"Do you want to come over and talk about it?" Jessica, one of the girls on the soccer team asked me. I shook my head, taking my turn to kick the ball into the goal.

"I'm fine, I've got errands to run." I supplied as an excuse. I was a big girl, I could handle it by myself. The boys on the lacrosse team were practicing on the other half of the field, normal for a Thursday afternoon. I saw Scott and Stiles conversing in a corner of the field. I stared at them for a moment. Did Erica's seizure mean we were friends now? I mean, I'd always been friendly, but never exactly friends as I was with Erica.

Scott turned around as if he sensed me staring, and he grinned and waved, Stiles copying him. I smiled back and waved, quickly turning back to the task at hand. Thursday meant practice game, and it was my turn to be forward.

"Alright ladies!" Coach Terry called out. Her brown hair was pulled back into her normal ponytail, the hair barely long enough to gather at the nape of her neck. "You know the rules. First team to 5 goals gets to leave early, the losing team has to run 5 laps. Tomorrow is a rest day-" A few of the girls immediately began whispering. Fridays were game days, but since we didn't have a game scheduled, everyone assumed we'd be having practice. "-Because I have a date." A few whoops and whistles spread among us. Coach Terry shushed us before ordering us to the field to start our mock game, reds vs blues. I was a red, which meant I was wearing a mesh red jersey over my tank top. The field we practiced on was one big soccer field, which allowed the school to force two different teams side by side. Normally, I was excited at the prospect of showing off my skills in front of the Lacrosse team for Adam. But today, I was ready to be done so I could check up on Erica.

I had begun jogging to my normal starting position, as a right midfielder.

"Clara!" Coach called out to me. I turned over my shoulder, and she was looking down at her clipboard. "I want you to be the offensive midfielder." My eyebrows raised in surprise. Normally this spot was reserved for the team Captain, Lauren. Since Lauren was playing on the other team, I had assumed it would be filled in by Tally, who was a year older than me and a shoe in for being next year's captain.

Immediately, I heard her start to protest, but Coach shut her down with a wave of her hand and a look that said Leave it. "I heard what you did for your friend." She focused her eyes on me, and I smiled politely as I went into position.

Starting as offensive midfielder meant that I would face down Lauren for the ball first. Despite being a bit nervous, I was mostly excited. As a sophomore, I was lucky to be playing First Line. And now, if I made myself look good, I might even be playing a better position than defensive Winger, who pretty much kept the opposing soccer team from scoring goals.

"Good luck." Lauren told me with a grin, getting into position. I grinned back, copying her movements as Coach came to stand beside us with the soccer ball.

"Ladies, are you ready?" Coach Terry called out. We all yelled out our yes, a few of the girls cheering their excitement. During a normal game, a coin would be tossed to determine who got first kick. During our mock games, she found it more exciting if we fought over the ball right away. She backed away, and as soon as she was on the edge of the field, she blew her whistle. The ball was tossed into the air, and I saw Lauren get her leg ready to kick it out of the way as soon as it hit the ground.

However, I had a different plan. I jumped as high as I could, knocking the ball with my head and toward one of my teammates, a chorus of oooh's escaping my teammates as I stole the ball from Lauren. We didn't waste any time sprinting to follow the ball, the girl I had passed it dribbling it between her feet as one of the opposing players blocked her path. She passed it to another girl, but it got intercepted, the kick sending it halfway down the field. The blue team member got caught up near the goal, and tried to back up to keep it away from my team members. Just as the rest of the players surrounded her, I came from her side and kicked it out of her feet, kicking the ball far enough away from her that she couldn't steal it back, but also making me chase after it before it could be taken by the other team. I made it first and continued kicking it and chasing it down the field, rushing past the lacrosse boys that had stopped their practice to watch us. When I was clear of the jumble of bodies, I scanned the field to see who was nearer to the goal. When I spotted Tally open, I kicked it towards her just as one of the opposing players pushed my body away. I smashed into the ground and flipped over to see who had shoved me. Lauren stood above me, a playful grin on her face as she stuck a hand out to me.

"You okay, Claire?" Coach called out, her whistle already ready to stop the game for a penalty kick. I nodded my head, taking Lauren's outstretched hand.

"I'm good, Coach!" I called out, turning back to the game. I turned back just in time to see Tally kick the ball straight through the net, giving myself a moment to cheer her on.

The goalie, Jessica, grabbed the ball grudgingly and began scanning the field for someone to pass it to. Lauren had left my side, backing up to open herself up. I jogged backwards as the ball began its arc towards her. I knew that Lauren was right behind me, attempting to push me out of the way. Unfortunately for her, I stepped forward and launched myself into the air again, once again knocking the ball with my head to keep it away from her. Once Lauren got ahold of a ball, I knew from experience that it was impossible to get it from her. She yelled out in frustration, and when I turned back to face her, her eyes were narrowed at me in frustration.

