Bella opened her laptop that night and contemplated her next move. She finally shrugged and opened her browser before googling 'Kate Denali'. After scrolling for a few moments, it was clear that Kate was brilliant at staying out of the news and off of the web. There were a few mentions of her name just as the coach of the winning girls' soccer team, but she was never in any pictures and there were never descriptions of her.
So, no information there. She knew she could fire off an email and maybe receive a response with more information, but she hadn't contacted that email in so long, she wasn't even sure that it was still being checked. Let alone if she would get an email back.
She sighed and closed her laptop once again before hearing her phone beep. She dug it out and saw a notification "You have been added to the group 'Denali Danger'." She laughed. The girls' soccer team was named 'Danger' for whatever reason and apparently the girls had just added her to their group chat.
JP: We've finally decided on your nickname
Bella: And that would be?
Double C: You'll have to wait until practice to find out.
Double C was one of the strikers on the team. She was ridiculously good, and Bella thought she remembered her name being Carlie Cross.
Lil' K: Yep, you'll see tomorrow!
Lil' K was normally just shortened to "K" on the field and she was the second-string goalie. She was a freshman and also a super hard worker and wanted to be first string next year. Her name was Kaitlyn and so the girls all called her Little K as a play on the fact that her name was Kait and she also had blonde hair and brown eyes like their coach.
Bella: Ugh fine!
She attached a smiley face though so the girls would know she wasn't really upset and clicked her phone off. It beeped only a moment later and Bella's eyes widened when she saw the notification.
"New Message from CK" It read. Of course Kate was in the group chat and could now direct message Bella. Duh.
CK: I don't sparkle because that's not normal.
She'd attached a laughing-crying face and Bella furrowed her eyebrows.
Bella: It's not?
CK: Nope, Fuckward is just a special type apparently. No one knows why he does that.
Bella laughed suddenly at the unexpected nickname of her previous boyfriend and hoped that JP hadn't heard her or at least didn't care enough to ask what was so funny.
Bella: Good to know
She'd attached the same emoji as Kate being that she was still laughing at the use of the nickname.
CK: I do spark though ;)
Bella looked at her screen in confusion before replying.
Bella: What?
Kate didn't message her back though. She just sent back an emoji with sunglasses on and Bella finally gave up on receiving any answers that night.
0~0~0
Bella had arrived to practice with calls of "La-La". She'd looked confused for a moment before laughing and just shrugging her acceptance of the nickname that they'd come up with for her. CK was late and the girls had already stretched and caught up on the drama that had occurred since yesterday's practice. They were now sat around in a circle head butting a ball back and forth between the thirteen of them.
"CK's never late," JP commented after knocking the ball with her head.
"I know right? It's weird," CC agreed, and the rest of the team nodded their agreement. Bella bit her lip as she listened to them talk about how out of character it was for Kate to be late to anything. Bella knew that had to be true. She was always around and even if she was just in the area, she could hear the girls arriving and would know to make her appearance.
A few moments later, all of their phones were beeping, and Bella dug hers out of her bag while the others did the same.
CK: Sorry girls! I can't make it today. Something came up and I had to leave town unexpectedly. I'll see you all tomorrow!
Bella looked up to see that everyone looked confused, "She's never cancelled practice. I don't know what to do with my day now," Lil' K said and the other girls just nodded in agreement.
"We could just scrimmage 6 on 7," Bella finally suggested with a shrug. The girls all looked up and glanced around before they all agreed with smiles and started choosing teams and heading to their respective areas of the field.
"Shirts!" The other girls called out and JP rolled her eyes before pulling her shirt over her head and leaving herself dressed in her sports bra, shorts, knee high socks to cover her shin guards, and her cleats. The rest of the girls followed suit and Bella finally also removed her shirt. It wasn't like she hadn't practiced shirtless before.
"It's on, girls!"
0~0~0
They were in their last quarter of their impromptu scrimmage game. Bella was sweaty, as was everyone else on the field. They'd played hard. They were all disgusting and half of them were covered in mud after apparently disregarding most rules that wouldn't get them too hurt. At one point, Bella had even back flipped with the ball and landed right in the mud. She'd got up, dusted off, and kept moving.
