by Nicole Shay
“S-Sorry Imogen” Allie apologetically said, confused at the reaction from her usually reserved captain and friend.
“Listen guys, this is it. No holding back, because if you hold back even a little, they’ll take advantage of that. We’re all capable of taking a shot, we’ve done it thousands of times in practice. If we want this, then we all have to be there together. Find a reason to put that ball in the back of the net, more than just winning, more than just a title.. Now let’s go, we have a game to win!” Imogen finished as she put her hand in the middle of the circle for her teammates to follow.
As they broke Lilith rested a hand on her shoulder.
“You sounded like a captain there, huh?” She said with a smile.
“That’s the idea” Imogen stated.
“There’s no one here that could be in your position, I think you just proved that.” Lilith said as she patted the girl on the back and ran ahead.
“Are you ready for this?” Imogen asked Ornella who had her eyes fixated on something on the opposing teams side.
“Mmm” Ornella nervously let out.
Imogen smiled “Here take a swig of water, and don’t worry okay?” She said mimicking the girl’s words to her earlier.
Ornella gulped the water down knowing full well that she wasn’t in any position to be taking any penalty shots against her ex girlfriend.
As everyone scattered to their rightful places, Elaine hung back a little with Olivia.
“You’ve got this,” Olivia reassured the keeper. “You could do this in your sleep.”
Elaine chuckled. “You’re lucky I haven’t gone over there with Maeve and killed Long. Her excuses were bullshit. The ball was a foot away from you.”
“Well, use that anger to focus when you’re in goal,” Olivia suggested, knowing Elaine worked well in games when she had something to focus her emotions on.
“Will do Captain,” Elaine winked.
“You’re wearing the band.”
“You’re the one who proved she’s captain today,” the keeper shot back. “I need to go get ready,” she sighed. “Hang in there.” She leaned down and kissed Olivia’s head, ruffling the girl’s hair a little.
Olivia gave her a small smile. “Nothing gets past Elaine Strongman.”
“Nothing breaks Olivia McBray,” Elaine returned the smile. She noticed Olivia’s eyes drifting and knew what was going through her mind. “It’s game time, kid.”
Olivia sighed, realizing Elaine was aware of everything now. “I know, I know...I just wish…”
“Trust me, you’re not the only one,” Elaine promised. She sounded like she was talking about Imogen, and that’s how she was going to keep it. She turned, noticing Chloe already in goal. She knew better than to watch her team take SCs. She needed to get her head in the game, so she walked towards the side of the goal, outside of the 18. She almost tripped when she noticed Ornella in the group of girls who were huddled together, as if sharing last-minute plans.
She couldn’t take a penalty kick against her ex.
Imogen was the first player, it was decided, to take the penalty shot. She sighed heavily as she walked to take her spot. Her coach chose Imogen to go first because she believed her to be the most calm and collected when it came to situations like this. Normally, Imogen was calm and collected, but today she was a bundle of nerves. Too much is on the line she thought as she set the ball down. She couldn’t bring herself to look over to Olivia even though she felt the girl’s eyes on her every move. She swallowed hard as she looked up to the only thing that mattered in that moment, the goal. She saw the intense focus on Elaine’s face and could finally understand why everyone was seemingly scared of the girl. One more breath and Imogen thought there was no better time than now to take the shot. She took a couple steps back and before she could feel scared or nervous she strode forward and kicked the ball with something more than just might. She could barely process what happened before her teammates’ cheers deafened her. She made the goal. She aimed for the top right corner and that’s exactly where she put it, just out of Elaine Strongman’s reach. Imogen turned to join her teammates but not before noticing Olivia out of the corner of her eye. She could only imagine what was going through her girlfriend’s head.
Damn it! Elaine cursed inside of her head. She knew without a doubt she was wearing the infamous bitch face her teammates always talked about as she walked out of the goal. She knew that one should’ve been a save. But it wasn’t and now her team was down one. She didn’t hear the reassurances of her teammates as she took off her gloves to take a swig of water.
