Better Than You

(2)

Better Than You

I found true love at the age of four. True love was a sphere covered with hexagons of white and black. True love and I made a great team. True love already belonged to somebody else.

My first soccer ball was a gift for Bryce on his fifth birthday. We were accustomed to sharing our toys by then. Our moms brought us back and fourth between their houses. On days his mom was free, she watched over me like her own child and vice versa with my mom. We basically owned each other's toys after all the "If you don't share with Maddie, I'm going to throw it away," drama. When our parents were all busy, Bryce and I even had to share a babysitter. Sharing was not a foreign concept.

But it seemed that Bryce had found true love too. Not with the Star Wars Lego set his mom got him or the tiny remote controlled car his my mom got him or even the basketball that his basketball-playing dad got him with proud, hopeful eyes. True love was a little more difficult to share.

He kicked the ball around the backyard and I followed him outside to play too. When I kicked the ball away from him so that I could have a try, he pushed me to the ground with a big thud. His mom saw, my mom saw and I guess out of embarrassment, she told him that we had to share the ball from then on. As in, the next day, when it wasn't his birthday, his mom let me bring it home. Of course I had to give it back but since we were practically together everyday. We both got to play with the soccer ball together all the time.

A month later, our moms enrolled us in the same local children's soccer team. On the first day, the coach said I was a natural and that I would be the best soccer player he'd ever trained. The next week, Bryce was his star player. It shouldn't have bothered me but I was. We were close enough that I should've been proud of him but I wasn't.

When high school came, we were separated. I got into the female soccer team at Northwood high school and Bryce got in the boy's team. The separation was not unwelcome. If anything, it was a breathe of fresh air, less pressure to excel.

And I excelled.

Dinner number 69372with the Jacobs, which happened about a year ago, was the first dinner with the Jacobs that I'd ever been excited about. I hadn't told my mom and dad the news yet since I wanted to tell everyone about my day in school today. I wasn't the type to brag unless for Bryce's benefit and this time would definitely be for Bryce's benefit.

I'd always felt a need to prove myself to him. I'd admit any day that Bryce was an amazing soccer player but so was I. Yet every time Bryce was around, things were only about him and his soccer career despite my success. Today, I was certain that he couldn't top the success I'd gotten today.

Bryce and I had grown up together but that didn't keep us from growing apart. I'm sure we must've been close as kids but now we basically tolerated each other at these dinners and at school. He lived his life and I lived mine– separate and just how we liked it.

In the midst of everyone stuffing their mouths with my moms lasagna, my mom asked the 'mom question' I'd been waiting for the whole day. Yes, I'd been pathetically waiting.

"How was your day at school today, honey?" It was a general question that she was directing at any of the kids in the table: me, my sister Melissa and even Bryce and his sister Hannah. Usually no one had anything to say so I pounced on the momentary silence.

"I had a great day today, actually."

"Really?" My mom said, surprised that I sounded so upbeat. "What happened?"

"Well," my eyes wandered around the table. Melissa was casually checking her phone for messages from her boyfriend, Hannah was trying to snoop, the parents were fully invested in the conversation and Bryce glanced at me curiously without saying anything. "Coach called me to her office after school and she told me that she's promoting me to captain."