A/N: Oh geez, I don't know what I'm doing. But all this World Cup craze has just given me a new love for the game. Gotta find myself some soccer buddies. I spent time in my backyard kicking a soccer ball around by myself and may have knocked over some plants...and lights. Ahem.

Anyway, a couple things before we get started:

To the non-American readers—I AM SORRY. I know 99.9% of the rest of the world refers to our soccer as football. But I've just always known it as soccer. So I apologize in advance for the use of the term and if it makes you uncomfortable and gives you goosebumps.

Also, I have not really played soccer since I was like...7 years old. So I also apologize to the soccer fans out there for any inaccuracies. I will do my best.

And of course, the disclaimer: I wish I owned Gail and Holly and Rookie Blue. I would've thrown Holly into the picture in Season 1 and they'd be married with two kids by now. BUT, I don't own Rookie blue or them. I just like to think about them. And play with them.

As always, any mistakes are mine.

Now without further ado, happy reading!

I heard the whispers as I walked onto the field. I felt the stares as people's heads turned to stare at me unabashedly. But I held my head up high and tried to brush it off. I had been looking forward to this moment all week and I was not going to let strangers ruin the moment for me. Well, granted, they weren't strangers. They were going to be my future teammates.

I had just transferred into the new college and was looking forward to playing soccer with a decent team again. I had been playing at one of my hometown's local community college for the past two years. I had originally planned on attending this college after I graduated high school. But after Mom passed away so unexpectedly after high school, Dad and I agreed to just put going away to college for a couple years so I could stick around. We had been so broken by her departure. We couldn't function normally. And as strong as Dad tried to be for me, I couldn't pull myself together for a long time. Mom and I had always been super close and the accident that took her was too sudden. Too soon. The coach had recruited me in high school but when she heard about what happened, she understood. So I deferred enrollment for two years. But now here I was.

A new start. A new school. A new team. I had enjoyed playing on the soccer team at the community college. That is, until I started dating one of the other players, Jenny. Then I had enjoyed it even more. It hadn't even really been dating. More like friends with benefits. She was older than me and it was only apparent to me later that she just liked to fuck around. I found her making out with some girl from her math class behind the bleachers before one of our practices. Then playing on the team had majorly sucked. And it had completely sucked until the year ended.

But it was a new field, I reminded myself as I felt the grass underneath my feet. A new year. And new people. Nothing was going to bring me down this year.

It was the first team practice and Coach Winny wasn't here yet. I ignored the stares of the other girls on the field and sat down on the bleacher on the side of the field, dropping my bag with a thud. I put on my shinguards and changed into my soccer cleats, pulling out a soccer ball and dribbled it out onto the field.

The other girls were still bunched around the bleachers, whispering and giggling. I couldn't tell if they had no idea who I was or if they were just being elitist. I ignored them as I ran up and down the field, kicking the ball between my legs. It felt good to be out on the field again.

"Hey."

I turned around swiftly to find a girl in a brown ponytail walking towards me. She had a friendly smile and stuck out her hand as she approached me.

"I'm Andy," she explained. "Andy McNally."

I kicked the ball up into my hands and tucked it underneath my elbow by my side. "Hi. I'm Holly."

"Holly, huh? Holly Stewart, isn't it?"

I gave Andy a weird look. "Yes."

Andy laughed. "No, I'm not a stalker. Coach told us you'd be joining us this year. We've heard a lot about you. You play forward right?"

"Yeah, usually. You?"

"Defender. I don't like being up there and making all those goals. I'd prefer to defend the home turf, you know?"

"To each his own," I shrugged.

"Definitely," Andy nodded. "Come meet the rest of the team. We don't bite."

I followed her back to the group of girls. If the rest of the team was anything like Andy, I think I'd get along with them just fine. The rest of them seemed to be quite friendly once Andy broke the ice for me. I was introduced to the goalie, defenders, midfielders, and the forwards. Most of them greeted me with a polite smile and a friendly handshake.

But then there was the captain. Center forward, Andy told me. Gail Peck.

A pale blonde girl stared at me as Andy pointed to her and introduced her to me. Her skin was so pale, I wondered how she stayed that color despite being a soccer team. But I was unable to give it much further thought as instead of taking my outstretched hand, she crossed her arms and gave me a cold icy glare. And with a flip of her blonde ponytail, turned away from me to grab something out of her bag by the bleachers.

Whoa, I thought. I tried to smile it off, but the rest of the team looked just as uncomfortable as me. Before anybody could say anything else to relieve the tension that had just spread through the group, a holler pierced through the air.

"C'mon girls. What are you waiting for? Permission slips? Get started on those warm-up laps. Let's go, let's go!" Coach Winny was walking up to the field briskly with a clipboard in her hand. The team started to scatter to do laps around the field, Gail included. She led the group with long, lengthy strides and it was clear that she was in perfect athletic shape. She ran perfectly, her legs pounding the grass with strength. I couldn't wait to see how she played.

