Thursday 10th April 2004

I woke up that morning with another headache and a blocked nose. I lay in bed for a while till I poked something on my right cheek with my tongue. Only then did I realise that it was an ulcer. I knew that that wasn't going to be a good day. The rain had calmed down over night, yet there were dark clouds in the sky.

During tutor time, we wrote our first letter to our foreign pen pal. Panya had asked me a dozen questions, asking everything about me. It took me a couple of tries before I send the letter.

Dear Panya,

Thank you very much for your first letter. I very much appreciate it. To be honest, I've never had a pen pal before so excuse me if this letter is badly written.

Hello, my name is Kayleigh Slovenia and I'm fifteen years old. I'll be turning sixteen in about four weeks time. I live in a town called Eastbourne which is located in south England. They say that Eastbourne is the 'sunniest' town in England but looking at the heavy rainfall we had yesterday and the grey clouds above us now, I don't believe that's true. I've lived in this seaside resort since I was born, but I'm hoping to move to Brighton – the nearest seaside town – once my GCSE exams have finished.

I'm currently in my final year at school taking Mathematics, English Language and Literature, Science, History, Music, Religious Studies and Geography at GCSE level. Tonight, we have a hockey match against the school, King Edwards, and being Team Captain, I have to try my hardest to give the school a 'good reputation'. However, as we lost last year in the quarter-finals, my Physical Education teacher is desperate to reach the final this year.

Looking back at your first letter to me, Panya, you said that you want to be a nurse when you grow up. Good for you! My father works at the local hospital as an Orthopaedic Surgeon. He treats people who have sport injuries, suffer from degenerative disease or any infections. He also treats the sick as well as people who have things like third degree burns or deep wounds. I look up to my father a lot and I respect you immensely for wanting to become a nurse to help people.

I'm currently in a band with three of my friends from school. We've called ourselves Broken Wings. Out of all honesty, I haven't got a clue what I plan to do in the future. I would love it if my band earned a record deal and spent the rest of our lives recording music and touring the world, however, my parents weren't too keen on the idea. I've applied at the local college to study Music, History, Geography and Maths as they're the four subjects they enjoy the most. But then maybe once I leave college, I may have some idea as to what I want to do as a career, academic-wise.

But what about you, Panya? Tell me more about your hometown in Italy.

From your new British pen pal;

Kayleigh Slovenia

It was ten minutes till the match started and my hockey team were stood at the side of the pitch, warming up. I wrapped my arms tightly across my chest and jogged on the spot. There was a slight chill in the air.

The girls from the King Edward's school were stood on the other side of the pitch, doing star jumps. They all seemed a lot tougher and bigger than we were. They had long muscular legs and broad shoulder.

No one mentioned it.

"You girls ready?" Mrs Sharpe asked as she joined us with a clipboard in her hands. Someone muttered 'yes' but no one else said anything. She looked at me. "You can do this, Kayleigh. I know you can." She smiled before wishing us luck and walking away to the stands where parents came and sat down. My family had sat in the middle of the third row, watching us. Screaming Lord Thomas had a large box of popcorn on his lap which he was sharing with Headband Dan and Lovely Little Liam. I sighed heavily as I turned to face my team. I bounced up and down on the balls of my feet, trying to keep warm.

"So, this is it, girls," I said. "We've trained hard for this and I know that we can do better than last year. The match last year was only three nil to us and that's not good enough. We need to fight our way to the finals because I'm not going to loose in the quarter for the fifth year in a row."

"Hey, isn't that McFly?" One of my team members said, pointing to the stands. I froze for a moment before turning. McFly had entered and sat down behind my family. Harry saw us and waved at Angie who waved back.

"What you waving at?" Jenny hissed.

Lisa, Angie and I turned to look at Jenny who was stood next to Katy and Jess. She smirked and waved at Harry. I knew that Angie wanted to say something to her but I gripped onto her wrist, stopping her. I quickly glanced at the stands again. McFly were saying things to one another and constantly looking over to our direction.

