The next day when they made their way to the field they were stopped by Alex's crazy haired friend. Piper learned a few things about her: her name was Nicky, she had a large vocabulary that consisted mostly of creative combinations of cuss words, she smoked cigarettes even when she was on campus, and her friendship with Alex was one of a kind. She introduced the blonde to her friend and they shook hands.

"So Vause, this is the little spitfire you were telling me about?" Alex punched her friend in the arm with a glare. "I mean, she's the freshman on the varsity team right?"

Alex looked relieved when she heard the second half of Nicky's sentence, causing Piper to become a little worried that Alex was saying something bad about her. She had been following the girl around like a lost puppy since the second day and wondered if Alex was just too nice or too good of a captain to say anything.

"Yo, there's no fucking way I'm coming back up that hill so I'll see you later." She kicked Alex's leg and nodded her head at Piper before returning to wherever she had appeared from.

"So that's Nicky... You'll learn to love her," Alex smiled over her shoulder at Piper, effectively ridding the young girl of her concern.

They repeated their routine from yesterday and Piper learned a little bit more about what her future would be like. They were a D1 team so they flew all around the states playing some of the best high schools around. Piper bottled up her concerns about her fear of flying and continued listening.

"We get hotel rooms. Kerr and Peck will always say to be in our rooms before 9 but it's kind of a good team bonding experience for everyone to sneak out and meet at the pool. They both know we do it but it's more fun to watch everyone work together and try to be sneaky. Shit, I guess I just ruined that part for you..." She put her hand on her forehead and shook her head. "Anyways, we have big get togethers every couple weeks which are pretty fun. Most of the girls sit together in the cafeteria but I usually hang out with Nicky, we've been friends since preschool." Piper nodded along as she digested all of the new information.

"Nicky tried out to be the goalie our freshman year. I don't think she realized that it meant she still had to come to practice and do wind sprints and shit. She was actually really good and scared the other teams shitless but she quit when she found out how much cardio she had to do." Piper giggled and could already imagine the girl complaining about the exercise. "Anyways, we don't usually get to hang out much during the season since I'm always out here so I spend lunch with her."

The rest of the week went by in a breeze, and the two girls sat together in the dark breathing heavily on Friday night. Piper was surprised that Alex still wanted to play on a Friday night since she probably had a million invitations to parties. It was well after 10pm but since it was a weekend Piper was allowed to stay out pretty much as late as she wanted. She wondered why Alex never invited anybody else to come practice with them but attributed it to the fact that she was way younger than anyone else and the brunette knew she didn't have any friends.

"So do you have any big plans for tonight?" Alex asked as her breathing returned to normal. Piper had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"No not really... I was probably just going to finish the Spanish homework and watch shitty movies." Her embarrassment was audible as she admitted to her lack of plans on a Friday night.

"That's pretty much exactly what I was going to do too." Alex admitted with a snicker.

"Do you umm... I mean we could do the Spanish homework together. If you want. And watch a movie or something." Piper's eyebrows creased as she listened to her not so coherent sentence. The girl was way older than her and probably had better things to do so she prepared herself for severe embarrassment. She was pleasantly surprised by Alex's response.

"That actually sounds way better than being alone." Alex stood up and held up a hand, helping the younger blonde to her feet.

During the car ride Alex spoke up.

"Oh shit! I forgot to ask you. What number do you want?"

"What?" Piper furrowed her eyebrows trying to think of what that could possibly mean.

"On your jersey. What number do you want to be?" Ohhh. Piper hadn't even thought about what number she wanted. She didn't even know she'd have a say in the matter.

"My favorite number is 9 so I guess that would be cool." Alex chuckled as soon as Piper said the number.

"Well I'm 9 so you can't be 9. Sorry kid." She looked over sympathetically but had a smile on her face.

"Oh, that's fine." Piper laughed with Alex at the odds of picking her number.

"Well give it some thought so I can tell Kerr. Otherwise they'll just give you a random number."

They pulled up to a Taco Bell drive thru because they were both starving after the hours of cardio. They ordered nearly one of everything and Alex insisted on paying the steep fee. The rest of the ride was quiet except for the sound of chewing and Alex muttering curse words as pieces of lettuce and cheese fell onto the floor of her car whenever she turned the steering wheel.

They didn't discuss whose house they would go to but Alex drove them straight to Piper's. Her parents and Cal would be asleep and Danny was surely out partying so they had the place to themselves, more or less.

They entered Piper's room and she moved to her desk to unpack her school work in her backpack. Alex stood in the doorway looking around her room. Most of her stuff was white; the walls and floor, the bookshelf, the sheets and comforter, her desk and chair. She always like white furniture because it made her feel clean. Her bed sat in the corner across from the door and she threw her Spanish book on top of the bed spread.

"It's so white in here. I feel like I should go take a shower before I stain all your shit." The brunette laughed quietly as she sat her notebook next to Piper's on the bed. Alex grabbed a pencil and crawled onto the bed, leaning against the wall as Piper followed suit, sitting next to her new friend. She decided it was appropriate to think of Alex as a friend now.

