The Story of My Life :P

Soccer is NOT My Sport.

When I was in third grade, my school had a lot of soccer players. Most of them would play on our school's very large field at break and at lunch. The only two kids who didn't were my best friends, Meghan and Kayla. They were on teams outside of school, so they didn't mind spending time with me in their free time instead.

We had sort of a routine set up for our recess activities. One day we would go to the playground, the next we'd play on the swing set, and sometimes, if our guy friends were up to it, we would all go under this big tree that we called 'The Big Tree' (really original, I know. We were, like, seven, okay?) and we would play werewolves. One of the boys would play the werewolf, who was also our 'owner'. The other boys would play the police or some other kind of authority, and the girls would always play the innocent puppies that belonged to the werewolf. We would improvise a scene, with the resolution being the werewolf turning into a normal human, the werewolf dying, or the bell ringing and ruining all of our fun. 

One day, we got bored. Our routine had become a little dull. We mutually decided to switch things up a bit. We were looking around the school yard, trying to decide what to play. Our eyes settled on the soccer field.

"Let's play soccer!" Kayla suggested.

"But you know I don't like soccer," I countered.

"C'mon, Natalie. It'll be fun! We'll help you out." Meghan promised.

I reluctantly made my way to the soccer field.

On the field were the soccer guys. They were ALL guys, most of them in the upper grades. They were big and strong, and at the time I had been a very weak and frail little girl. Meghan and Kayla were right at home. I was in another universe.

One of the soccer guys, later I learned his name was Gabe, noticed us approaching. He came over, trying to look tough. 

"What are you girls doing here?" He asked.

I gathered up my courage and told him that we wanted to play soccer with him and his friends.

"Alright, but you have to sign some paperwork, first."

"What paperwork?"

He held out his hand. "Sign here," Gabe ordered, pointing to his palm. I raised my eyebrows at him. He wanted me to sign his hand? Gabe nodded for me to continue. Hesitantly, I curled up my hand like I was holding a pencil and dragged it across his palm. "Oh, you're a leftie," he mumbled. "And sign here, and here. Now you," he held out his hand to Meghan. "And you." he made Kayla sign, too. After we were finished 'signing', Gabe smiled. "Great! You'll be joining the team on the left, here. Good luck!" Gabe walked away and stole the ball. 

I glanced over at Kayla and Meghan, who looked completely at ease. They started to run into the game. 

"Meghan, wait!" I called. 

She turned around and came back. 

"Meghan, how do you play soccer?" I asked, feeling extremely stupid.

"Just kick the ball around to the other people on your team. If you get a shot, kick it into the goal." Meghan explained and ran off. 

"Wait!" I called again, but she didn't stop. "Who's on our team? Which goal do I kick it into?" I asked myself miserably before running into the game. 

When I got in to the great big mass of sweaty kids, I realized that playing soccer was a really bad idea for me. I quickly walked through the mass and straight to the other side of the field. I stood on the edge of the grass in the shade of a tree. Behind me was the handball court, where other kids in my class were whacking a dodge ball against a big blue wall. It was relatively peaceful. The Southern California weather did not disappoint. It was a warm day with a pleasant, cool breeze blowing by. The sun was shining and the sky was blue, with not a single cloud in sight. 

"Natalie!" Someone whispered behind me, interrupting my bliss. 

I turned around to see who the person was, but I couldn't find them. Maybe I just imagined it, I thought and turned back around. 

Again I heard the whisper, more urgent this time. "Natalie!!!"

"What do you want?!" I turned around and whispered back, thoroughly annoyed.

There was still no one there. I searched behind the tree to no avail. I scanned the faces of the handball court, but nobody was paying me any attention. Where had that voice come from?

"Heads up!" I heard a guy on the field yell. Like an idiot, I turned around. 

The next thing I knew I had a soccer ball flying at my head at a million miles an hour. 

This was my worst nightmare. I wasn't even really playing, but I was going to get murdered anyway. Fantastic, right? The thought 'duck' didn't even pass through my mind. I probably didn't have the reflexes then to duck anyway. The ball was coming at me too fast. What I most likely did  think went along the lines of, 'oh, crumbly-cakeths' which was my idea of a swear word at the time, and then: WUMP! 

The soccer ball planted itself into my face, knocking me flat on my back. In half a second, Meghan and Kayla were at my side.

"Oh my gosh, Natalie, are you okay?" Kayla asked me. I could barely make out their faces above me. Everything was blurry and spinning. That was pretty much the only thing I knew, because my face was almost entirely numb.  At the time I had braces, which my lips were tangled up with. I tensed the muscles around my mouth and got them unstuck. 

"Eww..." Meghan whined. "Your mouth is all bloody!"

"We should get her to the nurses office," Kayla suggested.

I felt each of my arms being grabbed. My body was hoisted up and dragged toward the front office. After about thirty seconds of being dragged, I tried to speak. My lips could barely move. 

"I can't feel my face," I mumbled.

After that, I remember getting to the office, getting my face cleared up and iced, and being released back to class well after the bell had rung. Meghan and Kayla weren't allowed to stay with me when the bell rang. They needed to get back to class on time. I wasn't happy about that, but I was okay with getting out of work. 

Now I know why Gabe had me sign so many papers.