Theatre Geek - (R.B.) - Chapter 20: Chapter 20

"YOU'VE GOT to be fucking kidding me."
"Language!" Nini chided Fabian as he sat down his cup loudly on the table, causing the nearby plates to clatter. His expression was incredulous as he stared across the table at Julia, who'd just stopped at the cafeteria table where the boys were seated to inform them that the soccer practice that afternoon would not be cancelled.
"Believe me, I had a similar reaction," Julia muttered, hiking her bag higher up her shoulders. "Be there or get kicked off the team."
EJ was starting to look relieved that he wasn't on the team, while Alec sighed in defeat. "Alright. Thanks."
Fabian, on the other hand, still looked completely outraged. "But--"
"Ms. Crawford's words, not mine," she cut him off, shaking her head helplessly.
"Geez, no wonder she's still single."
Opposite him, Aaron shrugged nonchalantly, spooning some rice into his mouth. "If I were coach, I'd have done the same thing."
They all stared at him.
"What?" He asked, raising his eyebrows questioningly. "Something on my face?"
"Are you mental?" Fabian burst out, pointing out towards the window, which displayed exactly what the sky outside looked like at the exact moment. It was currently swirling in a dark, ashy grey color, with thick, almost opaque clouds floating about. Thunder rolled and boomed so loud that they could barely hear each other, and every now and then, there was a bright flash of lightning.
"It's raining enough to fill up fifty Pacific Oceans, plus a hundred bathtubs, and you think it's okay to let us run around in that?" He spluttered, looking at Aaron as if he'd just grown seven heads.
"Well, yeah," the currently un-spectacled boy frowned, turning to Julia, who was still standing there. "Don't you?"
"Er--no. Sorry, but I'm not really crazy..."
Aaron smirked, folding his arms and leaning back smugly. "There's a reason I'm captain. Take notes, boys."
She hid back rolling her eyes. "Cocky much?"
He seemed pleased (albeit a little taken back) that she chose to speak to him now, instead of awkwardly shying away like usual, and his smirk widened. "Just a bit, nothing to deny."
"Right," she muttered under her breath, glancing sharply at Nini, who was trying her best to hide a smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've to go--"
"Oh, leaving us so soon? But you just got here," Aaron said disappointedly, then pointed down to the empty seat opposite him. "You could at least stay and have some lunch."
"Er, no thanks, I--"
"--would love to," Nini cut her off abruptly, taking the seat beside EJ and giving Julia a pointed stare. Julia bit her lip, recalling the conversation she'd had with Nini two nights ago. The brunette had definitely been right about one thing, avoiding Aaron wasn't going to help her figure anything out. So, with a sigh, she reluctantly plopped her things down on the bench and took a seat next to her best friend.
"So...how are club duties, Julia?" Alec asked casually in an attempt to start a conversation, due to the awkward silence that had been occurring.
She shrugged, swallowing a mouthful of her chicken sandwich. "Pretty good, I guess. Keeping him--" she gestured towards Aaron before continuing, "--out of trouble is probably the hardest part."
Aaron scoffed. Surely, he wasn't too much of a problem ever since he joined the school's newspaper. "Oh, come on. I'm not that bad. Don't act like you don't enjoy my helping hand."
"I wasn't acting."
"Ouch," Fabian remarked, snickering as Aaron elbowed him lightly. Julia sighed at the boys before her gaze drifted over to EJ and Nini, who were awkwardly making eye contact with each other. She smiled slightly. Getting them back together was her plan.
Just then, Kourtney breezed into the cafeteria, spotting her friends and making a beeline for them.
"Morning, girls," she greeted, her gaze flickering inquiringly at the soccer players. Fabian cleared his throat loudly.
"I'm obviously not a girl, Renée."
"Are you sure about that?" She retorted, giving him a disdainful look before dropping down on the seat next across from Julia. "Jules, please enlighten me as to why we're fraternising with them."
"I kind of wanted to, is all."
Normally, Nini avoided the three boys like the black plague, but because her boyfriend had grown a friendship with them, she too tagged along every little while.
"Hm, fair enough," Kourtney mused, shrugging before taking a sip from her water bottle, giving Fabian her frostiest stare over the rim of the bottle. He merely smirked in return.
"You know, Renée, I read somewhere that noirettes are the best kissers," he said casually, and she feigned a look of surprise.
"Really? I didn't know you could read."
"Oh, good," he remarked. "You remembered to take your bitch pills today."
"Well, I'm only a bitch because you're so unbelievably--"
"--unbelievably perfect. Yeah, I know."
"Ney!" Julia chided at the exact same time as Aaron intervened with a loud, "dude!" while nudging him in the ribs.
Both grudgingly fell silent, although still glaring at each other. Julia met Aaron's gazing across the table, giving him a small, yet grateful smile. He smiled back warmly, before flickering his eyes back down to his food, his cheeks tinged scarlet red.
"Alright, listen up, boys!" Aaron cleared his throat, the sound getting lost in the howling wind.
"Sorry, what'd you say?" Fabian yelled, pointing to the sky. "It's a little windy."
Aaron grimaced, repeating his earlier sentence with a much louder voice. "We're going to do some warm-up laps, then we'll practice some new techniques and discuss strategy!" He shouted, tugging his hood up. "Got it?"
The team gave each other blank looks, they'd only heard about half of what he said. Normally, he was a pretty great captain - firing up all the teammates so they could get things done diligently. That day, however, the unexpected practice had everyone confused and angered.
"Er--- sounds great!" The goalie, Mike MacDonald, gave him a convincing thumbs up. Aaron beamed, kicking a soccer ball in-between his legs.
"Good," he said. Like the flick of a switch, his previous intimidating, captain-like expression had returned, as he studied all of his teammates. "Ten laps around the diamond, come on! Last one to finish has to pack up the equipment!"
Without further ado, they all began to sprint around the field, as if they had gotten their determination back.
Aaron, naturally, was the first one to finish, with Alec coming in close second.
"Took you long enough, Travers," he said teasingly, yet there was a hint of seriousness in his tone.
"Not all of us can run through this disastrous weather," Alec retorted, wiping a trickle of water off his cheek. His blond hair was already dripping wet, even under the hood of his plastic raincoat.
They stood side-by-side, watching as the others finished soon after. When they were all done, pausing in front of their captain (and Alec also moving with the crowd), Aaron clapped his hands together loudly. The wind had seemed to die down a bit, so he only had to raise his voice slightly.
"So, here's the plan!" He started to assign all the teammates their tasks one by one, starting with the defence, and explaining to them what they had to do, before moving onto the offence and so forth. He kicked a couple of soccer balls into the middle of the field.
"Alright, guys! Do you remember that new passing technique I showed you at our last practice?" Without even waiting for confirmation, he continued, "Good. Partner up and practice that, and when you think you've mastered it, come see me and we'll start on scoring."
He rubbed his hands together to create friction, as the cold wind had taken yet another blow on him. "When you're all done, let's meet inside the gym to discuss strategies. Any questions?"
Fabian raised his hand slowly, smirking. "I've got one."
"Go ahead."
"Weren't we told as kids to not mess around when the weather's bad?"
The team began to laugh, nudging each other at the horrible said 'joke.'
Aaron rolled his eyes, not really amused. "Save the jokes for after practice, Fabian."
"Aye aye, captain."