AT among the Ferns (post-NZ/Philippines)
"Hannah?"
"Yeah?" The older Kiwi turned on her side, looking over from the other bed to look at the teen. "Are you okay, little bit? You sat out on the bench again."
"Captain Ria let me have my game while I was waiting to sub in. The pitch was a Pokémon gym, did you know?" Milly asked. "But then I didn't get called off the bench at all anyway."
"I did not know that," Hannah conceded, rather at a loss when it came to Pokémon Go. "Were you at least paying attention to the match at all?"
"Um...uh huh. You hit a girl in the face."
Hannah groaned and pressed a pillow to her face. Trust that to have been the thing Milly noticed. "Emily Clegg, I want you to promise me that you won't do that. That wasn't proper behaviour at all."
"I promise," Milly said quickly. "Because you got smacked for it, didn't you? And with the Philippine captain there because Captains said the rest of us had to leave because you didn't need more people seeing."
Hannah considered the merits of taking Milly's console and dashing it against the wall but controlled the impulse. It probably wouldn't break anyway. "Yes, I got smacked with the other captain watching," she sighed.
"I didn't know the captains would do that," Milly said in awe. "Is that for like if you're really bad?"
Hannah groaned. She'd had enough, and sat up, shaking her head. "If you're really bad," she said, fixing her gaze on her young roommate, "the Captains might smack you every night for a week. Or maybe even take a whole day just for you and give you smackings on the regular all through the day."
Milly's eyes were round with horror, and she let out a small squeak. "Captain Ali and Captain Ria would do that?"
"They would not."
Both Football Ferns turned toward the open door at the sound of the new voice.
Alyssa Thompson - AT for short - stood there, glaring at Hannah. “You take that back,” she ordered the older player. “Captain Tia, I mean Captain Ali would never, and I refuse to believe Ria’s any different. You apologize right now.”
“What are you going to do about it if I don’t?” Hannah demanded, still exasperated.
“AT’s going to do nothing,” Ali Riley said, stepping past her teenage Angel City teammate to face her fellow Kiwis. “AT, pet, go sit on Milly’s bed. Hannah Lilian Wilkinson, I want an explanation and I want it now.”
Oh fuck.
“Milly embarrassed me, ma’am.”
“So you thought you’d lie to her and try to upset her?” Ali raised an eyebrow. “That’s not very mature of you. I thought you were supposed to be the adult in this room.”
“Not always,” Hannah muttered, and Ali sighed.
“No, but if you need help you get me or Ria. You don’t take it out on Milly,” Ali said quietly. “Maybe that’s on me, for not checking on you earlier. But I don’t appreciate you trying to frighten our kid.”
Hannah stared at her lap, cheeks burning. “I’m sorry ma’am.”
“I’m not the one who needs your apology.”
Slowly, Hannah looked up, seeing Milly sitting on the other bed with AT, quietly watching. “Sorry, kid. I…what I just said about Ali and Ria, it wasn’t true. They wouldn’t do that to you.”
“That’s right, I definitely wouldn’t do it to her,” Ali agreed, and Hannah’s stomach lurched.
“C-Captain?”
“It’d take a hell of a lot to disappoint me enough to where I’d want to spank you every day for a week,” Ali said flatly. “Or all through the day. But lying to kids instead of coming for help when you’re annoyed is one of the things I really don’t appreciate. We want our teammates to be able to trust us, Hannah Lilian. We don’t lie to our teammates, or any other kid we’re responsible for.” She gave Hannah a long look. “I catch you at it again and I just might reconsider. Understood?”
Hannah gulped. “Yes ma’am.”
“In the meantime, I don’t tolerate lying anyway. Come here and bring the soap from your bag.” Ali gestured toward the hotel room’s bathroom, and reluctantly, Hannah picked up her bag and followed Ali.
Milly watched her go, mouth open. “W-what’s Captain Ali going to do?”
AT grimaced in remembrance. “Wash her mouth out, probably. It’s what happens for if you say naughty things, like really bad words. Or lying.”
“Has she ever done that to you?”
“Not exactly, it was Mama Tobin. But it was because what I said to Captain Tia,” AT admitted, and as Milly listened raptly, she told the story of her altercation with Scarlett Camberos before the World Cup.
“That sounds horrible,” Milly shuddered, and AT nodded decisively.
“Don’t do those things in front of Captain Tia, and probably Captain Ria either. Although swearing’s mostly okay if you’re hurt, and if you’re not saying it to a person or about them,” AT conceded. “But Captain Tia doesn’t really like it when we youngests do it at all, if we can help it.”
Nodding, Milly exhaled, and lay back on her pillow with her American friend cuddled close to her side.
Mouth soaping wasn’t a prospect Milly’d considered before. She guessed Hannah would survive it, if AT could when she was basically half Hannah’s age. But it sounded awful. And what if the Captains were made mad enough to punish Hannah like she said?
Milly had a lot to think about.