When that first whistle blows, the only thing that means anything to me is the ball, and my team.
"Taylor! Cross," My striker, Mason calls from halfway across the field. I juke out the tall and lanky player from our opponents team, passing the ball to Mason and scoring his second goal of the game.
We jumped and yelled in unison, running frantically around the field, surrounded by our teammates.
Alex, our midfield captain, places the ball in the middle to restart the play. "Taylor and Mason, make your way upfield while James and I trade off. Mason, you'll pass to Taylor, and Tay, shoot on the goalies left side." Alex said while brushing his chocolate brown hair back away from his face.
Alex, Mason, James, and I have all been friends since we all played Rec soccer when we were three. Alex was the goalie and James and Mason were strikers. At first I was a cheerleader, for my older brother Carson, but one day I was passed the ball from the sidelines, and punted it back. those three boys stared at me and something clicked.
I dug my foot into the ground and took off towards the red and white ball that was hurling towards the other teams goal.
"Taylor up!" James yelled and I crossed slightly towards the middle of the goal. Mason took hold of the ball, tripping few people, but faking out many. He crossed a perfect ball to me and I dunked in the back of the goal.
Everyone screamed as my team surrounded me. Mark, Alex, and Mason lifted me on their shoulders. People jumped and clapped from the sidelines. The boys carried me to the benches and sat down. "Nice job Taylor on that goal, as well as Mason and Charlie." Our team clapped for the three of us that had scored.
"Everyone did great today, and our game Wednesday is against our rivals, the Bentson Lions"
There were many groans and rolled eyes as we gathered our bags while coach explained positions for the future game.
I walked over to my best friends Emily and Ava, who also played on my team. They were both small and thin, Emily had blonde hair and Ava had brown with red highlights. They both had also been friends with me since pre-school.
"Wanna go out for pizza with the three of us?" Ava spoke.
"I was hoping that's what you would say," I said as we raced back across the field.
When I got home from dinner, I changed into warmup pants and a nike soccer shirt. I dribbled my soccer ball around the house, wating for my sister Tiffany to get out of the shower. I jogged into the kitchen, and popped a piece of chocolate into my mouth just as the doorbell rang.
I wearily opened the door. Wondering who would be at my house at 9:00. My parents were out of town in Orlando for one of Carson's soccer tournament.
I was very jealous when I was told where he was playing, because his team would be competing at Disney.
Standing in my front porch, were my three best friends. James, Alex, and Mason standing shoulder to shoulder, still wearing their soccer uniforms (they smelled horrible).
"Hi Taylor!" Mason said. I raised my eyebrows at him in question, but Alex spoke up before i could respond.
"So we are the captains Taylor, and my mom, and probably your parents too, got a call from coach asking us if adding a new player on our team would cause and inconvenience," he asked.
I blinked to see if he was messing with me.
"Are you serious!" I asked, clearly enraged. They all nodded, sharing the same look of anger as I did.
"Let's talk about this over FIFA. I said and led them to the basement. I ran quickly upstairs into Carson's room and grabbed a change of clothes for each of the boys, because I wasn't sure I could handle uniform stink other than mine.
I had almost made it down the three flights of stairs when Tiffiany called from her loft.
"Taylor!" She yelled to me.
"Yes Tiffinay, what do you need?" I asked her in a sarcastic tone.
"I heard the doorbell ring, but mom and dad are out of town. Was it one of yours or Carson's friends?" She responded.
"It was just Alex, Mason, and James.Their downstairs playing FIFA if you would like to join us," I said, obviously hoping she'd say no.
"Well I love the offer, but I have to work on my makeup for the middle school dance."
Dances. Those come right after love and boyfriends on the list of things I hate about the girls in my grade. This year, Tiffinay is in fifth grade, so she is allowed to come. I'm in 8th, so I have been faced every year by some boy who plans an elaborate way to ask me to the dance.
Any way shape or form, I won't say yes. I just think were to young for that. But sure, I'm nice about it and say I'm sorry, but the answer is always a no.
I jogged downstairs to find the boys had made themselves comfortable on the couch. They had turned on my xbox and put in FIFA all by themselves. I rolled my eyes, such independent boys. I threw them the clothes and told them to change.
When I sat down, I grabbed my controller that was purple, so the boys know not to take it. We played until I popped the question to Alex.
"So this new kid, where did he come from?" I asked, trying to be optimistic about the situation.
"You know that school we played last game?" Alex said. I nodded. "He played on their team. I don't remember what position, but I know he's good." he said.
"Is he coming to school with us now too?" James asked.
"Yea, he's in our homeroom class too," Alex said.
I was already fed up with having a new player on our team, but if it meant more goals, so be it. If that wasn't the case, there might be a problem here.
The boys went home at about 11:00, because James' mom called. I took a shower and climbed into my bed with my cat vanilla. I pet her crème colored fur and she purred happily.
I snuggled up in my covers, wondering about who this new boy would be, and how he could make or break our team.
YOU ARE READING
Penalties
Ifjúsági irodalom"I didn't want anything to do with love. My routine was strictly eat, sleep, soccer on repeat. That's how it had been for the past 10 years of my life. But that was until I looked at Mark Larsen in a different light and suddenly my black and white w...
