Okay, so some people already read this chapter, but I changed the ending. If you have, go to where they enter the bathroom, its changed from there. If not, don't worry about it. I prefer this version much better. The other one was too fast...I have a problem with that. Thank you:)

I stood, impatient, in a pair of navy blue nike shorts and a light blue tank top. The fingers of my right hand fiddled with the indents of the soccer ball that was balanced on my hip as I tried to pay attention to the women speaking. She was marginally short with blonde hair thrown up in a small ponytail. She was wearing red wind breakers and a light pink top, her hoodie tied around her waist. She had been talking for nearly ten minutes now about how 'if we were chosen for the team...' and then listed all the things she expected from us. I sighed dramatically and blew at the piece of light brown hair that had fallen out of the ponytail that was draped over my right shoulder.

"Now, I'm sure you all know these things anyways, since I'm guessing you have all been on a team of some sort before?" she looked around, as if for confirmation and I nodded my head slightly as her eyes passed over me. "Good, then on with it." She split us up into partners and then proceeded to tell us what she wanted us to accomplish.

I dribbled the ball down to the middle of the field, pivoted, and kicked the ball to my partner, Ashley. As it flew straight towards her I hopped lightly on my feet, readying myself for the rest of the workout.

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"God, just take me now!" I groaned as I lay flat on my back, spread eagle, next to the rest of the team.

"Ah, cheer up, its not all bad you know. This is just the first day, which is always the worst." The australian girl next to me smiled. I had known her name but forgotten, like most of the others.

I had made sure to remember the girls Soraya had pointed out as her good friends. They were: Adrianna (Addy), Haven, Ronnie, Dessa, and Natalia. I had been introduced to each and they were all nice, but so far I was favoring Haven and Ronnie, they were cool.

So I made sure to remember them, but the rest were a blur. I knew that the girl who was stretching was something like Rachel, or Rakelle or something of that sort. I knew that one of the two goalies was Kasey, but I wasn't sure which, then there was Ashley, my partner who I had already nicknamed Satan.

Ashley had long blonde hair and an angelic face, I had to give her that, she was drop dead gorgeous. She had the freaking body of a soccer master and the moves to prove it. I knew, if I practiced, I could be better than her, but being out of shape definitely downgraded me a little. Just by looking at her I could tell that she was popular and rich and the kind of girl that I did not want to mess with, unless of course provoked.

I had been teamed up with her by the coach, whose name had also slipped my mind, and had been stuck with her throughout the whole practice. I knew her name was Ashley Grant. The only reason I remembered her was because I needed a name to go with the face of Satan.

She had barked orders at me like it was my first time on the field and had actually demonstrated how to kick the ball...like I needed it. I had made one mistake in the whole of the day and she had to blow it out of proportion. I had scowled behind her back as she jabbed away to her friends about how 'annoying and incompetent' I was after I had snapped at her to leave me the hell alone and let me play my game.

Now, after a hard work out and a day of listening to Satan complain, I was wiped. When coach, Coach Marshall, I learned, had called quits I'd immediately fallen to the ground and laid there in pure bliss. I hadn't even noticed the rest of the team doing the same until I'd opened my eyes after a few slow breathing minutes.

"It's not the hardness, that's not new." I explained to the Australian girl with long dark hair, "I just have to get used to it again, I haven't played in a while."

"Well, your pretty damn good, I think you'll survive." She had been looking at the sky but her eyes slowly shifted towards the direction of our feet. She propped herself up on her elbows and then raised herself to sit indian style, still staring past my feet that I didn't even want to look at, I knew I had sores from my cleats.

"They're ba-a-ck." She sung in that slow agonizing tone that made you have to look. Apparently it wasn't only me who was tortured by this tone because the whole team sat up and followed her eyes.

"Oh, sweet Jesus." Ronnie breathed, her voice to the left of me.