Olivia was torn between being happy for her girlfriend for making the goal or being pissed that it went in. Then, a thought occurred to her. She wants to put the game before us? Might as well do the same.
Maeve took a deep breath, setting the ball down. She hardly paid attention to Chloe trying to psych her out before she even took her penalty. Knowing exactly where she wanted it, Maeve immediately drove her foot towards the ball, slotting it into the left corner opposite of where Chloe originally guessed and dove towards.
Good. We’re even, Olivia thought smugly as she cheered on her best friend from the sidelines.
Imogen held her breath as Karen, the rookie stepped up to take her shot. Imogen could tell Elaine seemed confident about this one. Fear of failure was written all over Karen’s face and body language as she got ready. Feeling less than stellar, Karen shot not really knowing where she was trying to put it. Regardless of her aim, the sheer force seemed to surprise the goalkeeper as she tried to dive for the ball.
Elaine could see it in the young girl’s eyes that she wasn’t ready for this. The frustrating part about it was that Elaine couldn’t tell where the ball was going because Karen herself didn’t know either. Luckily for Elaine, she guessed correctly, but the ball came at her harder than she expected. She almost dropped the ball but quickly regained possession, holding onto it tightly. She didn’t bother to listen to the cheers her teammates cried out as she stood, rolling the ball away from her with a confident smirk.
Justine and Hailey weren’t so lucky. It seemed after the first goal, Chloe wasn’t letting any slip by. Justine fumbled, hesitating a second long enough for Chloe to read her while Hailey’s hit the post. Meanwhile, Olivia was still on the side, holding her breath. At this point, each team had two left, and she prayed that her team would be able to slot one in before it was too late.
Lilith was next for Imogen’s team. She placed the ball perfectly in the left pocket of the net as Elaine dove to the right. She ran back to her team as they immediately turned their attention back to Chloe and whoever was shooting next on the opposing team.
Olivia watched with clenched teeth. Her stomach dropped at the sight of Elaine diving the wrong way. Elaine never dove the wrong way. Something was messing with her game, but Olivia couldn’t put a finger on it. She nervously watched as Kerrie set herself up. Kerrie was never usually one to take a penalty kick, but it was a time they really needed her kick. She watched as the defender narrowed her eyes, first at the goal then at the ball. Olivia let out a scream of approval when she saw Chloe go to tip the ball out of the net, but her hand missed.
“Hell yeah!” Olivia yelled, wanting to run over and hug the girl who she knew was probably terrified on the inside.
One more. They just needed one more goal.
Ornella gulped as she knew what Chloe missing meant. She had to take a shot, against Elaine of all people. Her team was charged with the prospect of finally winning so close. Ornella knew it shouldn’t have to come down to this but she had no choice in the matter. She tried to pretend it wasn’t Elaine standing between her and the goal but she couldn’t help but get lost in the keeper’s steely stare. Her heart was racing and she wondered if Elaine could hear her heart beat from where she was standing. She slowly set the ball down taking her time as she came back up.
Elaine had never felt as empty as she had for the past twenty-four hours. She never
felt empty. She never felt the need to depend on someone. The one person who gave her that need was standing right in front of her, readying to take a penalty kick against her. She knew how Ornella shot, they’d messed around with a soccer ball a few times, but now with the situation they’d found themselves in, Elaine wasn’t sure what would happen. By accident, she’d locked eyes with her ex, finding the light brown eyes she’d slowly fallen for staring at her blankly. Quickly, Elaine averted her eyes, looking to the ball instead. One last breath before the last chance of saving her team. She watched Ornella’s feet as they slowly retreated. She shoots with her right, Elaine reminded herself quickly. Which side will she go for?
Ornella looked down at her feet and then to the ball. She glanced up to see Elaine’s teetering cleats as the girl was trying to decipher which side she was aiming for.
She swallowed hard, Ornella knew where she was going to put the ball, it was just a matter of whether Elaine was reading her successfully or not. She hit the ball with everything in her tiny body. She stared in disbelief as the ball squarely and firmly hit the middle of the net as Elaine landed to the left thinking that’s where Ornella was going.
