Live Love Lacrosse

by Barbara Clanton

  Chapter 4

  Big-boned Gal

  “CAN I GO with you?” Troy asked, his mouth full of Frooty-O’s.

  “No,” Addie snapped. She pushed her finished bowl of cereal away from her. “Get your own friends.” She stood up and called to her mother in the living room. “I’m going to the park with Kimi.”

  “Okay,” came the quick answer. “Be home for dinner.”

  Addie blocked out Troy’s protests about leaving her cereal bowl on the table and plopped down on the front porch steps to wait for Kimi. Hopefully, she could just watch, but just in case Kimi dragged her into the practice, she had snagged a pair of her brother’s sports socks to wear and had on a much looser pair of shorts that she could breathe better in. Of course, she couldn’t do anything about her worn-out sneakers.

  After no time, Kimi was there. Addie leaped off the step and ran to the sidewalk. She grabbed Kimi by the arm. “C’mon, the jerk’s trying to get me in trouble.”

  “Okay,” Kimi said and took off running. That wasn’t exactly what Addie had in mind but did her best to keep up.

  Addie ran out of breath before they’d even reached the corner to Miner Boulevard, and they had to slow down to a walk. It was kind of embarrassing, but she hoped Kimi remembered that she wasn’t really a runner or into sports of any kind. She wasn’t even sure why she agreed to go to Kimi’s lacrosse tryouts in the first place.

  They walked the rest of the way and as they turned into Webster Park, Addie’s jaw dropped open at the field full of people. A whole bunch of girls, thirty maybe, were in various stages of stretching or running or having a catch. There were even two real coaches, each holding an official and important-looking clipboard. And there seemed like a gazillion people on the sidelines either sitting in portable folding chairs or standing around talking to each other. These must be the girls’ parents or something.

  “Zoinks,” Kimi said. “Everybody’s here already.” She smacked Addie on the arm. “Hey, I better run, or Coach Marks will make me run laps for being late.”

  “Good luck,” Addie called after the fleeing Kimi. She felt bad that she was so slow. It had almost made Kimi late for her tryout.

  Addie slowed down to a more human pace. She passed the jungle gym teeming with little kids and headed for a patch of grass behind the players’ area. The grass was soft underneath her and the clear blue skies made her wish she had brought her new book. In the last book, Captain Janeway and the Voyager crew managed to get out of its mess with the Kazon, but, unfortunately, they now had enemies in the Delta Quadrant. Addie was grateful that her grandmother let her have free reign of the books on her shelves; it made being away from home a little more tolerable. Just like making friends with Kimi made Syracuse more tolerable, too.

  A shrill blast from a whistle pierced the early morning calm. Addie covered her ears against the assault and watched the girls gather around the coaches. The male coach with the whistle barked out instructions for the girls to get in lines for stretching. The scowl on his face made Addie wonder why anybody would want to voluntarily play for him. That had to be Coach Marks. Kimi had described him as tall and intense. Yeah, he was intense, all right. But whatever. It wasn’t like she was ever going to play on his team and let him boss her around.

  The girls lined up in four neat rows while the female coach led them through some stretching exercises. A thought squiggled its way through Addie’s mind. Maybe if she stretched like the girls were doing, she might be able to keep up with Kimi better. She stood up and mimicked what the players on the field were doing. She couldn’t quite reach her toes and felt a hot wave of embarrassment, so she sat right back down with a thump. It was a stupid idea. The jerk was right; she was a lardy lardo fatty fatso. Her father was right, too. She was one of those Weebles.

  Addie sat cross-legged and picked at the grass while the practice got started. The parents, who had been talking like crazy, got really quiet once the girls started doing drills. It was weird. It wasn’t like their daughters were playing in an actual game or anything. What was the big deal? In fact, Addie thought, it was pretty boring.

  She was seconds away from sneaking back home, by way of the 7-11 for a candy bar, two probably, when mean Coach Marks looked her way and said, “Hey, kid. What are you doing?”

  “What? Me?” Addie sat up taller.

