Buffy couldn’t sleep that night. Tomorrow, Ethan was going to announce who got what positions. She was so excited and worried, anxiety coursing through her veins. She knew that her spot wasn’t guaranteed. Forwards could sometimes be chosen as goalies or midfielders and Buffy hated to think that Ethan would do that to her. Hopefully, her little performance during try-outs had proved to him how well she could play.
And besides. She would never live it down if Drusilla made it and she didn’t.
She glanced over at the digital alarm clock that sat on the expensive bedside table and winced. It was two a.m. and she was still awake. She needed to get some sleep if she didn’t want to be tired during practice. She had to get up in three hours and still make it to school.
Buffy rolled over onto her back, arms folded behind her neck as she stared up at the ceiling blankly. There was no way in hell she could get a 90 average. Not with practice, the competition being so high. She couldn’t afford to work for something she didn’t even need for her soccer career. Her mother had always disapproved of her intense focus.
“You need to consider your options, Buffy. You’re a very bright girl and if soccer doesn’t work out, you need to have a fallback.”
It was clear to Buffy that Joyce didn’t believe in her. Joyce had always been a skeptic and trying to convince her that she would make it to the big leagues was none too easy. Luckily, Faith had reinforced her focus with encouraging pep talks about how her mother’s face would look when she did make it to the national leagues.
When Faith had been hired to coach Buffy, she had distanced herself from Joyce. For six years, they maintained a civilized relationship but nothing like the one that Faith and Buffy had. Some people often wondered if Faith was an older sister, or perhaps one of those young moms. Buffy hadn’t really noticed what effect this had had on Joyce. Joyce hadn’t seemed too fazed, too concerned with her gallery to worry about anything else. Buffy had resented Joyce’s hypocrisy. Joyce wanted her gallery to become global, like the Louvre. It was a damn near impossible feat, but Buffy had always had nothing but optimism set aside for her mother. So why did she feel so compelled to discourage Buffy? Buffy figured the only reason Joyce had allowed her to go on this trip was because she didn’t want to sever whatever relationship they had left. Not because she actually believed in Buffy. No one but Faith had genuinely believed in Buffy, not even Mallory. Mallory was too concerned with becoming a big-time coach to worry about her students. Buffy hated thinking bad thoughts about Mallory; she was such a sweet person but like everyone else, was focused on her own success before anyone else’s. Buffy couldn’t blame her. If she was faced with the decision to recommend Mallory as the Slayers’ coach or signing herself on, she had no doubt that making the choice would be hard.
But the choice itself wasn’t.
****
Buffy had finally drifted off to sleep when her blasted alarm clock rang out. She bolted upright in bed, surprised to hear it. Glancing over instinctively at Drusilla’s bed, she saw her form huddled underneath the layers of blankets. Raising an eyebrow, she wondered idly why Drusilla hadn’t reset the alarm again. Shrugging inwardly, she slowly pulled the covers off of her and lightly jumped out of bed. She groaned softly as the blood in her arm rushed back with a force, causing pins and needles. She tried to shake it off and rolled her eyes.
Two hours of sleep. What a great morning, Buffy thought sarcastically.
She entered the bathroom and closed the door with a resounding click. She turned on the faucet and quickly brushed her teeth. Pulling her hair into a messy but chic ponytail, she reached for her uniform and dressed. It was 4:45. She had to leave soon or she was going to be late. Quickly lacing her Adidas cleats, she grabbed her gym back and backpack and glanced back at the bed where Drusilla snored in blissful ignorance to the concept of time.
Furrowing her brow, she contemplated waking Drusilla or getting a little revenge for what she had pulled on her yesterday morning. Buffy pursed her lips, hating herself as she walked briskly to the bed and whacked Drusilla’s hidden form.
This elicited a loud groan and a flop of the covers as Drusilla’s head peeked out, peering up at Buffy with dazed eyes. “What do you want?” she asked sleepily.
Buffy rolled her eyes. “You have ten minutes before practice starts. Good luck making it in time.” Winking, she gave the shocked and comically wide eyed Drusilla the finger as she paraded out of the room with a wide grin on her face.
****
Buffy willed her body to do one more push-up to complete all forty five reps. But her body was too exhausted from such little sleep, protesting with every attempt she made to lift her body into the air. Groaning, she allowed herself to rest for a few seconds, face down on the grassy ground of the Arena.
“Did someone wear you out last night, pet?”
Taking a deep breath, she willed herself not to jump up and strangle the throat of the most infuriating man alive. Rolling over onto her back and folding her arms behind her neck, she stared up at him with a cheeky grin.
“I wore myself out, if you catch my drift.” With a sly wink, she set out to do some crunches.
She didn’t miss the shocked, wide eyed expression on his face and giggled inwardly. That showed him!
She could hear him plop down next to her as they did their push-ups together in awkward silence. After her witty comeback, neither was quite sure what to say.
“Have you ever read Lord of the Flies?”
The question was so out of the blue, so random that Buffy’s fast crunch pace faltered slightly as she was caught off guard. Huh? The guy reads? Seriously? He doesn’t spend all day getting off?
“Uh…yeah.” Smooth, Summers.
“Yeah I always wanted to know which character was favored the most.” His British accent had completely abandoned the rough edge and was now an elegant flow of old-fashioned speech. She liked it.
“Well,” she thoughtfully pondered the question, continuing her crunches in an easy manner. “I think Piggy.”
She could almost see the scarred eyebrow rise to his dark hairline. She wondered idly what he looked like with brown hair and shook the thought off. The bleached look had won her over since day one.
“Piggy?” The rough edge was back and he was scoffing at her.
“Yes,” she said defensively. “Did you have a problem with Piggy?”
Spike snorted. “Hell yeah. He was a rotten pushover who was too loyal for his own damn good.”
She couldn’t help the sardonic laugh that escaped her lips. “Well, that’s one way to sum him up.”
Spike chuckled. “Please. You honestly think that he would have survived in the real world with his innocence and complete trust in people?”
Buffy exhaled, the crunches finally wearing her down and she slowed her pace considerably. “Well no, not exactly,” she argued indignantly. “I’m just saying, he was honorable.”
Spike snorted again. “Yeah, honor really got him somewhere.”
“Honor will get you a lot of places,” Buffy said, her voice soft as she recalled the memory of her father who had left her mother for another woman. If he hadn’t escaped into the world for a bit of cheating and just talked it out like you were supposed to in marriages, she doubted the divorce would have even happened.
She could feel Spike’s probing eyes on her. “S’ppose, but not so much anymore. You need to have a ruthless want and ambition to get you anywhere.”
Buffy pondered this, wondering if Spike was really right. How far was she willing to go in this chase for the top?
Then Ethan’s voice rang out in the field. “Okay, time to announce positions!”
Buffy took a deep breath and with one last glance at Spike, she strode over to where Ethan stood.
Ethan went through the names slowly and meticulously, as he made sure everyone understood what they would be doing for the next eight months. Then came the moment of truth. Buffy listened as Spike and Drusilla were crowned forwards which left one position open.
“Buffy Summers,” Ethan glanced at his clipboard. “You will be playing…”
Buffy gasped in shock.
TBC
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Author's Chapter Notes:
1) Hugs and thanks to Christine for her awesome beta-ing! Love you! *smooches*
2) HUGE thanks to lindsay, PhotographyNut and Emma for reviewing! *muah*
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
2) HUGE thanks to lindsay, PhotographyNut and Emma for reviewing! *muah*
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter End Notes:
Please review guys! I'd really appreciate it! =) I'll update with chapter 7 around Friday/Saturday!