Chapter 75

October 18, 2017

Dear Ms. Diary,

[Written October 19]

I woke to the jarring alarm at 6:20. I grunted as I slapped it off, then turned to Rhee. I spent a half-minute getting her awake and up, then headed to our guest’s room. As I was walking in the door, the alarm there went off. Since I was already there and it was faster, I headed to the bathroom via Gracey’s and Liya’s room. I noticed a pair of panties on the floor that were certainly too large for Heather, but I was distracted by Heather’s morning greeting. I looked at her and noted an odd expression on her face, one I did not recognize.

As Shameka opened her eyes and looked at me, I said, “We’re going to shower. You’re both welcome to join us.”

“Join them,” Shameka asked in confusion.

“Sure,” Heather replied. “We’ve got the world’s best shower here. Yesterday, you chose to shower downstairs. Today, you can shower in our shower. Come on.”

I turned before I had to see Shameka respond to seeing her undies on the floor, joining Rhee, who already had the shower heads going.

“We’ll have company, but I don’t see any cause to change our shower MO.”

Rhee looked at me a bit funny but shrugged; we started on the process with me. Heather and Shameka entered the shower at the end of our washing me to switching to washing Rhee.

“That’s ... interesting,” said Shameka.

“Yeah,” Heather replied, “when we have the requisite even number, we do two-girl washing teams. One girl washes her own front while the other washes her back. Once the first is washed, the two turnabout and trade roles. We usually don’t do our hair in the morning, particularly Rhee’s, as it takes forever to dry. It doesn’t save all that much time, but it’s fun and something of a bonding element for us as friends. Come on. We’ll start with you. I’ll wash your back, although I may have to jump to get your shoulders. Once you’ve washed your front, we’ll turn around. Is that okay?”

I risked a glance at Shameka. She was silent and just looking at Heather. She surprised me by suddenly turning her head my way and caught my eyes. I turned my head, but realized that she’d caught me, so turned back. She shook her head and closed her eyes in something like pain.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”

I was about to reply, but Heather interrupted, saying, “She was in pain and couldn’t get to sleep. I was more than willing, and it eased her into slumber.”

I could see Rhee looking at me with furrowed brow; she didn’t know the discussion topic. I looked back at Shameka, then Heather.

“It’s not a problem. I was going to suggest you, Heather, but Shameka asked you before I could make the suggestion. You’re the best of us.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Rhee’s confusion clear, but then a parade of expressions crossed her face; I recognized a couple. I could also see relief in Heather’s expression.

Shameka turned to Heather and was about to ask something, probably looking to find out what we were discussing. However, she turned her head back around to me, then Rhee. I could see a slight smile on Rhee’s face.

Rhee quietly said, “Lucky Heather.”

I let myself smile a bit for the first time in this conversation and replied, “Ain’t that the truth!”

Heather lunged to me, wrapping me in her arms, then saying, “We need to talk about it. Not the details, but ... about ... it in relation to us.”

I nodded. Rhee joined the hug.

“Ohh,” Shameka grunted, then said, “Ohh-hhnn. I really didn’t realize. All of you?”

Rhee nodded at Shameka.

She inhaled deeply, then gritted her teeth before saying, “I should give up a secret in exchange for yours. I...”

I held up my hand and shook my head.

“No. Can you stay here tomorrow night? Dad ... and the Moms want to talk to you about options for you and your dad. He is planning to ask you to come here after practice tomorrow, but they could do that as easily tonight if you’re willing. If you stay tonight, we can do whatever horse-trading you feel necessary then. However, we don’t need a secret from you in exchange, as long as we have your word that you won’t share ours with anyone.”

“You have it, and, yes, as you might have discerned, I am now my own keeper. I can stay here tonight. I’m going to have to catch up on homework at some point, as I got damn all done yesterday. I’ve got a study hall; I’ll try to do most of it there.” She turned to Heather and stated, “I might need help from you on Calc, if you’re willing.”

“I’ll help with whatever I can, Shameka. I ... We’re all your friends. We’ll help you in most anyway we can.”

