But I Can't Lose Her

today's special moments - 32

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"Kyleigh, Harper, it's good to see you guys," Melissa greets and I nod back to her, forcing a smile on my face. I really can't wait for her to be gone next year. I can tell Harp's thinking the same thing as she nods.

"You too," we both say in-sync, and Melissa just laughs at our alike-minds.

We have to wait a few more minutes before all the girls show up and Chelsea finally decides to show up Melissa. There are a few new girls, I'm guessing most Freshman, except for Dakota, whom me and Harper have finally been able to force into field hockey.

I say hi to a few of the girls that I usually only hang out with during season, but I mostly stick to the side with Harper.

"Hey, girls. So, not everyone could make it, and I'm really sorry this is our first practice, but none of us were able to hold one." By 'us' she means the seniors. I love Chelsea, but this group has always been unorganized.

I understand that they have a lot of stuff to do, but they couldn't find one day a week to practice? Not that I would've made it anyway, but I was still putting in work over the summer.

"So, we're gonna start with a bonding exercise. Basically so we can learn everyone's names and get introduced with each other," she states, grabbing her stick from beside her and walking onto the field, everyone following. "Get in a circle," she orders, and we all do. "Basically, say your name, grade, and something about you, then pass it to someone not next to you."

She starts it off then passes to a random Freshman girl named Macie, who barely any of us can hear; I can only hear her because she's right next to me. She sounds so shaken and she taps the ball with her stick, sending it to me. I start to push it back to her casually and explain it simply when Melissa decides to pipe in.

"Did you not hear the rules? Don't pass it to someone next to you," she says, using her stick as support to hold her up. I give her a death glare, along with a few other girls before turning back to Macie.

"You're good, Macie. Just pass it to someone else," I encourage and she just nods, not looking up to the brat standing across from her.

She ends up sending it to my favorite sophomore, Paige. Paige speaks for a moment and then sends the ball my way, giving me a cheeky smile.

"I'm Kyleigh, a Junior, and something about me is... I'm in ag." That's all I can think of, instead of doing something related to field hockey. And I can't say I have two dogs. Everyone says something about their dogs.

I figure ag is a good way to connect with a lot of the girls since I've never seen a lot of them.

Basically, our small town school has an agricultural program you can join if you want to. But, if you're out of our school district, as long as you're only a few towns over, you can join as well. A lot of my friends are actually people that don't live in Stawford.

I pass the ball to Dakota, who passes it to Harper, who continues it going around our circle, and eventually everyone has said their name and I only forget a few, Harper and I trying to help each other out.

Soon enough, we're taking our run, the senior girls who've been here for years leading us down the roads. Since we're practicing off school ground we have to run on the road and through the corn field. We also pass the field where the soccer boys are practicing and I look once to see if I can spot Leo.

We keep running back in the circle of the fields to our own, everyone desperately grabbing for water, including me, as the hot sun burns our backs.

"And that was only the beginning," I whisper to Harper, making her whine and I nod, taking one more drink before jogging back to the field.