CHAPTER 4 Unwanted Surpises At Practice. #2
“Sup, Yari,” I greet after calling her once I was settled into my truck. It connected with Bluetooth as I buckled my seatbelt. I pulled out onto the road and set off on the hour-and-twenty-minute drive. “I’m on the way now.”
“You’re just leaving, huh?” she chuckled. I nodded, even though I knew she couldn’t see me. “You are never on time for anything, Kay.”
“Aye, not too much on me,” I defended. “Besides, you know coach ain’t trippin’.”
“Yeah, true, but today is the day they introduce the new owners,” she pointed out, and I groaned. How had I forgotten that? “Didn’t you get the email?”
“You know my emails are always swamped. I can’t remember every email I read,” I argue.
“Yeah, true, Miss Farmer Girl,” she teases, and I roll my eyes. “I always forget that you’re constantly busy cultivating the land and singing to your apple friends.”
“Remind me to smack you once I see you, okay?”
She laughs, annoying me more, but eventually the topic switches over to her going on and on about some woman she had a date with.
She claimed that she wasn’t as nervous as she usually is, and that catches me by surprise.
When I asked if she was pretty, I thought my friend was telling me the plot of her favorite romance novel with the way she went on and on about how gorgeous she was and how much she made her laugh. I smiled at her enthusiasm.
Yariah “Yari” Anderson has always been a woman of few words since we met back in Elementary school.
Kids used to think she was stuck up at first, but she just suffered from social anxiety.
As she got older, she adopted this habit of masking it with practiced confidence and determination to push herself out of her comfort zone.
Was it the healthiest way to go about it?
No, but that facade of hers helped her attract many women… until it got tiring for her.
About two years ago, she admitted it was hard pretending to be this outgoing person she knew she wasn’t.
Because of the constant pressure she put on herself, she eventually fell into a deep depression for a while.
But with my help and a few of her other friends and her cousins, she eventually started talking to a therapist and has been doing well thus far.
She was slowly becoming content again with just being herself, and at the same time, working on her social anxiety healthily.
She was still shy as hell around strangers and very attractive women, but from the sound of it, she was coming out of her shell once again. Or maybe this mystery woman just had a huge impact on her. I don’t know. I’d have to meet her to see what was really up.
After over an hour of driving and running our mouths, I finally pulled up to the practice center to find the parking lot fuller than usual.
I could also see a few news vans, making it feel way more serious than it should’ve been.
Was a new owner really worth this much fuss?
Maybe I wasn’t getting it because I wasn’t really going to be affected by the change.
My role on the team was only on the recreational side, whereas players like Yari made a living from it.
Okay, so yeah, maybe it was that serious.
“Hey, Kay,” Yari greeted as I made it to where a few other players were waiting. I greeted them before turning back towards her. “Are you as nervous as I am?”
“I mean,” I shrug, following her in and down the hall to the large conference room. “I think I’m more curious than anything. I know the old owners had been looking for buyers for a while, so this was inevitable. But I’m also nosey as hell, so I wanna know who’s gonna be signing y’all checks.”
She laughs, shaking her head. “You’re foolish, for real,” she replies. “All I know is that it better not bounce.”
“I know that’s right,” our teammate Peanut added in. “The old owners should’ve been sold this team, because I was one more bad check away from flipping a fucking table.”
“I heard that the new owners are loaded,” another teammate, Ash, says. We looked at them in amusement. “Yeah, they’re siblings or something. The brother is a real estate tycoon, and the sister is a partial owner of some high-class yoga studio franchise or something like that.”
“And they’re somehow interested in women’s football?” I asked. They nodded. I shrugged. “I mean, whatever, I guess. You know what they say about judging people before you even meet them.”
“And what exactly do they say?” Yari teases.
“Uh…don’t do it?”
They all fall out laughing, and I join in a couple of seconds later.
Even though I was cool with most of my teammates, the four of us were no doubt the closest. The bond I had with Yari, Peanut, and Ash was similar to the one I shared with Morgan and our cousins.
We laughed, joked, and clowned each other, but we were as thick as thieves, always looking out for one another and making sure that nobody tried to get over on any of us.
“Alright, settle down, y’all,” Coach Brandy called as she entered the room. Coach Tim trailed behind her in his usual leisurely way. We all sat up straight, giving them our undivided attention. “Alright, good afternoon, team.”
“Good afternoon, Coach!”
“I know y’all are ready to get some practice in before the game tomorrow, but, as discussed in the email that only half of you replied to, we have some business to attend to first,” she continued.
“Now, as you all are aware, we have new owners as of 2 pm yesterday. They wanted to come in, meet y’all, and watch a practice game.
Y’all are adults, so I’m sure you know to give them the same respect you give Coach Tim and me, correct? ”
“Yes, Coach!”
“Alright, well,” she nods before signaling the team manager, Lance, to let the guests in.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I pull it out to quickly check.
I smile to myself as I swipe through the school pictures that Zee has sent of Sera.
She looked so freaking adorable. When I saw the packet on the table at Zee’s place two weeks ago, I made sure to add enough cash for the biggest package.
I had so many family members who loved and cared for Sera, and I knew they’d be over the moon to receive a school pic of my Princess.
Plus, I needed a big one to frame for my house.
Yeah, Serenity would always be surrounded by love.
“Jakayla, you care to join us again?”
My head snaps up, and I notice how quiet the room has gone.
I look around to see all eyes on me, and hear a few of my teammates snickering.
I quickly apologize before sliding the phone back into my pocket.
As I settle back into my seat, my eyes lock on the tall man standing at the podium.
He looked annoyed, but also slightly familiar. I couldn’t put my finger on it, though.
“Sorry about that,” Coach Brandy apologizes to him with a smile. “The floor is all yours.”
“Yes, right, okay.” He nods, clearing his throat.
“Good afternoon, ladies and…other friends.” I glanced at Yari, and we shared an unamused look.
“My name is August Fontenot, and I’m one of the new owners of this team.
I hope we can all get along, and I want you all to know that we’re here to support the team in any way possible.
I’ve always loved the game of football and dreamed of owning a team.
Granted, I never thought it’d be a women’s team, but I see the hard work y’all do out there, and I’m pleasantly surprised and impressed. Who’d have thought, right?”
He chuckles at his joke, but I could feel the tension in the air.
No one, including me, found his backwards comment funny.
Having a broke owner didn’t sound too bad compared to having an owner who seemed fully unaware of the team that was in charge of.
I could smell the fakeness from where I sat three rows back.
“Hm, tough crowd,” he mumbles. “Anyway! As I said, I hope we can get along and make this season even better than the last! Go, team!”
There was scattered applause around the room, but I didn’t even attempt to join in. I could already tell that he and I were gonna have problems, and I hated that for me.
The meeting continued for another 15 minutes with the coaches going over the schedules for the next month and a half.
I nodded along, but I couldn’t really focus because I felt eyes on me the whole time.
Every time I would look up, I’d see August staring back at me as if he knew me or something.
It made me beyond uncomfortable. I tried ignoring him, but even when I wasn’t looking, I could feel him staring a hole in the side of my face.
When the meeting was finally over, we were dismissed to practice.
We had a small practice game, and it worked wonders at keeping my mind off things.
The next two hours flew by in a breeze, and soon we headed into the locker room to shower.
I was the first one to get done, so I popped a squat on the bleachers to wait for Yari and the others.
We’d decided to go get a drink before heading home.
Since we were taking a bus to the game early the next day, I was going to stay with Zee tonight anyway.
“Look, sis, I keep trying to tell you that this was a smart money move for both of us. The money is gonna be good, I promise.”