(35) Bruises

Game day.

The most annoyingly nerve racking and simultaneously thrilling day of the week. Or sometimes days. This week they happened to have two scheduled games - one on Tuesday (today) and one on Thursday.

But no one was worried about the Thursday game. A natural expected win by all means.

However, Makennah learned that the Tuesday game against the Greenville Lady Lions was the biggest most important game of the season. For ten consecutive years, the Lions beat the Wolverines and normally went all the way to the championship game.

Until last year. When the Wolverines took home a win and killed the decade long streak of losses.

Because of their previous win in 2017, a lot of pressure rested on their shoulders to beat the Lions.

Makennah also learned that the Wolverines hated the Lions just about as much as the Lions loathed the Wolverines.

Unfortunately, Makennah was there to add some more unadulterated madness to the mix.

"Bring it in, ladies!" The soccer captain yelled, holding out her arms to wrap in the circle. All of the girls interlinked arms and swayed back and forth in a circle as they chanted their song which they always did before every game. "Alright, big game. We can do  this! Any parting words?" The captain asked.

Makennah hesitatingly cleared her throat. "Um..."

"Spit it out, Thomas," Bree snickered, elbowing her in the side.

"I know they hate you guys but they hate me more! Okay let's go!" She darted away from the group but was snatched back by a hand in her jersey collar.

"Explain, Thomas," Bree muttered. The rest of the team stared at her with expectant eyes.

"One of the girls on their team is my ex boyfriend's new girlfriend. She hates me. And they all hate me too." Maisie Green. The spawn of Satan. A true match for her ex boyfriend.

The worst thing was that she looked like an angel. Golden hair, blue eyes, straight white teeth and perfectly plump pink lips. Annoyingly, her body perfectly matched her beautiful porcelain face with amazing proportions and full curves that weren't too sumptuous.

If only the black crusty soul underneath was able to be seen from the outside.

The captain clapped her hands once and everyone stopped staring at Makennah.

"Alright if they all hate you, then we hate all of them. We stand together as a team! Let's go!" The captain threw her hand in the center and everyone else followed suit. "Go Wolverines!"

The broke apart and jogged to their respective positions. Finally, Makennah was starting as a mid instead of being subbed in later.

Makennah liked to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope they wouldn't play dirty.

The game started.

Her hopes were crushed.

By the end of the first half, Makennah was bopped in the mouth twice, elbowed in the ribs five times, kicked in the chins, and shoved out of the way. Her ponytail was askew on her head from all of the tugs and running.

Worst of all, Makennah was distracted because she spotted Theo in the crowd along with every single Sinclair.

The score was tied, and her intestines kind of felt the same way.

At the start of the second half, Coach Hanes put Makennah in as a mid and yelled at her to make some shots. She took that literally and prepared herself to kick the intensity up to ten.

"You good?" Rebecca asked Makennah. She nodded her head in response and took her place in the middle of their side of the field. Coach told them to run a boomerang and that meant it was in her hands to score as they worked through the play to try to kick a goal.

Thus far, Makennah successfully avoided running into Maisie Green. However, now, Maisie was subbed in as a mid. They'd be playing the entire field together.

The captain started the play and dribbled up field. Makennah followed at a close distance, about five yards away.

Without any warning, Maisie ran up field and barreled straight into Makennah before she dodged left and headed for the ball. Makennah shouldered into her and shot her a look. That was entirely unwarranted but the ref wasn't even paying attention. Makennah vowed to keep a look out for Maisie in the future.

The captain powered the ball into the goal, Bree kicked it back out, Makennah caught it, let it roll down her body, and nudged the ball into the net with the outside of her foot. Nothing but net. A boomerang. In and out and back in.

The crowd cheered raucously. Makennah high-fived her friends while jogging back up the field.

"Slut." Cough cough.

Bree wrapped her arm around Makennah's shoulders and dragged her up the field. "Ignore them."

Maisie snickered with her teammates.

"We'll get them," The captain said.

Makennah nodded and bumped her knuckles with her own. She took her stance and bent over, hands on her knees. Maisie may think she is so smart, so cool, so sly. She hadn't seen anything yet.

The most ridiculous thing of all is she really wasn't a slut...not at all. Name calling was child's play. Especially incorrect name calling.

The ref blew the whistle for the next play to start. Makennah took her position and pushed evil thoughts about Maisie out of her mind. She didn't need to think mean things to play mean. That was all natural.

When Maisie came from the middle of her side of the field, Makennah made it her personal mission to block and attack her. Maisie started a war that Makennah was going to finish.

