Mutual Hatred - Love Game (4 page)

"You're completely right, Shelley," someone said.

"Are you serious or are you just a kiss-up?" she asked dryly.

The speaker stood up. He had a stocky build, unruly black hair, and the most adorable dimples Shelley had ever seen. Shelley liked him already; she knew immediately that he was serious from his smile.

"Serious," he said, "Brandon may not respect you, but I do. I think you're going to be a great captain, Shelley."

"Well isn't that sweet? It'd be in everyone's best interest to follow-sorry, what's your name?"

"Johnny Nickol, at your service," he said as he mock bowed.

"Nice to meet you Johnny. As I was saying, follow Johnny's lead; don't get on my bad side and life will be a lot less difficult this year."

Once again, no one said anything.
Well it doesn't mean they can't talk.
Shelley glanced at her watch.

"You've got exactly five minutes left, Miller!" she shouted.

Brandon stopped in his tracks. He was sweaty and annoyed.
Who the fuck does this girl think she is?

"But I've got three laps left! You didn't give me enough time!" he glowered.

"You're wasting time just standing there; my watch is still going. And you have four minutes and thirty-two seconds left now. I suggest you hustle; otherwise your teammates will be joining you for the last three laps," said Shelley.

"You're evil and I hate you!" he yelled as he started running again.

Shelley scoffed. "And Taryn said
I
was immature," she said to no one in particular. Focusing her attention on the thirty or so pairs of eyes staring at her, she said airily, "You should all get warmed up. Six laps around the football field won't be easy. And hey, you're wasting your time, not mine."

Several boys grumbled, but she noticed a few members of the team were telling them to suck it up. Shelley smiled to herself.
So I do have supporters after all.
This cheered her up a bit, so she decided to play nice.

"I'll make a deal with you guys. You all start your laps now and I'll only make you do two."

"What's the catch?" asked Chris Torres.

"No catch. Unless you want this to happen again, don't use profanity around me and don't ever say anything offensive. Make sure Brandon hears that. There
will
be worse consequences than running laps."

As the boys got up and prepped themselves to run, Johnny Nickol and several other members of the team approached Shelley.

"Shelley, on behalf of the team, I want to tell you I think you're doing a fine job with the team. And I mean that," Johnny said earnestly.

She smiled. "Thank you. But don't tell me that again until we've actually made progress and won a game or two. Or all of them, for that matter."

"Whatever Brandon and his goons throw at you, we got your back," piped up Joshua Alvarez.

"We'll be your bodyguards!" squealed Carl Parker.
Who knew boys squealed? Who knew boys could even get that excited?

The other boys nodded in agreement.

"It's really sweet of you to offer your um..
services
, but I'm sure I can handle it. Thanks, though," she said.

Johnny shook his head. "You don't understand. If Brandon doesn't get what he wants, everyone suffers."

Shelley tried to be logical. "Seems like Brandon's a spoiled brat. I'll just have to teach him his place."

"It won't be easy," added Carl, "Trust me, you'll need us."

Shelley considered his words for a moment before saying, "How about this? You guys just be on the lookout for me, okay? If you hear anything, let me know. I'll deal with it. I do not want to bring the team into this petty feud Brandon and I have."

Fifteen pairs of eyes exchanged glances, as if having a silent conference.

"Done," Daniel Bennett finally proclaimed.

Shelley chuckled and said, "Okay, then. Now you can get running!"

Without a word-not one complaint-the boys ran off.
Those are my kind of people. Do what you're told and we all get along!

"Why do you do this to us?"

Shelley swiveled around. Why did Brandon always come out of nowhere?

"Shouldn't you finish your laps?" she asked.

He smirked. "Just finished them."

"My, that was quick."

He matched her gaze with a steely one of his own. "Yeah, well, I'm fast."

"I see. Well if you want to get into another argument, now isn't the time. We need to actually practice, you know."

"Maybe we would get things done if you didn't go ballistic all the time," he countered.

"Maybe I wouldn't go ballistic if you would shut up and let me do things my way!"

Here we go again.

"You can't tell us what to do!" he yelled.

She was amused and it infuriated him. "I wasn't aware that coaches were supposed to just watch."

Brandon wanted to rip her long brown hair out. "That's not what I meant!"

"Well maybe you should say what you mean. Saves a lot of confusion," she retorted.

"I meant," he said, gritting his teeth, "We don't need
you
telling us what to do."

"So if
I
don't," she said, hands on her hips, "Who will? Do tell."

"You know," Brandon shook his head, "I don't understand how someone so beautiful can have such a…nasty attitude."

Beautiful. Not pretty.
Beautiful

"Funny, I could say the same thing about you," she spat.

He scowled. "I'm not beautiful."

Shelley shook her head. "We agree on something! But Brandon? You're wasting my time. Stop trying to provoke a fight and we'll get something done, okay?"

"You started it!" he said defensively.

She frowned. "Normally I would have said that, too. But you know what? You're not worth it. We have more important things to do."

She turned her back on Brandon, who was speechless.

"So you're just going to walk away from this?" he finally asked.

"In a manner of speaking, yes. I don't like arguing, especially with one of my players. So I'll do everyone a favor and end it now."

"You know, I was right," he said triumphantly.

"Right about what?"

Those blue eyes were dancing like fireworks. "You can't finish anything you start."

