Page 22 of Leave Me Broken

“Wow, that was amazing.” Aubrey and Erica cheer.

“I wanna see!” Janelle complains and Monica agrees.

Luca and I chuckle and he slaps my back. We move to the positions we talked about earlier. I will be at the finish line, and he will be at the bunny-hop part. That’s where most injuries happen. Not that I’m planning for injuries, but you never know. Sports are unpredictable. All the preparation in the world can’t stop everything.

“It is important to trust your seeing partner. Seeing partner, it is important to have constant communication to avoid any injuries.” I eye each seeing girl so she knows I’m serious. Two out of three nod their head in agreement.

“Okay,” Luca claps. “Ready, set . . . go!”

Aubrey immediately tells Monica what to do, she’s not great at explaining so they keep tripping but laughing while they do it. This drill isn’t about perfection despite how Luca and I made it seem. Team bonding isn’t about the drills and how perfect you can complete them. It is about the bonding—hence team bonding. The mistakes and laughs that come with those mistakes are expected and that’s where the bonding comes into play.

Luca is grinning wide as the girls pass him with their big smiles. I think they have been on the ground more than they have been up, but they are making decent time. By the end, they are laughing so hard they have to crawl past the finish line. I can’t help but chuckle myself.

We have been great this season, a “powerhouse” one article last week called us, but you can always be better. We just need that extra oomph and I’m hoping the bonding will be it.

“Nice time, girls. Five minutes and thirty-eight seconds.”

Aubrey pulls Monica’s blindfold off and busts up laughing when they see each other again. “Try and beat that!” Monica shouts over to Erica and Janelle who are going next.

They must have taken it as a legit dare because they are already halfway through the course at only two minutes. Erica is communicating exactly how she should, and Janelle is listening carefully to everything she says. They are amazing as a team. I hope they notice this. In case they don’t, I join in on Luca’s praise for them. “Great job, girls. Erica, brilliant communication and Janelle on listening. Good job, girls, over halfway now.”

Instead of discouraging them, Monica and Aubrey are right next to Luca and myself cheering them on, exactly how a team should. I’m very proud of each of the girls; it causes a tightness in my throat. I can’t believe I didn’t do this before.

All those feelings leave when the last group can’t even get to the line without arguing. Alyssa snaps at Mika, Payson snaps at Alyssa. There is no way this will go well.

Payson

If I hear Alyssa bitch at me, or worse, Mika, one more time, I’m going to punch her again. I wish Coach could see my eyes, he would know how close I was and maybe, just maybe, he would stop this bullshit. I get team bonding, but he could have paired me with anyone else. It’s like he wants to torture me. Knowing Ash, he probably does.

We’ve tripped and fallen more times than I can count. Unlike the laughs I heard from Monica and Aubrey, there is an argument anytime we do. Alyssa blames Mika, and I snap at Alyssa for passing the blame to Mika when she’s not giving any directions.

I don’t even know how far we’ve made it in the course when we fall, again. I’m going to be covered in bruises. Someone, I assume Alyssa, is leaning on my back pushing my boobs into the floor. I grunt and try to get her off, but she doesn’t move. “Get off,” I tell her for the third time.

“I’m trying just hang on a second,” she snaps.

My boobs ache and it affects my breathing, in a rage, I shimmy her off.

“I said give me a fucking second!” Alyssa screeches.

“Unlike you I have boobs and them being crushed into the ground fucking hurts, Alyssa.” That was a low blow, but I’ve had enough of her today and it’s not even six a.m.

“Well, unlike you, I didn’t have to buy a bigger size in spandex just to cover my fat ass this year.”

“Wow. A fat-ass joke. How original,” I mutter like I’m bored, because I am. I’m not fat. I might be curvier than her but I’m in amazing shape. I’m just bigger than I was last year.

“Guys,” Mika warns. Mika and I can see nothing, but I’m shocked our coaches haven’t broken us apart yet.

“You steal that from your bitchy sister? Where is she now? Jail?”

“I don’t know, why don’t you call up your buddies down at the station and ask?”

I roll my eyes even though she can’t see. “Ha!” I bark out a fake laugh. “Are you going to make fun of the fact my dad left next? How about the fact I live with my grandpa because my mom doesn’t want me? Go on, brag about how perfect your life is in that big house on the hill.” Someone says my name, but I keep going. “How about how your daddy comes to your rescue whenever you give off the fucking bat signal? In fact, should I be waiting for him to pull me out of class and yell at me for this too, because somehow in that thick head of yours you’ll twist that this is somehow my fault as well?”

My breathing is the only thing I hear when I’m done. The room is eerily quiet and guilt twists in my stomach. Not from what I said—that’s all true, but because I’m a captain. A captain is meant to be better than this. Alyssa is an annoying, skanky bitch, but my problems with her outside of volleyball shouldn’t happen during volleyball.

Biting back any more mean things that want to come out, I sigh. “Look, we obviously don’t get along, but we are a team, we only have weeks left of dealing with each other, then we never have to look at the other again. Can we please just move on for the sake of winning? I’m sorry for what I said—not that it’s not true, but it’s not appropriate as your captain.”

“You’re only captain because you suck our coach’s dick when no one is around.” She hisses just loud enough for me and Mika to hear.

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