The locker room was empty, save Dash and I. The smell of body odor and teenage angst still turned the locker room into a aroma buffet from hell, but it was somewhat manageable.
Like I said: were were alone together. A few minutes ago the locker room was willed with excitement, nervousness, laughter, and pride. The nervousness usually resided on the first timers like the new students and the freshmen. For the seasoned players: they viewed this tryout as both a formality and a fight for positioning in the depth chart, especially with the quarterbacks.
If Rainbow had those first timer jitters, she was hiding them pretty damn well. She had a determined look to her though, being how short she was with the look was just adorable.
Well, 1/2 adorable and 1/2 unf.
C'mon man.
Rainbow was watching me strap her chest pads tight. Of course pulling the straps to make it fit her was also giving me some awesome accidental boob-backhand action, but I was gonna leave that between me and my mind.
And me!
Uh sure.
I began to talk through the receiving routes again, making sure I was as simple as possible to Rainbow. I could only imagine she was shitting bricks at this point under her cool composure.
The problem with the newbies was they had to use the standard gear for tryouts, while everyone who made the team for the last few years actually invested in the state of the art helmets, pads, and gloves. What did Rainbow Dash get? Standard black helmet, pads, pants, shoes, shoulder pads, and practice jersey.
"Hey" Rainbow Dash started. "If I don't do well, you won't be mad at me, right?"
We were both covered head to toe in gear, but it didn't stop me from holding her.
"You will do great, Dash. Now c'mon, we have a tryout to get to."
We walked out of the locker room and towards the football field, with a stretch of blacktop for our cleats to tear up with our cleats as we reached the field.
Almost immediately, the 300 hopefuls noticed the young girl and began their catcalls that was sexual in nature, with Rainbow not getting what the hell they were saying.
Between them and the five players on the bleachers chatting with rest of the girls, I felt that maybe a quick come to Jesus meeting was in order.
I gathered the boys (even the ones in the bleachers) and had them all huddled together.
"Listen guys: Roxy is with me. Hit stick her as hard as possible," I said with a smile.
"Bro? The fuck? Why did you tell the boys to use the hit stick on Roxy?" Nas asked.
"Trust me on this one" I answered with a bigger smile.
When it came to the catching: Roxi, Nas, and I stood out, with the usual cheers from those watching.
We ran our route drills with the three of us standing out again. This time the cheers from the girls and the players got louder. More was for Roxy than both of us.
Then came our 40 yard dashes: Nas and I were competitive but he edged me out by mere tenths of a second. as for Rainbow? She had the best overall time that sent the coaches and players into a state chaos.
The day wore on with the same result of Nas and I being second to Rainbow, even Jenna and Joshua came to see the tryout with the girls.
The last event was the 'live fire drills'. They ran football plays, switching the standouts of the tryout occasionally. Rainbow Dash was up first. I was on the other side of the field. She was already past her defender from the get go, and ran towards the patch of AstroTurf between the linemen and the line backers. The throw was aimed at her chest, and she caught it without a problem. Unfortunately, the linebacker was waiting for her.
The sound of clashing plastic was heard through the stadium. The girls held on to their breath as the players began to laugh and cheer for the absolute smashing that Rainbow received. After all that, they went to check if she was alright, because getting hit by a dude three times your size is no fun at all.
Not only was she ok, but she even held on to the ball. The look on the players faces were turning from 'lol this girl is cute trying to make the team' to 'damn, this bitch is legit'.
Second snap of the ball yielded the same result. Again she held on to the ball, but she was getting frustrated.
"I hate getting hit" Rainbow Dash confided with me.
I knew how she felt: I've been hit hard enough during games where it would knock the air out of my lungs. and would end up thrashing all over the ground gasping for breath.
Then it hit me.
"Nas, come here!" I yelled.
Nas and I proceeded to teach Rainbow the art of juking and evading the tacklers. It was short and to the point. To our surprise, but not only did she learn, but excelled the next time she caught the ball, juking three defenders and ran to the end zone with no problem at all.
The day concluded after another hour of players leaving it all out on the field to make the team. You could of separated the newbies and the returning players by their exhaustion. The veterans jogged to the huddle without a problem, the rest of the hopefuls walked to the huddle with their heads down and their hands on their hips. Rainbow Dash had to be carried. No one minded really: she literally left it all out on the field and at that point she could of been carried on horseback and the coaches would of probably not bat a eye.
"First of all," Coach started. "Everyone is on the team."
Everyone clapped and a few cheers rang out. I held Rainbow Dash. "I told you, you will do great."
Rainbow laughed. "Of course I did! Had to show them real excellence!"
"But, Only the best will be on varsity, everyone else will be on the junior varsity or freshman teams."
The coach went through the names of everyone on Freshman and Jr Varsity, and of course with every person named that wasn't her, her confidence built.
When reading off the names, Coach always went QB-HB-FB-WR. When Nas was named starting varsity running back. He did not let anyone forget it.
"I told you bitches!" He screamed. Everyone around him playfully shoved him back on his knee.
Coach announced that he was breaking tradition and was to name the Wide Receivers last.
The tension was murder, We knew Dash made varsity but the question of her starting was the issue.
"So, wide receivers" Coach said a half hour later as he began to read off the list with a tension that could of tore mortals apart. "Sanchez, Williams, Lane, Porter, Culpepper, Youngblood, Fite, Moreno, E-"
My heart skipped a beat at my last name. That could of only meant one thing. I held her hand quietly and whispered a "congratulations" to her.
"Well now. I never expected this in my 20 years of coaching," Coach said as he announced the overall top WR of the team. "Roxy, you are our overall first WR."
The entire tryout exploded in cheers as they carried Rainbow around in celebration: they treated her from a piece of meat to a teammate in the span of a few hours. They tended to rapidly accept someone as their own like this: as long as you could prove your worth. On the bleachers, the rest of the girls with Jenna and Joshua were clapping and cheering for their friend.
"How did you find that gem?" the offensive coordinator asked me as the players continued to carry Roxy all over the place.
"Well, I knew she was quick and can take shots, what we needed in our position" I answered.
In that moment, Rainbow looked to me while being carried. Her rainbow hair and pale face was wet from her sweat., but happened to beam a loving smile towards me, and in that moment I beamed one back.
Next Chapter: Attack on Titan