let the cold water numb my sore muscles. I’d done ice baths before, but never two days in a row. I soaked in the ice bath for a few more minutes before climbing out and changing into new Limitless clothing. I headed down to the fields to observe what was happening.
“Katelyn Jackson?” a girl asked, jogging up to meet me.
“Yeah?”
“Nancy Torino, huge fan of your brother.”
I didn’t know how to answer, so I nodded in response.
“It must be weird for you to hear people say that,” she said, running her fingers through her hair. “I wasn’t trying to be weird. It seems so surreal that I would actually be standing here talking to you, because you’re practically famous.”
Me? Famous? “I’m most definitely not famous.”
“Are you kidding me? You’re so awesome. The Instagram stories Connor posts with you in them are hilarious.” She shook her head.
“Now you probably think I’m some sort of weirdo fan.”
It was like talking to Jenica about anything Connor-related. “Not really.”
“You’re so lucky that you get to tour with Skyline too,” she said.
“What are they like?”
“They’re all really sweet,” I said as we reached the fields.
“What happened today was crazy though, right?”
I stopped short, raising my eyebrows at her. “What happened today?”
“You haven’t seen the news?”
“No, I haven’t had time.”
“They did a live chat to promote their new song, ‘L.A. Sunshine,’
and Ross revealed that Zach wrote it with a specific girl in mind.
Zach was pissed.”
My heart began beating faster. “Oh.”
“Yeah, I wonder who it’s about.”
“Me too,” I muttered.
It couldn’t be about me...right? He had just given me that necklace, and I was from L.A. No, I realized. I barely knew him, and he knew way more girls from L.A. than me.
Now was not the time for a distraction anyway.
“We’re going to do the Beep Test to end the day,” Coach Muldenhower announced.
My arms rested on the top of my head as I panted. This afternoon had been an incredibly hard conditioning session.
“How many of you have never taken the Beep Test?” Coach Muldenhower asked.
Three girls raised their hands.
“It’s pretty simple,” he explained. “The cones are set twenty meters apart. When the first beep goes off, you have until the next beep to reach the second cone. As the test continues, the beeps get quicker.
There will come a point when you don’t reach the cone before the beep. When that point comes you step out and that’ll be your final score. There will be a winner.”
I looked around, knowing that I had to come out on top. This was my chance. We started off on Level One, which was easy. It was just jogging between the cones. Nobody fell off. As the levels increased, the speed increased. People began to fall out around Level Five, which was understandable after the tough conditioning session we’d endured. My legs were on fire.
By the time we reached Level Nine, there were only two of us left. And of course my opponent had to be Marci.
The Limitless Showcase officials were standing off to the side, watching us. I was mentally and physically exhausted, as I knew she had to be, but I continued to push forward, unwilling to lose. As I went to turn on the cone, my foot slipped, and I went sliding out. I quickly jumped to my feet and went sprinting for the opposite cone, but I didn’t make it in time. I lost to Marci.
“Good run, ladies,” Coach Muldenhower called. “Let’s do a cooldown.”
I did the cooldown as instructed before trudging up toward the locker rooms for an ice bath, not wanting to talk to anyone.
“You did great, Katelyn,” Jenica said, catching up with me.
“I lost.”
“You were still in the top two! And you lost only because you slipped.”
“I still lost. And to Marci of all people.”
She squeezed my shoulder. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Kate.
You did awesome out there.”
Today was not going as planned.
Right now is usually when I’d vent to Jenica’s mom about my soccer struggles. She’d probably tell me I was overreacting. And then I’d tell her the story again to try to persuade her to see why I was most definitely not being dramatic. And then she’d tell me again that I was overreacting, and she’d tell me that it was going to work itself out.
But Jenica’s mom wasn’t at this tournament. And Jenica was as dramatic as I was, so going to her would exacerbate the problem.
