the choice • charlie conway

chapter four

sadie

TWEET!

The whistle of Hofmann signals for us to start sprinting... again.

We've been sprinting the entire distance of the field, from end line to end line, for nine rotations now. This tenth is hopefully our last one. I can't do this for much longer, either I'll drop dead or my asthma will do the job for me.

Okay... I'll admit that maybe I'm being a bit dramatic, but I just hate sprints.

When Hofmann's whistle blows, I use the little energy I have left to power myself through. I finish near the top of the pack. Not first, but nowhere near last.

When I cross the end line, I collapse on the ground, laying on my back as I try to catch my breath.

"Alright girls." Hofmann calls from where he's standing at midfield. "Go get water, you're done."

All of us sigh shaky breaths of relief. I quickly look at the sky and mutter a quick "thank you", before Morgan and Ella grab my hands and pull me off of the ground.

We slowly make our way over to our bags, grabbing our water bottles and rehydrating ourselves for our upcoming scrimmage.

As I'm drinking, I notice Ella sitting on the ground and massaging her bad ankle, her face twisting in pain and tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

Not again.

"Hey El?" I call, causing her to turn her attention to me. "Is it hurting you?"

"No." she answers, her voice shaky and weak. "I'm fine."

I cross my arms and give her a disapproving look. "Ella Paige."

"I'm fine!" she repeats, a little louder this time. I nudge Morgan, hoping that she'll help me out and say something, but she doesn't. She knows that Ella won't listen.

Ella sighs and looks at me. "Sadie seriously, I'm fine. I know you don't want to see me hurt again, and I don't want to be hurt again either. But I can't get better if I don't fight through the pain from time to time."

I give her a small smile, which she returns. Seeing her hurt and how it destroyed her was gut wrenching. I want to do everything I can to prevent her from getting hurt again. That way, she can do what she loves most, which is playing soccer.

We relax for another minute before Hofmann calls us over for the scrimmage. There are two teams, red and white. Every day before practice, Hofmann posts the teams outside the locker room so we know who we'll be playing with for the day. It's twelve v twelve, so that means each team has one sub. One hour of nonstop soccer.

I'm on the red team today, while Ella and Morgan are on white. The game is really good, although we lose two-one. After practice ends, Morgan, Ella, and I walk to the library to meet up with Faith and our boys when they get out of practice.

The boys show up at six, sweaty and fresh out of practice. It probably would've been nice if they showered, but we told them to come straight here, so that's on us.

"Ew, you stink." I say with a laugh as Charlie wraps me in a hug.

"You're talking to the captain of the Eden Hall varsity hockey team Sadie, I think you should be nice to him." Fulton responds with a laugh.

I pretend to think for a few seconds, trying desperately to ignore the laugh threatening to ruin my dramatics. "When he's the captain of an NHL team, I'll still tell him he stinks."

Everyone laughs and Charlie slings his arm around my shoulder, pulling me close to him. "You really think I'm going to make the NHL?"

"Of course I do. I know you will." I answer with a smile.

He grins at me and gives me a quick kiss on my cheek before opening his backpack and grabbing his homework. We stay at the library until eight-thirty, because the librarian, Mrs. Muller, forces us to leave and go to dinner.

As everyone is walking out, I grab Adam's arm and pull him back inside. He looks at me weirdly, obviously confused about what I just did. "What was that for?"

"Make sure she takes care of herself." I say softly. "I can't see her like that again."

He nods before looking in the distance at Ella, who is laughing and talking with Faith and Morgan.

"I will." he answers, giving my hand a quick reassuring squeeze. "I'll take care of her too. Don't worry."

We exchange small smiles, and jog to catch up with the rest of our friends.

Let me just quickly clarify, Adam and I is a hard pass. We grew up together and our parents are friends. I knew him way before I met the Ducks, and he's always been one of my close friends. I've never seen him romantically in any way, and that's never going to change.

As we catch up, I sprint up to Charlie and jump on his back. He easily catches me and spins me around, which makes me start hysterical laughing. After a few seconds, he stops and we continue on our way to the dining hall.

I wrap my arms around his neck and lean my chin on his shoulder as we walk, the slow but steady pace of his steps completely relaxing me. After a minute, he suddenly turns around and looks at me with a curious expression. "What was with you and Banksie back there?"

I give him a quick kiss on his cheek and move the hair out of my face. "Nothing bad. I just told him to take care of Ella and to make sure she takes care of herself. Her ankle was clearly hurting her earlier at practice today but she insisted she was fine. I just don't want to see her get hurt again."

His face softens and he looks back in front of him for a second before turning back around to face me. "He will Sade. But you have to trust that she'll take care of herself too, without any help. Is she one of the most stubborn people I've ever met in my life? Yes. But she also knows her limits, and you have to trust her. I know you want to help, and I adore that about you. Just let it go for now. She'll be fine."

I don't argue, I just nod and rest my head back where it was before. Maybe I am being a bit too involved, but I just don't like seeing my friends hurt.

A few minutes later, we arrive at the dining hall. Dinner started an hour ago, so people are either eating or had already ate and left. We grab food and go to an empty table, chatting about weekend plans and stuff like that.

We have our first game tomorrow at four, followed by the boys having their first game at six. They're coming to our game for first half, before they have to go leave for their warmups. After we finish our game, we basically have to run from the stadium across campus to the hockey rink to make the six o'clock start.

This season is for revenge. That state title should've been ours, and we want it bad. If someone wants to try and take it from us, we're ready for the challenge.

And one thing is definitely for certain. We aren't going down without a fight.