Monday, August 24th- 5:27 p.m. | First day of junior year
| Opening |
the starting move of a match
"I don't know what to do!" I complained as I watched my mom walk around the kitchen.
I swiveled in the barstool as I awaited her help. I really didn't know what to do in my situation. I just wanted to cry.
"I'm already taking advanced classes. I don't have time to play a sport too!" I added on as I waited for my mom to answer.
"I don't know what to tell you, sweetie!" she finally answered as she continued to make dinner. "You have to decide on your own. If you're dead set on this program at UCLA and need this scholarship to get in, you're gonna have to play a sport to get the scholarship."
I sighed as I knew she was right, I just didn't want her to be.
"Luke!" she called up the stairs as I spun around on my chair. "Dinner's ready!"
"What sport am I supposed to play?" I pleaded for help as I aimlessly watched the spot on the ceiling as the world shifted around me.
"Well, you could always play soccer. You're really good at that!" my mom suggested as she gathered plates for us.
"Uhh, no way," Luke said as he caught wind of my mom's statement. He walked into the kitchen quietly, barely even making his presence known until he rounded the corner.
"Well, why not?" my mom complained as Luke got farther into the room. "She practices with you all the time. She could play!"
"Cause it's an all boys team," he plastered that fake Luke Hemming's smile on.
"Then you could play for the girls," she offered up as she looked back over to me.
I opened my mouth to speak but Luke beat me to it.
"There is no girls team," he told her as I pointed towards him, knowing he just said what I was planning on.
"Well, why not?" my mom exclaimed as she looked between us.
"Because the boy's team is actually co-ed," I explained as I hopped off my seat to plate out some food for myself. "Just no girls play on it."
"So you can join it still," my mom continued on.
"You're not joining my team," Luke said, wiggling his knife in the air towards me like a threat.
My mom just let out a tisk at him. "Now Luke. She needs it for her college scholarship. She has to play some sport!"
"So play volleyball or something! Don't play soccer with my friends," Luke announced as we all sat down at the table.
"I am not playing volleyball," I quickly shut that idea down. "I play soccer with you cause I don't have hand-eye coordination."
"I don't care what you play, you're just not playing soccer," he told me as he stuffed his mouth from across the table.
My mom sighed from beside me. "Now, why not?"
"She's not playing as the only girl on an all-boys team! She'll look like a whore!" Luke quickly rebutted. "And she's not playing on my team."
"Now, Luke! She can fend for herself," mom said from beside me. "Plus, you'll be there too."
Luke just shook his head from across the table. He looked up to me from his plate. "Are you seriously considering this?"
"I don't know what else to do," I shrugged, not convinced myself. "It's just one season I have to do."
"You promise it's just one season?" Luke asked, an eyebrow cocked.
"Do I look like I want to do this?" I replied with an annoyed look on my face.
"Anastasia!" my mom said from beside me.
I rolled my eyes just enough Luke could see but not her. "Sorry, let me rephrase this- Yes. Just one season, no more."
Luke sat in silence, just trying to read if I was serious or not. I stared straight back at him, waiting for his answer.
"Fine," he finally said, going back to eating his food. "You can come with me to tryouts, but I'm not promising they will even let you on the team. They haven't had a girl on the team in a very long time, you'll be breaking every silent rule our school has."
"No one likes me anyways," I shrugged.
× × ×
"Okay, kick it to me," Luke said from across the yard.
"Luke," I laughed as I kicked it back. "I've played the game before. I practically trained you."
"Yeah, but if I have to take you in front of all my friends, you have to be trained," he said as he kicked it back.
"I literally just decided I was doing this an hour ago, let my food settle first, Coach," I told him sarcastically, feeling my stomach grumble in objection.
"We have a week, Annie," Luke told me kicking it back. "You don't have time to let your food settle. Now work on your shots," He said running to the goal we had made in the backyard. "I'll keep."
"Oh my god," I sighed as I set up my shot.
I'd practically trained Luke when he was a kid. When he didn't have friends to practice with, I was the one on the field with him. I know what I'm doing, he just doesn't believe me.
I quickly chipped it, planting the ball straight in the top corner of the net. I watched Luke jump for it but painfully miss.
"Good thing you don't play goalie," I laughed as I felt my phone start vibrating in my back pocket.
"Shut it," he called back, kicking the ball back to me. "Again."
I pulled out my phone, looking at the name across the screen. "I've got to go."
"One more," he insisted from the goal.
I slid the green icon across, bringing it up to my ear.
"One sec, Cal," I said as I kicked the ball once more.
I turned around before I watched where it hit, bringing the phone back up to my ear again.
"What's up?" I asked as I started back towards the house.
"Who is it?" Luke called from behind me.
"Calum!" I yelled back as I walked closer to the door back inside.
"What?!" Calum yelled through the phone, making me pull it away from my ear from how loud it was.
"I wasn't talking to you, dumbass. I was talking to Luke," I told him, turning back around to Luke to hear his question.
"How did you meet him anyway?" Luke finally asked, collecting all the soccer balls to one area.
"Why does it matter?" I called back from the door.
Luke just shrugged, looking away as he turned to retrieve the ball from the net.
I just shook my head and shut the door behind me. "Luke says hi," I said to be kind.
"I'm not stupid, Annie," Calum laughed over the phone as I started up the stairs to my room.
I rounded the corner on the top of the banister and turned for the second door down, the first being Luke's. I pushed my door open with Calum's voice playing in my ear, my glance dancing around to the decorations strung about.
My eyes fell to the record wall that never failed to make me smile- Fine Line hung in one corner, Born To Die in another, Wiped Out! and AM mixed in, Tickets to My Downfall in the center. All of my favorite music hung on that wall, other random nick-nacks filling the empty space.
"Are you sure?" I asked with a laugh as I threw myself back onto the bed. My eyes traced the vines dangling from the roof as I spoke. "I love my bed."
"And what were you doing that required you to leave it in the first place?" Calum asked as I fell back against my comforter.
"Practicing for the soccer tryouts," I told him, biting my lip for the response I was expecting.
"Oh, why is Luke concerned? He always makes the team. Hell, he's the second captain," Calum continued as I started playing with the loose string on my shirt.
"I know. He's not the only one joining." I held my breath, praying he wouldn't mind. At the end of the day, it's his team too.
"Oh, you're joining the soccer team too?" he asked, genuinely confused.
"Yeah. The one scholarship I have been banking on just changed their requirements so I have to play a season of a sport, so now I have to play soccer with you guys," I explained, my focus everywhere but this conversation.
"On the all guys team that has never had a girl play on it for as long as we can all remember?" Calum continued.
"Yep," I said popping the p sound. "That would be the one."
"The team with Ashton as captain?"
Fuck.
"Do I get a choice?" I forced out a laugh. I really don't want to deal with Ashton but you have to do what you have to do.
"The team that has Andrew on it too?"
My heart sank at the name, but I tried to catch my breath as I sputtered out a response.
"I- I can't let him control my life forever, right?" I asked for his reassurance, not confident in it myself.
"I'm proud of you, Annie," Calum whispered to me through the phone.
"Thank you," I replied with a smile. "I'm proud of me too."