Don't Go Through Life Without Field Goals

The Rival

The ringging of my alarm clock woke me up and, the moment I opened my eyes, I remembered that I had a practice today. Oh boy. Better get up while no one else is. I decided to take a long, warm shower, considering I was up pretty early and practice wasn't for another few hours.

When I was finished, I put on a pair of shorts and a T-Shirt. All my basketball shorts were dirty, so I had to wear my Sofee shorts with my Nike shoes. I was finished and waiting at the door when I realized that dad and mom were working and I would have to walk.

"Ugh!" I mumbled. I really didn't feel like walking. It seemed like I had no other choice, though. I was NOT riding in the car with Matt. Not after what he and. . . Nicole did. Yuck. Even thinking her name reminds me of what they did. I still couldn't get over that. I don't think I ever will, really!

I stepped outside and, as soon as the cold air hit my light skin, I started jogging. Walking in this kind of air would affect my hard work I would have to use at practice.

Austin. I shivered and smiled to myself. Austin would be there. The thought of his perfict hair falling over his chocolate brown eyes when he ran could make anyones day. . . Stop it, Connie! The more you think about boys, the less focased you are for your football. . . I'll wait till after the season is over to think about getting a boyfriend.

Before I knew it, I was at the field. I was the first there, so I started stretching. I, somewhat, hated being the first at practice because I want to hurry and get to work. Not waste time doing useless stuff. On the other hand, I wanted the extra time to warm up so I don't get embarrased.

"Hey." Said a male voice from beside me. I looked up and saw Austin starting to stretch his legs.

"Oh, Hi." I plopped on my butt and touched the tips of my toes with my fingers. Stop showing off, Connie.

"Been practicing at home?" He asked.

"Yeah. Every chance I get." I told him.

"Me too." He smiled, showing off his perfict teeth. We sat there, frozen in time until he chuckled.

"I think that's more than ten seconds, Connie." He said. My heart skipped a beat when he said my name. I looked down and noticed that I had been stretching my right leg far too long. I switched to my left leg, getting one last sniff of his cologne, and blushed.

"Well, at least my right leg will be ready." I saw him laugh from the corner of my eye.

"Well, I see you two started our normal stretching." Both mine and Austin's heads snapped up to see the coach standing there with his son, which I remembered his name being Tyler.

"Yeah. Got here a little early, so we thought we'd get started. Hey, Tyler." Said Austin.

"Sup, Austin?" Tyler nodded Austin's way and I stood.

"We ready to get started?" I jumped up and down. The coach just chuckled.

"When everyone else gets here." I groaned.

"Maybe you should run." Tyler smiled. "There's a path through the woods you could go down." I turned and saw the path, circling around the outside of a fence that closed in a baseball field.

"Okay." I shrugged and started jogging down the path. I made it a steady jog, keeping my breath even.

"Hey! Wait up!" Austin called, sounding exhausted. He started catching up, so I picked up the pace.

"You gotta want it, Austin!" I called behind me. He started running, getting a hair in front of me and he smirked. I started running and flew past him. Laughter rang out from my mouth, but not after Austin shot out in front of me.

"Hey! No fair!" I yelled, out of breath.

"You gotta want it, Connie!" He laughed and I tripped over a root sticking out of the ground. I fell on my side and started rolling. When I stopped, I felt two warm hands on my arm.

"Connie? You okay?" Austin asked. I nodded, standing.

"Yeah. I'm fine. C'mon, lets go back to the field. Hopefully, everyone will be there by now."

"Lets walk." He suggested. I nodded and we started the short walk back to the field. But, the silence that would have filled the air, was replaced with our heavy breathing.

We, soon, made it back to the field and the whole team was already stretched and ready. The coach looked over at me and Austin and shook his head.

"Connie, we havn't even started yet and you're already dirty." He grinned.

"Sorry, coach. I tripped." I shrugged and bit my bottom lip.

"Okay, kids! Let's line up!" He called. "Connie and Rikki line up on the twenty and the rest of you line up on the twenty-five. We're doing flys." We all lined up, but Rikki stood behind me.

"You can go first." She said.

"Okay, thanks." I took the ball and called hike. Tyler ran straight on the line and I threw the ball, watching it land right in his arms.

"Good job, Connie." The coach called. "Remember, fall back when you get the ball." I nodded and caught the ball when Tyler threw it back.

"Hike!" I yelled. I took two steps backwards and pointed my left shoulder at the kid the ran down the line. When he turned his head to look at the ball, I remembered his name being Sam. The ball was right in front of him.

"Great job." Coach clapped. Then, I saw another man with a croud of kids walking behind him. They were headed right to us.

Coach noticed me looking and started walking, as well. Our team followed close behind him, and I saw Austin standing to my left.

"Well, hello, Robert." The man smiled, a little too friendly. Our coach glared at him.

"Mike." Coach's voice was hard and cold. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I thought I would just see what your team looked like. They good kids?"

"Better than yours." Coach snapped. Mike chuckled.

"Well, you're not really friendly." Mike said.

"That's what you get. Rivals aren't supost to be friendly." I noticed Lora smirking at me and I, quickly, looked away. Saddly, my eyes landed on another boy, who was looking at me with his green eyes and his brown hair blowing around in the wind. He whinked and I looked to the ground. I saw Austin shoot the boy a warning look and I focased on what the coaches were saying.

"Name your time and date." Suggested our coach. "We'll be there."

"Tomorrow. One o'clock." Mike said.

"See you there." With that, everyone walked away, but I was still standing in my place. The boy that whinked at me, only moments ago, walked up to me, smiling.

"Well, hello there, pretty thing." He hooted. "What's a girl like you doing on a football team? Wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"Hit me with your best shot. I assure you, I will not be the one getting hurt." With that, I turned on the heel of my foot and walked back to my team.

After practice, I was ready for tomorrow. After all, once a rival, always a rival and we will NOT be the loosing ones. Not on my watch.