“Thanks. And thanks for your help last night. I might have gotten little sleep without it. You ... That was damned good.” She turned back to Rhee and me and asked, “And you consider Heather lucky because of last night?”

“Absolutely,” Rhee said with conviction.

“I’m flattered.”

We were dressed and at the table by 6:52. The adults had created a smorgasbord of a breakfast, with French toast and pancakes, sausages and bacon, hashed browns and toast. Two syrups and two juices were options.

Shameka asked, “What’s this one?”

“Boysenberry,” Dad replied.

“Oh. I love that. That was...”

She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth.

“I’m sorry. Little things like that hit me all the time. Boysenberry was my mom’s favorite syrup. I’ve avoided most situations like this for years, except for Katie’s family, although I...” She grimaced, then said, “Being with ... loving families brings back memories, memories that remind me of what else I’m losing.”

She sniffled, then wiped her left eye.

“Shameka,” Carol said quietly, “we don’t want to be the cause of any pain, but you really need to keep those memories. To keep them, you need to bring them up every so often. Yours was obviously a loving family. Those are somewhat rare these days and you should endeavor to retain as many memories as you can from a happier time. Other than those of Rhee and my early childhood, I don’t have a lot of wonderful family memories. However, I’ve been creating many since Rhee and I joined this family. We now consider you family. You’re welcome here at any time. We enjoy having you here. Perhaps, you can create some wonderful memories with us that are not etched with the pain of remembrance, although, again, I strongly suggest you retain as many memories of your family as you can. I know that it’s painful for you now, but I also know that you will appreciate it later in life. We can help you be strong when you need to be strong, but you don’t have to be strong at all times.”

“She’s right, Shameka,” said Sandy. “Even though they cause pain now, if you keep them, you will be happy for that fact in the future. I lost one of only two good friends that I had in high school. For quite a while after she and her family returned to India, the memories of her were painful due to the loss I felt. Now, they bring me pleasure as I revel in the good times we had, the experiences we shared.”

“Thanks, Carol, Sandy. I will keep your advice in mind. They’re painful, though.”

“We know, Dear. We know. As Carol said, you’re welcome here any time. If it gets to be too much, just show up on our doorstep. We’ll try to help you make new pleasant memories.”

Shameka looked at Sandy, trying to get out a response, but the memories got to her. She bent her head and sobbed. Again, Heather and I reached out to comfort her, putting an arm each around her, Heather putting her head next to Shameka’s, rubbing her cheek on Shameka’s. She cried for only a minute, marshaling control of her emotions quickly. She sat up and poured boysenberry syrup on her French toast and pancakes and dug in. Conversation around the table restarted, mostly by the Moms. I could see Dad keeping a weather eye on Shameka as he finished his breakfast.

When Shameka finished, she picked up her plate and glass and stood.

“Don’t worry about that, Shameka. I don’t have to be at work until 9:30. I’ve got it. You girls need to get going.”

Shameka looked at Carol, then said, “Thanks. Thanks also, you wonderful folks, for making such a great breakfast for me, for us. Beth has invited me to stay here tonight, so I will be. Beth said that you wanted to talk with me. I’ll be available after we get back from the game.”

Carol asked her, “What do you like on pizza?”

“I really like black olives and mushrooms, but I’m not really picky, as long as it’s not bell peppers. I do like jalapeños, though.”

“Okay. We figured on ordering pizza making it easier for all of us tonight. You should be back by 7, right?”

“Yes, and that late only if we go to OT, which I doubt will happen.”

We all got the nickel tour of Shameka’s house, being in and out in less than 10 minutes, Shameka locking the door behind us, a large gym bag over her shoulder.

The result of lunchtime, and of Liya and Heather running down Coach in the gym, was Liya introducing Brett to Coach and him becoming a third assistant.

“Gather ‘round!”

We gathered around Coach in the locker room, most, but not all, fully uniformed.

“Before I get into the reminder about the game plan, I have an announcement. Starting today, we will have a fourth assistant. His name is Brett Jacobs and he’ll be joining us in here shortly. Those of you that aren’t fully dressed, please complete that process ... now.”

