Chapter Text
Luz raced behind the school toward the soccer pitch — she couldn’t be late for tryouts, but new constructions blocked her usual route to the motorbike parking spots, and her friends group-called her to wish her good luck.
Catching her breath, she stopped at the table at the entrance of the pitch and introduced herself to the coach who was waiting for the students to sign in.
“Ah yes, Luz Noceda, now everyone is here.”
Luz rubbed the back of her neck, cheeky smile on her lips. “Yes. Sorry.”
The coach chuckled. “You’re fine. I’m the Coach, Eda Clawthorne, but call me Coach Eda. Here’s your bib, number 31, it’s based on the alphabetical position of your name on the list. Now go warm up, we’re starting soon.”
“Thanks. Though can my panic-sprint here count as part of the warm up?”
Coach Eda blinked. Then grinned. “Get going.”
Around sixty students were spread out across the pitch. Amity finished her thorough warm-up and was drinking from her water bottle. She glanced at Coach Eda to see whether she was still there waiting for the final people to arrive, already annoyed at the person who would barely make it on time for the first day of tryouts, when her eyes landed on Luz leaving the table. Amity’s eyebrow raised immediately. She narrowed her eyes.
What the hell is Noceda doing here?
Luz walked toward the side of the pitch to put her things down. Usually, players would equip their soccer gear upon arriving, but she had learned to anticipate the potential of being late so she had left her house already geared up. She jogged for a bit then stretched until Coach Eda called everyone over to her. A couple of people that recognized Luz smiled at her, prompting her to smile back. The dozens of students all gathered in front of the coach and the assistant coach.
“Welcome, students, to this year’s soccer tryouts. I see a lot of familiar faces, and many new faces too.” She winked at the crowd. “You know me as Coach Eda, and…” She pointed at the young man next to her.
He waved at the students with a wonky smile. “Hi, I’m Coach Steve.”
She continued, “Today, we’re going to do some fitness tests and drills to assess your skills. Tomorrow, we’ll work on the more technical and position-specific drills, and test your teamwork. On the last day, we’ll focus on practice matches, to assess your overall performances when playing in a full team. This will determine the final rosters for the Varsity and Junior Varsity teams, eighteen players in each. Are you all ready to start?”
A collective “Yes!” with head nods confirmed everyone’s readiness. Luz buzzed in anticipation. Coach Eda went into detail about the specifics of the fitness tests and the drills, and once everything was clear, the students started spreading out across the pitch to where various cones were set up for the different exercises. There were exactly 58 students so the first 29 were to stay with Coach Eda, and the rest to follow Coach Steve.
Luz followed her group to one side of the pitch, but when passing by the other group, suddenly, her eyes landed on the revered Varsity captain, brilliant top student, picture perfect, Amity Blight. Glaring at her. Luz immediately squinted, ready for whatever bullshit was coming her way.
“You’re trying out for soccer?” Amity raised her eyebrow.
“Yeah, I am,” Luz scoffed, but mischief flared in her eyes. “Do you have a problem with that?”
Amity grinned. “You won’t make it past the first hour.”
“Oh yeah? Watch me.”
They shared a glare before walking past each other to follow their respective groups.
Luz grunted, then shrugged — that kind of went as expected.
They’d never exactly talked before, but the looks they shared needed no words to speak the thoughts they had regarding the other, when crossing paths in the hallways and accidentally glancing at each other in classes. Reputations seeming to precede them, and what they saw in the other swaying them, their distaste for each other was gut instinct.
Luz, of course, knew that Amity was captain, but that couldn’t stop her from wanting to join the team. Though, it did kind of come out of nowhere. So, a couple of months ago when she had announced to her friends her plans on trying out for the soccer team, their shocked expressions didn’t surprise her. First, because why wait until senior year, second, because they knew very well of Luz’s disdain for the captain.
But two things happened: they remembered that this was Luz and they had learned to stop questioning the spontaneous randomness of her choices, and they had always known her love for the sport, and that she was good. They had played with her a lot at the park and witnessed her natural skills with a ball, and saw all the trophies she had won displayed in her living room. They knew she played in clubs until middle school but stopped once starting high school, her rationale being that she simply wasn’t interested in competing anymore. But now that she was, her friends of course supported her decision with bright smiles, pats on the back, and thrilled hugs. And their instant confidence in her making the team only solidified her desire to try it out.
