Trouble In Paradise?

Chapter Twenty Three

Recap: Stef made the soccer team who are now training to play on Saturdays, she is friends with Jordan and Blake, Blake has a girlfriend (Belle), she made a new friend (Amber), she looks after Ethan's younger twin sisters and Christen is looking to move out and stay with a friend. Sorry for not updating :(

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School went by in a blur, weeks of studying for exams and training for the soccer games on the weekends.

Yes, while I loved soccer, I didn't really like the fact that we had lost every single one of our games so far, planting us at the bottom of the league ladder.

And because the games took up time that I usually used to study, I was forced to hang in the library at lunch to catch up on what we'd been learning in each class. While I was generally an average student, there were subjects that I still struggled with. And on top of that, I was running daily to get my endurance levels up, which hadn't improved much by the way. Also I was still babysitting Ethan's sisters, so that took up time too. Christen, having moved out and into a friend's apartment, dropped in occasionally when my mother and father weren't home. They did make an effort to show up more though.

Anyway, each time we lost the crowd at the next game would be even smaller. Soccer was, apparently, a huge thing at this school and crowds of students came to watch the girls and boys games each weekend.

And I was currently standing in line at the local frozen yogurt place after practice on Wednesday, slowly becoming more irritated as the line was nowhere close to moving. And I wasn't the only one. A teenage girl in front of me was tapping her foot impatiently, seeming very close to bursting out with a complaint.

A lot of students from our school hung out here after school, and I recognised almost everyone sitting in the booths right now. Groups of girls, swooning over other guys who sat across the establishment. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

But then I saw something at the back of the place. A girl, around my age or maybe younger, being picked on by a group of guys who I recognised. They all went to my school. It was the classic hold-the-backpack-in-the-air prank, but it didn't look funny. Before I could process what I was doing, I was stomping over there to help.

"Hey asshole," I said, being considerably taller than the girl and being able to reach the backpack, grabbing the bag and handing it back to her. "Ever heard of manners?"

He seemed surprised, and a little pissed off, that I had interfered with his little game. His friends didn't look too happy either.

Well, shit.

"You should stay out of things that aren't any of your business, girl," the main guy said, stepping forward. He was still way taller and had more muscle than me.

I should really think before I act or speak.

"Well maybe you guys should just keep to yourselves instead of bullying people," I shot back, my eyes drifting towards the girl. She looked like she was alright, she just hugged her bag to her chest and stayed silent.

"And maybe you should be taught a lesson about minding your own fucking business," he growled, glaring, grabbing a cup filled with frozen yogurt from the nearest table.

I just shut my eyes and waited for the cold dessert to ruin my hair for the day. Fan-fucking-tastic.

But it never came. I opened an eyelid to see the guy's arm mid air, holding the frozen yogurt. But another arm had stopped him. I looked to my right to see Xavier, an annoyed yet deadly look on his face.