Along for the Ride

by Rachel Meinke

Jenica let out a frustrated groan but folded her map back up and trudged along behind.

  I googled the address of our hotel and routed the way back, combining my map with the subway station.

  “You’re, like, a whiz at this,” Nancy said, watching as I picked out our route.

  “It’s not hard once you get used to it,” I said, pointing to the train we needed to get on. “We should be back with plenty of time to spare.”

  “Thirty minutes isn’t plenty of time,” Nancy said. “But we shouldn’t have an issue.”

  Our subway came up, and we took the route back to our hotel.

  “Are you sure this is right?” Nancy asked, as we came up out of the subway station.

  “According to my phone our hotel should be less than a mile ahead,” I said, showing it to her. But as I looked around, I didn’t recognize any of it.

  “Where’s the Beans in the distance?” Jenica asked.

  “I have a bad feeling about this,” I muttered, as we rounded the corner to where my phone promised the hotel was.

  We stopped outside a fast-food restaurant, and my stomach started twisting into knots.

  We were lost.

  “Oh shit,” Jenica mumbled, looking around.

  Nancy was hyperventilating while Marci pulled out her phone, cross-referencing her map with mine.

  “It definitely says our hotel is right here,” she confirmed. “What the hell?”

  “Good ol’ Apple Maps,” Jenica muttered, shaking her head.

  “What are we going to do?”

  “Oh my God,” Nancy groaned. “We’re not going to be able to play tomorrow! My entire life is ruined.”

  “Chill out,” I ordered, flipping through my phone to find the number to the hotel.

  My phone went off, Zach’s picture popping up. I sent him to voicemail, instead calling the hotel.

  “Yes,” I said, as someone answered, “my name is Katelyn Jackson, a guest at your hotel. I’m currently lost, can you give me the street name your hotel is located on?”

  She did, and I thanked her and hung up. I typed it into my phone, only to find out it was across the city.

  “Come on,” I said, running to flag down a cab.

  “Do you know how expensive that cab will be?” Marci demanded.

  “It’s on me,” I promised. “Well, it’s on my emergency charge card.

  I’ll explain it to my parents later.”

  A cab pulled over and we piled in, me in shotgun, giving the cab driver the name of the hotel and the street name it was on. He gave us a once-over before obliging our request, taking off in the direction of our hotel.

  Feeling bad about sending Zach to voicemail, I sent him a quick text, promising to call him when I had a minute.

  “We have less than twenty minutes,” I heard Nancy say.

  “Just breathe,” I promised. “I’ll handle it.”

  We pulled up to the hotel four minutes past curfew. My heart was pounding in my chest and my hands were clammy as we walked into the hotel lobby, and my heart stopped as I saw Coach Tom standing there, his arms folded across his chest. I heard Nancy gulp next to me.

  “You ladies do realize it’s 10:04,” he said.

  I stepped forward, my mouth dry. “It’s my fault, sir. I got us lost on the way back.”

  “It’s not only her fault,” Jenica piped up, stepping forward.

  “It’s all of our faults,” Marci confirmed, with Nancy’s backup.

  “But I’m the one that got us lost,” I said, giving them a look. I was trying to let at least three of us play tomorrow. We needed that.

  “Trust is something that’s earned, ladies,” Coach Tom said. “And since two of you are my captains, I trust that you are telling the truth, and that you were simply lost.”

  I felt nauseated enough to puke, my eyes widening as he spoke.

  “You’ll be eligible to play in the game tomorrow,” Coach Tom confirmed, “and this right here? This is mentioned to no one.”

  “Yes, sir,” we chimed in unison.

  “And there will be consequences.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good, now get upstairs.”

  We scurried into the elevator, waiting for the doors to close before we spoke again.

  “I can’t believe that just happened,” Jenica squealed, her hand over her heart.

  “I wouldn’t be so happy if I were you,” Marci mumbled.

  “Why not?” I asked, a smile on my face.

