Benches and Birches (Sweden vs. South Africa, Group G opener)
"You're joking."
Sofia stared at Kosovare, looking between her and Caroline Seger.
"Why am I not starting today?" Sofia folded her arms and glared. "I'm fit to play, you know I am Caro! Tell her!"
"Stina's starting." Caro raised an eyebrow at Sofia as she gave a shriek of outrage and stalked in the direction of the younger forward. "Eva Sofia Jakobsson, you stop right now, you're thirty-three, not three," Caro added, raising her voice a notch before Sofia had quite made it over to Stina.
The twenty-seven year old turned to watch as Sofia was stopped in her tracks. Stina, suited up and ready, smirked insolently at the older Swede. "Oh, poor Sof, having to sit out on the bench," Stina drawled.
"You shut the hell up, Emma Stina Blackstenius," Sofia seethed at the younger forward. "Just because you're Caro's pet doesn't mean--"
She was cut off as Stina threw herself on Sofia with a shriek of rage. "You take that back! Take that back right now, Sofia!" Stina grabbed at Sofia, yanking her ponytail.
"STOP IT!"
Kosovare Asllani had had enough. The Swedish vice-captain grabbed both girls by the scruffs of their necks, shaking them until they let go of each other. "Stop it, both of you. I've never been more ashamed of you both," Kosse snapped. "Stina, you're not playing the full 90. You've just lost that privilege. You got me?"
Stina growled under her breath, nodding reluctantly.
"And you'll be lucky if you come off the bench at all today, Eva Sofia. You're certainly not coming in for Stina," Kosse added.
"Fuck you, Kosse."
Kosovare's eyebrows went up.
"Go sit on the bench, Eva Sofia, and count yourself lucky. I don't have the time to ensure you can't sit, yet. I'll fix that at halftime." She gave Sofia a not-so-gentle push toward the other substitutes, and called Stina, with the rest of the starting eleven, to follow her.
It was time to take the field against South Africa.
They had a game to win, and Kosse wasn't going to let a couple of brawling brats ruin her confidence in this team.
Sofia sulked her way through the first half, watching from the bench with irritation. It was utterly unremarkable for the Swedes, as much as for the opposing team; both goalkeepers kept the other side out of their nets, and despite the number of corner kicks taken, or other attempts on goal, neither side had reached the scoreboard yet.
Caro noticed her restlessness, and pulled the younger Swede into her lap for the last ten minutes of the first half, putting an arm around Sofia.
"Settle down, Sof, you don't want Kosse to have more to be cross with you for. You've earned enough trouble for yourself as it is."
Sofia let out a small whine. "But Caro, I don't want to be in trouble," she sniffled, and Caroline Seger brushed her fingers lightly through Sofia's blonde ponytail.
"I'm sure not, little one, but we've crossed that bridge a long time ago and there's no going back, so I expect you to take it like a good girl. You're not the only one in trouble, pet."
Sofia looked up. "Stina's in trouble?"
"Of course." Caro gave Sofia's shoulder a reassuring pat. "She broke the rules too, you know. It's not all just you, is that what you've been worrying about? You think me and Kosse would punish you but let Stina get away with being naughty?"
"I dunno...it's just like...perfect Stina with her perfect goals and Coach thinks she's better than me, and..."
"Shhh." Caro rocked Sofia gently, "no, no, it doesn't matter what Coach thinks of Stina, though I can promise you he doesn't think that. What matters is how you behave, and how Stina behaves, and both of you were naughty today."
"Sorry," Sofia said meekly, and Caro nodded gravely.
"You will be," she said, and Sofia winced as the halftime whistle blew. Scoreless, still, so far. So much for Stina and her perfect goals. But the half being over meant Kosse would be coming for her, and Sofia trembled.
"Come on," Caro nudged Sofia to her feet, keeping an arm around Sofia as she guided her back into the locker room. "It's alright Sof, Kosse's not going to kill you, honey. You're in big trouble, but it's not the end of the world, we still love you."
Shakily, Sofia exhaled and nodded. "I really am sorry, Caro."
Seger gave the younger Swede a fondly exasperated look. "I know. But this isn't about sorry, Eva Sofia, it's about paying for your mistakes, and remembering who's in charge. I think you were bratting with Kosse on purpose because you needed this. Don't you?"
Sofia blushed. "I...I didn't think about it like that..."
"Mm." Caro nodded, patting Sofia's back as she held her teammate. "No, of course not. But it's going to be alright. Besides, Kosse's not coming for you first."
She turned Sofia to look as Kosse led Stina in, holding her arm securely, though not cruelly tight. Stina began struggling as soon as Kosse got her into the locker room, protesting.
