Page 22 of Chasing Football Dreams

There was a different aura that surrounded Coach Shane. He was determined and strict, not wanting us to lose this season.

The whole team was a sweaty mess at the end of practice. Coach Shane let me take a break to rest my arm for a while, not wanting me to blow it out while he had a run with our second string.

I was enjoying my small break, watching Coach Shane share his knowledge with the team and how he got a player who had no confidence to believe in himself.

“Oh, look here, girls. It seems the team finally realized that Zoey is not a good idea,”

I control the urge to drive my fist through Monique’s hideous face.

I didn’t acknowledge her presence when she sat down beside me on the bench. “Maybe you should just accept that you will forever be a nobody. Not even your parents wanted you. They had to die to get away from you,”

As much as I tried to control my outburst that was the last straw. “Maybe you should stop poking your nose in other’s business because that nose of yours is starting to look a lot like a stick,”

“At least I am not an orphan or a diner girl,”

“You are such a bully and for what?” I got to my feet with her following my movement.

“People like you don’t belong in this world,”

“And who the hell are you to decide?"

“You are pathetic,” She spat.

“Maybe you should look in the mirror,"

I walked away, noticing Coach Shane calling me to the field. He placed the ball in my hands but didn’t remove his hands from the ball. “You are an orphan?”

I nodded my head slowly, not surprised that he overheard our conversation. “My parents died in a car accident when I was four,”

“And you were never put in a foster care program?”

I shook my head. It wasn’t a secret anymore and even though I didn’t like to tell people that I grew up in an orphanage—I don’t have anything to feel embarrassed about who I am.

“I didn’t like the way that girl spoke to you,” He noted, glancing over his shoulder where Monique huddled up her cheer squad and started to cheer for the team.

“There’s not much I can do,” Monique likes reaction and more specifically she loves attention. Something that I wasn’t going to give her.

“If she only knows how important you are for this team,”

“I don’t let her get to me. I’ve dealt with worse people than her,”

Something flashed in Coach Shane’s eyes but I wasn’t sure what it was and I wasn’t going to ask about it.

“I am sorry about the other day. Benjamin was out of line. There was no need to make you uncomfortable,”

If he only knows it wasn’t his comments that made me uncomfortable. “He didn’t make me feel uncomfortable. I’m used to people dissing my dream,”

He shook his head not agreeing with me. “It’s not fair to you to normalize prejudice. I don’t care what anyone says. You deserve a shot at the major leagues,”

“Thanks, coach,”

He nodded. “I would be a proud father if you were my daughter,”

I had no comment on his remark because knowing he could be my father made it almost impossible for me to stay composed. “Sometimes I wish my father could’ve been here to see me,”

As much as I pretended not to care about growing up without parents, the longing for having them at my game still lingers in my heart.

I blinked a few tears away not wanting to break out crying in front of everyone.

---