But there was still the problem with Amity, and for that, her friends had no idea what to expect. They witnessed the tense fire that ignited in Luz and Amity’s eyes whenever they crossed paths, and feared destructive collision if brought together on a field. But again, questioning Luz’s decisions stopped a while ago, so in her they trusted.
Luz had the most logical of hunches that Amity wouldn’t be happy, but she was on a mission. One that sincerely meant a lot to her, for reasons dear to her heart. She was dead-set on playing more seriously the game she adored, and on making the team for her senior year. Captain be damned.
Thus, the second Luz launched her foot forward to do her first sprint for the fitness drills for tryouts, everything else vanished and only a fresh rush of adrenaline fueled by being on a pitch again prevailed. The drills went by smoothly and she aced the fitness tests. Her body thanked her for going to the gym all summer. Having a soccer ball in her vicinity got her heart pumping, and the brightness of her smile probably concerned the people around her.
“Hi, I’m Luz, what’s your name?” she asked the person panting next to her at the zigzag drill area.
“Vee,” she said, catching her breath. “You’re the Luz who graffitied the doors in the bathroom on the third floor?”
Luz cocked her head to the side. “How did you know?”
Vee laughed lightly. “It’s written ‘Luz was not here.’”
“Oooh, forgot about that one.” Luz grinned, nodding her smug head. “Some of my best work.”
Vee gave her a shy smile and chuckled. “Did you get in trouble for that?”
“Allegedly.”
The quizzical look Vee gave Luz was the sign to start the drill again. Her hand went to her forehead to salute before she started slaloming between the cones.
Coach Steve announced the start of the passing drills where players had to pair up and pass the ball quickly using one touch. Luz looked at Vee, who nodded, thus forming a pair.
“So”—Luz grabbed a ball from the floor and kicked it toward Vee—“were you on the team last year?”
“Yes, Varsity. This is your first time trying out, no?” Vee kicked the ball back.
“Yeah, I’m hoping to make Varsity too.”
They continued passing the ball effortlessly.
Vee looked at her curiously. “Hm. How long have you been playing for?”
“Ever since I was one, I accidentally kicked my dad’s ball when I was learning how to walk and the rest is kinda history.”
Vee laughed.
“You don’t believe I’ll make Varsity on my first try, do you?” Luz asked, smirking.
“It’s not that I don’t believe it, it’s just that it’s really unlikely. Last time I saw it happen was Amity in Freshman year.”
Luz nodded, but her smirk stayed confident on her face. “Pass the ball quicker.”
“Okay…?”
Vee tapped the ball more quickly toward Luz, who tapped it back just as quick. Vee smiled — she understood the mission.
Both of them started tapping the ball toward each other rapidly, keeping up a fast pace. Then Luz started kicking the ball slightly to the side to make Vee run a bit, and Vee immediately retaliated by returning the sneaky gesture. Beads of sweat started forming on both of their foreheads the more the speed and the distance increased. Luz was grinning the entire time.
From across the field, Amity’s laser focus on the ball put her passing partner at a severe disadvantage. Her taps were swift and precise, which should have made it easier for her partner, but she struggled with the speed while Amity was barely trying.
Coach Eda approached her. “Hey Cap’, go easy on her,” she said quietly, with a wink. Amity nodded once, and slowed down her kicks. Due to the increased easiness of the passing exercise for her, her gaze absently flitted behind her partner to the other side of the pitch. Two players in particular were going at it with respectable speed and range. Her eyes zoned in on the players only for her to squint when noticing that it was Luz and her teammate, Vee. And for some reason Luz couldn’t stop grinning.
Still passing the ball to her partner without much effort, Amity’s eyes lingered for a bit on them playing: Luz’s posture was too relaxed which slowed down her running speed. Her movements weren’t economical enough and thus she was exerting energy unnecessarily. Amity grunted.
But then the ball rushed past Luz because she started laughing. Amity’s mouth went slack. She rubbed her temples. Of course Luz wasn’t taking this seriously, what else did she expect?
