The Fated Match

It was a god send that they wanted to do another joint training session.

I couldn’t sleep at night knowing that my dad has some kind of secret and that he is willing to let me in.

I needed to know more otherwise its going to eat me alive.

I know I shouldn’t want to get in touch with him again but I don’t ever want to regret this later on. I went over to see my mom whilst Theo offered to watch my team for the morning.

Theo wasn’t happy with my decision but this was my decision.

And he knew that.

“you believe this crap” my brother said shoving the email that I printed out back to me.

” I actually do, why would he make this shit up knowing that jay is a lawyer and he could easily be caught lying if it was fake” I said to him.

Mom sat quietly not really saying a word.

“did you have any idea” I asked her a gentle voice. My brother had a habit of making me angry whevnever I spoke to him.

She stared at the email. ” no, that’s the truth. After we got divorced I never spoke to him again this must have happened after I don’t know” I could see that she was really conflicted.

” Have you ever heard of this man, did dad ever say anything ”

I could see my brothers eyes glaring daggers into me. Begging me to stop pushing this but I had to.

” Honestly no. when the divorce happened and they found out about the abuse he was admitted to government councelling and he was prescribed medicine but I didn’t know if he actually had any condition” she said.

“are you serious mom, he’s fucking crazy” my brother shouted out. But once seeing moms face he calmed down quickly.

“I know baby but what if there really is something wrong and we never gave him the chance, I’m not going to my grave knowing that”

Mom never had favourites but with my brother being the first born and him living with her all these years you could tell that they had a much better relationship than us.

” Do you want me to stop mom. If you don’t want me to dig anymore I’ll stop right now” I asked her holding her hands in mine. Something wasn’t right, she was close to shaking in the state she was in.

I know I have a right to know more about my father but I respect her decision after all no matter what excuses he has he really did hurt my mom and as her daughter I have to accept that..

” I , uh. It’s upto you honey. I don’t want to know but you can do what you want. Even after everything I don’t want to take his children away from him, just please don’t drag me into this” her voice was almost breaking at the very end.

My brother pulled mom into an embrace.

I turned to Jay who was standing at the end of the room.

” She’s right Elle but you have to be careful, we don’t know what he’s really thinking or if any of this is true”

I was surprised that Jay was letting me do this.

” I know. I’ll be careful” I said collecting the papers and shoving them into my bag.

I spent a lot of time at the house but when I was getting ready to leave I found mom standing with a small album in her hands.

“what’s that” I walked up to her. She handed me the album. ” I brought this with me incase. It’s all the pictures of you and your father when you were little”

I widened my eyes as I flipped open the first page.

I was taken back by the first picture.

” He deserves some kind of memory of when things were good, when he was good” she whispered those last words.

I flipped through seeing more pictures of dad pushing me and my brother in the swings. A general happy smile as he smiled at the camera.

” come here” Jay stood behind her. Mom broke down instantly as Jay wrapped his arms around her. Me and my brother locked eyes seeing the obvious connection they still had.

I don’t know what made them split but I have a feeling mom never fully recovered fro what happened with my father.

Maybe if I could figure out whats wrong my father I could give her a reason to trust Jay and to no longer think she was the one that caused him to be abusive.

I headed back to my car and made my way to the sports centre. When I got there I had to laugh seeing everyone on the field looking close to death.

” Looks like your mom has arrived to pick you up girls” Coach said laughing seeing the state of my swimmers.

I held back a laugh well more like tried to which Theo had to nudge me.

“don’t laugh” he snickered.

” did you have to kill them” I asked helping Melissa up.

He shrugged ” this is how athletes train”

Yeah for the war.

Theo ran over with a big bucket of water bottles, I helped him hand them out. It was like feeding a bunch of penguins fish. It was very amusing.

” Alright guys you can hit the showers, I’ll talk with you after you don’t stink” I said realising it was getting late. Scott led the pack, running inside and getting out of the cold.

I slowly followed after them.

” Jenny c’mon move” I heard Theo moan behind us. I looked and spotted Jackson reluctant to let go of Jenny which was obviously annoying Theo who had to practically rip the boys hands off her.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulder. ” That boy is addicted” I mumbled shaking me head. She giggled ” Sometimes he just does it to piss off my brother” she told me.

That does sound a lot like Jackson. Jackson is just lucky that Theo is his girlfirends sister, that’s the only think stopping thoe from knocimng him clean out.

” I heard that you are back with my brother” she said as we reched the doors leading to the changing rooms.

” Scott wait until your inside to take your shorts off” I shouted, I really didn’t want to see my student’s privates.

