Mark My Words

17 | Vibe

Rosalie tipped, balance scattered, and rolled fast across the ground, popping back up in time to see that the girl had stolen the ball from her. The girl ran it straight to Kim, though, who stole it and put her back to the girl, arm out, defending the ball on her frantic pass to Ray.

Ray ran with it, cutting around Lion defenders. She tripped over an oncoming girl's cleat, and lost her balance just long enough for the girl to kick the ball out from beneath her and circle it back to the midfield line where Rosalie butted into her shoulder and cut her foot between the girl's cleat and the ball. If they were going to start tripping her girls every other play, she'd have to do the same.

She swiped her foot out and plucked the ball up from the grass. She kicked it through the air at Erin. They needed to move fast if they had any hope in beating the Lions' defense. Erin passed it immediately to Ray over the penalty box line. The shot was too far, so Ray skidded across the grass and it ricocheted off her cleat to the corner of the goal, just out of the goalie's reach.

In the next play, the rightwing defender stole the ball from Ray and dodged Kim on her way to the goal. Alyssa intercepted the ball for a brief while before her pass was caught by the Lions' captain. The girl kicked the ball across the field to the corner of the penalty box where her teammate went in for the kill.

Until then, Rosalie hadn't worried about Joanna not caring. Joanna tried in practice and was actually good in practice, but this was an actual game. What if she didn't defend the goal? What if she gave up being a keeper right then and there and they'd have to send Jade Dalby in to face the Lions. One of Jade's previous two concussions was at the hands of player number 5 on the field.

The ball, however, was heading in Joanna's direction. She hadn't moved once in the course of the game. She caught the ball with one arm and tossed it to the corner flag in the same motion.

Her insincerity had the Lions fuming, and Rosalie could only sigh in relief. Well, at least the Lions knew how they all felt now.

The fight in the corner sent the ball over the sideline. The referee blew the whistle, and a Lions girl jogged out to fetch the ball. Rosalie stepped closer to their penalty box, bumping shoulders with the pack of Lions invading their territory. The girl took two steps towards the corner flag before chucking the ball overhead. It soared towards Rosalie, who jumped to deflect the ball. Someone's cleats scraped down the side of her calve as the girl's head hit the ball with the force that sent it splitting across the penalty box to her teammate.

Joanna was at the ready the instant the ball made contact with the girl's foot. Rosalie still couldn't comprehend Joanna's level of accuracy when it came to predicting where a ball would land. Joanna lunged for it, darting to the left where she caught it against her stomach.

She straightened, eyeing the girls in her penalty box as they backed away. She met Rosalie's eye, making a slow walk towards the edge of the penalty box.

Rosalie backed away and started towards the Lions' goal. Ray raised a hand to Joanna from the left, and Erin on the right, and given the circumstances everyone seemed to gang up on Rosalie and Erin. Erin wasn't new to the Lions, but this was her first year playing against them. Rosalie had a reputation for pissing off their captain and just about every other Lion on the team.

Rosalie didn't know it at the time, but blood was starting to soak through the blue sock on her calf and turned the hem purple. Someone's cleat had scraped her just beneath the back of her knee and rubbed the skin raw.

The Lions funneled their anger on Joanna as soon as they realized Rosalie and Erin weren't the issue. Just before the end of the first half, Lion #18 got close to the goal and used the proximity to knee Joanna in the face on her kick. The ball hit the back net as Joanna's glasses went flying in the opposite direction.