Kick Start

Chapter Three

~O~

Lauren strolled onto the field, long legs carrying her in long strides across the track and onto the fake grass, where her team was waiting.

She had posted the list two weeks ago, and since then the team has been training non-stop, preparing for their first game, which was in just a week and a half.

The new girls were good, some of them better than the older players, and Lauren was extremely excited to see what this season held for the team.

She just had this feeling...like this was the year, this was her year, and maybe it was, maybe she had finally earned it, but she really hoped to bring home a state championship win in her final year.

She also felt much lighter, but maybe that was because she had been spending the past couple of weekends with Normani and Ally, hanging out and doing other...stuff.

But even with her weekends being spent mainly with Ally and Normani and occasionally Dinah, she had still been able to keep and maintain her focus, which was good, very good.

Especially with that new girl, Camila Cabello.

Lauren was surprised at the kids skill, especially when she noticed that the dark-haired girl often stayed after with her, training and running extra miles, but once she had seen what Camila could do with the ball, well, there was no reason she wouldn't make the team.

Lauren could tell that she would absolutely need Camila this year.

Dinah had also taken a liken to Camila, pulling the younger girl into their social group, and while Lauren had yet to really hang out with her outside of soccer, she figured that if Dinah liked the girly she wouldn't have any problem.

"All right, guys. Let's run some laps in five," Lauren announced, dropping the ball full of soccer balls to the ground while clapping her hands and sitting down to slip on her cleats.

They slid on nicely, form fitted to her feet as if they were a glove or some sort of special latex that clung to her feet as if they were a part of her body.

She never felt quite as at home as she did with her cleats on.

Soon enough they were off, making their way around the field for the first twenty minutes of practice.

A lot of the girls had complained at first when Lauren started practice this way the first week after try-outs, but after Lauren kind of kindly pointed out that there were many ladys who would gladly take their places. Well, they shut up and ran.

It was paying off, too, because Lauren could tell, even two weeks in, that the team was in much better shape than they ever had been, all thanks to the running at the beginning and end of practice, as well as sprints in the middle.

After running practice was off in full swing, with Lauren in the goal and the other girls taking shots.

With Lauren being one of the best goalies in the state, if not at least the West Coast, none of the girls had really come close to making a shot, other than Normani, of course, but Normani was Lauren's best friend and knew all of her weaknesses, including where to shoot the ball (especially because they had been playing and training together since they met at the age of four).

Laurrn was getting a little frustrated because yes, she was a good goalie, but the other goalies were just as good and she need her forwards and midfielders to be able to make a shot on her if they had any chance at making a goal during one of the games.

Camila Cabello was up next, and Lauren had an idea of where the kid was going to shoot. If her past shots were any indicator, she would go for the left side.