I turned to Jenny ” he told you?” I didn’t expect him to go bragging to his sister, not that I minded really.

She pulled out her hair tie” He didn’t need to, I haven’t seen him smile in a few weeks” she told me.

I had to stop the smiled threatening to appear. Why did it sound so good to hear that. Has he really been that unhappy recently since we broke up.

” Aw you’re back with Theo, hey guys” scott started hollering in the halls catching some of me and Jenny’s conversation.

I pinched the elastic on his wrist and let go leaving it to smack against his skin. ” ouch coach, that hurt like a motherfucker” he yelled rubbing his arm rapidly.

I smiled.

You deserved it.

I walked into my office slamming the door behind me.

As I waited for the team to get showered I read through some of the emails since I wasn’t in this morning to check them. I answered a few before my door was smacked open scaring the shit out of me.

I turned to see the twins staring at me.

What happened to knocking?

“Did you hear” Thomas comes rushing into the office, he didn’t have his shoes on and his jumper was the wrong way around.

I raised my eyebrow ” does it look like I have any idea ” I said sarcastically.

Andy shoved him out of the way and came over. He shoves his iphone in my face and I was left staring at a post from Riley’s Instagram.

( riley is the twins cousin and Elles old bestfriend)

My eyes adjusted to the caption and I stood up pulling the phone closer.

” she did it” Thomas said.

I looked up at them both.

I pulled out my phone searching for her on messenger. When I found her I rang her, how could she not tell me about this. This is such a big deal.

” oi bitch, when were you” I barey got to finish my lecture at her when she screamed into the phone and started jmping around like a crazy woman.

I turned my phone around to the twins showing them.

” RILEYYYYY” they both screamed.

” oh boys I I can’t believe im goingggg, coach is crying in his office that’s how intense this has been” she explained to them. Now I could see riley tearing up.

When I spoke to my old coach he told me that Riley originally missed out on getting through to the finals of the worlds.

We would all be going there however my students were in the amateur competition whereas those from America would be competeting for world championships.

I was gutted along with the coach that Riley didn’t get through. She was one of the best so that really surprisied me.

” You’re coming right, I’ll tell mom to book your tickets boys” she said into the phone.

They both turned to me. I wasn’t sure if they would be competing I was a little nervous for them.

Their pleading eyes made me make my final decision.

” ofcourse riley, we will all be there” I said loud enough for her to hear. At this point I might just take everyone even if they all don’t compete.

Her scream was deafening as she started ranting about how we were going to celebrate. I stared at a picture of us that I had framed on my desk.

Riley was my best friend and theres something really special about seeing your bestfriend reach her dreams.

When Riley was getting called out we ended the call and I followed the boys out to where the team were.

I grinned when I spotted Bryony leaning on Scott as her eyes slowly opened and closed.

” Okay guys I can see you are all very tired so I will make this quick. We have about 4 weeks until the championships so everyone will be training extra hard. I want more gym session booked in and please organise a one to one with either myself or tina” I nodded at Tina to note this down.

” I know that theres a lot of social events happening and im not saying you abandon them but please concentrate on your training, you really don’t get many chances like this” I deliberately stared at Scott.

” I get it coach” he said yawning.

Great, that makes me confident. NOT.

“okay you can go now, drink responsibly” I called out to them as they filtered out the hall.

” you might have your work cut out for you sorry T” I said casting her a smile.

She shook her head. ” I think it’s actually the other way round. Even if you’re tough they prefer it” that does make sense actually.

I will have to find the time for it. Meanwhile figuring out what my dads secret is and on top of that dating Theo at the same time.

I really have my work cut out for me.

Forty Four

” Coach, you’ve got some serious issues” Kyle commented as i kicked the ball across the carpark pissed that i couldn’t even get it up.

He ran to get it before it hit a car.

You might be wondering what i’m doing but tonight i was joining the football team as we go watch them play an important match.

Theo wanted me to come along, something about bonding with the team since we’ve never been on good terms.

” Okay guys into the bus” Lance shouted finally arriving. The boys filled up the bus. Jenny was coming with us as well, obviously to support her boyfriend.

“Move francis’ ‘ Theo barked at the grinning boy who moved to the seat in the only two available seats that were next to each other.

The guys snickered behind him.

” oh c’mon theo man.” francis groans. But Theo didn’t waiver. Kyle successfully managed to drag francis to the back. Theo told me to slide in fIrst, which I did.

Once we were settled lance went through all the instructions about behaving on this bus. It felt like I was back at school, very strange.

