We looked up at the scoreboard, 3-1 it read and I was devastated. The other girls on my team were upset and my coach just looked downright pissed off. I will admit it wasn't my best game. I struck out twice, missed a fly ball out in Left Field and was just generally not interested in the game.
Before you get all accusatory, it's not because I suck at Softball, quite the opposite actually. I have several D-1 scholarships I just hadn't committed to a school yet. Here I am, sitting on the end of the bench in the dugout looking at the field, hearing the Umpire shout "You're out" in the bottom of the 9th, and just like that it was all over. That dropped our record to 25-14 with a win percentage of.398 which isn't terrible but it could be better.
As we all filed out of the dugout to shake our opponents hands for a good game, we all made our way to the looker room. I sat on the bench by my locker and just stared at the floor. Coach went into her office and the other girls on the team started taking off their uniforms and getting themselves prepared to shower and call it a night. I'm usually the last one to leave the locker room anyways so me being the last one was no surprise to anybody. I finally got up, took off my uniform and went to the showers. As I stood there letting the water cascade down my body I got my shower gel and my loofah and began cleaning the stench of defeat from my body.
After washing my body, I got my shampoo, squirted it in my hands, and starting running it through my brownish-blond hair. After rinsing off I got out of the shower and went back to my locker to put on my clothes so I could leave. I had just tied the last shoelace on my brand new Jordan 5s which were my school's colors black and red, I headed for the locker room door. I got just about halfway there, passing Coach's office when her door opened and she emerged.
"Skylar, don't leave just yet. I want to discuss something with you."
I turned around and headed towards the door marked Coach McMichaels and once inside I took a seat on the couch inside her office. Now usually when Coach wants to talk to one of us we sit on the couch and she sits behind her desk but on this night she came and sat right next to me on the sofa. I didn't know what to make of it but when I looked into her eyes I could see the worry on her face.
"Skylar, she began, I've been concerned about you for the past 2 weeks. Ever since you broke up with Marshall your play on the field has seriously declined. Is there anything you want to tell me honey"?
Honey? I was super confused now. Coach wasn't exactly mean, but she was strict and she had a model of how she wanted us to play the game. She never addressed us by any type of pet name but here she is calling me Honey. Now before you all get on my case about a boy being the reason I've been playing so bad you don't know Marshall.
He's nice and tall. Actually an entire foot taller than me at 6'2 to my 5'2 frame. He's muscular with the nicest set of washboard abs you just want to lay your head on, which I did very often. He was nice and tan but he didn't tan. He was mixed, his mother was white and his father was black hence the name Marshall (after Thurgood Marshall). He was sweet. He would always remember my birthday even though I've forgotten his a time or two, and our anniversary, and he would always buy me purple tulips because he knows they're my favorite flowers and a Snickers bar because he knows that's my favorite candy.
He was just a sweetheart and he was so damn smart. He had a 4.0 GPA and was sure to be named Salutatorian at graduation. Now comes the bad part. He had a full ride scholarship to Princeton University. That part isn't particularly bad because as smart as he is, I wouldn't have expected anything less, but the problem is Princeton is on the other side of the country in New Jersey and we live in California. By now, I'm sure you can guess why we broke up. He didn't want to do the whole long distance thing which I understood, but didn't make it any less heartbreaking.
I looked at Coach McMichaels and even though I knew she was right, it kind of upset me that she would bring it up as an excuse for my poor performances. I guess she could feel the anger welling up inside and I'm sure she felt the anger I was letting off because she gently placed her hand on my arm and patted it.
"Skylar, it is perfectly fine to be upset after a break up, especially since you all dated for so long."
Sidenote: We started dating in 7th Grade and had been together up until Senior year so that's 4 1/2 years.
Again, even though I knew she was right, I was still angry and not even at her. I was angry at Marshall because he had dumped me in the cafeteria 3 weeks before Spring Break when we were supposed to go to Malibu. I was angry at myself for being as angry as I was and in the immortal words of my Grammy May
"Girl get the fuck over it."