When they got into the gym, he saw that it was brand new, with big bleachers on either side and bright flourescent lighting. It had a rubber-ish floor with the marks to play different sports on it, and kids were pouring in from the main entrance of the gym. There were bathrooms and dressing rooms to the back of the gym, and there were windows on the side of he building. It was a pretty nice place, Pippin had to admit, but somehow, he could feel dread rising in him. It was then that he remembered: You had to dress-out, or change clothes, in front of the other students. Apparently, the other students had already figured this out and were over their initial shock, because now they were talking in excited whispers amongst themselves.

He looked around to see who he would have gym class with. The only faces he recognised were those on Boromir, that elf who had a lot of his classes with him, Merry, Sam, and Arwen. Well, this would surely be interesting. Who knows, maybe he could find a nice quiet time to go and apologize to Merry during gym. But would MErry accept his apology?, he wondered for the first time. Oh well. He had more pressing hings to deal with.

"Okay, listen up!", a woman with blonde hair yelled, "As you know, it is the first day of gym. We start soccer today, as many of you also know."

Pippin felt his heart skip a beat. Yes! Soccer was the one thing he, Peregrine Took, was even remotely good at when it came to sports, and he was going to show the world his talent. He noticed, though, that th elf's attention had been fixed on her ever since she said the word. Oh lord, don't tell me he's a soccer player! We're gonna get shown-up so bad if he isn't on our team! The elf was obviously involved in sports, and Pippin had the feeling that when he got onto the field, he would mean business.

"As you also know, before gym we have dress-outs. This means that you have to change clothes in the locker rooms. However, there will be no playing around in the locker rooms. Got it?", she asked them.

The boys muttered agreement. He cast a glance behind him, where the girls were being breifed as well about the dresssing room policy.

"Okay, you may go.", she told them. Luckily, he had remembered to bring his gym clothes, which was a blessing because he surely wasn't going to wear public use gym clothes. Ew.

When they were done dressing out, they all went back into the gym wearing white Tee shirts and running pants. He personally would rather be in his normal clothes, for whatever reason. Oh well. Like they would listen to him.

"Okay, I assume we all know how to play soccer?", she asked them.

They all nodded.

"Does anyone here play soccer?", she asked.

The elf raised his hand proudly. All attention turned to him. Crap., he thought.

"What position?", the teacher asked him.

"Forward.", he told her.

"Alright, Legolas, you will be Team A's forward.", she told him, "If that's okay."

Legolas! That was the elf's name! Jeez, why couldn't he remember things like that?

He nodded. He may have seemed cool and calm, but Pippin could sense the energy inside of him, the desire to run. He surely hoped he was on the elf's team, partially because he could not bear to lose a game.

"Okay, we'll assign teams.", she said. As she assigned teams, he got just what he had been asking for all along by wanting things to go his way for once: He was on the opposing team.

They headed down to the soccer fields, the gym teacher leading them down the concrete stairs. When they got there, she told them to discuss what they planned to do with their groupmates.

Boromir, Merry, and a few other students were on their team.

"I'll take forward.", Boromir volunteered, stepping forward.

"Fine, dude, but you are gonna get shown-up so ba--", a hobbit started.

"Does it matter who wins??", Merry demanded, "Why can't we all just have fun??"

"This is soccer, Merry.", somebody told him, "There is no 'just having fun.' It's all game in soccer."

Merry sighed and looked around boredly.

"Merry, you can be defense. Pippin, you can be the goalie."

The goalie! That was going to be real fun, but if he got hurt, he would pay the price. No, THEY would pay the price.One way or another, they would all pay...

"Okay, does everybody know their position?", Boromir asked when he was done.

"Yep.", Merry said, "Let's go kick some butt."

1st Quater..

...

Boromir had the ball, and was making a mad dash to the other team's goal. He shot it, but Sam was ready. The hobbit leapt at the ball, grabbing it and sliding it to the ground. He then got up, dusting himself off with the ball under his arm.Sam and all of team A let out victorious howls, and a few of them walked over to the goal and hit him a high five.

Their gym teacher held up her hand to signal a time out, and blew her whistle.

"Okay, good one, Team A!", she said, "That was good teamwork! Let's see the same from team B!" She turned to them.

"You my have a short break to get some water.", she told them, gesturing to the bleachers, "Sit down and rest."

Thank god!, he thought as he dragged himself to the bleachers, I'm about to die of thirst!

He had been the goalie for the past thirty minutes, and he had fallen, ducked, lunged, and kicked for almost the whole quarter, almost as if it was one long, continuous thirty minute dance. He sat down on the bleachers, and grabbed his water bottle. Team A was winning, and they had already scored five goals thanks to Legolas. He decided to see what the elf was doing, to see if there was any trick involved. That was typical for him some of these days,even though he knew that there was no trick and that he was just a good soccer player, the immature side of his mind wanted to accuse Legolas of cheating right there, on the spot.

The elf was getting something to drink at the time as he listened to another player on his team. At one point the forward spat out his water in shock, sending a spray all over the ground. There were mixed expressions throughout the conversation, from comical smiles to rather angry looks shot across the field. Pippin desperately wanted to listen in, to hear what they were saying, but decided that it would be better if he didn't.

"Okay, has everybody gotten their water?", she called across the field.

They all said agreement, and got back in their positions.

The ball was put into play by Sam, who sent it flying across the field. Merry immediately got it, going across the field for about ten yards with it before passing it off to Boromir. Boromitr dashed across the field with the ball, hounded by two or three defense players as he made his way to team A's goal. But one of the center fielders took the ball as he was running, and they passed it to their forward. Legolas surged across the field, making a straight line to the goal. Pippin was ready. The forward stared straight to Pippin's right, and then kicked it right as their defense cought up with him. Pippin lunged to catch the ball, and that was when it happened.

WHAM! He felt a pain shoot through his face as he was hit, and was on the ground, in shock for a moment. Then he started to taste the salty tase of blood in his mouth and he had a feeling he knew what had happened.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry!", The forward said, dashing over to his side, "Somebdy get a nurse!"

"No..really, it's...okay.", he said, putting his hand over his bleeding nose and mouth.

The nurse appeared on the field with some gauze and various other things, and by then the girls' soccer practice had ended and they were all leaning over him, concerned. In the back of his mind, he was sort of pissed off with legolas for breaking his nose and making his mouth bleed, but the elf's concern had seemed genuine.

"Oh my god , is he okay?", a hobbit girl asked.

"I don't know.", he saw Arwen mutter.

"Come on, Pippin, soccer is over for today.", the coach told him, "School is about to be dismissed."