Wake Me Up

Chapter 4

"Summer is almost over," Mia complains. She's is sitting on the seat across from mine on the bus with Rachel. I always sit alone and listen to my music so I can focus before a game.

"Um, newsflash. School starts tomorrow, summer is over," Rachel says.

"And you guys are seniors, it's your last year," I tell them.

"It's so exciting! We're finally seniors," Mia says bouncing in her seat.

"I'm going to miss everyone," Rachel says sadly.

"You still have the whole year, so enjoy it. Start worrying about that when May comes, you have plenty of time," I tell her. Trust Rachel to already be worrying about the end of the year.

She sighs, "You're right,"

"I know," I reply with a smirk putting my headphones back in my ears. I can't hear her snarky comeback because I'm blasting Light'em Up by the Fall Out Boy. This song never fails to get me in game mode. The bus eventually pulls up to a school and the girls and I grab our bags and head off the bus saying thanks to the driver.

We get our gear on and start warming up. Close to the start if the game the ref calls for captains. Mia, Rachel and I head toward midfield to do the coin toss. We shake hands with the other team and then I call the toss to be heads. It lands on heads. I tell them will defend our side first, wish them good luck, then we go back to the bench. Coach is telling everyones starting positions and extra details about what we need to do.

We get in a huddle and cheer then jog off onto the field. Once I get to my left back position I look over at the stands. As always my dad is sitting there smiling at me. My mom isn't here again, she had to go to court today. Still it hurts a little knowing she couldn't make it to my first game as captain. I bet she doesn't even know I have a game today. Next to dad is Archer and Matt who start chanting my name when I look at them. I roll my eyes at their obnoxious behavior then then back and focus on the game.

The ref blows the whistle and we immediately start passing the ball around the other team towards their goal. The whole game goes by with us having all the possession on their side of the field, yet it's still 0-0.

"Ladies! We have to score," our yells from the sideline. That's the thing about soccer, not always the best team wins, you have to score goals. I pass the ball to Rachel who takes it up the sidelined then tries to cross it but is deflected by a defender for a corner.

Mia sets the ball on the corner and I head to the box. She raises her hand and we all make our runs, me to the penalty mark. The ball sails perfectly through the air and I jump up. I head the ball hard which makes it go right to the upper left corner of the goal. The ball hits the net and makes the sound I love to hear as it slides down to the ground.

I high five the girls and return to my spot as the croud cheers. I distinctly her Matt and Archer whopping and hollering and look to see them chest bump eachother. Gosh they are so stupid, they really embarrass me in public. I can't take them anywhere and if I do, I choose to prerend that I dont know them. My dad is sporting a proud smile directed at me, which I return. The game soon ends and we shake the other teams and the refs hands. I grab my bag and head of the field to the parking lot. When I get to the car I'm engulfed in a hug, "Great game, hon!"

"Thanks Dad," I say hugging back.

"Meg! Great goal!" Matt says stealing me from dad to hug him.

"Thanks, that ball was really pumped up though," I say rubbing my forehead. Archer squeezes his eyes and focuses on my forehead; then his eyes go wide and he let's out a loud laugh.

"What?" I question. Matt and Dad must notice it to because they start chuckling. "What?!" I ask now, annoyed.

Archer steps closer to me and brings his hand to my face. He traces a line on my forehead with his finger. My forehead feels like its on fire under his touch. "You," he says still chuckling, "have a pentagon on your head,"

I quickly turn and look at my reflection in the car's window. I run my fingers over the red marks that are the sides of a pentagon on a soccer ball. "Well, this is new," I comment shrugging. I've gotten countless number of pentagons on my knees and thighs, but never my head.

"Commemorate the moment!" Archer yells. I pull out my phone and snap a picture of Matt, Archer, and me all pulling funny faces.

"Not bad," I say, setting it as my new wallpaper.

"Not bad? Please, I look gorgeous," Archer says in a high pitched voice.

"Um, I think we can all agree I looked the most amazing," Matt says in his falsetto.

"Bitch, please. I'm flawless," I say flipping my hair. This causes the boys to laugh again and my dad just rolls his eyes and gets in the car. We follow suit and strap up, carrying on or debate on who is more pretty.

We get home and I shower, changing into soft, cotton pajamas. It's late and school starts tomorrow so that means an early start so I guess I should be getting to bed. I go downstairs and kiss dad goodnight then head back to my room. I slide in to the sheets and rest my head on the cool pillow, getting comfortable. I close my eyes as I'm overcome with sleep.

I awake in the middle of the night, once again, in cold sweat. I pull the sheet up from the bottom of the bed where I kicked them and pull them up to my neck. The first thing I do when I have a bad dream is to go to Archer or Matt, but schools tomorrow and they have a game, so I decide against it. Plus I don't need them to keep bugging me about if. I close my eyes to fall back asleep but I'm not at ease in Archer's warm embrace. I toss and turn, trying to get into a comfty position. After about two hours, I manage to fall back asleep.