When I woke up the morning of the Brenston game, I felt strange. I didn't feel sick or anything, but something felt , bizarre. I ignored the nagging thought, and got dressed in my uniform, braiding my hair, and tying in my red and white bow. I surpressed a smile in the mirror, and grabbed my bag, heading to Marks room.
I banged on the door for at least five minutes straight, when finally a very messy, groggy, Mark opened the door. I gave him a face that said, "Get your butt up, or I'm dragging you to the fields like this," and he immediatley looked at me, wide eyed, and slammed the door.
I texted back and fourth with Emily, who seemed half asleep by the way she was texting. I waited a solid 15 minutes for Mark to finally open the door, with one shin guard on, and missing one sock.
"I think your forgetting something..." I said, pointing down at his feet. He swore under his breath, dropping his bag to retrieve his sock. Tyler, his older brother sluggishly sauntered past the open door, with headphones on. He glanced over at me, scowling, and looked back at his phone.
"Boys..." I mumbled, just as Mark arrived at the door, fully awake now, and In full uniform this time. "Ready now?" I asked, as he wrung his arm around my shoulders. "Yup! Race you to the car!" He said, running towards the elevator
Marks dad was wating in the car for us, and when we got there, the radio was already on 101.5, which was my favorite station.
"Dad turn it..." Mark groaned, straining to reach the dial in the front of the car, but his hand was slapped away by his father. I mouthed the words to, Fergalicious, and Mark just siged and put his head in his hands. When we reached the fields, Mark bolted out of the car.
"He loves you." Mark's dad said laughing, which made me slightly giggle, my face turning bright red as I hurrily walked to the field. I thought about how my team would make fun of me today, but I was there only main defender, so they better keep their mouths shut.
"One lap guys!" Coach yelled, as Emily and I lead the line for our lap. The boys kept murmuring something in the back about Alex, who was lagging at the back. That was unusual for Alex's, because he was usually itching to lap me constantly. I swiftly turned my head, to see him panting hard. I ignored it, and we stretched in our usually semi-circle. Coach read out our usual positions, only Alex was taking Ashley's place, and was becoming my left defender. I scowled at coach, who dismissed my look like he didn't see me. I was starting to get irritated with my team, and I was relived when Mark came over to me.
"Let's rock this." he said, hugging me, and taking his spot as the center midfielder.
My heart stopped when I saw Paisley and Blake. I had totally forgotten who we were against, until the whistle was blown. I shook my head, trying to concentrate, but all I could notice was how Paisley was constantly pushing and tugging on Mark. I shouted for my defense to move up, so I could break up their mini war, that I wouldn't let Paisley win.
"What the heck are you doing Bryce?" Dillion screamed at me from inside te goal box. He was furious, but this had to be done. I was too busy breaking up Paisley and Mark, that one of their players dribbled the ball almost into the goal, but Dillion made an amazing dive to retrieve it. He glared at me, and shot me a look that said "Don't worry now, I'll kill you later."
I shrugged him off, and got my head back in the game. They manged to score 2 points before the whistle was blown, and we won 5-3. We all celebrated, but that nagging feeling returned that I had felt this morning. Someone screamed, and I jerked my head around, to see Alex sprawled across the field, shaking uncontrollably. I raced , along with my team mates, over to Alex. I was scared out of my mind, and the abulance soon arrived, but it all went by in a blur. Tears were streaming down, while Mark pulled me back. I struggled against him, but he had a tight grip on my torso. Alex was loaded into the ambulance, and driven towards the hospital.
"What happened?" I asked Mark, still bawling.
"I honestly don't know Taylor, but i'll be okay," He said, pulling my head closer to his chest. I cried into his shirt, and all he did was hold me the whole time.
My mom was speaking to Marks parents, and Carson and Tiffinay were wating nervously beside them. Mark lead me over to my mom, and his mom, and she pulled me into a hug. I honestly didn't know what had happend to Alex, but whatever it was, I knew it was serious. I wiped my eyes, and Carson looked at me funny.
"What?" I asked, still dread in my tone.
"Your, your Mascara is running." He said.
"Oh shoot, Tiffinay help me." I said embarrsed. She wiped the black substance off of my eyes, and fixed my ponytail. I nodded my head a her, and she smiled back.
"What happend to Alex." I said flatly, as my friends stared back at me, not saying anything.
"Um... I asked something!" I shouted, as my mom placed her hand on my shoulder.
"Its better we tell you at the hosptial." She said, dragging me towards the car.
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We waited in the hospital wating room, because they woudn't let anyone see Alex. I tapped my foot on Mark's chair, until he kicked me, and I reluctantly stopped. The rest of the team had gone back to the hotel to rest before the banquet, but it was probably going to be impossible for me to sleep until I saw Alex. Mark hummed along to the music on my headphones, which made me laugh. His horrendous voice and hysterical face made me smile for the first time in about an hour.
I was getting tired of being at hospital's. I hadn't ever been to the hospital this much in a year even. Dillion came, then the Mark drama, then Alex, and now this. Andrew was still back in New York, traning for soccer. I secretly hoped that Emily wouldn't date him, because he had recently become rude to the girls, and he was talking about us behind our backs. I wanted the best for her, but the same for me as well.
"Alex's friends... well this might take a while, so come on in." The distressed nurse said, ushering Mark, and I into the room, along with our family's. My parents were already in tears, just at the sight of Alex. He was ghostly pale, with black bags under his eyes. IV's ran through his wrists, and his face was sagging. I cringed at the sight, and looked at Mark, who was just as shocked as I was.
"Do you want me to tell them Al." Alex's mom asked.
"No, no. Let me." Alex said faintly, grabbing his water with a shaky hand, barely manging to not spill any.
He siged and began to speak.
"When I fell in the treehouse, no one did that. I fell and passed out. They had to watch me very closely after that, but when I had the seziure on the fields today, and they ran the MRI's and the CAT scans, and they found it." He said, gasping for the water at the end of the sentence. I looked at Mark, puzzled, and clasped onto his hand.
"What exactly did they find?" I asked, still clearly confused about the whole situation. My eyes darted around the room for signs, but nothing was helping me in here. My parents we're both crying now, I didn't know how serious this all was, until the words slipped out of Alex's mouth.
"I have a stage II brain tumor."
And world slowly started slipping away into complete darkness.
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Penalties
Teen Fiction"I didn't want anything to do with love. My routine was strictly eat, sleep, soccer on repeat. That's how it had been for the past 10 years of my life. But that was until I looked at Mark Larsen in a different light and suddenly my black and white w...
