His Choice - Rafe Cameron

8. Dislocated

"Maybank, go long." Jesse shouts across the field to me. Harper is running towards him. She extends her arm out to touch him, but he launches the ball into the air before she can do so. The ball comes flying towards me and I run backwards while keeping my eye on the ball. I hold my arms out and catch the ball against my chest. Thankfully that didn't hurt. The perks of being flat chested. 

We're playing a friendly game of Kooks vs Pogues in touch football. Alright, forget the friendly part. Everyone is out for blood. 

Since I am still unemployed and not enrolled in school, I was home alone today. I got extremely bored so I walked to the park. That's when I seen Jesse and Harper who I remember being two years above me in grade school. They asked me to play touch football with them. 

I run with the ball in my hands towards the try line. I can see Hugh in the corner of my eye running towards me. I step around him and lean backwards, dodging him when he tries to touch my shoulder. I change my line of direction and head to the other side of the try line with Hugh still chasing me. My teammates cheer me on from behind and I eventually make it over the try line and place the ball on the ground. I throw my arms into the air, celebrating my try. That gives us the lead.

We're 3 - 2 tries now. 

Hugh lets out a defeated sigh and picks up the ball which I placed on the ground.

"Too fast for you." I say to him with a smug grin on my face. 

"I let you have that one." 

Jesse, Parker and Abby join me and they congratulate me on my try. 

Parker places his hands on his knees and leans over while he catches his breath. "Alright, time to strategise. What's our plan for the next set?"

"I think they're going to do a short kick off to regain possession and try to make the score even again." Abby says to the group.

Jesse nods in agreement. "Then Parker you stand up front because you have the height and speed to jump up and get that ball if they do a short kick off. I'll guard the back and girls, you both guard either side in front of me."

"Got it." I say to Jesse before walking off the the left hand side of the field. While I am walking there, I see Rafe walking out from the bait shop. He isn't looking our way, he has his head down and is looking at the contents inside the bag in his hand. His shoulders are slightly hunched forwards and he looks like he is talking to himself. 

I force myself to stop paying attention to Rafe and focus on the game instead. 

As expected, Hugh does a short kick off. Parker is unable to gain possession of the ball. The ball landed perfectly in Georgia's hands and she offloads it to Philip. Philip doesn't make it very far before Parker taps his back. Philip stops running and taps the ball on his foot before passing it to Hugh. Hugh gains some metres before running towards Abby. He offloads the ball back to Philip and Philip heads up the middle of the field. 

Jesse and Parker look like they've got him covered, so I take my eyes of the game for a split second to search for Rafe again. I look for him in the carpark, but I can't see him. 

"Scarlett, what the hell are you doing?" Jesse shouts at me and I bring my attention back to the game and Georgia has slipped between Jesse and I and is heading towards the try line. I sprint after her and manage to tap her shoulder but she had kicked the ball into the air. I race her to the ball and manage to get in front of her. 

I dive on the ground to get the ball and as my left hand grabs onto it, I feel a large weight land on top of my body. I roll around in the dirt from the impact and feel like I had an out of body experience for about three seconds while my body endured that harsh impact. I blink my eyes a couple of times before opening them. My head hurts because it connected with the ground and slid across the grassy field.