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The night wasn't as fretful as he thought it would be. PJ struggles to open his eyes as the sun light streams in and hits his bed. He stretches as he reaches for his phone to check the time. Immediately he lets out a loud hiss in pain. How in the hell do his ribs become sore when he did nothing to them?

"You too sore to play, playboy? Oh, don't worry about the whole sore upper body thing. It happened to me a while ago and the coach told me that he's figured a way to trick us into working on our stomachs without knowing." Trevor is sitting up on his bed, putting on his warm up gear. He grins at him with the classic Trevor smile. "That's why I've got my own little four pack growing in. Lady's love it."

PJ rolls his eyes and smiles at his best friend. He starts to sit up and instantly feels his muscles around his stomach protest. He closes his eyes and breathes evenly as he stands up. Even his feet are sore. He didn't think he worked himself that hard yesterday yet here he is, aching all over.

"You better hurry up. Coach is expecting us at breakfast at 7:15." Trevor finishes getting all his gear gathered up and stares at PJ. He stares right back at him before looking at his phone once more. It says 7 am.

"I slept in! Why did you let me oversleep my 6:30 alarm?" PJ fights to move as his frantic movements to hurry up become stifled by his sore body. He glares at Trevor out of the corner of his eye. It takes painful, careful motions to slip out of his pajamas and get into his warm up gear. The clock reads 7:08 am.

"You had a rough night last night. You needed the extra sleep." Trevor becomes serious again right while he is shoving his soccer uniform and other essentials into his large duffle bag. He ignores the comment, too distracted by being late.

"Let's go, Trev."

"Now that you have finished warming up and got that grub fully in your systems, I want you boys to focus on this game today. We are playing some team from Colorado too and I need all of you at your best. I don't want to see any messing around like I did yesterday. We've got more coaches attending our game since yesterday's game. But this is all for you guys so it is up to you to work for it. Now go out there and kick ass!"

Marty's voice rings out in his ears because the man was full on yelling at the end. PJ smiles as he joins in with his teammates in a ritual before every game, real or not. They all start grunting quietly and before becoming louder. PJ watches as Trevor jumps in the middle of the circle and howls extremely loud then everyone bursts out howling too. The noise dies out and the coach says rowdily for them to get out there. His spirits are high as he takes to the field.

He can't even feel his sore muscles as he is racing down the field with the ball at his feet. He has been out there for an hour already. His blue eyes scan the field carefully for options to kick the ball because opponents are quickly coming towards him. He finds that Carver, a kid his age, is open and prepares to punt the ball away from him but out of nowhere some kid comes blasting in and slides underneath him to get the ball. The wind gets knocked out of him when his body meets the harsh ground in one motion. The stupid punk kicked his legs out so PJ had collapsed.

It takes more than a moment for PJ to be able to breath again. He takes a fast gasp of air as it rushes into his lungs. He is vaguely aware that the whistle has been blown but his head hurts too so he doesn't know. Soon teammates are around him and he thinks they are going to take his air. Marty comes through and crouches by him.

"Are you okay, kid?" The concern is clear in Marty's tone. PJ nods before getting to his feet. More air reaches his lungs. "Don't worry, that kid is getting a yellow card and we are taking you out."

"No!" He yells out before he can think. He sees the startled look on his teammate's faces and readdresses his coach. "I mean that I am okay coach. Just took a minute to smell the grass. You know me, always the nature boy." The lie is so transparent but Marty lets it slide. He stares intensely at PJ for a second so PJ smiles weakly back at him. Marty nods slowly before yelling at the rest of the team to go back to the field.

"You know no one will think you are weak for taking time on the bench after that. You looked like you hit your head hard and that ass's shoes dug into your stomach."

"I'm okay Marty." With that, PJ trots away and heads to where the referee is waiting. His legs feel weak but at least he knows why he got the wind knocked out of him. His ears slightly buzz while he is trying to listen to what the ref is saying.

"-you get a penalty shot because of that." The ref blows the whistle and it does not help the ringing in his ears. He glances at the goalie and to his horror, he recognizes him. That makes him wish he wasn't on the field anymore. He hasn't noticed because his mind was focused on doing his best but he is playing his old team… his old life is coming back to haunt him. The whistle blows again and the ref comes over.

"You need to play the ball now or else you turn it over." PJ nods and swallows hard. He needs to stop being paranoid. Maybe he isn't playing them, maybe he is just crazy. That thought gives him the shove he needed and he walks measuredly behind the ball. He eyes the goalies movement and notices he is leaning towards his right…

It is a blur but PJ realizes that he already kicked the ball. The whole field and the coaches are watching the ball soar high and to the left. The goalie struggles to change directions and dives incredibly high for the ball. For a second he thinks that his ball might be caught and he is going to look so stupid but then, out of the blue, the ball drastically curves down. It actually goes in underneath the goalie's body. His team lets out loud howls and rushes over to him. They pat him on the back and someone starts to jump on him but he hisses as the pain starts to get overwhelming.

"Enough! He's been injured." Trevor's voice and wisdom makes PJ sigh with relief. He would have probably collapsed if anyone but tiny Jimmy jumped on him.