Her team was closing in on the other goal and Bella swiped a strand of sweaty hair out of her face as she tracked the ball with her eyes. Her teammates were passing as much as possible in order to throw the others off as they tried to decide how to score.
JP caught Bella's eyes as she dribbled. She made a circular motion with her finger and Bella smirked and nodded before the ball was being passed her way. One of the other girls moved towards her and Bella let her think she'd gotten the jump on her until she went to take the ball.
Bella suddenly stepped on the ball, pivoted around it, kicked it up behind her, jumped, spun in the air, and kicked it with all of her might. She fell to the ground but the simultaneous cheers and groans let her know that her shot had made it in.
Nike's phone timer went off as they cheered (The girl was a brand snob apparently and that's how she'd earned the nickname) and they all cheered and gathered around Bella, "Game!" JP shouted.
"What was that shot, La-La?" Was said by several of her teammates and she promised to attempt to teach them the move later. They finally all calmed down and started towards the bleachers, "CK!"
Bella looked up suddenly with all of the other girls and saw their coach stood on the top row of the bleachers watching them, "I figured you girls would take your free day," She said as she descended the stairs. "Oh, I forgot. None of you have lives," She said with a playful tone and earned a shove from one of the girls. Bella had to give it to her. She made it look like the girl had actually been able to move her some.
The girls all started to disperse after Kate explained that she'd thought she would be back in time for practice but only made it back in time to see the last ten minutes of their little game. She'd figured some of them would be out there running drills, not that they'd all be out there playing a full-on game.
Bella was sat on the bottom row of the bleachers and had bent over to peel her socks off of her feet being that they were covered in mud anyway. She removed her shin guards as well and shoved everything into her bag.
When she stood and grabbed her bag, she looked up and met golden eyes. How long had Kate been staring at her? She suddenly felt a little more self-conscious that she hadn't put her shirt back on yet and was still just standing there in her sports bra.
Kate stepped over towards Bella and gestured for the girl to start walking and then fell into step beside her, "So," Kate began and Bella looked over at her, "What's up, La-La?" She asked sarcastically and Bella huffed and shot her a side-eyed look.
"Why do I just feel like you definitely had something to do with that?" Bella asked and Kate just smirked and shrugged innocently, "It's not the worst thing I've been called," She finally said. She didn't really mind the name anyway. She liked that her teammates had picked a name for her. She felt like she was really accepted.
"Why Denali?" Kate asked suddenly and Bella bit her lip as she thought about the answer. It occurred to her suddenly that the pair of them probably looked like a sight. Bella was wearing only a sports bra and a pair of running shorts. Her feet were bare, her hair had to look like a huge mess, and she was covered in mud. On the opposite side of things, Kate looked immaculate. She had on a tight pair of light wash jeans, a white blouse, a pair of gray ankle boots, and a dark pair of sunglasses over her eyes.
"To be completely honest," Bella said as she shifted her soccer bag on her shoulder, "I wanted to get as far away from home as I could." She could tell Kate was trying to make eye contact with her, but Bella kept her eyes trained forward. She didn't really want to talk about Forks right now. "The program seemed nice and the school is highly rated," She shrugged, "It seemed like a good choice."
Bella stopped being that they were finally in front of her dorm building. She turned and faced her coach and didn't think that Kate could've smiled more widely if she'd tried, "What?" Bella asked after a moment and Kate had to physically force the smile off of her face.
"Nothing. I'm just glad that you chose Denali. It seems like you're going to fit in well and the girls all seem to love you already," Bella looked a little unsure and Kate giggled, "We took on a girl last year and within a week they'd already decided they didn't like her. They even called her by her name. And it was a mouthful!" Kate said with a laugh, "You have a nickname. They want you to teach them your signature move. They were all so excited to add you to the group chat last night. You belong here, Bella. Don't doubt that."
Bella bit her lip to fight her own smile and finally nodded in response, "Thanks," She said genuinely.
"I'll see you tomorrow. Don't be late, La-La!" Kate threw the last statement over her shoulder as she turned to walk away.
