PURPLE || WOODBURN

PROLOGUE

It was 2013 when my mind really began to wonder. I was only 14 at the time and had just moved to Liverpool with my brother from our hometown of Barnsley. Everyday, I was told I needed to follow my brother's example: to work hard and stay ambitious. I was born that way, but I was never meant to be the footballer that John was. I had my own path to stay on, and my parents knew that. However, they wanted me to learn and grow as John did so, so they sent me with him when he signed for Everton.

Of course, I was petrified of being away from home at that young of an age. How was I supposed to trust my older brother, who was 19 at the time, to take care of me? I never knew, but I just went along with the flow and somehow it all worked.

Moving didn't faze me too much though. I didn't have many friends at home that I was close with. My preteen years were a struggle with losing one of my closest friends in a freak accident and having some of the others turn on me for no reason. I was just happy to leave and start over.

It was a bit of a slow start. I had to watch John train everyday and that got a little boring. I quickly adapted, however, and I adventured while he was so busy.

There was a park that separated Everton from their Merseyside rivals, Liverpool. The two teams were only separated by a mile, so I decided one day to venture through the park and found myself at Anfield and the Liverpool training grounds.

I had always been a football fan, so the place amazed me. I had heard so many incredible stories about this place that I had to go on a little adventure around the place. So much had happened here. This was where the great Michael Owen started his career. This was where I would later watch Steven Gerrard slip and ultimately concede the title, but my 14 year old self didn't know that.

About a week into my adventures, I was reading a plaque that was near by the stadium when someone ran into me and knocked me over. The incident was immediately followed by yelling. "TRENT, YOU MADE ME KNOCK OVER A GIRL!"

There were two boys around my age. There was one with darker skin, who was laughing until he had realized what he had done. Then there was the paler one with Light brown hair and these really nice blue eyes. He was blushing like crazy when he kneeled down.

"I'm really sorry about that. Can I help you up?" He asked. A boy had never been that kind to me before. Normally when boys would be stupid like that, they would laugh it off, but this boy seemed so much different. Even though he was blushing, he had a sweet smile on his face.

I couldn't resist the offer, so I took his hand and blushed myself as he helped me up. "I hope you're alright. I'm Ben by the way." He said. I took a good look at him and his friend, who introduced himself as Trent. They were both in Liverpool gear and revealed that they were academy players, but they just seemed like typical boys to me.

"I am alright. My name is Sarah. My brother just signed Everton, but I get bored of watching him and come explore. Don't get me wrong. I love football, but I see enough of my brother." I blushed as I rambled on. However, the two boys seemed interested, especially Ben. He never got rid of that sweet smile.

"Do you have to go everyday?" The one named Trent asked. I just went on to my whole story of what my parents wanted. They didn't get why, but they just nodded and went along. "Well, you can always come hang out with us!" Ben suggested awkwardly.

And from that point, I did.

For three months, I went over to Liverpool's academy and watched the two lads then goofed off with them around the area after. I was surprised at how close I became with them. They were both jokesters and were a lot of fun to be around. Trent was the loud one, while Ben was the sweet one. Both of them meant the world to me though.

However, I was caught in late November by my brother. John found me in the park with those two one day when it started to snow. Ben and I were giggling as we were trying to make snow angels. At that point, I had developed a little bit of a crush on Ben and had gotten a little shy with him at times.

John could see it in the way I smiled and blushed that day that I liked Ben, but he didn't like it. He pulled me out in the middle of throwing snow at each other and dragged me to the car. "Why couldn't you just go make friends with the Everton academy lads?" He asked. "Because you said no?"

He became very overprotective of me. He didn't like that I was hanging around with boys from another club. Let alone, he hated that I snuck away from the grounds. The consequence of my actions led to my days heading over to Anfield end, except for the Merseyside Derby.

However, I did keep in touch with Ben and Trent for a few months after that and went out to meet with them, but that quickly came to an end. I had constant phone checks after John deleted everything revolving around them. It hurt that he took away two of my friends that actually cared to me, but I survived. I made friends in Liverpool for the next few years, but I still thought about them everyday, especially Ben.

I guess it was easy and hard to leave three years later for Manchester. I was moving away from the boy I spent so much time daydreaming about and wondered if he thought about me too. I never forgot about him.

I was lucky to have met my two best friends, Laura and Naomi, once I moved to Manchester. They gave me so much hope that I'd find Ben again. They didn't know how much it hurt at times though. I loved them to death, but I sometimes envied how happy their were with their boyfriends, despite how happy I was for them. That could have happened to Ben and I.

We almost reconnected on multiple occasions, but John always stopped it before it could all happen. I never understood why, but I stopped questioning it.

But then the light started to shine a bit this past summer. I travelled to Russia with the English National Team for the World Cup and reconnected with Trent. It was one step forward for me as we were able to become the friends we once were. I felt a piece of me start to come back, but all that was needed...

Was Ben.