Chapter 8 The "lady" is here

Thalia POV

The alarm went off, fighting with the loud snores that filled up the room. My eyes fluttered for a second as I tried to process my surroundings. Before I could even open my eyes fully, my head felt heavy all of a sudden.

The ache felt like I was being hit by a hammer.

A sharp cramp rolled straight through my abdomen, ripping me violently out of sleep. I gasped, my eyes flying open as I sat up too fast on the hard mattress.

Zephyr, Toby, Max, and Alex were still completely knocked out, snoring in a messy pile of blankets across the floor. I saw the grey hoodie that Zephyr had on yesterday around my body and figured he must have pulled it off and threw it over me.

My head was still pounding from the five shots of alcohol from last night and my body felt too sore. Was this an after effect of taking alcohol?

“Boyss…” I managed to croak out but their snoring was louder than my voice. I glanced at the digital clock that was still ringing but the boys were so sleepy that they couldn't stand up. It was 5:30am and that was just thirty minutes before the whistle went off for coaching practice.

“Get this hoodie off me” I said to no one in particular as my hands began to pull on the hoodie that was beginning to feel itchy and was making me feel hot. I managed to pull it off under my butt and raised it up when my eyes caught the big stain around the back.

Oh no no no no! It cannot be!

I pulled my blanket slightly and checked. The stain was there again and I was sure my shorts were stained also. It wasn't supposed to come until the middle of the month. I sprang up immediately carrying all the stained clothes as I shoved them into my bags.

“Renn… ?” I froze immediately turning towards Toby who was half-awake.

“Go back to sleep buddy” I whispered, humming a song which made him finally close his eyes. I slipped my hands into my bag as quietly as possibl after grabbing the bag and dragging it into the cramped corner near the wardrobe. My fingers scrambled through the side pockets, tearing past my spare jerseys, socks, and chest binders but there was nothing there. Not a single pad.

"Damn it," I whispered, my voice cracking in the quiet room. I shoved my hands depper, forcing it all the way into the hidden lining at the absolute end of the bag. My fingers brushed against a plastic wrapper. My heart raced excitedly as I pulled it out. It was a single tampon! It was a freaking tampon!

I stared at it in pure frustration. The thing was that I absolutely hated tampons. I preferred pads for everything, but right now, stranded in an all-boys dormitory block with zero options, I didn't have a any other choice.

Sneaking into the hallway and dashing into the general bathroom before anyone else could wake up, I quickly cleaned myself up and managed to wear it.

The second I pulled my jersey back down, a deep grimace twisted my face. It felt incredibly stiff and uncomfortable, making every tiny movement feel entirely awkward and combined with the stomach ache biting through my lower back, I felt like I was in a place way worse than hell.

But I didn't even get a minute to process the discomfort before the loud bell went off. It was finally 6:00am and everyone was going to rush in here but I didn't expect it to be that quick.

The boys were awake before I knew it, their footsteps was loud enough for me to tell that they were headed straight towards the bathroom. I packed my dirty clothes into my bag and rushed out of the toilet already.

My eyes caught the sights of those mean boys from last night rushing through the crowds. I laughed at the way they fought for a spot but stopped immediately as I felt an immediate rush of warmth down there. Could today get any worse?

“Wake up, regular squad! Out of your bunks right now!" An assistant coach stood at the entrance of our room, blowing a loud whistle.

The boys were still not fully awake, well except for Zephyr who was now tying his shoelace.

I passed by the assistant coach who moved on to the next room still blowing that annoying whistle. Toby and Max groaned loudly, throwing pillows at the wall.

"Coach Liam just updated the morning schedule. We should be by the pitch by 7am for the morning excerise.” The way Zephyr sounded so serious felt strange considering the fact that he had always been cheerful and lively around me.

“Got it” Alex groaned, raising a thumbs up and throwing the blanket on his face. Zephyr tapped on my shoulder before he finally rushed out of the room. I put my bag away and sat down on the bed waiting for the other guys to finish.

“Renn you sly… when did you wake up?” Toby pointed at me accusingly.

“I woke you up bro… you were far too gone to even answer me and by the ways, do you guys know those guys that are like two rooms away from us?” I asked about those guys from last night. Seeing them this morning pissed me in a way I couldn't explain.

“Oh those are the ivy leagues… you see Levi's academy is divided into different segments although we are the main team. The school decided it would be fun if we had a little competition and somehow, they might replace us if we don't win the tournament” Alex explained as he packed his personal cares. I nodded my head finally realizing why they were such a jerk.

“What the hell bro? Take your skincare away from my stuff. Now Renn would think I'm gay” I struggled to withhold my laughter as Alex threw a vitamin C face mask towards Max.

“Show some respect to my products” Max fired back, rushing to grab the face mask as Alex proceeded to fling it across the room.

The two of them kept bickering over the face mask, but my mind was completely elsewhere now. I couldn't remember what I did with plastic wrapper from the tampon did I actually throw it away properly, or had I dropped it on the floor when I heard their heavy footsteps coming down the hall?

Before I could even think about sneaking back into the bathroom to check, the assistant coach stormed right back into our room. His face was entirely red, and his heavy boots kicked a discarded soccer ball out of his path.

"Everyone out! Line up in the corridor right now!" he barked, blowing his whistle right in our faces.

Toby stumbled out of his bed, and Max stopped mid-argument as we all hurried out into the narrow hallway. Over forty regular squad boys from our floor were already lining up against the lockers, half of them shirtless and completely confused. I was seriously getting used to seeing shirtless boys around…

The assistant coach marched down the center line and in between his thumb and index finger was a small piece of crinkly plastic wrapper.

My heart completely stopped immediately. It was the tampon wrapper!

"Which one of you smuggled a girl into the hostel blocks past curfew last night?" the coach roared, thrusting the crinkled wrapper directly in front of Max's face.

"The security cameras showed absolutely no entries past the main gate, which means whoever she is, she’s hiding right here on this floor. Who brought this into my facility?"

Total silence fell over the corridor. Max blinked in pure shock, while Toby just stared blankly at the plastic like it was an alien object. Nobody said anything and the guilt was eating me alive as I stared at the floor, praying my face wasn't as flushed as it felt.

"No one wants to speak?" The coach let out a harsh laugh, tucking his clipboard under his arm. "Fine. If you want to protect your little friend, you can pay the price together and learn to keep your hormones in check.This is not the first time this is happening. Last season, we saw a thong in the bathroom” The coach dragged on which earned a low laugh from everybody.

I lowered my head to hide my flushed face, I didn't know how to react to this at all.

“And for punishment, you are all receiving twenty laps around the stadium field right now before the morning exercise even starts. Put your jerseys on and get moving!" He continued as he started to blow the whistle again.

A loud groan echoed down the hall as the boys scrambled back into their rooms to grab their sneakers. My hands shook as I pulled my oversized jersey over my torso, the tampon making every step feel awkward as the sharp cramps bit hard into my lower back.

As we filed out of the dormitory exit toward the training grounds, I dragged my feet behind the group, trying to blend into the crowd.

Suddenly, a hand caught the back of my shoulder, pulling me slightly away from the pack.

I flinched, my chest tightening as I turned around. It was Toby and he was frowning deeply as his eyes were fixed entirely on the lower side of my oversized uniform.

He leaned in close, his voice dropping into a whisper.

“Did you get an injury yesterday?” He asked.

“No” I replied confused.

"Then why the hell is the side of your jersey stained with blood?