"Nice job, Gallagher." She smiled at me and patted my shoulder, leaving me to grin as she ran to try and catch up with the ball, where my team was already trying to score another goal.

I allowed myself a moment of personal victory. It was hard to get a compliment from upperclassmen, much less Lauren. She was definitely known as a hard ass.

"Get back in the game!" Coach yelled at me, and I waved her off as I began jogging back to the action.

Despite beginning the game well, after our three goals, my team began to wear down, and Lauren's team picked up on our slack. They managed four goals, three of them being made by Lauren right after the other. I managed to score a goal to bring us to a tie, and Coach let us take a water break to let us really rile ourselves up against each other. We all knew it was just play, but neither teams wanted to stay to run the 5 loser laps.

"Nice skills." I turned to see Adam standing behind me, the rest of Lacrosse team running as they were wrapping up practice.

"Not so bad yourself." I winked, taking a quick swig from my water bottle. Despite my confident attitude, I was practically shaking in my cleats.

"I heard you climbed the rock wall without a harness to talk a girl down." He grinned at me, his perfect smile causing my cheeks to burn. I knew that I was already red from exertion, but I still didn't want him to know it was because of him. "That's pretty impressive." I smiled a bit wider at the compliment, waving it off like it was nothing.

"Listen, a few of us are going out tomorrow after the game. You want to come?" I shrugged, knowing that I had already planned a night in. But if it was to hang out with Adam, would she really be mad?

And then I remembered that she was being a bad friend. I deserved to hang out with the cute boy I had a crush on. "Sure." I finally answered. "I'll be seeing you at the game, right?" I asked with a tilted head, my ponytail swinging behind me.

He leaned in a bit closer to me, making my heartbeat rise a bit. "Of course, Gallagher." He grinned and leaned back out, jogging backwards with a wave goodbye to join the rest of the team running laps.

Coach Terry blew the whistle, and I shook off the butterflies in my stomach to focus on finishing up the game.

Lauren had traded places with a girl a lot taller than me, knowing that I would try another jump as we began the game. There was no way I'd be able to jump high enough before Alice, the girl standing in front of me, would beat me to it.

I bit my lip as coach called ready, this time knowing that I wouldn't be able to get the ball to my teammates right off the bat. When the ball was tossed into the air, I made a different plan. When I jumped up, it was as close as I could get to Alice without touching her. She instinctively pushed me away in mid air, and I was slamming into the ground before I could register what happened. This time, Coach didn't ask if I was okay before she blew her whistle, halting the game. I stayed on the ground for another second, pushing up from the ground only when the Coach was at my side.

"What the hell was that, Alice?" I yelled loudly, although I had been anticipating the push.

"You were on me!" She yelled in defense.

"I wasn't even touching you!" I yelled as Coach broke us up.

"You okay Gallagher?" Coach asked, looking me over for broken bones. I nodded, standing up and brushing myself off. "Penalty kick!" Coach yelled out. My team erupted in cheers, while the blue team groaned, knowing that from this distance, it was pretty hard not to miss a shot.

We lined up in rows opposite each other, forming a barricade between the goal and myself. I grinned as I stood in front of everyone, shaking my legs out as I prepared to run at the ball.

"Well, blue team. Enjoy your losing laps!" I called out as I began my short run, kicking the ball into the upper corner of the goal. The goalie attempted to jump for it, but my aim had put it in her non-dominant corner, so she didn't jump quite as high as the ball. When it sunk into the net, my team cheered, patting me on the back as we were granted permission to leave. I mockingly stuck my tongue out at Alice, the girl who had pushed me. She looked annoyed, but I knew it wasn't anything to get too worried about.

As I was gathering my stuff up, I was surprised to see Scott and Stiles approaching me.

They both looked tired, but I'd be more surprised if they hadn't looked exhausted. "Nice game." Scott told me as I shouldered my duffle bag.

"Thanks!" I answered with a smile as we began walking towards the locker rooms. "Are you guys coming to the game tomorrow night?"

Stiles threw an arm over my shoulder casually, practically putting all of his weight on me. "We always go to our favorite field sharing teams games!" I laughed and threw an arm around his waist to better hold him up.

"Well as long as you guys come to mine, I'll go to yours on Tuesday!" I replied as we entered the school building.

"Looking forward to it, Gallagher!" Stiles called out as we split up at the locker rooms, giving me a mock salute as he turned into the boys locker room. Scott just smiled at me with a quick "seeya."

I turned into the locker room, where most of my team members cheered me on, making jokes about how I sacrificed myself for the good of the team.

I left soon after, dropping off the rent for the landlady before beginning my way home.

AN: Thanks for hanging tight guys! Hope this tides you over. Please review! I should be putting the next chapter up on Monday! :)