I followed behind after saying a brief hello to Coach. Andy was waiting for me and she shrugged at me as we started our laps.

"Sorry about Gail," she said as we jogged lightly a bit behind the rest of the group. "Since you've come in, Coach replaced one of the regular forwards with you. Traci got pushed to midfielder."

I tried to recall the memory and remembered a dark girl introducing herself to me as Traci Nash with a smile. "But she seemed fine. What does that have to do with Gail?"

"Gail and her are best friends. Gail seems to have taken it much more seriously than Traci has. Traci is pretty chill and is just willing to let things to slide like that. We understand that you're supposed to be pretty amazing, so she was okay with it. Gail was pissed because she's been playing with Traci for years now. But Coach wouldn't have any of it," Andy explained. "Gail's...complicated. She's a good player and once she's on your side, she'll stick up for you to the end of time. But she can be a downright bitch at times. And I can say that because I'm her friend," she laughed.

Although I couldn't understand why Gail was more pissed about Traci's repositioning than Traci herself was, I decided to shrug it off. Maybe she'd change her mind after we started playing.

We finished the laps and Coach had us spread out on the field and warm up some more with passing drills. I watched the ball as it bounced from player to player. When it came to my side of the field, I turned, expecting a pass from Gail since that was the order we were in. But instead of passing it directly to me, she took a running start at the ball and shot the ball like a rocket way over my head. Completely out of reach.

I knew that Gail was a good enough player that the pass hadn't been an accident. After seeing the ball bounce away on the track, I turned to give Gail an unbelieving look. She looked like she could care less, as she stood with her hand on her hip, staring me back down. Coach blew on her whistle, long and hard.

"Peck," she hollered. "Quit horsing around. Again!"

Coach threw another ball our way. Gail kicked it at me directly this time, albeit still with some brute force so that I was forced to stop the ball by stepping on it so it didn't bounce off my foot. I scoffed at Gail's attitude as I turned to pass it back down to the midfielders again. I saw several girls give each other looks over the passing situation that had transpired between Gail and myself and decided to ignore it.

Gail would just have to deal with it. I was here to play soccer and her terrible attitude just wasn't going to stop me from enjoying myself. I bit my cheek on the inside, trying to contain my resentment. We continued doing the passing drill, Gail making sure to really sock the ball to me each time it was her turn to pass to me.

When Coach finally had enough, she had us and the substitute players switch off into scrimmage teams, just to play a short game. Gail and I ended up on the same team, which I suspected was because Coach wanted to see how well we would work together.

As I jogged into position, I saw Coach giving a talk to Gail, complete with finger wagging and gestures towards me. I also saw Gail roll her eyes and sigh exasperatedly before she jogged on to join me on the field.

With a whistle blow, the scrimmage started and the ball was quickly passed in my direction. I started making my way down the field immediately, dodging one of the midfielders as she attempted to take the ball from me. I twirled quickly and went around her right side as she lunged to her left. I hurtled down the right side of the field, with the midfielder hot on my trail. But the thing that made me the best forward on my previous team had been speed. I drew away quickly but I spotted Andy running quickly towards me from her goal with a determined look on her face.

I looked frantically to my left. Gail was sprinting down the center of the field as quickly as she could, seemingly outrunning her own defender. Andy was bearing down on me so I plunged my foot into the grass underneath the ball, kicking it up high and to my left, aiming it towards where I thought Gail would end up.

The ball arced high over Andy's head and landed with a bounce several feet in front of Gail. Her defender was hopelessly behind her and Andy was too far off on the side to stop her. Only the goalie stood between Gail and the net. With no hesitation whatsoever and a swift graceful kick, Gail shot the ball high towards the left corner of the net. The goalie lunged desperately upwards, but the ball was too high up and it was out of her reach. It found the back of the net with ease, scraping the crossbar as it went in.

"Nice!" Coach applauded from the sidelines. "Good pass, Holly."

I came to a stop, breathing hard as I watched the goalie pick up the ball, congratulating Gail on the goal. Gail nodded in response with a tiny smile. It was the first time I had seen any other expression on her besides hate. It looked good on her. I hoped that the pass that made her goal possible would've helped to clear the tension between us. So I took the opportunity to approach her as the goalie kicked the ball back towards the other side.

"Hey, good shot," I congratulated as we jogged back to center field to get back into position.

Instead of a "thank you" or "good pass", Gail merely turned her head to look at me. She nodded briefly, her mouth a thin tight line. No words emerged from between her lips and she jogged off quicker to get away from me.

I stared at her back openly as she ran away, her ponytail swinging in her wake. Her hair was so blonde, an icy blonde. It fit her image well, I thought bitterly. Her last name was embroidered on the back of her uniform along with her number, number 15. The image burned into my brain.

