Michael

After the training, we all go to the changing rooms and I sit in the corner like I did back in my other team. I sigh as Michael and two of his friends walk up to me, the two guards, Bill and William, "Stay away from my girl," Michael starts, I ignore him, "Oie, you listening?" He grabs my face and makes me look at him, "Did you hear me?" I roll my eyes and take his hand off of my face, "You mess with her, you're a dead man," They leave on that message, no one reacted and just continued. Something inside me made me want to make his empty skull cave in, I close my fists and then I here Cassandra say "No!" loudly. I pull on my shirt and walk outside, I am barefoot with my shorts and a shirt on. Michael has his arms pinning Cassandra to the wall and seems like he is trying to force her to kiss him. I hold myself from laughing as she slaps him and he hesitates on how to react to it. He lifts his fist and she covers her face. That was too much 'You don't just lift a fist on a girl without any intentions,' I charge at him and ram my shoulder into his side and crash to the floor on top of him. I get up and stomp his stomach, "You're dead," He wheezes as he gets up and leaves us. I turn to Cassandra, who is frozen, just looking at what had happened.

"You okay?" I ask, she nods slowly, "It's fine, wait here, I have to get my stuff," She nods again.

She is sitting on my bed again. She hasn't spoken since I tackled Michael. She is just typing on her computer. I toss her a can from my bag and it lands on the bed and rolls to her side. She looks down on it then at me, I am holding one as well. She picks up the can and then reads the name.

"Oran, Orangina?"

"I found a store near here that had some," I open the can and the pop makes her jump, "It's good, trust me," I begin drinking. She opens the can and then takes a small sip. She looked at the can surprise and then took another sip, "How long have you two been going out?"

"Hmm?"

"With Michael."

"Oh, um, two, maybe three years?"

"I guess it was better before?"

"He was less demanding, but with the team, he got popular when he scored 7 times in the semis last year and 3 in the finals, he started to treat me worse, grabbing my ass in front of his friends and I get nothing from him."

"And like, are you just going to continue with that?"

"No, I want to break up with him, but I don't know how to, I don't want him to slap me again, he has a bad temper."

"I saw, he was going to punch you."

"He has already slapped me twice."

"And that didn't make you want to stop?" I look at her, I couldn't believe what I had just heard, "Do you want help with breaking up with him?"

"No, but I do want you around so that he doesn't go berserk."

"Sure," I look at my phone, "When was dinner again?"

"7:30 - 9:00."

"It's 7:20, and I am hungry, you want to go?"

"Yeah, yeah, Michael eats later, I want to eat without him annoying me this time," She finished the can and lobbed it in the bin. I crush the can in my hand and toss it in the bin. She is at the door when I get up, yet her things are still in my room. I point at them and she simply smiles at me.

We arrive in front of the cafeteria at 7:35, the doors are open but no one is in. She walks in front of me and I catch myself from looking at her too much. She has a long, blonde braid that reaches the top of her jean short shorts. She is wearing a white sleeveless top. She turns around and sees me looking at her and giggles. I quickly move my eyes away as we both grab trays. The cafeteria staff serve her a little bit of everything and then they see me and without me asking they serve me what I consider my 'regular amount,' they barely know me yet it seems that guessing can get people far. I look around and see Cassandra sitting in the spot I was sitting at at lunch. I walk over and place my tray in front of her, "Stealing seats are we now?"

"Hmm?" She says with a mouthful of food and then giggles, "I didn't know it was your seat."

"Doesn't bother me," I say as I start eating, "Do you know how you are going to tell Michael?"

"No."

"Do you normally watch the practice?" She shakes her head, "Why was today special then?" She rolls her eyes and then looks at me. I point at myself and then she nods. "Oh, um, I," I realize that I am getting nervous and go back to eating.

"You are blushing," If I was, then I only got brighter, if I wasn't, well, I turned bright red. She giggled as three girls sat down at the table.

"Hey Cassandra," They say in unison, one of them speaks, "You are here early."

"Quien es este?" One of them asks in Spanish. My mind instantly swaps to Spanish.

"Aristide Simon, el nuevo, llegue hace dos dias."

"English please."

"Sorry, just something I do automatically, habit, I'm Aristide, the new guy," 'I am way too nervous.'

"This," Cassandra says me the awkwardness of asking who they are, "is Flora, she's Ines, and she's Clara," I smile at them awkwardly.

"So, how was your day?"

"I went to see the Football practice," This seems to surprise the girls.

"That's new."

"Why did you go? I thought you and Michael weren't doing too good."

"I didn't go to see Michael, I went with this guy."

"This guy has a name."

"He absolutely wrecked Michael, twice."

"In a one on one?"

"No, knocking your boyfriend over and then tackling both Nelson and Michael."

"Have you played much before?" I shake my head and answer.

"Um, I've played since ninth grade, not long, back in Barcelona."

"You're Spanish?"

"French."

"And your spanish?"

"Living in Barcelona for a few years," I say before continuing to eat. The four girls talk for a while until Ines stops, smiling as she looks towards the entrance.

"Bill! Babe! Come sit over here," He blows her a kiss and smiles, "I want to embarrass him."

"I already did that," My comment makes them laugh. Perry, Bill and William sit down at the table. I say nothing.

"Yo, new kid, what was your name again?"

"Aristide."

"Sorry 'bout the high low, I normally double with Will, so my communication with Bill ain't the best."

"No problem, how's Michael?"

"He's being his little, delicate flower," William jokes, "Your stomp 'hurt' him."

"I hope he doesn't come back for more."

"When would he do that? He can't beat you one on one."

"That isn't my fear, unfair fights don't always go my way, it seems we have hot heads on the team." I say as I continue to eat.

"Thanks for the demo today," Bill says after finishing his kiss with Ines, "Helped me a lot."

"Sure."

"How are you good both ways?"

"In Barcelona, our team was limited so we played both ways, I did everything but Tight End, on the line, offense, defence and special."

"Damn, you probably know what to do and what not because of that, maybe we should train sometime."

"We could today? I was counting on doing so extra with Coach," I say before continuing to eat.

"Quick question, how much do you behemoths weight?" The much smaller Flora asks, "If you don't mind."

"230," Perry answers.

"210," Bill answers.

"240," William answers.

"And you, Aristide?"

"300 or 310, I think, not sure about the conversion though," I answer, "How much is Adrian at?"

"He is at 250."

"Wow, I thought it was more."

"Nah, he has no abs, all gut," Bill jokes before Ines slaps his stomach.

"You are one to talk."

"You already told me this before, I can't be like Michael if I am a guard."

"Just saying."

"Well, I have training to get too, extra training," I say as I get up and walk away from the table with my tray. I am exhausted but I haven't done much before practice and I wanted to make sure I was in a good place for the season that was starting in less than a months time.