Brianna & Terrence

Junior Year

2. “District Championships”

Hey guys.  This is a story about soccer and I don’t know that much about soccer so please forgive me if I’m inaccurate.  I haven’t played soccer in ten years and I’ve never been on a school team.  I’m in orchestra and this is about the way we do it in there :)  Anyway, hope you enjoy the new story.

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It was the month of district championships for soccer and it was obvious by the way we were working.  We had practices during school and after school, and those of us that had study hall during seventh period had even more soccer.  It was becoming very hectic, but I can’t say that I didn’t like it.  Especially since sometimes we scrimaged against the boys’ soccer team.  Ashton was on their team and it was pretty nifty getting to see him running around on the field, even if he was faster than me cause he was about a foot taller.

The practices were getting stricter and stricter.  Any girl who showed up late for a practice was unable to play in the next game and she would probably have to sit out during the district champs that we were so set on winning.  We ran twice as much, dribbled twice as much... basically just worked twice as much.  I’d come home from school so tired that I’d instantly take a shower then eat and go to bed, and trust me, I didn’t wake up at five in the morning.  I slept as much as I could and my leg muscles were hurting so much, but from the looks of it, we were going to make it to championships and I was one of the ones they were talking about for the first string.  (do they call them that in soccer?)

The game that determined whether we would make it to the district championships was held on a Thursday evening in October, the week before the championships themselves.  I felt so lucky to be playing first string offense because there were so many other girls who wanted to do that.  It was really weird, the way things worked out.  All of the starters just happened to be really good friends.  Jayna and I were both starting offense, and Anastasia was starting defense, and then the rest of the starters were in our group.  Very ironic.

Fortuantly, we won the game.  You could definitely tell it, too.  The girls from the other team were scowling and throwing stuff and we were yelling and hugging each other like we’d just won the world cup.  It was so cool for me to actually be going to a championship game... I’d never even seen one before.  And I had heard that with me on the team this year, we were more likely to win.  That made me realllly giddy.

“Good game tonight, Bri,” I heard someone say behind me.  I turned around to see Ashton standing there, the most gorgeous smile on his face.  If I hadn’t been smelly and sweaty, I’d probably have tackled him right there and made out with him in front of everyone, but uh, I retained myself.

“Thanks,” I said, throwing my soccer bag over my shoulder.

“Ashton!” I heard Anastasia call, then saw her running towards her older brother.  “We won!  We won!  Can you believe it!”  She tackled him in a hug, which is what I wanted to do, then danced around happily.

“I can definitely believe it.  You guys played awesome.”

“It’s cause of me and Bri,” she said, winking at me.

Ashton smiled.  “That’s right.”

“Hey, Bri... after the championships, we’ll have a party at my house, k?”

I laughed a bit but Ashton gave her an admonishing look.  “Yeah, right, kiddo.  You WISH we were having a party at our house.”

She shrugged.  “Oh well.  See ya tomorrow!”  She hugged me then pranced off with Ashton to his car.  I just sighed wondering why the hell I had to have such a big crush on my best friend’s older brother.

I stayed on the field for a little while as the crowd diminished and people randomly came up to me and said “good game.”  Terrence was sitting at the top of the bleachers and he knew that I’d rather wait for a little while and talk to everyone before I left, so he just waited up there.

“You were awesome tonight, Bri,” Jayna said.  Everyone sure was doing a great job boosting my self esteem.

“You were great, too,” I answered, grinning.

“We’re gonna kick ass at the champs.  I couldn’t believe how great our defense was tonight...  Last year we won this game 2-1.  I can’t believe you scored three goals!”

I gloated for a moment, feeling bigger than the empire state building, but then I brought myself back to reality.  “Thanks, Jay, really.  But I couldn’t have done it without everyone else.  It was an awesome game tonight.  The defense didn’t let anyone get past ‘em.”

She nodded.  “You’re SO going to be the team captain next year.”

I blinked.  That wasn’t what I was expecting to hear.  “I doubt it.  You’re much better than me and you’ve been on the team longer.”

“No, I’m serious, Bri.  I don’t want to be captain.  They know I’m crappy at leading everyone.  You’re going to be it.  I can sense it.”

I tried not to inflate my head too much, but it was hard with everyone telling me how great I was!  Another kid passed by and said good game then I looked at Jayna.  “Well, if it’s meant to be, then I guess it will, but I still doubt it.”

