Dedicated to: MayreeMarvin! I can totally relate to jumping up and down while waiting for a new chapter to load, although no one's ever said that about one of my stories before! Thank you! Also once again to my bestie Amazing Grace, who gave me the honor of the longest review she's ever written! =D Thank you! And last but definitely not least, THE SEAGULL, for reviewing this even though Dylan makes her sick and she's not in the USA right now! I love you!
And btw Amazing Grace? When I write ZOMG, I do indeed mean zomg, not z-o-m-g. That's how I say it. XD is that weird?
Also, somebody told me (I forget who exactly-I'm sorry!) that alright isn't a word. Me being the stubborn, pigheaded teenager I am, went flailing for the dictionary app on my website, where I found that alright is a word. =P but you're right too- all right is also correct. I just prefer alright. =) thank you anyway!
FPOV
Max elbowed me again. I elbowed her back. Thus, she elbowed me once more. I sighed, pausing to rub my arm for a moment. It was starting to hurt from all of this abuse. Max has some of the sharpest elbows I've ever had the misfortune to be jabbed with, and she has been using them unmercifully on my poor arm. She smirked at me. "Did I hurt you, Fangles?" Max simpered, blinking innocently at me. "Aren't big bad superstar forwards supposed to be able to defend themselves against their girlfriends? I mean, I know you're a diva and you can't take hits, but this is pathetic." Max tsked, shaking her head in mock disappointment.
So of course I elbowed her again.
She elbowed me right back.
This had been going on for roughly four and a half minutes, and it didn't appear to be stopping anytime soon.
You'd think that since we're dating and everything now, she would be nicer to me. But alas, Max still has zero qualms about physically hurting me, and I still won't let her get away with that without revenge. This should explain the lovely elbow jabs we've been trading off, but Ella doesn't seem to understand it yet. She's stared at us through the rear view mirror with this incredulous expression on her face for the entirety of our elbowing match. Poor girl- she seems in shock at our behavior.
"Shouldn't you act more… coupley now?" Ella asked skeptically, turning around to raise an eyebrow at us. She was seated in the front of the car with Dr. M. Nudge, Max, and I in that order were crammed in the back seats, and tempers were short between us. Hence, Nudge was plastered against the door on her side to get as far from Max as possible (this distance was approximately all of six inches) and was grumbling under her breath about some disagreement the two had had. It also explained the origin of the whole elbowing thing- Max got annoyed at something I said and elbowed me, which made me elbow her back, which made her elbow me again, and so on and so forth.
"Max hit me though," I explained to Ella. "Hitting isn't nice."
"So the only response was to hit her back?" Ella clarified dubiously.
I nodded. "So you do understand! Thank you Ella!"
For some unknown reason, my comment made Ella look extremely exasperated and close her eyes. "Fang, don't hit your girlfriend!" Ella chastised me. "It's not right!"
"It's abusive, that's what it is," Max remarked pointedly. She rolled the sleeve of her sweatshirt up her arm and pointed at her bicep. The skin around it was slightly pinker than the rest of her arm, although not by much. I hadn't been hitting her that hard. She was my girlfriend, after all- hitting her could be considered a crime. "See? I'm gonna bruise here!" Max whined.
I scowled at her. "You think that's bad? Look at this!" I retorted. I shifted in my seat and shoved the sleeve of my sweatshirt up. I held up my arm and pointed at my own bicep, drawing Max's attention to the injury she had inflicted on me. She stared at it with a blank expression on her face, possibly shocked that she had actually bruised me. It was already tinged purple as a result of Max's inhumanly pointy elbows, and even the slight flexing of the muscle required to lift my arm made it ache a little. Most girls just yelled at their boyfriends. Why did I have to pick the one who had no qualms about physically hurting me?
Nudge giggled suddenly, and I craned my neck to look over Max and shoot her a questioning glance. Nudge caught the look, and burst out in another giggling fit. "Max just looooves your muscles, doesn't she Fang?" Nudge chirped innocently. "She's drooling! Look!"
Max snapped her eyes away from me and glared at Nudge. I smirked. It had just dawned on me that she hadn't been examining my bruise- she had been staring at my bicep! Hehe, that was an ego booster there.
