× Horan

"Lynn Mercury."

I sat in silence as a video played on the tiny telly in the front of the room. The whole team, all seventeen of us, were crammed into Coach's office with all the lights off. The only source of radiance was from the flickering image in front of us. It was of a girl's college football game somewhere out in America according to a large red, white, and blue flag in the background. It was hard to see on the small screen, but it was obvious that the focus of the camera was on a brunette with the jersey number thirteen.

"Fast," Coach continued to speak. "Stealthy. Dedicated. Doesn't give up."

Over his shoulder, there was a close-up of the girl in question on the screen, her name printed along the bottom like a headline. Her face was twisted in concentration as she looked out at something beyond the camera's lens. She had straight, caramel hair that was pulled back into a ponytail, a pink headband keeping the flyaway hair out of her face.

"And hot," someone added from behind me. I turned in time to see Dylan and Thomas high five.

"Yeah, mate!" Thomas expressed with a cocky grin. "I wouldn't mind playing footie with her, if you know what I-"

"Not the topic of discussion right now, nor will it ever be!" Coach yelled, making the chatter stop. His voice echoed around the tiny room. I silently thanked him knowing the more the lads interrupted, the longer we would be sitting in that stuffy room. "We're discussing technique and skill here. You can go back to talking with your dicks at another time."

It never failed. We couldn't go one meeting without someone breaking out of discussion and talking about something else - usually about girls, almost always something inappropriate. Every time, Coach would shut them down faster than the stadium lights after a lost game.

"As I was saying, I reckon she has a lot of potential," Coach continued.

I started zooning out at the telly in front of me. I watched as the Lynn girl dribbled the ball down the bright green turf and past defenders, kicking the ball right over the goalies head, straight into the net. Stealthy was an understatement, it was like she was on fire and the opponents didn't want to get too close to her flame.

I wasn't going to deny that she had skill; I just didn't see how it caught Coach's attention and why the hell he was telling us about her.

"Niall?" Coach asked. I broke away from the screen and looked over at him.

From the corner of my eye, I saw that the whole team was looking at me, which wasn't very uncommon since the team always seemed to look at me for answers. Weather it was on a game play they had thought up or if it was safe to mix hydrogen peroxide and piranha solution together, it didn't matter. They always came to me.

"What?" I asked, breaking away from my thoughts.

"I asked what you thought of Mercury, but from your lack of communication and not paying attention, I assume you like her."

I just shrugged because if I learned anything from my mother, it was to stay silent until you knew everything that was going on. And at that moment, I knew absolutely nothing.

"Why do you want to know?" I asked.

Coach crossed his arms and gave me a smug look. "As you know, we're not doing our best this year," he explained. "So I did a little research and found something that may help us out in the field."

"Wait," William blurted. "Are you saying-?"

"I called an old friend of mine from the states," Coach continued like William didn't even speak. "She's the woman's soccer coach at a university in California who just so happens to be the coach to Lynn Mercury. We need her."

It would have been humorous having a girl join our team, but from the look on Coach's face told us all that he wasn't joking. Not even a little bit.

"You're being serious," Jace spoke up from beside me. "Can that even happen?"

"It can if your school doesn't have a woman's team to join." Then Coach looked over at me. "I repeat: what do you think of Mercury?"

I thought he was making the biggest mistake of his life. I thought that he had officially lost his mind. I thought that he had to literally be David Beckham to ever convince me to have a girl on my team. But if I knew anything about Coach Mathews, it was that he never made mistakes, his mind was fully where it was supposed to be, and he may not be David - although apparently to some girls he is just as attractive - Coach had the ability to change my mind.

But I didn't say any of that.

"I think... I think having her on the team would come with a lot of drama," I confessed honestly. I didn't give him the answer he was looking for, which was the plan, and from the look in Coach's eyes, I knew that the discussion wasn't over.

"What do you mean by drama?" he pressed, curiosity shown on his face. "Because she's a girl, it's just a given that drama will come along with her?"

"No, not necessarily," I disagreed, regretting that I even said anything in the first place. Like I said before, staying silent was my best weapon. "But from the reaction with the lads, you know there's going to be some shameless flirting."

The team made noise in agreement behind me. Of course they did, they were testosterone filled boys after all.

Coach sighed and pressed the pause button on the telly. "Then I'll make a rule for you to treat her as you would any other teammate. No flirting, no dating, no relationship crap whatsoever," Coach threatened, looking at everyone in turn and making sure they listened.

"What if one of us was gay?" I heard Matt ask from the back of the room. "Then that rule would be off the table, right?"

"Matt, if you were gay we wouldn't be having this discussion," Coach sneered, obviously losing his patience. He placed his index and middle finger between his brows like a headache was starting to form.

"They will just be sneaking around your back," I added, completely ignoring Matt's comment. "Dating, snogging, shagging... It's forbidden now so it's almost a given it will happen."

Coach looked at me like I lost my mind. I hadn't, I would just do everything in my power to keep this girl off the team. This was the Men's soccer division, which meant you had to have a penis to be on the team. I didn't give a shit how good she was or how far we would go in the competition with her, it wasn't going to happen if I had a say in it. And I did have a say in it. Being captain had its benefits after all.

"How about this..." Coach started. "If she joins the team, and if I catch any one of you gits fooling around with her, you will be off the team. No take backs, no apologies... nothing."

That seemed to get everyone's attention. It was clear to everyone that every single person in that room was there to succeed. No one was on the team just to pass some free time while they studied for their actual goal in life. We all wanted the same thing and no one was going to let a girl get in between that. Ever.

"You're just jealous, Horan" one of the lads said, breaking the pause Coach had created. I looked over my shoulder and saw James looking at me, amusement in his eyes.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You're jealous because she's better than you," he pushed, leaning forward on his chair. "Your big ego can't take the hit that a female can do what you can do... but better."

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest and looked forward. "Rationally speaking, we don't know that. We never played against each other."

"Sounds like a challenge," I heard Reece laugh from somewhere in the back. I didn't even bother to turn and look at him.

Coach stood up and walked across the room to turn the lights on. There were groans from the sudden brightness and everyone sat up straighter in their seat, knowing the meeting was coming to a close.

"We're leaving this undecided then," Coach announced, looking around the room almost like he was daring anyone to tell him differently. "Mercury's good, and I reckon it would be great to have her on the team, but we need everyone's approval. Especially the captain's," he added, looking directly at me.

The sun would have to be at its solar max and unleash static discharges that would knockout power grids before I agreed to have her on the team, and from the looks of it, Coach knew that.

"Before I dismiss you, I should probably let you know that we're going to take a trip to California to watch her in action," Coach said and I nearly chocked on my own spit. He was really pushing for this girl. "I already have the plane tickets and everyone is required to go."

"When?" Reece asked.

"This weekend."

There was a mix of gasps, sighs, and groans within the group, basically any universal sound that told you no one was too happy about that idea.

"But that's in two days!" Andrew complained, anger written all over his freckly face. "I was supposed to go to a party on Saturday."

"Then you better cancel your plans and get packing. California awaits."

× × ×

The POVs change for each chapter. Before they start there will either be a × Horan or a × Mercury to let you know who's is who.

-Jess