She just grinned.  “See ya tomorrow, Bri!” 

“Later!”

I figured it was about time to be heading home, especially when I saw Terrence standing near the field at the bottom of the bleachers.

I smiled and waved to him and he just mocked me by doing the same.  “If you tell me how well I played tonight, I’m going to have such a big head that it’ll explode or something,” I said.

“Well you were terrible!” he joked.

“I didn’t say to stomp all over my self esteem!” I said, playfully punching him in the arm.  He playfully punched me back, except, uh, it hurt.  I just rolled my eyes and we were on our way home.

The next afternoon we didn’t practice, surprisingly enough, but we’d have triple practice the next four days.  It didn’t bother me because we got to sit in the grass while the coach congratulated us on a job well done and told us that after we won the district champs, we’d be going to state where we’d compete until we received the title of state champions.  She said that she had the starters all planned out for the district game and named them out, all of whom we figured were going to be on the list.  She explained the state procedure to all of us who hadn’t been on the team previously.  We’d ride on an ugly yellow school bus a Thursday afternoon and stay in a hotel that night until Friday when the games were.  We’d play different teams and they would eliminate the teams that lost.  If we were one of the top four teams, we would play on Saturday night.  It made me even giddier to hear about state championships because I would be rooming with Anastasia and we’d have tons of fun together and stuff.  And it made me feel like I had accomplished something.

The weekend was over before I knew it and then our strenuous week began.  When she said we’d have triple the amount of practice, she wasn’t joking!  We practiced everyday at school and three hours afterwards, except Wednesday.  She told us that we needed to rest but to be prepared for the game on Thursday.  And thus, Thursday arrived.

It was a day like any other, except for the huge pep rally held in the gym during fourth period.  The entire school was there to cheer us on, not just the high school, but the middle school, too.  We had tons of kids cheering for us as they called each name.  The team captian spoke, and the coach spoke and said that we were definintely going to win because we were the best team that she’d had in years.  She also said that we were having another scrimage against the boys’ team during 6th and 7th period for any classes who wanted to come.  I looked in the bleachers straight at Ashton and he was grinning at me.  Something told me that we’d definitely win the championships that day.  I could see it in everyone’s eyes.

And of course, we had a victory over the boys’ team, once again, proving that we were better than they were!  We were all hyped up from the pep rally and the scrimage and everything.  Nothing could dampen our spirits.  Well, maybe one thing.

After seventh period, none of us left, but instead we took showers in the girls’ locker room.  This time I was sure to bring shampoo and soap and a towel.  Usually, I forgot these things, but this time I wanted to feel good and clean before the game.  After the showers we all dried our hair, and surprisingly, we didn’t blow a fuse.  We changed into our clean uniforms then sat on the bench while our team captain talked to us.

“Okay, girls.  We played this team last year and kicked ass, and they have lots of hard feelings against us.  Don’t let them get to you, no matter what.  I don’t care if they call you a bitch or a whore or any vulgar name, you MUST keep your cool, okay?”

We nodded. 

“I KNOW we can beat this team again and take the district championships home with us.”  She grinned.  “All right everyone, hands in!”  We all put our hands in like in the shows you see on tv where they’re getting pepped up for a game.  We cheered for ourselves then happily skipped out of the locker room and into the bus.

“Are you nervous?” Anastasia asked me when we sat down in our seat at the very back.

“Nahh, I’m fine.  How about you?”

“I’m nervous as hell.  I heard tons of stuff about this team, how they like to threaten us and stuff.  And one girl got a foul last year for kicking some girl purposely.  I just don’t want to get hurt.  I really wanna play in the state champs.”

“You’ll be fine, Anastasia.  I’ll make sure no one even THINKS about hurting you, k?”

She smiled.  “Thanks, Bri.”

The rest of the ride everyone sang different songs and hooted and yelled and everything.  The boys had had their game on Wednesday night and won, and we knew if THEY could win that we could win, too.

When we arrived to the field it was getting darker outside.  I was beginning to feel a few butterflies flurrying in my stomach, but I tried not to let it get to me.  The stadium was so huge and there were so many people there on both sides, and the game wasn’t even close to starting yet!  We still had to warm up and the game didn’t start until 7ish or something.

