Inseparable: What You Can Be To Me
(Author's Note: The little - mark with the spaces before and after it means a character point of view change, just so no one gets confused.)
It was Friday afternoon; loud screaming, yelling and car horns filling the air. It was a bit chilly, clouds covering the sky and painting it a dark gray with no sign of the sun deciding to show itself. School had just let out for the weekend, everybody rushing to get home, to go out, but not Ashley Benson. Ashley was headed to the fall soccer evaluation; what she'd been waiting for since the summer before. Of course, the soccer season didn't start until spring, but the point of the fall try-outs was to get the players ready early. It was a good idea, considering that they wanted a winning team. Although, it wasn't the winning that Ashley was concerned about. She focused on playing the game. Winning or losing, she loved to play.
The South Bay High senior carried her equipment in a large backpack she had hanging over one shoulder as she walked across the school campus. The school was massive in size, which was cool, but at the moment, annoying. She was so excited about try-outs, but thanks to the size of the campus, it was taking forever just to get to the field! It was like the school was hell-bent on keeping her away. But, finally, the field came into view only moments later as she neared the baseball field. The soccer field shared a space with the football stadium, due to the lack of space around the school.
After what felt like hours of walking across campus, Ashley finally stepped on to the field. She grinned, her excitement jumping to a new level. She could already feel the adrenaline of a game pumping through her veins. It was a good feeling, one she loved having course through her. Shaking her hands, she tried to calm down as she realized she was running a little late. Suddenly feeling embarrassed, she quickly shuffled over the field and to the coach to check in.
However, the coach's appearance threw her off. She didn't even look old enough to be out of high school! In fact, Ashley didn't even think she could be any older than her. The girl was dressed in a black and silver South Bay High Titans warm-up suit, and had dark brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. She was a little taller than Ashley, making her stand around five-foot-eight and she had the prettiest hazel eyes that were accompanied by seemingly perfectly arching, thin eyebrows. The girl had tanned skin and a toned, athletic body, but at the same time, was quite curvy.
"Excuse me, coach?" Ashley asked sheepishly, getting a good look at the girl in front of her.
"Oh, no, I'm not the coach." replied the girl, "I'm just helping run things while the real coach isn't feeling to hot."
Looks like you're taking up the hot for both of you, Ashley thought, and then realized she needed to respond, "Oh, uh, so you're the assistant coach?"
"Basically." said the girl, then she seemed to remember something, "Do you have your physical form?"
"Uh huh." the shorter girl replied, digging in her pocket and pulling out a folded piece of paper. The assistant coach looked it over and put a check on the clipboard she held in her hand.
"Do you drive?" She asked.
"Yes." Ashley nodded, already digging in her pocket for what she knew she was going to be asked for.
"May I see your driver's license? I'm sorry I have to ask for it, it's just, I have to mark it down on here if you drive, and I have to have the proof." the young coach sighed. Ashley just simply smiled her approval to the apology made, and held out her driver's license for the taller girl to see.
"Okay," the brunette smiled, marking something else on the clipboard, "you're good to go."
-
Lizzie Valentine sat down on the metal bench behind her, letting out a sigh of relief. Being the assistant soccer coach seemed, at the moment, to be harder than gymnastics, especially when every girl trying out was rude as hell. Except the girl that had came in late… Ashley Benson.
Ashley had a cute look, with hazel-green eyes and eyebrows with the most beautiful arch to them. She wasn't quite as tall as Lizzie, falling only around two inches or so shorter. She had fiery red hair that fell to her shoulders, and had a curvy and athletic body, which was covered with blue Reebok warm-up pants and a white turtleneck.
That girl was polite, and had cooperated perfectly whereas the other girls had been snobs about it. Lizzie was going to make sure she put in a good word for the redhead; besides being nice, she looked like a good player. Lizzie picked up her clipboard, jotting down a quick note for the coach about Ashley before she had to go run the hell out of the girls.
And then, looking at her watch, the uniform-clad girl stood up, lazily dragging herself out to where the rest of the girls were hanging out.
"So has everyone introduced themselves?" She asked, but only caught of couple of the girls' attention. She heard a couple rude remarks about her coming from a few of the girls, but did her best not to say anything back.
"There are a few things I need to go over before we get started, so I need you to listen up." She said, letting her eyes dance over each of the girls, then locked them with Ashley's. She smiled at the girl, who sweetly returned the smile, "First of all, we're going to go over a couple ground rules. First one, get the hell along. What does that mean? Don't fight, don't argue. Simple. Second, please don't try out unless soccer is what you want. If you're here for your friends, this isn't the place to be."
"Why are you even here?" asked one of the girls.
"I'm helping out the coach, she's not feeling well." Lizzie replied, momentarily making eye contact with the girl.
"Isn't it against policy for a student to run try-outs?" asked another girl.
Sighing, Lizzie looked at her interrogator, "I don't know any of you, so therefore, no it isn't."
"How long are you going to be here?" asked the girl who questioned her first.
"Both days," she said, annoyed, "Now, no more questions. We need to get started."
Once the girls were quiet again, Lizzie flipped over a page on her clipboard and began speaking again.
"Back to our rules. Because the coach is not here, I'm in charge. You will treat me like a coach, or I'll notify Coach Lewandowski of your disrespect." She warned, giving the two that questioned her a look that let them know she was talking to them, "Now about water breaks and other such business. If you need it, tell me, and I'll let you go. Understood?"
"Understood." the girls echoed, beginning to stretch out their arms and legs.
"Thank you. Now, to start us off, I want you to run one lap around the field, then meet me back here in the center."
