Is Home Really Where The Heart Is?, chapter 14
By the time everything was back to normal, well as close as it could get to 'normal' around here, the school day was for the most part, over. We still had our study halls though. I was stuck sitting next to Syd in Mrs. Kearns's room. How is it that no matter what happens...I'm stuck with Syd?! I was halfway done with my math homework when Mrs. Kearns came over to us.
"Hey are you two ready for field hockey practice today?" WHAT?! This has Syd written all over it!
"Excuse me, but did you say field hockey practice?" I asked, hoping she had made a mistake.
"Yep, you two did sign up right? I'm almost sure I saw your names on our list."
"Yes, yes we did actually, remember we signed up on Friday?" Syd was now talking to me.
"I never signed up for anything on Friday..."
"Oh yeah, I signed us up...Must have slipped my mind. Oops." Syd then started laughing at her own forgetfulness.
"Don't worry, we have plenty of extra gear. Well, I'll see you two at 3:00 right?" Mrs. Kearns asked the both of us.
"YES YOU WILL!" Syd shouted happily, disrupting most of the people in study hall.
"Perfect, see you girls then." And she walked away. Oh Syd...What are you trying to do, kill me?
"Syd!" I hissed. "Why didn't you tell me about this on Saturday?!"
"I thought I did, but obviously I didn't, oh well."
"Well at least I know how to play field hockey. What about you?"
"Wait! You know how to play?! I thought you were anti-sports or something?"
"Nope, you must have not noticed that the day I moved in that I was wearing a 'Chicks with Sticks' shirt on."
"Darn it! I must have missed it! Why didn't you tell me you could play field hockey?!"
"Why didn't you tell me you signed the both of us up?"
"I don't know..." That finally got her to shut up and think. For once.
The bell rang indicating our day was officially over (school wise), but now I had to go the field hockey practice. I gathered up all of my things and followed Syd, hoping she knew which way the field hockey field was. And to my surprise, she knew exactly where she was going. On the way to the field, I fished a quarter out of my jeans pocket and went over to a pay phone. I called my mom at work and told her I had been signed up for field hockey and that I now had practice everyday after school. (And that I was going to Billie Joe's after practice) After talking with her for a while, Syd and me continued to practice. We got down to the field and I saw other girls stretching and running and all that stuff that you do before you start working on what ever you work on for that day. I walked up to who I figured was the head coach to ask about clothes to change into. Another surprise hit me when the coach turned around and Mrs. Kearns met me. (Which would now probably be Coach Kearns considering the circumstances and all.)
"Carlie! You made it, and Sydney too! Good to have you on the team. There's a bag over by the goal that has some extra clothes for you girls. Oh and there's a port-o-john over at the other end of the field so you can get changed. I hope you don't mind, but you'll have to wear the uniforms for today."
"Umm...it's ok, and thanks. I'll go get Syd and we'll change. Not together of course 'cause that'd be just weird." She laughed at my remark and I went over to Syd who was rolling the balls around like they were bowling balls. I grabbed the duffel bag containing the uniforms and also grabbed Syd's wrist and took the both of them over to the port-o-john.
"Here Syd, this is one of the uniforms you got to change into. You go first 'cause I don't think your attention span will let you stay here while I'm getting changed. Now go." and I pushed her into the 'bathroom' and closed the door.
"EWW! THERE'S PEE ON THE WALLS! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CHANGE WITH PEE ON THE WALL?!" I heard her yell, muffled a little thank goodness.
"Zatknis! And change." I shouted back and hit the door.
"Ok, ok...what's 'zatknis' mean?"
"It's shut-up, now change!"
"OK!"
I now heard singing coming from her. Sounded like The Beatles...hold on, let me check. I put my head a little closer to the door, making sure not to inhale the nauseating fumes that are contained in a port-o-john.
"I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND!" Yep, she was singing the Beatles...oi.
The door flung open, almost forcefully colliding with my head, and Syd stepped out. I finally saw what their uniforms were like. They had yellow-ish checkered soccer shorts, a white tee shirt with a number on the back in green, #19 on hers, and green knee-high socks. I took the bag from Syd and stepped into the port-o-john, taking a deep breath of fresh air before I was engulfed in only god knows what. I got changed quickly and stepped out, holding my school clothes in my hand. I walked back to the opposite end of the field where everyone else was standing and dropped my clothes by my backpack. I looked around and noticed a lot of girls who looked like they'd rather be filing their nails than holding a field hockey stick, and others who looked like they could beat up a football player without one scratch to themselves. I'm not sure where I fit in here.