The few girls that were lacking uniform shorts donned those items with alacrity ... except for Shameka, who turned to me and smiled. However, she did finish pulling her shorts on before Coach continued.

“Liya, please have Brett come in.” When he was standing next to Coach, his face quite red, she said, “Again, this is Brett Jacobs. His primary tasks, at first, will be to support you girls during practice and games. He’ll be in charge of fluids, towels, and other such amenities. He is a friend of Beth’s gang and is congenial enough, although he seems to have ... a bit of difficulty in dealing with ... well, girls. We’re going to help him with that problem, while he takes some of the tasks off Liya’s plate. He says that he’s able and willing to travel with the team, so get used to seeing him every day. I suggest that on home game days like this, all of you expedite getting into your shorts more quickly than, say, Shameka.”

There was much snickering.

“We did not have enough time to get the job done today, but he’ll have an ID badge like Liya’s, Civia’s, and Crewe’s before practice tomorrow. He’ll be learning the ropes today, under Liya’s tutelage. Please do not interfere with that and, where appropriate, help Liya. If there are other duties that he might take on, please let me know.”

“How ‘bout towel boy here in the locker room?”

There was some tittering and much chuckling, and Brett’s face, which had faded to near normal, became red again.

“I’m sure that the school administration would just love that. I think not.” She gave Shameka the hairy eyeball, then said, “Since it will be yet a while before Springfield gets here, please introduce yourselves ... here and now ... in an orderly fashion. He’ll be taking notes so that he can learn your names and... [she glanced at Shameka, again with a hairy eyeball] your positions. Liya, Civia, and I will be gradually teaching him more of the things that assistants do and will do for the team. My primary interest in his helping us is to enable us to record our own stats on possession and various other aspects of actual game play.”

We went through the process of the 25 of us introducing themselves to him, then headed out to the field for warmups and pre-game drills.

Shameka sidled up to me and said, “I didn’t anticipate this thing with Brett. I assume, given what Coach told us, that Liya was the primary instigator.” When I nodded at her, she responded, “She seems to have it bad for him.”

“I wouldn’t put it quite that way. Yes, she’s interested in him, but I think most of this is due to her plate being too full relative to the team’s needs and her interest in helping him learn how to ... co-exist with the opposite sex.”

When she looked at me, I just shrugged. Heather took that chance to insert herself into the conversation.

“Liya and I made up a form, of sort, in his notebook for him. We filled in all the names and positions. He’ll be filling in uniform numbers and whatever attributes he notes that will help him put names with girls.” She looked up at Shameka with a grin and stated, “I’m guessing that he’s having to be ... more circumspect about those attributes than he might have if there’d been no chance for any of the girls to see what he writes.”

The three of us chuckled.

Shameka smoothed her mien and offered, “He really does seem like a nice guy. Look at him. He’s writing down stuff, but he never looks lower than the girl’s face and that despite that he’s meeting Hope now, and boys can only rarely not stare at her chest.”

“Yeah,” Heather replied. “She’s only slightly smaller than Rhee. I don’t recall him ever talking to Rhee’s tits, either. He is a nice guy. That cousin of his taught him well.”

“Cousin?”

“He’s got what he calls a pretty girl cousin that spent a lot of time with his family this summer. She took it upon herself to get him more comfortable with dealing with girls and also teaching him what not to do when meeting girls or interacting with them. I can see it being easy for him not to talk to my little titties, and he never has, but Rhee? Virtually every other boy in our grade that has ostensibly talked to her has talked to her tits. I’d like to meet that cousin and give her a... [she looked around quickly] kiss. It’s too bad more boys don’t have cousins like that.”

We were up over Springfield 3-1 at the half, Rhee getting two goals, Jess the other. Shameka had been her usual monster self, perhaps more so, and the D had been nearly brilliant. Hope had even saved a PK.