I said nothing as I picked up my hockey stick but as I reached down to pick it up, I saw someone's foot on it. It wasn't until I looked up that I noticed it was Jess. She had her wavy blonde hair scraped back into a high ponytail, with the odd strand falling in her face.

"Could you get off my stick, Jess?" I said, trying to pull my stick away from her, but she didn't budge. She placed both hands on her hips.

"If only you would do one thing." She replied.

"Kayleigh won't do anything that you tell her," Lisa snapped as she folded her arms. "She doesn't need someone like you to tell her what to do."

I said nothing as I looked down at my trainers and pretended that I was doing up my laces and wishing that I was invisible.

There was a moments silence before Jess grabbed hold on my upper arm and hauled me up vigorously. "Keep away from my man," She spat as I was up on my feet. "Danny isn't interested in stalkers like yourself and you're not mature enough to deal with someone like him, so back off."

I narrowed my eyes as the referee blew the whistle. Jess picked up my stick, shoved it into my arms before turning on her heels and walking onto the pitch, Jenny and Katy following her. The rest of my team walked to their positions. I raised my eyebrows as I turned to Lisa and Angie.

"She's so out of order." Lisa muttered, shaking her head slowly. I nodded and headed towards the middle of the pitch, but Mrs Sharpe quickly stopped me.

"Kayleigh, I want you to be careful," She said, her voice low. "The other team captain is a very big and strong girl."

"Don't worry. I can handle her." I replied, and with that, I ran to the middle of the pitch as I heard the crowd cheer.

The other team captain spat to the ground once I had reached her. She had strawberry blonde hair which was scraped back into a tight bun which gave you a headache just by looking at it.

I could feel my heart pounding when the referee put a hockey ball between our sticks. There was a moments silence as he walked back a few steps.

"You're going down, little girl." The other team captain threatened.

"You wish." I snarled.

The referee raised his arm up in the air and blew his whistle. Instantly, the other team captain hit the ball between my legs and started running after it. It took me a while to register what had happened.

"Go, Kayleigh, go!" I didn't know who shouted at me but I started to run after the ball immediately. Once I got in the way, I hit the ball out the girl's direction and it went towards Angie. Angie started to dibble the ball round the pitch towards our goal.

"Aye, pass the ball over here!" Katy shouted at Angie. Angie hit the ball over to her but Katy did an attempt to hit it but missed, so another girl from the other team got it and started to run off with it.

"Bloody hell, Angie, learn to play the damn game!"

"That's enough! We're never gonna win this match if you stand around complaining. Just go!"" I shouted as I grabbed hold of Katy's shoulder and shoved her forward. I started to run after the ball again. I got up to the girl who had the ball, and hit the ball out of her way. The ball went speeding across the pitch and straight into the goal. My team started to cheer and so did the crowd. The girls on the King Edward's team didn't look at all that pleased.

Half an hour went by and it was half time. We had to swap ends of the pitch and we had a quick team chat. The score was 8-3 to my team.

Miss Sharpe came running up to us to congratulate on our success. She said that we were all brilliant out on the pitch and that we had great teamwork. She congratulated me that I scored the first five goals and Jess, Samantha and Lisa for scoring the last three. She told us to 'keep it up' before walking back to the stands as the referee blew the whistle. Everyone went back to their positions.

As I walked towards the middle of the pitch, Jess nudged me roughly in my rips which nearly made me topple over. She sniggered and ran to the other end of the pitch. As I got to the middle, there was a rumble of thunder as a black cloud hovered over us. The other team captain and I looked up at the sky. A raindrop fell onto her cheek. She wiped it away furiously and glared at me, fire in her eyes.

The referee lifted his hand in the air again and blew the whistle to start the second half of the game. But this time, it was me who got the ball and was dribbling with it first. We scored our ninth goal.

It was halfway through the second half and it was pouring with rain. The crowd sat in the stands were all holding umbrellas above their heads. As I was getting closer to the goal with the ball, I could feel water seeping into my shoes and my heels slipping in the mud. There were some flashes of lightening and loud rumbles of thunder, but it didn't put anyone off the game.

