Out

Chapter 8

"Whoo! Go Lakeview!" Lexi cheers. We just brought the score of the soccer game up to a tie, 2-2. Alice and I high five each other, both of us laughing at Lexi's reaction.

"She gets really excited at these games," Alice tells me.

"I noticed," I respond.

It's been a great game so far- except for the stupid referee, whom I can't stand. He keeps making stupid calls and I don't think he's even paying attention.

Nathan has the ball now- he's one of the midfielders. He passes it up to...Peter, I think. I'm still learning all of their names.

"Go Peter!" I cheer.

"That's not Peter," Piper tells me. "Peter is the goalkeeper."

"Damn," I mutter. "I really thought I was getting better at this."

They all laugh at me and smile. "You'll get them eventually," Lexi tells me.

The referee blows the whistle again. Apparently, he's called a handball against...Joseph?

"Is that Joseph?" I ask Alice.

"No, that's Dan. Joseph is injured and sitting out."

"Damn!"

The other team gets the ball and Alice groans. "I hate this ref," she mutters.

"You suck, ref!" I shout. Apparently, somehow, he hears me. He turns and stares at me. I feel my cheeks get red, but I don't look away. We practically have a stare off, him on field, me on the bleachers. I can feel my friends staring at me, open-mouthed. When he finally turns away, I whisper, "I win."

I look at the faces of my friends. Piper looks terrified. Lexi looks amused. Alice just looks like it's the awesomest thing she's ever seen.

"I gotta say, I didn't think you had that in you," Alice says after a few minutes.

"Neither did I," I say breathlessly. I'm still shaking, my heart beating a thousand times a minute.

"Please don't have a panic attack, I honestly don't think I could handle that," Piper says worriedly. I give her a smile and a small chuckle.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Just gimme a second..."

I turn my attention back to the game. "How much time is left?" I say to no one in particular.

"Only like two minutes, I think," Alice answers.

I stare at the field and focus on Brendan. He plays defense, and honestly, he's probably the best one out there. He's so focused and detirmined.

Finally, after what seems like an etirnity, the referee blows the whistle signifying the end of the game.

"Uh-oh..." Piper mutters.

"What's wrong?" I ask, giving her a quizzical look.

"They tied," Lexi tells me.

"Yeah I know... Is that bad?"

"They just don't like to tie, especially with Springwell." Piper says.

I just nod my head and pretend that I understand. We all stand up and gather our things, preparing to go. I see Alice step up on the top bleacher, and I'm left standing in shock as she jumps off like it's no big deal. I gasp sharply and stare at her, wide-eyed. The next thing I know, Lexi does the same thing. Then Piper. "What are you guys doing?!" I ask confusedly.

"We always jump," Lexi says like it's no big deal. I give her a ridiculous look, my mouth still wide open.

"Just get down here," Alice says laughing.

I hesitate for a moment. Piper gives me two thumbs up and a wink.

I roll my eyes reluctantly and step up on the bleacher. I clasp my hand over my mouth to make sure I don't make a sound, and I jump. My feet hit the the ground with a dull thud. I straighten myself up and adjust my navy blue top.

"You really had to cover your mouth?" Alice asks me smirking.

"Just a precaution," I say grinning.

We walk up to the field and go over to join the team in their huddle. "Are we allowed to do this?" I ask Alice.

"Eh," she responds shrugging.

We reach the boys and hear the coach say, "-and were gonna crush 'em!"

"Yeah, you heard what he said!" Alice shouts.

Everyone turns around and looks at us. "Ahh, Alice! Piper! Lexi! And uhh...you!" the coach greets us.

"I'm Sophia Grace," I tell him with a small wave.

"Oh, dang it! That's right. I knew that."

"Sure you did," Lexi says sarcastically.

Coach grins and rolls his eyes. "We did good, team," he says, turning his attention back to the soccer boys. "And next time we play these suckers, were gonna beat 'em to a pulp!" The team cheers. "Anything to add?" he asks Alice.

"Yeah," she says. "Their striker was too cute. Next time you play them, break his nose for me!" They all start laughing and cheering again.

"Alright, hands in people." They all put their hand in, including Alice, Piper and Lexi. The coach looks at me expectantly. "Well?" he asks, raising his eyebrows.

"What, me?" I ask stupidly.

"Yeah you. Hand in!"

I stride over in my wedges and awkwardly put my hand in the circle. the coach shouts, "TEAM ON 3, TEAM ON 3, 1-2-3!"

"TEAM!" everyone shouts in unison.

"Team..." I mutter after everyone else has spoken. I've never done this before!

They chuckle at my late response, and I grin. Everyone starts walking off the field.

"Hey," Alice says jogging up to me. "We're gonna go grab some Starbucks, wanna come?"

"Thanks, but I think I'll pass. I still have homework from Biology, and my hair is a mess so I need to shower, and-"

"Sophie," she cuts me off, "you don't need to make up excuses."

"I'm not, I-"

"Sophie... it's fine."

Piper and Lexi walk over and join us. "You coming?" Lexi asks.

"No, she has home work and needs to take a shower," Alice answers for me.

"Oh," Piper says disappointedly.

"Sorry. Maybe next time," I say.

"Ok," Lexi says, giving me a small smile. "Maybe next time."

I wave goodbye to them and start walking back to my dorm. On the way, of course, I run into the last person I want to see... Jack.

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Sorry it took so long for this update to come, I was really uninspired and didn't like the way the story was going. I decided I'm going to change the future plot a little bit...

Anyway, follow, comment, vote, etc. Hopefully I'll update soon