For the first time in what felt like forever, she couldn’t read Ornella. In the past few weeks she’d been able to realize Ornella was an open book. That seemed to be gone as Ornella began to back up. All Elaine knew was that it was going to be a hard kick. The keeper watched as Ornella’s foot hit the ball and she dove down to the left. Damn it, she screamed to herself in her head as she watched the ball sail to the middle of the goal. She just cost them the game.
In what seemed like milliseconds Ornella was hoisted up among her screaming and crying teammates. Tears of her own started to stream down her face as the pride of the moment rushed into her. She briefly caught a glimpse of Elaine slowly getting to her feet, shock and an apparent sadness on her usually put together and serious face.
The keeper took off her gloves, feeling eyes on her but she knew she couldn’t meet that gaze because it could be the only one to break her. And Elaine Strongman didn’t break. Not with eyes watching her. She slowly trudged back to her teammates, who were all making their way towards their injured captain.
“So close,” Elaine muttered. “till I messed it up.”
Kerrie frowned. “Come on Elaine, it’s not like you did a shit job out there. You were amazing, as usual.”
The taller girl shook her head firmly. “Not amazing enough.”
Olivia let out a sigh. There was something off about Elaine throughout the SCs, but she couldn’t put a finger on it. Whatever it was definitely got to her in those last moments. “Maybe if I didn’t get hurt it wouldn’t have had to come to this.”
“Thanks for reminding me!” Maeve exclaimed. “Elaine, let’s go kill that bitch!”
“No,” Olivia said abruptly. The last thing she wanted was another fight. “Come on guys, I know this game was something we all wanted. But hey, if we win or tie the rest of our games, we’ll see them again at play offs. We can still do this,” she reminded them.
“I guess,” Willow mumbled, still visibly upset.
“Come on, heads up,” Olivia said, trying to do the same. She knew her team needed her to be strong when all she wanted was to find Imogen’s embrace. Someone had to carry this team and it wasn’t Elaine anymore. “This was a great game and you all know it. Monday afternoon I want you all to show up with your heads high and ready to practice. We’re not letting play offs slip away from us this year, got it?”
Her teammates all mumbled incoherent statements of agreement, all except Elaine. She stayed quiet with her eyes low the whole time. They all began to part ways, but Elaine stayed behind with Olivia.
“What was that today?” Olivia asked hesitantly. She knew it wasn’t easy to get Elaine to share things, but she had to try.
Elaine shook her head. “It just wasn’t my day today. Come on, do you need a ride home?” She didn’t want to talk about it. She couldn’t talk about it. Ornella was her secret and she wasn’t going to share it.
There was no point in pushing any further, so Olivia nodded with a slight smile on her face. “Yeah...I can’t really drive with this injury.”
“Let’s go kid, I’ll take you home.”
Everything was happening so fast all of a sudden and Imogen had to take a moment to collect herself and touchdown back in reality. They had won. They won off of their defender’s foot against one of the best keepers in the state. It was all too surreal. The sweat, the blood, the tears, and the fights were worth it, Imogen decided. She looked at the faces of her teammates, the pure elation pouring out of each and every one of them. She just wished this moment didn’t have to cost Olivia an injury, or worse cost both teams to hate each other even more. Imogen tried to find Olivia as the arms of her teammates and coaches entangled her in the mess of people. She saw her girlfriend being gently escorted by Elaine away from the field, and she instantly felt bad realizing in the moment of celebration she forgot to congratulate them on a good game. She pulled herself away from the bundle of people to meet the eyes of Julio in front of her.
“What are you doing here?” She accusingly asked
“I just need to speak with Allie” He said trying to convince Imogen he had some sort of right to be there at all.
“-How dare you show up here!” Allie shouted pushing Imogen aside before she could tell him to leave.
“Now you done it” Imogen mumbled as she didn’t even try and stop Allie this time. She knew Julio had some nerve showing up to the game but she didn’t realize how stupid he actually was temping his fate with Allie’s wrath.