"Go, Makennah!" Her family cheered from the sidelines even though she wasn't doing anything particularly cheer-worthy. She still had so much to teach them about soccer. They were pretty new to the sport.

Makennah blindsided Maisie with a jab in her ribs as she breezed past her. Maisie stuck out her foot to trip Makennah up. Only, Makennah anticipated that and kicked Maisie in the ankle instead. The ref didn't see a thing.

The Lions scored and evened up the points again. Makennah clenched her fist. She couldn't lose. Not to Maisie. She wouldn't let her team down.

"Alright, ladies! Let's pull it together!"

"Lady Wolverines!" They cheered and broke apart to their positions.

On the next play, Maisie pinched the back of Makennah's arm, kneed her in the hip, and stepped on her feet. By the end, near the goal post, Makennah threw her weight back into Maisie who shadowed behind her, accepted a pass, dribbled through the legs of a defensive player and shot into the goal.

Surprisingly, the goalie moved their body in front of it fast enough except the ball bounced off her chest. Makennah shot forward, swept her leg in the air, and led the ball straight back into the net for a completed goal.

Before her second foot touched the ground, Maisie barreled into her and Makennah toppled over.

Bree was standing above her before she could even blink. The cool grass felt great on her skin, but she otherwise seethed with anger. That was dirty. Especially after they completed the play and scored.

"I saw that. That was low," Rebecca offered Makennah a hand. Bree brushed dirt out of her hair and off of the back of her arm.

"Thanks. I know."

"You pissed?" Bree asked with a smirk. "Good, use it against them."

On the next play, Maisie sought out Makennah purposefully. She puppy dogged Makennah through the entire time before her teammate shot and scored. The Wolverines clapped and applauded their hardwork. They finally took the lead.

As the ref called everyone back for the next play, Maisie whispered in Makennah's ear, "Stay away from my boyfriend."

Makennah stopped dead in her tracks. She was so blindsided that she didn't say anything. Just rolled her eyes and kept moving. Sounded like Maisie needed to get a hold on her little boyfriend. She had her facts skewed.

The Lions corralled together and put their heads in a circle. They put their hands in, did a little cheer and broke up. It kind of looked like they were planning something. Makennah narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

For a second, she glanced to the sidelines. Her family waved and Theo clapped his hands, shouting her name and number and telling her she was doing great. Closing her eyes, Makennah bent over, hands on knees. This wasn't her first rodeo. No matter what Maisie and the Lions threw at her, she could handle it especially with her rockstar teammates.

She focused her energy on winning the game for the Wolverines and not winning to beat Maisie.

Each team kicked their intensity up. Neither of them could make a successful play off of one another. The Wolverines made some progress until the Lion's defense took control. They'd turn around and do it again. Then the Lions would make some headway and Makennah or another mid/defense player would block them out. It was constant running up and down the field tirelessly without getting anywhere.

"Score, dammit!" Coach Hanes yelled from the sidelines. The Lion's coach was yelling similar sentiments.

Someone rammed into Makennah's spine and shouldered her away. She tripped over the ball that was just passed to her and tumbled into another Lion's teammate. The ref blew the whistle and called fowl play.

On Makennah.

"What?" She yelled, throwing up her hands.

The ref gave her the eye like if she did that again, she'd be in huge trouble.

Okay she couldn't be that mad at the Lions because Makennah had certainly done that to other players before. But unfortunately she was that mad.

Because she was that mad, Makennah never let them get the ball in play. Cockily, she smirked and kicked the ball out of bounds. Again.

And again.

And again.

And forced them to kick it out of bounds. Again.

And again.

And again.

The ref haphazardly blew his whistle and motioned for the Lions to throw it in. Everyone was frustrated. Everyone was mad. But they couldn't score if they couldn't keep the ball in. Coach Hanes was a little frustrated with Makennah but she didn't care.

The Lions reacted by punching and pinching and Makennah as often as they could. Undoubtedly, in the morning her body would be covered in bruises.

"Okay this isn't funny. They're totally beating up on you," The captain said as they prepared for a corner kick at the Lion's goal. They were so close to scoring.

"You okay?" Bree patted Makennah on the back.

She shrugged off their hands and took her place close to Maisie. It was time for payback. "I'm fine."

The ref blew the whistle for Megan, another mid, to kick the ball. At the same time, someone yanked on Makennah's shorts. Makennah spun around to find the culprit. A flat palm busted Makennah in the nose, snapping her head back and drawing blood.

Megan kicked the ball and everyone scrambled.

