Penalties

Learning Russian - Chapter Seventeen

I woke up to Mark banging on my bedroom door. My phone was ringing and buzzing like crazy. I groaned and rolled out of the blankets, glancing at the clock, which read, 7:50. Oh crap! We had to be at the fields by 8:15. My parents were still asleep, but I didn't have time to wake them up.

Thank god for Mark.

I quickly ran into my closet, throwing on my soccer uniform, and my hair into a tight high ponytail, that i would redo if i had time on the car ride there. I velcroed my shinguards and slipped my socks and slides on. I grabbed the rest of my soccer bag, including my phone, and burst open the bedroom door, getting looks from some of the passing people. Mark stood aginst the wall, in full uniform, with his hair blow dried, and his soccer bag in hand.

"Well that took forever!' he said, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the elevator.

"Wait!" I yelled, Making him stop, and relese my wrist. "I have to tell-"

"Your parents already know, I told them my mom offered to take you yesterday." He said smirking. I rolled my eyes, and we started running towards the elevator.

When Mark's dad finally arrived at the fields, we were two minutes late, but my team was already running their lap. We panicked and threw on our cleats, running clumsily to the field, and catching up with the others half-way to the benches. "Where've you two been?" Alex yelled, still focusing on his steady jog, but glancing to see our cherry-red faces.

"They were probably making out!" Ava yelled from in front of me. I bopped her in the head, which resulted in Emily toppeling towards Josh, who caught her inches from the ground.

"You should be saying that to those two." I said, motioning towards Emily and Josh, who were now brushing their socks off. Emily scowled at me.

We started stretching, and coach called for the Captains. Mason, Mark, And I all jogged over to the refere, side by side. Even though, personally we had all gone through a lot these past few weeks, when it came to soccer, we all dominated togther. Our team was as close as people that were not blood related, could be. It was second nature to help one another, without question. And thats why I would always love my team, even if they did drive me crazy, and fight with me. The girls were thrown on this team with the boys, and we all though we would never get along, but look at us now. We treat each other like siblings.

And I couldnt ask for anything more.

"Heads or tails young lady?" the Ref asked, shaking me out of my daydream, again.

"Um, heads." I said, and Mark and Mason nodded.

The ref flipped the coin, and it landed on heads. I mentally high fived Mason and Mark as we chose the left side. We shook hands with the ref, and jogged back to the field, where our team was shooting on Dillion. Alex was sitting on the sidelines, with his head in his hands, sadly watching his team. I debated wheather or not to talk to him, but my heart won the battle, and I ran over, taking a seat on the bench next to him. It was completely silent, and it seemed that the whole world had been wating for this very moment, as if our lives were being broadcasted onto live TV.

"So, I heard you and Mark are togther?" And thats where the mental booing started, and it just got louder.

"Uh... Yeah, we are." I said, awakardly stuttering my way through that sentence.

If Alex had a problem with Mark and I dating, then he should tell me face to face, not by stupidly asking if we were together (Although most people didn't know yet.)

Thankfully, at impecable timing, coach blew the whistle, and i politely excused myself from my death sentence. I huffed as I walked, being joined by James, for being his height, tried his hardest to put his arm around my neck, which resulted in me sprinting towards coach, who was currently reading off the roster. The speakers blared, "Acapella," by Karmin, and the girls and I joked around and danced with the boys.