  “Because he mentioned there would be consequences,” she explained. “And I have a feeling that won’t be pleasant.”

  We piled out of the elevator and went into our hotel room. My adrenaline was still pumping, and I changed into my pajamas before calling Zach back.

  “Is everything all right?” he asked, answering his phone.

  “Everything’s fine,” I said, as I lay out across my bed. “Only a little drama. More importantly though, what time is it for you? Where are you?”

  “It’s five in Pittsburgh right now,” he said. “And my brothers are arguing, which is so rare for them, as you know. Today it’s about personal space on the tour bus, as we don’t have much of a break for the next ten days. Being cooped up on this bus together is going to be literal hell.”

  “Go to bed!” Jenica called out from the bathroom. “We don’t have time for your gushing.”

  I flipped her off as Zach laughed. “Was that Jenica?”

  “Yes, and she can shut up. ”

  She peeked out from the bathroom to glare at me. “You owe me.

  So you shut up.”

  “I think maybe you should go to bed,” Zach said.

  “I think you’re right,” I said. “Talk to you tomorrow?”

  He hummed in agreement. “Good night.”

  “Good night.”

  I hung up and plugged in my phone before turning over and staring at the ceiling, willing sleep to come.

  “And now comes the jet lag,” Jenica said, as she climbed into her own bed.

  The joys of traveling.

  LONDON, ENGLAND

  CHAPTER 26

  During the bus ride on the way to the game, Coach Tom announced that it was going to be live-streamed, and then sent out a link for us to share. I forwarded the email to my mom and sent a quick text to Zach to let him know that my mom had the link, in case he wanted to watch too.

  The pit of my stomach was bottoming out as we emptied out onto the fields, ready for our pregame warm-ups. The buzz continued throughout the pregame water break and then pregame chats.

  “I’m making only one change to my starting lineup,” Coach Tom announced.

  I knew he was going to replace me after what happened yesterday.

  “Bianca will be going in for Gabriella,” he announced, and relief coursed through my system.

  “Captains!” the ref called, and Marci and I took the field.

  I called tails, and it landed on tails, giving us kickoff and them their choice of the field. They gave us the sun.

  After one last pregame pep talk from Coach Tom, we took the field, Nancy on my left and Bianca on my right.

  “They have a dual-striker system,” I explained to Bianca, as we waited for London to take the field. “Number three is said to be one of the best players in London, and she has some of the fastest sprint times in this part of the city. So play to contain.”

  Bianca nodded, and we did a quick handshake before taking our positions. London took the field, number three on the left side of the field, Nancy’s side. I nodded at Nancy, who flashed me a thumbs-up, letting me know she could handle it.

  We started with the kickoff, and knowing that they had a flat-back system, sent it back to our midfield so they could launch it.

  We sorely underestimated London. They were on our midfield in seconds and had the ball faster than we anticipated.

  “Contain!” I shouted to Nancy, as I covered their star forward.

  “Midfield, I need backup!”

 
The London offense was swarming us, fast. I’d never seen anything like it, yet it was beautiful. Their midfielder tripped Nancy up and crossed the ball in. I jumped up to get my head on it, but it went over me, and instead number three made contact with it, sending it into our goal. We stood there, stunned, as the ref blew the whistle, signaling that it was indeed a goal.

  “The hell just happened?” Bianca asked, as Cassandra dug the ball out of the goal.

  “They scored in less than ten seconds,” I said. “That’s what happened.”

  Coach Tom was yelling at us from the sideline, but I could tell he was as baffled as we were.

  It was time to step up our game. We kicked off again, and instead of shooting it back to our midfield, Jenica launched it over their flat-back defense. I pushed the defense up as our offense moved the ball up the field, keeping their defense on their toes.

  We lost the ball, giving them a goal kick.

  I backpedaled as the ball was kicked, jumping up to head it back up to our offense.