Her focus drifted back to her passing partner who seemed to be having a hard time keeping up again. That’s when Amity noticed that she had accidentally been kicking harder than expected.
Luz was having such a fun time kicking the ball around with Vee that at one point she couldn’t stop her laughter from bubbling up. The ball sped right past her but it took her a moment of clutching her stomach before turning around to grab it and bring it back to Vee. At seeing Luz, Vee couldn’t prevent herself from laughing as well. Luz came back and raised her hand for a high-five that Vee happily offered.
“That was awesome!” Luz panted, “We were so quick.”
Vee smiled. “Yeah, you’re good, Luz. It was getting hard to keep up.”
Luz shot her a sneaky smile. Then it softened a bit. “Thanks.”
Tryouts continued with different types of shooting drills, where players had to pass and shoot the ball into the net from various different positions, with and without defenders. Luz had always played best as a forward, those being the players who were focused on playing the offensive and on scoring the goals. The other positions included the defenders, who protected their goal and prevented the other team from scoring, the midfielders, who played both offensive and defensive roles, and the goalkeeper.
Luz particularly excelled at shooting. With defenders, without defenders, from the center, the sides, even long-shots, her shots were impressively precise. Coach Steve even ended up giving her a fist-bump when she scored after placing her further away from the goal than what was expected, his idea to raise the stakes a bit.
She went to drink some water after a while and in passing glanced at the other side of the pitch. Amity’s shots were excellent: her unshakeable focus when eyeing the ball and the goal, the precise placement of her body to be at just the right angle to shoot in the intended spot in the net, her confident composure and perfect posture, and the rapidity and swiftness of shooting the ball as soon as she put it down in front of her. She spent a commendably minimal amount of time thinking about her position before shooting, knowing immediately upon the ball appearing in front of her how to shoot it for it to land where she wanted in the goal.
Luz knew of Amity’s skills, of course, with the myriad praises of her performances, from students to professors; Amity was a venerated captain. So Luz wasn’t surprised, but she couldn’t say she wasn’t impressed. That only fueled her desire to join the team and show that she was a good player too. That would really piss Amity off.
Luz smirked. She indeed lasted more than an hour. It wasn’t her intention to go out of her way to piss Amity off, on the contrary, she’d rather stay the hell away from her. But this was soccer, and soccer for Luz was sacrosanct. She just wanted to play her favorite game. And nothing could stand in her way.
Tryouts ended and exhaustion slapped everyone on the back. And Luz was brimming with satisfaction. Just as she had collected her bag and motorbike helmet and headed to the exit of the field, she heard Coach Eda say from not too far away, “Keep it up, Cap’!”
Then Coach Eda approached her. “Hey, you did good today. I saw how you handle the ball, I can tell you have natural talent, that’s good.”
Luz tried to hide her cheeky smile but it cracked through her lips anyway. “Thanks, Coach Eda.”
Coach Eda grinned. “Keep it up.”
Luz nodded, and when turning away, she discreetly thrust her fist into the air. Then she noticed Amity walking in front of her. Luz had no choice but to follow her to get out of the field. Arriving at the parking lot and nearing her car, Amity paused to get her keys from her bag, glanced around, and noticed Luz behind her. Upon locking eyes, they instinctively stared each other down. Luz was absolutely not in the mood to deal with Amity, but she knew that Amity had heard what their coach had said, and questioned whether she’d actually say anything about it. They’d never really talked before today, and Luz had no particular interest in engaging further.
But Amity was not backing down from their staring stalemate. So Luz stared her down even more.
“You think I don’t know who you are?” Amity asked.
“No, I know you do. You have this tendency to glare at me for some reason. But tell me, who am I?”
“You’re a rugged punk who doesn’t take anything seriously. I notice how often you arrive late to class, and you might as well bring a pillow to detention with how much time you spend there. And who the hell ends up at the police station because of almost hitting someone with a bat? And do you ever even wash that beanie that you wear every single day?”
“Wow, Blight. Looks like someone’s been paying attention to me. Obsessed?”
“You wish. It’s hard not to notice someone so painfully inadequate. You stick out, and not in the good way.”