But before I knew it, we were warmed up and ready to kick some ass.  Anastasia and I were passing the ball to one another and hopping up and down because of the super adrenaline rush we were having.  And finally the coach ordered us to the sidelines and we all sat in a huddle while she encouraged us to play our hardest no matter what.  Then we did the huddle thing where we all put our hands in and chanted and then we screamed and jumped up and down and I hugged Anastasia, remembering my promise to her that I wouldn’t let any asshole hurt her.

There was an announcer on the intercom who said which teams were playing and stuff, and it was really weird cause I’d never had an announcer before.  I wondered how he would call the game since he didn’t know who we were, but I didn’t think about it long because when I got on the field, it seemed as if no one were there except my team and the other team.  I could not hear the announcer’s voice.  I could not hear the audience clapping and cheering for us.  I took a deep breath in and waited for the game to begin.

Everything went perfect through the first and second quarter.  The team was already hating me, I could tell, because I scored on them twice and assisted a score.  In fact, one really bitchy girl was groaning and complaining about me and I just brushed it off like the team captain had said.  It wasn’t like she mattered to me.  Between the second and third quarter, we got our little peptalk and she put me back in the game and cheered us on.  The crowd was wild for us.  It was so amazing.

I guess that’s when I got bad vibes.  Right when the third quarter began.  I wasn’t nervous or anything, just got these bad vibes, especially when I looked at this girl from the other team.  She was giving me this really evil look every chance our eyes met, and it was beginning to piss me off.  Everything felt slow motion, like things always do when they go wrong.  I remember that I looked back and there she was, right next to Anastasia, dribbling the ball towards the goal, and I was standing there, staring her down, and she passed the ball to someone else and her leg went up to kick Anastasia right in the stomach, I could tell... and I don’t know what came over me, but it was like I went crazy and tackled her, right as Anastasia hopped backwards to prevent herself from getting kicked.  We both tumbled to the ground and the whistle was blown loudly.  The girl shoved me off of her.

“What the fuck are you doing!” she yelled.

The slow motion stopped.  I blushed seeing that everyone was looking at me... all the players, all the audience.  Then I shrugged it off.  “You were going to fucking kick her!”

I stood up and she stood up, too, pushing me back to start a fight.  I wondered why everyone was just standing there watching instead of doing something, or maybe it was just the adrenaline in my mind that was making me move faster than everyone else.  I swung right back at her and just began hitting her and everything until I felt myself being pried off of her.  It didn’t take much to pry me, because I knew that what I was doing was a bad idea.  But I was pissed as hell!  That girl had the nerve to try and kick my best friend THEN act shitty towards me?  I was GLAD to see that her nose was bleeding.

“Calm down,” Anastasia whispered to me.  I looked up to see that all eyes were still looking towards me and the refs and the coaches were running towards us.  The fight hadn’t lasted as long as it felt.  It felt like it had lasted for hours, or at least minutes, but it only lasted meer seconds, because once Anastasia saw me punch the girl, she was already dragging me off.

My team was standing around, staring at me disappointedly.  My coach was yelling at me and the ref was calling a foul on my behalf, which meant a free kick for the other team that almost always resulted in a goal.  The other coach was carrying on saying that I should be suspended for the rest of the year, and the ref said that it wasn’t necessary, but I’d have to sit out the rest of the game.  Lucky me.  District Championships and I had to sit out for half of the game because some asshole was trying to beat up on my friend.

I didn’t have much time to be pissed at everyone else because the coach was dragging me as fast as her legs would take her to the bench.  She sent in another player and sat me on the bench.

“What the hell is going on through your mind, Brianna!” she yelled.  “You could be suspended from the team!  Do you want that!”

I shook my head.

“Well I sure as hell wouldn’t have known that by what just happened.”

I looked down at the ground and the game carried on as usual.  The other team scored on their free kick, but it wasn’t enough to put them in the lead.  In the end, we still won, three to one.  The coach had it right when she said we should have had a better score.  I felt so horrible and pissed at myself, I didn’t know what to do but sit there on the bench and accept consoling pats on the shoulder from my teammates.  None of them, however, saw that the girl was going to kick Anastasia... my only hope was that SHE knew it was coming so at least someone would know that my actions were justified.

When the game was finally over, the coach looked at me and said that I better straighten up because she doesn’t want her team captain to get in fights.  The whole team was on the field at this time, hugging each other and congratulating themselves.  I smiled, glad that we had at least won, but still feeling shitty about the whole thing. 

