We'll Always Be Rivals

Chapter One

"Tobin. Tobin. TOBIN! Wake up! We're gonna be late for practice again!" Lauren Cheney shook her roommate, Tobin Heath, who was fast asleep.

"W-What?" The tan girl mumbled, opening her eyes.

"I said, we're gonna be late for practice. As always." Lauren pulled the covers off of Tobin, who groaned and slid out of bed. "And coach said if we're late one more time, we have to do extra sprints. So hurry up."

Tobin grabbed her UNC practice jersey and shorts and threw them on, then announced that she was going to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

She walked down the hallway and flashed her signature grin when she saw one of her closest teammates, Heather O'Reilly.

"Hey-Ohhhhh!" Tobin yelled and they fist bumped.

"You gonna be late to practice again?" HAO chuckled. She was already on her way down the hallway, wearing the UNC light blue socks rolled down with her cleats in hand.

"I'm going as fast as I can. Woke up two minutes ago. Wanna distract coach for me?" Tobin gave the older girl puppy dog eyes, and the midfielder rolled her eyes in response. "Please, HAO. I'll make it up to you, I swear!"

"Fine, but you owe me. I'll, uh, I'll pretend the basketball guys are fighting again." Heather grinned and walked out the door of their dorm building.

Tobin brushed her teeth quickly and washed off her face, then jogged back to her room.

Lauren wasn't there, but she'd left a note:

Tobs, Didn't want to be late again. Sorry kid!

Tobin sighed and grabbed her cleats, socks and shinguards and hopped onto her skateboard. She rode down the hill and around the corner, her usual route to the soccer field. She rode right into the locker room and pushed the skateboard to the side, running out onto the field to join her team.

Alex Morgan, the star forward, turned and laughed at the midfielder as she tried to run and put her socks on at the same time. "Don't worry, T, coach is late." Alex smiled at Tobin's sigh of relief.

"Someone's later than Tobin? Who would've ever thought!" Sydney Leroux, another forward, yelled and got a laugh in response from their teammates.

"Very funny. But I got HAO to distract him." Tobin smirked and tied her left cleat. As soon as she was finished tying her boot, Heather jogged onto the field from the locker room, followed by their coach, Anson Dorrance.

"HAO, I have no idea what you were talking about. The basketball players weren't fighting- Tobin, you're on time, what a nice surprise!" Anson said, and Tobin smiled.

"Got up extra early today, coach."

Everyone held in their laughter, knowing how false that statement was. Most of the time, Tobin woke up no more than fifteen minutes before practice began, but she always had her trusty skateboard so she could make it in the knick of time.

"Alright, take a lap and then do some shuttle passes in a group of four. Remember, we play Stanford here tomorrow night!"

Stanford. Tobin knew a couple girls on the team, but she was always paying attention to one in particular. One freckle-faced, green-eyed forward.

Number 19... O'Hara.