We started the second half with Rhee, Heather, and Jess on the bench, being replaced, respectively, by Makayla, Jimena, and Lucia. Springfield had the second-half kickoff, from which they motored upfield with unfortunate ease, helped by bringing their entire midfield and half their back line. I had drifted downfield to help with defense. Although Springfield must have run a couple minutes off the clock, the tight coverage by Shameka’s line, Katie, and Gracey kept them from getting even a shot.

I was marking the center back of theirs that had come forward (the other was playing safety) and was watching Katie well downfield of me delaying their center half with the ball. Their right back was wide of their right half, who Gracey was marking. I saw Gracey note it when that right back initiated a run that looked like she would split between their center forward and right wing. She glanced back at the center half, then sloughed off their right half as their center half began the motions for what looked like a pass to the right back trying to split our defense. Gracey gauged it perfectly, intercepting the pass with her right foot nearly at waist level, the ball dropping at her feet, where she controlled it.

I heard Shameka yell, “Katie! Go,” at the top of her lungs, then saw Shameka leave the center forward she had been marking and begin sprinting upfield. I immediately saw the huge gap up the middle of the field that Shameka must have seen, so moved to the spot on the other side of the center back that I’d been marking, the defender and location that looked like it might be the second bottleneck that Shameka, Katie and, possibly, Gracey would encounter. Katie did not hesitate. She moved upfield to the vicinity of the right half that Gracey had left to intercept the pass. Gracey sent the ball on the ground to Katie who one-touched it on the ground to her right, then headed upfield slightly and curled around their center half. Gracey bolted upfield on the other side of their right half.

“Perfect,” I thought.

Shameka ran onto the ball that Katie had laid out for her, tapped it forward twice at her top speed, then booted it on the ground to Katie to our right of their center half. Katie completed the give-and-go by one-touching the ball behind their center half. Shameka again ran onto the ball, tapped it once ahead of her, then sent it ahead and left to me but continued her full-tilt sprint upfield, Katie trailing and angling a bit left.

I could feel the center back that I had been marking now coming toward me, so I copied Jess’s sweet maneuver for her assist to Shameka against Boynton last week, tipping the ball up into the air in front of me with my right foot, then kicking it with my left over my head and the center back’s head with my left foot to hopefully drop the ball in front of Gracey who seemed to be running faster than I had ever seen her run. As soon as the ball left my left foot, I wheeled around the center back and bolted upfield, Gracey with the ball upfield of me and to my left and Shameka hauling ass upfield ahead of me and to my right. Once we had completed the two three-person gives-and-go around the center half and the center back that were, I suppose, trying to catch up to us, there were only two defenders between us and the goalie: their other center back and the left back.

Gracey got to within ten yards of the penalty box with the ball in control when she initiated the most elegant, three-person, double give-and-go I have seen to date in a game in which I was playing. It was enabled by the strong offensive press that Springfield had made and the sudden and blazingly fast counterattack that Gracey had initiated. The center back had left Makayla, who had cleared out to field left, and come forward to challenge Gracey, while the left back had stayed behind to mark Jimena, who was now just outside the penalty box about on the longitude of the right post. While I was hauling to catch up to the play, I could see the shape of it and that I would probably not be needed but continued racing upfield just in case.

As she approached their center back, Gracey sent the ball briskly on the ground ahead and to her right to lead Shameka and then sprinted past the right side of that center back. Shameka, while pointing ahead of her, one-touched the ball ahead and to her right to Jimena, who wheeled around the left side of the left back, then laid the ball out ahead and to her left for the charging Shameka. Shameka ran onto the ball between the penalty-box line and the penalty stripe and smashed a right-foot rocket that crossed the goal line about waist high and about a yard inside the right post and which billowed out the back of the net with a loud, ringing “whackkk.”

In the scrum around Shameka, she grabbed Gracey and hugged her tightly.

“You read that pass perfectly. I was just about to tell you to cut that pass off, but you were already in the process. That was a helluva read!”

That spectacularly lovely goal highlighted a second half in which we completely dominated a reasonably good team with a good front line. Shameka would go on to add a goal off a corner-kick set play, and a penalty-kick goal, all in the first 20 minutes. Unfortunately, the PK was awarded because one of their center backs had, while trying to clear the ball out of the box, missed the ball and kicked Makayla hard just above her left knee. Makayla had to come out of the game, which was unfortunate, as she had scored two goals after Shameka’s second goal.