Luz narrowed her eyes, but grinned. “I see you too, Blight. You walk around school all high and mighty and think you’re so perfect when you’re actually just a stuck-up snob with a stick up her ass who can’t relax and let loose for shit. Such a fun existence, I look up to you so much.”
Amity’s jaw clenched. “Watch your tongue, Noceda. You better stop fucking around on the pitch.”
“Just you see.” Luz cracked her knuckles. “I know how to play.”
“You might, but that doesn’t mean you should. We didn’t win all those trophies by luck: it’s hard work, practice, dedication, commitment to the team and to consistently getting better and surpassing oneself. We’re looking for players who take this seriously, who don’t barely make it on time for tryouts or fail passing drills because they’re not focused enough and can’t control their laughter.”
“Ah, so you saw me having some fun. I’m telling you, you should try it from time to time.”
“I saw you slacking off and showing disregard for Vee who actually takes things seriously.”
“I’ll have you know, we were having a great time challenging each other.”
“Challenge yourself harder, or quit while you’re ahead.”
“I’m not quitting anytime soon.” Luz sighed contently, gazing off into the distance. “Love the game too much.” Her eyes narrowed back on Amity. “Enough to handle your bullshit.”
Amity closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, aggravation patent on her face. “This is ridiculous. You won’t even make the team.”
“Oh yeah?” Luz’s smirk was criminal. Her voice lowered. “Watch me.”
At that, she walked past Amity to get to her motorbike. She heard a low grunt, but Luz didn’t look back.
Once at her motorbike, a sound rang from inside her bag. Her face lit up upon seeing her friends’ names on the screen.
Willow: Luz we need updates!! How’d it go?
Gus: We’re at the coffee shop with Hunter if you wanna join?
Her lips curled upwards.
Luz: On my way >:)
Helmet fastened, keys in the ignition, gloves gripping the handlebars, the motorbike revved to life. Direction: the Owl Café. The sun shone in the cloudless mid-August sky. After riding across town, Luz parked her motorbike near the coffee shop and made her way to the entrance. Her friends were sat at the booth in the corner near the window. They bounced up in excitement to greet her upon seeing her arrive. She slid next to Hunter, in front of Gus and Willow.
“So? How did it go?” Willow asked, but they all already had a hunch of how it went.
Luz couldn’t hold in her smile. “It went great.”
“Yes!” They high-fived each other around the table.
Hunter nudged her, making her laugh before she shoved him back.
He said, “Of course it went great. But what was it like? What did you do?”
Luz explained the tryout process with the fitness tests and the ball drills, then she mentioned meeting Vee, impressing the other players, getting friendly with Coach Steve, and Coach Eda’s comment at the end.
“The coach already noticed you,” Gus beamed.
Hunter nodded. “You’re making the team.”
Luz’s grin widened. “I gotta play even better though. Really show what I can do. Damn, I missed playing soccer more seriously like this. I gotta up my game and show the coach that I definitely have what it takes.”
Willow said, “Oh she’ll know. You still have two days to show everyone that you’re meant to be on the field.”
Luz nodded, determination fastened on her face. “You bet I will.” Then she snickered. “Guess who confronted me.”
Her friends instantly exchanged knowing looks.
“Yep,” Luz said, popping the “p”.
“What did she say?” Gus asked in a slightly frightened tone.
Luz deadpanned. “First she came at me before we started the drills like ‘What are you doing here? You won’t last, gnagnagna’ and I was like ‘bet, whatcha gonna do about it?’. Then we didn’t see each other again after that on the pitch, thank god, but then later she confronted me again, and she actually started going at it saying that I’m a punk and I never take anything seriously and that I should quit if I won’t stop goofing around when, excuse me, but, having fun while playing soccer isn’t a damn crime. And I was doing good too, and she overheard what the coach told me which must’ve pissed her off even more. She even brought my beanie into it like what the actual hell is her problem?”
Her friends shuddered.
“Sorry you had to deal with her wrath.” Willow winced.
Gus whispered, “She’s so scary.”
“And she’s obviously talking shit,” Hunter groaned.
Luz rolled her eyes and tilted her head back. “It’s crazy. She’s had it out for me for years.”
