"She cheated on me. He cheated on you. What do you say? Want to settle the score?"
***
Kate Wilson, a hot-headed Dragon striker, and Rosie Connelly, an uncredited behind the scenes Sea Lion captain; witness Kate's...
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The second half only grew more intense.
Our midfielder, Jasmine, resumed the game by lobbying the ball across the field for me to chase.
I raced shoulder to shoulder against Rosie Connelly down the wing. Her elbow jabbed into my waist and tried to ruin my momentum. But I refused to back down (even though I bruised like a stupid peach.)
There's no way she'd beat me; not with those ribbons flapping in the breeze and whipping against my mouth. Either the sun dried my lips to the point of cracking or a ribbon flicked against my skin and gave me a damn paper cut. The metallic taste only fueled my need to beat her.
My legs and arms pumped so hard I thought they'd unlock my joints and my breathing came out in quick, hot short bursts that made me feel like a real-life dragon.
She matched my every step and even got a touch to the ball before me, tapping it out of reach toward the corner arc. I arrived there first, but she backed me up right next to the corner flag, so my knee touched the flimsy plastic and didn't leave me any choice but to raise my arms and use my back as a shield.
Her body heat radiated against me and made the muscles surrounding my spine twitch.
"Ever heard of personal space?" I asked, moving my arms to match her movements while trying to get my breath back and come up with a plan.
She gripped the bottom of my jersey and attempted to hold me in place while her foot jabbed around my legs.
"Is this close enough?" she asked.
"Screw you, Connelly," I muttered, spinning around, whacking the ball against her knee and catching her off guard.
I faked a right and used my weaker left foot to loop the ball between her legs. It's a shame I shot behind her before she knew what was happening because I would've loved to have seen the look on her face when I yanked one of the loose ribbons from her hair.
Alas, I had more important things to focus on, like keeping the ball from going out of play. It was a miracle that I crossed the ball into the box without Rosie intercepting it.
It landed right in front of Izzy, who dribbled around her marker with relative ease. My heart thrummed in my chest, spreading a pleasant warmth through my body. It was the first time I didn't mess up this game. Now all Izzy had to do was get a shot by the goalie and get our team back on track.
"You've got this, Iz!" Dan shouted.
"Yeah, she does!" I agreed, thrusting my hand out and snapping the ribbon in the air like a whip.
My positivity didn't last long.
A force bulldozed me to the ground and out of the confines of the playing area.