And my own mother would nod along to my story and try to offer advice without really understanding the situation, which would frustrate me even more. I flopped back on my dorm room bed with a groan, willing myself to gain the motivation I’d lost after this morning. As I was contemplating my next steps, my phone buzzed next to my head.
hi it’s zach. connor gave me your number.
A smile spread across my face as I read Zach’s text.
“That’s a much different Katelyn than I left,” Jenica said, as she came out of the shower. “Smiling Katelyn is my favorite Katelyn.”
“Why would you take a shower before full-field scrimmages?” I asked, with a slight laugh.
“Because I felt gross. Two showers a day never hurt anyone.” She peered over my shoulder, glancing at the text from Zach. “Oooh!
I understand the smile now. What are you going to say back?” she asked, as her towel dropped to the floor.
“Whoa, give me a warning!” I called out, before glancing back down at my phone.
“Play it cool!” Jenica said. “Like him texting you is no big deal.”
“It isn’t.”
She laughed at that, peering over my shoulder again as she pulled on a T-shirt. “Right.”
“What do you think I should say back?”
She pursed her lips together. “Something like, oh hey there with a winky face.”
Point proven. “Shut up.”
“We need to go anyway. Mull over it during scrimmages.”
As we went down to the field, I began readying myself for the full-field scrimmages. It was time to prove that earlier was a fluke, and that I truly deserved a spot on this team.
I got a blue pinny and was placed as starting sweeper. Jenica was also handed a blue pinny, and she was starting striker.
“Looks like we’ve proven something,” I said to her, as we waited for the rest of the assignments.
“I told you it was our time.”
We took our positions on the field, and I watched as Marci was handed a red pinny. Starting striker on the opposing team.
Playing with these girls was like playing a whole new level of soccer. My club team was good, but these girls were dynamite. My outside wings didn’t stab; they actually contained players. And when the offenders got around the wings, my goalie actually communicated with me, and together we made an unstoppable team.
“I’m Rhonda,” my left wing said, as we pushed forward while our team had the ball.
“Katelyn,” I said, a bit breathlessly since I’d just chased down the opposing team’s midfielder.
“Hey, Katelyn,” Nancy said. She was playing right defender.
I answered with a wave.
The opposing team regained control of the ball, and our defense kicked into action.
I ended up clearing the ball, something I almost never do. But their offense was swarming us, and I didn’t have much of a choice. As the game progressed, substitutions began to happen. During the second quarter Jenica was pulled, and at halftime they replaced the entire team, inc
luding me. I sat the bench for the first part of the third quarter, watching as the new team took on the new red team.
We’d been winning 1–0 when we were pulled, but the red team ended up scoring within the first seven minutes of the third quarter, tying up the game. Jenica was the first one subbed back in with strict instructions to score another goal. At the end of the third quarter, Rhonda, Nancy, and I were subbed back in with strict instructions not to let another goal through.
“I hate sitting on the bench,” Rhonda said as we took our positions.
“I’m not used to it,” I admitted, focusing in on the game.
“Yeah, me neither.”
“It’s weird when they put the best all together in one camp,”
Nancy said. “I’m not used to having this much of a challenge.”
Rhonda and I nodded in agreement.
We weren’t trying to be cocky, which is how it might’ve sounded to people listening in on our conversation. This camp was for the best of the best in our sport, bringing in players from all around the United States. There were fifty-two of us. And I personally loved the challenge. There weren’t many times I got to test out my footwork and endurance—usually the only challenge was Marci. And that was rare, although I had played her quite a few times these past few months.
And then Marci was subbed back in.
“I thought they only let talent in,” Marci muttered, as we stood next to one another at the halfway line.
“I guess you must’ve slipped through. It happens.”
The opposing team began their passing game, something that Marci wasn’t used to. On her team they’d usually chip it, knowing she could outrun almost anybody. But here they played the game like it was meant to be played, with footwork and trickery.
The right midfielder got the cross off just in the right spot.
Along for the Ride Page 12