Dazed and confused, Makennah touched her nose and focused her eyes on the person in front of her. Maisie.

She tasted blood in her mouth.

"Alright that's enough..." drawing her arm back, Makennah advanced on Maisie and had every intention of punching her square in the face.

"Hey hey hey!" Bree grabbed Makennah's arm. Another player held her back. Makennah slipped forward and grabbed Maisie's ponytail. Maisie slapped Makennah's hand away and made a move to hit her in the face again. Makennah dodged left and shoved Maisie away.

The ref blew the whistle repeatedly. Maisie started to back off.

"Oh what! You wanna start something but don't have the balls to finish it?!" She screamed. "I don't know what the hell your problem is but your issue isn't with me. Your boyfriend texted me not the other way  around. Did he tell you he begged for me back? Did he tell you how sorry he was to me for hurting me over and over and over again?! Don't come at me with your BS when I haven't done anything!" Makennah stood and Maisie's space and looked down at her. Maisie held her ground, breathing heavily from running. "What? Your mad I got away and you're stuck with him? You mad he hits you when he's angry? You're not special for sticking with him! You're not brave for putting up with it! You're a coward." Makennah spit blood on the ground. Blood oozed out of her nose down her lip. "You know why? Because I was just some girl from the hood that no one listened to. But you have the power as the little mayor's shining daughter to do something about him and you don't! You let him do what he wants and you never put your foot down! What...you embarrassed of the bruises?! Wait until he hits you in the face and you can't hide it. You're a coward because you can send him to jail and you don't! You're not special."

"Shut the hell up," Maisie said under her breath.

Makennah stepped closer, nose to nose. The ref stood beside them, waiting to blow the whistle and break them up. All of their teammates stood around them, having her back, ready to throw a punch or two.

"I may have upgraded but don't you forget...I may have left the hood, but the hood ain't left me. Just because I won't hit you, doesn't mean I can't."

"Maisie, lets go." One of her teammates tugged her away.

Makennah stood her ground on her turf on her field with her players. She would never back down.

"Makennah?" Bree said.

The ref blew the whistle again. "You're ejected from the game. Take a seat on the bench." He pointed to the sidelines.

Makennah wiped her face off on the back of her arm. "Are you kidding me?! She came for me first! She hit me! My nose is bleeding!"

"What the heck, man?!" All of her teammates rallied around her.

"Off the field. Unsportsmanlike conduct. We'll add yelling at a ref to your long list of mistakes tonight if you don't get off the field," he yelled, motioning for her to beat it.

Makennah scoffed at him. "I didn't do anything! I didn't even hit her!"

"Off the field, six!" He screamed in her face.

Makennah spit blood at his feet before turning on her heel and marching off the field. It took everything inside her not to rip off her jersey, throw it on the ground, quit the team, and beat the living crap out of Maisie.

"He ejected me!" Makennah yelled at Coach Hanes.

"Calm down," he said.

"She hit me! I'm bleeding!" She pointed to her face as if it wasn't obvious.

"Makennah...sit down. You need to calm down. I saw everything. I'm on your side. Sit. Down." He put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her onto the bench. "I'll go talk to the ref." Coach Hanes jogged onto the field once Makennah slumped onto the bench. She pinched the bridge of her nose and spit again. Her arm and hands were covered in blood. She didn't think Maisie hit her that hard but she was bleeding like she did.

Coach subbed Bree out and put Lindsey in. Bree instantly ran over to Makennah and offered her a towel. "That was freaking amazing! She was speechless."

Maisie didn't have the words because Makennah was right. Maisie was a coward. An abused coward. Nothing made Makennah more angry than to see someone with all of the power in their hands and then not do anything with it.

"Is what you said true? Is he...abusive?" Bree whispered as if it couldn't be true.

Makennah nodded, finding Maisie across the field being yelled at by the ref and Coach Hanes as well as her own coach. "Yeah...and she can fix it. She just won't." Bree tubbed her back sympathetically.

Across the field, Will, Carolynn, Matt, Nick, Josh, Jonah, and Theo looked at her with concerned expressions. Makennah lifted up her fingers in a wave to let them know she was okay. She wouldn't be surprised if she got yelled at again tonight and probably punished. Grounded. Or something like that. The Sinclair's were into that sort of stuff.

Theo smiled at her with a cocky grin. When no one was looking, he gave her a thumbs up. Makennah shook her head and laughed. No one had even seen the half of what Makennah was capable of.

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Makennah can't seem to keep away from the drama 🤗

Xoxo

W. Carolina