Chapter 6
Emily grunted getting into her car and just sat for a moment. She breathed through her nose and out of her mouth a few times before she brought the engine to live. The brunette just wanted to be home already, relax with her love and enjoy the next couple of days. She took the short drive by muscle memory, next thing Emily knew she was pulling into her parking spot next to Ali’s car.
The QB walked back through the door of her and Alison’s apartment dragging her gym bag with her. She looked filthy covered in dirt, grass stains and utterly exhausted would be an understatement. But the brunette knew it was worth it because she put that fucking moron in his place.
A few hours earlier
The whole team was lined up along the sideline of the field with Emily and Derek standing on their side of the 50 yard line. Everyone could feel the tension between them. Caleb and Toby hoped they were playing on Emily’s team but knew that if they were Derek, they couldn’t play any differently than their best. Their captain would kill them if she even noticed that they were purposefully messing up to fix the game.
Emily stood confident in her gear ready for things to get started. The coaches were between them splitting the team up for a fair scrimmage. Scratch that, game. Derek stood opposite of her, cocky as per usual. He really thought he had a shot of winning this game. Not if Emily had anything to do with it.
Within minutes, the boys were split up into their teams and specials team took the field for kick off. Derek had won the coin toss and decided to receive the kick first. The game would be officially referred because the coaches weren’t taking any chance at it being an unfair game. Unfortunately Toby was on Derek’s team and he wasn’t thrilled about it but remembered at the end of the day, this was Emily’s team not Derek’s no matter how much he tried.
The defensive team managed to keep Derek from getting much yardage to try to score for a touchdown. He read a view plays well and got a few first downs but once they were one Emily’s 40 yardline the defense kept them there. Derek called for the kicker to score a field goal. The kicker on his team, Ricky, was always on so he kicked it easily from 40 yards.
Emily took the field with ease calling plays quickly to move the ball along. She had Caleb and Tim in her corner so she was able to have them run some inside routes to take up the middle and gain some major yardage. Derek fumed on the sideline every time Emily had gotten a first down. When she reached his 20 yard line she went for an easy running play into the corner with her safety. She’d called it perfectly because James, her safety ran it in perfectly.
6 - 3.
Emily had Nick, her second string kicker take the kick. Luckily, Nick was working hard to start next season as a sophomore. This was his chance to show the coaches he could take more kicks the rest of this season if he performed well today.
7 - 3.
The first half went just like this, back and forth. The coaches watch from the press box. They weren’t calling any part of this game. They wanted to see what these quarterbacks were going to call for their game. Football was a game of patience and strategy. The right plays had to be called and execution was important. Only a true leader would be able to make those calls and motivate their team to victory.
Derek had managed to throw a hail mary in the middle of the second quarter to score a touchdown. He was trying to be a bit flashy to show off his range. Emily wasn’t even phased. She could easily make that throw if she wanted to but she wasn’t in the situation where she needed to. They had a whole other half to play and plenty of time. If Derek kept throwing like that, his arm was going to give out sooner or later. He wasn’t as strong as much as he thought he was.
10 - 10.
Emily went for the field goal before the half was over. Where she was on the field and the distance she would have to cover, she didn’t have enough time. She also wasn’t about to start chucking the ball down field just because. So she called Nick up.
“Are you confident enough to kick from 57 yards?” Nick nodded eagerly.
“Don’t think about this game. I need to know if you can truly do this kick. I want the lead into the second half.”
“I can kick it Emily. I swear.” Emily bore her eyes into Nick’s and all she saw was confidence. She didn’t see an ounce of fear or doubt. So she nodded her head.
The long snapper snapped the ball right into Emily’s hands. She set the ball and Nick’s foot passed right under her hand and let the ball fly. Derek watched from the sideline as the ball flew. He didn’t think it would reach but second after second, the ball soared to the right a bit but it was right between the posts.
13 - 10. Fields at the half.
Each team ran into the locker rooms to take a quick break and talk strategy. Emily let her boys relax for about 5 minutes before she talked to her team before going back onto the field to warm up. Derek on the other hand was losing his cool.
“Are you guys fucking serious right now?! You’re letting that bitch beat us?!”
“Watch your mouth Derek!” Toby was one of the best switch players on the team. He played on the offensive and defensive team but mostly played linebacker. Aside from his position, he was one of the most respected guys on the team. So Toby had no issue raising his voice especially when he spoke about one of his best friends. “Have some fucking respect.”
“Shut up Cavanaugh. Just because you’re up Fields’ vagina doesn’t mean the rest of us are.” Derek stood toe to toe with Toby. The other guys sat there aside from Derek’s “friends” or minions as some would say. They circled around them but weren’t actually helpful.
“You’re just mad because you can’t beat her.”
“I’ll fucking bench you the rest of the game Cavanaugh.”
“Do it. You aren’t a leader. You’re an egotistical asshat that is all bark and no fucking bite.” The other boys shoved Toby around a bit and knocked him into the lockers a bit. The other guys pushed back and put a wall between them and Toby. Derek had no control of his team and it showed.
“I want you guys to knock whoever you need to. Rough them up. I just need some yards to throw or space to run the ball.”
Derek decided to take it up upon himself to score the rest of the second half if he had to. While in the other locker room, it was relaxed and the players rested for a little bit. Emily had a different approach to talking to her team.
“Nick, you’re kicking ass dude. Sorry, bad pun. But seriously, keep it up and Ricky will definitely have a run for his money to start. But really, you were confident in making your kicks. Keep doing what you can. I’m going to utilize you when I can.”
“D-line, keep holding them down and shoving them into the ground. The o-line is starting to get tired. Derek keeps going for long throws which is tiring his arm out and his boys.”
“O-line, I’m trying to keep our game nice and consistent. Keep moving us down field first down after first down. But I think I’m ready to throw some long ones to give us a break. Tim and Caleb, be ready for those.”
“We’ve got this. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve if Derek wants to be a bit flashy. So can we but I want a good lead before that. Let’s go back out for warm ups, be ready in 10. Titans on 3, 1, 2, 3.”
