Kaya's POV
"Kaya, you're cheating!" Alex yelled and pushed me over on the couch.
"I am not!" I said and pushed him back. My gaze never left the tv screen. He made the mistake of looking at me and I easily scored a goal. I lifted my arms in the air and cheered.
"Yes! Ha! In your face. I win. You lose, again." I said and put the controller on the coffee table.
"I think you looked up cheat codes." Alex accused. I gasped, offended by his accusations.
"I did no such thing. It's not my fault you suck at FIFA." His mouth dropped open.
"Take that back!" He demanded and I shook my head.
"We've been playing FIFA for two hours. Just admit that you're terrible at it and all will be well." I said.
"I challenge you to a real duel." Alex said dramatically.
"How can we play against each other when it's just us two?" I asked him. He shrugged.
"You have friends, figure it out." He said and threw his controller on the floor and went into the kitchen.
"Don't throw a fit or anything." I muttered an pulled my phone out of my pocket. I scrolled through my contacts, searching for someone who I think would know how to play a decent game of good ol' soccer. I sighed and tapped on one of the names and waited for the person to pick up.
"JC here."
"Hey, JC. Are you and the others doing anything today?" I asked.
"Not that I know of, why do you ask?"
"Are you guys any good at soccer?"
"I am. So are Sam, Kian, and Connor. Ricky and Trevor are decent."
"Good. Are you guys up to play a quick game, or three?" I asked.
"Of course!" He said.
"Awesome! Meet me at Truman Park in an hour."
"Alright. See ya!"
"Bye, JC!" I said and hung up. I looked at Alex as he sat down next to me on the sofa again. "You're going down."
"I'd beg to differ. When was the last time you actually played against me?" Alex asked me.
"Two years ago when my team kicked your team's sorry ass." I replied smugly. That day was one that I'd never forget. My team beat his with a score of ten to two.
"You got lucky! We had a new, inexperienced goalie-"
"Yeah, but your team still sucked." I said as I got up and walked into my room. I changed into a pair of shorts and an old T-shirt. I had to dig through my shoes to find my cleats. I slipped my Vans on and clutched my cleats.
"We need to go get you a pair of cleats, Alex." I said as I walked out of my room.
"Not necessary. I never leave home without my cleats and ball." Alex said and bounced the soccer ball on his knees.
"Okay, mom and dad may have gone back home, but that doesn't mean that their household rules don't apply here." I told him and he stopped bouncing the ball.
"We need to leave now if you want to be able to warm up."
"I may have invited a few people to come and watch me beat you." Alex said, his voice exuding confidence. I rolled my eyes and parked the car.
"Like who?" I asked as I took the keys out of the ignition and unbuckled my seat belt.
"Sawyer. And he extended the invitation to Joey." He said and slid the seat back. He began putting his cleats on. I did the same.
"Well, that's really awkward because I'm going to beat you. Again. And they're going to see that."
"Whatever." He said and we exited the car and walked onto the field. The others had yet to show up. I walked to center field and dropped the ball. I backed up a few yards away from the ball and ran towards the ball and kicked it. It soared through the air and hit the goal's net with a thwack.
"Wow. Who knew someone like you packed that much of a punch?" I heard someone ask. I turned around and saw Sawyer and Joey making their way onto the field.
"I'm slightly offended." I said.
"I'm only joking." Sawyer said. I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, sure. So I see you came to watch Alex and I settle our FIFA differences." I said as they stopped in front of me.
"Who said anything about watching? Maybe we want to partake in the game..." Joey said and I raised my eyebrows.
"You're going to play soccer, on a muddy field, in those?" I asked and pointed to their shoes. Joey was sporting a pair of TOMs whereas Sawyer was wearing a pair of relatively new looking Nike's.
"You have a good point." Sawyer said. "We'll just watch you guys play and keep score."
"Sounds good." I said with a chuckle. I looked over Sawyer's shoulder and saw JC and the others walking onto the field.
"Kaya!" he yelled and waved. I waved back and jogged over to him.
"Hey. Thanks for coming."
"No problem." he said. "So, how are we diving teams?"
"Alternating between me and Alex, you will be chosen. And since I am older, I go first."
"That's not fair." Alex said. I shrugged.
