Gimme Everything You Got - Iva-Marie Palmer Page 0,28
it halfway to the playground, we could see some of the other girls just getting to the middle of the field for the third time.
“Keep going,” Bobby yelled at the stragglers.
I kept running because I was angry at him. It was the only explanation because really, with each suicide, I thought, Why are we even doing this? I had joined the team for him, didn’t he get that? But all he did was ignore me, and now he was treating me and everyone else like garbage because he wanted us to take this seriously. Nobody at school took us seriously, and probably no one did at the park district. He was lucky to even have a team, to have us.
He was lucky to have me.
Candace stopped in the middle of the field, clutching her side. She was breathing heavily, and she looked like she was going to puke. Gritting her teeth, she glared at Bobby.
“We can’t do this,” she hollered at him. “We’re just girls!”
Bobby started walking toward her. The three Lisas stopped running, and the rest of us started to slow down, like Candace was a car crash and we wanted a better look.
“What did you say?” Bobby asked her. He narrowed his eyes.
“I said, we can’t do this.”
Bobby blew his whistle and held up a hand for us to stop, even though most of us already had. If his expression hadn’t been so angry, I’d have been jealous at how Candace had his full attention. “No. The second part.”
Candace paused, like she knew this was bad but had no other choice. She took a deep breath in and let it out. “I said, we’re just girls,” Candace repeated, in a whisper.
Bobby bent his chin to his chest and rubbed his forehead. It was completely quiet.
We all looked at Candace like she’d saved us. But then Bobby shook his head and raised his gaze to her and then to all of us. His lips were set in a hard line as he breathed through his nose.
He spoke softly, but each of his words was injected with fury. “I don’t want to hear you’re just anything. You’re athletes. Do you hear me?”
I couldn’t see Michael Webster or my dad thinking soccer was cute if they could have seen how scary Bobby was right then. We were all standing petrified like we were in a game of freeze tag with nobody “it,” but each of us managed to nod.
He blew his whistle again. “Now run.”
No one left practice right then, but only because we were too terrified. We ran.
Every time we got back to the start, he told us to go again. Me, Tina, and Wendy were in front most of the way, but my side ached and I pinched it as I ran. Behind us, Sharon and Candace and the rest of the team were hobbling. Finally, some of the girls quit. Candace collapsed onto the ground. Dana made an awful death-gag sound and staggered off the field. Even Tina grabbed for a bench on one of our returns and put her head down, breathing deep, before starting again.
I kept running. After a few more sprints, with Bobby yelling, “Again!” I glanced back and saw only Wendy and Tina still running, while everyone else looked like bodies on a battlefield. But if Bobby didn’t tell me to stop, then I was going to keep going. I didn’t know if I ever wanted to see him again after today, but I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he beat me.
Finally, the only footsteps I heard were my own. The inside of my chest felt like it had been scorched and I was having trouble pumping my arms. It was going to be dark soon. Bobby held up his hands and said, “You’re done.”
Tina extended her arm for me to grab and I almost missed it. We flopped down in the grass. Wendy, I noticed, was sprawled on the ground like she’d jumped from a high building.
Bobby didn’t explain himself or apologize. “Get some water if you need it.”
We formed a line behind the jug, silent except for our panting, as if we all knew better than to speak.
When we each had a paper cup and were gulping thirstily, Bobby said, “Well, you all survived. ‘Just girls.’” He shook his head. “And I’m sure some of you will go home tonight and think, ‘Screw Coach McMann, I’m not running like that again, he’s not going to treat me