“TITANS!” The team broke out and ran out onto the field. Derek and his team were already back out there but it looked tense on that side of the field. Half were doing regular warm ups while the others were huddled together and looked like they were arguing. The coaches in the press box were taking notes of everything so far.
The buzzer for the third quarter about to begin went off. Emily’s team was receiving the kick this half. The specials team carried the ball to the 60 yard line which left Emily plenty of room to work. She moved the ball a few first downs and decided to throw it in. She had pitched to a receiver to her left and dropped back a few yards. He pitched it back to her and she gunned it down field where Caleb was running through the middle. He caught it effortlessly and jogged in with ease. He’d been around the 12 yard line and no one could catch him at the short distance to the end zone he had.
19 - 10. Nick gets the field goal once again. 20 - 10.
Derek yelled on the sideline beyond pissed off. He was starting to get blown out and this was not how things were supposed to go. His team took up the field to receive the kick and he was kept around the 35 yard line on his own side. He’d have to play a bit dirty and start making long throws.
His offensive line took the line and when he called hut on three and the o-line grabbed at jersey’s and face masks thinking that only his minions would do it, he’d be able to get away with it. Emily watched from the sideline and noticed it after the first 3 first downs. She called for her d-line in and said let them run through the next time and see what some of his players do. When the d-line let them through about three from Derek’s o-line grabbed at her d-lines masks and jolted them into the ground.
Multiple yellow flags were thrown into the air calling for the penalties. Derek was fuming. He’d thought having only about 3 players playing dirty would be less noticeable. It now would cost him 10 yards a player mask grabbing and aggressive play for no reason. “Fuck!” He’d yell before thinking of a play. His one shot from where he was on the field now would be hailed another one. His arm was getting tired and they were starting to get to the middle of the third quarter.
Ultimately he’d missed the long throw causing him to gain no yards or score. He sat on the sideline resting his arm hoping his d-line could make a play for him. He did not want to resort to having Ricky kick field goals for points.
Emily took the line with her o-line.
“Let her fly and slide. Hut on two. Hut hut!” Emily easily came out of the pocket to give her some space. She was ready to put Derek in her place in a less cocky way but show him that he was not ready to take a start from her. Tim was down field with plenty of room to run. So she took the long thrown down the left sideline where Tim was open. He grabbed the ball mid-air and took off. He kept his feet in and out ran Derek’s d-line and scored another touchdown. Nick took the kick, extra point.
27 - 10.
The back and forth was less and less as Derek was losing steam as the fourth quarter was coming to a close. He’d let Ricky take some long kicks just to play catch up on the score. With the amount of time left, this was as close as he was going to get on closing the score gap.
27 - 19.
Emily had the last call for the last play of the game but dropped a knee to end the game. She’d won the game but the coaches still had to speak to the team before being dismissed. Once the coaches came down from the press box they lined up along the sideline just as they began.
“Fields! Mendez! Front and center!” Emily and Derek walked forward.
Coach Bryan spoke to address the two quarterbacks, “Mendez, you have an amazing arm son. We saw you show some great range.” Derek had the decency to look humbled and tried not to smirk. “Fields, you never disappoint. You know how to strategize and work the game with your team’s advantages. You hardly had to play into the long toss today.”
“Challenges are meant to see who is best fit to take on our next game. This was great for our starters and other strings to show us what y’all got. Nick, you impressed today and I’ll be happy to let you know that we’ll utilize you more often when we can. But Derek, you showed us some serious skill but son, your arm is not the only thing you can depend on.” Derek flinched. “You don’t read the field during every play or utilize the other members of your team. We pinned the first string players against each other and you hardly used them”
“Fields, you have the start until we tell you otherwise. Mendez, that’s not to say that you can’t work your way to a start but you’ve got some serious training to do.”
The coaches had dismissed the team for a two day rest. The team was exhausted because playing a full fledged game was more tiring to the body than two-a-days.
As the team dispersed, Emily hung around towards the back to pick some stuff up. She caught up with Lucas, the team manager. He was a scrawny kid who knew more about the game of football than most of the guys did, well at least at the level he did. They started walking towards the locker rooms chatting when a body full on took her out and they both crashed into the metal bleachers.
“Urghh, what the fuck?” Emily grunted as she fell to the wayside. When she opened her eyes, she saw Derek getting up.
“I’m going to take your spot, this team, and your pretty little girlfriend. You watch out faggot.” Derek stood up and sprinted out of the field so no one would see him. He was confident he could scare the manager quiet when he had a chance but that would be for another day.
“Oh my god, Emily! Are you alright?!” Lucas ran to her to help her up. Emily hurt but was raging that her adrenaline was coursing through her veins first.
“I’m okay but I’ll definitely take that ice bath now.” They started walking again as Lucas carried her bag for her. “Don’t let him scare you, he’s not after you. I am what threatens him.” Lucas nodded but was still a bit shaken from the sudden tackle.
“Well I’ll get that ice bath ready for you.” Lucas took care of her before he left.
Xxx
Alison had been working on homework and studying at their kitchen table most of the day when she’d heard the front door open and close. She was jammed with her education classes with project after project. Plus she had a huge presentation for her education research class and if she got approved by the education faculty she’d get to go to a conference in New York University to present her findings. But she needed to be done for the day. Her brain was mush at this point.
“Em, baby is that you?” The blonde had yelled out.
“Yeah. Hey you.” Emily haphazardly dropped her bag off to the side not even trying to put anything away. It was a sign to Ali how exhausted her girlfriend must have been. For being raised by a military family, everything has a place and if you have something to take care of, you do it right then and there instead of procrastinating it. The QB only did that when she just didn’t have the energy for it.
The brunette circled the table to drop a kiss onto Alison’s lips and started to retreat to their bathroom right away. The cheer captain followed her, “so….how’d it go?” She wasn’t exactly the patient type and she was curious about the how the results of the match up.