My arms aren't even that impressive- but hey, I won't argue if Max thinks they are. Which apparently, she does.
Score!
"Max drools when she looks at Fang's arm muscles?" Ella asked from the front seat, holding back her own giggles with what appeared to be extreme difficulty. "That's adorable!"
Max self-consciously wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand, only to pull it away and realize she had indeed been drooling a little. This made her entire face go pink, and she wouldn't look at me for the rest of the car ride.
Maybe that was why I picked this girl. She was cute.
When we finally reached the field, all four of us hopped instantly out of the car. I don't know about the girls, but like I've said before, I'm kind of claustrophobic. I shuddered as the memory of my uncle's dog crate resurfaced in my mind.
By the time I had recovered from my claustrophobia, Max, Ella, and Nudge had all grabbed their soccer bags out of the back and were trotting out of the parking lot towards the field. I quickly followed them, and we jogged until we had reached the spot where the Raine Valley Downpour was warming up for their game.
It was Sunday afternoon, and Ella and Max were trying out for Nudge's competitive team, the Downpour. I had watched the Downpour play before, a few times with Gazzy when they had games before or after our team, and a few times with Terra and Matt. Terra and I had gone to watch Nudge play, and Matt's girlfriend Daphne was the goalie for the Downpour.
Max, Nudge and Ella had apparently had a sleepover last night, and at about eleven o' clock this morning they all showed up at my door and demanded I go to the park with them. Personally, I figured that Ella and Nudge just wanted to continue to push Max and I together, even though we were now dating. At least, that's what made sense to me, since they insisted on walking behind us and squealing every time our hands so much as brushed. It was kind of cute, but mostly annoying.
At around twelve, we wandered over towards the swingsets. There were only three regular sized swings though, and four of us.
Okay, I'm not that good at math, but even I recognized a problem there.
"Oh it's okay," Ella chirped, an evil glint in her eyes as she and Nudge claimed two of the swings. "Max can sit in Fang's lap!"
I stared at her in disbelief. "That was a low blow, Ella," I informed her. "Max can have the swing."
Max smiled, skipping over to the swing and plopping down in it triumphantly. "Thank you Fang," she sang. "You're the best," she added, pumping her legs to climb higher.
I simply nodded and smirked at the annoyed expressions on Ella and Nudge's faces. Fang and Max 1, Nudge and Ella 0.
"Maybe he's just afraid he'll get 'excited' if Max sits in his lap for too long," Nudge stage whispered to Ella. Ella nodded in sage agreement.
"EWWW!" Max screeched, stopping dead mid-swing. Ella and Nudge snickered at her reaction and high fived each other.
Okay, now we were tied. That was a good one, I had to admit.
It took over half an hour before the girls finally got tired of the swings. During that half hour I amused myself by watching the elated expression on Max's face as she swung higher and higher. She was just like Ria and Angel in that respect- My little sister and pretty-much-little sister refused to get off the swings sometimes. The duo declared they were long lost bird sisters who had to keep flying in order to stay together. If they got off the swings they would plummet into a fiery pit of lava and roast to death.
Well, at least they were creative. I guess.
"Well, what do you guys want to do now?" I asked, feeling slightly pathetic as I trailed behind the three chattering females. I was spending my Sunday afternoon with my girlfriend, girlfriend's little sister, and other female friend. They were actually debating Peeta versus Gale (Max Team Peeta, Ella and Nudge Team Gale), and using vocabulary such as 'hawt', 'smexy', 'sweet', 'adorable', 'charming', and 'megasuperfoxyawesomehot'. My brain couldn't even process that last one properly. I don't speak Teenage Girl.
There was no doubt in my mind that my testosterone levels were shrinking by the second.
"Well, we could go swimming at my place," Nudge suggested, turning around to face me. I guess she finally took pity on my loneliness in the back here.
"Swimming sounds good," Ella agreed. She grinned mischievously at Max. "Just make sure you watch your drool, young lady!"
Max blushed, whacking Ella in the shoulder. "Shut up," she growled, not looking at me.
"I have a game at three, though," Nudge realized. "And I have to be there at two fifteen. Does anybody have the time?"