” I think i was being selfish inviting you here, i honestly think i would have smashed my head in spending time with these idiots” Theo whispered into my ear when we finally were on the road.

I felt a kick to back of our seat. ” we can hear you” Kyle said leaning forward.

I had to laugh, i doubt Theo was trying to be quiet.

Theo placed a kiss on my shoulder before turning around to talk to the boys. I leant back in my seat and plugged my earphones in.

Ever since that night me and theo have been spending lots of time together. Any chance we get.

I told you to wait for me elle, how many times” Theo said grabbing the weight bar and lifting it off.

I came in the gym for an early morning workout and found theo sitting in here finishing up. I never needed anyone to watch for me whilst i was in the gym.

” I’m fine theo, calm down” i said finally sitting up.

He bent down and smoothed his hands over my legs.

“Hmm, your thighs are hard as fuck” he whispered. His fingers creeping up to my inner thighs. I looked around the room wondering if anyone else was in.

” those booty shorts will kill me someday” he muttered once i stood up and walked over to grab my water.

I laughed at his words.

“So what are you watching out for tonight?” I asked Lance since theo was giving the guys a good pep talk.

Lance turned around to me. ” Well this team is undefeated so that worries me but they have a habit of wasting time just passing each other. Even though they don’t lose they don’t actually score a lot of goals”

“Yeah because they’re pussies” One of the guys shouted from the back earning a chorus of laughs from the team.

” one more comment like that and i’ll have you training with the heavyweight boxers on friday” lance said back. Lets just say not another word was said.

Lance smirked at me. “Works every time” he mouthed as he leant back in his seat.

I leant back too, I nearly screamed when i saw how close Theo was.

“Jesus Theo” i placed a hand on my chest.

He grabbed our hands and linked them. ” just Theo to you” he whispered places a light kiss on my shoulder. I breathed in when he slowly looked around and started to kiss up my shoulder.

“Theo, not here” i whispered pulling away.

He groaned as his head his the back of the chair. He pouted, he knew that his pout would make me weak but i wasnt going to let these boys tease me further.

Finally we had arrived at the stadium. I noticed that when it got to 30 minutes before we arrived the guys stopped messing about and got serious. Many of them started listening to music, others simply sat quietely.

They all left the bus peacefully.

Jacob smiled at me as he passed. “Game time” he muttered with jen following behind him.

“Crazy right” Theo said pulling me back to relaity.

I nodded.

” cmon, lets go get ready” theo grabbed my hand as we left the bus. As theo passed people at the stadium they would look shocked and try and get pictures of him.

Theo shoved his cap onto my head and pulled me along with him.

Obviously i wasnt going to be allowed in the changing rooms but i would be on the sidelines. Right now i was the boys cheerleader, nothing less nothing more.

The crowd were going crazy as the annuncer started to talk about the upcoming match. So this was a serious match, even though they were teams scouts were here looking for potential footballers to join their teams.

It was a big fucking deal.

I got a little nervous when a guy with a really big camera following him was getting closer to me. The boys were still in the changing rooms probably getting a big pep talk so it was just me and jenny out here.

” you think theyre coming to us” jenny whispered into my ear catching on quickly. I shookmy head.

“I doubt it, nobody knows us here” i whsipered back.

Never say never i guess.

” can we get a quick interview? We normally like to speak to someone from the team before the match starts” the man said finally stopping infront of me.

I looked towards the changing room, they werent coming out yet.

” sure i guess, dont know how much ill be helping you but i guess it wont hurt” i said pulling on a tshirt from our team.

I need to represent.

Whats your name?” he asked me before we started.

“Elle williams, I’m a coach at the sports centre”

The camera guy held up his fingers and nodded letting me knwo he started recording.

” So it looks like the team are still preparing for tonight highly antisipated match so we’re going to speak with a member of the team. So how are the team shaping up tonight elle”

I smiled into the camera. ” The team are great, very high spirits but they have complete focus on winning tonights game and showing off their skills”

The guy nodded. ” are there any star players we should be watching out for” he asked.

” well that would be telling wouldnt it, every member of the team are stars. They each have their own unique skills which you’ll see tonight ” i was definetely not going to give anything away.

Jacob was the obvious choice being the captain and everything.

” well looks like they’ve finally arrived and you’re riight they are looking in good shape, well good luck to you” i smiled into the camera as the recording stopped.

Theo just about made it. He instantly shook hands with the reporter, it seems as though they already knew eachother.

” Elle williams, its a pleasure. I followed you back when you were swimming for america” he said turning back to me.

