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The next morning, Miranda and I headed down for breakfast, and instead of sitting along in our little duo or with Sean’s basketball buddies, we were invited to sit with the in-crowd, Barbie dolls and jocks included. Three tables were joined up to accommodate the size of the group.
“Sup, sister?” Julian, our sweeper, enquired.
“Nothing much, you?” I beamed.
“Same old, same old. One thing I wanna ask you though, when are you gonna wear a skirt or dress?”
“Ray, I don’t do skirts and dress. I prefer shirts and pants. More comfortable. I don’t have to worry about keeping my leg crossed so that some people won’t attempt to look under them.” I looked at the Raymond pointedly.
He held both hands up in defeat, “Guilty.” He said, but not the least bit ashamed. I rolled my eyes and dealt him a resounding smack on the head.
“Eat your breakfast guys, you need the nutrients. Coach said we’re going to need the energy for today’s practice.” I ordered them.
“Aww, Liz. Are you our mum or sister?”
I shrugged, “Both, I guess. I just don’t want to anyone of you fainting halfway during training.”
“Shoot. I bet we’re doing fitness and conditioning today.” Alex grumbled, sulking at the banana on his plate.”
“Then you’d better eat that banana up, Taylor. You’re going to need your carbs.”
“Oooh, Lizzy called Alex, Taylor. You better listen to her Taylor, or mum’s going to start nagging again.” William, one of our wingers, teased.
“Git.” Alex muttered.
“You should stop being so whiney. The boys know how to take care of themselves without your help. They’re not kids.” A red head Barbie sniffed, looking at me with distaste.
“Ease up, Courtney. We know she’s just concerned for her beloved brothers. She’s turning out to be an awesome sibling after all. Now if only we could get her to act like a girl, wear a dress…” He trailed off suggestively.
“Try asking that question… never.” I snorted.
“A miniskirt?” Peter from basketball asked, hopefully.
“Are all boys perverts?” I asked rhetorically.
“Yup. Pretty much.” Lance grinned devilishly.
***
During biology, we had to work in trios and since the jocks didn’t have enough people to form another trio with Alex, Miranda and I offered to partner up with him.
“Hey Liz, pass me some dilute sulphuric acid, will you?” Alex asked, as he concentrated on adding the exact amount of limewater and baking soda into a beaker.
I looked at all the bottles with different coloured liquids. I had forgotten how to identify the acids with the alkalis. Miranda was noting down her observations and forming our hypothesis and Alex was setting up the experiment. I handed him a vial with blue liquid that matched my eyes, but he did not take it.
“I got to make sure the carbon dioxide reacts properly with the calcium hydroxide, it has to form a white precipitate. Pour exactly thirty milliliters into the solution I made. I have to go fetch a pipette.”
I poured in the instructed amount and went to wash up.
“Liz!!! You put potassium hydroxide in! Not sulphuric acid! Darn, now we gotta redo the whole thing.” Alex groaned.
“Oops.”
A ‘B’ grade in Everfield, was equivalent to an ‘A+’ in a normal school. I still had not entirely wrapped the idea of smart jocks around my head. The cheerleaders were mostly airheads, so they must be from rich families. Science and mathematics were not exactly my thing, as I had unintentionally demonstrated. I could not touch Alex in these areas, but I was one step ahead of him in Languages. For example, during sixth fifth period Spanish, we were supposed to converse with each about daily life, so I asked Alex, “¿Desayunaste?”
He looked at me uncertainly, “Uhh …Tomé una ducha?”
I slapped my forehead. “Alex, I asked you if you had breakfast, and you replied that you had a shower.”
During English, we had to review each others’ poems. I read Alex’s:
The Martian poked his head out from the blobange,
Hair all messy and quite a bright orange…
“Alex?”
“Yeah?”
“There is no such word as ‘blobange’.”
“How would you know? You don’t live on Mars.”
Boys. I knew it would have been senseless to argue further.
“If your english is so good, why don’t you read out your poem for me to hear?” He raised an eyebrow, grinning cockily.
“Fine. I will.” I cleared my throat.
“Green turns brown,
Tree leaves fall,
Sparrows leave at winter’s call…”
Our English teacher, Mrs. Rosegrove chose that particular moment to listen in on my recitation, and appraised, “Bravo Elizabeth, bravo! Hers is a very commendable piece, unlike yours Mr. Taylor. I would strongly suggest you take some pointers from Elizabeth and improve on your poem. It leaves something to be desired.”
