Dangerous Play

1 » practice makes (im)perfect

"Abby! Where are you?" Finn demanded angrily through the phone. I sighed, nestling the device between my cheek and my shoulder as I reached over and grabbed my soccer backpack from the passenger seat of my car.

"I'm at practice, remember?" I glanced at the clock, eyes widening as I realized I was about to be late. I quickly locked the car behind me and started jogging across the parking lot toward the turf fields.

"What— You don't have practice on Fridays!"

"Yeah, well, Coach called an extra session since we have no games this weekend."

"But I need you to pick me up!" he protested.

My temper flared. "I am not your chauffeur. It's not my fault you managed to get yourself grounded."

"Yeah, but you're my sister, and that's basically the same thing!"

I rolled my eyes, pushing open the gate to enter the soccer complex. Teams of varying ages were in the middle of practice, some warming up while others were busy running drills. I spotted my teammates at the field next to the entrance and made my way over. "It is not. Call one of your friends and have them pick you up if you're so desperate. Or better yet, walk." Ignoring his outraged squawking, I hung up as I reached the field.

One of my teammates grinned at me as I sat beside her and began lacing up my cleats. "Was that your hot twin on the phone?"

I blanched. "What?"

"I agree with Rose," said Felicity, another of our teammates. "I mean, I don't like him or anything, but he is very attractive."

"Well, don't tell him that," I snorted. "His ego's big enough as is."

"Oi, you lot!" Our coach shouted, standing on the far edge of the field with a ball at his feet. "Get on the line and start warming up!"

I scrambled to my feet and joined my teammates on the sideline of the field, Rose and Felicity on either side of me. The setting sun outlined Coach Walker's intimidating silhouette, and I squinted in an effort to make out his expression. "Why does he sound like he's pissed already?"

"I don't know, but I don't think practice is going to be fun," Rose muttered glumly.

She was right, sadly.

Turns out, Coach had called the extra practice because our performance throughout this week was, and I quote, "absolute bloody rubbish." After berating us for losing focus, he had us run drills for what felt like an eternity, finally allowing us a water break when none of us had the energy left to keep working.

Unfortunately for us, he reserved the last twenty minutes of practice for his favorite sprinting drill, which he very aptly titled "Palpatine's Revenge." My Star Wars knowledge was limited to Yoda and lightsabers, but I was pretty sure even the most villainous character of all time could not have come up with such a terrible punishment.

I collapsed at the side of the field when I finally finished running, ignoring the spray of black pellets that flew upward and stuck to my sweaty skin. The stadium lights swam in my vision as I lay on the turf, the stars of the night sky completely blocked out by the powerful fluorescent lighting.

Beside me, Rose fell facedown and groaned. "I never want to move again."

When the last girl finished running, we dragged ourselves into a rough semicircle and began stretching, everyone looking significantly worse for wear. Coach glanced us over stoically. "Good work tonight, ladies. Keep this up and we'll be in good shape for the tournament in October. See you at practice on Monday." He turned and picked up the bags of cones and pinnies, then headed toward his car without saying anything else.