At her order, the girls did as she'd instructed. However, it took a few minutes because a few girls fell behind, unable to keep running, while others purposely dragged along. And not to her surprise, Ashley finished first. Lizzie gave her a thumbs-up, a silent 'good job'. The redhead grinned, quickly making her way over to the center of the field.
"Did you happen to get my time?" she asked, and Lizzie smiled, glad to see such a dedicated player.
"As a matter of fact, I did." the taller girl nodded, looking at her stopwatch, "It was 57.33."
"Wow."
"Yeah, you did great."
Ashley blushed, "Thanks."
"You're welcome." Lizzie smiled, just as the other girls flooded over to them.
Almost two hours later, the sky began to darken and the temperature seemed to have dropped a whole twenty degrees. Lizzie was freezing, standing on the sidelines between the goals and carefully observing the girls' skills. Well, one girl in particular. Of course, she'd been paying attention to the other twenty-one trying out, but Ashley had had her main attention from the start.
As of now, Lizzie had them split into two teams, eleven on each one, to put their skills to the test. Little did they know; the extreme stuff hadn't even started yet. As soon as the small practice game was over, it was happy hour. In other words, lap after lap around the field. Lizzie had been through many sports try-outs, and 'happy hour' never failed to make an appearance. She was going to just leave it out, but seeing as how the girls had put her through hell since the beginning, Lizzie decided sweet revenge was in order. Of course, she hated having to punish the one who'd caused no problems at all, so she was going to give Ashley the option to run with them, or pass on it.
Lizzie slid her hands into her pockets, shaking in the cool breeze. Glancing out at the field, she saw that the black team, Ashley's team, was winning. Ashley had the ball, weaving through the players on the silver team as if she were a natural pro. Before she got to the goal, though, she passed it to another girl on her team. Barely seeing the girl score the point, out of the corner of her eye, her vision was trained on Ashley, who was waiting, ready for the ball to be put back on the field. The sweaty redhead ran her fingers through her wet hair, but watching the ball at the same time. Lizzie noticed Ashley's observant behavior and smiled; this chick definitely needed to be on the team. The young coach lifted her clipboard to write another note---
---- when something big and rubbery hit her smack-dab in the face.
Lizzie stumbled back and lost her balance, falling and dropping everything as she landed on her ass in the grass behind her. Her hand immediately shot to her nose, covering it as blood began to run down. She winced, her nose stabbing her with unbearable pain, and her head suddenly throbbing. How the hell did she get hit? She wasn't that close to the field! Pondering the thought for a moment as the girls crowded around her, Lizzie realized that her getting hit was no accident. Someone had hit her on purpose.
Slowly, the brunette stood up, the blood from her nose trying to break free of the barrier her hand had created. Her eyes wondered over all of the girls, looking for one with a smug grin, or some indication that she was the bitch that hit her. However, she saw nothing. Nothing, except Ashley pushing through the crowd.
"Are you okay?" she asked, standing in front of Lizzie, a look of concern on her young, attractive features.
"I'm fine." the wounded girl replied, nearly gagging when she tasted the blood that had crept into her open mouth.
"Here," Ashley said, handing the taller girl a white cloth she'd pulled from her pocket, "cover it with this and lean your head back. Actually, lay down. That might work better.
Lizzie nodded, taking the cloth and using it to replace her hand as she lied down in the grass. It was a bit uncomfortable, with the hard ground and the fact that she had blood all over her hand and she was being stared at. She glanced up at Ashley, who was trying to shoo the other girls back to the game.
"It's okay," she said, touching the back of the player's leg as she spoke, "you stay here, the soccer practice isn't going to continue. We have about twenty minutes before it's time to leave and I think happy hour has been earned by all the rest of you."
"Happy hour?" one of the girls asked.
"Yes. Now, why don't we begin? Go run. Run around the field and do not stop until I tell you to." the vengeful coach instructed.
-
All the girls groaned as they walked off, and Ashley let out a sigh of relief. She was so glad she'd managed to avoid 'happy hour'. She loved soccer, and she loved running, but she was too tired to do it now.
"Is your nose any better?" she asked the coach, who was still lying on the ground. The girl nodded slightly, but nothing came out of those full lips except a soft sigh. Ashley frowned, even her sigh sounded pained. She looked around, noticing a water fountain just inside of the stadium locker rooms.
"I'll be right back." she started, and quickly shuffled off to the locker rooms. She took a couple napkins off the wall dispenser, using the water fountain to drench them in cold water. She rang it out a little, wanting some of the water to stay in, as she ran back out to the defenseless girl.
"Sit up a little bit, coach." Ashley requested softly, helping the other girl do as she asked. Once she was sitting up, Ashley began to clean her face with the wet cloth. She had to scrub in some places, but other than that, it came off easy. After finishing off her face, Ashley cleaned off the brunette's bloody hand.
"Thanks." the coach smiled, "I appreciate that."
"You're welcome." replied Ashley, returning the smile.
The coach stood slowly, dusting off her uniform. Ashley stood up as well, looking out at the girls running around the field. Some were walking, while others were struggling to keep going. It served them right; they'd done nothing but be disrespectful to the assistant. Now, they were paying the price.
"I left a good note for you. A few, actually." said the other female.
"You did?"
"Uh huh. You deserve to be on this team for a lot of reasons."
Ashley blushed, "Thank you."
"No need to thank me," Coach smiled, checking her watch, "should I tell them to stop?"
Ashley thought for a moment, and then shook her head with a huge grin, "Nah."
I hope you liked it, please review!