Better Than Milkshakes, Better Than Boys (girlxgirl)

[32]

I have never seen a girls' soccer game this busy at our high school. In the three years that I've been playing for the team, no matter who we've played or where we've been hosted, we muster no more than fifty or so people watching. We had the one-off game earlier in the season when our boys' football team wasn't playing, but this is on another level.

It appears that the entire school has decided to come along.

Coach has had to move our game onto the men's soccer pitch just so that there is enough seating for everyone who has decided to attend. We have all the food stalls open, and the parking lot is overflowing with cars and pedestrians, with people flocking into the school from the roads as they've had to walk from further down the street. It's almost like they believe there's actually a football game on and not a girls' soccer match.

I think I have Clay and his football buddies to thank. They've been drumming up hype all week surrounding the game, and I know that Derek is throwing a party after the game for anyone who attends the match tonight.

"It's a victory party." He smirked at me as he ran off down the hall holding a fistful of flyers. "I want people to watch my superstar take her team to State."

Rumours have been flying around that Clay and Derek will be policing the gate to Derek's mansion estate, and people have to hand over a ticket stub to tonight's game, or they're not allowed in, but I'm pretty sure that's just a scaremongering tactic to get more people to grab a ticket. It has actually worked though, much to my surprise. I can hear the sounds of feet stomping above us whilst we're sat in the changing rooms.

Calico state, and Mackenzie's ex-girlfriend, are in the changing rooms right next door.

The air is tense and crackling with electricity, barely anyone in the team talking to anyone. Most people are going through their pre-match ritual, whether it be stretching or chanting, or listening to music. The locker room is silent.

Gemma is wrapping and rewrapping her hands, the only noise coming from her being the sound of her Velcro ripping apart and the heavy music blasting from her headphones. Raven is sat with her elbows resting on her legs, her fingers deftly spinning the cross on her necklace between her fingers as she mumbles a small prayer.

I'm doing the same thing I always do. I tie my laces. I tie them, undo them, and tie them again. I wrap the laces underneath my cleats and tie them in a double knot, then I pull the knot apart and start again. It gives me something to concentrate on; it stops my hands from shaking and my nerves getting the better of me because all I am currently thinking about is getting the knot as tight as possible.

It gives me something to zone in on, allowing me to calm my breathing and get into a zone whilst music is blasting in my ears. I can focus on nobody else, on nothing else.

"You're getting twitchy." April's voice sounds deafening as it cuts through the silence of the changing rooms, her slender hand gripping onto the fabric on my shoulder. "Nobody likes to see their captain out of the zone and twitchy."

"I was in the zone." I deadpan, my fingers quickly correcting the knot my best friend forced me into fumbling. "I was doing very well at staying calm, collected, and in the zone, and then you jolted me out of it by calling me twitchy."

April chuckles, sliding onto the bench next to me and placing a comforting hand on my knee. "This game will just be like any other, Alex."

I laugh, but it comes out humourless and dry. "Yeah, just another game in front of more fans than ever against the team that Mackenzie used to play for, and her ex, who cheated on her, by the way, still plays for. So yeah, just another game."