“Well you know how I handle business. I have the start for the unseeable future.” Emily sat on the edge of their bathtub just trying to take a breather.
“Let me run you a bath, bring you a snack and some pain meds, okay?” Alison grabbed for her girlfriend’s shirt leaving her in her tank top. She ran a hand over Emily’s chest, “you must be exhausted from this weekend, just relax. Maybe I’ll return the favor from last night once you’re done.” The captain chuckled and lazily nodded in agreement. Alison stopped the water, dropped in a bath bomb, and left her girl to soak for a while.
Emily slowly undressed and slipped into the hot bath. It did wonders for her sore muscles and so would the next couple days that she had off. Quietly entering the bathroom, Alison left her a quick snack to eat with the pain meds promising that dinner would be ready when she’s out of the bath.
The head cheerleader made a quick turn of making chicken adobo for her girlfriend. Being half Filipino and Irish, Alison learned from Pam how to cook Emily’s favorites. She grew to love the food that Emily’s family served at family parties and holidays. She saw how dead her girlfriend was after her day. Aside from pulling out the win, they’ve had a long weekend and she planned on using the rest of the night to cuddle in bed and maybe watch some Netflix with her girl.
The QB waited until the water in the tub started to cool to finally hop out. She buttoned up a long sleeve black silk pajama shirt and slid on a pair of black boy shorts. It was one of her most comfy looks. Padding her way back out into their living space, she saw that dinner was ready and sat at her spot staring at the best meal. The brunette smiled brightly as Alison poured her a glass of white wine and finally sat down to having their meal together.
They’d chatted about how the game turned out. She hadn’t exactly mentioned what Derek had done or said to her when she was leaving the field. They already didn’t enjoy having him around but she did have to play with him. If Alison lost her cool, she wasn’t sure what he would try next with Ali especially after Saturday night at the victory party and she didn’t want to risk it. She didn’t exactly know what the right thing to do was because she didn’t want Derek to think that he had the power or control of the situation. But at this point, he was harassing her girlfriend and herself.
The brunette cleaned up dinner for the both of them and they climbed into bed to watch some Criminal Minds and just snuggle up together. There weren’t a lot of days where they could do this. Not with everything they constantly had going on but Ali and Emily were grateful and cherished it all the more.
“Mmm. Why can’t we have more nights like tonight?” Alison snuggled in deeper into Emily’s longer frame. Blonde hair spread out onto the football player’s chest while their legs were tangled and her hand was resting underneath the black silk on Emily’s abs. She’d squeezed particularly tight around the QB’s midsection shooting pain through the dark haired girl’s ribs and side.
“Jesus fuck Ali!” Emily jolted their position to hold on her ribs. She hadn’t realized how hard Derek slammed her into the bench earlier because she’d been ignoring it pretty well.
“Babe, what did I do?” Alison didn’t think she could hurt Emily just from cuddling into her but she was scared she had.
“Shit...it wasn’t you honey.”
“Then what is it?” Ali sat up in their bed looking down at Emily holding onto her side and curled up. “Slow your breathing down Em and try to relax.” A pale hand rubbed her love’s back to try to settle her down.
“I was talking to Lucas and picking up before I left. Next thing I know, I’m crashing into the bench…”
“What…?” Alison looked perplexed, that didn’t sound like Emily stumbling over her feet or anything.
“Derek tackled me into the bench. He wasn’t too thrilled about losing today and had quite a few things to say about it. I was honestly too angry to feel it until now. I didn’t mean to scare you.” The QB tried to loosen up her muscles so she wasn’t flexing and just lay down taking calming breaths.
“Excuse me what?!” Ali shrieked.
“Baby….”
“Don’t baby me, he went out of his way to hurt you because he lost fair and square?!” Alison was seething. Her face was turning red just thinking about that neanderthal. She took in a deep breath trying to calm down because her concern needed to be directed towards her girlfriend at the moment. “Let me see.”
“Ali, it’s not a big deal. I’m fine.” The QB tried brushing the blonde off like it was nothing.
“My ass, you’re fine. Now unbutton your shirt.” Emily didn’t move.
“You just want to see me shirtless.” The football player tried to chuckle only to make herself flinch.
“Ha ha. Forget it. I’ll do it.” The blonde straddled Emily’s thighs to make sure she didn’t try to keep her from trying to assess the damage. Alison went to work unbuttoning her lover’s shirt exposing tan skin. She slipped her hands inside to push the fabric open so she could see Emily’s ribs herself. The brunette laid still. “Oh my god…”
“It can’t be that bad, I hardly feel it.” The brunette did not handle injuries well and tried to joke about it. Her father didn’t intentionally teach her to just buck up when her team needed her but he did, adding to the fact that if she did take a step back that meant handing her team to Derek which she was NOT willing to do.
“Emily, stop it. Your ribs are swollen and the bruising is awful. You can hardly laugh without hurting yourself. You’re going to the team doctor first thing in the morning. No arguments about it.”
“Sweetheart…”
“No. You are absolutely not going to sweet talk me out of it. I’ve watched you play on multiple injuries throughout your football career. I will not let you do this. You could cause yourself more damage if you play this Saturday.” Alison firmly stated, while tears gathered in the corners of her eyes.
“Okay…” Emily retreated from her joking matter and was serious to spare Alison from wanting to rip her head off. She knew when her girlfriend was serious and this would be one of those times.
“I want to press charges.”
“No.” The brunette answered with finality.
“Em….”
“If one more incident happens, then yes but be realistic if I go running with this, the media will run with it and not only that but it’ll look like I’m being a wuss about this. I have no witness. Lucas didn’t actually see him tackle me. It’ll be a he said, she said.”
“Not if I report him for what happened Saturday night at the party! There were plenty of witnesses that would vouch for us.”
“That may be true but they’ll chalk it up to it being a petty party brawl because we all had consumed alcohol that night.” Alison tried to think of any way to pin Derek down but was coming up short.