  Number three yelled at the other striker on London’s team, telling her that it was her fault they’d lost the ball. The defense pushed back up, catching number three offside without her realizing, and as the ball was launched into our backfield, she took off and the ref blew the whistle.

  “What?” she demanded, stomping her foot.

  “You were offside,” the other striker informed her. “Maybe you should watch where you stand.”

  “I want her off the field!” number three shouted at their coach, pointing at the striker.

  If they kept this behavior up, they’d self-destruct before the half.

  The rest of the first half was spent bouncing the ball back and forth, no clear control and no more goals. As the ref blew the whistle to signal halftime, I turned to glance toward the bench, where Coach Tom was waiting with his arms folded. This wasn’t going to be a fun chat.

  “You girls have had so many opportunities,” Coach Tom informed us, as we gathered around. “You have to connect with those crosses, you have to find those breakaways, it’s the little things that we aren’t finishing on.”

  I nodded, taking a sip of water as I watched the London team out of the corner of my eye. Number three was having a heated conversation with the other starting striker.

  “As for our defense,” Coach Tom said, snapping me back to our team, “would anyone like to tell me what happened? How they scored?”

  I exchanged glances with Nancy and Bianca, unsure of what to say.

  “Anyone?” Coach Tom prompted.

  “We still don’t know,” I admitted. “It was like a swarm of London, and I saw the ball crossed in, but it was over my head, and then next thing I knew it was in the goal.”

  “That will not happen again,” he ordered.

  “Yes, sir,” we chimed.

  “I’m not making any changes for the second half, so you girls go ahead and take the field.”

  London had the kickoff second half, and they drove the ball down the field, but I intercepted the pass headed for their precious number three and got a pass off to one of our midfielders.

  “Can’t you do anything right?” number three spat at her fellow striker.

  I shared an all-knowing look with Nancy, the two of us giggling.

  And then Marci had a breakaway. I cheered for her as she outran their defense, giving her a one-on-one with the goalie. She slid it into the bottom right corner, giving us our first score of the game. I celebrated with the team in the center of the field, giving her a high five.

  “Be sure to contain,” I said to Bianca and Nancy, as they set up for their kickoff.

  They swarmed our defense again, but it didn’t catch us by surprise, and when the cross came in, I managed to launch it back out.

  The two London strikers argued their way back up to the half, as I pushed up the defense.

  Sky slid the ball through their flat-back defense, giving Marci a breakaway. We played around with the ball in the offense for a while, but after a few minutes, their defense launched the ball over to our side of the field.

  It was a footrace between number three and me. Of course the game couldn’t end before there was some sort of footrace. I pumped my arms and legs, my lungs burning, as we sprinted toward the ball, neck and neck. My entire summer had been dedicated to speed, making myself the fastest player I could be. And this girl was giving me a run for my money.

  As we both reached the ball, I stuck my foot out in front of hers, getting the ball back to Cassandra, and taking the two of us out. I rolled on the ground a couple of times, feeling the ground hit my hip bones, before slowly pushing myself up.

  “Are you kidding me, ref?” number three demanded, as she pushed herself up.

  “She touched the ball first,” the ref said, with a nod.

  “She took me out!”

  With my hands on my hips, I walked back to the halfway line instead of jogging it out as I usually do.

  We worked hard for the half, but as the ref blew the final whistle, we didn’t punch in another goal, and neither did London. A tie. We shook hands with the other team before taking our sideline, feeling defeated.

  “Nice tackle,” Coach Tom said.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “Wicked bruise?” Jenica asked, as she plopped down next to me on the bleachers.

  I dipped down my shorts and spandex to reveal my left hip, showing her the bruise that had already formed, and was still growing.

  “Damn,” Jenica muttered, shaking her head.

  I resituated my shorts as we made our way across the fields to the bus to take us back to the hotel.

  “Practice tomorrow at eleven!” Coach Tom called, as we made it to the bus. “It’ll be a light practice for most.”