"Arguing with you hardly counts for anything," Shelley snapped.

Brandon was about to reply, but Shelley walked away.

"I win!" he called after her.

Shelley stopped in her tracks. "You're being so immature. We fight over nothing! There's nothing to win. Grow up!"

"But I'm right, aren't I?"

"Give it a rest," she slowly enunciated, as if talking to a young child, "I'm not even going to talk to you anymore."

Can he get more annoying than he already is? If we keep this up I'm going to need a supersize bottle of Advil.

She tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the rest of the team to finish running. Brandon stood not too far away from her.
And he's sulking. Get over it!
Johnny was first to finish. He studied Shelley's expression and then looked at Brandon, drawing his own conclusions. As the team joined them, they sensed the tension between the two.

Sexual tension, perhaps?

Hah! As if.

Shelley checked her watch. Forty-five minutes left. Who knew they could waste so much time running and arguing? She hoped tomorrow would be much better. They couldn't waste time like this, especially if they wanted to beat the best teams next season.
Time for another lecture.

"This is going to be the last time I tell you this,
men
. We wasted over an hour running and whatnot. I hope there aren't any repeats of today in the future because we need to start practicing ASAP. It's Tuesday. Tomorrow we're going to be in the weight room and watch some videotapes of your games from previous years. Hopefully you can learn from your mistakes and remember not to make the same ones this year. Thursday we'll begin special teams. Friday we won't be scrimmaging."

A collective groan ensued. "Why not?" asked Alex Taylor.

"I have no idea. Mr. Wise will tell us on Thursday," she answered.

"So you don't even know? What kind of coach are you?" Brandon said scathingly.

Shelley chose to ignore him. "I expect you to give your best effort this season. If any of your coaches think you can do better, we'll push you harder."

Everyone nodded in understanding. It was satisfying knowing the boys had finally caught on. There were only 5 basic rules with Shelley.

Don't argue with what she says unless you can prove her wrong.

Don't cuss. Don't say anything offensive to anyone.

Don't piss her off.

Get on her good side the moment you meet her.

Was 'Don't piss her off!' already mentioned?

Shelley wasn't sure what she wanted to do now. She decided to let them go.

"You can hit the showers or whatever you need to do. You're excused early today. But don't get used to it; sometimes we might go over two hours," she said tiredly.

She watched them leave. Already there was a rift between the team. The division was evident; Brandon led half the team to the locker room while Johnny led the other half. Both sides were throwing glares and looks of contempt. Brandon turned around once to look at Shelley, but when she pretended not to notice, he determinedly turned around and that fierce look she knew so well graced his handsome face.

If he would save that energy and determination for the game, we might actually get somewhere.

Shelley turned and slowly trudged in the direction of Mr. Wise's office. She knocked and was told to come in.

Mr. Wise had been gazing out the window, but when Shelley came in he sat down and beckoned her to sit also. Making herself comfortable in the chair across from his desk, she tried to think of how to phrase what she wanted to say.

"I was watching you out there," commented Mr. Wise.

Shelley smiled nervously. "Oh, did you?"

He nodded. "You have the qualities of a leader, Shelley. You know how to take charge and dole out orders. But you need to control that temper. I heard your brief exchange with Brandon all the way over here. I commend you for ending it."

Somehow, a 'Thank you' didn't seem like the appropriate thing to say. "I think I finally realized that it's a waste of time," she finally said.

He nodded in agreement. "I also know for a fact that the team is divided between you and Mr. Miller. To be loyal to your captain or to your new coach; someone you're friends with or someone you hardly know. You and Brandon aren't making it easy for Mr. Stanford."

Shelley blinked. "Could you perhaps elaborate?"

"Of course. Kyle came to talk to me yesterday. He's quite concerned about team unity. And that is why I've scheduled a 'bonding session', as Kyle calls it, for Friday. We're a team and we need to start acting like one. We're going to get everything out. Say what you need to say to whomever and never say it again."

Shelley stared at the trophies sitting on Mr. Wise's bookshelf. They were from so long ago. She wondered if maybe this year they'd be able to add another one to his collection. "I couldn't agree more," she smiled, "We need this 'bonding session'."

"Well I suppose you want to get going," grinned Mr. Wise, "Heaven knows I do. I'll see you tomorrow."

As Shelley's car came into view in the empty parking lot, she gasped when she saw who was standing next to it. There was a bored look plastered on his face.
What does he want now?

"I hope you're not planning on 'finishing what we started'," she drawled.

He stared her straight in the eye. It was as if he was searching through her soul.

"Surprisingly, no. I wanted to tell you that it's on," he retorted.

"It's
on
?" she asked.

"It's on," he repeated, "Meaning you and me; this little vendetta we have. I just thought I'd be nice and let you know that it's on."

"Telling me 'it's on' doesn't make sense to me. Elaborate or get out of my sight," she snapped.

"Touchy touchy are we? I told you," he said stonily, "It's on. As in, you punish me, I'll punish you."

"Oh I'm peeing in my pants!" she cried mockingly, "Right. Empty threats don't scare me. They've no content."

"I'm serious," said Brandon, "You make my life hell and I'll do the same to yours."

"I'm scared, now."

"Go to hell!"

She chuckled. "I'd rather not; I might run into you there."

"Why do you insist on infuriating me?" he asked angrily.

She flashed him a hundred-watt smile and said, "Because I can."