“This is strike two, if he comes at you or me one more time I will call the big guns in.” The head cheerleader was not scared to call Spencer’s mom if Derek didn’t figure things out real quick. The DiLaurentis’ were one of the most powerful families on the East coast. She could bury him with a simple phone call but this wasn’t just about her. Emily was a public figure, hell so was she, without them even trying. She had to be careful with this.
“Agreed. Will you come with me to go see Dr. Andrews?” The team doctor would keep this under wraps for them. Plus she would have to break the news to her coaches. She wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to say to them but she also wasn’t going to lie about the situation.
Xxx
The power couple sat in the waiting room of the athletic complex in the athletic training wing of the building. They’d made an emergency call last night to Dr. Andrews and she had told them to come in an hour before her hours started. They waited patiently outside her door when it swung open.
“Hey ladies, come on in.” Emily and Alison walked in linked together by the hand. The QB hopped up on the exam table while the cheerleader sat in the chair in the corner trying to be out of the way.
“What’s going on Emily?”
“Well another player tackled me into the metal bench. They caught me off guard until they stumbled off of me. The bench got my ribs pretty good.”
“She wouldn’t have come in if I didn’t force her to last night. I’d squeezed around her midsection a bit while we were laying down. That’s when I took a look.” Alison chimed in, making sure her girlfriend didn’t leave out any details.
“Well let me take a look. But don’t think I didn’t notice that you haven’t name dropped exactly who did this.” Dr. Andrews had Emily shed her t-shirt and waited for instructions. The doctor lifted her arm to assess the area a bit closer. Then slightly nudged the athlete to lay down. She palpated carefully on the tender skin to feel for the amount of damage done and to see what steps they needed to take.
“When you breathe, is it achy or a sharp pain?”
“Achy.”
“Laughing?”
“More achy.”
“How about when you move?”
“When I move too quickly or twist my torso, it is when it hurts the most but not sharp pain. More like an overall ache takes over my whole side.” Emily laid staring at Ali while she was being poked and prodded a bit more. Dr. Andrews removed her gloves and wrote a bit in Emily’s file.
“I want you to get an x-ray done real quick. Let’s rule out having any of your ribs fractured or broken. That’s my main concern right now. We’ll manage your pain and you need to take this Saturday off. I want you resting, laying, sleeping, for the next week if you want to play the week after next.”
“Ugh, fine. Thank you.” Emily wasn’t thrilled but not surprised at all.
“Is there anything I can do for her at home for the next week? And what about class?” Alison had questions of her own because she knew this would be a task within itself to keep Emily from being active even if it was just for a week.
“Keep her resting. I know that will be difficult as it is. No class. I’ll email your professors for you so they hear it from me. Just write me your class schedule and professors for me.” Dr. Andrews walked out of the room to set up for the x-ray and had a nurse come take it. The results would come quick. Dr. Andrew’s came back in about 15 minutes later to let them know Emily’s ribs were only heavily bruised with no fractures or breaks.
“So who did it?”
“Pardon?”
“Emily, who tackled you? You know I’ll have to speak with your coaches too.”
“I know... um, could we talk to them together?” Emily started to wring her hands, she was anxious.
“Yes, I can call them into my office right now if you’d like.”
“Sure. It was Derek Mendez.”
“Your second string?” The brunette nodded. They had moved from the exam table and went into Dr. Andrews’ office space to talk. Ali stood behind Emily to rub her shoulders a bit. She could see how nervous she was to speak to her coaches. Her girlfriend did not like disappointing anyone let alone miss playing time especially to someone like Derek. But this conversation was important to have with her coaches.
“Actually, could you make a call to the cheer office too?”
“Ali…?”
“They should know that Derek had been harassing me too. My coach needs to know.” Her coach would want to go after Derek herself and she hadn’t thought to even say anything to her either because she’d been so wrapped up in Emily’s injury. But this was about her too. Dr. Andrews had summoned all the head coaches into her office to have this conversation.
Coach Bryan and Coach Gaby arrived and they knocked on the office door to ask for permission to enter. When given the go ahead, both coaches entered and were confused at having both of their team captain’s together in the doctor’s office. Both athletes had waved at their coaches while not saying just yet.
“Thank you for both coming in right now but we have some serious matters to discuss that happen to involve both of your team captains and another football player.” Dr. Andrews figured she’d have to mediate this conversation and keep this a safe and calm space.
“Ali, what’s going on?” Coach Gaby looked heavily concerned.
“Saturday night, we had a victory party after the competition at the football house. Derek Mendez had put his hands on me without my consent. Now I had told him no multiple times and unfortunately had to make him take his hands off me by using some self-defense techniques.” Emily placed her hard onto top of Ali’s that were still on her shoulders. “He’s made quite a few comments to Emily and myself about us as a couple. I wanted to let you know because if he so much as does anything else to Emily or I, I will be pressing charges.”
“Alison, I’m so sorry that one of my players had the audacity to do this. He will be taken cared of.” Coach Bryan did not tolerate this type of behavior.
“Uhh Coach?” Emily spoke out. “After the scrimmage yesterday, I hung back a bit to talk with Lucas and pick up ya know.” He turned to her giving her his undivided attention. “Derek came out of nowhere and tackled me into the bleachers. He got me pretty good.”
“That’s why I called you, Coach Bryan. I advise that Emily doesn’t train, practice, or play this week. That means she’ll have to miss this Saturday’s game. Sorry Coach.”
“Okay. Done.” Coach Bryan never went against doctor’s order and would never put his player in danger for a game. “Emily, who do you think can take your start?”
The QB thought hard because her third string quarterback was a freshman and in no way ready especially with the team they’d be playing this weekend. Then an idea dawned on Emily. She turned her head around and stared into Ali’s eyes and decided to run with it. She didn’t think her coach would be too thrilled with the idea but she would give it a shot.
“Let Derek start.”
“What?!” Ali shrieked and whipped her head around and looked at her girlfriend like she has two heads coming out of that gorgeous body. Everyone in the office looked at Emily perplexed at the suggestion.
