Playing for Keeps

Cuts

We sat at the top of the slide. The sky was surprisingly clear, revealing the beauty of the night sky. Stars sprinkled the sky, like little twinkling eyes. After Bryce had given me the infinity ring we chose not to go to the party. We lingered at the park, not wanting to do anything but enjoy this beautiful night together.

But that didn’t mean I was totally off the hook. I had at least 9 missed calls from a very worried Britney and 6 very pissed off ones from Jazz. But honestly I didn’t understand why Jazz even cared. We had never spoken before today. We were complete strangers. I knew of her crazy rumors that she has created but what could she do against me? She can’t touch me with her fake ass rumors.

I snuggled closer to Bryce who was sprawled out on a slide. His hands were behind his head and his eyes were far off in never land. I didn’t mind if he was off in his world or even if he was just enjoying the night like I was, so I stayed quiet.

When I glanced up at the sky I realized how much has truly changed. 4 years ago I had lived in a city hundreds of miles from this small town. There I was on a small soccer team; I knew everyone and I had a dad.

After I moved here I felt my world had fallen apart. And it had. It was ripped apart at the very seems. But then I found things that stitched me back up and made me whole. I found friends, all the right friends. I was now on a varsity soccer team. I had no dad, but I’m surviving. Even the sky here is different. In the city I lived in before here you couldn’t see the stars as clearly, but now they seem to decorate the sky as if millions have appeared since. I love these stars.

My life is beautiful and I hope it stays this way forever.

~*~*~

I pulled my blue and gold soccer socks over my shin guards followed by my black Nike cleats. It felt nice to have my jersey on.

“You ready?” Bryce asked dropping my duffle bag on the bench.

“Is that a trick question? Of course I’m ready! We are so going to smoke Belleville!” I declared proudly stretching my muscular legs.

Bryce unzipped my bag and threw me my soccer ball. I caught it and smiled at him.

“How bout a kiss for good luck? Not that you need it or anything.” Bryce grinned.

I leaned forward and gave him a small peck on the lips before jogging on the field.

The rest of the girls were already on the field and to my disappointment, there’s a smaller amount of girls then last year. Last year we had 15 girls. You need at least 11 to play. 1 goalie and 10 on the field.

And from what I counted we only had 12 girls here. Which means fewer subs. Even if it was going to be an easy win, it was still going to be hard on us to play full halves of the games without tiring ourselves out. I joined the girls in their stretching circle. I heard the crunch of the grass as coach walked to the center of our circle with a frown on her face. When she noticed our worried looks she forced a smile.
She cleared her throat, “Got some bad news girls.”

We leaned in closer. That’s when I noticed that Belleville High School wasn’t here yet… Which was odd since the game started in 5 minutes. I heard the creak of the goals wheels as they were pushed off our football field. I jumped to my feet, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
The boy ignored me and continued to push it away. Coach rested a hand on my shoulder, “They’ve stopped funding the girls’ soccer teams here. They’ve been debating on where to cut school funds. Each school has cut multiple programs art programs to sport programs, and they’ve decided that the girl’s soccer team isn’t as popular as other sports and has been cut.” Coach finishes with a shaky voice.

No! This can’t be happening!

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