Hidden Princess

Chapter 3

*Cami and Alex are pictured above*

Gym was my last class of the day, and it turns out that Alex was in my gym class. So is Lila.

"Apolonia, I hope you don't get stuck on my team." Lila's voice rings out behind me when I enter the gym from the locker room. I roll my eyes at her pronunciation of my name while she and her friends laugh while I walk past.

"Hey, Nia!" Alex calls from across the gym before jogging over to me.

"Hey, Alex," I smile as he gets to me. I pull my dark brown hair up into a pony tail. "Any idea what we will be doing?"

"No clue. Coach should be in soon to tell us, but I bet we're going outside." He shrugs. I deadpan and just stare at him. He laughs when he sees my face.

"Its too cold to go outside. And I'm in shorts and a t-shirt so it will be even worse." I complain. Just as I say that the teacher walks in. Coach, as Alex called him, called everyone to attention.

"Okay guys, we are going out to play soccer on the field. So everyone head outside." He says before walking back the way he came, everyone following behind him.

"Ugh, I'm going to turn into an icicle," I say as Alex and I start to make our way outside with the rest of the class.

"Here," Alex hands me a jacket. "You can wear my jacket, I grabbed it on my way out of the locker room, thinking you might need it if we go outside."

"Thanks," I give him a smile as I take the jacket and pull it on. Alex smiles back at me and my heart does a little flutter. I look away from him as I feel my cheeks start to blush. That's never happened to me before, not even with Demétrio, and I'm supposed to marry him next August.

When everyone is out on the field, Coach breaks us up into teams. Apparently, what they call soccer in the United States is actually futebol, or football in the rest of the world. And I may be a princess, but I'm pretty kick ass at futebol too. I was the best player on our town's team, and it's not just because everyone went easy because I'm the princess. I made sure they treated me the same as everyone else when I was on the field. I smile to myself as I wrap Alex's jacket tighter around me as a breeze blows over the field. I catch the scent of whatever cologne Alex uses, and it smells wonderful. I end up on the same team a Lila and her friends, and Alex is on the opposite team.

"You better watch out, Nia. I'm captain of our soccer team, so I'm pretty good." Alex says as we take our sides on the field.

"Oh just you wait and see. I'm going to kick your butt!" I call back to him.

"Ugh, I can't believe we got stuck on a team with her." I hear Lila saying to her friends. "I hope she sucks so that everyone quits thinking the new girl is so great."

I decide to ignore her and focus on the game that is starting. Alex's team gets the ball first, and I keep my eye on the ball as they pass it back and forth between each other. I guess all the guys are on the soccer team, and most of them ended up on the same team. I watch as Alex gets the ball and starts making his way down the field to the goal.

I cut across the field towards Alex as fast as I can. I slide in front of him, kicking the ball away and getting up just as quickly. and making my way to the opposite goal. I dribble the ball down the field, passing and dodging all the guys that come towards me. Alex is following behind me, but I stay a good distance in front of him. When I get close enough to the goal, I kick the ball and send it sailing into the net, right over the goalie's head.

I turn around to face everyone else. They are all looking at me with shocked expressions, except Alex. He has a huge grin spread across his face. I smirk at him.