“Think about it? He has been doing all this because he thinks he is a better player than I am and thinks he’s ready to take on the big dogs and be the leader. I know he’s not ready, this team will eat him up, let them knock him down a peg. Our team has some of the best runners in the country, let them run their game when he fails to get the job done.” Emily spoke confidently. Coach Bryan gave her a hard stare thinking about this decision.
“Emily, I don’t want to reward his despicable behavior. Honestly, I should have him off the team for what he did to the both of you.”
“I understand sir. It was just a suggestion but he’s a typical macho guy who thinks he’s above all else. His mindset is like this because no one’s ever challenged him until now.”
“Let me discuss this with the other coaches but I respect this decision as my captain. I know you know this team as well as I do.” Coach Bryan and Coach Gaby spoke to Emily and Alison a bit more with how they wanted to handle the situation but they were supportive of their captains.
They’d left the athletic training wing to head back home. Alison had some things to prepare around the house so Emily wouldn’t have to strain herself much staying at home this week. She anticipated how much of a nightmare trying to house Emily would be. Emily pouted but understood on the way home. She hoped her coach would take her advice because she knew Derek didn’t have a chance. He showed her that at today’s scrimmage and the Rambler’s were a difficult team to beat as it was.
Xxx
Just as suspected it was quite difficult to keep Emily home and relaxing but she had to give her girl credit. The QB did in fact stay home for the most part except during practices. She stood on the sidelines and helped coach her team because she knew that Saturday’s game they’d have to fight for that win.
Coach Bryan had taken her advice and told Derek he could start but he had some serious team disciplinary action after Saturday’s game. The second string did not give a single care in the world because he thought things were going his way finally. He was going to show the whole university that he was the rightful starter and not Emily.
The week came and went and every day that Emily spent resting her body the better her ribs started to feel. She wouldn’t admit it to anyone but the mandatory rest had been incredible for her. Emily never really gave herself much of a break especially when she was a pre-med student and a student athlete. She caught herself up on her lectures, notes, and studying while she was stuck in the apartment all day while Ali was gone and she also got herself ahead. The QB hoped she’d be able to keep up with that for the rest of the season.
It was Saturday morning and the couple were getting ready to head to the stadium together. Alison wasn’t thrilled to be cheering for the guy who’d hurt her girl but she had a job to do. But it was quite odd for Alison to see Emily excited for today.
“Babe, he’s gonna choke. I’m speaking it into existence but I also know guys like him. He’ll do okay the first quarter or so but once the hammer comes down, he’s not going to be able to produce anything.”
“This is why you’re excited to watch today, isn’t it? Because you’re gonna have your big I told you so moment.” The blonde pieced together.
“You know me better than anyone else.” Emily pressed her lips to Alison’s cheek.
“How are you feeling today?” Alison sat at their vanity putting her game day make up on and fixing her hair while Emily steamed her cheer uniform for her.
“I feel good. I haven’t had to take any of the painkillers to dull any ache since about Thursday night. Laughing doesn’t hurt. Twisting is still a little sore but not achy anymore.” Emily was so excited because she was already itching to get back to the game she loved.
“That’s great to hear, baby. You look like you’re moving around at like 90%”
Once Emily finished steaming Alison’s uniform she walked into their closet to grab her outfit for the day. The head cheerleader finished up her face and hair then slipped into her uniform quickly. The weather was a bit chilly today so she put her warm-ups over her uniform and grabbed her cheer jacket.
Alison was running around their room making sure she had everything she needed for the day. They probably wouldn’t be back home until tonight since the game starts at 1. When Alison looked up, her breath was knocked out of her lungs. The outfit wasn’t new by any means but it always heated up Alison’s body from head to toe. Emily was dressed in her cropped navy blue dress pants, a crispy white button up with a few of the top buttons undone, her brown wingtip shoes, and her navy blue blazer jacket. The brunette topped off her outfit with a gold chain with the letter “A” around her neck. Dark long locks were slightly curled and were hanging over her shoulders. It was quite the dapper look but she still looked sexy as hell. Emily rarely wore makeup but today she’d put on a light face and added mascara to add volume to her lashes which was all she needed.
The cheerleader was outright checking her out at this point.
“What? Do I look okay?” The QB asked turning to look into the mirror and twirling a bit to see if she was missing anything.
“Okay? Baby, you look stunning. Are you sure we have to go to the game? Can we just get naked instead?”
“Hey, you’re the one who has put the breaks on us getting it on all week. I’ve tried and now you want to?!” Emily chuckled at the dazed looked her girlfriend was giving her. Alison was grumbling as she grabbed her belongings. As captain and not playing, she figured she’d look her best today while being on the sideline.
“Let’s get going grumpy. Maybe tonight you can take me out of this outfit?” Alison nodded eagerly and gave a short passionate kiss on her girl’s lips.
Xxx
Game time.
The stadium was packed. It was a cooler fall day and everyone was on some other level because today provided the perfect tailgating weather. Emily was on the field watching the boys warm up while she waited for the captains to be called up for the coin toss. Everyone looked in good shape and Derek was walking around cockier than usual.
The Georgia Ramblers won the coin toss and called to receive the kick first. That meant that their defense would have to try to hold them down long enough during the first set of first downs to keep them from scoring too quickly. Once that clock started, Emily kept a headset on to listen from the pressbox what she wasn’t already seeing on the field herself.
Coach Bryan had a pretty aggressive game plan for this game specifically but we didn’t know what Georgia was going to do but from what the captain could see it would be to hit hard and run. Their quarterback was new but was pretty decent from what she could remember from her reports.
Derek had run a few good plays and threw down field a few times to move the Titans into the red zone to score their first touchdown. He was pretty proud of himself and had the confidence to win this game. But then the Ramblers had come back pretty hard at the end of the first quarter to score their own touchdown and took the two point conversion.