“Gather ‘round!” When that didn’t work as well as she wanted, Coach yelled, “Settle!”

“Better. There are many attagirls to give out. First, congratulations on a convincing win over a good team. A large part of that win, as per usual for this team, is due to the amazing defense of Hope, Shameka, Rachel, Kim, Katie, and Gracey. Springfield’s front line is quite good, but hampered by a less-than-stellar midfield. That line got a goal against our best, pointing out its quality.

“Thanks to the starters getting us a lead by the half and to most of the starters extending that quickly in the first 20 minutes of the second half, we were able to get most of the backups in the game. I was pleased with the showing made by the backup back line. You did quite well against a good front line and get the first attagirls.

“This win was due more to our defense than usual, as our defense scored more goals than they gave up. That defense, with some minor help from a couple of our attackers, scored the highlight goal of the season to this point, and I want to spend some time on it.

“The first of many attagirls earned by that play goes to Gracey for sussing their intentions when their right back started on a run to split our defense. She left the halfback she was marking and put herself on the path of that pass, controlling it quickly. While Gracey’s interception was certainly critical for that goal, it was not actually the most critical aspect. Hands, what was?”

Quite a few hands went up, including Gracey’s; Coach called on her.

“Shameka’s recognition of the possibilities.”

“Explain that.”

“I had only barely gotten the ball under control when Shameka yelled for Katie to take off. She obviously saw the huge space between me and the two fullbacks laying back on their side, with only two defenders between us that might cause problems. Once I looked up, I could see that we had three players in that space and, with Shameka immediately taking off upfield, it became four. All the rest of their team was either behind us or off to the sides with little chance to impact the play.”

“In one! Shameka, please run us through the rest of it.”

“First, I want to thank Gracey for recognizing the pass that their center half was about to make and which she intercepted. I disagree, somewhat, that it wasn’t the most critical aspect of that play, as without it, we don’t have the ball. However, I understand your point, Coach.

“Once I saw that Gracey had corralled the ball, I sent Katie on her way and got myself going. I also saw Beth recognize the possibility.

“Gracey, Katie, and I worked the ball among us to blow past their center half and then Beth, who obviously went to school on Jess’s pretty assist last week, did the same to complete that second give-and-go to beat that center back. At that point, the goal was almost a sure thing. We were behind all of their D other than two fullbacks and the goalie, and we had somewhere between four and six attackers, inclusive, that could be involved. We had also counterattacked so abruptly, and we had moved so quickly as to eliminate any chance of other defenders being able to have an impact. At the end, the precise mechanics of how we got the ball in the net were not at all critical. However, if it were me, I’d give an attagirl to Jimena for her part in the final give-and-go.”

“Indeed! That was on my list. Attagirls go to six players for that play. To Gracey for the interception, for her quick recognition of what Shameka saw, for her scorching path upfield at a speed I’ve never seen her reach before, and for her parts in the various gives-and-go. To Katie for responding immediately to Shameka’s direction, trusting in her teammate and abandoning defense to go on offense and for her parts in the various gives-and-go. To Beth for her immediate recognition of where the defenders running this play needed her to be and the pretty way in which she effected the give-and-go in which she took part. To Makayla for clearing out, giving our offensive defenders more room for maneuver. Finally, to Jimena for recognizing that they might need her to work around the defender that was marking her and for her pretty way in which she effected the give-and-go in which she took part, a give-and-go that notched her her first assist for this team.

“Of course, Shameka gets multiple attagirls for that one, the first simply for her recognition of the possibility, the second to get those around her to see that possibility, and the third for the two rockets involved in that play.”

There was silence until, finally, someone said – not quietly enough, “two rockets?”

“Thank you, Nicole, for voicing that so that I can come back with, ‘Yes, two. The one attached to her foot was obvious. Perhaps the one you missed was the one attached to her butt.’