I See Stars

Chapter 3

Kelley POV

"Rise and shine, squirrel!"

I groan and roll over onto my back and see Pinoe sitting on my bed juggling a soccer ball.

"What do you want?" I ask grouchily. "It's not even that late."

"Well, we have different definitions of late, then, because by my book 11 is way too late to sleep in when we live somewhere as gorgeous as this," she says, pointing to the window that looks out onto the beach.

"Fair point," I say in concession, "But where's my breakfast in bed? Come on Pinoe, be more like Tobin." Pinoe rolls her eyes and throws a pillow at me.

"Speaking of Tobin," says Pinoe, standing up and catching the soccer ball in her hands, "She, Lex, and Klingenmoe are outside waiting for us."

"Waiting for us for what?" I ask in confusion.

"Some morning soccer tennis," Pinoe says with a smile. "Now get up!" She strips the blankets off of me and I glare at her a moment before rolling out of bed and putting on a pair of Under Armour soccer shorts and a Stanford tank top.

We walk outside and meet the gals on the tennis courts at a park down the block from the house.

"It's about time you showed up!" Kling says once we arrive at the courts.

"Yeah, sorry," Pinoe says with a shrug, "This one didn't want to get up." She points at me with her thumb.

"Sorry, I didn't realize I needed an alarm while on vacation," I say sarcastically.

"It's chill," Tobin says while juggling a ball. "We haven't really started yet anyway."

"Wait, where are Ash and Ali?" I ask no one in particular.

"They're on a romantic brunch date," Moe says excitedly.

"Awww," I say with a smile, "I almost forgot they are actually a thing now." Krashlyn had broken the news to all of us yesterday morning over breakfast, and it seems like they'd spent every minute since then together.

"Come on guys, let's get this party started!" Pinoe says, grabbing the soccer ball from Tobin mid-juggle. Tobin shoots her a glare.

"What are the teams?" Alex asks.

"I call Klingenmoe!" Pinoe says while slinging one arm around Moe's shoulder and the other around Kling's.

"Talley it is then," I say, high-fiving Tobin and Alex.

"You guys are going down," Tobin says with a grin at Pinoe, Kling, and Moe.

"We'll see about that," Kling says with a cocked eyebrow.

Each team takes one side of the net and Pinoe kicks the ball in Alex's direction. Alex juggles the ball twice and then kicks it to Tobin who heads the ball down at Moe's feet. Moe quickly shoots the ball back over the net to me and I kick my leg out to the side to meet the ball and send it in to Alex who heads it into the back corner of the other side, earning us a point.

"Nice job, guys!" Tobin says, high-fiving me and Alex.

"Lucky shot," Pinoe says with a smirk.

A half hour later the score is tied 9-9 in the third game. The Three Talleyteers won the first game and...it doesn't matter who won the second game. This is it.

"Match point," I say, staring down Kling.

"Oh it's on," Kling says, narrowing her eyes.

I serve the ball and Moe kicks it to Pinoe, who heads it over the net to Alex. Alex taps the ball to me and I send it back over toward Kling, who lobs it up with a header to the back corner of our side, behind where Tobin is standing. The ball goes over Tobin's head and it seems like everything I've ever worked for is about to disappear. I will never live this down if we lose. Suddenly, when it seems like all hope is lost, Tobin decides to transform into freaking superwoman and pull a repeat of her back heel save during the World Cup Qualifying Championship back in 2014. She kicks the ball back over her head and sends it right at Moe's chest, who is too stunned that Tobin got the ball that she accidentally kicks it out of bounds.