Guessing Game

8

"Hey Superstar" I hear behind me after we finished practice. I turn around to see Aurora standing there behind me. My eyes widen as I look at her. Instead of her usual style she was now wearing running shorts along with a mountain vista tank top. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail. Her face was slightly red and sweat gathered at her forehead as small baby strands of hair clinged to her forehead.

"Hey Princess what you doing here?" I ask as I walk over to her. "Princess?" Teagan sniggers behind me. But I only turn and glare at her briefly before turning back to Aurora who rolls her eyes. "Your smart Fleming I think you can figure out what I was doing" Aurora teases. I hum as I hold my chin and look her up and down before snapping my fingers, "You were getting coffee!"

Aurora rolls her eyes and shoves me pushing me back a few steps. "Your so funny Jess. It was so funny I almost forgot to laugh" she deadpans. I shrug, "Well I thought so". "Well for your information, I was on a run and saw you were finishing up so I thought I would say hi" she smiles. I was about to say something when I felt someone loop their arm around my shoulders.

"You know Jess is the fastest player on the team" Teagan brags. A few others hum and nod as well behind me. Aurora looking extremely amused plays along, "Oh really?" I nudge Teagan with my elbow, "She knows she's been to our matches" I mumble. I silently beg that Teagan will drop this and just leave it there.

No such luck

"How about a little wager?" Teagan smirks. I sigh rubbing my forehead. Between Teagan being extremely stubborn and Aurora's competitiveness and love of games there's no way either one of them will back down. Aurora raises an eyebrow at us obviously curious, "What did you have in mind?"

Teagan grins, "You and Jess race. Winner takes all". Aurora licks her lips and hums, "Okay but let's make this interesting. What happens if Jess wins?" Teagan slaps my back, "If Jess wins, you have to wear her jersey to our next game". My eyes widen as I choke on the water I was drinking. Aurora giggles quietly while I start hacking into my elbow already feeling the heat coming to my face.

"And if I win?" The singer asks. Teagan shrugs, "Jess will pay for dinner". "Dude!" I exclaim at the Australian who grins and winks at me while the rest of my team laugh at her antics. Teagan looks back at the singer, "So? How bout it?" She bites the corner of her lip and raises a single eyebrow thinking for a minute.

Holy shit she needs to stop doing that

Eventually she shrugs and nods, "Alright it's on". Everyone cheers as the two shake hands sealing the deal while I groan, "Do I even get a say in this?" Everyone laughs while Aurora starts to walk, "Shut up and get over here so I can whip your ass!" I scoff and follow her very aware of my friends laughing behind me.

She goes to the end line and turns to me bouncing on the balls of her feet. She points to the half way line, "First one of the half way line wins". I nod and shake out my hands and legs, "Let's do it". I quickly stretch out my legs and look to see her watching me, "What? Aren't you going to stretch?"

She laughs and then starts to do some excessive stretching, "Oh of course. I mean how will I ever win against the great Jessie Fleming if I don't stretch?" I shrug as I pull my leg up stretching my quad, "Hey I just don't want you blaming your lost on pulling a muscle". She raises an eyebrow at me, "Ohhhh. You know there's a difference between being cocky and confident".

We both line up getting ready to run, "Oh really? What's the difference?" She grins and turns her head to face me, "You can only be cocky when your confident your going to win". She winks at me before facing forward and starting the countdown, "On 3. 1...2...3!"

We both take off in a dead sprint towards the half way line where the team is cheering from. I try to ignore Aurora and focus on my own running but I can't help but notice how she's still neck and neck with me. We were just past the goalkeeper's box when I try to pick it up even more and lengthen my strides. But it seems she had the same idea and does the same. She starts to inch forward as we draw nearer to the line but I don't let up.

But it doesn't matter as she hits the line first a split second before me

She throws her hands up in celebration as she slows down. Once I stop I hunch over hands on my knees taking deep breathes. The team stare shocked as they look at her. "Well damn" Ashley murmurs. "Your faster than Jessie" Karina says shocked. Aurora shrugs with a smile evident on her face, her stormy grey orbs lighting up, "I just like to run".

She all but skips over to me wrapping an arm around my shoulder and tousles my hair, "Better luck next time Superstar". I pout as I pull my hair out of its now messy ponytail to fix it, "Hey!" She watches me run a hand through my hair as I leave it down for a second and winks at me, "You look cute with your hair down".

I can only imagine how red my face is as the rest of the team snigger and laugh at me. I puff out my cheeks and kick a ball at her, "Shut up Princess".

But what she does next surprises all of us

She effortlessly controls the ball with her right foot kicking it up so she knees it and then starts juggling the ball. I forget fixing my hair in favour of watching her play with the ball. She keeps her eyes locked in the ball completely focused on the ball as she starts to do around the world's as if she's been doing it forever.

She then stops the ball balancing it on her foot as she slightly hops on her left before flicking it up so she is now balancing the ball on her head. I can see her take her eyes off the ball and look at me and give me a quick wink before focusing back on the ball. She tilts her head forward dropping the ball forward and does a few taps with the ball before catching it between her knees. She stops for a second before dropping the ball between her ankles and rainbow flicking it over her head. She watches the ball and touches it down before tapping it through Teagan's legs.

She gives Teagan a cheeky smile, "Megged". "How did you do that?" Hailee breathes out. Aurora shrugs crossing her arms, "Luck I guess". Without anything else she turns and start to walk away. "Where are you going?" I shout after her. But she just waved continuing to walk off the pitch, "To shower. Whipping your ass is hard work". Teagan snorts but let's out a breath as I nudge my into her stomach behind me.

Right as she reaches the edge of the field she turns around to face us. Even from here I could see how bright her eyes were paired with her dazzling smile as she points at me, "Remember you owe me dinner Fleming!" And with that she turns and jogs off.

We all watch her as she jogs away but my attention is snapped away by a low whistle. "If you don't take her I will" Ashley whispers which earns nods of agreement from others. I turn and glare at them before turning back and watching her before she's out of sight. I lick my lips as she disappears from my eyeline.

What else don't I know about you Princess?