I groaned, the blistering heat nearly making me dizzy as the sun beat down on the other girls and myself. July in the valley was miserable, even without the coach making us run around the track. At least it was only running, I thought gratefully. I knew that my legs and arms were much too wobbly to do anything as complicated as shooting hoops. Sometimes I wondered why I cared enough about our unacknowledged university's women's basketball team to do the summer trainings.
My wandering thoughts were put to a harsh end when a foot suddenly shot in front of me, allowing an up close and personal chance to check out the new track. I yelped as a few other girls tripped over me, since I'd been at the front until Jealous Bitch tripped me. I eyed the other girls to make sure no one was seriously hurt before checking the scrapes and soon-to-be-bruises all over my own body.
"What the Hell just happened?" Coach Alan ran up to the pile of girls with an anxious and irritated look on his face, glaring at me shortly. I suppressed the urge to growl at him as I rose and brushed myself off, watching Jealous Bitch continue running with a very distinctive twitch of her little ass. My eyes met the coach's and I kept my face devoid of emotion.
"I tripped." Over your favorite's protruding foot, you asshole. He shook his head and checked the others quickly before going back to his chair, not bothering to offer me a chance to bandage or clean my bleeding palms or knees. I shook my head and started running again, catching up twenty minutes later.
"You know, you could just work a little harder to be better than me and the others instead of trying to turn the team into a bunch of cripples." I smirked as I saw her give me a startled look as I ran past her with relative ease. For the remainder of the hour, I made sure she stayed well behind me.
"Alright girls, come back in!" The coach called us into the middle of the track where he was, along with a table of bottled water. I ignored him and went straight there as he continued speaking, "So, I've made a decision for who will be the captain come the following semester, any disagreements can be voiced at my office later." I heard sounds of excitement from the girls and rolled my eyes, the lot of them were idiots to think that he'd choose anyone but Kayla, Danielle, or myself. He couldn't choose Jealous Bitch, favorite or not, she was a slacker. "Congratulations to Janelle Brander."
I stiffened, feeling as if I'd been smacked in the face. Spinning around, I nearly spilt my water bottle and met Jealous Bitch's eyes just in time to see her foul grin of unjustified triumph.
Then she smiled at me directly, and as the other girls walked sullenly to the showers, I noticed a greedy smile to her from the coach. She stood on her tiptoes to whisper something in his ear, and then ran off to the showers. I kept a death grip on my bottle as I followed, unaware of his eyes on my unintentionally swaying hips.
Two hours later, long after the rest of the girls had gone to enjoy their lives as the day was over, I was only just drying off. My tanned skin was red from the water, and I moaned as the cold air of the locker room hit my baking skin. I leaned my nude form against the cold metal, closing my eyes as I felt my heart slow. My hands were sluggish as I dressed, only in my bra and underwear when I heard a low chuckle.
"Janelle, fuck off." I didn't bother looking up at her as I shook out my shirt, hearing her heavy footsteps stop behind me.
"Coach wants to see you, Helen." I threw down my shirt angrily and spun around, freezing when I didn't meet Jealous Bitch's blue eyes. Instead, I was looking first at a wide chest, then up into the dark umber eyes of Coach Alan, and he was smiling widely.
"So, I hear you're not too happy about my decision on captain." My eyes shot around until I found Janelle walking away irritatedly. I looked back to the coach and bit my inner lip, straightening my spine and crossing my arms. Looking tough in nothing but my underwear was, though, quite impossible in front of my massive coach.