Their homework was really short, especially since they worked together. Alex made fun of Piper's mispronounced words while Piper pulled the but I'm only a freshman card as her defense. They decided to order a pizza since they were already hungry again and it came right after they finished their assignment. Piper refused to eat anything but plain cheese pizza, claiming that she didn't trust the meat or vegetables from anywhere that would deliver that late at night. Alex made fun of her, but ate the plain pizza anyways.

Alex was getting ready to put a DVD into the Xbox when she stopped.

"What the fuck is this?!" Her tone set Piper into a complete panic, listing the things that Alex could have possibly found in her usually tidy room. Before she could come up with much of a list, Alex held up a copy of FIFA for the Xbox. She didn't even bother to ask as she returned the movie to its rightful place and inserted the game.

Piper was suddenly excited to show off her skills and she completely forgot about the pizza. Over the summer she had practically mastered the game, playing against her brother and other people over the internet since she had been drifting away from her friends. She raised her eyebrows and held out a hand for a controller.

"You know I'm really good at this game, right?" Piper's tone was cocky as Alex mirrored her facial expression.

"That makes two of us, kid." She tossed Piper a controller and they rearranged themselves so they were leaning against the wall opposite the TV side by side.

30 minutes later Alex threw her controller down on the bed with a loud huff.

"This is bullshit!" She complained as she angrily grabbed a piece of pizza and stuffed it into her mouth. They had been exercising so much lately that they could practically eat garbage and still not have to worry. She glanced over at Piper who was looking prouder than ever and a little bit smug.

"Fuck this, I'm putting the movie back in." Alex's small grin gave away the fact that she wasn't actually as upset as she was pretending to be. They played the movie but kept the volume almost muted as they spoke quietly over it. Alex told her that she might not be able to play in the first game because it was a lot to take in and she didn't want her to freak out. She told her that everyone would be nice to her but if not she should tell Alex right away. As captain she needed to know about any issues. They talked about Spanish and how easy their P.E. class was. At one point, Piper lifted up the comforter and they both crawled under it to keep warm. They lay on their backs with their heads turned so they could face each other and Piper had never been more comfortable. She had always thought she would be best friends with her former classmates but the connection between her and Alex was almost instantaneous. They were completely comfortable after having only known each other for a few days, her only insecurity being their age difference and that Alex would eventually want to hang out with people her own age again.

The movie ended and they talked for a little longer before Alex had to head home. Piper considered offering to let Alex stay the night but she didn't want to push her luck and lose a new friend, so she walked Alex out and they said their goodbyes.

...

The next two weeks flew by. Piper was getting to know her teammates and getting used to her new practice routine. She was in excellent shape to begin with but she could feel herself being able to control the ball better and thought she might even be running faster than before. Alex had come over every Friday since the first time, working on Spanish homework and playing overly competitive games of FIFA.

It was finally time for the first game of the season. She was given number 6 at random since she forgot to pick one, but she was happy with it. Piper and Alex had discussed that it would be best for Piper to remain on the bench and observe before playing in a real game. Piper sat on the edge of the bench, eyes trained solely on Alex. Whenever the brunette scored a goal she made a "rock on" symbol with her hand and stuck her tongue out at Piper while their teammates slapped her on the back. They had a very similar play style so she noted strategies that Alex used during the game. She had already scored 2 of the teams 3 goals while the opposing team was yet to sink a ball into their net. Alex occasionally made funny faces in Piper's direction and she returned them with a smile and extra loud cheers whenever she gained possession. At one point a girl shoved Alex aggressively. Her reaction was to simply look down at the girl who she towered over and mouth bitch as she tilted her head and widened her eyes at Piper who was uncontrollably giggling.

Piper noticed Alex pull one of the other forwards to the side toward the end of the game and they had a short conversation before Alex jogged over to the sideline.

"Pipes, want to hop in?" Piper was caught a little off guard and opened her mouth without saying anything, so Alex continued. "The game is almost over and they're not being overly aggressive so it might be a good time for you to step in."

Alex didn't wait for Piper to respond as she waved the other forward over and she took a seat on the bench. She grabbed Piper's hand and helped her up and they jogged to the center of the field. The whistle blew and the ball was immediately between Piper's feet, courtesy of Alex who seemed to always have control over the ball. She paused for less than a second before taking off, imagining herself running next to Alex on the field late at night under the flood lights on the soccer field. She found herself cornered and passed the ball to Alex who passed it back as soon as the blonde was open again. Piper was too nervous to make the shot and once again shot the ball in Alex's direction. Alex shot her a look that was a mix between understanding and encouragement as she weaved through the defenders and passed it back one more time. Piper took the shot and the goalie barely deflected the ball, but Alex was right in front of her and used her head to butt the ball back into the goal causing it to contact the net.

The two of them were immediately enveloped in a hug from their teammates and Piper's heart was racing with pure joy and excitement. They jogged back to the center of the field and Piper could just barely hear Alex over the remaining cheers.

"Welcome to the big leagues, kid."