“Show off.” He muttered, as I grinned at him. His lower lip jutted out in a pout, making him look extremely cute… I felt my stomach do a somersault. Get a hold of yourself Liz! Pay attention to Mrs. Rosegrove! I shrugged off the feeling, and focused on what Mrs. Rosegrove’s short lecture on the power of poetry, avoiding looking at Alex.
***
Football practice had never been better.
But the special surprise Coach Keel had in store for us, was sort of a damper on the mood.
“Your performance against Glendale, though resulting in a victory, was terrible! You were expected to win by a margin! Because I noticed that you boys, were not agile enough! What went wrong?!”
There was only silence from the team. I think I knew the reason. The match against Glendale was my first match. The rest of the matches had been played before I had arrived in Everfield. I guess I’d better speak up, before Coach Keel makes us do extra laps or something.
I raised up my hand, “Well, I guess it was because I’m new, and it’s my first match so they had not gotten used to me yet?” It sounded more like a question rather than an answer.
“I don’t think your presence can slow a person down, can it Pearson?” He barked.
I knew it was either give him the answer he wanted, or subject myself to punishment for being a smart-aleck. “N-no Coach.” I mumbled, but it was almost inaudible.
“No, it wasn’t. So today, we are going to do running. Lots of running.” One by one he looked at each of us straight in the eye and I had to resist the urge to cower under his ferocious glare. “I hope you’ve had enough breakfast?”
“Affirmative, Sir. Liz was acting all mother hen and making sure we ate enough.” Daniel pretended to salute.
The blood rushed to my cheeks. I looked around me and I could see the boys’ faces turning red too, but because they were trying to stifle a laugh. The corner of Coach’s mouth twitched too. Under his tough exterior, we all knew Coach had a soft spot for us.
“From the sounds of it, I assume that the affliction you boys seem to have for Liz, is cured?” He surveyed the boys sternly. Coach Keel had noticed their attitude towards me ever since the first tryouts. On my first football practice, he had pulled me aside and assured me that he will punish them for whatever hostile reactions they had towards me. Punishment, meant extra laps.
“Yes Coach Keel.” It was Alex who answered, and I jumped a little at the sound of his voice. “We’ve apologised to Liz. She’s our sister now, and we realise that she’s kinda awesome.” He gave me a lopsided grin, and I stopped breathing. That was the first time I had seen him smile like that, and it simply took my breath away. Shit. Focus Liz, you’re spiraling down towards hell.
Coach looked at me for confirmation and I nodded. “Well then, it’s a good thing you’ve solved this because the finals are coming next month, and we will NOT lose, right?”
“Yes Sir, Coach Sir!” We all answered, military style.
“Excellent. Now for warm ups, give me thirty laps around the field! You need to brush up on your endurance. Liz, you’ll lead. Anyone who hasn’t started their last lap when Liz has finished, will do an extra lap for every second you’re behind.”
Your eyes may pop out when you hear thirty laps, but when Coach Keel says ‘around the field’, he doesn’t mean the football field. Everfield has two fields, one is for proper matches when we host football, rugby and other outdoor matches. The field we train on is much smaller.
Before we started our rounds, I whispered to the boys, “Guys, if you can keep up with me like Coach said, I’ll wear a dress. If you can finish the laps before me, I’ll wear a miniskirt.” I winked, and their eyes turned into huge orbs, making them look positively fish-like. I could not resist giggling.
***
They were definitely determined to see me in that miniskirt, keeping a steady pace with me for the first fifteen laps. But after twenty-five laps, I sped up, while they gave way to exhaustion, settling for seeing me in a dress.
“So, when …do …we get …to …see you …in a dress?” Greg asked, still short of breath.
“Hmm… let me think about it …never.” I laughed.
“Hey, no fair!”
“She lied to us!”
“Cheater!”
“Hey, I didn’t promise anything, did I?” I defended myself, still shaking with laughter. “But I was serious about the miniskirt thing. That one I promise.” I added.
Good luck to them. They would need it. When I was in track and field, I had specialised in marathons, long distance running. I could run much faster than I had today, but to spare them from Coach’s wrath, I allowed them to keep pace with me.
“Boys, I believe we have a mission.” Alex addressed the rest of the team. “To get Liz into a miniskirt.”
“Have fun failing your mission.” I snorted.
“Just make sure that you’ve got a miniskirt when we beat you.” Daniel chuckled.
“A red miniskirt!”
“Extra short!”
“With frills and lace!”
“Don’t push your luck. Now shut up and get back to Coach unless you want to do more laps.”
We spent the rest of the practice during sprints and dodging. It was just a lot of running.
“Aww, crud. My legs feel like Jell-O.” Jackson groaned, after practice had ended.