Willow raised her eyebrow. “I mean, you too.”
Luz paused. “Fair. But as much as her existence pisses me off,” Luz grumbled under her breath, “fucking princess ice-queen,” she spoke up normally again, “and I wasn’t planning on being all buddy-buddy with her either, but yenno, kind of like ‘actors that hate each other off screen but act well on screen for it to be believable’ type thing, I wasn’t planning on any sort of confrontation, and I didn’t think she’d actually come right at me, what the actual fuck is her problem?”
“Thinking logically, you’re kind of exactly the type of person she would dislike. You both hate what each other stand for.” Willow then chuckled lightly. “And you do kinda shoot her death glares whenever you see her. ”
Luz raised her hands up in defense. “Hey, I didn’t start the glaring. I literally just used to ignore her. Then for some god forsaken reason we started making eye contact more often and the more we made eye contact the tenser it became. And being in the same classes didn’t help at all. My god, the death stares she’d give me those times I arrived late to English. You’d think she’d just ignore it at some point but no, every single time, it’s like she made it a point to let me know that little miss princess disapproves. And I swear I could feel her eyes roll whenever I spoke up. And I was scared my ears would start bleeding whenever she’d raise her stupid hand.”
Willow and Hunter exchanged wide-eyed glances at seeing Luz unknowingly balling her hands into fists on the table. Willow planted her hand on one of Luz’s, who relaxed and held Willow’s hand back.
Hunter spoke up, “I know you can handle things by yourself, but if you ever need some back-up, we’re here.”
Luz chuckled. “Thanks, Hunt, but if ever you guys needed to actually confront her for me and argue with her, Willow would freeze, Gus would faint, and you’d probably forget how to use words. Sorry.”
Gus nodded vehemently. “She’s right.”
Willow let out a sheepish smile.
Hunter rubbed the back of his neck and started chuckling too. ”I mean… We’d still try.”
“But seriously, we’ll always be here for you, okay?” Willow said, “Forget survival instincts.”
Luz laughed in a light-hearted way. “Thanks guys. But I can handle Blight myself.”
“Well this year is going to be interesting.” Willow sighed.
Gus asked, “So what are you gonna be doing about it tomorrow?”
Luz shrugged. “Avoid her as much as I can. Unlike what she thinks, I’m not playing to fuck around. I actually am serious about it, but no way am I apologizing for having fun playing soccer. Hopefully she’ll just ignore me too.”
“Hard to ignore how good you are, though,” Gus said, wiggling his eyebrows.
Luz wiggled her eyebrows back with a smile. “Thanks, Gustabon.”
“I take it back.”
They all laughed, and started talking about their upcoming plans this final week before school started again. They stayed a while chatting and joking around before everyone headed home.
Upon arriving back at hers and entering the living room, Luz’s mom immediately swooped her into a hug and asked how the afternoon went. Luz explained how it went well and how she impressed the coaches, and her mom pulled her into another hug and whispered, “I’m so proud of you.”
Luz’s heart thumped harder and her eyes closed as she squeezed her mom a little tighter.
“Gracias, mamá. I’m doing my best. I’ll make the team.”
“You know, mija, it’s fine if you don’t.”
“No, I will.” Luz squeezed her even tighter, her heart thumping even harder. “I need to. You know why.”
Her mom gently rubbed her back. “I know.”
Luz released a heavy breath before they separated from the hug. But her mom's soft gaze continued comforting her.
“I have to go to work but I prepared dinner for you, it’s in the fridge,” she said as she went to the living room to get her bag.
Luz followed. “Thank you so much, I’m so hungry. See you tomorrow. Love you!”
“Love you too, amor,” her mom said before kissing the side of her head.
As soon as her mom closed the door, Luz released a deep breath and plopped down on the couch. She glanced around the room and saw some of the trophies she had won when she was younger, which her mom insisted on keeping on display.
Her face softened.
I can do this.
On the second day of tryouts, Luz was even more focused on doing well on the drills and proving to the coaches that she was a good player. Everything was going great, and luckily, she hadn’t crossed paths with Amity. They saw each other from afar but didn’t speak, but they didn’t need to, to know what the other was thinking. The embers in their irises ignited the second their eyes would lock, but stayed tamed. Luz brushed it off; she was there to play, and nothing would stand in her way.