"Ok girls!" Coach Kearns yelled out with a big smile on her face. "I know many of you have been playing field hockey for a few years now, but you'll have to bear with us, we have a few new additions to our team this year. There's Carlie," she pointed to me. "Sydney," (pointing to Syd) "Kayla," pointing to a small skinny girl with light brown hair. "And Sarah." she pointed to a typical cheerleader type person. You know blonde hair, vibrant blue eyes and a stick figure body, just with more curves.
"I think we're going to have a good turn out this year game wise, and I hope you enjoy the season. Now let's get started. Senior girls!" she shouted to a group of four older girls, who turned around and headed towards her. "Girls I want you to help out Carlie, Sydney, Kayla, and Sarah for today. Just teach them some basic moves and the push passes and all of the stuff. Tomorrow you four can join some more with your own team. Now let's get started!" She's a very happy and peppy person...that annoys me.
I followed Kayla, Syd, and Sarah over to the senior girls. One of them stepped forward and introduced herself.
"Hey girls, my name is Samantha, but you can call me Sam if you want." She started. She was built tougher than the other 3 and had dark skin, as if she had been playing sports outside for her whole life. She also had medium brown hair that was neatly tied back into a ponytail. She continued talking.
"This is Ashley," (pointing to a tall, heavy-set girl with blonde hair.) "This is Stephanie" This girl looked Irish. She had long, red curly air and lots of freckles on her pale skin. "And this is Nicole." Whoa, she looks exactly like this kid Jeremy in my English class...I wonder if they're related. Oh yeah, she was dark-skinned, with brown curly hair.
"We're going to teach you a few basics to field hockey so that in a few days, you'll be just as good as everyone else!" Oh how little they know...Bwa, ha, ha, ha, ha! Umm...I'm done now.
After a while of working on random stuff like push passes and slap shots, we took a small break to get a drink. Stephanie came over to me while I was drinking my water and scared me because I didn't know she was behind me when I turned around.
"Hey, Carlie right?"
"Uhh...yeah..."
"Have you played this before? I mean, Coach said you were new, but you picked up amazingly fast on the moves."
"I played for two years when I lived in Pennsylvania."
"That could explain it," she said with a slight laugh. "Well, I think you definitely be a good addition to them team. Oh, and welcome to the Pinole Valley High Field Hockey team."
"Thanks." I said, but I don't think she heard me 'cause she was already walking away.
After about an hour, our practice was over. Syd and I got dressed back into our clothes that we wore to school and gave the uniforms back to Coach Kearns. We collected our bags and headed towards Billie Joe's house. I started thinking about what positions they'd even consider letting Syd play. After pondering this for a while couldn't help but to ask what she wanted to play.
"Syd, what position do you think you're gonna play?"
"I don't know. I was thinking something along the lines of being an amazingly amazing goalie."
"That'd probably be best for you. Cover up the klutz on cleats with extra padding, this way she won't cause any trouble."
"I'm not a-" She fell down before she could even finish the sentence.
"You were saying?" I asked with a smug smile on my face.
"Shut-up!" After I helped her up, we continued on our way. After awhile, Syd couldn't help but break the silence that was hanging between us.
"What about you? What position do you want to play? You should play midfield! How about midfield?!"
"Mne dolam pochki, as along as I can play the game." She stared at me with a confused look on her face.
"Oh yeah, it means 'I don't care'."
"Ok then. WAIT!" she stopped instantly.
"What?" I questioned backing up to her.
"You're going to play right defence. I don't care what you say. You're going to play right defense."
"And your reasoning for this is?"
"The other team always goes down the left side of the field, their right, and you have to do the whole diagonal thing, so you'd always be right next to me so I could talk to you!"
"Oh joy." She hit me when I said this, but I ignored it, seeing as we were at Billie Joe's house now.
I went up to the door and rang the doorbell. Billie Joe answered the door. although that'd be kind of obvious seeing as it is his house...well his parents house, where he lives with them and his siblings. My point is he lives there!
"Hey Carlie, hey Sydney. Come on in." he said and stepped to the side. We entered the house and walked over to the living room where Mike and Al were...and someone else; whom I'm guessing was Jason.
"Oh hey guys!" Mike said getting off the couch to come over to us. "You're late, how come?"
"Syd signed us up for field hockey, unfortunately for me, I was not aware of it until today. We have practice everyday after school." I stated blandly.