As I was about to hit the ball into the goal again, Jess, who was right behind me, pushed me over and got the ball into the goal herself. As she pushed me over, I stood on my own ankle and fell to the ground on my right arm, sliding across the wet mud.

I was in pain.

My arm was throbbing yet I had no feeling in my ankle. I heard a few people calling my name and my team and Miss Sharpe surrounded me.

"Please tell me you're okay Kayleigh." Miss Sharpe whined as she knelt down in the mud beside me.

"Just give her some air!" Lisa snapped, pushing some people back. Angie knelt down on the other side of me. Before I knew it, my dad was in front of me with my family, McFly and some of the other people in the crowd surrounding me.

Dad being the doctor he is examined my ankle. "Can you feel it, Kay?" He asked.

I shook my head but then flinched in pain as he lifted it.

"Yeah, that hurts." I groaned as I gripped onto Angie's arm for support.

Dad stood up. "She can't play." He mumbled.

"There's only fifteen minutes left of the game. She's can't just not play!" Miss Sharpe shouted.

"My daughter has twisted her ankle and I refuse to let her play anymore. There's no way she'll be able to walk on that, let alone run on it," He then turned to Jess and pointed at her. "That was a foul," He hissed. "I saw you push her over on purpose. I'll be talking to your parents."

Jess said nothing and lowered her head in embarrassment.

Miss Sharpe, who looked devastated, stood up. "Someone take her inside then."

"I will!"

I looked up and saw Tom squeezing his way through the crowd. He bent down beside me, wrapped his arm around my waist and lifted me up. Everyone fell silent as Tom helped me hobble along towards the medical room, but he knew that I was struggling to hop so he ended up lifting me up onto his back.

As we got closer to the school building, the whistle was blown and the last fifteen minutes of the game went on without me. Tom and I said nothing as we walked through the school. I wrapped my arms around his neck loosely like a monkey.

Once we reached the medical room, he put me down on a chair and went to get a nurse. I listened to his footsteps as they echoed down the corridor and once they were gone, I let out a loud sigh of relief.

I wasn't going to let that down. Jess had purposely pushed me over just to get her turn to score a goal. I couldn't believe it.

"Kayleigh?"

I looked up and saw my dad. He smiled and walked into the medical room.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he sat in a chair opposite.

I shook my head. "I'm furious!"

"So am I. She had no right to do that."

"Dad," I started. "What happens if we don't get into the finals again this year? What happens if I can't play hockey ever again because of my ankle."

"Kayleigh," Dad said quickly. "It's just a twisted ankle. It'll be better in a few days time if you just rest it." He stood up and started to search the cupboards. "Is there any ice here?"

"Tom has gone to fetch a nurse."

Dad paused for a moment. "That's very sweet of him."

That was when Tom came back with the nurse. The nurse hovered in the doorway for a moment and sighed, leaning against the doorframe.

"Kayleigh Slovenia," She said and started to tut. "What on earth am I going to do with you young lady?"

I smiled weakly.

"Okay, what have you done this time?"

"She's twisted her ankle." Dad answered.

The nurse looked a little startled. "Oh, Mr Slovenia," She said. "I didn't see you there." She turned to me and picked up my right ankle gingerly. She examined it and nodded.

"Yeah, it is twisted." She said and carelessly dropped my foot on the floor. I squinted in pain.

"Well, Kayleigh, there's not much you can do but rest it."

Dad stood up. "And I'll talk to Mr Hobbs about taking the day off tomorrow. You can't walk on it." The nurse agreed before leaving. Tom smiled as he helped me up. We paused as we left the medical room. Dad and Tom looked at each other.

Dad sighed and stroked my face. "I'll see you later," He then looked at Tom again. "And take care of her."

Tom nodded. "I'll do my best." He replied as dad walked away. With that, Tom hauled me up onto his back and walked through the school. "I'm impressed. You're a natural when it comes to playing hockey. We all agreed."