I was surprised. ” really?” i was struggling to believe that.

” yeah, i interned for a sports magazine and we covered your story from athlete to coach, my wife is also a huge fan of yours”

Ill be damned.

” anyways i will be off now. Good luck boys” he shouted over to the team. They simply nodded their heads.

” thanks for leaving me with the reporters” i rolled my eyes as theo came to stand infront of me. He wrapped a simple black coat around my shoulders.

“Sorry, i completely forgot that they did that” he said. Yeah youre also full of shit theo.

I turned to watch the guys as they ran up and down the pitch warming up. Whilst i was watching them, theo had his eyes trained on the opposite team.

We sat down on the bench as the guys got ready to start the game.

Jenny sat on the other side of me, her anxiety was through the roof.

“Wheres your sign” i asked her.

She stared at me lost for words.

“I didnt…”

I giggled, “oh you were kidding”

I patted her leg. ” Your boy is a bloody good captain jen, he will be fine”

My words didnt stop her leg from shaking.

The game was now on, Theo and Lance were focused on watching the team, occasionaly shouting out when the team would miss an opportunity.

I watched aswell. I wont deny it but they were good. I never really stopped to watch them like this so i was seeing them in a brand new light.

” is it just me or is kyle raging hard right now” i whispered to theo when kyle was lose to shoving a player to the ground.

” these fucktards are playing around. This is not good football its fucking about” Theo said, i realised that kyle wasnt the only one angry.

After 20 more agonising minutes of the game half time was called with no goals scored yet.

This time me and jenny were allowed in the changing rooms. Ive seen these boys with shirts off before its nothing new.

” what the fuck do you call that” Lance shouted at the boys.

They all had their heads bowed.

” i get it, those guys played around but this isnt about scoring. Youre here to show off, if you want to be playing for a team next year youve got to step it up boys. Stop relying on your captain and get openings and take risks for fuck sake.”

I slowly walked around passing them fresh waters.

” look elle, are you seeing something that I’m not” I stared at lance, surprised he even wanted my opinion.

” i do agree that a lot of you are waiting for Jacob to make a move. Francis maybe a dickhead but he has been open countless times tonight”

I patted francis on the back. ” sorry” i grinned at him.

” they’re defense is so good though” francis stated.

I turned to Theo. ” and so is ours. Look, we can only ask for your best out there. Just try and keep the ball and dont even waiver. When you see someone open and near the goal pass it whatever the cost” theo chimed in.

The teams spirits seemed to lift up again.

“Cmon elle” i spun around when i got to the door. They were all huddled up.

” you’re part of the team now” Kyle said smiling at me.

“Shes going to cry” i heard lance whisper.

I stomped my foot ” no I’m not” i said finally walking over and going inbetween Francis and Theo.

I smacked Francis when he snickered.

Finally we all went back on the field. The guys took their positions.

“Is it just me or do they look tired” i said to Theo when 10 minutes passed. The other team weren’t as fast at retrieving the ball and they just looked tired.

The stamina and endurance of our team was of a high standard. It was insane.

” I was thinking that” Theo muttered his eyes focused on the game.

“Hey hey hey” Lance started chanting as Josh kicked the ball through the legs of his opponent and dribbled it towards our goal.

Both me and Theo stood up and started shouting.

” fuck sake francis go! Theo cursed. Francis and kyle both ran up towards the goal. Once francis got his feet behind the ball he kicked it left, towards kyle he managed to get it on the inside of his shoe.

My breath was stuck in my chest as i watched the ball heading for the goal. Theo dropped down into his seat when the goal keeper blocked the ball from getting to the goal.

My eyes were still glued to the ball as it went back towards the field, right where Francis was.

I slapped Theo’s chest, “watch your fucking team” i screamed already jumping up and down. I watched the clock, there was only 10 minutes left in this game.

Francis slid towards the goal his foot kicking the ball straight into the other side of the goal.

The stadium erupted as we scored. Holy fuck, that was intense. The whole team raced towards frncis and jumped on him smothering him to death.

Our whole bench erupted in chaos. Cheering and shouting god knows what.

By the time the final whistle was blown we all celebrated. Lance was throwing his fist up in the air as Theo lifted me off the ground.

It didn’t take long for the guys to come running over. ” well done boys, really great football out there” lance congratulated them.

I shoved waters at them. ” well, i guess youre not so bad after all” i said to kyle. Theo looked between us with a grin. Clearly knowing what was going to happen next.

“I’m actually sorry for everything, i really hope we can be friends from now on” Kyle stuck his hand out to me.