Ella and Max started digging for their phones, but I simply glanced at my wrist. "It's one forty five," I told Nudge. "You guys really should think about wearing watches," I added, tapping the face of my own silver watch. "They come in handy."
Max rolled her eyes, and Ella shook her head. "Then you get watch tans, which I really don't need. Plus, they make your wrist smell bad," she informed me. "So no watch for Ella!"
Nudge's eyes widened suddenly. "Crap! I have to go get ready," she exclaimed, turning on her heel and starting to run back towards the entrance of the park. Max, Ella and I looked at each other for a moment.
"Follow her?" Max suggested.
"Yeah," Ella agreed. I nodded in confirmation, and we set off after Nudge.
Just when we had caught up to her, Nudge stopped dead in the middle of the path. "Dammit," she groaned, flopping down onto a bench. "My dad's at work and my mom has a doctor's appointment in ten minutes. I don't have a ride!" Nudge buried her head in her hands. "Christie is going to kill me for not showing up," she murmured. "We're playing Hillcrest today, and they have this one amazing forward she makes me mark."
"Our mom could drive you," Ella offered, pulling Nudge up off the bench. "She's off work until five today."
Nudge looked up gratefully, her gaze switching between Ella and Max. "Really? Could you do that? She wouldn't mind?" Nudge asked, looking immensely relieved.
"Of course," Max assured her. She pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket and flipped it open. "I'll call her right now."
"Thank you thank you thank you sooooo much I can't thank you enough my coach would have murdered me if I missed this game!" Nudge babbled. "C'mon, I still need to go get dressed! Could your mom pick me up from my house?"
"I'll ask," Max promised, putting her phone to her ear.
We continued out of the park and started down Nudge's street. We hadn't gone more than ten feet when Nudge's phone started blasting Justin Bieber at us. She squealed at the noise, and sang along while she dug through her pocket to answer her phone. Max rolled her eyes, still on her own phone call. "Hello, this is Nudge," Nudge sang into her phone, twisting a curl around her fingers as she spoke. She stopped abruptly after a moment though, listening intently to the person on the other line. "Daphne and Payton sick? Ouch," she remarked, wincing. Nudge went silent again as the other person spoke. Ten seconds later though, her eyes lit up and a huge smile blossomed on her face. "ZOMG really? That's so cool, cause they're right here with me now! In fact, their mom is going to drive me to the game today!" Nudge exclaimed. "Yeah, I'll ask right now. Wait a sec Christie."
Ella looked at Nudge quizzically, but Max was too busy on the phone to notice Nudge's conversation. "Nudge, my mom can take you there," Max announced suddenly, looking towards Nudge. "She'll be at your house at two o' clock sharp."
"Tell her to bring your and Ella's soccer stuff, too!" Nudge squealed. "Two of my teammates are sick, and Christie wants you two to play today. It'll be like a try out, but you'll also be helping us out!"
"Are we allowed to do that?" Max asked skeptically. "I mean, don't we have player cards for this league or anythin-"
"It doesn't matter," Nudge interrupted, still grinning wildly. "It's a scrimmage- but we still aren't allowed to lose to Hillcrest! So are you up for it?"
Ella tsked loudly, giving Nudge an exaggerated disapproving look. "Nudge, Nudge, Nudge. You just offered to let us play extra soccer-" Ella started.
"OF COURSE WE'RE UP FOR IT!" Max interrupted, high fiving her sister. "Mom, Ella and I are gonna play too," Max said into her phone, a wide grin spreading across her face. "Can you bring our soccer bags? They're in the garage."
"What are we supposed to wear?" Ella asked Nudge, looking confused. "We can't exactly play dressed like this." She gestured towards her blue skirt and lacy white shirt, and to Max's jeans and red tank top. "I doubt this is your uniform," Ella added, tugging self-consciously at the hem of her skirt.
I smiled at her. "Actually, it's not too far from it," I pointed out. "Our club colors are blue and white."
"Yeah Christie, they can play. Kay, see you at the game! Bye!" Nudge snapped her phone shut, then nodded at me. "Fang's right, Ella, you actually are dressed in the right colors at least. Max is wearing Fiora Club colors though," Nudge realized. "Bad girl!"
Max had already hung up with her mom, and now gave Nudge an exasperated look. "Nudge, I have no idea what you're even talking about. Cut me some slack," she complained.
