Soccer

Annabeth waited at her door for the blue car that was expected to arrive anytime soon, anxiously tying and retying her ponytail every few seconds. She was only seven, and her parents had both left the house earlier that morning, so she had all the right to be nervous.

But luckily, she wasn't going to be alone for long. It was Saturday, September 23, and the day of her first soccer game. Annabeth was really excited, as the team had received their uniforms a few days before, and they were red, one of her favorite colors. One thing she didn't like about the uniform was that it were a little bit big for her, but then again, she had always been one of the smaller kids in her age group. Nonetheless, Annabeth was still happy that she had made it this far in soccer. She just couldn't wait any longer for their game.

As she was standing on her chilly front porch, a blue car pulled up into her driveway, and Annabeth cheered up even more. Finally, her ride had arrived, and the sooner they drove off, the sooner the game would start. She was so busy thinking about actually playing that she didn't hear the blue car's horn honking until she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"What? Oh, it's just you," Annabeth said jokingly, staring into the eyes of a black-haired, green-eyed boy who she recognized as her best friend Percy Jackson.

His mom stood in the driveway, one hand on her blue Honda, and the other hand waving at Annabeth. Percy tugged on Annabeth's hand until she followed him down her steps and into the car. As he sat down in the back next to her, she couldn't help but notice how his uniform fit perfectly while hers hung loosely off her small frame.

"Percy," Annabeth whispered as the car started to move. He looked at her curiously, so she asked, "Do you think we're going to win?"

Percy shrugged, turning to face out the window. He had grown more distant from her after she had made friends with the coach's son, Luke, last practice, even though Luke was older than everyone she knew besides her parents and her babysitter Thalia. But Percy had frowned at her every time she mentioned Luke's name the last time she had seen him. And he wouldn't even let her touch his pet fish until she promised not to tell anyone (which she interpreted as her not telling Luke) about it. Annabeth really wondered why Percy was so angry at Luke. It wasn't like he had done anything bad, was it?

They finally got to the soccer fields, the whole ride having took place in silence. Even though Mrs. Jackson had tried to start up a conversation multiple times, not even the topic of going out for ice cream after the game could make either of the kids answer her. But Annabeth was silently forming a plan in her head of how she was going to get Percy to like her again.

She was going to score a goal.

Annabeth had never actually scored a goal in soccer before, not even during practice or playing at school. As she laced up her black-and-green cleats, she thought about how she would do it. Maybe she could intercept a pass from the other team. Or maybe even steal the ball directly from someone's grasp. It didn't matter. If she could score a goal, in any sort of way, then Percy would like her again.

As their fourth-grade team gathered up into a huddle, Annabeth stood next to Percy so she could put her arm around and make him like her. But he quickly slipped away before the huddle even began, and she was forced to shout "1...2...3...Go Blazers!" without him.

When the game started, Annabeth was on fire. Her team was called the Blazers for a reason, she supposed. First, she won the coin toss against the purple team, and was chosen as the lead striker to start with the ball. Quickly passing the ball to her teammate Nico, she ran down the field to try to get open for a return pass.

Suddenly, a purple-clad opponent dashed down her side of the field, the ball in his possession. Annabeth raced after him, feeling her heart beating faster and faster in her chest. This was it. This was going to be her big moment. Stealing the ball away from the other kid, she dribbled it up the field, and gave it a powerful shot. The ball flew majestically through the crisp fall air, and landed in the goal.

Annabeth was too busy celebrating to notice the Blazers' parents' collective groan. But after a while, she got scared. Why wasn't anybody cheering for her?

The coach of her team came up to her, along with Luke and said, "I'm sorry, Annabeth. You just scored for the other team."

Mortified as the news hit her, Annabeth ran off the field, her eyes threatening to fill with tears. Don't cry, she told herself. Crying's for babies. But as she collapsed on the edge of the field, tears started to roll out of her eyes without her permission. Annabeth wiped them away quickly, making up a cover story for the tears - allergies - just in case anyone saw her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Percy walking over to her, his mom nowhere in sight. Out of her other eye, she could see Luke and his dad, the coach, coming toward her also. When she saw Percy notice the other two, he started to sprint towards Annabeth. She wondered whether he wanted to get to her first, or if he just didn't want Luke to get to her. Either way, Percy reached Annabeth first, and smiled at her in a concerned way.

Percy held out a hand to her, and she accepted it. Standing up, she blinked the last tears away, and buried her face in Percy's shoulder as he pulled her in for a hug. "It's okay," he murmured into her hair. "You'll be okay."

Annabeth shook her head. "How come I messed up?" She frowned, kicking a clod of dirt across the field with her soccer cleat in anger. "I was trying to make you like me again. I wanted to do something amazing, like score a goal, and-"

"But you did score a goal, Annabeth! And I do like you. I only don't like Luke," Percy confessed. "He bullied my friend Grover a few years ago, and now I kind of hate him."

"Oh," Annabeth said, wondering how she could have been so stupid. She was Annabeth Chase, after all. One hundred percents, and A's on every test. Why didn't she see this coming?

"It's okay, Annabeth. I still like you." Percy smiled his trademark smile, eyes sparkling. "Now, let's go play some soccer!"