I sigh out, resting my chin in my hands as I watch the hunk on the screen. “We’ll see.”
Three
“Youneedtofocustoday,” Aunt Maddy says as we near Ashworth Academy. “Listen to your teachers and ask for help when you don’t understand something.”
I slink down in the front passenger seat. “Yes, Aunt Maddy.”
“This is serious, Jamie,” Maddy says, turning the car into the west parking lot. “You don’t want to get kicked out of school, do you?”
I grumble as she parks the car. “Of course not.”
“Then take your classes as seriously as you do soccer.”
I open the car door and pull my backpack from between my calves. “It’s a tall order, but I’ll try.”
Aunt Maddy pats my shoulder. “You can do this. It’s time to turn things around.”
I step out of the car, hoisting the bag over my shoulder. “Or I could just do what you did and drop out at sixteen.”
Maddy deadpans me. “Hardly the same situation.”
“You can’t tell me you enjoyed school.”
“I had bigger problems to deal with than you do. We’re doing much better now. You don’t have to worry about the lights staying on or how to get food in the fridge while writing an essay.”
I look down at the asphalt below and frown. I hate that Mom and Maddy spent their teens struggling so hard. Plus, they had a whiny baby to deal with. Oh, dang. I’m still that whiny baby.
I look up at Maddy and smile. “I’ll try harder.”
Aunt Maddy grins and waves me off. “That’s my girl.”
I shut the door and wave as she backs out the car. As I make my way toward the girls’ locker room, I hear Maddy’s car slow. Over my shoulder, I spy Coach Anders’s truck pulling into the parking lot. He halts beside her, and the two talk between rolled down windows.
I hug my arms around my middle, creating more warmth under my sweatshirt, and keep walking. The good thing about having soccer practice before school is I don’t have to arrive in my school skirt, blouse, and blazer. If I have to change schools, at least I wouldn’t be going to another private school with a uniform. But, geez, I don’t want to give up the uniform if it means giving up going to school with Kai.
A few of my teammates are ahead, walking into the locker room. The grass is dewy and wets my cleats as I walk down the slope from the parking lot. I keep my head down as I enter the locker room. I pass Hayley and Leah as they chat about the rom-com I watched last night. They’re arguing about whether Jeremy, the main love interest, was in fact a dream boat or not.
I grip my backpack straps as I move across to a vacant bench. My internal monologue can’t help running into overdrive.No, Jeremy isn’t a dream boat. He’s fundamentally flawed, and Katarina could do way better than him. He disrespected her parents, showed up at her workplace unannounced, and spied on her when he didn’t know the guy she was with was her cousin.
I want to scream it at them, but the thought of going over there makes me sweat and we haven’t even warmed up yet. Talk about fundamentally flawed. It’s not like I’m one of those tomboys who“just doesn’t get other girls.”I’minto girly stuff. I could hold a conversation, if only my tongue would release the words! After spending an entire season with these girls, I doubt I’ll ever hold an entire conversation with them. I wish I could play on the boys’ team. It’d make life so much easier.
After I pull out my shin pads and mouth guard from my bag, I make my way to the field. Coach Anders drags a netted bag with soccer balls and cones toward the field with our keeper, Sally. Coach calls us to get moving with a mile run and then get onto stretches. When I run during practice, I always imagine Kai ahead of me. It’s more motivating than competing with my teammates. Whenever I train with him, he always beats me. One day I’ll be faster than him.
After stretches, Coach gets us to pair off for passes as he sets up for drills. Even though I don’t have any friends on the team, I never worry about partnering up. Someone always kicks a ball toward me and asks me to kick it back. At least I can hold my own on the team and others respect me for it.
Hayley passes me a ball and we start on a jog, passing square and then on the diagonal. Her comments about Jeremy replay in my head. Maybe I could just blurt out that I watched the movie too. That wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe if I just say the title, she’ll go on a rant and I can just nod along.
I watch Hayley’s face as I pass back. She’s concentrating hard on her footwork. She doesn’t look back at me before she passes and kicks the ball too far ahead. I pick up the pace, collecting the ball before it goes too far.
Hayley groans, punching her thigh. I slow my pace, seeing her stop in place.
“Are you okay?” I manage.
Hayley cracks her neck and breaks back into a jog. “Yeah. Let’s keep going.”
I nod and pass the ball back. It was a sentence. I call that a win.
Hayley and I make it back to Coach first. After we place the soccer balls back in the netted bag, he gets us to follow him to mid-field.
