"Why are you mad?" My question came out in parts, heavy almost, as I worked on slowing my heart rate, which seem to have sky rocketed after whatever that was that we just did.
With heated eyes his hands pressed me closer to him "Mad about how I sho...
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"REX WHERE DID you put the rest of the cones?" Toby yelled as he set the last two cones he had in a zig-zagging line across the soccer field.
Today is Saturday. It's been three whole days since my appointment with Dr. Winton. It wasn't much, but it felt like death was right around the corner.
"Twenty-six day's left," I mumbled and stuffed my phone in the back pocket of my jeans. I felt it slide between the buzzer and denim material. It made a lonesome grate against it. I found myself once again questioning if it would ever go off. It sucks to have a rare blood type.
Rex popped his head up from behind the bleachers. He stood in the back of his pickup truck, courtesy of his dad for acing his finals last year. "I've got five back here," Rex shouted to Toby.
In our town Carson Ridge, soccer never sleeps. There's always a game to watch, always training to do, and always tryouts for the Carson High soccer team. Our coach is hard on players so they either quit as Toby mentioned or they quit because there's no break with the towns never-ending season.
"Thank the lord," Toby let out a sigh of relief as Rex jumped off and jogged over to put the final cones in place.
Toby glanced over at me. "Is Tiana coming?"
Whenever there are tryouts Tiana and I always watch. We usually have nothing better to do anyway. "Her mum took her to visit her grandpa. She said she'll stop by when she gets back."
"Okay."
I took a seat on the bleachers as a couple of boys made their way onto the field, amongst them was Derek.
The red t-shirt he wore, hugged his lean, muscular physique, complementing his darker skin tone. I found myself checking out the other boys in their gear. They didn't look as good so I glanced back at Derek.
My eyes followed him across the field until I snapped out of whatever trance I had been in, to remember the notebook that I'd brought with me. I took it out and ripped a page from the middle.
Rex started the trials off, while Toby and the other team members kept an eye out for good skills. Their shouting and drilling became simple music in the background.
Two nights ago, when Derek invited me over for dinner, I had declined and stayed on the roof for a solid hour. During that time I ended up thinking about what I had done with my life. That list barely made a paragraph in my head and I knew I had to live a little harder.
Dr. Winton's voice circled in my head. "...get out there and be a teenager. Do everything you want to do."
My pen touched the paper and I scribbled down the words 'Bucket List'. The page stayed blank for the five minutes I looked at it, so I gazed up to watch the tryouts hoping inspiration would arise from the muddy cleats and fury of feet and cones.
Currently, the boys were being drilled on defence and possession. Eliezer Stratford, a Hungarian exchange student in my Physics class, paired himself with Derek.
Together, they turned out to be a powerful match. I hadn't realised Eli played a sport, let alone be this good at soccer. He was almost as good as Derek. Almost.
After that drill, Toby crossed his arms. That's weird. He never crosses his arms. My eyes narrowed at him and I saw that his jaw was set. Toby watched Derek, who was now dribbling in and out of the cones, the ball swiftly between his feet like it was meant for them.
Jacob Sullen, the teams' goalie, positioned himself in the goal, body at the ready as Derek weaved through the last set of cones. Moving forward, his leg lifted before coming in contact with the ball, which effortlessly flew into the net.
Eli slapped Derek on the back. "Good one."
Jacob shook his head, a smile on his face as he lifted himself off the ground. His entire left side was caked in mud, with grass stains on his knees.
Then an experience came to me. Hot air balloon ride. As random as it was, I'd read somewhere that Cappadocia in Turkey had one of the best hot air balloon rides in the world, that it was somewhat life-changing to see the world from a different perspective. I wrote it down on the list.
I swept my hair over to one of my shoulders so that it was out of the way. I've also always wanted to visit places, though flying to a whole other country seemed rather extreme. I didn't want my parents to stress about how to reach Dr. Winton on a fourteen-hour flight. So I settled for something a little less overwhelming. In one long scribble, I added, 'Spontaneous road trip'.
Underneath that, I ended up writing down to have my first kiss because I knew If Tiana read this, which she probably will, it'd be the first thing she'd add for me.
Now with only three things on the list, I thought about some of the most random things to do, only wanting to fill the rest of the page.
Scream in a tunnel? Dance in the rain with clothes on? I shifted on the seat and began to feel ridiculous. This was a stupid idea. There's no way I'd be able to ride a hot air balloon with the air supply growing less and less the higher we go. Not to mention a spontaneous road trip? What if I lose my medication in a motel room? And a first kiss?
A deep sigh left my lips. I closed the notebook and put it away in my bag, then proceeded to scrunch the paper into a ball.
I wanted to experience things, but my CHD always came in the way. I want to do some crazy things but I didn't want to shorten the amount of time I had left.
There was a bin at the bottom of the bleachers, near the steps. I attempted to throw it into the slit of black abyss.
I thought I had aimed better than an NBA player but somehow, it bounced off the blue rim and onto the ground. I sighed. If I kept the list I'd have added learn to shoot on it.
"Hey."
I looked up. Derek was making his way toward me, Rex had obviously given them a five-minute break so I examined the field for Toby. He was talking to one of his teammates, I made a mental note to ask him how he was after this. He seemed uptight last time I looked and he's not the uptight kind of guy. Girl problems? Soccer stress? I couldn't figure it out.
"Are you the scout for today?" Derek joked and picked up one of the drink bottles sitting at the bottom of the bleacher. Eyes still on me, he took a long drink.
"I guess. You know, you're actually pretty good." Which was true. He wasn't far away from Toby's skill level and there wasn't a doubt in my mind that he wouldn't fill one of the open spots.
"Thanks," he said distracted, and I could tell he didn't even process my compliment. His curls brushed his forehead as he bent over to pick up whatever was distracting him on the ground.
"This yours?" He straightened back up and glanced at me. My scrunched up ball of paper rested in his tanned hand.
I licked my dry lips. "It's nothing really," I answered. "Just some scribbles."
He tucked the bottle under his arm and now with both free hands, he uncrumpled the paper.
Embarrassment flooded my features and my cheeks grew hot. I watched his eyes skim the three points on the list. I swear I saw the corner of his mouth twitch upward when he read the last point about achieving my first kiss.
His chocolate brown eyes meet mine. "You should add 'get a tattoo'."
A/N: Any of my readers a kiwi? If so, what y'all been up to in lockdown? And also SIX60's new song "Pepeha" !!! I love it!
Comment where in the world y'all are currently >
it's crazy to think that people all round the world are reading my books
