"Taylor, wake up!" Mark yelled waving his hand in front of my face as I blinked my eyes open, adjusting them to the light. My head pounded and small black dots danced around in my eyes. I thought back to the past hour. Alex has a brain tumor, I thought back to the game. My parents sat around me, Mark to my left, and his parents behind him. Alex was watching attentively from the edge of his bed, his eyes still the same blue and gray color, but with less shine to them.
"Is Alex still sick?" I asked, clenching my eyes shut and holding my fists. I peeked out of the side of my eye, to see my mom nodding. I had to be strong, and I didn't want to cry anymore. I calmly sat up, and walked outside of the room, and into the lobby. I sat in a chair that was facing the outside door, leading to the parking lot. I just needed time to cool down before anyone tried talking to me.
But the silence was broken by Mark who promptly came and sat in the rocking chair next to me.
"Don't talk to me." I said, harshly, not letting any emotion seep through my poker face. He backed up a little, clearly surprised by my snappy attitude. "Sorry." I said, taking out my phone to seem occupied.
"But I have good news." Mark said, taking my phone and putting it in his jacket pocket.
"Give me my phone before I punch you." I said threatingly, reaching for his pocket.
"Not unless you listen to me." He said. I knew he wouldn't give in easily, so I shrunk back into my chair and motioned for him to begin his news.
"Well, we are in the top ten in the tournament." he said, slightly smiling.
"I want my phone back now." I said, not going to crack in front of him again.
"But aren't you happy?" He asked, a bewildered look on his face. He was getting on my last nerve, and I don't know how much more I could take.
"Sure Mark, I'm happy about our team, but I have a lot more issues right now and if you would just leave me alone, that would be great." I said, pushing myself off of the chair, grabbing my phone, and storming outside of the hospital.
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I sat on the balcony of out hotel room, staring into the pink and orange Miami sunset. I wiggled my toes, the light blue nail polish shining in the sparking sun. I sighed and pulled out my phone, scrolling through instgram and playing a few games. I thought about everything, and how messed up things had become, from Dillion to Mark.
The door behind me creaked open, and i turned around to face Mark, who was dressed in a blue polo shirt, and khacki shorts. His blonde hair seemed to have lost some of its brightness over the last few days, if that was at all possible.
"What." I said flatly, turning my attention back to my phone.
"Listen Taylor, I HATE fighting with you. You are the only person that I trust with everything, and when I say that, I'm not speaking with false pretenses. I'm telling you the absolute truth. I know this is hard, but if you tell me about, it will make you feel better, I swear." he said, taking a seat on the chair next to me.
I sighed, and pulled off my sunglasses, so I could let Mark see my eyes that were red and puffy from crying. His face turned from strong, to weak in less than a second. He held out his arms for me, and I scooted towards him, an he held me. All of the worries that I had encountered in the past few days, all disappeared. And that's when I realized that I was in love with Mark Larsen.
"Does this mean your not mad at me anymore?" Mark asked, pulling my hair out of my face, so I could face him.
"We'll see about that." I said, falling asleep on the chair next to him.
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"Have you heard from Mark?" I asked Mason and Emily, as I stepped on the field for the first game of the morning. When I had woken up, I saw a message from Mark, sent last night, that said he wouldnt be on time to the game, and that I should find another ride.
They both shook their heads, leaving us in silence while we laced our cleats and began warming up. We were playing a school from Hawaii today, and the whole tournament seemed to revolve around them. They were the highest scoring team in the nation for the last two years, and had had an undefeated season so far.
With Alex out for the rest of the season, we didn't stand a chance today.
I lead the line for warm ups, with Emily beside me. The air was humid, ruining my perfect French braid. The fields were wet with dew, so we had to stretch standing up, Ew.
Mark still hadn't shown up, and it was five minutes till game time. I was starting to get jittery about not having one of my main mid-fielders with me. Coach just shook his head when I asked if he had heard from him.
I rubbed my temples, try to exstinquish my headaches, and avoid taking any Advil before hand.
Two minutes till game time, still no sign of Mark.
One minute.
"Captains!" The ref called, which signaled for Mason, James, and I to walk to our spots. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mark hurridly racing onto the field. A part of me relaxed, but the other half raged with the anger, that one of my star players wasn't here.
James traded spots with Mark for captains, and we all shook hands. The other boys stared at me like I was a joke. "No, silly boys, I don't bite." I said, extending my hand and smiling. They took my fingertips, which made Mark and Mason laugh hysterically, reciving glares from the other boys.
"Heads or tails?" The ref asked the other boys. "Tails," they both said at the same time. The ref nodded, and it landed on tails. They chose the right side, and we all got into position.
"For Alex." I heard Mark whisper behind me.
"For Alex."
YOU ARE READING
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...
