SOL Day 11 - Saturday

You wake up on the sofa with Claire. It’s the first time that you can remember waking up like this, except with all your clothes on. You’re leaning against each other, and Claire’s still asleep. Rather than going to bed alone with your thoughts, you stayed up and chatted with her. And she went along with it. She’s really nice. You wonder if things had been different, maybe your personality could’ve been more like hers instead of… whatever you are.

It’s light outside. Girls will be coming downstairs to eat soon. You gently wake her up. She yawns and rubs her eyes.

“Good morning. Oh gosh,” she says, looking around. She straightens up. “Sorry.”

“It’s OK,” you say. You don’t mind being cozy with a pretty redhead.

Claire hurries upstairs to go back to her room and shower, and you do the same, finding Sheva’s bed empty. You don’t know where she is, and you don’t care. You take a long, hot shower, then get your phone and try to figure out where to have breakfast. You don’t really want to go downstairs and watch Riley and Lara together. You need to get away and breathe.

You order a ride and slip out, jogging back to camp and to the paths that lead through it. There, FUTA people are already up and about, working hard on improving the pitches and facilities. Everything is becoming glossier and flashier. The huge, pink and blue FUTA logo is everywhere.

You’re almost to the parking lot when someone calls out to you.

“Adella,” the woman says, coming down from the admin building. It’s Annette, the blonde, fortyish woman who runs all of this. She’s at work early on a Saturday. She wears slacks and a blouse, and her hair is up.

“Yes?”

“Do you have a minute?”

“OK,” you say. It’s chilly, and you’re just wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

“Come in,” Annette says, beckoning you into the building. You follow her in. Nobody else is around except for a busy-looking woman who coordinates with the girls who clean and maintain the camp. She’s in her office with a couple of her workers. Annette leads you past, into her personal office, where she pours you a cup of coffee.

You sit down with her nervously. What does she want?

“How are you liking it?” she asks. “Being back here.”

“I’m adjusting,” you say.

“Good. That was a good game. It looks to me like you’re doing great.”

“Thank you.”

“Do you want to be captain?” She asks it very directly. You’re taken aback.

“I do not understand,” you say.

“This week there’s something new, Adella. We have a system where every action in the game is assigned a value. It doesn’t matter what position you play. This value is tracked throughout the game, and at the end of the game there’s an MVP,” Annette explains, her eyes locked on yours. “This is a secret. You can’t tell anyone. It won’t be revealed until after the match this coming Friday. But the MVP automatically becomes captain of her team.”

Your mouth drops open. That is insane.

“It’s entertainment,” Annette says, reading your mind. “Rotating captains. It keeps things interesting. Are you hungry? You look hungry.” She leans over and pushes a button on her phone. “Rita, can you have Kayla bring in something to eat?”

“Sure,” a voice replies.

“Thank you.” Annette sits back up and focuses on you. “You’re one of the most powerful and dynamic players we have, Adella. Certainly at the top of your team. I think that knowing this, you can be MVP if you want to be. It doesn’t rely on you winning the game. Just playing well and making things happen.”

It’s not just that… you are thinking about the implications. Once this system she’s talking about is public, FUTA players won’t just be competing against other teams, they’ll be competing against their own teammates. This seems dangerous.

The door opens, and a short, curvy redhead enters the room with a tray of pastries. She smiles at you and puts it on the desk, then leaves. You’re momentarily distracted by her generous bust and cute smile, but then you’re back on Annette, who is taking a bite of a muffin.

“I just wanted you to know,” she says.