number nine

Air was all Adelaide Simmons could feel as her body hurtled to her doom; the hard, cracked dirt and grass covering the ground of the soccer field that she was currently kicking butt at. Never, in her 12 years of living had she ever felt more impact then when number 9 from the other team tripped her. Adelaide had been doing well, pulling up her team from a losing score by shooting and making two goals. She was just about to pull a fancy trick to get around a defender when she was suddenly in the air,flying. Adelaide had predicted being fouled in this game. After all, it was the championship match between the two best boys team in the state. Yeah, you heard correctly. Adelaide was forced to move up after being 'too competitive' on her former girls team. The next option was the rising soccer star's brother's team.

Adelaide somersaulted down the field, hitting rocks and more rocks on the crappy field. She tumbled and turned over, coming to a stop in front of a smiling, chestnut brown haired kid. He was vaguely familiar. Adelaide scanned his jersey. Olive green, the color of her enemy. She narrowed her eyes and almost growled at the kid in front of her. He was wearing the un-fateful number 9. Adelaide pushed herself up, dusting herself off and pushing her stringy blonde hair away from her turning-red face. The boy remained smiling, obviously unaware that his feet should be moving away from the truck that was about to run him over. Well, going to until a shrill whistle blew in her ear, signaling the end of the game. She huffed, scowling at the still smiling boy, and jogged over to her team.

Coach said his usual speech, all about how they deserved this win yada, yada. Adelaide kept glancing over at the other team though, her eyes always searching for the blue eyed boy who would give her a slight wave. She always frowned and turned around, even though every single time she was tempted to wave back. Why? Why was she feeling this way? Feeling curiosity towards him instead of anger. This never happened. She should be feeling the heat of anger rushing through her traitorous brain. She should be feeling the rush of revenge for the stopping of the goal she could've scored. However, it just...wasn't there. And that confused her more than any stupid math problem had.

"Adelaide!" She snapped her neck towards the voice, startled. It was just her mom. She smiled. "Great job sweetie!" Adelaide grinned. Even though Adelaide considered herself 'old', she never felt too old for her mother's praise. "Thanks!" Adelaide sang, running over to her mom, basically tackling her birth-giver. Said person laughed melodically, putting Adelaide down. "Hey, we have to go get your sister from your grandparents", gesturing to Adelaide's dad behind her. "Do you mind staying here for a few minutes? you're old enough and you have your phone!" As if to reassure herself more then Adelaide. Adelaide frowned, as if thinking it through. Her grandparent's house was around 30 minutes away, which means an hour by herself with her soccer ball. Her mouth broke into a grin. "Yeah, I'm good with that" She said. Her mom broke into a grin as well, crushed her in a hug and left with Adelaide's dad.

Adelaide swung her soccer bag over and off her shoulder, feeling the weight leave her back. She bent over, shuffling through the bag. Out of nowhere, an object what felt like the size of a golf ball hit her, causing Adelaide to yelp, then spin around to look for the cause of her surprise. Adelaide swept her gaze through the ground, finally deciding to fall to the grass. Her green eyes searched until she found it. It was small, probably around the size of the guess she had conducted. Circular, with black and white pentagons. A soccer ball, a small one. In the middle, had a green number 9 in the middle. How come this seemed to be her lucky number for today?

Adelaide stood up slowly, twirling it in her fingers. She turned around, her gaze flickering up to a bright blue pair. They shone brightly, as if they themselves were laughing. Adelaide was not, for this was the cause of the "Great Foul" of today. Though Adelaide was exaggerating, she was trying to keep the curiosity spark to a minimum.