Across the rest of the field, where we sat, and across the stretch of grass were the boys team. About a quarter of the way through our practice the boys had appeared in the second soccer field behind us. We had all stopped short until Coach had blown her whistle and then made us do a lap for 'drooling all over ourselves.' The guys hadn't stayed long, not long at all. Sooner than I realized they were running towards the school and had disappeared behind it.

"There's a big field on that side of the school," Soraya had explained as she stood behind me, waiting to kick the ball at the goal. "It's not an actual soccer field, just a big grassy area. Coach Conners sets up a bunch of workout trial things over there." She was waving her hands around, symbolizing she had no clue what to call what he set up. "Sort of like a course. They go through it all the time, so he keeps it over there instead of on one of the fields."

They had stayed over there, out of view, for the rest of the day. Just now, as we all lay gaining out breath back, they had come running around the school and were heading towards us.

But it was different. Before they had all had on shorts and some sort of t-shirt or muscle shirt, just some kind of covering. Now almost all, except a select few, wore no upper abdominal coverings. We all sat, leaning on our hands, watching as the well tanned guys jogged across the grass towards us, sweat leaving a slight sheen across their bodies. My gaze traveled left to right, admiring the lean bodies and taught muscles. The faces held no interest for me except one.

Ty was almost all the way on the right, but he ran slightly ahead of all the rest. His shirt was held clenched in his right hand as his arms pumped and he jogged forward. He was sweating, that was obvious, and it left a nice shine to his tan godly body. I tried not to look at him as he drew closer, because for many reasons I did not like him.

He had found grandpa and had been so sure that he could beat me at soccer, and then did. He was cocky and so self assured, it annoyed me. But, he had some good qualities that I just tried not to think about. I couldn't, for Grandpa. But a girl can admire right? A girl can flirt but not mean anything by it right? Because, like everyone, a girl has needs and wants too.

Finally the guys came to the beginning of the field and slowed to a stop right in front of the still seated girls. They looked at his Coach, who looked at our Coach, who nodded in signal for the guys to mingle. Some of them automatically went to the girls that they were dating or the group of girls with whom they were friends. Some just stood with other guys and began to talk. Coach Conners, I noticed, walked towards Coach Marshall and began talking to her. Clearly it was about the teams because clipboards and pencils were whipped out and they began to converse and make notes together.

I sat, still with the Australian girl, watching the forming groups. Soraya was about ten feet in front of me and lightly kissing Matt. Haven, next to Soraya, stuck her finger in her mouth as a mock gag and I laughed. Not knowing I was watching Haven turned towards me and smiled, then scooted backwards to sit beside Ronnie, who was far to the left of me. She turned away and began to talk to Ronnie as a guy came and sat by her, his arm resting along her shoulders.

"So, your from England right?" I wished so hard I could remember this freaking Aussie's name. She was nice and making an effort and here I sat dumbly, not even remembering what to call her.

"Yeah, I am. I just moved here about a week and a half ago." I fiddled with a piece of grass by my ankle as I sat indian style.

"So then how did you already know Soraya?" I was about to answer her when a shadow fell over me and I looked up. I couldn't see who it was at first, and slowly raised my hand to block out the sun.

"Hey." Ty smiled down at me and then before I knew it he dropped down to the ground, his legs touching mine. I shifted slightly, but not wanting to be rude I didn't move. Plus, I was getting a perfect view of him and kinda, sorta didn't want to ruin it.

"You know Ty Baldwin too?" the girl hissed in my ear as Ty pulled his shirt over his head. Damn, was all I could think as he did so. She poked me in the ribs and I just glared at her and she smirked.

"Hey, Jody." Jody, how could I have forgotten that?

"Hey, Ty. Lookin' hot." Ty chuckled slightly as Jody smiled at him flirtatiously. I wasn't sure if this was just a natural reaction around Ty, as it was with me, or if she had an actually crush on him. He ripped his eyes away from her and smiled at me softly.

"Amy." he murmured, touching a long, and still slightly bloody, gash along my shin. We had all taken turns as goalie, 'just because' Coach had said, and I dove for the ball and my leg scraped across the ground, catching a sharp rock wedged in the ground. It had stung at first but I'd shaken it off and still managed to keep up with everyone. Now though, as Ty's fingers lightly skimmed over the injured skin, the cut began to throb and sting again.

