Brownie Gives Me Courage

When we got back to school after lunch, I was finally back to normal. I ate like three whole burgers! I was so hungry. It wasn't a bad experience, but I'd prefer to do it when I'm not at school. I felt like my head was going to explode.

Maybe a smaller dose would've been better.

Max asked me out on another date. He told me that we were going to have dinner at his house.

With his parents.

I don't think you do that on a second date and I told him that it was probably a bad idea, but he told me that it'll be fine.

I don't really want to meet his parents, but it'll happen sooner or later because we're neighbors.

The rest of the school day went by smoothly. I had photography with Lily and history with Alexander.

After school was over, I walked Sky and Lily to cheer practice. I didn't see Hope or Daniel all day. Coach was giving me a kind of stink eye when I was walking with the girls.

On the other side of the field the girls flag football team was practicing. That made me think about when Chester told me I should tryout. So, what the heck? I have nothing better to do, so I walked over to who I thought the coach was.

It must be the pot brownie still in my system.

"Hey, are you the coach for the girls flag football team," I ask the lady. She was like 5'8, had black, straight hair that was in a ponytail, and brown eyes.

"Yes. I'm Mrs.Kate! How may I help you?"

"I was wondering if you had any open spots on the team or if I could tryout? I know you probably had tryouts already, but I just enrolled into school here and I'm interested in joining the team."

"That would be great! We're always looking for new members. I can totally have you tryout any time this week. The season starts next month, so I'm really trying to get everyone into shape."

"Would it be alright for me to tryout today," I ask her hopefully.

"Do you have clothes to change into or cleats?"

"I'll be right back." Ok, so I don't have cleats, but I know people that probably have an extra pair. The football players were going to have practice today, so I went to the other field to see if they were there, but I guess they weren't out yet.

I didn't have time to wait, so I went to the boys locker room. I'll just wait outside.

Ughhhh, it's been ten minutes now and no one came out. What were they doing in there? Putting on makeup? It doesn't take that long to get ready!

So, I knocked on the door, hoping someone would hear and come outside, so I could ask for cleats, but no one did. So, I did the next best thing.

I put my hand over my eyes and opened the door. I could hear a lot of people in there.

"IS EVERYONE DECENT," I scream into the locker room. Now this is embarrassing. Why did I do that? Now everyone was gonna have their attention on me.

"You're good, princess," I hear someone say and everyone was laughing. I uncovered my eyes to see the football team in their equipment.

I look around trying to spot anyone I knew when my eyes settled on Parker and Chester.

I hurry up and maneuver around everyone, trying to get to them. I hear whistles and hoots, but I just ignore it. They go back to whatever they were doing by the time I get to Parker and Chester.

"Spencer?!? What are you doing here," Parker asks me.

"Ok, so do any of you guys have an extra pair of cleats? I'll return them after I'm done. Please please pleaseeee."

"Fineeeee. Are you trying out for the flag football team," Chester asks me.

"Yup. I'll catch up with you guys later," I say smiling after he hands me some cleats. I skip off out of the locker room.

I go change in the girls locker room. I gotta hurry. I've already wasted enough time.

I was so happy that Chester's cleats fit on me. I don't know if it was because I had big feet or if Chester had small feet.

When I got to the field, coach let me join the other girls in a scrimmage. We went through introductions. There was this one girl named Jamie that I really clicked with.

She was really short, but she had the positive energy of the sun. She was the most positive person I had ever met. It was a shame I hadn't met her earlier when my life was crumbling.

So, I practiced with the team and coach told me that I fit right in. It was a much better experience than cheer tryouts.

I felt free when I played with this team. I didn't have to worry about one of them stabbing me in the back or throwing me off a pyramid (AKA Hope).

Coach gave me the schedule and we exchanged contact information. She gave me this form I had to read over to make sure I knew all my responsibilities as a member on the team.

"Hey, it was really nice meeting you, Spencer," Jamie tells me while I'm sitting down on the bleachers, taking off the cleats.

"You too. We should hang out sometime."

"Totally! Let's exchange numbers." I hand Jamie my phone. She puts her number in and saves it, then she calls herself and saves my number.

She says bye and walks away when Parker and Chester come up to me. I catch the little glance between her and Parker and the blush that pops up on his face.

"So how did it go," Chester asks me after I pass him his cleats.

"I made the team!"

"Awesome! I didn't even know you could play," Parker says, giving me a high five.

"She's really good," Chester tells Parker.

"You should come with us to our next pre-game competition tradition," Parker says excited.

"What's that?"

"Every year before the schools first football game, the team goes to Lake View park and we have our own little game and a camp out. It's really fun."

"That sounds cool. Just tell me whenever you guys go." I've never been camping before.

"Hey Spence, you need a ride home," I hear Max shout to me from the parking lot.

"Alright, I'll see you guys later." I wave bye to Chester and Parker and run off to Max's car.

Max drops me off and tells me to be ready by eight to meet his parents. It was 4 now, so I was going to do my work first and start getting ready at 6:30.