youngblood | a.i.

three || gambit

Tuesday, September 8th - 3:17 p.m. | tryouts

| Gambit |
an opening in which a player sacrifices material with the aim of achieving a subsequent positional advantage

"You promise you won't embarrass me?" Luke seemed more nervous than I was about tryouts right now. Sitting in his car, his leg bouncing as he pulled his key out of the ignition.

"Who's truly going to be more embarrassed here? The one girl trying out for an all-boys soccer team or a guy who's made it every year?" I asked him with the usual Anastasia attitude.

"Me!" Luke yelled back at me. "I'm gonna be more embarrassed."

"Oh, calm down," I said as I moved to get out. "I know this game better than half your team."

I pushed my door open, pulling my bag out behind me. I was already in my clothes for practice, just simple stuff, black gym shorts, a white tank top, and my knee socks.

I walked around the back of the car, waiting for Luke to get his stuff together so we could walk up to the field. He huffed as he rounded back towards me, warning me one last time- "do not embarrass me."

I shook my head at him, knowing he was more likely to embarrass me than the other way around.

We walked together, slides slapping against the parking lot as we went. When we reached the field, he held the gate for me to follow behind, starting to greet his fellow teammates as I kept my head down behind him.

"Hey, Coach!" Luke yelled from in front of me, catching my attention.

"Hemmings!" the man yelled back. "Brought a new recruit with you?"

Luke turned around to look at me with a disappointed look, like he has been planning on ignoring my presence for as long as he could. "Yeah, this is Annie."

"I don't like first names," Coach announced, focusing in on me now. From the looks of him, he seemed like a kind-hearted person. The usual soccer coach-- over-energetic about the game but kind.

"Hemmings," I nodded. "I'm his sister."

"Oh," the man said, taken back a bit. "Can you play?"

"That's up to you to decide, right?" I smiled nervously as I followed behind Luke to sit down on the field.

Coach laughed at my comment. I followed Luke until I spotted Calum, moving to sit down beside him.

"Hey, Annie," Calum greeted as I sat down beside him, already lacing up his cleats.

"Hey, Cal," I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"You good?" he asked when he caught my action. I dug through my bag for my cleats as I thought of a good answer.

"I don't know," I finally told him. "I just don't want to make Luke mad."

"You'll be fine," he nudged me. "I'm here."

I smiled at him as I continued tying up my cleats, making sure to double-knot them so absolutely nothing could happen to embarrass me for no reason.

"Coach!" I heard a familiar voice call.

I tried not to look up, knowing those hazel eyes were burning into me, and when I heard the second voice repeat the same thing, I couldn't help it. In walked number 15– Ashton Irwin, team captain— and his annoying little sidekick, number 6— Andrew Wallace.

My face burned as I watched them enter, looking away before they could truly see me. I looked over to Calum quickly, getting him to lean into me so I could whisper to him. "I can't believe they're friends."