"Ouch." I hissed from between my teeth and Ty's fingers halted halfway down my shin. His eyes raised to meet mine and I saw a flash of worry cross over his face. This affected me in a way I didn't expect, and I willed my stomach to stop flipping.

"Are you okay?" He searched my eyes and when I didn't say anything more he finished his inspection of my wound without looking down. The cut stung a little more as his fingers touched it but at that moment I couldn't even form a coherent though let along a single syllable. His eyes were emerald green and I couldn't tear my own dull gray eyes away from them, even when in physical pain. After a moment he released me from my trance and now looked down at my leg.

"You should get this cleaned up." He wiped hair away from his eyes. "It's not deep but you don't want it to get infected." I now lightly pressed my own fingers against the long gash and winced as I pressed much harder than he had.

"I guess your right." I sighed and looked over at Jody to tell her I was going to go into the school and clean out the cut, but she wasn't there. She had moved over and sat with the goalie whose name I think was Kasey, or maybe that was the other one. As I looked at her in confusion she turned her head towards me, stared, and then casually winked before turning away.

"Uh, well I'm gonna ask Coach if I can go into the school. I'll see you later." I began to stand and was relieved when only direct pressure on the wound hurt. I could still play with no ailments. I began to walk over to Coach Marshall when I felt a hand on my arm. I turned around and looked up at Ty.

"What? I'm going to go clean it up like you said." He let go of my arm and looked down at me oddly. As I felt a tingling sensation in my arm where he had been touching a new tingling arose on my cheek as he swept a piece of stray hair behind my ear, his fingers brushing across my skin. I think I actually shivered at that moment, but maybe it was only on the inside, because he didn't seem to notice. He was still looking at me oddly after the shiver ran its course and I just let him sit there, pondering whatever it was he was pondering, as I studied him also.

After what seemed like hours, but was really seconds, he grinned lightly. "I'm going to come with you."

"Why?" I spat, weirdly defensive of myself. Call it a knee-jerk reaction if you will.

"Because she probably won't let you go by yourself anyways. You might...do something bad." I laughed lightly and vehemently. Puh-lease. "Plus, I want to. Incase you need help." If anything this should have stricken the annoyance nerve in me. I wasn't some helpless girl who couldn't be alone by herself for fear of ghouls or killers or scary noises. Even if I was I'm not a girl who needs a manly-man, macho...dude to take care of me. I'm an independent girl who can take care of her own damn self, and quite masterfully at that. I didn't need him to prop me up on a sink and wet down a paper towel and lightly clean my cut ever-so-freaking tenderly. No, that wasn't what I needed or particularly wanted. I really and truly didn't, but even though this statement should have riled all those feeling up in me, it didn't. He had said it like he knew that I didn't need his help but he would be there just incase I decided I did need some. Just incase my resolve diminished and I was left alone and helpless. Not that such a thing would ever happen, but he just wanted to be there...incase.

No one had ever offered me help without thinking I actually needed it. Without planning on actually having to help. Instead of plucking at my annoyance string it missed by a mile and plucked my girly-girl string. Which, by nature, hadn't been struck since I was a five year old in the dresses of my mothers choice. Back then the girly-girl sting was on cruise-control, but had come to grow cobwebs. Now this guy, whom I shouldn't even like, was pulling so freaking hard on the string I though it would break.

And for the most innocent and stupidest reason. Now I got what my mom was always telling me, 'It's the small things that count.'

Whoop-de–freaking-do.

"Fine, but if you think your touching my cut, your wrong buddy." I poked his shoulder and then walked away. I felt him following me but decided not to care.

"Coach, do you think I can go down to the bathroom really quick and clean this up?" I pointed at my leg and she looked down at it, noticing the dry blood.

"Fleming, if that cut hurts your game I'm going to be grade-A pissed." She raised her eyebrows at me to make sure I understood.