In fact, before too much longer, the whole school was down on the field, mobbing the soccer players and giving each other high fives.  As the crowd thinned out, I felt someone standing next to me.  I looked over to see Ashton.  Seeing him made me avert my eyes back to the ground.

“Some stunt you pulled out there,” he said softly, disappointment in his voice.

“They were going to kick Anastasia,” I muttered.

“Either way, there’s other ways to handle things than pouncing on the opposite team.”

I didn’t answer.

“If you were my sister, I wouldn’t expect you’d be sitting comfortably for a while.”

I wanted to joke and tell him that I was glad I wasn’t his sister, but my heart wasn’t in it.  I knew when I got home I’d be wishing that I was his sister, because I was sure Terrence would be giving me something I wouldn’t forget anytime soon, and although Terrence wasn’t as tall as Ashton, he was more cut and definitely stronger.  I’d let Ashton spank me before Terrence anyday.

He put his arm around me.  “It’s okay, Bri.  You’ll still be able to play in the state champs and you’re still in the running for team captain.  My freshman year, something like that happened to me.  Only the guy was headed for me instead of my best friend.  I’d never have done what I did for somebody else... and I’m sure you wouldn’t have done it if it were you.  But I’m the team captain now.  Everyone screws up, okay?  Don’t let yourself feel too down.  No one will remember it tomorrow.  Everybody will be talking about the victorious win.  Besides, you scored two of the goals.  You should feel at least a little good about yourself.”

I was trying to feel a little good about myself, but it wasn’t working.

Just then Anastasia came hoping over towards me.  “Oh, Bri!” she exclaimed, hugging me tightly.  “I love you SO much.  You were awesome tonight.  And don’t worry, I saw that asshole... er.. girl was about to kick me, even if nobody else believes you.”

I had to smile at that statement.  At least someone had seen.

“And don’t worry cause the other girls saw, too.  And it’s going to be okay!”  She tightened her hug on me.  “You’re the greatest.”  She looked at Ashton.  “Party at the house tomorrow night?” she asked.

He gave her that look.  “We’ll see.” 

She yelped with joy and hugged him.  “See ya tomorrow, Bri.  Cheer up!” she said.

“Yeah,” Ashton said, smiling slightly.  “Cheer up.”

I couldn’t help but smile back at him with this twinkle in my eyes.  My crush for Ashton just got bigger!

I guess I probably decided about the same time Terrence did that I really didn’t want to stay at this game afterwards to talk to anyone cause I felt so rotten inside.  We met below the stands towards the exit and I hung my head.  Now I had to face what was coming at home.

“I’m sorry,” I said so softly that it was a whisper.

“I know,” he answered, putting his hand on my back and leading me towards the car.

“I didn’t want them to hurt Anastasia,” I said, figuring I might as well state my case now.

“Fighting’s never right, Brianna.”

“I know.”

“If you knew then why did you do it anyway?”

I shrugged.

He opened my car door for me and I got in, throwing my bag into the backseat then buring my head into my hands, the most comfortable position when I didn’t want to face what was ahead.  I heard him turn the car on and then he backed out and headed towards the house.  The car was basically filled with silence, except for the soft playing of the radio.  I wanted the car ride to last forever, so I wouldn’t have to face Terrence’s disappointment, so I wouldn’t have to go to school the next day and hear the people whispering about me in the hallways about what a troublemaker I was, so I wouldn’t have to listen to the coach when she announced the starters for the state championship games.  Unfortuantly, nothing really lasts forever, and we pulled up into the driveway. 

“Can I take a shower before we have our talk?” I asked, knowing what was coming.

He nodded.

I went on into the shower and let the water wash away all of the emotions I was feeling.  I let it was away the tears I was already crying because I was so disappointed in myself.  I probably stayed in there a super long time, but no one said anything.  Terrence just waited patiently in the living room watching tv until I came in, hair wrapped up in a towel wearing my thin pajama pants and a t shirt.  He flipped off the tv and I stood in front of him.

“Bri, when did you start letting your anger take over your actions?”

“I don’t know.”

He nodded.  “What you did tonight showed really poor judgement.  It showed that you aren’t responsible enough to not let emotions control your body.”

“But..”

“I understand that you saw the girl trying to hit Ana... and I understand that you were thinking on the spur of the moment.  That doesn’t make the situation right.”

I nodded.