  Jenica and I exchanged glances as we found our seats on the bus.

  “What do you think he meant when he said for most?” I asked, fear creeping through me.

  “I think we know what he meant,” Jenica said, confirming my fear.

  Tomorrow was going to be hell.

  PARIS, FRANCE

  CHAPTER 27

  After a long day in London with a punishing training session followed by a train ride to Paris, jet lag no longer kept us all from falling asleep instantly. And now we were in the City of Lights on the morning of our final game day.

  “We have the morning to sightsee,” I said, sitting crisscross on the hotel bed as we discussed our options.

  “Coach Tom said that he made reservations for the team to go up in the Eiffel Tower,” Jenica said, “so we’re definitely doing that.”

  Nancy stood up. “Coffee first. And then I’m good for the Eiffel Tower.”

  No sign of Marci. “She’s really not coming?”

  Nancy shrugged. “She hasn’t really said much since we got our ass kicked at practice yesterday. I doubt she’s eager to miss curfew again.”

  “We’re not missing curfew,” I said, with a shake of my head. “I’m not in charge of directions this round.”

  We headed downstairs, getting our usual morning Beans on the way to the Eiffel Tower. The team took the Metro to get there, all of us stopping to stare in awe as we arrived. None of the photos did the Tower justice. Below there was an open area, with a couple of market shops and places to sit and marvel at the beauty.

  I took a side detour to get some midmorning ice cream, much to Jenica’s annoyance.

  “I earned this,” I said, as I took a lick. “You’re missing out.”

  “I don’t want ice cream for breakfast,” Jenica huffed. “I just want to go up in the Tower.”

  We joined the long line that wrapped around the bottom, chatting amongst ourselves while eavesdropping on the conversations happening around us that were taking place in French.

  “I only know once French word,” Nancy said. “Merde.”

  “Which means?” I asked.

  She giggled, clearly pleased with herself. “Shit.”

  Nancy began guessing what people
were saying, which turned into the three of us making up life stories about the people around us. I took the man with the twirly mustache, creating a story for him that he was here to run away with the Bonnie to his Clyde. The time passed quickly as we played our game and giggled together, until it was our turn to go inside the elevator to the top.

  The view from the top of the Tower was breathtaking. As Jenica was quick to point out, you could see a nudist pool from a certain angle inside. But more importantly, you could see all of Paris. And it was gorgeous.

  I FaceTimed Zach. He answered, although he’d clearly been sleeping.

  “What time is it for you?” I asked.

  “About four a.m.?” he said, in a groggy voice. “Is that the Eiffel Tower?”

  I showed him the view, Jenica shouting in the background about how jealous he should be.

  “Go back to sleep,” I said, with a wave. “I’ll call you later.”

  He let out a yawn. “Deal.”

  “I’m so glad we did this,” Nancy said.

  “Absolutely,” I agreed. “It’s the number one tourist attraction for a reason.”

  We descended back down to ground level and took our obligatory Eiffel Tower photos.

  “How does it feel to be in the City of Love without your love?”

  Nancy asked me.

  I rolled my eyes as Jenica wrapped her arms around me.

  “I’m your number one,” Jenica said, before planting a kiss on my cheek. “Never forget it.”

  “Get off me.”

  She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at me, before beckoning Nancy over. “Get in here, Nancy. You know you want to.”

  “I really don’t think I do.”

  But she joined in the group hug anyway, Jenica wrapping us up tight.

  “The City of Love with my loves,” Jenica said. “It’s perfect.”

  I had to admit, Jenica’s mood was contagious. “I guess I love you guys too.”

  “I guess so too,” Nancy said.

  “That’s the spirit!” Jenica shouted. “Now let’s get someone to take our picture. I need to make Zach jealous.”

  Marci and I led the team to the field, the France team watching us.

  We dropped our stuff on the bench and then began our pregame warm-ups, the team more fired up than ever. This was our last game together.