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“The ones of—“ there was a pause, “and Kulti.”
“What? No. What of?” the second voice asked.
There was another pause followed by “—was coming out of some building with him, and it shows them getting into his car.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s—“ pause “—for sure. I heard they had a meeting with Cordero and Gardner about it and that they didn’t deny it—“
I felt awkward, so, so awkward. Even after I made myself stop listening to what they were saying, I still felt aggravated. It had already begun, the rumors and the stretched truths. The urge to turn around and tell them that wasn’t exactly how it’d gone was overwhelming, but I had to practice what I preached.
I hadn’t done anything.
The only problem was that the longer practice went on, the more I felt the weight of multiple stares on me. I overheard a few of the whispers. It wasn’t every girl, but it was enough of my teammates to make me feel dirty,
I knew that I hadn’t done anything to be embarrassed about and Kulti knew that we hadn’t, so it shouldn’t matter what everyone else thought.
If I reminded myself of it enough, it was easier to ignore the girls that gave me funny looks.
Besides the looks and the whispers, practice went okay. The last game before our week off, on the other hand, didn’t go so well. We lost in overtime. The locker room was filled with disappointment afterward. It wasn’t until the coaching staff had left and I’d started changing, intent on showering once I got back to my place, that Jenny saddled up next to me on our way out.
The expression on her face prepared me for what was going to come out of her mouth. “Sal, I didn’t want to say anything but some of the girls are talking about you.”
I gave her a smile over my shoulder that I wasn’t totally feeling. “I know.”
That didn’t make her look any less concerned.
“It’s fine, Jen. I promise. I haven’t done anything I shouldn’t have, and I’m not going to run around defending myself.”
“I know.” Her dark almond-shaped eyes were long. “I don’t like hearing them say things about you.”
My neck got all hot. “Me neither. It doesn’t matter though.” I looked my friend in the face, understanding that she really did believe me when I said I hadn’t done anything with the German. At least someone knew better. “You know I didn’t and I know, and I’m okay with that.”
Jenny pressed her lips together and nodded stiffly. “If there’s anything I can do—“
“Don’t worry about it, really. There’s nothing to get mixed up in. They’ll get over it.” Or they wouldn’t. Blah. But I wasn’t about to let people who would so easily talk about me behind my back get me down.
And wasn’t that kind of shitty? I would have done just about anything for the girls on the team, even if it was someone I wasn’t close to. Yet here they were, gossiping like I hadn’t worked with most of them, trying to help them improve, or trying to motivate everyone when we needed it. On top of that, someone within that group was the person that had thrown me under the bus with Cordero weeks ago.
Whatever.Whatever. I’d been through this before, but this time I wasn’t going to let guilt get the best of me. I had nothing to feel guilty about.
My friend made a face before slipping an arm over my shoulder as we walked. “I know who’s gotten a nose job,” she offered. “I also know who has a yeast infection. What you do with that is up to you.”
I started laughing and hugged her back. “That’s all right, but thanks anyway.”
Jenny eventually dropped her arm as we got out to the parking lot. Her face still held worried lines at her mouth but she changed the subject. “Are you still going home for the break?”
“Yeah, it’s my dad’s birthday and I haven’t been back in a while. You?”
She undid her high ponytail and let her long, black hair fall down her shoulders. “I’m leaving tomorrow morning. We have a couple of exhibition games coming up in a few days. I won’t be back for almost two weeks.” The ‘we’ she was referring to was the national team.
I was a supporter of Jenny and Harlow, and I always rooted for them. But for once in a long time, I felt a twinge of something like grief.
“Fun,” I told her, only half-meaning it. I mustered up some enthusiasm for the person that was always supportive of me. “I’ll make sure Harlow tells Amber I said hi,” I said with an evil smile that made Jenny snort.
“You’re bad.”
I smacked her butt. “Only when I need to be.”