"Let me go Kosse, please, you don't need to do anything! You already said I have to be subbed off early, I swear you don't have to do anything else to me!"
Magda Eriksson looked over at Stina, unimpressed. "You do the crime, you do the time, brat."
“Alright.” Kosovare fixed Stina and Sofia with a stern look. “Brawling is unacceptable. You’ll both be getting six with the Ornäs, and I don’t want any arguments.”
Sofia gave her erstwhile nemesis a horrified look at that pronouncement, and was slightly mollified by the fact that Stina seemed equally horror-struck. The Ornäs conjured up a singular picture in both young Swedes’ minds; a bundle of twigs of Swedish birch, tied off with a ribbon. Usually it was a teasing threat, wielded lightly it could even be a massage tool, but mentioned in this tone, well…
Stina moved closer to Sofia instinctively, as though seeking the security of the older forward’s presence while Kosse went to locate the instrument of their posteriors’ execution. Sofia wouldn’t have thought she’d find herself comforting Stina of all people, but for a few moments, they were united in their anxiety over their immediate fate.
“Bend over the bench.”
Caroline Seger’s voice right behind them made both girls jump, and they did as they were told, fingers twining as they screwed their eyes shut. They couldn’t look. They didn’t want to look, but then they heard Kosse returning.
The swish of something displacing air came behind them, and then a painful thud, as something hard and flat smacked down, first on Sofia’s bottom, then Stina’s.
Sofia squeezed Stina’s hand harder, as they clung to the bench.
Not the birch, then. A paddle, they realized, as the smacks continued alternating. But it was different from the regular Sweden one. Lighter, but bigger, covering both bottom cheeks at once, needing fewer smacks to make its point.
And it stung like blazes. Sofia made a mental note to get a good look at it once they were released, then find the damn thing and burn it before it could attack them again.
Six swats each didn’t take long to impart, and then Caro was helping them both to stand up. She pulled the girls into her embrace briefly, then gave them to Kosse and Magda in their turns. The three captains comforted Sofia and Stina, reassuring them that all was well.
“I’m s-sorry I swore at you Kosse.”
“I know, Sofia. It’s all forgiven. Though you’re still not coming in.”
Sofia’s shoulders slumped and she nodded. “As long as we win this thing anyway.”
“That, we can do.” After a few sips of water from their water bottles, Kosse led the team back out for the second half.
It would prove to be much more exciting and productive, with South Africa claiming a 1-0 lead nearly as soon as the second half began. Sweden came back with a vengeance as soon as they’d pulled themselves together; a goal by Fridolina Rolfo in the sixty-fifth minute and another by Amanda Ilestedt in the final minutes of the match took Sweden to a 2-1 win over South Africa.
All the while, Sofia watched from the bench.
Stina had been subbed off in the sixty-seventh minute, along with Fridolina Rolfo and Filippa Angeldal. She came to sit gingerly by Sofia, sighing reluctantly.
“Frido’s seething. She wanted to try for a brace.”
“Well, that’s up to Coach,” Sofia shook her head. “Wish I was going in for you.”
“No you don’t. Your arse is still on fire.”
“Takes one to know one, I suppose. Or something like that.” Sofia shrugged, grimacing. “What the fuck was that thing?”
“Birch paddle.” Stina grimaced. “Let’s maybe avoid that thing in future?”
“You think we have any chance of destroying it?” Sofia asked hopefully.
Regretfully, Stina shook her head.
“Can’t burn it in a hotel.”
“How about throwing it to the spiders?”
Stina grimaced. “Ew. Be my guest, I’m not doing it.”
In the end, Sofia had decided not to brave the arachnid horde, either. She retreated to her room, where she expected to be safe.
After all, the Swedes weren’t quite as prone to pranks involving dangerous wildlife as some of the Americans. They, at least, knew better.
“Kelley didn’t know better,” AT said, looking up as Sofia finished her story. “She put a thing in my room and Big Alyssa had to kill it.”
“Remind me to kill Kelley,” Sofia muttered.
“You’ll have to get in line, storasyster. I already told our mamas and everything.”
Sofia smiled wryly. “Oh, I bet Tobin took that well.”
AT shook her head. “Not so much.”
“Poor Kelley,” Kosse said with feeling, and AT squirmed - she’d forgotten Kosse was still there. “Um. Kosse? Do you mind that Sof and Stina wanted to destroy the birch paddle?”
“Mind? Wanting and doing are different things, little one. Wanting is perfectly okay. Just don’t act on it.”
“Yes, Kosse.”
“Then I’m glad we understand each other, Eva Sofia.”
Sighing, Sofia snuggled down with AT, cuddling the teen close. “Don’t worry, lillasyster, there’s no spiders here. You’re safe.”