I stood silent for a moment, "Does that mean I'm on the team?"

"Hell yes, did you think otherwise?" I just beamed at her and nearly tackled her to the ground but thought better of it.

"Thanks, Coach. I promise I'll do good." I turned towards the school and didn't stop smiling, even when Ty fell into step with me.

"So, made the team?" He had been talking to some guy when I found out so he couldn't know. I asked him this and he smiled, "It's the way you look. Happy."

We had just entered the school and he guided me towards the girls bathroom. When we reached the door he stepped right through.

"Used to being in here, are we?" I smirked as he laughed.

"Just a little." I wanted to know what this meant but let it go as he handed me a paper towel he had wetted down for me. I just held it limply in my hands and he cleared his throat, "If you want me to do it I can."

"No!" I almost shrieked. I hopped up onto the sink and bent my knee so I could clean away the grime. As I did this I thought over the things he had said and didn't even realize it as I spoke. "What do you mean, happy? How could you tell what I was feeling?"

He was leaning against the stall door, looking at me. "I don't know, I just did. I've seen you a few times before and I kind of just deduced." He questioned me with his eyes whether I wanted him to go on.

"Deduced?" I encouraged him.

"Well, when I met you that time I came over to help, a few years ago?" I nodded. "You were happy then. You were smiling and humming and totally unaware of everything around you...including me." I smiled behind my knee as I leaned against it, still absentmindedly cleaning the cut. "Then I see you after Jack dies, and the difference is crystal clear. You were sad and depressed and annoyed at everyone and everything. So I kind of got used to that side of you, but just now your were smiling. You were happy." He shrugged as if this was all common sense. Which it wasn't. He had to have been looking hard.

We were both silent for a while. I could have said something and kept this conversation going, but it was too personal and in-depth. I needed some kind of out on this talk.

"So, why is it your used to being in here? A little quicky between classes with your girlfriend?" I asked as I threw the paper towel in the trash and began to wash my hands, secretly watching his reaction through the mirror.

I saw him grin slightly as he rubbed his thumbs together. "Why do you say that?" He was still grinning but his voice was serious.

"I don't know. Just my guess. I mean, don't all guys have fantasies about that sort of thing?" Did I seriously just ask him that?

"I meant about the girlfriend. Why did you assume I had a girlfriend?" He looked into the mirror and caught my eye.

"I don't know I just...figured...since your...you." I internally rolled my eyes at my own words. How much more could I have butchered that sentence?

"Since I'm me." He repeated and kept fiddling with his thumbs, apparently a habit. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. I just meant..." I sighed and turned towards him. "Your on the soccer team and your pretty..." I began to say hot but I changed my words quickly, "handsome. I just figured you would have a girlfriend."

He stared at me like I had just revealed that I had a third leg or something. Then he began to laugh. It was a sort of silent laugh, but a laugh none the less. After a few moments of him holding his hand up, warding off my questions, he looked up at me.

"I'm sorry, that wasn't really funny." He cleared his throat. "I just...never imagined you saying something like that."

I gawked at him in annoyance. "Like what?"

He smiled up at me through a lock of hair, "Saying I'm handsome and popular and that I probably had a girlfriend because of that. I mean, how stereotypical and prejudice is that? I just figured you were above such things."

"Yeah well, it's true isn't it?" I threw away my paper towel and looked up at him, waiting.

"I guess...in a way." He pushed away from the stall door. "We just broke up about two weeks ago." He smiled and flicked the piece of hair away from his face. "Although...she doesn't really pertain to this subject at all."

"Yes she does." I argued. "I asked if you had a girlfriend."

"No," he argued back. "You asked if the reason I'm comfortable being in the girls bathroom is because of a girlfriend, which it isn't. I'm comfortable because I just am. There's no reason behind it, I just am."

I rolled my eyes at him as we headed out of the lav. On the way back to practice I couldn't help but wonder who his ex was and why they'd broken up.

Next chapter the mystery starts. The strange instances at the farm and some other things. Review please:)