Bella had had a great time at dinner with her new team mates. They were quickly bonding, and she couldn't have been happier with the girls. She'd walked back to her dorm with JP and they'd talked about her classes. JP had told her some tips and tricks to getting around campus, said she'd give her an official tour so Bella wouldn't be too super lost when trying to find everything, and even told her which professors to look out for when registering for future classes.
Bella was now laying in her bed unable to sleep. How in the world was she supposed to let another vampire into her life? The last time she'd done that, it hadn't ended too well for her. She'd lost the people she considered to be her family and it had taken her a while to get over it.
But she'd had eventually gotten over it. She'd had to. She'd had to move on with her life. She'd had to stop being lethargic and mopey. She'd had to show Charlie that she was okay. She'd had to be okay. And she was okay. She was more than okay. She'd grown from the experience. As much as it hurt her, she wouldn't be the person she was today if she hadn't gone through it.
Bella had taken up running after finally pulling herself out of her room and finally leaving her house after the whole ordeal. She'd had to have something to release all of those feelings and running was what had done it for her. It was when she'd been out running, that the girls' soccer coach at her high school had seen her. The team had just lost a player because of a foot injury and they needed one more. Bella was hesitant but she was assured that she would most likely be a stand in and probably wouldn't even have to play.
She loved it. She loved being on the field. She loved dribbling. She loved foot work. She loved everything about the game.
Bella had quickly picked up the skills she needed, and it turned out that she was a lot more coordinated than she had previously thought. It turned out, she just needed a little encouragement and a little drive. Playing for the team replaced her gym grade and she graduated with honors. She had received a scholarship to the local Forks University and had played there for two years, gotten her associates degree, and was looking for grad programs, when she was offered the scholarship in Denali and moved there.
Soccer had quickly become her life and she had her old team mates, that one crazy coach who'd recruited her in the first place, and the Cullens who had abandoned her to thank for all of it.
0~0~0
Around lunch time the next day, JP knocked on Bella's bedroom door and asked her to grab lunch and run drills with her. Bella had immediately accepted and grabbed her cleats to throw into her bag being that she already had on a pair of shorts and an old t-shirt.
They'd grabbed a couple of slices of pizza in the dining hall and chatted for a while before heading to the field. They'd done a few warm-ups just so they wouldn't pull any muscles and hurt themselves before Bella was firing shots at JP who was poised in the goal.
"Oh, come on, Swan. You can do better than that," JP said sarcastically after the third out of eight shots sailed past her and into the net.
"I'm sure we can get the stains out of those pants, JP. Don't be afraid of a little dirt," Bella taunted, and JP shot her a look before shrugging and diving for the next shot. She blocked it and smirked at Bella, "There you go," Bella continued in that sassy tone and JP laughed in response.
"You two know that practice isn't for another four hours, right?" Was heard from the side of the field and they both turned and saw their coach there. It was clear she'd been watching them for at least a few moments judging by the smug grin on her face, "I mean, it's clear that JP needed some extra practice, but I don't know about four hours of it," The woman continued, and Bella breathed out a laugh as JP pretended to look offended.
"CK, I'm hurt," She said in a mocking voice as she put a hand to her chest, "Like you can do any better," She taunted and the blonde's face took on an impish sort of grin.
"Alright, Bella. It seems that your teammate here has thrown you to the wolves," Kate said as she stalked towards the goal that JP had stepped out of.
"More like to the vampires," Bella mumbled under her breath, though she was sure Kate could hear her. That was confirmed when a bright smile was thrown her way. Bella fired off a shot that was obviously stopped easily. She fired off seven more, which were all blocked, "This is pointless," Bella grumbled under her breath once again.
Bella then looked up and focused. The sun shining from overhead beat down on her back. The soft breeze felt nice as she moved about, and her body grew warmer. Her coach stood in the goal and was poised to block anything Bella kicked at her. JP was somewhere to the side grabbing her water bottle and checking her phone.
Wait. Sun. Bella furrowed her eyebrows and cocked her head to the side, "Why don't you sparkle?" Bella asked under her breath and the next thing she knew, Kate was laughing uncontrollably. JP looked up in confusion, Bella shrugged, and kicked while Kate was distracted. The ball hit the net, but Kate just continued to laugh.
"I think she's finally lost it and succumbed to the heat," JP said as she walked up to Bella's side.
"I'd say so," Bella mumbled as they watched her slowly come back to her senses and stop laughing maniacally.
"I'm going to run back to the room and grab my shin guards. You need anything?"
Bella shook her head in response and JP left the field. The ball had been returned to her and she bounced it a few times on her knees, knowing that her coach was approaching and that she would most likely have something to say.
"You could've taken it easy on me. We don't all have super speed," Bella mumbled as she continued her bouncing of the ball on her knees. She looked up with a pout when the ball was pulled out of the air by her coach's hands, "Hey," She said softly, and Kate just laughed in response.
"I figured you already knew, but you really got me with that "thrown to the vampires" comment," Kate said as she dropped the ball to the ground, dribbled a few steps, and took a wide swing to send the ball sailing into the upper left corner of the net. Bella watched on in amazement. She knew that Kate was genetically flawless, but the woman was so graceful while playing soccer that it just wasn't fair.
"I think I got you more with the sparkle comment. Why don't you by the way?" Kate just laughed once again in response and looked up to see a few of the girls approaching for some extra practice. She winked at Bella before turning to greet the others. Bella just huffed and went to retrieve her ball from the goal.
