“Actually, why don’t you tell usallwhat the job of a wide midfielder is.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Turn around,” he explains slowly and clearly, again as if to a child. “And in a very clear and loud voice, explain to the whole team what you think a wide midfielder does.”
I feel things happening inside my body then. Loud things, trembly things. All because he’s trying to humiliate me.
All because he’s standing so close to me while doing it that I can smell the musk of his skin.
Fisting my hands, I take a deep breath and purse my lips. Under his intense scrutiny, I turn around and say, “As a wide midfielder, my job is to cover the field at the center. Thatincludes stealing the ball from the opposite team, passing it to the attackers and forwards of my team. Hopefully, so they’ll make goals.”
I don’t know how the air can be so silent with so many people present, but it is. No one talks or whispers or murmurs. Everyone is simply waiting for things to unfold.
And everyone jumps, including me, when Arrow speaks. “Pass the ball and help forwards make the goal.” I look away from the crowd and focus on him and his murmured voice. “Tell me, Salem, did you pass the ball to your forwards even once in the game?”
No.
I didn’t.
My cheeks burn as he keeps staring down at me with harsh eyes. My whole body burns like he just lit fire to my soccer cleats.
But he’s right.
I did commit the crime he’s accusing me of.
I did not pass the ball.
Once I took possession of it, I didn’t let it go. I took all the shots myself. If I wasn’t open to take the shot, I dribbled and ran with the ball until I could. It was pure luck that the player from the opposite team didn’t steal the ball from me and make the goal herself.
Swallowing again, I shake my head. “No.”
“No, what?” he bites out and I flinch.
It burns me even more, his question, hishint, but I understand. “No, Coach.”
He narrows his eyes for a second as if he’s absorbing it too, me calling him Coach. It makes him even more menacing, meaner.
“Well, as your coach, allow me to educate you on the first rule of soccer. Soccer is a team sport. Meaning, you play as ateam. Meaning, you don’t steal your teammate’s play. You don’tlet your forwards run up and down the field, looking like fools. Especially when they’re trying to communicate with you, trying to tell you that they have a better chance of scoring if you just pass the ball. So next time, do your job, follow the rules and pass the fucking ball.”
Chapter Six
The Broken Arrow
Perfection.
Greatness. Being at the top. Being the best.
Those are the things that I grew up with.
Those are the things that have been drilled into my head ever since I was a kid and I’d see my soccer legend of a father, Atticus Carlisle, play.
Mostly on the television screen because he passed away when I was seven.
And how do you become the best? How do you achieve greatness and perfection?
You do it by working hard, harder than the others. You do it by being focused. You do it by making sacrifices that others won’t.
You do it by following the rules.
