Sports in the Parker - yes, I'm a girl who still plays sports

Four weeks in

Four weeks. I had been at Oxford with my best mates for four weeks. And I had loved every second of it.

This early access programme could have been made for me. I got to play football almost constantly, and when I wasn't, I only had to do subjects that actually interested me. Well, I say interested. I didn't loathe them.

I literally couldn't thank my brother enough for applying for me, otherwise I would have ended up at some normal college where football was some sort of irrelevance. Or, alternatively, no where, because who knows if I'd actually have applied.

"Oi Parker!" Shouted Shane, "Quit slacking, I can't carry this team single handedly."

Shane... Where to begin? We had become friends more than partners and I still wasn't really sure what I wanted. He was still treating me like shit because I still couldn't get over what he did with Sadi. The issue was that I wasn't sure if I ever would. Since I'd got back from visiting George in America our relationship had gone from bad to worse. I think he was still angry that I had gone.

"Sorry." I muttered and put my all into the game.

When they said online that they only took five people, they were talking absolute rubbish because there were 30 of us. While I was mates with most people here, I was only really good friends with Sam, Ellis, Shane, Becket, Kalvin, and Jennifer.

Jennifer was a new addition to the group, and even rivalled me in terms of witty remarks and sarcastic comments. Between us we certainly kept the group entertained. She was also the only other girl on the programme so I was sort of drawn to her. Kalvin had got a place on the course despite his team playing football worse than a group of blind nuns.

I say most, because some idiots, like Henry Felix, had inexplicably managed to weasel his way onto the course, and we still didn't get on. He still thought girls shouldn't play, and I still thought he was a sexist pig.

I missed Matt. Him not being around me 24/7 was crazy. We were so close, and I wish we had both got in, but I still spoke to him when I could. Last time, he was moaning about how the new people Coach had got were shit. I thought the issue was that they weren't us, because no way in hell would coach choose shit people to play for us- them even. Plus, Matt had gotten so used to playing with us lot that he wouldn't have liked whoever replaced us.

Not that much had really changed since school. Our team had branched out and made their own groups. The only thing that kept us together in school was football, and here, everyone was into football so that bond was broken. We were still friends, but not like we were. A shame really, but c'est la vie.

"Parker pass the fucking ball!" Screamed Brandon.

I'd been so deep in my own little world football had melted away. I smashed the ball to him and he scored. Excellent. It might not have been my team anymore, but I was still a part of the team.

Not being captain was strange for me. I'd gotten so used to being in charge and being ready to take any shit that came the teams way, that it was second nature to me. I still told everyone how to play and what to do, but now they didn't have to listen to me.

I turned my mind back to the game at hand. We were winning. 3-2, so it was close. It was only a training match, but my arch nemesis was on the other team, so victory was a must. The ball was with Shane. He dribbled it past a good few of their men, then faked a pass to me and passed to Brandon instead. He started down the pitch, but Becket, who was on the other team, intercepted it, and started heading towards me. I dashed towards him and we collided. Not badly, but it ended with me on top of him.

I looked at Shane. His face looked like thunder. God, I thought, jealous much?

There had never been anything between Becket and I, and there never would be. He was more a brother to me than anything else. And Shane was well aware of that. But I was well aware that Shane was as jealous as anything, so me talking to another boy was about as far as he'd allow.