"They're letting you play sports after almost blowing up the whole school with a cake? I'm impressed." Billie Joe butts in.
"Why thank you!" Syd said then waltzed over to the couch. And she literally waltzed...I didn't even know she could dance let alone waltz.
"Oh yeah, Syd, Carlie, this is Jason Relva. He's one of my old friends from before I moved near Billie." Mike stepped aside and I saw Jason standing behind him. He was a little shorter than Mike, not as short as Billie though, and was very skinny. He had on baggier jeans and a black tee shirt that was just a tiny bit too big for him. He also had the coolest hair ever, in my opinion at least. It was for the most part curly and a light shade of brown, but not too close to blonde and reached just above his shoulders. His eyes were also cool, they were pure grey but very vibrant and almost colourful at the same time.
"Hey, I'm Jason obviously, Jason Relva."
"Hi, I'm Carlie Hope." we shook hands and he smiled at me. He's got braces, yet straight teeth...must be getting them off soon.
"I'm Syd!" Syd yelled and got really hyper all of a sudden. She ran over the Mike's bass and began playing random notes. Then Mike started yelling at her and took his bass back. That is of course after he got her down from the top of the random file cabinet in the room.
The rest of our evening went smoothly. I found out a lot about Jason. He was really shy at first, but after being around Syd and me for a while, he opened right up. Jason ended up being 16 I think, ya it was 16, so he was old as the rest of us...well, Mike and Billie Joe at least. My birthday is October 5th, so I still have a few weeks before I'm 16. That's when an idea hit me. It wasn't literally though, 'cause that's hurt. Anyway, I finally thought of a nickname for Billie Joe...it's not really much shorter, but who cares. Are you ready for this...here it is...Billie J! Oh yeah! How creative am I?! from now in, I shall call Billie Joe, Billie J. I'll ask him if he likes it.
"Billie Joe?"
"Huh?" He looked up from his guitar, which he had been tuning.
"Can I have a nickname for you?" I asked hopefully.
"Sure, but what is it?"
"Billie J."
"Sure, whatever."
"Did you just call him Billie J?" Jason came in from the bathroom.
"Yes, yes I did. He is no longer Billie Joe to me, now he is Billie J."
"Ok whatever." Jason shrugged his shoulders then went over to a reclining chair and sat in it.
I feel special now! I have a nickname for Billie J and Syd...Yay! Now for Mike...hmm...
"Hey are you two ready for field hockey practice today?" WHAT?! This has Syd written all over it!
"Excuse me, but did you say field hockey practice?" I asked, hoping she had made a mistake.
"Yep, you two did sign up right? I'm almost sure I saw your names on our list."
"Yes, yes we did actually, remember we signed up on Friday?" Syd was now talking to me.
"I never signed up for anything on Friday..."
"Oh yeah, I signed us up...Must have slipped my mind. Oops." Syd then started laughing at her own forgetfulness.
"Don't worry, we have plenty of extra gear. Well, I'll see you two at 3:00 right?" Mrs. Kearns asked the both of us.
"YES YOU WILL!" Syd shouted happily, disrupting most of the people in study hall.
"Perfect, see you girls then." And she walked away. Oh Syd...What are you trying to do, kill me?
"Syd!" I hissed. "Why didn't you tell me about this on Saturday?!"
"I thought I did, but obviously I didn't, oh well."
"Well at least I know how to play field hockey. What about you?"
"Wait! You know how to play?! I thought you were anti-sports or something?"
"Nope, you must have not noticed that the day I moved in that I was wearing a 'Chicks with Sticks' shirt on."
"Darn it! I must have missed it! Why didn't you tell me you could play field hockey?!"
"Why didn't you tell me you signed the both of us up?"
"I don't know..." That finally got her to shut up and think. For once.
The bell rang indicating our day was officially over (school wise), but now I had to go the field hockey practice. I gathered up all of my things and followed Syd, hoping she knew which way the field hockey field was. And to my surprise, she knew exactly where she was going. On the way to the field, I fished a quarter out of my jeans pocket and went over to a pay phone. I called my mom at work and told her I had been signed up for field hockey and that I now had practice everyday after school. (And that I was going to Billie Joe's after practice) After talking with her for a while, Syd and me continued to practice. We got down to the field and I saw other girls stretching and running and all that stuff that you do before you start working on what ever you work on for that day. I walked up to who I figured was the head coach to ask about clothes to change into. Another surprise hit me when the coach turned around and Mrs. Kearns met me. (Which would now probably be Coach Kearns considering the circumstances and all.)