  “Yeah, you. Big-boned gal.” He looked at her like she was an idiot. He waved the clipboard toward the field where a bunch of players were trying to score goals against Brooke. Some of the balls sailed into the grassy area behind the goal. “We need help running down stray balls. Think you can do that, kid?”

  “Sure.” Addie stood up, but kept her tummy sucked in so the coach wouldn’t think she was a lardy lardo fatty fatso wobbly Weeble.

  “Great.” He turned away. “Just don’t get too close,” he called after her.

  “Okay.” Addie ran behind the goal, hoping Brooke would stop every single ball, but as soon as the thought entered her head, a ball came whizzing past the goal and skipped toward the basketball courts.

  “Crap,” Addie said as she ran after the loose ball. Out of breath, she finally caught up to it and cursed again. Coach Marks hadn’t told her what to do with the balls once she tracked them down. She growled and then pulled her hair back into a manageable ponytail. This was going to be a long morning.

  “Over here,” the female coach called to Addie. “Roll it underhand toward the bucket.” The coach was really pretty and really fit. She had her dark hair pulled back into a braid. It wasn’t as dark as Kimi’s, but close. Addie felt another wave of embarrassed heat course through her, but squashed it as she rolled the ball toward the white bucket.

  For the entire workout, Addie helped pick up loose balls and fill up the girls’ water bottles at the fountain at the basketball courts. After a while, she didn’t wait to be asked to help, she just saw the balls flying away from the field and went over to scoop them up.

  The practice was finally over, and all of the girls, Kimi and Brooke included, looked sweaty and exhausted.

  “Circle up, girls,” Coach Marks bellowed and the girls surrounded him in a loose circle. “My motto? No pain, no gain.” While he was giving his “it was a good start, but you can do better” speech, Kimi bugged out her eyes and blew out a sigh toward Addie. Kimi looked as tired as Addie felt.

  He finished his speech and left the circle.

  Kimi stuck her hand into the middle of the circle and said, “Hands in, everybody. Owls on three. One, two, three!”

  “Owls!” the girls cheered and followed up with a series of owl hoots, which their parents answered with another round of hoots.

  Addie laughed. She hadn’t expected people to start hooting all over the place. It was weird, but kind of cool at the same time. She was just about to ask Kimi how she was doing when the pretty coach with the braid walked up and put out her hand. Addie shook it.

  “Nice job,” the coach said and smiled. “We appreciate all the help we can get. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Addie,” Kimi said, “this is Coach Cairns. She played for Syracuse.”

  “University?” Addie’s eyes grew wide.

  “Yeah, for four years.” Coach Cairns grinned. “Attack.”

  Addie scrunched up her nose, confused.

  Coach Cairns laughed. “You don’t know much about lacrosse, do you?”

  “Not really,” Addie admitted.

  They headed over to the sidelines where Kimi plopped to the ground to change back into sneakers and stash her gear into her bag.

  “Why don’t you try out?” Coach Cairns asked, her expression serious.

  Addie looked behind her. Surely Coach Cairns must be talking to somebody else. “Me?”

  “Yeah, you. I watched you chase those balls down on the sidelines, why not do that on the field as a player?”

  “Me? Play lacrosse?” Addie said again as if Coach Cairns was talking some kind of Kazon alien language.
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  “I told her that, too, Coach,” Kimi said, “but she’s a little scared because she’s never played before.”

  Coach Cairns crossed her arms and frowned. “So what? Everyone on this field, including me, had to learn at some point.” She shook her head. “Nah, I’m not buying it. Next Saturday I want you dressed and ready to play.”

  “I don’t have a stick,” Addie said lamely.

  “You can use my extra one,” Kimi said.

  “I don’t have shoes with knobbies on the bottom like yours,” Addie said to Kimi.

  “They’re called cleats,” Coach Cairns said, “and I can find you a pair to borrow.”

  “I don’t—”

  “Nope. No more excuses,” Coach Cairns interrupted. “Just try it out next Saturday, okay? We’ll even hook you up with goggles and a mouth guard. And, look, if you don’t like it you don’t have to come back.” She exchanged a knowing glance with Kimi.

  “She’ll come back,” Kimi said with certainty. She stood up tall, put one hand over her heart and the other in the air as if she were taking an oath. “And on the eighth day, God created lacrosse.”

