Page 7 of Jockstraps & Newspapers
Everythinghurt.Herlegsached from both standing and sitting on the field.She stopped standing in one place and decided to move about the field.She met with Renner, Lee, and Tens the medic for the team.They gave her the layout of the season.Mid-spring, they started practicing.It would be two weeks of just muscle training and team coordination.Then, on week three, they started scrimmages.Their first game was the first Saturday of summer.
This was going to be a full season story.She would be here for three months, minimum.Granted, that was three months of turning in freelance pieces; andKing’s Fall Dailypaid the highest rate for freelance.But that left her, minimum three months, shackled to the field and to Elliot Bonesaw.
She spent an hour while the team jogged the field, looking him up.Elliot Bonesaw was ‘King’s Fall’s Darling’.Everyone liked him.He made interviewers smile, he made cheerleaders giggle, and he made everyone laugh.Elliot was going to be the death of her.Every article she read about him, from fan sites to official pieces—likely paid for by Pearson—was frothing with love.People admired him for his leadership.Readers loved his looks.Sports fans gushed over his stats.He took this sport seriously, and yet always had a big smile on his face.
How did this even happen?She was lamenting her aching bones and the light sting of her pink cheeks as she climbed off the field.Cass didn’t even want to walk home, but there was no helping her angry ankles.Thankfully, she was able to limp her way from portal to portal.Dragging herself up the stairs to her apartment was dreadful.
“I’m home!”she moaned, shoulder shoving the front door open.Cass nearly collapsed on the other side as she dropped everything in her hands to the floor.
Hungry.Exhausted.Beaten.Cass tried her best to make it to the couch.No dice.She made it to the middle of the living room and dropped to the floor.Spread out along the hard wood, she stared up at the vaulted ceiling.
Confetti exploded over her head from a puny paper cannon.Cass blinked slowly, eyelids sluggishly opening.Lily loomed over her with a broad smile full of sharp teeth and a fist full of paper confetti cannons.“Congrats!”
“Don’t congratulate me,” she cried out, tossing her arms over her eyes.
“Wait, you didn’t get it?Why did you stay out all day if you didn’t get it?”Lily pouted, dropping to her knees beside Cass’s head.
“I kind of got it,” she whined, letting Lily pry her arms open off her face.And thus, Cassiopeia ranted about her day to her roommate.Lily, to her credit, sat there nodding and listening to the whole story.Cass tossed her hands about, explaining how they went to the field, the ridiculous heat, the little she understood about SportsBall…and Elliot Bonesaw.“He’s the captain, Lily, and Pearson’s a huge fan.If I don’t do this job well, I’ll never write in this town again.”
“Did he say that?”Lily cocked a purple brow.
“Nooo,” Cass cried out, “but it’s implied.Lily, he wants me to do some massive fluff piece on him.I go in tomorrow to find out all the pieces he wants but this isn’t me.Look at me!Do I look like a sports anchor?I’ve never even gone hiking!And they want me to write about a sport that makeszero fucking sense.”
“I like SportsBall,” Lily whimpered.
“Sorry, sorry, I get it.People like it.It’s popular for a reason.But I wanted to be a serious journalist, Lily.I wanted to write hard-hitting pieces.Things that matter.This…this doesn’t matter.”Cass worked her belt off her waist before struggling to sit up.
“Why wouldn’t this matter?”Lily furrowed her brows, folding her hands in her lap.
“Cause anyone who cares about sports will go to the game, why do I need to rewrite what happened?”However, after the words came out of her mouth, her face fell.
“Yeah, feel pretty goofy after that, don’t you?”Lily retorted.
“Yeah,” she hands rubbed against her tired cheeks.“I’m cranky, overwhelmed, hungry, and heat exhausted.I’m taking it out on something before I’ve even given it a chance.And…like, people like sports for a reason, right?Just cause it’s not my thing doesn’t mean hundreds of thousands of people don’t enjoy it.It’s a good thing.Sports are a good thing and I’m just being mean.”
Lily smiled, rubbing the outside of Cass’s sore biceps.“Besides, look at it this way.Youdon’t know sports.”
“Right.”Cass dropped her arms, flopping them into Lily’s soothing hands.
“So, you’re going into this fresh.Imagine how amazing it’ll look if you write about something you know nothing about, huh?I mean, do the research, troll the forums, get on the field, ask all the questions, and write a fanfuckingtastic article!What better way to show how good of a journalist you are and how adaptable you are, then by writing about something you have to start from scratch with?”Lily cocked her head to the side.
“You’re right!”Cass clenched her hands into fists.
“Yeah!”Lily cheered.
“And he’s already read and liked my other stuff, so this is the perfect challenge!”Cass fought to sit up again.
“Yeah, it is!”Lily pumped her fists in the air.
“I got this!”Cass burned with glorious determination.
“You got this!”Lily put out a hand that Cass eagerly high-fived.
For a long moment, Cass stared at her roommate.The words spilled out of her mouth.“Holy cow, you’re good.”
“Thank you,” Lily popped the collar of her polo and smiled proudly.“Normally I charge ten silver for a hype session, but for you, babycakes, it’s on the house.”
Cass climbed to her feet, engulfing the barely standing Lily in a hug.The siren pulled her in tight and rubbed her back.Lily was a therapist.Usually, she did therapy in local saltwater pools or in the man-made lake in central park during the summer.Cass knew her friend was a good talker, easy to work with, and a fantastic communicator, but seeing it worked on her was amazing.
