Messy Soccer Love

Chapter One

Nicole's POV

I open the door, step outside of my SUV and into the bright sun. I slip my sunglasses onto my face and stare up at the stadium.

     Holy cow it's huge.

     Inside, it's even bigger. Hundreds of people sat in the bleachers. I scan the fans and notice that some–no scratch that–most of them wore the white, green and blue colours of the home team. The rest wore the grey and orange colours of the away team.

     Instead of finding a seat, I lean against the wall of the entryway. I'm way too late anyway. The second half started 20 minutes ago. I look around the stadium once more and my eyes land on the scoreboard.

     Holy smokes, 7 to 0? That's insane. The away team is being crushed by the home team. I observe the grey and orange players. To the untrained eye, it might seem like that's all the team has to offer but I know better. I've seen a million soccer games (I wouldn't be surprised if that was actually true). I know they can do better than whatever the hell this is.

     One of the players catches my attention. My eyes follow him around the field. Wemer? I squint my eyes. No, it's Werner.

     Huh. Werner plays much better than any of the other players on his team. He moves with great agility on the field. I wonder what he's doing on a team like this.

     I glance up at the scoreboard again. 20 more minutes. I'm gonna have to wait.

Five minutes left. Come on, you guys! I watch the field intently. The score is now 8 to 0, home team. The commentator's voice echoes across the stadium.

     "Werner has the ball. Werner has the ball! This is a miracle! He was being heavily guarded by the other team. He's getting closer, here we go, he shoots..." the commenter starts yelling after Werner scores the ball, "AND A GOAL! THE CROWD GOES WILD! WERNER SCORES A GOAL WITH TWO MINUTES LEFT ON THE CLOCK! HE'S INSANE! WHAT AN AMAZING PLAYER!"

     What an amazing player indeed. After the referee blows the final whistle and both teams go back to their respective benches, I walk down the stairs and approach one of the security guards nearby.

     "Excuse me, sir, I need to speak to the coach of Forge."

     The guard ignores me. He doesn't even look at me. I tried again. "Sir, I need to speak to Ares Schaeffer. Sir?" I tap his shoulder.

     The guard sighs, "Miss, you can't speak to Mr. Schaeffer."

     I raise an eyebrow, "And why is that?"

     "Miss no one can speak to Mr. Schaeffer or any of the players unless you are their immediate family. Which you obviously are not because you are not seated in the family section," he says, clearly irritated by me.

     I roll my eyes, "Sir, my father owns Soccer Family, which is sponsoring today's match. Unless you want your boss's boss to get fired, you better treat the sponsor's daughter with respect." I hate to pull out the 'my dad is a powerful businessman' card, but this guard is leaving me no choice.

     He faces me, still looking doubtful, "Oh yeah miss? Prove it," he sneers.

     I smirk, and pull out my Soccer Family badge, the one my dad insisted that I carry on me at all times, and hand it to him. He looks at it and immediately goes pale.

     "Miss Channing, I'm so sorry, I didn't recognize you!" he hands my badge back to me and points at one of the other security guards, stationed farther down the stairs. "Miss Channing, do you see that guard down there? Talk to him, he can help you. I'll let him know who you are so no misunderstandings are made." he pulls out a walkie talkie as he's speaking.