"Fiora Club is almost as bad as Hillcrest," Nudge explained, slowly "Red and blue equals Fiora, which equals bad. Blue and white equals Raine Valley, which equals good. Understand?"
"Fine," Max muttered, rolling her eyes. "Can you actually answer Ella's question instead of prattling about team colors?"
Nudge pouted, sticking her tongue out at Max in retaliation. "I don't prattle," she replied stiffly.
"And the sky is maroon," Max coughed not-so-discreetly.
"To answer Ella's question, though," Nudge continued, pointedly ignoring Max's interjection, "Christie has extra uniforms. She can give them to you to change into at the game."
"Oh, okay then," Ella said, looking surprised. "Let's hurry up then."
"Hey Fang, do you want to just come watch or something?" Max asked, smiling sideways at me as we jogged down the street to Nudge's house. "My mom can drive you there and back too."
I smiled at Max's offer. "That would be cool. My mom's not expecting me home till six," I replied. "And Christie likes me, so I can hang out on the team side too."
"Christie loves Fang," Nudge informed Max, grinning mischievously. "She always tells us how he's going to be the next Lionel Messi, Landon Donovan, and David Beckham combined. You've got some competition, Max!"
"Wow, that's an intense combination," Max remarked, ignoring the last part of Nudge's comment. "Messi, Donovan, and Beckham, Fang?" she teased.
I shrugged. "It's good to have dreams," I explained airily. Max laughed, nodding in mock understanding.
"We're here!" Nudge announced, a little unneccessarily, as we turned down the front path to her house. She pulled out her keys to unlock the door, than bounced inside. "I'm gonna go get dressed, you guys can go pig out in the kitchen or something. Just don't weigh yourselves down too much! Hillcrest is a fast team!" Nudge instructed, her voice growing fainter as she ran down the hall and out of sight.
Max, Ella and I looked at each other. "Deja vu," I remarked.
Ella nodded. "Once more, Nudge has run off and left us standing here awkwardly," she agreed calmly. "Shall we raid her pantry?"
"We shall," Max decided, heading towards the kitchen. I smirked to myself, following the girls towards the food. Trust Max to be the one to lead the way to snacks.
By the time Nudge was dressed in her blue and white Downpour uniform and ready to go, we had successfully unearthed Ritz crackers from her cupboards and were slathering them with chunky Skippy peanut butter. Delicious.
Nudge grabbed a cracker off of Ella's stack as she walked in. She knew that was the safest person to steal from, since Max and I were liable to bite if our food was taken away. Ella, however, wasn't as protective or animalistic about her food though, which Nudge now used to her advantage. When she nicked the cracker, Ella squeaked in protest, but predictably didn't attempt to retaliate.
Nudge had a wise strategy for such an innocent young grasshopper.
Max's phone trilled, causing us all to look towards where it lay on the countertop. She flipped it open and quickly scanned the screen before nodding and closing it with a snap. We stood there, waiting, as she shoved the device in her pocket and finished slathering her last cracker with peanut butter. Of course food was Max's priority- duh. "That was Mom. She's waiting outside," Max reported, grabbing her stack of crackers and heading out of the kitchen. We followed her without question, each carrying our own crackers.
Max wasn't the only one concerned with food.
We all piled into Dr. M's van, Ella in the passenger seat and Nudge, Max and I crammed into the back. "Hi Dr. M!" Nudge chirped. "Thank you so much for driving me on such short notice, you totally saved my life there! I put my bag in the trunk with Max's and Ella's is that okay?"
Dr. M smiled, her head miraculously not imploding from trying to process Nudge's superhuman chatter. "It's no problem, Nudge," she replied, twisting around in her seat to look back as we started to reverse out of Nudge's driveway. "And I'm sure Max and Ella are thanking you for giving them a chance to play extra soccer," she added, glancing knowingly at both of her daughters. Max grinned and gave her a thumbs up, while Ella just shrugged and flashed a guilty smile.
"You know us too well, Mother dearest," Max sighed, lounging back in her seat.
"Hey, get your paws off me," Nudge complained, pushing Max's arms off the back of her seat where they had been resting.
And it all went downhill from there in the Saga of the Unfortunate Backseat Dwellers.