"Life's not fair. Plus I'm buying you another plane ticket so stop whining." He frowned and stood next to me, in front of the guys.
"Okay, first things first. So their names are JC, Ricky, Sam, Connor, Trevor, and Kian. In that order."
"I'm Alex, nice to meet you all."
"Okay, Connor you're on my team."
Sawyer's POV
Joey and I watched as Kaya and Alex stood on opposite side of the field, talking to their teams. Kaya has Connor, Ricky, and Sam on her team and Alex has the others.
"I've got ten bucks on Alex's team." Joey said.
"I've got fifty on Kaya's team." I told him. "Her dad told me about all her games. She's never lost a single one, so you might want to make sure you have fifty bucks."
We watched as both teams got into formation and set the ball in the center of the field.
"Sawyer! can you come over here please?" Kaya called. I jumped up and ran over to Kaya and Alex.
"How can I help?" I asked them.
"Pick a number between zero and one hundred. Who ever is closest gets to pick how long the halves are and when they want to kick off." Alex said. I nodded.
"Okay. I've got my number." I said.
"Seventy-two."
"Sixteen."
Eighty-three.
"Kaya got the closest. It was eighty-three." I said.
"Twenty minute halves. We'll kick off on the second."
"Why such short halves?" I asked.
"We don't want to be here all day, right? Plus Alex has a plane to catch at two." She said.
"Oh, that's true." I said and started backing away. When I reached the bench I pulled my phone out and set the timer on my phone.
"Let the games begin." I said and started it.
Kaya was quick in gaining possession of the ball. She has to be one of the fastest runners I've ever seen. She's Olympics worthy. She scored an easy goal, the ball flew past Trevor's head nearly colliding with it.
The first and second game continued like this, and I could see Alex getting angrier and angrier. He definitely didn't like to lose. By the time the third game rolled around he began to play dirty, literally. In order to get the ball Alex didn't hesitate to push Kaya, sending her flying onto the muddy ground.
Kaya shot up and launched toward Alex. Her whole right side from her shoulder down was caked in mud and I could see the anger boiling inside her. Partly because of the mud but also because the O2L crew was slipping and sliding due to poor footwear choices.
Neither sibling liked to lose, that much was evident. And so far they were tied with only a minute left. I silently prayed that Kaya would score the last goal.
"This is so tense..." Joey said. I nodded in agreement and kept my eyes trained on Kaya. she managed to get the ball away from Alex and was soaring down the field.
"She's so fast." I said.
She seriously never ceases to amaze me.
I glanced down at my phone and saw the seconds ticking down abnormally fast. I looked up to see Kaya kick the ball in the air, jump, turn her body, and kick the ball into the goal with as much force as she could manage. I jumped up from my spot and jogged over to her.
"That was... amazing." I said to her. She smiled slightly.
"Thanks." She said, a bit out of breath.
"I'd hug you but you're kind of covered in mud..." Connor said with a chuckle.
"Yeah. If someone hadn't pushed me I'd hug you too, but I'll settle for a high five."
I turned around and saw Alex crouched down poking at the ground. I excused myself and walked over to him.
"Some game, huh?" I asked.
"Yeah." He said quietly.
"So, are you always this competitive during and upset after a game?" I inquired, testing the waters. I don't want to upset him more than he already is.
"Yeah. It's basically programmed in our DNA. Sandrino's live to be the best of the best. We're competitive by nature. Losing is never an option in our family." he said. "Kaya's always been the best at everything. It's frustrating. She doesn't even have to try. It just really gets to me sometimes..."
"Why?"
"Because I train constantly with the best people out there. I practice every day. I go back to England every summer for camps and she never had to do any of that. She has a natural talent that I wish I had."
"Don't let that get to you. I'm sure your training has payed off." I told him. "You're a million times better than those fools over there, that's for sure." Alex laughed.
"You've got a point. They are absolutely terrible." He said. I nodded and held my hand out. He grasped it an hoisted himself up.
"So, why are you getting a later plane?" I asked him.
"I wanted to spend some more time with Kaya. This is my last time seeing her this year so I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible."
"What about Christmas?"
"We're going to London and she's staying here this year. Something about not wanting to take too much time off or something like that." he said.