“Listen-” He began weakly.
“No! I don’t need to hear your excuses, you can go now!” Wide-eyed Allie exclaimed giving him a push on his shoulder.
“Ollie, she meant nothing to me! I swear!” He desperately pleaded.
Allie peered at him “You’re pathetic, try your sob story with McBray, maybe you two can lick each other’s wounds.” She snarkily stated.
Imogen hated that Allie brought Olivia back into the argument but she still let the girl say what was on her mind. Allie turned on her heels and rejoined the celebration as Julio got up looking defeated. Imogen gave him one last hard look before grabbing her stuff and heading to the locker room.
Elaine laid Olivia’s crutches across the back seats over their soccer bags after the younger girl was comfortably seated in the front. She shut the door and made her way around to the driver’s seat. “So do you know how long you’re out?”
Olivia shrugged. “They said to go to the doctor soon, but other than that I’m guessing one to two weeks.”
Elaine made a face. “That sucks, Ollie.”
Olivia sighed. “Tell me about it. How am I supposed to sit on the sidelines for that long?”
“You’ll be okay,” Elaine reassured her with a pat on her knee. “Ready to go?”
Olivia looked out the window, hoping to see Imogen but was disappointed when there was no one there. “Yeah let’s go,” she nodded, looking down.
The older girl nodded, slowly backing the car out of its spot when someone came sprinting over. “Shit.”
Olivia gave her a confused look. “Huh?” She turned to see Julio. “Crap.”
“Don’t roll down the--” Elaine started, but then gave up when she saw Olivia rolling down her window anyway.
“Olivia!” he exclaimed, putting a hand on the car for support. “So glad I caught you.”
“What do you want Julio?” Olivia asked, annoyed.
“Look,” he started, standing upright now. “Allie’s just some crazy ex, okay? I had no idea she was going to be there and she thinks that we still have a chance to be together. But I don’t want her, I want to be with you! I’m sorry about that night, it was all a big mistake and I want to make it right again.”
Elaine narrowed her eyes at him. “Then why did you wait until now to apologize?”
Julio shrugged slightly, looking
at Olivia. “Because I knew it looked bad on my part. I was just so ashamed that Allie did that...she’s crazy.”
“I can agree with you on that,” Elaine muttered, rolling her eyes.
Olivia looked at Julio for a long moment. “The bullshit never stops with you, does it?”
“Huh?”
“Look, I know you were dating Allie when you took me out. I’m not stupid,” she scoffed. “You know you’d be cute if you weren’t such a damn liar and player.”
Julio’s jaw dropped. “Olivia, she’s gotten to you, hasn’t she? Don’t listen to anything she says, she’s the liar!”
Olivia was growing more annoyed at this point. “Screw you Julio, you’re a piece of shit.” She looked at Elaine expectantly.
Elaine held in her laughter as she drove away, leaving a very dumbfounded Julio in the parking lot. “Good one, Ollie.”
Olivia rolled her eyes, shrugging. “He’s a dumb ass. I can’t believe I thought he was cute a few weeks ago.”
“Wait so...how long have you and Imogen been together?” Elaine asked cautiously, knowing very well that Olivia was already in a bad mood.
The striker bit her lip, looking out the window as she replied, “A few days after the party.”
Elaine thought for a moment. “That’s when you got into that happy mood for no reason, huh?”
Olivia nodded slowly. “Mmm. But I’m not even sure what the hell we are now.”
“Come on Olivia, it’s just a game. You two will be fine.’
“She chose the game over me, Elaine,” Olivia spat, crossing her arms. “We promised each other no holding back, but I didn’t know it was going to go this far.”
Elaine sighed, taking a side glance at the girl in her passenger’s seat. She felt sympathetic towards her, knowing she was more emotional than the keeper. “It’s tough, Ollie.”
Olivia looked up at the keeper, biting her lip. “You’re not still mad at me for hiding it from you, are you?”