Luckily, that was far behind us now, and we were all in much better spirits at the prospect of soccer in our near futures.
"I'm gonna go ask Christie for the extra uniforms, kay? Stay here!" Nudge told us. She ran straight up to where Christie stood and watched over the Downpour's warmup while Max and Ella dawdled behind with me. Ella seemed nervous, but she was calm and smiling determinedly at the girls warming up. A couple of them waved to her, and she waved back, standing up straighter as she started to gain more confidence. Max looked excited too, but at the same time, she was slowly edging closer and closer to me, as if she needed reassurance. Without a thought to the fact that she definitely might hit me, I reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently.
Max looked up at me, startled by my actions. I smiled at her, swinging our hands slightly back and forth. "You'll be fine," I informed her, trying to push away the unsaid doubts that I knew were lingering around her. "You're Maximum Ride, remember? Star center mid for Cromwell High? That ridiculously fast freshman girl?" I nudged her shoulder with every sentence, watching her smile grow a little each time.
"Thanks, Fang," Max murmured. She looked down at our interlocked hands, squeezing tightly as she smiled again, this time with full Max Ride confidence. Watching Max smile made me smile too.
Aww crap. I'm turning into an idiot.
Christie chose this moment to turn and look over at us. I could see her sharp gaze pass over my hand twined with Max's, scanning over both of us briefly. Her expression didn't change as she looked Ella over. Then she nodded, said something to Nudge, and turned back to continue overseeing the other girls' warm ups.
We watched as Nudge picked her way through the pile of soccer bags scattered around Christie. She dropped her own bag at the edge of the pile, then leaned over and pulled out two full-to-the-bursting gallon Ziplocs from the open pocket of a big black bag. Nudge stepped carefully out of the mess of bags, then jogged back over to where we were standing. "Ella, you're going to be number thirty six today, all right?" Nudge tossed one of the Ziplocs at Ella, who caught it deftly and nodded. "And Max is going to be number ninety eight," Nudge added. She handed Max the other Ziploc. "Blue jersey, black shorts, blue socks, change in the bathroom and come back as fast as you can to warm up," Nudge instructed. "Fang, make yourself useful and show them where the bathrooms are, mkay?"
I rolled my eyes at her as Nudge turned and ran back to her team. "This way," I announced, tugging Max in the direction of the bathrooms. She quickly dropped her bag by the big pile of Downpour bags, Ella following suit before trotting obediently after us, thankfully making no comment towards Max's hand in mine.
Phew.
It only took a couple minutes to get to the bathrooms, and Ella immediately slipped inside. Max hesitated, glancing down at our hands and back up at me. "Fang… I should go get changed." Max sighed, her voice sounding slightly regretful.
"You should," I agreed. I stood there and waited for Max to let go, to go head into the bathrooms and change into the Downpour uniform. She didn't, though. She just stood there, looking at me with indecision written all over her face. "Max?" I prompted, wondering if she was spacing out.
Then she leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed me full on the lips.
I was shell-shocked, to tell the truth. After all, technically I've only kissed Max about three times. The fireworks, lightning bolt and thunder crash, all-hell-has-broken-loose-and-it-feels-so-right sensation was still new and breathtaking every time.
I reached up and cupped Max's chin with my free hand, angling my head slightly as I gently tugged her closer. Max smiled against my lips, but pulled away softly. I opened my eyes, realizing they had shut by themselves while I was reveling in the wonder of actually being able to kiss Max.
"Now I should go get changed," Max teased. She slipped her hand from mine, dropping it to her side and smiling at me as she disappeared into the girls' bathroom.
A sigh escaped my lips as I turned and fell back against the rough stone of the bathroom wall. I barely noticed my head colliding with the hard surface, my thoughts too full of Max to care about anything else.
Ahhh… Max. She was perfect.
And she was all mine.
MPOV
I smiled as I slipped into the bathroom, holding the Ziploc bag with the Downpour uniform tightly as I tried to control my emotions.
I loved the way my hand fit with his. I loved the way that he knew I was nervous and doubting myself when even Ella didn't notice. I loved the way I could just reach up and kiss him, and have him instantly kiss me back. I loved the way his lips were smooth and chapped at the same time. And I loved the dumbstruck expression I was able to put on his face- it was like I had brought his brick wall mask crashing down with just a single kiss.
