Trouble In Paradise?

Chapter Twenty Two

Dead silence. We were all at a loss before everyone slowly turned back to their work and continued to solve countless math problems. The key sarcastic word being 'solve' because I didn't think Blake and Jordan had any idea what they were doing, so they chose to annoy me for the answers.

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Fast forward to lunchtime, my favourite part of the day besides when I get home. I think I've expressed my love for food already, so I'll skip that part.

Now, I faced a dilemma. I could either sit with the four boys, even if Ethan didn't speak to me, or I could sit with Amber. I decided to sit with Amber, who shoved her food around her tray with a plastic fork.

"Hey," I said to Amber, Blake giving me a funny look from the door before seeing Amber. I nodded at him and he sat down with his other three guy friends, girls starting to swarm their table already. When I sat with them, there were no girls. I wonder why.

"Hey," Amber replied, giving me a small smile before pushing her food tray away. "Training after school," she reminded me.

"Yep, got it," I said, eating a sandwich that I brought from home. I wish I had pizza. Sigh.

We chatted, we gossiped, and we talked until the bell rang. Students swarmed the hallways and rushed to their next class. I spent the rest of my day sitting in class, trying desperately to pay attention to everything that the teachers said.

I watched the clock with a sharp eye until we were finally let free. I gathered my bag, books and P.E uniform and walked to the girls' change rooms, where most of the soccer team had already started to change. I spotted Amber and walked over to her, along with Emily, Jessica and Ashley who had become my acquaintances/friends.

We made our way onto the soccer fields, where our coach waited for us with a soccer ball underneath her foot.

The other girls gathered and eventually we all formed a small crowd.

The coach blew her whistle to quiet us down. "Okay!" she yelled. "Our first game is next week, against a rival school.

"I will be watching you today and sorting out your positions based on your strengths and weaknesses. Some of you may be a substitute, some will be key members of the team. I will also assign a team captain, who is responsible for helping and keeping the team in proper shape," the coach said.

She instructed us for the next couple of hours, doing training exercises and drills to build up our fitness and skills for the upcoming game. I was exhausted by the end of it, probably more than I should've been, and Amber looked completely calm.

"How are you not dying right now?" I asked, my face feeling red and hot while my chest heaved. We all went to grab a drink of water while the coach set up the next course.

"I don't know," she replied. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said. "Just bad endurance." We chuckled together as we both drank from our water bottles.

We jogged back to the fields, preparing ourselves for whatever hell that our coach has got planned. By the way, we found out her name. Coach Jasmine is her name.

Coach Jasmine watched with a clipboard in hand as we, well I, struggled through the courses and training sets that we were put through. She pulled me aside moments later, which she was doing with everything just to give them some tips.

"Stef, right?" she asked, to which I nodded. "You have got good attacking skills, which is crucial. You just have to work up that endurance, alright? You need to be able to run for most of the game," she advised.