Like the stars

SIX

I dribbled the ball skillfully in between and around the circle of cones, passing the ball between my feet. Coach had the team in two groups and thankfully, mine was mostly full of the people I could actually stand. We did some more cone drills, played a little game of one touch in a circle and ran a couple laps for practice.

"Huddle!" Coach shouted, blowing his whistle to gain our attention. We jogged over, both teams huddling around him. "9v9. Connor and Logan captains. Figure positions out yourselves."

We huddled in our own groups, discussing positions. Hayden was our goalkeeper in matches so I was happy to have him on my team. We sorted our positions out and coach blew his whistle again, motioning Connor and I to him.

We met in the middle, he smirked and I glared. "Heads or tails?"

"Heads." I called first, leaving Connor with tails. My lips lifted up when the coin landed on heads and I took the ball from coaches open hand.

Small sided games were an important part of training. They let every player get a taste for the ball and have an opportunity to score. They improved our skills on the pitch and helped with our team work. The coach didn't interfere with our small sided games, he sat on the bleachers, watching our defense and attack skills, picking up on every individuals weaker points so we could work on them. It was a test to see what we needed to improve on. However, there were times when the games got dirty and some players made some dirty tackles, mostly for the reason that they found it hard to work as a team and wanted the individual win.

Soccer wasn't like that. It was a team sport, a team effort, and it took every single player to help win. We needed the offence, midfielders and the forwards. We were body parts, alone we were useless, but together we made up the whole body and we ran.

We played a clean small game, my team ended up winning. I could tell as soccer players, with all of us being on the same team, it didn't affect them as we slapped each other on the back and said 'good game' but as people off the pitch? It annoyed them and frustrated them to lose, which is why some players slapped my back a little too hard. At least they were nothing like the dicks from Alexander's.

I jogged over to the bleachers, grabbing my bottle of water from the top of my bag, squirting some water on my face to cool me down and then gulped down some much needed water.

I didn't bother changing back in to any clothes, keeping my soccer uniform on as I walked off the field and towards the school parking lot where I knew Zoey was waiting for me. Dad and Lauren were working and Carter had to train late again today and took my truck so we were walking the thirty minute walk home.

"Those guys are self righteous douchebags." Parker grumbled as we walked across the pitch, rolling his shoulders.

"It damages their ego to lose." I reply lowly, gulping down another mouthful of water.

"It damages their brain cells to be such sore losers." He muttered.

Hayden jogged and caught up to us, walking beside us with heavy breathing. "They haven't got any brain cells to damage." We chuckled. "How's your hand, Cap?"

I flexed it, straightening out my fingers and curling them back in, staring at the blue, purple and black blotches that decorated my skin like paint. "Don't hurt as much now. It's just bruised like a bitch."

"Worth it though, right?" Parker grumbled, raising an eyebrow.

I nodded stiffly. "I would do it a thousand times over again just to see him on the floor, spitting out blood like that again."

They chuckled darkly, agreeing with me one hundred percent. All the guys on the team knew about my mom, all the teachers knew, my classmates new, everyone in the school knew. It wasn't kept secret when she died. I could see the sympathetic looks they would cast at Zoey, the daughter Leah birthed before bleeding to death. It made me sick.