7 to 8
Alison was on the sideline calling cheer after cheer as the game ticked on. She could see Emily pacing the sideline with the headset on. It was hot to see her in coaching mode. But from what she could see the game was going back and forth a lot. Going into the second quarter the Ramblers had been able to kick in a few field goals giving them the lead. The Titan’s defense did their job in keeping the Ramblers from getting too close into the red zone to score.
7 to 14
“Mendez! Pitch it to Tim and let him run!” Coach Bryan called for this play hoping it would give them a chance to score or get into the red zone.
Derek called for the ball to be hiked and he was stuck in the pocket. He tried to get out and still tried to pitch the ball to Tim just for one of the defensive lineman from Georgia knocked the ball out of his hands. The ball went loose as a fumble and Georgia had recovered the ball. Emily yelled for the offensive linemen to try to recover the ball. She could see from a mile away that Derek wasn’t going to be able to get out of the pocket and he should have just thrown the ball a short distance to whoever was open in front of him instead of pitching the ball.
The D-line went onto the field to switch out and try to hold down their offense and run the clock out for half time.
“Boy when you get stuck in the pocket, run the ball, throw it short, or take a long throw. Someone was open. Think boy!” The Offensive Coach looked red in the face.
7 to 21
The Ramblers had managed to score another touchdown giving them a bigger lead with the extra point. Alison cringed as her team looked like they were really struggling to make any sort of play without Emily on the field.
“Mendez, have Caleb or Tim run the ball.” That’s all Coach Bryan had ordered for. He didn’t trust Derek’s instincts to make calls himself or to throw down field.
Derek clenched his fists while putting his helmet back on to run back onto the field. He had this game in the bag, what the fuck was going on. Emily watched calling for plays that would get Caleb enough room to run on the sideline and take off. Derek managed to move them two first downs. It was a slow process and it would tire out the team faster but it was progress.
The second string hiked the ball and dropped back out of the pocket and searched for Tim or Caleb. He saw Tim open way down the field and decided to hail Mary. Emily watched the ball fly out of his hands and knew it was going to fall short and would give the other team a chance to intercept the ball or block Tim from being able to catch it without a flag. Tim had to stop running forward down field to cover the ground because the ball wasn’t coming far enough. But his defender was closer to it so when Tim jumped above to try to snag it, they both knocked it out of bounds leaving RU with not enough downs to try again. The clock struck 0 for the first half.
Alison’s team did a new routine on the field which wowed the crowd as per usual. She’d given the team a break for the rest of the half for the marching bands performance.
“Do you think they’ll win the game today?” Mona asked.
“Not without Em on the field. For all the big talk Derek gives, he’s not doing too hot right now. He can’t even get the ball to my man to run.” Alison looked confused at Hanna.
“What?! I don’t know technical terms but I know what’s supposed to happen.” Hanna and Ali laughed.
“All I know is my girlfriend is going to be pissed if he loses their winning streak today.”
Ali hung out with the girls while they sat on their side of the field during all the performances.
In the team locker room, Coach Bryan was drilling the team at this point. He was beyond frustrated but kept calm about it. The O-line and D-line coaches didn’t hold back on letting them know that the D-line was tired holding the team up. Emily gave a pep-talk trying to hype them back up. When Derek stepped up to talk, all he did was blame everybody else for mistakes he could have prevented.
“Mendez, cut the crap son. You have to own up to your own mistakes. A true leader looks to himself and uplifts others to reach a common goal.” Coach Bryan cut him off. “My receivers, be prepared to run this half. It’s the only game we’ve got the Ramblers don’t have. Let’s do our job and get this done.”
The team had been dismissed but Emily kept staring at her uniform. She couldn’t stand watching her team go down like this. They were better than this but it had been her idea to let Derek take this start.
The third quarter had started with some high hopes. Caleb had run a route through the middle of Georgia’s d-line and ran into the endzone for 75+ yards. Hanna screamed her head off at watching her man score a touchdown himself.
14 to 21
But that hope quickly diminished when Derek kept making bad throws and bad decisions on the field. The coaches knew the true intention of this game but it wasn’t less frustrating. The Ramblers just took field goals when they could. They had the best kicker in the country on their team. They’d been expecting Emily to be the starting QB so they didn’t think they’d be this far ahead at this point of the game.
14 to 30
Surprisingly this was starting to be a pretty high scoring game. Alison kept watching Emily and could see how irritated she was getting. During a timeout Emily ran to her side of the field.
“Em, what are you doing?” The cheer team stared in confusion around them.
“Let me play.”
“What?” Alison was confused. “You know you can’t.”
“I’m fine. I’m at 90%. My boys can protect me. I’m only going to throw.”
“Em…”
“If you tell me no, I won’t but look at my team.” Emily was begging and her girlfriend could see it.
“Don’t you dare get fucking hurt. I want Toby.” The QB smiled the brightest smile and ran back to her team.
Emily ran to Coach Bryan speaking to him after their timeout and all he did was nod his head. The captain ran into the locker room and changed into her gear and jersey as quickly as she could. Emily had half a mind to at least be worried about her injuries but she knew she could close out this game. A few quick long throws, d-line hold it down and pressure them the right way, and they could pull out a close game or win all together.
She ran out of the tunnel ready to go. Emily ran to Toby and told him he’d be playing on her o-line the rest of the game. He looked excited and was ready to make this come up. When it was the Titan’s next possession Coach Bryan had taken Derek out of the game and benched him.
“Are you fucking kidding me Coach?! She can’t even play!” Derek knew he’d choked and embarrassed himself on the one shot he had at taking the starting position from Emily.
“Watch your mouth boy. We gave you a shot. You couldn’t pull through. We’ll talk after this game Derek, now take a damn seat!” Coach Bryan turned around and gave Emily the thumbs up.
The crowd went wild seeing their favorite QB take the field and honestly so did Alison but she was full of nerves. Emily huddled up her boys.
“Hey fellas. Let’s turn this game around huh?” They all grunted their agreement. “Toby and o-line, your only job is to make sure no one comes through you to get to me. My ribs aren’t doing too hot because that asshat tackled me last week. I gave him a chance to rack himself a win but he choked. I’m here to fix this. Let’s fucking get this W!” Emily yelled and her team was pumped with rage for the idiot on the bench but they were ready.
