Inevitably Yours

QUINN

“Mr. Ganbar gave me clipboards and score sheets for the whole weekend,” I told Tay and Becca as we met in the hallway after school on Friday. “He said that we would meet a girl there named Maddison Fronapple, that was in charge of us for the weekend.”

“I guess she is the senior stat girl?” Tay guessed. I shrugged, handing her one of the clipboards.

“She is supposed to tell us how the tournament works and what to do. We are just supposed to check in with the coach and ride the bus. Also, he said to sit in the front with the coaches, so we don’t distract the team,” I told them.

“And if the distraction is mutual,” Becca purred.

“Slut,” Tay teased her.

“Are you girls catching the bus?” Ricky asked, coming up from behind us. He had a duffel bag in his hand.

“Yea,” I said. “We’re coming.”

“Just three this weekend?” he asked. “For your first time?”

“No,” I told him. “Someone named Maddison is going to meet us there?”

“That b***h,” he sighed. “She knows what she is doing but don’t piss her off. She has an attitude problem.” He continued past us, heading out the door to where I assumed the bus was waiting.

“Why does this sound more and more fun as we go?” Tay asked sarcastically.

“Let’s just go before I change my mind,” Becca said. We all went outside to the waiting bus. The wrestlers were in line, getting their names checked off as they boarded. We lined up behind them.

“Good afternoon, ladies,” Coach Browne said. “I see we have three out of four. It will be a while before I learn all of your names.”

We all gave our names and then loaded onto the bus. Tay and I sat in one seat, and Becca across from us. I sat closest to the window and pulled out a book to read. Becca and Tay talked about something in their art class as the bus finished loading. When the bus finally pulled out of the school parking lot, my phone went off in my pocket.

MICHAEL“Ask Michael!” Sapphire suggested.

“Hold on, I have an idea,” I told them. I pulled my phone out and quickly texted Michael.

ME

| how do we know where and when they are wrestling?

MICHAEL“She isn’t very nice,” Becca linked.

“Not at all,” I agreed.

“Why is she even here? It seems like she is so bothered,” Tay added.

“Let’s just divide these up,” I said. We all figured out how to share the remaining six wrestlers that were competing. I was thankful we were only responsible for two people our first time around. I ended up with the smallest weight class at 103lbs and one of the biggest ones at 189lbs.

“Hey,” Ricky said, coming to sit next to me as he returned to the stands. “I see Maddison is here.”

“Uh, yea,” I said.

“Who did you get this week?” he asked, grabbing my clipboard from my hands. “Ah, Matt and Nick. Won’t be too hard. Nick’s will go fast; he’ll probably pin all his opponents in the first period.”

“He will?” I asked, astonished.

“Yea, he’s good,” Ricky said. “Do you know who these guys are?”

“Um, no, I don’t,” I answered.

“Okay,” he said, turning around to scan around where our whole team was sitting. He pointed first to one of the smallest guys. “That is Matt, Junior. and that,” he pointed to a large, muscly guy laying down on the bleacher, “is Nick. He looks scary but isn’t. Also, Junior.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“No problem. Matches start in the next hour, but there should only be one round tonight. Have fun,” he said, getting up. He headed further up the bleachers toward his teammates.

–

Becca, Tay, and I tried to stay together and help each other score our first matches. They didn’t seem to move as fast as in all the practice videos. I only ended up with one match to do as Nick’s first opponent did not make the weight limit.

We had to be at the school super early the following day to take the bus. My dad was late to pick me up, so Ricky offered me a ride home again. When he pulled into my driveway, he offered to get me in the morning too, but I politely declined.

When I got to the bus in the morning, Tay was waiting for me, but Becca hadn’t shown up yet. “Where is she?” I asked Tay.

“I don’t know,” she frowned. “If she doesn’t show up, we have to cover her, don’t we?”

“Yea,” I said. “Mr. Ganbar said it was super important that one of us was at every match.”

“I bet Madison won’t help either,” Tay sighed. “It wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be, but I am still afraid to mess up.”

“Me too,” I told her. We lined up to get on the bus, still waiting on Becca. When all the wrestlers and coaches were loaded, Coach Sacks asked where our last girl was. Tay tried to call her but got no answer.

“Sorry ladies, we can’t wait anymore,” he said.

“It’s okay,” I told her. “We got this.”

When we got to the tournament, there were so many more people than the night before. It was hard to sit in the bleachers with all the spectators that had come to watch their respective teams. Soon, the board started to populate with matches.

“Come on,” someone said next to me. I turned to find Matt. “I’m on deck.”

“Oh, thanks,” I said, grabbing my stuff. Tay waved goodbye, mouthing good luck at me.

