Bleed Until You Heal

36- Soccer Games

Dax gets really far with the ball but he eventually gets caught between Noah and Britt so he passes it to me. Abby tries to intercept it but I get the ball faster and I try to make it to the goal where Felix is ready to try and stop it. However, I see Noah coming toward me and I'm afraid that I won't be able to make the shot in time so I panic and try to pass the ball over to Conner but Noah just intercepts the pass and sends the ball shooting toward the other side of the field.

That's how the first seven minutes of the game go, the ball going back and forth between the two teams without ever actually going into the goal at all. One comes close but when Jasper gets close enough to the goal to make the shot, it hits the post instead and bounces away.

Eventually, I get the ball and I'm at about midfield, going toward the other goal when I see Scott right in front of me, grinning as if he knows absolutely that he's going to get the ball. I know it's probably just a mind trick though, so I just try my best to get around him even though I know it's kind of impossible considering that he's an amazing soccer player.

As I approach him, I try to do a fancy foot maneuver that Dax had tried to show me earlier before the game but I end up just stepping on the ball and with my muddy cleats, I slip and then my butt and back are in the mud. I look up and see Scott above me laughing his butt off and he has a beautiful laugh but right now, I feel irked. With a sly grin, I crouch up and quickly grab his elbow, pulling him down into the mud too.

"You're a jerk, but I still love you," I say to him, pushing him farther into the mud as I stand to my feet and follow the ball, that's now being dribbled down the field by Britt. The mud is cold on my bare legs and I can feel the material of my tiny dress sticking to my back but it dries quickly and although it feels disgusting, it's not too bad once I get used to it.

My only satisfaction is knowing that Scott is now also covered in mud.

The first goal that is made is a few minutes after that, when Dax fakes left and then goes right, tricking Abby and then sending the ball shooting into the net, past Felix. The slightly drunk crowd goes insane around us.

I let out a loud cheer of excitement and our whole team save for our goalie huddle in a 'great teamwork!' type of excited huddle. Me, Dax, Conner, Bradley, and Haven all make our celebratory huddle before getting back into formation. Me between Dax and Conner and standing face to face with Scott on the other side of the ball. My thighs ache from all of the exercise but this is too much fun to stop. And it's also really amusing to see everybody covered in mud. There's been a few slips but even just getting hit with the ball will get a person splattered with mud.

By the time that Scott scores for the other team making the score 1-1, everybody that's on the field is absolutely covered in mud which, in a weird way, makes the game even more fun.

So we keep playing but only about a minute after we start playing again, Britt is able to get past our defenses and get the ball into the net. I personally think that she had subtly seduced Bradley to distract him before she made the goal, which is smart on her part, I'll give her that. But completely unacceptable on Bradley's part.

"Come on, man!" I shriek, my competitiveness at an all-time high. "Keep it in your pants for just thirty more minutes."

He laughs but gives me a confused look as if he doesn't know what I'm talking about when he obviously does.

I give him a teasingly dirty look as we get back into formation and I start jumping up and down, feeling so pumped on this adrenaline rush, especially with the crowd that's getting even more drunk by the minute and therefore, louder.

"You're going down, Pearson!" I shout with a loud laugh, using Scott's last name for emphasis.

"Really? That's not what the scoreboard says, Mast," He grins back at me.