CHAPTER XIV – THE NEW CAPTAIN REVISITED
"Well, at least it's all clear now." said Lily a moment later and also walked towards the dining room.
When inside, Veronica let Lily's hand go to join her own house. There was Germina who had been absent earlier. Lily frowned, "Oh, why was Germina not in class?" Fixing her look on Germina, Lily waited to get noticed and waved to her. Germina's face brightened, as far as that was possible at all for such a cheerful face, and ran towards Lily.
"How are you? Welcome back." said she, taking Lily's hand in hers. Germina's eyes were fixed on Lily's with warmth. "We've missed you. Both at school and at the field. Buster was not a very good captain. Our last game was a tie, and that's entirely his fault." Germina clang to Lily affectionately. "But now you are back and everything will be back to normal. I mean, as it used to be. I mean, it has to be back. Doesn't it?"
At first, Lily did not answer. She planned not to. But then, amidst her anger, she thought the girls were in a very awkward situation themselves and punishing them by disregard was stupid. The best she could achieve is drive them from her. What happened between Buster and her was all her fault, obviously, so she had no right to fish for scapegoats.
In the dormitory she switched bedrooms, because she was sharing hers with Violet, which was weird, at the very least. So, Erin took Lily's bed with Violet and Lily stayed together with Simona. Lily knew she could not keep eternal silence with Violet, because on the second Saturday from her return they had a match scheduled and they had practice on Monday evening.
When the players gathered in the changing rooms, Lily knew she was expected to give some sort of speech: something to brighten them up, something assuring. She stood up in front of the row. The ten looked at her in expectation.
"Hi," Lily started, feeling insecure. She could see Violet, Buster and Padrina at one end of the back bench and Padrina's look was filled with open disdain and defiance. No one returned to her "Hi".
"I'm back," said Lily next and blushed immediately. That was the stupidest possible thing to say. After all, they could very well see she was back. Just as Padrina pointed out sotto voce. The players around her giggled. That giggle was a slap across Lily's face. She cleared her voice and felt insecurity flow back to its bleak den, surged by her captain's confidence.
"I said 'hi', but failed to hear your greetings. I said 'I'm back', but no one welcomed me. I hope you still remember that I am your fellow-player and we are a team." Lily stopped here, to make room for reaction. She saw thrills passing through the team, their faces changed and the players began to listen. Random "His" and "How are yous?" were heard.
"Next Saturday we have a match. Let's practice and be perfect." And she started towards the door.
The players were surprised, "Was that all? Where are you going? Hey, Lily, don't get offended."
"I'm going to the field. I'm afraid I'm not in good shape, for I had no chance to practice these couple of months. I need to get fit again." said Lily and smiled broadly, "Come on, it's getting colder outside."
So, the team somehow swallowed Lily's personal issues and thought they had better focus on the game.
Soon enough, things were back to normal. Lily got fit very fast and although she could hardly walk for a whole week after her first practice, she was happy when she got so exhausted that she did not have time to think. Because of her personal programme, Lily spent the time free of classes and practices in the library, reading missed lessons and writing papers and reports on various topics. Each teacher had prepared a questionnaire for her, which she was to follow. Each teacher had, in addition, set particular time for private tutoring, in case Lily needed that. Three days in it, Lily was desperate she could not cope with that. There were too many questions in too many subjects and too many pages that she was supposed to read. She found out that reading was very difficult when no one explained anything to you, and when you are basically alone in interpreting the books. She fell asleep several times in the soft, warm dusk of the library and when she stepped out of it, she felt none the wiser or better informed. Football was taking her thoughts away from it. Veronica used to join her in the library from time to time, just to check in on her.
Next Saturday came fast and the guest team appeared at breakfast. The George Reader's High team welcomed the guests and then held their usual meeting for coordinating procedures. After all flatteries and formalities, the teams filed to the changing rooms. The whole school and the fans of the guest team were already at the stadium expecting the victory of their favourites.
Simona and Erin were already in the VIP section and waving frantically to their friends. Lily looked at each one of the players. The twins and Clark Evans were fresh, smiling and ready to triumph. Their goal-keeper had his gloves on and was shining with excitement. Germina was wearing her usual impish look. Violet was somber and avoided Lily's look. Buster and Padrina were not – they were looking in defiance. "Where is Phillip?" frowned Lily, not seeing her eleventh player.
"Here I am," he said, coming from the bathroom in a hurry. They all laughed. "Oh, that's a good time to go to the bathroom, for sure." said Lily good-naturedly. "Well, if we are ready, let's go and take this game by victory, in spite of some personal issues each of us might have. Let's be the team our school deserves. They do not care about our issues. So, let's not bring those issued on the field."
Padrina and Buster nodded. "Lemonpie, don't worry. You know, when we play we do our best." said Padrina gravely. That was true. Padrina knew how to separate between personal and team stuff. Lily felt reassured.