The rest of the game was quick. PJ's point had made the score 2-1 and with their tight defense, none of the opponents scored. The final whistle sounds and he smiles because they won and he was the hero of the game. The whole team lines up to say their respectful good jobs to the other team and nothing is raining on his parade. But the instant he reaches the coach, all the blood drains out of his face. It was his old team. The coach sends him a look like he wants them to talk before making his way past him. And that means his old teammates are following. He shamefully averts his eyes from his former friends as he says good job quietly. It takes a ridiculously slow ten seconds to get through everyone. They all probably send hurt and confused glances his way but he refuses to watch. He is such a coward…

PJ cannot get off the field fast enough. He jogs to the place where his stuff is and tries to seem not shaken up. He takes a glimpse at his old team. As his luck would have it, he catches the attention of the coach and they just look at each other for a second before making a gesture for PJ to come over there. PJ nervously looks at Marty and walks over to his old coach. His former coach walks towards a more private place and they meet in between.

"PJ. It's good to know you are okay." His former coaches name is Mr. Riley. He never really got to a more personal level like he has with Marty.

"I'm sorry Mr. Riley for you to find out like this. I'm sorry all those guys had to. They probably think I ditched them for a different team but you have to tell them-" PJ is interrupted by Mr. Riley.

"It's fine, when I saw your name on the roster I gave the team a talk explaining that it wasn't your choice to leave but your love of soccer was like their own and no one would expect you to quit soccer just because you left." Mr. Riley smiles warmly at him. He can't help but smile back. "You've improved a lot since I last saw you play. I'm impressed and I saw that the colleges were too. I'm sorry that Jason got too aggressive out there." The guy referred to was one of PJ's buddy's on the soccer team and it takes him an instant to wrap his mind around Jason being aggressive towards him. He knew that Jason always liked to play more on the edge of getting a yellow card but still…

"I think I will go talk to him." He says absent-mindedly. Mr. Riley pats him on the shoulder before gesturing to Jason to come over to them. When Jason reaches them, PJ sees that he is getting angry and he is glad Mr. Riley is here but then his former coach leaves randomly. Great.

"What the hell, man? Why'd you swipe me back there?" PJ says angrily. He is not afraid of confrontation with Jason, the ass who took a dirty shot at him.

"No it should be me saying what the hell! You are the one who left without saying goodbye and ignored everyone from your past life to live it up in your new one." Jason yells loudly. People glance over in their direction but no one lingers so PJ replies.

"You cannot possibly know what I am going through! Getting told I am adopted, and realizing that the people I have loved and trusted lie to me is a lot to handle. I am just doing it the way that doesn't hurt the most." PJ says back, trying to defend himself. They both stand tall, daring the other to make the first move that starts chaos.

"It doesn't hurt YOU the most! I've seen the way Teddy walks around the school now that you have abandon her." That just knocks all the air out of PJ. Teddy is the last person he wanted to hurt and he feels guilty every time he thinks about it. He stumbles backwards only a step but that is enough for Jason to pounce.

"Oh, you should see her. For the first two weeks after you left she was all brave smile, but then something changed. A month went by and all us knew you had cut her out too because she wasn't smiling and acting the same. I talked to her once. I asked her why she let you change her that much. She glared at me but answered. Teddy said that she didn't know that you meant that much to her until you left but then it was made clear that she didn't mean anything to you after you left. She said that you were the last person she expected to turn your back on her so that is why you changed her. How does it feel to break a person that much that they go around looking so damn tired all the tired of the heart break?" Jason's prodding and harsh words sting so deep that PJ doesn't think they are ever getting out of his head. He closes his eyes and forces the tears to recede. His chest feels like four people are sitting on it and won't get up to let him breathe.

"PJ!" Marty calls out to him. PJ opens his eyes and blinks quickly to hide the tears. He glances at his coach and then back to Jason, who is smirking cruelly. He just turns his back to Jason and walks slowly to his team. They have already packed up and most of them are already on the bus for the short ride back to camp. He reaches his stuff and Marty comes up to him.

"You okay?" PJ nods numbly, the response just natural. "David is at the parking-lot waiting for you. He called and said that he needed you to come back for the weekend. It's fine too. There aren't any games this weekend and the boys are just getting the two days to hang around the camp. Just be back by Sunday evening. See you later." The coach seems in a hurry so PJ doesn't bother trying to talk about what just happened with him. He looks around and spots Trevor getting in the bus. It's too late to talk to Trevor about it so he swallows his pain and picks up his heavy bag to walk to the parking lot.

"Hey PJ!" David smiles warmly at him. It makes him sick to know that he doesn't deserve being treated so great. I am a piece of shit. Jason's words cloud his head as he hops into the nice car. When he doesn't give a reply to David's greeting, David gazes at him carefully before starting the car.

"Are you okay?" He is so tired of that question, and it doesn't make sense what it means anymore. So he does what he always does and nods. David clearly isn't convinced but thankfully the man leaves him alone.

The car ride is silent besides the quiet noise of the radio. He doesn't know how but he falls asleep. It feels nice not to be plagued by his guilt and pain but the sensation quickly comes to an end when David shakes him gently.

"We are here, PJ." David's voice is soothing and kind. He lets himself be filled with the moment's peacefulness, if only for an instant. He opens his eyes and sees his house before him. It was easy to get used to calling this place home and for that thought PJ is hit by a huge pang of guilt. He lugs the bag to the front door with David tailing behind him. His foster dad seems almost excited. He rings the doorbell because David is being weird and he doesn't have his home key. The large door swings open and PJ drops his bag immediately.

His head gets dizzy and for a minute he thinks he is going crazy but there is no way he is dreaming. He is in shock as he whispers the name.

"Teddy?"

Dun dun dun! I'm bringing them together for some interesting stuff. Let me know where you think this should go. :)