  Coach Cairns burst out laughing which made Addie laugh, too. Coach patted Kimi on the shoulder. “I’ll see you both next week.” She headed toward Coach Marks who had called her over.

  Addie was just about to tell Kimi how funny her eighth day joke was when Coach Marks said to Coach Cairns, “Is the big-boned gal going to be our manager? We could use a minion.”

  Addie closed her ears. It was the second time the coach had called her “big-boned” and she didn’t like it. She didn’t like it at all.

  “C’mon, Addie,” Kimi grabbed her by the arm, “let’s go home.”

  They headed toward the park exit.

  Kimi squealed, making Addie jumped. “I can’t believe Coach Cairns invited you to try out. That’s amazing. Can you come over for lunch today? We can work on getting you ready for next Saturday. Oh my God, we only have one week.”

  “Okay,” Addie said feeling as helpless as the Kazon against Captain Janeway and the Starship Voyager crew.

  Chapter 5

  A Girl That Likes to Eat!

  “MOM,” ADDIE CALLED into the screen door of her grandmother’s house, “I’m going to Kimi’s house.”

  “Okay,” her mother called from the living room.

  Addie and Kimi hopped down the porch steps and onto the sidewalk.

  “That was easy,” Kimi said.

  Addie shrugged. “My mom’s cool.”

  She said the words, but she wasn’t sure she believed them. She’d been hoping her mother would ask to meet Kimi, to invite her inside, but that didn’t happen. Maybe next time. Whatever. It didn’t matter, she was starving, and Kimi promised lunch.

  Addie counted the houses in between her grandmother’s house and Kimi’s. They reached Kimi’s house. “Five.”

  “Five what?” Kimi flung open the screen door. She gestured for Addie to go in ahead of her.

  “Five houses in between yours and mine.”

  “See? That’s not far at all. We can do sprints on the sidewalk between your house and mine.”

  “Sprints? What are sprints? I don’t like the sound of that.” Addie followed Kimi into the house.

  “No one likes sprints, Addie, but they make you faster, and we have to do at least a hundred a day if you’re going to make the team.” Addie didn’t have a chance to reply because Kimi yelled, “Mom? I brought a friend home. What’s for lunch? We’re starving.”

  “I’m out back,” a small voice called from the backyard. “Come out and let me meet your friend.”

  “C’mon.” Kimi tossed her bag on the floor by the front door, and they headed through the living room, the formal dining room, and through a small kitchen to the back screen door. “Mom’s probably in the garden.”

  Addie wasn’t prepared for Kimi’s backyard. She couldn’t even call it a yard, even though it was the same size as her grandmother’s yard. This was more like a miniature farm. There were short corn stalks in one corner and all kinds of other plants growing in neat rows. There was even a small greenhouse.

  “Mom?” Kimi called out.

  “In here,” Kimi’s mother answered from inside the greenhouse.

  She came out moments later, carrying a basket full of something green. She was really pretty, even in faded jeans and an oversized work shirt, her dark hair pulled back by a bandana.

  Kimi ran up and gave her mother a hug. She kissed the top of her daughter’s head. “Is this Addie?”

  Kimi pulled out of the hug and then pulled Addie closer. “Yep. She lives in that old green house near the corner of Miner Boulevard. Addie, this is my mom.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Addie said.

  “Very nice to meet you, too, young lady. Miss Kimi usually only talks about lacrosse, but lately she’s been talking about a girl named Addie, too.”

  Addie felt her cheeks get warm. She wasn’t sure what to say, so she said the first thing that came into her head. “She’s trying to get me to play lacrosse.”

  “Well, that was only a matter of time, hmm?” Kimi’s mother cupped Addie’s cheek and smiled.

  Addie smiled back. Kimi’s mom was really nice.

  “Okay, girls, ready for some lunch?”

  Addie nodded, but Kimi fell to the ground clutching her stomach. “I’m faint from hunger.” She let out an exasperated sigh and then lay still.

  Addie giggled at Kimi’s theatrics.