The match was magnificent. It was all like a splendid, freezing dream where you are happy in spite of the miserable weather. But then, of course, who could feel cold in a dream? George Reader's High won the game by many goals. Their rivals, all boys from a remote school, left the field so downcast, that even Lily felt remorse for their loss of dignity. But then, their fall raised her pride sky high. Lily was floating on Cloud Nine and could hardly see clearly. After the game, the cheerleading squad showed a brand new routine they had been practicing for some time. Honestly speaking, Lily could not care less about cheerleading, but Germina knew all from her friend Juliet Clarence, the second-time failure at the cheerleading try-outs. And, of course, whenever Germina knew something, everybody around was certain to hear about it in great details. As she saw Lily's indifference, Germina voiced her protest, "Now, Lily, you know they are doing it for us." Lily did not have any intention to contradict her or anything, but she could not help saying, "No, Germina. In fact, they are doing it for themselves. After all, they take part in contests where we do not appear. While the opposite is not the case." That shocked Germina. She opened her eyes wide. "Oh, my goodness, you are right. Well, anyway, right now they are entertaining our public." Lily really wanted to calm things down, but she somehow could not, and so said, "Our public would appear even if they weren't here." Apparently Germina was either too tired, or too happy, so she just shrugged Lily away, "I like them." and she left. Lily tried to hold her, saying, "I like them, too. Germina, please, stay. I didn't mean to sound as if their work means nothing. But, you see – today is our day. We're the winner. People are applauding us. They are great, no doubt. Yet, people out there are applauding us." she repeated. "While they shine by our reflected light, so to speak. That's the case right now. When they go to their contests, I'm sure the public goes to see them, because of who they are and what they do." Lily looked at Germina, who nodded. "you're right, And then we're not there to shine 'by their reflected light', right?" she giggled.
The changing rooms were a place of sweeping love. The twins had developed a special dance and taught it to everybody. The very first practice at which Lily was present after her absence, they taught her that dance. When Lily and Germina entered the room, everybody inside was dancing the "Slammer" dance, as they called it – named after the twins, of course. Antony Belamigo, one of the heroes of the match, having saved more goals that not, was flushed with laughter and da
ncing. Seeing Germina, he literally jumped towards her and pulled her in the dance. Phillip did the same with Lily. So, they romped, shouted and waved hands and legs for a while. Then, exhausted but warm and happy, they all hugged and it was time for the team kiss, where everybody would kiss everybody else, or try to, basically turning their heads left and right with pursed lips, ready to kiss or be kissed. That ritual was Germina's idea and it dated since the previous year. Their captain then, Carl, liked it very much, even though boys usually shun kissing. Lily was in love with Carl then, so she always tried to get as much kissing to and from him as possible. She ended up having kissed a lot of others, too. This year it seemed to Lily she kissed mainly Padrina. And they were not even standing by each other. They had another kissing round and she received the most kisses from Buster this time.
"OK, that will be enough," said Lily laughing. "Let's not get too taken away with that kissing thing."
"Oh, come on, Lily," protested Phillip Sommerville. "That's my only chance to ever get kissed."Others laughed out. Buster joked, "No wonder, flower boy." That "flower boy" theme had turned into a home joke for the team after the last try-outs, where three boys from the House of Flowers were selected. The Slammer twins giggled, "Don't listen to him. That's the Don Juan of Flowers. That's how we call him." Phillip waved to them to keep their mouths shut, laughing at the same time. Veronica snickered, "Well, maybe Don Juan likes some additional practice." Germina bit her lips in hesitation and dropped the bomb. "Or he likes practicing with other boys and our ritual gives him the chance for that." At those words, all the boys jerked free of the kissing circle, all of them wiping their mouths and murmuring things to the effect of "No, what a stupid idea." "Oh, for goodness sake, what's wrong with you?"
The team was welcomed in the dining room by a hail of applause, shouts, and friendly pats on the shoulders, unintentional touches and intentional hugs, elbow-brushing and kissing. Lily found herself amidst a lovely havoc and ended up getting more and more kisses. Then a kiss on her lips awoke her from her champion dream. She opened her eyes and that was again that boy, what-was-his-name-again, the boy with the beautiful face and nice-looking nose, and those full soft lips. Lily thought intensely. Seeing that he said, "Mark Hopfler, fourth year, Flowers, sings in the choir." Lily did not want to leave Mark's arms, yet she knew she had to. She pulled back from his face and said, "Well Mark, fourth-year flower, sings in the choir, last time Professor Baramova chose the worst possible moment to enter upon us, as far as I remember." Mark nodded, "That's exactly my memory of the moment, too." He did not let her go, but only blushed a little. "Will you give me a chance to tell you what I had no time for, last time?" and with these words, he squeezed her harder. Lily looked around to see who was watching. Well, practically, everybody was. She turned to Mark, bit her lips and whispered, "Mark, yours are the tenderest lips I've touched. Those lips may tell me whatever they like."
There was a great holler in the dining room. Students' faces were red with excitement and joy, and their eyes shone as though it was they who had just received a great compliment on their lips. A real love affair was unfolding in front of their very eyes. That was not a film or soap opera of the kind their parents would sometimes watch on TV. This time no teacher showed up to spoil the moment. So, there, in front of the whole school Lily Lemonpie, captain of the coolest club at the school, let Mark Hopfler, and insignificant member of the most laughed-at club, kiss her passionately and tell her in a trembling voice, "From here..." which Lily finished off by, "... to the end of the school year." Mark laughed and said, "OK. That's even more than I could've hoped for."
Lily in the Moonlight Page 13