Chapter 2 The old ritual

Thalia POV

The door slammed shut behind me as I walked into the locker room that reeked of boys sweat and dirty pants. Who knew boys were this dirty?

I scrunched my nose as I took a sniff of my underarm. Oh boy… I was reeking with a pungent smell. I took that as a note to change my deodorant.

My palms were still sweaty and my chest was heaving heavily. Every second I spent in this oversized jersey felt like hell, I needed to pull off this cloth, take off these suffocating wrapping bands and have a warm bath.

As I reached for one of the bathrooms in the locker room, a boy stormed out of the bathroom screaming loudly as he stuck out his tongue.

“Ahhh” I shrieked as I scrambled back immediately. The boys all came out as hysterical laughter filled the entire locker room as they hooted rounding me.

“Did you hear him scream? He sounded like a girl” one of them shouted as they continued to circle around me.

“Okay guys… that's enough” another guy spoke and stepped forward offering me his hands. I hesitated for a while before finally placing my hands in his but that was a big mistake. He pulled me up forcely and shook my hands aggressively before finally patting me painfully.

“Welcome to the team broo” He shouted and I smiled nervously at him, wincing from the pain. If there was anything I learnt, it was that boys were extremely rough with each other.

The tall boy who shook my hands didn't let the smrik on his face fade. His black and pink jersey casually rested on his shoulders, his dark hair looked like a messy mop as the strands stood up. Maybe it was the fact that he was shirtless, but stranglely he looked crazily attractive.

“Don't look so scared rookie. I'm Zephyr. Renn right?” he said, taking a wide step closer to me and wrapping his sweaty arms over my shoulder, pulling me tightly into his side. I couldn't help but scrunch my nose. He was too goodlooking to smell this bad. Gosh!

“Speak up… why are you so quiet?” One of the guys tugged at my arms and I held myself from rolling my eyes.

“I need to freshen up” I managed to croak out, forcing the words out of my mouth.

Zephyr finally released me, his heavy arm sliding off my shoulders but that annoying grin didn't disappear. He leaned back against a row of lockera, looking entirely amused.

“Freshen up? Already?” he teased, raising an eyebrow.

I stared at him, my hands crossed over my chest tightly, partly to look defiant but it was majorly because I wanted to cover my jersey from sticking onto wrapping band. “Yeah. I just played a match, it's only normal if I want to freshen up”

“So?” He shrugged, gesturing to the rest of the room where the steam was already rising from the shower stalls  “That's how you know you're officially part of the team, Renn. You'll have to stink with the rest of us… that's the honor in it”

A few boys nearly burst out laughing, slamming their lockers shut. The sound was so loud that I could almost feel my eardrums cry for help. Forcing a smile on my face, I prayed that couldn't see my eyes twitching. Was this what I would go through from now on? I wouldn't last a week!

“Congratulations to me then” I cheered.

Zephyr laughed as he slapped my shoulders again. “Relax. You're part of the brothers now”

Brothers? The word echoed in my mind as I wondered whether I should be scared or happy. To them, being “brothers” probably meant zero boundaries, more sweaty palms, shared showers and zero privacy. If that was the case, then I don't want to be part of this brotherhood.

“Hold up” His voice halted me as I turned around to face him again.

“What?” I asked, irritation slowly building up in my voice.

“You haven't performed the ritual yet… you see every new member has to perform this ritual to show that they're part of the family” My face twisted into a frown as I stated in horror.

“And what does this ritual entail?” I asked but realized I made a big mistake as the whole locker room suddenly went silent as they started to gather again. Zephyr's grin widened, a low mischievous sound escaping from his throat. “ohhh… it's pretty simple. You'd pull down your shorts and parade the whole dormitory to show your respect”

“I'm not doing that," I said immediately, my voice dropping as deep as I could manage.

“Ohh you're doing that” he shouted and started to walk closer to me.

The boys joined as they started to boo, their loud voices echoing off the walls as they stepped closer. They started chanting my name mockingly, crowding me against the lockers.

Someone reached out from the right, their fingers catching the elastic waistband of my shorts. Panic surged through me as I aggressively smacked his hand away, my fingers shaking with pure terror.

“Don't touch me!” I shouted.

“Silence!”

The door violently swung open, and the coach walked inside, his loud voice instantly cutting through the noise. The boys immediately backed away from me, wearing completely innocent expressions.

“Stop bothering the rookie and listen up,” the coach barked, checking his clipboard.

“The medical staff just moved up the schedule. You all have a mandatory checkup in the sports science lounge right now. Hurry up and get over there before the investors arrive.”

A loud groan echoed through the room. The boys threw their hands up in disappointment, grabbing their bags from the benches.

“You got lucky this time, Renn” Zephyr winked at me, letting go of my shoulder as he ran toward the door. “We’ll get you next time!”

“Yeah, don't think you're off the hook, kid,” another one muttered as they all began to rush out the door.

Within a minute, the locker room fell into a heavy, beautiful silence. I stood perfectly still, listening closely until the sound of their heavy footsteps completely faded down the hallway. They were finally gone.

Exhaling a long, shaky breath, I collapsed against the bench. The panic had left me entirely out of breath, and my ribs were absolutely screaming from the suffocating restriction of my chest binder after running on the field. I couldn't take it anymore.

I stood up and pulled my oversized jersey over my head, letting it drop to the floor. My fingers scrambled for the edge of the tight fabric, unhooking the hidden compression vest with a desperate sigh of relief. The heavy material fell away from my skin, and for the first time all day, I was completely unbound, finally free to breathe as a girl in the quiet room.

Click.

The sound of a locker door echoing from the back row made my entire body freeze.

Heavy footsteps walking against the floor, I spun around in pure horror, clutching my discarded jersey against my bare chest, my eyes widening as the figure stepped into the light.

It was Evander.

He was holding his captain's gold armband in his hand, clearly having walked right back in to retrieve it. But he wasn't looking at the band. His striking emerald eyes were fixed entirely on me, staring in absolute shock at my exposed silhouette.

The silence in the room became completely unbearable.

Evander blinked, his jaw dropping slightly as his brain tried to process the scrawny male rival he had just vowed to destroy.

"What the hell...?" he breathed out.