  Kimi squinted one eye open, and whispered to Addie, “Is she buying it?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Kimi’s mother laughed. “Not in the slightest, but when you’ve sufficiently recovered, grab the basket with the tomatoes, cukes, peppers, and carrots. Addie, can you get that other basket with the lettuce and spinach?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Addie did as she was told, but was leery about the vegetables they carried. They had, obviously, been grown in Kimi’s backyard. Were they safe to eat? Addie’s family got their food from the grocery store or from restaurants. Never from the ground. That was okay, though, since all those veggies certainly weren’t for lunch, and she wasn’t going to have to eat them anyway.

  They headed back into the kitchen, and Addie’s stomach growled loudly. She was a little embarrassed, but Kimi and her mother didn’t seem to notice. Her stomach continued to fuss as they washed the lettuce and other vegetables and then peeled and sliced most of them to make the biggest salad she’d ever seen. Addie had fun learning how to peel and slice cucumbers and carrots; she’d never done anything like that at home. But all the time they were slicing and dicing, she was wondering where lunch was. Where were the hot dogs or hamburgers? Chicken nuggets and French fries? Mac and cheese, maybe? Yikes, she’d even take a tuna fish sandwich at that point.

  They sat down at the round table in the kitchen and Kimi’s mother set the huge bowl of salad in the middle of the table and then set down four bowls. Addie’s eyes grew wide. No way. They couldn’t be serious about a giant bowl of fuzzy green things for lunch. Where was the real food? And why were there four bowls? There were only three people.

  “Mom,” Kimi scolded, “we need protein.” She stood up from her chair and headed to the fridge. “We’re lacrosse players. We have to keep these engines stoked.”

  “You’re right,” Kimi’s mother said with a chuckle. She turned to Addie. “Do you like tofu?”

  Addie’s eyes grew wide, which made both Kimi and her mother laugh.

  “That would be ‘no,’ I gather. Kimi, get out the hard boiled eggs, and the salmon.” She glanced at Addie, laughed again at Addie’s horrified expression. “Scratch the salmon. Chicken maybe?” Addie nodded in relief at the question in Kimi’s mother’s eyes. “Yes, chicken it is.”

  Kimi brought out the requested proteins and brought a cutting board to the table. She added the hard-boiled eggs and chicken to the salad, mixed it up, and dished it out into the four bowls.

 
Addie couldn’t even begin to understand this strange world she was in. It was like being a prisoner on a Kazon warship fed prisoner’s rations of dirt-grown alien food. She had to suffer through it, or die.

  With determination, she followed Kimi’s lead and used the organic ranch dressing. She dribbled a little bit down one side of the bowl. If it tasted horrible, at least she wouldn’t get too much in her system.

  Just as she was navigating the smallest forkful of salad to her mouth, the front screen door opened and then banged shut.

  “Where are my girls?” A male voice asked.

  “Daddy!” Kimi leaped out of her chair and ran toward the front door. “Are you home?”

  “No, I’m at the movies,” her father joked and laughed heartily. “Of course, I’m home.”

  Kimi pulled her father into the kitchen. Her father was a short Japanese man. Kimi looked like him a little, except that her father had a round face and a round torso.

  “Daddy, this is Addie.”

  “Ahh,” he said, his face brightening as he turned to her. “The famous Addie. It’s nice to meet a kindred spirit, a girl that likes to eat.”

  “Nice to meet you, too,” Addie choked out. She tried not to let his last words penetrate her armor, but it was too late. Hull breach. She put her fork down and bit down tears. Big-boned, Weeble, A girl that likes to eat. Why did everybody have to say stuff like that to her?

  “With your lovely blonde hair and your beautiful hazel eyes, are you of German descent?”

  Addie shook her head.

  “Danish?”

  “No.”

  “Swiss?”

  “Nope.”

  “Scottish!”

  Addie smiled. “Yep.”

  “Your Scottish smile gave it away,” Kimi’s father teased. “Now if my three beautiful girls will excuse me for a moment, I need to get out of my Saturday professor disguise and put on some comfy weekend clothes.” He turned and headed out of the kitchen.

  “Would you like some sun tea?” Kimi asked Addie.

  “Sure.”

  “Mom makes it out back.”