Immediately Emily took some long throws to Tim and Caleb to get into the red zone. After each touchdown they’d score, she didn’t let the kickers take the extra point. The Titans needed the two point conversions to catch up. Emily was a bit slower but it didn’t matter because she had a gun on her.
32 to 30
At this point they were down to the last few minutes of the fourth quarter. Emily made sure to make smart decisions the rest of the game while cleaning up the mess Derek made on the field. The Ramblers hadn’t been as prepared as they thought they were to play against Emily. But she’d raged the fire in her team to finish out this game their way.
The captain had one last chance to really close this game out. She had about eighty yards to make another touchdown. But she wasn’t sure she had enough time to get that far but she would try. Caleb ran the ball really well breaking his own yardage record in a single conference game. They were in the last thirty seconds so Emily had to run out the clock and score.
The ball was hiked. Caleb was being defended really well no matter where he ran. Emily slipped out of the pocket running towards the right. She had some room to run so she gained some yards then she saw Tim cut into the middle wide open. She snapped the ball out of her wrist. The ball soared right into Tim’s hands as he jumped and landed both feet in bounds. Touchdown! Emily had let her kicker take the extra point but with only ten seconds left in the game the specials team would have to stop the Ramblers team from returning the ball. Toby had chased the player down and got him right around the forty yardine ending the game.
Derek stomped off the field and didn’t bother to go shake hands. He was already humiliated that he’d be shown up by Emily once again. He sat in the locker room waiting for the team meeting. Emily shook hands with the whole Georgia Rambler’s team like she did after every game. Her team had followed her lead and they’d protected her.
In the locker room, Coach Bryan had spoken to the team talking about how no matter who is on the field they must execute and they’d be practicing that in the coming weeks. Otherwise he’d left the other coaches to say what they needed to.
“Actually Coach?” Tim had spoken out.
“Yes son, go ahead.”
“I propose that Derek be kicked off this team effective immediately. As a Titan we don’t discriminate, we’re not homophobic, we don’t harass other people or each other, and we sure hell as don’t assault other teammates.” The boys had all been pissed as hell when Emily had spoken in their huddle. He wasn’t okay with playing with someone who thought it was okay to treat a teammate let alone a woman that way. The other players had agreed.
“Tim, that’s not your decision to make.” Coach Bryan spoke out.
“Well then we want you to know where this team stands. But please consider the type of message you’ll be sending to us players if you do decide to keep him after knowing what he did.” Tim sat down. The coaches had dismissed everyone and asked Derek to head to the coaches office with them after he got dressed.
Emily went to the stall to change into a pair of shorts and a tank top before she went into the other room to take a shower. Since the football stadium clearly hadn’t had a women’s locker room they’d converted one of the handicap stalls into Emily’s personal locker room for her to shower. Plus they figured they might have more female players down the line.
Derek knocked on the coaches door with his bag hiked up on his shoulder. He’d been given permission to come in and take a seat.
“Mendez, it’s come to my attention that you’ve assaulted your own teammate and sexually harassed a cheerleader at the last celebration party. Now I don’t let personal business affect my decisions but I don’t tolerate this type of behavior. It’s toxic masculinity that I won’t allow on this team. Effective immediately you are released from my team. Leave your equipment and jersey in your locker.”
“What the fuck?! You can’t kick me off the team over those fags!”
“That’s enough! This is no one's fault but your own. Learn from this.”
“You don’t even have proof that I did anything to Emily or Alison.” Derek stood up, red in the face with a vein popping out of his forehead. He couldn’t believe this was fucking happening to him. He wasn’t supposed to get kicked off another team. He was going to make someone pay for this.
“We never even used any names Derek. That tells me everything I need to know. You are dismissed.” Coach Bryan had the other coaches escort him out.
Xxx *TW - this is the beginning of the physical assault
Emily had just finished up in the shower when she heard a knock on the door. She’d let in the only person she knew it could be, it was Alison. She was back in her cheer warm ups.
“Do you want me to wait for you?”
“No baby, I need to go ice my ribs and go make sure I didn’t make anything worse so I’m gonna go to the athletic trainer.” Emily was trying to brush out her hair a bit.
“Okay, well I’ll meet you at home then? That way we can properly celebrate Captain Fields.” The blonde purred while running her hands over Emily’s towel covered body.
“Yes ma’am.” The brunette smirked back. Alison left Emily to finish up while she got a head start to go home and get their room ready for a long night.
Once the QB was finished, she changed into her warm ups also. It was a pair of Adidas joggers with her RU Titan’s hoodie. She slid on her matching warm up sneakers and went into the locker room to put her bag away. She didn’t need it until Monday anyways. Walking back into the locker room seemed empty which wasn’t a surprise. Most of the guys finished a lot faster than her and I’m sure her team were going straight to the football house for another celebration party tonight. The captain wasn’t interested in partying when she could be getting down and dirty with her head cheerleader all night.
Someone had been lurking in one of the stalls waiting to make their move. He slipped a mask on and a pair of football gloves over his hands. He could hear the one person he was after ruffling her things around. No one was around the locker room after games by this time. Most of the staff were still on the field, out by the busses or closing up concessions.
He stepped out of the stall and slowly walked along the wall to peak around the corner. Emily was still at her locker moving her equipment around so it would be ready when she returned. Her back was to this person which left her vulnerable at this moment. Next thing she knew someone had shoved into her own locker room making her fall to the floor.
Her attacker found this to be the perfect moment to land a few punches into Emily’s ribs where she was already injured.
“Fuck!” Emily yelled.
Her assailant needed to shut her up so he hit her square in the jaw in his full rage to shut her mouth. She could only grunt. Whoever was on top of her was double her size and muscular build and clearly was a man. He’d gotten off her making the QB thinking that he was done to only have a foot swing quickly into her back. He kept kicking her whole body as she tried to crawl away.