“You can’t go around picking fights with everyone who tries to hurt Anastasia.”

“But wouldn’t you do it if they were doing that to me?”

He wasn’t expecting that question.  He sat there for a few minutes and looked at me.  “No, Bri, I wouldn’t fight anyone who hurt you.  You mean more to me than anyone would ever imagine.  But there’s a place that even I have to draw the line.  Getting in fights is against the law.  It’s called disturbing the peace.  You could get some jail time for it.  Did you know that?”

I shook my head.  I really didn’t know that.

“Well you could.  And your my little sister and I’d die for you, and I’m not going to let you go to jail, okay?”

“Okay.”

“And I’m going to punish you to make sure that next time you want to do something so stupid, you’ll think about it twice, okay?”

I nodded. 

He moved me towards him and tugged my pajama pants down to my knees then pulled me over his lap.  I took a deep breath in and buried my face into the couch before I began crying again.  Then I felt him pull my panties down to meet my pj pants and I braced myself.  This would hurt a lot.

The thing I didn’t realize, though, was that I didn’t see the hairbrush sitting on the coffee table.  That’s why the first whack caught me by so much surprise I yelped loudly and nearly fell off of his lap from it stinging so much.  He just wrapped his arm tight around me to get a good grip then sent it crashing down on my bottom again, just as hard, causing me to yelp just as loudly.  After two whacks, I was already regretting that I had gotten in a fight.  Of course, I knew I wasn’t going to get off that easily, especially when he landed four more whacks, one right after the other, crashing down on my bottom, and then landed four more, and four more, and so on in rhythm and before I knew it, I was bawling and kicking and squirming.  He didn’t let up at all, but began spanking my sit spots in groups of four, then my bottom again, then my sit spots again, until he finally concentrated on my sit spots for about 16 smacks and I just bawled and clenched my fists tightly and it took me a minute to realize that he was all done and the loud screaming that I was hearing was my own.  I tried to quiet down but I was already feeling bad for letting everyone down and now my bottom felt like it had been set ablaze.

“Shhhhhhh, Bri,” Terrence said, rubbing my back.  “Shhhhh, it’s okay.  I’m all finished, little sis.  It’s all over.  You’re forgiven.  It’s over, honey.  I love you.”

His voice was so comforting to my emotions, but not to the pain in my backside.  I felt like I wouldn’t be able to sit for a month with the way he had spanked me. 

My crying finally died down and I guess he figured that my bottom was feeling better because he instantly scooped me up in his arms and gave me a big hug.  “You’re the greatest little sis ever, and if you don’t wanna go to school tomorrow, you don’t have to.”

I smiled through the tears that were still streaming down my face.  As much as I didn’t want to go to school, with sore legs from running and a sore bottom from fighting, I knew that I had to face my classmates someday, and besides, I wanted to go to Anastasia’s party or at least help her beg Ashton to have one.  “Thanks,” I whispered.  “But Ima go.”

He kissed my forehead then stood me up and pulled my panties back up.  He went to get my pj pants but I told him that he could just leave those there.  Then he carried me to my room and placed me down gently on my stomach and tucked me in.  I felt like I was four again, but at least I felt okay, and I knew that my brother loved me and I was forgiven for fighting.  And that was comforting to sleep on even if my bottom wasn’t.

The next morning I got up, still aching in my rear end area, but not so much in my legs.  I managed to dress myself, for once thankful that I was wearing a skirt instead of pants because pants would be really painful against my sore bottom.  I drove uncomfortably to school and got there early, the third time all year.  Anastasia instantly greeted me.

“I was hoping you’d get here early today,” she said.  “Did everything go okay with Terrence last night?  He looked pretty pissed.”

“Yeah, everything went okay, I guess.”

“Did he.. um... well.. you know..”

I smiled, knowing myself how hard it was to say that word.  “Yeah, he did, and it hurts like hell!  Did you talk Ashton into the party?”

She grinned.  “Sure did!  But I had to promise him no drinking or smoking which sucks, but that’s okay.  Not like I do bad stuff like that anyway.”

I giggled a bit.  “What’s the talk of the school about last night?” 

“You’re the hero!  Everyone totally saw you stick up for me and they also saw those two goals you made.  They think you’re super brave.”

I smiled.  There came that swelled head again.  “Well, at least everything’s okay.”

She nodded.

Maybe school wouldn’t be so bad after all.