A/N - Okay, here's Chapter 9! Enjoy! Be sure to tell your friends about this story and get them to read it...and review! So anyways, enjoyyyyy! -bitemark

Chapter 9 - Caught

"Holden!" Lily scolded and popped a towel at him. He covered his stomach and dodged her blow. "Don't you know not to sneak up on an old woman! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry, Lily. Just wanted to know what the girls were gossiping about. I'm glad you can read people so well," he laughed and teased. She laughed and hit him again, turning back to her dough and leaving me by myself, trapped between Holden and the counter. "I don't think I've properly introduced myself. I'm Holden."

He stuck out his hand and I took it. It was rough and callused from a long time of hard work. His hand was huge and engulfed mine, gripping tight. I shook his hand and smiled. "Wendy. Even though I think Jamie already told everyone."

"He did," Holden laughed. "Well, I'll leave you to your work." He flashed me a smile as he turned, his teeth were perfectly straight and white. I watched him follow the kids out of the kitchen. I turned back to the counter and stole a glance at Lily who was smiling at me. I went back to concentrating on my bread. After a while she stopped and so did I.

"Now, we put them into little rolls like this and leave them to rise," she said. She broke off a chunk that was about the size of her fist and rolled it into a ball, then set it on a wooden slab by the huge stove they had in a pit in the floor. When we were done, we had filled up the wooden slab. I held out my hands, they were sticky and covered in dough. I walked over to the basin and washed off my hands.

"Hey, Wendy!" I turned around to see Jamie at the door of the kitchen. "We're playing soccer, you want to join?"

"Sure, why not?" I walked over to him, "Do you think anyone has a pair of shorts I could use?" I was currently wearing the pair of shorts that I had come in; cargo pants weren't the best choice of pants to run around in.

"Mel probably does," he said, and walked out of the kitchen, leaving me.

"Wait!" I laughed and caught up to him. "Don't leave me I'll get lost!" he laughed and grabbed my wrist, tugging me along behind him. We went down numerous tunnels and rooms, until we came down a hall that had a curtain or door hanging every couple of yards which I recognized as the bedrooms. Jamie pulled me about halfway down the hallway and then stopped in front of a pink curtain with little purple flowers on it. He gestured towards the door and walked away.

"Melanie?" I called meekly and tried to peek in the room.

"Come in," I pushed aside the curtain and slipped in the room. Melanie was standing facing the wall, putting her hair up. She turned around to see who had come in. "Oh, hey. What's up?"

Her sudden mood change caught me off guard, I suppose she just needed some time to recover from her friend being gone. "Do you have some shorts I could borrow for soccer?" I stood just inside the door.

"Yeah," she walked over to a box that was on the floor and sorted through it, eventually pulling a pair out and throwing them at me. "There, try those."

I took them and changed into them, and was about to walk out when Mel stopped me. "Wait, Wendy. Look, I'm sorry about the way I acted the other day. I just-I just thought that she would still be there. But she's not, and I've accepted that. So, I'm sorry." She finally looked and me and I smiled at her. I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her. She returned the hug and laughed. "Anyways, I'm really not that bad. Of course, you probably know that. Need a hair bow?" I laughed and took it, just glad that she didn't hate me.

I put up my hair and we walked out of the hallway. She walked down the hall with quick sure, strides while I struggled to keep from running into the walls.

"You coming Wendy?" Mel called.

"I'm trying not to run into walls!"

"Where are you?" I felt her hands on my arm.

"Right here," I said and she pulled on my wrist. We walked down the hall and into a room that smelled of sulfur. I looked around. There were lanterns everywhere, it looked to be over a hundred. They were hung in the ceiling at equal intervals, and two at each end of the room marking the goalposts. There were a bunch of people in the middle of the room, some stretching and some just standing around. I saw Holden, Ian, Jared, Jamie, Wanda, Jeb, Doc, and Sharon of the people I knew.

"Who are all these people?" Ask whispered to Mel.

"That's Kyle and Sunny, they just got back from a raid with Wayne and requested this soccer game. Then there's Maggie, she's Sharon's daughter, then there's Brant, Andy, and Aaron." She pointed to everyone and I nodded.

"Okay guys!" Wanda called over all the noise. "Anyone who's playing, over here!" Mel and I walked over. There were fourteen of us, seven on each team.

"Whose going to be captain?" Kyle boomed.

"No one. I'm going to put everyone on teams so it will be fair," she told him. "Okay, over here" she pointed to her right. "Mel, Wendy, Ian, Jared, Aaron, Jeb, and Doc. And on the other side: Kyle, Holden, Brant, Maggie, Jamie, Andy, and Wayne."

"Alright!" Kyle high-fived Wayne and ran over to their side. I walked over to our side with the team and we all stood in a huddle.

"Okay," Doc said and clapped his hands. "Who's playing what?"

"Jared, Wendy, and I on offense!" Melanie called.

"Okay, what else?"

"I'm goalie," Jeb said and took a step back.

"I'll be halfback," Ian said.

"That leaves you and me for defense, that okay?" Doc said to Aaron and he nodded. We all went to our positions and waited for the other team. Holden stood opposite to me in offense. He looked at me and smirked.

"Get ready for a beat down," he sneered and took a half step forward.

"You underestimate me," I told him and smiled. He raised and eyebrow.

"Oh really?"

"Watch and learn." I told him and looked over. Our team had won the coin toss and had the ball first. I smiled at him and looked over at Wanda.

"Okay, let's play!" she called clearly over the field and blew a whistle, starting the game.

A/N - Okay, there you go! Review? Please?