Peck, Number 15.

The team bitch, apparently. And our team captain. And the person whom Coach was expecting me to get along with the best.

When practice was finally over, I was tired beyond belief. Sweat covered my body and my hair was matted on my face and a complete rat's nest. But at the same time I was completely exhilarated. This team was a lot better and more fluid than my previous team. Gail and I passed the ball between us several times, each time more seamlessly than the last. I was always able to place the ball where she was headed, enabling her to get into a good position for another pass or a shot at the goal. I was determined that she would change her mind about me when the practice was over. During Gail's last run down the field with two defenders charging up on her and with the other forward, Sue Tran, nowhere in sight, she was forced to kick the ball in my direction. I dodged my defender with a couple quick feints and rounded around her to approach the goal. The goalie stooped low with her hands out. I feinted again, making it seem like I was going to shoot to the right of the goalie. At the last minute, I changed angles and instead shot the ball into the center of the goal and the goalie was too late to change her direction, the ball flying easily to the net.

I looked behind me to try to maybe thank Gail for the good pass. But before I could, Coach blew the whistle, signifying the end of practice. Gail jogged off the field without looking back at me towards the bleachers. Coach congratulated us on a good practice before ordering us to hit the showers in the locker rooms.

I grabbed my bag and walked with Andy to the locker rooms.

"So you are as good as Coach has hyped you up to be," Andy joked lightly.

"She hyped me up?" I asked curiously.

"Well, yeah. You were supposed to be 'the one'."

"The one?" I repeated, nonplussed at the idea.

"Yeah. Maybe with you we can finally beat Ottawa this year. They've beaten us for the past two years," Andy said bitterly as we put our stuff into the lockers.

"Holly, hey," a voice behind me called. I turned to see Traci coming up to me with a smile on her face. I took that as a good sign and that she really wasn't peeved about me taking her position.

"Hey," I said briefly, nodding to Andy as she made her way to the showers first. "What's up?"

"Just wanted to say good job," Traci raised her hand up for a high-five. I smiled and responded accordingly. "You are every bit as Coach said you were gonna be. I guess I can't hate you for taking over for me."

"I'm sorry," I said automatically. "I didn't know I'd be replacing anybody on the team."

Traci raised both her hands and waved them, shaking her head. "It's fine. I can live with being midfielder as long as you make your goals. Which you are."

"What about Gail?" I asked hesitantly. "She seems to have...a bit of a problem with me."

"Gail's just being stubborn," Traci scoffed. "She'll get over it. I told her I don't have a problem, but Gail is just Gail."

"That doesn't sound too promising," I raised an eyebrow.

"Here, let's try to mediate this now. C'mon," Traci gestured for me to follow her. It was clear that she was leading me towards Gail's locker and I followed hesitantly, holding my breath. Gail was still rummaging through her locker and hanging some clothes when we came up to her.

"Gail," Traci called. "Nice shots today."

"Yeah, good shooting," I nodded enthusiastically as Gail turned her head to look at the two of us. Her pale blue eyes shot straight towards me and hardened, her mouth tightening as it became obvious she was biting the inside of her lip.

"Thanks," she muttered, turning away again.

"Holly's good, right? She's a good passer," Traci insisted.

"Sure," Gail replied unenthusiastically without looking at me.

"Okay, what can I do?" I jumped in. I sort of despised conflict. That kinda stuff always made me really uncomfortable. That was why I felt so uneasy after I discovered Jenny making out with that girl. I didn't know how to fix it and how to approach it. Jenny apparently hadn't felt the need to fix it, so our uncomfortable situation remained exactly that with no resolution until I finally transferred out.

"What can I do?" I repeated. "I didn't mean to replace Traci. But I think we would work well together. So you might as well give me a chance."

I hoped I sounded more brave than I felt on the inside, because I felt like I had just threatened a sleeping bear. Gail slammed her locker door with a loud snap, making me jump with surprise. She turned swiftly to me, staring me down again as I instinctively leaned away from her.

"I'll give you a chance when I want to give you a chance," she snapped. And with that, she threw her towel over her shoulder and stalked off to the showers.

I stood there, blinking in shock. I hadn't ever met such a stubborn person before. It was obvious that Gail and I seemed to play well together. We were both fast runners, well ahead of everyone else on the team. And because of that, we knew exactly where to put the ball for each other. I couldn't understand why she refused to cooperate.

Traci clapped my back and laughed. "Well, I tried. She'll come around."

I hoped she would. Otherwise this year was not going to turn out to be the great year I had expected.

A/N: How's that for a start? Would love to hear your feedback! Also just fyi, yes, I will be continuing to work on Only Time. That will continue to be my main project. This fic will be a simple side-project, so it may go longer without updates. Also, I have less of an outline for this fic (read none) than Only Time. So I'll see how it goes as I go!