"Carlie! You made it, and Sydney too! Good to have you on the team. There's a bag over by the goal that has some extra clothes for you girls. Oh and there's a port-o-john over at the other end of the field so you can get changed. I hope you don't mind, but you'll have to wear the uniforms for today."
"Umm...it's ok, and thanks. I'll go get Syd and we'll change. Not together of course 'cause that'd be just weird." She laughed at my remark and I went over to Syd who was rolling the balls around like they were bowling balls. I grabbed the duffel bag containing the uniforms and also grabbed Syd's wrist and took the both of them over to the port-o-john.
"Here Syd, this is one of the uniforms you got to change into. You go first 'cause I don't think your attention span will let you stay here while I'm getting changed. Now go." and I pushed her into the 'bathroom' and closed the door.
"EWW! THERE'S PEE ON THE WALLS! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CHANGE WITH PEE ON THE WALL?!" I heard her yell, muffled a little thank goodness.
"Zatknis! And change." I shouted back and hit the door.
"Ok, ok...what's 'zatknis' mean?"
"It's shut-up, now change!"
"OK!"
I now heard singing coming from her. Sounded like The Beatles...hold on, let me check. I put my head a little closer to the door, making sure not to inhale the nauseating fumes that are contained in a port-o-john.
"I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND!" Yep, she was singing the Beatles...oi.
The door flung open, almost forcefully colliding with my head, and Syd stepped out. I finally saw what their uniforms were like. They had yellow-ish checkered soccer shorts, a white tee shirt with a number on the back in green, #19 on hers, and green knee-high socks. I took the bag from Syd and stepped into the port-o-john, taking a deep breath of fresh air before I was engulfed in only god knows what. I got changed quickly and stepped out, holding my school clothes in my hand. I walked back to the opposite end of the field where everyone else was standing and dropped my clothes by my backpack. I looked around and noticed a lot of girls who looked like they'd rather be filing their nails than holding a field hockey stick, and others who looked like they could beat up a football player without one scratch to themselves. I'm not sure where I fit in here.
"Ok girls!" Coach Kearns yelled out with a big smile on her face. "I know many of you have been playing field hockey for a few years now, but you'll have to bear with us, we have a few new additions to our team this year. There's Carlie," she pointed to me. "Sydney," (pointing to Syd) "Kayla," pointing to a small skinny girl with light brown hair. "And Sarah." she pointed to a typical cheerleader type person. You know blonde hair, vibrant blue eyes and a stick figure body, just with more curves.
"I think we're going to have a good turn out this year game wise, and I hope you enjoy the season. Now let's get started. Senior girls!" she shouted to a group of four older girls, who turned around and headed towards her. "Girls I want you to help out Carlie, Sydney, Kayla, and Sarah for today. Just teach them some basic moves and the push passes and all of the stuff. Tomorrow you four can join some more with your own team. Now let's get started!" She's a very happy and peppy person...that annoys me.
I followed Kayla, Syd, and Sarah over to the senior girls. One of them stepped forward and introduced herself.
"Hey girls, my name is Samantha, but you can call me Sam if you want." She started. She was built tougher than the other 3 and had dark skin, as if she had been playing sports outside for her whole life. She also had medium brown hair that was neatly tied back into a ponytail. She continued talking.
"This is Ashley," (pointing to a tall, heavy-set girl with blonde hair.) "This is Stephanie" This girl looked Irish. She had long, red curly air and lots of freckles on her pale skin. "And this is Nicole." Whoa, she looks exactly like this kid Jeremy in my English class...I wonder if they're related. Oh yeah, she was dark-skinned, with brown curly hair.
"We're going to teach you a few basics to field hockey so that in a few days, you'll be just as good as everyone else!" Oh how little they know...Bwa, ha, ha, ha, ha! Umm...I'm done now.
After a while of working on random stuff like push passes and slap shots, we took a small break to get a drink. Stephanie came over to me while I was drinking my water and scared me because I didn't know she was behind me when I turned around.
"Hey, Carlie right?"
"Uhh...yeah..."
"Have you played this before? I mean, Coach said you were new, but you picked up amazingly fast on the moves."
"I played for two years when I lived in Pennsylvania."
"That could explain it," she said with a slight laugh. "Well, I think you definitely be a good addition to them team. Oh, and welcome to the Pinole Valley High Field Hockey team."
