𝔐𝔞𝔭𝔩𝔢

Chapter 1

Months Later

First Person-ish :) bare with me.

It was the beginning of summer which meant one thing to every single local member of the community. Inter-Family Match Day.
Every family within the community had a chance to compete in any 4 sport games of their choosing: American Football, Basketball, Baseball and Volleyball.

Each game lasted 2-3 hours and within these hours all families that signed up for the game battle it out till they were either eliminated or the last team standing. These games were mostly for the young adults/ teens while the adults found other ways to pass time with their own respective games like Rugby and Football.

The first of the games was always American Football on the field and volleyball in the local sports hall, then basketball and Baseball followed. Everyone gathered around the field as the Football game commenced and sat across the bleachers so all could see.

It was now an hour plus into the game and unsurprisingly the Fosters destroyed the Jacksons but surprisingly the D'Amiano's won the Ryders.

I couldn't help but search around for the new girl who has allegedly been in town for the past few months or so. Searching through each row of seats, I couldn't seem to find any new faces and decided to just watch the brutal family match in front of me as the hours past by.

The Ryders and the Jacksons finished their play for third place with the Ryders winning by a stretch and now it was time for the D'Amianos and Fosters to battle it out for first place.

Our family has never been ones for this sport mostly because our heights gave us a better advantage in basketball and also because the town had unanimously voted against having 6 testosterone induced boys on the field where violence was allowed.

"Such pussies" my dad had laughed in Greek that day. We'd all known it wasn't done out of malice and didn't really take it to heart cause it wasn't even our game of choice. In fact, the thought of Axel and Aspen running wild on the field was enough for our dad to pop pain killers. So we took it with stride and decided on basketball which has less contact and violence...not that we needed it to win the game for 10 straight years in a row and counting.

It was time for the last American Football game to start and I watched as Mrs Day D'Amianio and Mr D'Amiano rose with their team who they'd been coaching for a few years now, once they actually started to care about this whole annual competition.

They began prepping the team for what was to to come and as they huddled together in their signature red D'Amiano jersey.
I still couldn't catch a glimpse of her.

"You're going to need all the help you can get Nova!" My dad taunted Mr D from behind me through a teasing laugh.

"Luck is for losers boy!" he said matching his taunt from the bench as he patted his family on the back while to move along to the field.

"Still so arrogant!" Our mom exclaimed with glee

"He never changes even when I tell him it's bad luck " Mrs D retorted with a light French accent.

"He'll never change!" Dad said without hesitation which Mr D'Amiano replied with "Indeed I won't!"

As the match proceeded the Fosters remained in the lead with the D'Amiano's not far behind. From the field Mr D'Amiano made his way towards the bench to Mrs Day where he stayed for as while before breathing in deeply and calling out a name.

"Maple!"

To my far right replied a soft voice that went along with a small light brown hand that was raised "Yeah?!"