I loved Fang.
Only a day ago this realization would've sent me over the edge with anxiety. I never would have been able to look in Fang's direction again. I would have begged Mom to move again, just so I wouldn't have to worry about facing him with the knowledge that I loved him. I would have felt like a total weakling for allowing him to take my heart even after my crushing experience with Sam.
But now… now I felt stronger than ever. I knew Fang wouldn't abuse my trust like Sam had… Fang was nothing like Sam.
And he was all mine.
With this beautiful thought in mind, I stepped into a stall and closed the door behind me.
My first item of business was to actually find the right uniform. I pulled open the Ziploc bag and started pawing through for the uniform Nudge had instructed me to put on. The first thing I pulled out, however, was a white jersey. The back was emblazoned with a royal blue 98, and the front pierced with jagged bolts of the same blue. There was a small circular badge with the club insignia printed in black right above where my heart would be.
It was an awesome jersey, but it was the wrong one. The park we were at was the Downpour's home field, so the white jerseys had to be part of their away uniform. After a moment of digging, I pulled out the home jersey, the blue one that Nudge had instructed me to wear. It was the exact copy of the away jersey, only in reverse coloring- the background blue, and the numbers, bolts, and badge white.
I slipped out of my tank top, but kept my white camisole on underneath as I pulled the jersey over my head. It smelled like laundry soap, so at least it was clean. My old coach in Nevada rarely washed his spare uniforms, which actually made my team become more diligent on keeping track of their own jerseys.
I had to say though- I preferred Christie's methods to Coach Tim's.
The rest of the bag's contents included one pair of blue socks, one of white, and a pair of shorts. The shorts were all black with a white 98 on the right leg and another white club badge printed on the left. I greatly admired the silky material they were made out of as I tugged off my jeans and slid into the shorts. The Downpour had some high quality uniforms, I would give them that.
After I had fished out the blue socks and stuffed everything else back in the Ziploc bag, I folded up my clothes and slung them over my arm as I left the stall. Ella was already dressed too, and was busily fixing her ponytail. She tried to check it in the mirror hanging above the sink, but only succeeded in making her nose look vaguely Squidward-esque in the badly distorted reflection.
I grinned at her. "Nice look, Ella dearest," I complimented her, giving her uniform an exaggerated once over. Ella struck a pose, almost flinging her socks into the sink as she did so. The jersey swamped her small frame, covering all but the last inch of her shorts. "You look dwarfed in that getup," I remarked, surveying our warped reflections in the mirror. I tugged at Ella's sleeve, the end of which was dangling by her elbow.
Mine was just covering mid-bicep.
"How come I got the bigger jersey when you're the taller one?" Ella demanded. She plucked moodily at the baggy jersey hanging off her slender torso.
"'Cause I'm awesome?" I replied in a 'duh' voice. "Deal with it Ells, it's only for one game."
Ella continued to grumble as we exited the bathroom. Fang was leaning against the wall, hands in his sweatshirt pockets and gaze on the sky. "Ready?" he asked, inspecting us in our new uniforms.
"Let's roll," Ella declared. "We better hurry up, too. Nudge said warm ups started at two fifteen, and it's two twenty eight right now." Without another word, we all broke into a jog and headed back to the field.
As soon as we were back, Ella and I quickly sat down next to our bags, tugging off our sneakers and pulling on our gear. I was just strapping on my second shinguard when Christie walked over to us, her sharp eyes trained on me.
"Max Ride?" she asked, giving me a searching look.
"That's me," I confirmed. I reached for the first of the blue socks and started pulling it on my left foot.
Christie turned to Ella next. "Ella Martinez?" she verified. Ella nodded, smiling hesitantly at the all-business aura Christie practically exuded. "Great. I've heard very promising things about you two," Christie informed us, flashing a quick smile. Ella and I glanced at each other, confused. Had Nudge ranted about us to her coach? Christie seemed to notice our evident confusion at this, and explained, "I'm friends with your mother, and Anne Walker from college- we played together on the UC Santa Clara women's team. I understand you two play on Anne's team at Cromwell?" We both nodded, slightly shocked at the information that Christie and Anne had been team mates in a university league. "Positions?"
