We've Only Just Begun

by Maureen Olivia Lockhart

This wasn't meant to be a fanfiction. It was a story I had to write last year for language arts. We all got some random picture and had to write about it. My picture was some girl sticking her head out of a cabinet. So yeah. I thought it'd be easier to wr

Title: We've Only Just Begun

Author: Maureen Olivia Lockhart

Summary: Olivia gets a bad grade and has to join a sport. Will she make friends? Who knows, really?

Disclaimer: I do not own SVU in any form or way. So, yeah.

AN: This wasn't meant to be a fanfiction. It was a story I had to write last year for language arts. We all got some random picture and had to write about it. My picture was some girl sticking her head out of a cabinet. So yeah. I thought it'd be easier to write if I used SVU character names. So it's Olivia and Casey when they're younger.

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"I can't believe this." I stared at my report card.
"Well, we're only thirteen. It's not like we're going to college next week. You have plenty of time to learn this math stuff." Casey wasn't always good at reassuring someone.

"Easy for you to say," I said frowning. "You're really good at geometry and stuff like that. You got an A!"

"Yeah, well. I have to go." We stopped in front of Casey's house. "Call me if you need any help with your homework."

"Yeah, I will. Only if I survive my mom's lecture, though," I joked.

We waved goodbye to each other and then I set off for home.

"An F!" my mother shouted.

"I already told you!" I shouted back. "I don't understand math. It's all so confusing!"

"Olivia, I can't deal with this right now," my mom sighed. "Just go to your room."

I wanted to protest but did as I was told. When I reached my room, I noticed that it was a mess. So I decided to clean it up. While picking up clothes that were scattered across the floor, I noticed that the mirror on my door was crooked. I went over to the door and stared at myself while adjusting the mirror.

I've always been jealous of other people. Take Casey for example. Casey was the longest, most trust-worthy friend I've ever had, she was my best friend. Of course, she was always better than me at everything. She was good at soccer, basketball, the flute and the piano. She had straight, blonde hair that fell just below her shoulders. She had big, blue eyes that sparkled in the sunlight. And I had wavy, dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. I always thought Casey was prettier than me. And she was taller than me by three inches. I was a five foot four, untalented girl named Olivia.

When my room had been cleaned up, I went downstairs into the kitchen.

"Olivia, we need to talk," my mother said in a very serious tone.

"Um, sure," I said searching through the refrigerator.

"Your grades are slipping, you're never outside anymore, and the only friend you have, is Casey."

"So what if my only friend is Casey? She's a good friend. And I'll try to get my grades up. I promise," I said not wanting to get lectured.

"Will you really?" my mother asked not believing what I said. "Do you promise? Because if I don't see a change in your grades, I'm going to enroll you into a sport."

"Wh…what?" I stuttered.

"Soccer. You'll make new friends and you won't have to stay inside all day."

"But I'm horrible at every sport!" I complained.

"Well if you practice, you'll get better," my mom said.

"This is so unfair!" I yelled heading back up to my room.

I could hear my mom following me but I didn't want to talk to her.

"Olivia-"

"No!" I cut her off and slammed my door in her face.

Okay. That might have been mean, but what she did was even worse! I mean, she knew how much I hated sports. And then she went and signed me up without even telling me! About one of the only good parts about the whole mess, was that Casey played soccer, too. I would most likely be on her team.

I finished my homework without having to call Casey, even though it was pretty hard. At around ten o'clock, I decided to go to sleep. After all, I did have my first practice the next day.

I was walking with Casey to school the next day. And on our way, I told her about the whole report card, soccer thing.

"You actually signed up for a sport?" Casey asked surprised.

"Hey, I didn't sign up. My mom signed me up." I told her.

"Well, whatever. You're going to be on my team!" Case squealed.

"Yeah, that's the only good thing about it."

"Why'd your mom sign you up in the first place? Casey asked again.

Casey was always full of questions.

"My report card," I reminded her.

"Oh, right. So you didn't need help with your homework, did you?"

"No, I actually understood some of it," I smiled. "I think."

We laughed and agreed to meet each at lunch.

At lunch we had talked about soccer skills and the basic rules of the game. I didn't really know anything about soccer before then, so Casey really helped me out. When the lunch period ended, we continued with the rest of our afternoon. After school, I met Casey at her locker. When I got there, she was fixing her make-up in the magnetic mirror attached to her locker door.

"Hey!" I greeted her. "Are you almost done?"

"Yeah," she said putting her eye shadow away. "Ready?"

"Uh, not really. But let's go!" I said trying to make the whole soccer thing, sound better.

We reached the field to find the rest of the team warming up.

"Hey coach!" Casey waved to a tall, skinny man, who I guess was the coach.

"Casey!" he smiled. "Ready for the big game this Saturday?"

"Sure am" she said confidently.

That was another thing about Casey that I was jealous of. She was always so sure of herself. And I wasn't.

"Hi," the coach noticed me hiding behind Casey. "You must be Olivia."

"Yeah, hi," I said nervously holding out my hand.

He shook it and then turned his attention toward the team.

"Hey everyone!" he shouted. "This is Olivia. She's just starting to play soccer, so I want you all to make her feel welcome."

I hated when all the attention was toward me. And it was. The whole team stared at me like I was on display. I thought that they would start to laugh at the fact that I was in seventh grade, and just starting a sport. A sport that most of them have played their whole lives. But they did the exact opposite. They all gathered around me and introduced themselves. They offered to help me with some simple moves. They were really nice.

The whole practice was really fun. I actually found out that I wasn't too bad at soccer, either. Afterward, the whole team came over to my house for a 'First-Game-Of-The-Season' party. Our first game was on actually on Saturday, but we thought: Why not celebrate the day before? Even though the team didn't really know me that well, we all got along great. My mom had quickly gone out to the store and bought chips, pop, candy, and even a soccer ball-shaped cake. When everyone finished eating, we went down into my basement to play.

We had just gotten it remodeled, so there were a lot of cool things down there. There were wooden shelves and cabinets everywhere. We decided to play hide and seek, as our first game. Everyone hid while Casey, the new team captain, counted to thirty.

"Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, THIRTY!" she yelled out.

I had picked the best hiding place. Inside a wooden cabinet that had a handle that blended in with the wood. You could barely see the handle. I could hear everyone else laughing when they were found. After about five minutes, the whole team was found. Everyone but me. I giggled whenever I heard someone say: Gosh, that girl is a good hider! And they said that a lot. I think Casey got sick of looking for me, because she called for me.

"Olivia!" she said laughing. "Please come out."

"Alright," I called back.

I peeked out of the cabinet. Everyone rushed over to me and we all started laughing.

Okay. So maybe getting an F on my report card was actually a good thing. Even though I was forced to join a sport, I'm glad I was. I met tons of new friends. I thought the soccer season was off to a great start. And guess what. We've only just begun!