had

helped

somewhat.

After he left, we kept conditioning until my legs were falling off and my stomach was completely empty of all the cake and shots I'd consumed the day before. Still, as I was walking off the field, I contemplated how sad I felt about not getting the chance to talk to him before he left. Even a simple “bye” would have felt good.

What the hell kind of spell did he put me under last night? Snap. Out. Of. It.

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"Rough first day, Bryant?" Coach Davis asked as I made my way out of the locker room.

"I swear I'm in good shape. It was my birthday last night and I wasn't expecting to go this hard on the first day."

Coach Davis nodded and clapped me on the back. "Make sure you’re more prepared for tomorrow.”

"I will, Coach."

Becca and Emily followed me into the ice baths and we relaxed in our sports bras and shorts until I felt completely numb.

"This feels painfully awesome," Becca noted, "but that practice was much more intense than I was expecting."

"I know!" I complained.

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"Do you think the vets might have been lying about practice?" Emily mentioned in a hushed tone, as if she was scared they'd overhear us. Most everyone had already gone home or had found another ice bath in the building to heal their aching muscles.

"That would be so bitchy. I think I threw up like three times," Becca groaned.

My stomach rolled in response to her admission. "No more vomit talk. Sheesh...

Becca, where are you from?" I asked.

"Dallas, Texas. Born and raised, y'all,"

she said with an over-the-top wink, and all of a sudden I could totally see the Texan in her.

"Oh my god, did you compete in pageants? You have the pageant thing going for you with the freckles and blonde hair."

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"Hell no! You've known me for like forty-eight hours and you think I would compete in pageants?"

I recalled the drunken dancing and the inappropriate jokes. "Ah, yeah. I take that back. You'd probably be more likely to sabotage a pageant than compete in one."

She laughed and propped her arms back on the edge of the tub. We could only stay in for a few more minutes before the effects of the ice started to be counterproductive.

"Were you prom queen at your school?"

Becca asked me. I snorted.

"I didn't go to prom."

Her and Emily both gasped as if I’d just told them that I was actually a man.

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"Oh, jeez. Don't go there. My mom was just as devastated as you're both pretending to be."

"But, didn't someone ask you?"

I thought back to how Josh and I had skipped out on prom to watch a recorded European football match with a group of friends instead. I didn’t even know who’d ended up winning prom queen.

"Josh and I were dating and we both wanted to skip the whole charade.”

"Everyone went to prom at my school. I was prom queen," Emily smiled, and her eyes glazed over as if recalling a sweet memory.

"You lost your virginity that night, didn't you?" I smiled.

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When Emily started blushing, Becca and I both cracked up.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about! It's just so sweet," I assured her.

Emily glanced down at the surface of the ice. "It was with my long-term boyfriend and we're still together... when did you lose your virginity, Ms. Los Angeles?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I laughed, splashing water on her.

"You wear a grungy friendship bracelet next to an uber-expensive Cartier bracelet.

You couldn't be more LA if you tried.”

"Damn," I laughed. "I should give you more credit, Emily.” The three of us were each from opposite ends of the country and had wildly different upbringings. In any other setting we might never have been friends, 87/890

but as rookies on a team, we were all the other had. Hell, we'd just watched each other barf. If that doesn't form a quick bond I don't know what does.

"Well now you both know how I lost my virginity. Spill," Emily demanded, bringing the topic back to where it was a few minutes earlier.

I didn't think about Trey often. He was my boyfriend during junior year, and while I don't know who won prom queen, I do know that he won prom king. He was the king of my high school in every sense of the word.

When we had sex for the first time, I thought I was in love with him, but it was awkward and over before I'd even felt anything but pain. We did it a few more times, each just as awkward as the first. It was only a few weeks 88/890

later that I’d found out he’d been cheating on me with a girl from another school.

I tried to tell them the story as best as I could without bringing the mood down or playing the victim card. Just because I’d been cheated on twice didn’t mean I’d spend my life exclaiming, “Woe is ME!”

"What? Are you kidding me? Was Josh any better?" Becca asked.

“He was… okay? I think? It looked like he was giving the bimbo a good time." I guess there was no point in being coy at this point.

"What about you?" Emily asked, turning toward Becca. I smiled thinking how good her story would be in comparison.

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Becca coughed and glanced toward her arm still resting on the side of the tub. "Oh, well, I've never had sex."

"What?!" Emily and I both exclaimed. I would have bet my life that she was the most experienced out of all of us. I mean, she was gorgeous and funny and what else is there to do in Texas other than fool around? Isn’t everyone just banging on barrels of hay?

"It’s not a big deal. I was kind of a loser in high school. Soccer wasn't a cool sport at my school and I had braces until the eleventh grade."

"Ouch," I noted. "Well, Becca, you're freaking gorgeous and who cares when you have sex for the first time. Mine sucked anyway, right?”

90/890

She nodded, and I knew the discussion was over for the time being.

“Let's get out of here!" I hopped up and out of the ice bath, but when I stepped down, my foot didn't hold my weight and I collapsed onto the concrete.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?" Emily asked.

At least she was worried about me.

Becca was laughing hysterically, just as I would have been.

"Guys, I can't feel my limbs. We stayed in too long!" I exclaimed, lying on the cold concrete floor.

We didn't stop laughing until our legs thawed out.

"Want to shower and then go grab lunch?" I asked the girls as we walked up to 91/890

the front door of the rookie house. Just before we went inside, Emily noticed a little package sitting at the foot of the porch.

"This has your name on it, Kinsley!"

I narrowed my eyes on the box. It was so small that I’d completely walked past it.

"Oh, I bet it was part of my mom's package from earlier," I said as she handed it over. "All of her gifts have multiple parts."

Becca pulled open the front door before yelling, "Last one to shower buys lunch!"

"Ah!" I shoved past her and ran for the stairs, only to have her take my legs out from under me midway to the top. My knees banged against the carpet as I fell forward and loose carpet fibers found their way into my mouth. Blech. Why did it seem like I 92/890

would leave this house with way more bruises and scars than I’d brought with me?

"It's not fair! You're a defender! You'll win every time!" I shouted as Becca crested the top of the stairs.

She just laughed and headed to her room. Quiet Emily trekked casually up the stairs after us, clearly uninterested in the competition.