Invisible String (w|w high school romance)

Championshit

Riley POV:

The state championship was here. In all my years of soccer I've never been as nervous as I am right now. This is the most important game I've ever played in. I wanted more than anything to lead my team to a state title and this was my last chance to do it.

The locker room today was dead silent. Nobody spoke as they got ready. Headphones were in as everyone tried to lock in on the game. Hair was done and we all sat on the benches, all in our own heads.

Harper sat to my left and Kylie sat to my right. I gave Kylie a small, nervous smile as we both slipped on our captain's armbands. On my left, Harper grabbed my hand and gave it a light squeeze. We both knew how important this game is.

Just then, coach knocked on the door and we all mumbled that he could come in. He walked in and looked around at all of us with a soft smile on his face. "This is it ladies. Whatever the outcome of today's game, this is the last time that you will all play together like this. I want you all to enjoy it, because in the years to come you're going to look back at this as some of the best days of your life. I know you all want to win and I want you to as well, but more importantly? I want you to go out there and makes some memories."

With that he clasped his hands together before looking around one last time and motioning us to follow him out of the locker room. We all walked in silence, the only sound coming from our cleats clacking against the pavement. Coach came and walked in stride with me. "Someone important is here to watch you. I know you'll do good and impress them." he whispered to me as he kept walking.

Who could be here for me? Nobody came to mind.

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Future Riley:

When I look back now, I don't know how I could've been so stupid. To everyone it was obvious who was coming to watch me play, but at that time my focus had shifted to something else. Or more specifically, someone else.

If I wasn't paying so much attention to her, I would've realized who was coming to watch the game. Then maybe, just maybe, I would have been able to prevent it all from going to shit.

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Riley POV:

This game was the first time all season where my intuition failed me. I lost us the coin toss and as a result, we had to start with the ball first. My plan to win was slowly falling apart.

The wind was blowing cold and the sun was down. Usually, I loved playing under the stadium lights but today it felt like I was under a spot light on stage and everyone was staring at me. Which in actuality, they were. News vans were parked on the street and reporters lined the fence of the field. They all carried cameras and microphones to capture every moment of the game. I used to be good at ignoring all the publicity, but I couldn't today. I could feel everyone's eyes on me.

And that's how Fairfield scored the first goal.

It was not even ten minutes into the first half when Fairfield stole the ball from us and came charging down the wing. They were playing a formation with three forwards and somehow, I didn't pick up on it until it was too late.

Their right forward got around our defender and started charging towards the net, so I left the center forward I was marking. When I left the center forward, Lexi had to sprint to cover my spot and as she did, the right forward launched the ball over us to the wide open left forward. One easy cut and she was around our goalie and tapped the ball into the wide open net. In that moment, it was like my heart stopped.