I smiled. Tom carried me outside where it was still pouring with rain. He took me to the stands and placed me down beside Danny. I huddled under his black umbrella as he placed his arm around my waist. Mum, who was sat in front of me, turned round, took my hand and gave it a quick squeeze. Nothing else was said till the game finished. I rested my head on Danny, wishing that I was out there, helping my team win the match.

We lost to King Edwards. They had beaten us by one point in those fifteen minutes. The crowd fell silent as the final whistle blew at the end of the game. Lisa and Angie helped me walk to the changing rooms. As the other girls were getting changed, I sat down on the bench and looked at my foot. My ankle was a little less painful but it had swollen up. I looked across the changing rooms and I saw Jess saying something to Jenny who rolled her eyes as she took her sleek black hair out of her neat bun.

The changing room fell silent as Miss Sharpe came in. She looked disappointed but didn't tell us off. She congratulated us and said that that was about as much as we could do. She turned to me and apologised that I never got to the finals. As she left, everyone's attention turned to me. The whole room became somewhat awkward and silent as the girls changed out of their hockey gear.

Later that afternoon, the rain had stopped and Lisa, Angie and I sat down on the stands, looking out at the empty field. Lisa and Angie were sat either side of me. The crowd had already left.

We were sat in silence and Lisa started to slurp on her can coke loudly as the wind started to blow. Angie and I looked at her as she casually lifted the lid of her cup and gazed at the ice cubes floating on the surface.

She then looked at us. "What?"

I smiled and shook my head as I started to poke my ulcer with my tongue, trying to stop it from hurting

"Well at least we tried," Angie started. "Besides, it's not like either of us plan to take a career in hockey."

"Yeah, but it would have been nice to get into the finals the year we left school." Lisa replied and slurped more of her coke. I glanced down at the small ice cubes floating about in Lisa's coke. I quickly grabbed a handful of them and put them in my mouth and onto my cheek where my ulcer was. Lisa looked at me in disgust before she carried on drinking.

"I might not be in school tomorrow." I mumbled but my words weren't clear enough due to the ice cubes. After a moments silence as Lisa and Angie waited for me to speak again, I spat out the ice cubes onto my hand and dropped them back into Lisa's coke. Lisa did nothing.

"I said I might not be in tomorrow." I repeated.

"Is your ankle that bad?" Angie asked. I shrugged and then looked at my ankle. It had swelled up. I then looked back at Lisa who was looking disgustedly at her drink as she put it down. I rolled my eyes and leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees.

"Dad said that I have twisted it and he wants me to rest it as much as I can."

"Don't forget we're going to Katy's half birthday party tomorrow night and we have a geography trip over the weekend."

I sighed. "I'm not sure how I can get to the party. I'm still grounded."

Lisa looked a bit stuck for words but then Angie said,

"Well, to make you feel better, Mrs Sharpe has disqualified Jess from the hockey team due to bad behaviour."

I sighed. It made no difference whether she was still in the team or not because that was our last ever match. I went to put my arms around Lisa and Angie's shoulders but they moved away.

"But, its best if we no longer touch because I don't to catch your cold. Nor do I want an ulcer," Lisa said as she drew a heart in the air with her fingers. "I love you."

I raised my eyebrows. "Oh … you love me?" I said as she stood up. I smiled and stood up. "Right, I'm gonna get you!" Lisa laughed and ran off as Angie and I ran after her.

Angie's mother drove us home when school finished. Mum and dad were arguing again when I walked in. They fell silent as I hopped into the kitchen, using the wall as a support.

"How's your ankle?" Mum asked calmly as dad went to help me.

"Could have been better." I replied as dad helped me get to the stairs.

"I'll be phoning Mr Hobbs about Jess later." Dad said as he pulled me up onto his side and helped me up the stairs.

"Dad," I said as we got halfway up the stairs. "I know I'm grounded but I've been invited to Katy Thompson's house party …"

"And you want to go?" Dad said, finishing off my sentence. "And the answer is no. I may have toned down the whole grounding idea a little but I assume the party is after six?" I nodded. "You need to rest your ankle. You'll be doing a lot of walking while out in Brighton this weekend."