"Oh... well, have fun in London." I told him.
"Thanks, mate." he said. "You're a really great guy, you know that?"
"Thanks. I try." I said.
"I'm serious. You're a really good friend." I just nodded. We soon reached the others where they were still standing near the other goal.
"Hey, it was nice meeting you but we have to get going." JC said as Alex and I approached them.
"Likewise." He said. JC and the others said goodbye and left, leaving Kaya, Alex, Joey, an I on the field.
"You okay, Alex?" Kaya asked him.
"Yeah. Upset that you won, but I'm good."
Kaya's POV
"I'm sorry. You know how I get on the field."
"Yeah. But it's fine." Alex said. "How are you going to get in your car without fucking up the interior?"
I looked down at my side and shrugged.
"Dunno... I think I have a blanket or something in my trunk to put on the seat."
"Are you okay? You hit the ground pretty hard." Joey said.
"Believe me, she's fine. You'd know if she got injured." Alex said and I nodded.
"It's true. I get really angry and I cry."
"This one time she got knocked down and fell on her knee the wrong way and she literally almost choked the guy." Alex told them.
"Sounds scary." Joey said an I laughed.
"It was nothing. At the time getting injured wasn't an option because it was the state championship game. So I got angry because I knew I couldn't play for the rest of the game and I didn't want my team to lose."
"You're so dedicated to everything you do." Sawyer said.
"Thanks to my dad. Without him I'd just be a huge slacker." I told him and we started making our way to our cars.
"So, Kaya... Are you still with Sam?" Joey asked.
Way to ruin a nice day, Joey.
"Uh... yeah. I am. Why?" I asked him.
"No reason. Just wondering. You never talk about him."
"There's really nothing to talk about." I told him. I opened my car door and popped the trunk. "Well, I'll see you guys later. I have to get him back to my place so he can pack and stuff."
"Alright. Well, come over tonight so we can film a few challenge videos." Sawyer said. "After you get the mud off of you, of course"
"Alright. Sounds good. Bye guys!" I said and grabbed the blanket from the trunk and closed it. They waved as they left. I put the blanket over the seat and took my cleats off. I placed them on the floor of the back seat and got in.
"Aren't you worried about the carpet?" Alex asked.
"They're replaceable floor mats. I can buy another one at AutoZone." I said and drove back to my apartment.
"Why do you act so weird whenever Sam is mentioned?"
"Because it's personal. And no one else's business." I told him.
"You'd tell me if anything happened between you two, right?"
No.
"Of course." I said as I unlocked the door to my apartment.
"Are you just telling me what I want to hear?"
"No." I lied. "I'm going to take a quick shower and then we'll leave for the airport."
"Alright. Hurry up though." He said. I eves him off and entered the bathroom.
"You have everything, right?" I asked Alex as we walked through the airport.
"For the tenth time, yes. Jesus, stop asking me." he said.
"Sorry. I just don't want to find anything of yours and have to ship it." I said as we neared his terminal.
"Well, this is where I leave you. Be safe, don't give the flight attendants a hard time."
"I'll be fine. Calm down." Alex said and pulled me in for a hug. "I'll see you for your birthday."
"I know. Have fun in London this year."
"Won't be the same without you getting me into trouble..." I pulled away from him and laughed.
"Oh, please. whatever."
"Flight 593 to Baltimore Washington International Airport is now boarding."
"That's my cue." Alex said and picked up his carry on.
"I love you, baby brother."
"Love you too, Ky." He said and made his way through the gate. I walked back through the airport and out to my car. As I got in it my phone began to ring. I took it out of my back pocket and tapped and the 'answer' button.
"Hey, Sam. What's up?" I asked.
"Has your family left yet?"
"Yeah, I just dropped Alex off at the airport and I'm on my way back to my place. Why?" I asked him.
"I'm coming over." he said and the line went dead.
"What if I didn't want you to?" I muttered to myself. I sighed and put the car in reverse, backed out of the spot, and went back home.
Wonder what Sam wants...
A/N: This is a terrible attempt at a filler chapter. The next few chapters will be better, I promise. The next chapter will be posted sometime next week, probably Wednesday. Maybe even sooner. Next couple of chapters = dramaaaa...!