“How are you holding up, Liz?” William smirked, “Need someone to carry you?” I heard the implication in his voice.
“Perv. My legs are perfectly fine, thank you.”
At that moment, the boy started stripping down into their boxers and I quickly shielded my eyes with my hands, but not before I caught a glimpse of the assortment of colours and patterns. I thought I saw rubber ducks. It took me all the willpower I had not to look at Alex.
“GUYS!!! I’m still here!!!”
“Yeah, we know. You should be honoured. Which girl doesn’t want to be surrounded by a team of hot, naked guys?” Daniel smirked, fanning their ego.
“THIS GIRL. And for the record, you’re not naked.”
“We can fix that, if you want.”
“No thanks!” And I stomped off the field, smacking Daniel on the head, their laughter ringing in my ears. “Stupid boys.” I muttered.
I think Daniel had some sort of supersensory skill because after I muttered ‘stupid boys’, he replied, “Yup, that’s me. Bastard extraordinaire.” Good that you know it.
***
Dinner was not much of an improvement, downright disturbing.
“Hey sis, you better start shopping for that frilly, lacy, ultra-short, red miniskirt, ‘cause we’re going to be training.” Jackson teased.
“What miniskirt?” Kyle paused in mid-chewing.
“We made a kind of pact with Liz. If we complete thirty laps round the field faster than her, she’s got to wear a miniskirt of our choice.”
“Who said anything about choice?” I growled.
“Woah. This I totally got to see.” Lance grinned slyly, his eyebrows moving up and down suggestively.
“Sure. Outrun me first.” I stuck my tongue out at him.
“What’s the big deal about her wearing a miniskirt? I could wear one for you guys.” One of the Barbie dolls chirped, laying a perfectly manicured hand on Alex’s shoulder, massaging it. My knuckles tightened under the table convulsively. He did not shrug it off.
“You wear miniskirts everyday, Lindsay.” Greg said, taking a sip of his coke, “Liz doesn’t ever wear them, let alone a dress.”
“Make sure you take pictures so that the rest of us can have a look.” Tyler added.
“Can do.” Alex grinned. I grimaced.
I resumed eating my pasta and observed the group seating before me. My brothers were all attached to one or more Barbie dolls, chatting and laughing, touching each other here and there. I wanted to gag. “Great. All my brothers are flirts.” I muttered to myself. Daniel heard me.
“Lighten up, Liz. We can’t help it that we’re so suave and all the ladies can’t keep their hands off us.”
“Yuck. All the ladies?”
“Don’t worry, sis. You know we only have eyes for you.”
“I hope you know that you sound perfectly incestuous.”
“What? Have you looked in the mirror lately, sis? You’re totally hot.”
I choked on the lettuce leaf in my mouth. I admit I did look once, just once. I could see that all the sports I have been doing, had given me a toned body, but I found it extremely scary that he had noticed.
“You actually checked me out?!” My voice came out sounding strangled.
“Duh, course I did. Don’t go all hysterical on me, Liz. I think every guy in the school has checked you out. You’ve got a totally hot body, you know. Don’t you know you’re like one of the hottest girls in school?”
“WHAT?!” I shrieked.
“Uh-huh. And if you start wearing miniskirts, I’m sure you’ll be the hottest.” Right now, I was sporting another jersey and a pair of ripped jeans, the first articles of clothing I had spotted.
I tried to compose myself. “Whatever. It’s not true. I may have an athlete’s body but my face looks like road kill.” I countered.
“It doesn’t.” Alex mumbled.
Boys being boys, did not hear the emotion in his words. I just stared at him like a fool.
“Alex is right, Liz. You’ve got really pretty blue eyes and lovely black hair. Your lips-” I shot William, who spoke, a ‘don’t-you-even-start-on-that’ look, effectively shutting him up. My peripheral vision saw the Barbies glaring at me. Tsk tsk, green doesn’t look good on a girl’s face ladies. I thought smugly.
Gratefully, good old Miranda could tell I was feeling really embarrassed and distressed, squirming in my seat, so she helped change the topic.
“So when’s the finals guys?”
“Uhh …actually, I don’t know. Coach hasn’t told us yet. I only know it’s about a month from now.” Daniel realised.
“Shoot. Sorry guys, I forgot to tell you the exact date. Coach says its on the fifth of August.” Alex announced.
“Hey! That’s on my birthday!” I commented.
“Cool! We have lady luck on our side!” Jackson exclaimed happily. “Nice necklace, by the way.” Referring to the soccer ball necklace Miranda and Sean had gotten me.
“Thanks.”
