Mark My Words

43 | Send-Off

Rosalie scrubbed the bristles of a toothbrush between the rubber spikes of her cleats, scuffing away flakes of dried mud and rubbing grass stains away. Specs of dirt flicked off of the porch steps, and she settled her wrist on her knee so she could hold up each shoe without worry. The frigid air, however, made maneuvering difficult in her fluffy winter jacket.

She let go of a shuddering breath before holding the cleat out. She shifted it to and fro, inspecting each spot before grabbing the freshly clean pair and carrying them inside. At the door, Khoshekh could be found watching from the foyer hallway, tail flicking. He chased her up the stairs and beat her to the bedroom where she set the cleats in her duffle.

She pushed down her clothes with both hands, over her freshly-cleaned shoes and swimming suit. In the open side of her duffle, she stuffed in her favorite soccer ball and wedged her polaroid camera case beside it. On top of it all, she nestled her toiletry bag in before zipping it all up.

"Rosalie!" her mother's voice sounded from the first floor.

Khoshekh, who was curled up on her comforter, flattened his ears back at the noise of Rosalie shouting back, "What?"

"Ray and Juliana are here!"

Rosalie slung her bag over her shoulder and, already dressed in her coat and shoes. She leant over the bed to kiss Khoshekh on his white patch before rushing through her open door and around the corner, swinging around the railing and down the stairs to where Juliana stood in the foyer, tapping away at her phone.

She looked up at Rosalie bounded to the foyer tiles and clapped her hands. "Ready?" Juliana said, grinning.

"So ready," Rosalie said. She turned to her mom, still smiling wide as ever. She reached out to hug her, and her mother gave her a kiss on the head.

"Good luck out there. Text me when you're checked in at the hotel," she said. Rosalie agreed, and gave her mom one last squeeze before tightening the strap on her duffle and following Juliana out to the front porch.

They all but ran to the car, laughing and giggling from the anticipation of what awaited them at the high school—so early in the morning as well. The road was still dusted over in a light fog, and Ray cut through it with her car, cruising down the boulevard with Juliana claiming shotgun, and Rosalie in the back.

Rosalie never missed class—well, aside from the day she slept in by accident—but today would be the first time in all of her high school career that she would be skipping on a Friday without consequence. She and Joanna had caught up on their weekly Friday quizzes the day before, and so they wouldn't have to worry about classes until the following Monday.

To top it off, Rosalie and her mother rarely vacationed, so this trip to Baltimore would be, perhaps, Rosalie's one and only vacation of the year. This was especially promising, considering her mother already had her vacation to Baltimore with the Griffins that weekend of the senior year party at the Mason household. Her mother's work trips here and there across the nation were never considered vacations, but it didn't stop Rosalie from pouting now and again for being unable to go with.

The excited jitters sent her vibrating by the time Ray pulled into the Bradshaw parking lot. The morning light was just barely cutting through the overcast now, and it glistened on the damp asphalt leading up to where the two coach buses waited at the bottom of the school steps. When they parked, Rosalie waited outside of the car, duffle over her shoulder, as Ray pulled her and Juliana's bags out from the back. She danced from foot to foot, beaming from ear to ear.

She could see the shadows of her teammates through the coach bus windows, and others gathered around the sidewalk waiting to get their luggage put under the bus. Among them, were several guys from the boys team. Part of Bradshaw's Team Sport Expectations involved supporting the other teams apart of the Knights' image, and so, space was reserved on the coach buses for other Bradshaw students. The boys' team received top priority, though, if they so chose to join.