"Mainly center midfield, but I'll play anywhere you need me to, except goalie," I replied. "I stink at goalie."
"Really?" Christie looked amused for some reason. "Strange. How about you, Ella?"
Ella shrugged, focusing on tying the laces of her bright green cleat. "Sweeper and stopper mostly," she told the coach. "But like Max said, if you need a certain position filled, I can play it. Unlike my sister, I'm a pretty decent goalie if you need it."
Christie laughed. "Thats okay, I was just teasing. We don't actually need a goalie today- one of our goalies is sick, but we have our backup here perfectly healthy."
"Phew," I sighed. "Goalie is not a fun position."
"It's funny that you feel that way, when your mother-" Christie began.
She was cut off by the center referee's whistle blowing. "Captains!" he called imperiously from the middle of the field.
Christie looked out calculatingly over her team, as if analyzing each in turn. "Chloe and Sheila, you're captains today," she ordered. Two girls, one with red braids and the other sporting a long blond ponytail, nodded and jogged off towards the refs. Christie turned to Ella and I next, glancing between us and the rest of the team. "I want you girls to introduce yourselves and warm up alone," Christie instructed. "Everyone else has already finished warming up, but I don't need you two going on the field cold. Understand?"
"Yep," I agreed. Ella nodded, and Christie turned back to her clipboard to draw up her starting line up.
Ella dragged me over to the huddle of Downpour players, smiling brightly at them as she did so. Nudge spotted us first, of course, with her hyperactive eyes seeing everything at once. "Kay, guys, these are my friends from school!" Nudge announced, drawing everyone's attention. I stood up straighter and looked each girl steadily in the eye as Nudge babbled on. "This is Ella Martinez, and she's really cool and awesome and an amazing defender- she plays center defense with me on the Cromwell team and we kick butt together and she's the sweetest person ever but she'll still knock you down if she needs to. This is her sister, Max Ride, who is equally as awesome- and yes Jojo, they are sisters even though they have different last names. Max is a center mid on Cromwell, and she's scored a goal per game so far this season! I rank her skill next to Gazzy Richards and Fang Rianild- I call them Rated R on Cromwell cause their last names all start with R- and ZOMG the most important part! Max is dating Fang!"
All eyes were on me. I shifted awkwardly, kind of embarrassed by Nudge's rant. "Fang is your boyfriend?" one of them asked, sounding slightly in awe. She stared at me respectfully through bright blue eyes.
Well. Hero worship because of my boyfriend? Interesting.
"No duh. That's why he was holding her hand earlier, Cassie," a dark haired girl retorted. She turned to me and smiled. "I'm Flo, Max, and I'd like to say that you and Fang make the cutest couple I've ever seen," she informed me.
I blushed at this matter-of-fact praise, glancing at Ella for help. "Umm, thanks Flo," I mumbled. I was so bad at this. It was hard to let other people whom I had just met judge my new relationship with Fang.
Luckily, my most amazing sister came to the rescue, grinning at Flo. "Max and Fang are adorable, right?" Ella told her good-naturedly. "We just moved here a little while ago, and Fang is our neighbor."
The girl from before, Cassie I think, gasped with shock. "Fang Rianild is your neighbor? You're so lucky! Do you get to see him with his shirt off?" she asked rapturously.
I glared at her, feeling suddenly possessive of both Fang and his shirtlessness. "Yes," I replied frostily. "All the time. Because Fang walks around the neighborhood with his shirt off, of course! How else would he spend his time?"
A bunch of the girls laughed, but Cassie just looked confused. She cocked her head at me and fingered a dark brown curl as if in deep thought. "He does?" she finally asked.
"You're so slow, Cass," another girl groaned teasingly, slinging an arm around Cassie's shoulder and rocking her side to side. "Max is being sarcastic!"
"Sarcasm is my native language," I added helpfully.
Cassie laughed, grinning between me and the girl on her shoulders. "Sorry, I don't pick up on your language too well," Cassie apologized, looking genuinely friendly. I felt my initial dislike towards her slowly melt away- Cassie wasn't a jerk, she was just a bit spacey. Spacey I could deal with.