"Thanks." I said, but I don't think she heard me 'cause she was already walking away.
After about an hour, our practice was over. Syd and I got dressed back into our clothes that we wore to school and gave the uniforms back to Coach Kearns. We collected our bags and headed towards Billie Joe's house. I started thinking about what positions they'd even consider letting Syd play. After pondering this for a while couldn't help but to ask what she wanted to play.
"Syd, what position do you think you're gonna play?"
"I don't know. I was thinking something along the lines of being an amazingly amazing goalie."
"That'd probably be best for you. Cover up the klutz on cleats with extra padding, this way she won't cause any trouble."
"I'm not a-" She fell down before she could even finish the sentence.
"You were saying?" I asked with a smug smile on my face.
"Shut-up!" After I helped her up, we continued on our way. After awhile, Syd couldn't help but break the silence that was hanging between us.
"What about you? What position do you want to play? You should play midfield! How about midfield?!"
"Mne dolam pochki, as along as I can play the game." She stared at me with a confused look on her face.
"Oh yeah, it means 'I don't care'."
"Ok then. WAIT!" she stopped instantly.
"What?" I questioned backing up to her.
"You're going to play right defence. I don't care what you say. You're going to play right defense."
"And your reasoning for this is?"
"The other team always goes down the left side of the field, their right, and you have to do the whole diagonal thing, so you'd always be right next to me so I could talk to you!"
"Oh joy." She hit me when I said this, but I ignored it, seeing as we were at Billie Joe's house now.
I went up to the door and rang the doorbell. Billie Joe answered the door. although that'd be kind of obvious seeing as it is his house...well his parents house, where he lives with them and his siblings. My point is he lives there!
"Hey Carlie, hey Sydney. Come on in." he said and stepped to the side. We entered the house and walked over to the living room where Mike and Al were...and someone else; whom I'm guessing was Jason.
"Oh hey guys!" Mike said getting off the couch to come over to us. "You're late, how come?"
"Syd signed us up for field hockey, unfortunately for me, I was not aware of it until today. We have practice everyday after school." I stated blandly.
"They're letting you play sports after almost blowing up the whole school with a cake? I'm impressed." Billie Joe butts in.
"Why thank you!" Syd said then waltzed over to the couch. And she literally waltzed...I didn't even know she could dance let alone waltz.
"Oh yeah, Syd, Carlie, this is Jason Relva. He's one of my old friends from before I moved near Billie." Mike stepped aside and I saw Jason standing behind him. He was a little shorter than Mike, not as short as Billie though, and was very skinny. He had on baggier jeans and a black tee shirt that was just a tiny bit too big for him. He also had the coolest hair ever, in my opinion at least. It was for the most part curly and a light shade of brown, but not too close to blonde and reached just above his shoulders. His eyes were also cool, they were pure grey but very vibrant and almost colourful at the same time.
"Hey, I'm Jason obviously, Jason Relva."
"Hi, I'm Carlie Hope." we shook hands and he smiled at me. He's got braces, yet straight teeth...must be getting them off soon.
"I'm Syd!" Syd yelled and got really hyper all of a sudden. She ran over the Mike's bass and began playing random notes. Then Mike started yelling at her and took his bass back. That is of course after he got her down from the top of the random file cabinet in the room.
The rest of our evening went smoothly. I found out a lot about Jason. He was really shy at first, but after being around Syd and me for a while, he opened right up. Jason ended up being 16 I think, ya it was 16, so he was old as the rest of us...well, Mike and Billie Joe at least. My birthday is October 5th, so I still have a few weeks before I'm 16. That's when an idea hit me. It wasn't literally though, 'cause that's hurt. Anyway, I finally thought of a nickname for Billie Joe...it's not really much shorter, but who cares. Are you ready for this...here it is...Billie J! Oh yeah! How creative am I?! from now in, I shall call Billie Joe, Billie J. I'll ask him if he likes it.
"Billie Joe?"
"Huh?" He looked up from his guitar, which he had been tuning.
"Can I have a nickname for you?" I asked hopefully.
"Sure, but what is it?"
"Billie J."
"Sure, whatever."
"Did you just call him Billie J?" Jason came in from the bathroom.
"Yes, yes I did. He is no longer Billie Joe to me, now he is Billie J."
"Ok whatever." Jason shrugged his shoulders then went over to a reclining chair and sat in it.
I feel special now! I have a nickname for Billie J and Syd...Yay! Now for Mike...hmm...