Emily was shocked at the surprise attack. She thought she’d been alone in the locker room at this time. The brunette immediately tried to get away from whoever had kicked her.
He was having none of that though. He dragged her by her hoodie and threw her at the wall. Once Emily had more of her bearings she swung back. Her right fist had connected with the side of this guy’s face making him stumble with her right hook. Emily wasn’t a kick boxer for nothing. She knew how to hold her own. He wasn’t expecting her swing to be so powerful. But now Emily was on her feet, she was a bit wobbly.
Emily’s vision wasn’t as clear as this guy had gotten quite a few hits on her before she could get on her feet. They exchanged blow for blow to the face and body. There was no way that they both weren’t bloody, bruised, and torn apart. The QB tried her best to keep her injured ribs away from this guy’s punches but it was taking a lot of effort on her end to throw punches back. Her hits had made her assailant stumble. She grabbed at his mask to try to see who was attacking her.
He’d grabbed her hand at his face and twisted her arm hard enough to slam her into the lockers once more. But it was enough for Emily to yank the mask up enough and see just a portion of his face.
Her assailant overpowers her and manages to get on top of Emily to grab at the collar of her warm ups to lift her off the ground and bash the back of her skull onto the floor. Each time her head hit the floor black spots starting taking up her vision. The brunette tried using her legs to get out from under him but he’d shifted a bit to put pressure into her already bruised ribs.
“Motherfucker!” She yelled at the pain but every part of her hurt.
He picked her up and helped her stand.
“Fight back you bitch.” Emily spit out the blood that was pooling in her mouth. She couldn’t really talk. “You’re just so perfect, aren’t you?!” He spoke with so much rage.
“What the fuck do you want? You have no balls for attacking me from behind and with a mask. A real man would have owned up to it at least.” Emily was not giving this guy the satisfaction of thinking he’d hurt her even though she knew she looked bad.
“Fuck you! Doesn’t matter. You fucked everything up.” He kicked right into her stomach and Emily fell to her knees. The breath was knocked out of her when a heavy boot stomped into her back leaving her face down. The QB couldn’t take much more, the pain was taking over and all she wanted was Alison.
“You’re going to pay you dyke!” Emily laid still as he kept assaulting her. Within minutes of taking the blows to her back and sides her body was protecting her and made her faint. Her assailant could see she was unconscious and he was starting to get tired. They’d been at it for about thirty minutes and he needed to get out of sight if he didn’t want to get caught.
He looked down at the bloody quarterback and laughed as he’d grabbed his belongings and left the locker room.
Xxx End of physical assault.
Lucas was always the last one at the stadium wrapping up interviews with coaches and players for the sports broadcasting program. It helped that he was the team manager so he could get easy access without having to deal with the coaches and players’ hesitation to talk. They all knew him.
He’d been looking at his ipad pretty intensely that he didn’t notice that Derek had bumped into him pretty harshly.
“Watch where you’re going!” Lucas looked up showing his hands up in surrender as an apology and saw Derek’s disheveled appearance but shrugged it off. He walked towards the locker room to grab his stuff before heading out for the night but wasn’t expecting the sight in front of him.
“Oh my god Emily!” He ran right to her when she made no movements. Pale fingers pressed into her carotid to feel for a pulse but to him it was barely there. He didn’t know what to do but he tried to turn her over onto her back instead of being face down. He gasped at how badly she’d been attacked. Lucas shook her shoulder a bit and still nothing.
He could only think of two things to do but first he ran down the coaches office where he knew they would still be there.
“Lucas?”
“Coach Bryan! You have to call 911. E-e-emily’s hurt.” He didn’t even say anything else as he ran back to her. The coaches followed suit and ran with him. Coach Bryan made the call right away but had asked they come through the back entrance without their sirens because it would become a high profile story in this community quickly.
“Lucas, please call Alison. Tell her I will meet her at Rosewood General.” The coaches said nothing as they tried to keep calm but they stared at their wrecked locker room, their beloved player assaulted and unconscious, and the nasty words spray painted across the walls and lockers. This was a hate crime, they’d have to also call the police.
The team manager shakily made the dreadful phone call and was instructed to go home and be silent about this whole thing.
Xxx
Alison was currently stepping out of the shower when her phone had rang. She paid it no mind as she tried to wring her hair out and dry her body off to slip on her robe. As excited as she was to celebrate with Emily she didn’t want to stink from cheering tonight. The shower had been refreshing as the heat of the water cascading on her had relaxed her muscles and washed away the sweat that stuck to her skin.
The default ringer on her phone kept going off non-stop and it was starting to annoy her. She usually didn’t answer her phone Friday or Saturday nights after a game unless it was Emily or the girls but seeing as her girlfriend’s ringtone isn’t what was playing it wouldn’t be her ringing. She looked at the unfamiliar Pennsylvania number and watched it fade from the screen. The notification of missing four missed calls from the same number was odd to the blonde. Within the next few seconds the phone once again started blasting.
Wearily answering the phone, she swiped on her screen and brought the receiver to her ear. “Hello?”
“Alison?” a man’s voice travels through the receiver.
“Uh, who is asking?”
“Sorry, it’s Lucas. The football team manager.” Lucas nervously answers.
“Okay…”
“It’s Emily.” was all he’d said but it was enough to have the head cheerleader on high alert.
“What?” Alison’s grip on her phone doubles as she realizes the weariness in his voice makes this a bad phone call.
“You need to go to Rosewood General as soon as you can. Coach Bryan will meet you there.” Alison’s stomach drops to her feet and can barely register what this kid was telling her on the phone right now.
“Is she okay?” She heard Lucas cough lightly like he was trying to hold his emotions in check.
“Um I’m so sorry Alison but she’s not doing okay. Get there. Hurry!” Lucas doesn’t even say much else until he hangs up. Alison snaps back into action when her brain catches up with her. She throws on any clothes she finds laying around and calls the girls to pick her up and take her to the hospital. She didn’t know what the hell was going on but all she knew was Emily needed her.