“I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble for missing my matches, so I’ll keep an eye out for you,” Matt said as we descended the bleachers.

“That’s really nice,” I said. Madison came through the doors as we hit the bottom of the stairs.

“Oh, good,” she said, looking at me following Matt. “Just don’t f**k up. I don’t want to fix your mistakes this weekend.”

“You look especially bitchy today, Mads,” Matt snapped at her. She scowled at him. He grabbed my arm and pulled me away with him before she could say anything else. “Sorry,” he said. “None of us really like her.”

“That’s alright. She seems….” I trailed off.

“Horrid? Stuck up? Mean?” he offered. I laughed a little.

“I need to warm back up, just wait over here, and the coaches will be here shortly,” he said, leaving me by the side of the mat. I nodded as he went to get ready for his match.

“I have one in the other room simultaneously as one in this room. Can we swap papers?” Tay linked me. I looked over at her standing at the bottom of the bleachers across the mats.

“Yea, come quick,” I told her. She came over, and we traded papers. “Let’s keep an eye on the board for each other, and then we can make sure neither of us misses anything,” I said.

“Deal,” she said. “See you in a bit.”

After Matt’s first match of the day, I scored for Tay’s other wrestler and then went to the cafeteria to find the concession stand to get a drink. I tried to keep an eye on the board for any more matches, but some of them were moving pretty quickly. I went back into the gym to watch from there after getting my drink. I found a seat on the bottom row of the bleachers where I could read the schedule board.

“That’s weird. Shouldn’t Nick wrestle soon?” I thought. I scanned the board, trying to figure out what weight classes were currently up, but it was hard to tell. My phone chimed with a message.

MICHAEL“Tay, did Nick wrestle in the other room?” I linked.

“I don’t know,” she answered. “I was stuck in the bathroom. This she-wolf just got dumped by her boyfriend who turned 17, and her little posse was taking up the whole bathroom.”

“I missed his match. What do I do?” I asked her.

“I don’t know! That was the one thing we were told not to do!” I looked around panicked, trying to figure out how I was supposed to jump back in time. I looked up in the stands to where Nick was now sitting, contemplating asking him if he remembered how it went. He had a brooding scowl on his face that ignited fear in me; there was no way I was asking him.

“I’m so f****d,” I whispered. I tried to blink away the tears while searching for a solution.

“Why is Madison screaming at Coach Browne about stat girls not doing their job?” Ricky said, walking up to me.

“I missed Nick’s match! I was trying to find him on the board and wait for it. I didn’t know it was already happening! Now I missed it, and she’s mad,” I rushed out.

“Woah, Woah,” he said. “Hold on. It’s fixable.”

“It is?” I gasped.

“Yea, there is no reason to be such a b***h about it. Come on,” he said, motioning for me to follow. Ricky led me around the mats and to the corner where tables were set up with computers on each one. There were about seven people in the little corner, all working.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” Ricky said to the nearest one to us. She looked up at us, confused.

“I can’t tell you when your next match is, son,” she answered him. “You’ll have to check the posted brackets and wait for it to come up.”

“No, no,” he said. “This is one of the stat girls for our team. She’s brand new and missed one of our teammates. I was wondering if you could help her and pull up the match? She’s trying really hard, and this is her first time.”Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.

The older woman’s eyes moved to me. She smiled softly. “I remember when I went to my first tournament. My brother was a few grades above me, and I thought it would be a cakewalk. Boy, was I wrong. Alright, I can do it quickly and just this once. Don’t miss anymore, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am! Thank you!” I squeaked. She smiled as she motioned for me to hand her my clipboard. She looked up something on her computer, scribbled the score onto my page, and handed it back.

“Don’t give up. The first one is the scariest. You’ll love the sport by the end of the season,” she smiled. Ricky pulled me away, and we headed back toward the bleachers.

“Just try to pay a little closer attention. Wrestlers like Matt will ensure their girl is there, but some are so focused on the match that they don’t even make sure they have a coach, okay?” Ricky said gently.

“I don’t get why you’re being so nice. I mean, yea, we have a mutual friend, but we don’t know each other. Madison yelling at me has nothing to do with you,” I told him.

“Michael was my best friend. He would have been the best Alpha the pack ever saw if he could learn to keep it to one girl. You might have been the one that changed it. Either way, you seem cool, and Madison sucks. I’d rather the nice girls stick around than those like her,” he shrugged. “Just watch the board and keep your nose out of trouble.”

I nodded my head. He pointed behind me; I turned to see Matt coming toward me.

“I got five minutes; let’s go,” Matt said.