Carson Messi

Chapter Sixteen

"Good morning." I say coming into the kitchen where Mom is making smoothies to go for dad and I.

Today I'm going to practice with dad. Cue my excitement.

"Good morning sweetie." Mom says, kissing my head. "Sleep well?" She asks.

"Yes, thank you. It was a much needed sleep." I say. Then I turn to dad. "Should I wear this?" I ask.

"Sure." Dad says, glancing up from his newspaper. I'm wearing black spandex shorts, an Argentina national team jersey, and a pair of running shoes. In my bag I brought my cleats, shin guards, and goalie gloves. "You ready to go?" He asks.

"Yeah." I say, pulling my hair into a ponytail.

"Be safe." Mom smiles, handing us each a smoothie to take on the road. "See you later."

"Bye mom." I say, kissing her head.

Dad and I head out to his truck and start driving. After awhile we pull up to the stadium.

"Welcome to Drake Stadium, home of the Bruins." Dad says, hopping out of the truck. I follow behind him with my duffel bag. I love watching my dad coach.

I follow dad out onto the field. Surrounding the field was a track so the college could get more use out of the stadium. Soccer's not important enough to Americans to actually make any profit from it. It's sad, but true.

As we reach the field we head over to the team. The guys are messing around up until the point they see my dad.

"Guys." Dad says. "This is my daughter Carson." He introduces.

The team mumbles hellos awkwardly, wondering why I'm here.

"She's here to assist me today." He says. Instantly they start talking. Dad cuts them off. "And if you can't handle a girl on the field, you may leave." They calm down and go silent. "Alright. Go do your usual warm up."

The team sets off to work while dad tells me what he'd like me to do. When the team crowds around dad again for instruction, he shoots me a look. I turn slightly and kick a soccer ball at his goalkeeper, Jake.

Dad watches, amused, as the ball hits Jake on his cheekbone. Jake's face goes from shocked to anger in less than .1338374391 seconds.

"What the hell! Can you not kick a ball?" He asks. His face is pure hatred and where I hit him starts turning red.

Instead of reacting I kick another ball at him. This time the ball hits him on his forehead. Jake gets even more mad. Before he can say anything, Dad tosses a ball at Jake. It thumps him against his chest.

Jake stands there angry and confused. "What was that!" He yells.

"You need to be ready for random shots at your goal." Dad says. "Today, Carson's going to help you with your goalkeeping skills. The rest of you line up." Dad says. Then dad hands me a bag filled with balls. "Head to the goal."

Then Jake and I turn and walk towards the goal. "How are you today?" I ask the still mad boy.

He ignores me as he takes his position in the goal.

"I'm going to kick some balls at you. Do your best to catch or block them." I say. Jake shrugs, expecting to catch all of the balls now that he's expecting them.

I dump all the balls out onto the ground then position one, maybe ten meters in front of the goal. I take a few steps back then make a run to kick the ball. My foot connects perfectly and soars into the top right corner of the goal.

Instead of waiting, I shoot another ball quickly. This time it enters in the top left corner. I take another ball and dribble it towards Jake. As he steps out to stop me, I sidestep him and put the ball into the back of the net.