After some time focused on drills, the coaches announced the start of the small-scale practice matches, where smaller teams would play quick matches against each other, on each side of the pitch: given there was only one goal on each side, alternating groups of six would play one-on-one against each other, with one group playing offense with the goal of scoring goals, and the other playing defense, with the purpose of preventing such. The large group of students was split down the middle again, so numbers 1 to 29 on one side of the pitch, and 30 to 58 on the other. Fortunately, this meant that Luz and Amity were on opposite sides.
The focus of these ten minute small-scale matches was on quick passes, positioning, communication, and teamwork. Luz had no trouble at all with those, on the contrary, she was thriving, and was doing great in whichever group she played with, communication and teamwork coming with great ease. At one point she played a couple matches with Vee, and realized they played particularly well together, silent communication being specially on point, and Luz was comfortably building camaraderie with the others.
The teams switched up again and while waiting for their turn to play, Luz and her team started talking. She recognized one of her teammates and was immediately skeptical. She waited a bit before engaging to gauge the situation. Said teammate was surprisingly bubbly which took Luz aback, and Luz cautiously yet curiously waited to see how the teammate was going to react to her presence, really hoping that no tension would arise.
“Hi! Luz, right?”
“Right, hi,” Luz said, her slight confusion hidden behind an intrigued smile. “Skara, right?”
“Right.” Skara nodded, returning the smile.
Luz instantly relaxed. She didn’t know whether it was for the sake of playing together or whether Skara was actually being nice to her, but that didn’t matter, as long as there was no hostility between them. That was one thing she apprehended that was now out of the way.
Skara was one of Amity’s best friends, always spending time together with their other friend Boscha, who was currently playing on the other side of the pitch. As much as Luz had tense history with Amity, she never really cared for Amity’s friends. Skara never outwardly showed negativity towards Luz, though Boscha did mostly eye Luz in a more skeptical way, it wasn’t hostile per se, rather dry, indifferent, in a ‘I couldn’t care less about you’ way, in a ‘don’t fuck with me and I won’t fuck with you’ way, which Luz never minded because she couldn’t care less about Boscha either.
But Luz didn’t know whether Skara and Boscha had disdain for Luz by proxy or not. To Luz’s great relief, at least Skara seemed fine with her. They weren’t becoming friends anytime soon, but at least things were peaceful between them.
And to add to Luz’s relief, Skara and her played well together, too. Their teamwork was smooth, and between matches, Luz was invested in Skara’s tactical analyses of the other teams’ games as they were playing.
A bit before the end of tryouts, the coaches merged the two sides and switched up the teams. Again, most luckily, Luz and Amity still ended up on opposite sides of the pitch. After the merge, Luz realized that she wouldn’t be able to escape Amity tomorrow, as they’d be doing full-team matches, 11 v 11, and the odds were too grand for them to finally cross paths. But Luz brushed that idea to the side, as she had skills to display and matches to win.
At one point after she had scored a particularly skillful goal where she had to dribble past two defenders at once and shoot from an awkward angle on the side, she looked around her to see whether any of the coaches witnessed it. And she directly saw Coach Eda smiling at her, then writing down something on her notepad. Luz bounced back to the starting position. She shook a fist and whispered to herself, “Aw hell yeah,” but got jump-scared when some of her teammates came up to pat her on the back with “Nice one!”s and “Awesome shot!”s. Luz couldn’t contain her growing grin. Playing soccer, feeling the camaraderie, having fun on the pitch. She had missed it. She had missed it so much. Warmth spread throughout her body and she inhaled cleansing breaths. Then the match started again, and she chuckled out of joy.
Tryouts ended for the day and Luz was on a high. With absolutely no desire to have another encounter like the day before, she wasted no time in getting to her motorbike and driving home. Luckily, there was no Amity in sight.
But then it was day three of tryouts, the final day. Full-team matches. The ultimate test.
And Luz was ready.
She arrived, early, dressed, confident. After putting down her stuff, she was about to start jogging when she saw her. And Amity was marching straight toward her.