"Max! Ella! Warm up!" Christie ordered, looking up to see us all huddling together and talking. "The rest of you, go take shots on Annelise until the game begins."
The crowd of girls instantly broke up, still laughing and talking as they moved to follow their coach's orders. Ella and I glanced at each other again, wondering what warm up Christie expected us to do. "Let's just do Anne's warm up," I finally decided. "Christie probably won't mind."
Ella nodded. "Okay," she agreed. "Let's do it quickly though. We're probably going to start soon." And without further discussion, we started off in the Lynxes' usual warm up.
True to Ella's prediction, the ref blew his whistle again less than a minute after we had finished our warm up. "Downpour! Come here!" Christie boomed, her voice easily traveling down the field.
I wondered if her college coach had taught that skill to the whole team- both Anne and Christie were excellent at making themselves heard.
Her loud voice was very useful in calling her team to gather, though. They were all surrounding her within the minute she yelled. Christie smiled, pulling out her clipboard and tapping it with the capped end of her pen as she spoke. "Alright now, lineup," she began. "Victoria and Chloe, you're up at forward. Sheila, Jojo, Max, and Flo- midfield left to right. Cassie left wing defense and Garnet right wing, Nudge and Ella sweeper and stopper. You two can switch off sweeping and stopping whenever you need to. Annelise in goal." Christie looked up from her clipboard, scanning our faces as we all watched her talk. "We don't have any subs today girls, and we're lucky that Max and Ella were available to play today," Christie continued, nodding towards my sister and I. "Play hard, but play smart. Don't wear yourselves out chasing those girls down. And Nudge, you know to stick to number forty eight like glue. Shut her down," Christie instructed, fixing her eyes on Nudge. Nudge nodded in response, her brown eyes serious for once. "Have you made your introductions to Max and Ella?" Christie asked.
This seemed to spark a routine in the girls, because they started rattling off their names left to right around the circle. The blonde captain was Chloe and the redheaded one Sheila, and they both looked serious and tough. I made special note towards memorizing the names of the midfielders, since I would probably be interacting with them most. Sheila, of course, was the redheaded outside left, while Jojo was a tall brunette with a white brace laced up her left ankle. Flo was chatting with the defender named Garnet as they both wove their dark hair into matching, tight braids. "Who's about to hit the field?" Christie yelled suddenly.
"DOWNPOUR!" the girls around me screamed, suddenly fiercely attentive.
"Then hit them like a hurricane, girls! 'Cause what does a downpour do?"
"WE STORM!" everyone yelled in unison. There was some unspoken cue for a hand stack, and everyone burst out onto the field at a sprint. Ella and I glanced at each other in confusion before quickly following.
"Sorry about that," Nudge apologized as soon as we had settled into position. "I forgot to tell you about our pre-game stuff, guys. But you handled it well enough."
"Now I know how you're so good at knowing when Anne wants us to yell," I informed her. "You have practice with Christie."
Nudge laughed, but before she could respond, the Hillcrest Flare, dressed in red and white jerseys with gray shorts, took the field. A sense of grim purpose settled over both teams, and I instantly knew that this game would be no picnic. These girls had grudges to fulfill.
"I bet you Emmi is on her period," Flo murmured back to Garnet, not taking very much care to keep her voice down. "She looks pissed for no reason."
"Lovely. Keep it to yourself next time, Flo," Garnet called back, wrinkling her nose. "I don't want to hear about Emmi and her little red friend."
Flo flashed her a grin, before falling back into seriousness. I could tell she wanted to win, probably to tick off this Emmi character more.
I would do my best to help her win, then. I know a thing or two about grudges, myself.
The ref placed the ball at the center, then backed off hurriedly, as if he knew how ferocious this game would get, and was dreading the fouls to come. Frankly, I didn't blame the poor guy. Thoughts of his well-being drained from my mind, though, when he blew his whistle and the Flare forward tapped the ball off the line.
Let the game begin.
Well, I was going to put the game in this chapter, but then it would get rushed, and I know how much you guys love the soccer games. XD
You probably don't care, do you? Actually, please let me know your views on the games- I'm really curious to know, actually.
Review please! =) I go back to school next week. Winter Break, come baaaaack…
~TMI~