Mrs All American

8

Blake's pov

"here!" I clapped my hands together, signaling for Michael to pass me the ball. He sent it directly to my left foot and I turned to find Calum in front of me. Quickly, I brought my left foot around the ball to fake left, and cut it back in the other direction, tripping him out.

As soon as I wound my leg back to shoot, the boy Luke jumped in front of me. Thinking fast, I faked the shot and took a dribble around him before releasing it off my foot, where it landed in the back of the net. I turned just in time to see him standing up from the ground, letting me know I tripped him out.

"Hey Luke!" Michael called in between laughs. "Check your ankles cuz I think Blake just broke them" he remarked and clutched his side 

"Damn" Ashton groaned and looked at me in awe. "What's that like six goals for you?" He asked and tried to count the number of times I scored in his fingers.

"I thought it was seven" Calum interrupted and raised an eyebrow, questioning if Ashton was right.

"It's eight," I replied, "but who's counting?" I added cheekily as I walked back to Michael and I's side. He slapped my hand and pulled me into his side, making me smile widely.

"So does anyone have anything they'd like to say to Blake?" Michael hinted, directing his question at the other three boys. Calum huffed, but was the first to apologize. Of course it wasn't a real apology, and I didn't need one to begin with, but it was kinda nice to hear I suppose.

"I shouldn't have underestimated you" he admitted. The look in his and Ashton's eyes led me to believe they were impressed with my performance.

"Agreed," Ashton chimed in. "We're sorry" he said, looking directly at me. I shrugged it off because to me it wasn't a big deal at all. I was never mad that they thought I couldn't play, just excited to show them that I was in fact better than they thought.

My eyes flickered towards Luke, to see if he would say anything, but when I turned, his eyes darted away from my direction quickly- almost as if he was already looking at me.

"Michael?" An unfamiliar voice called from the balcony. I looked up and saw a middle aged man who looked slightly familiar.

"Hey dad" Michael called casually, squinting from the bright lights that shone from the porch to illuminate the night sky.

"Hi Mr Clifford" the other boys called as the man walked down the steps. I stood next to Michael, waiting to see if I should make the first move to introduce myself to this man.

"Mikey who's this?" His dad asked, motioning towards me. I smiled and stuck my hand out.

"I'm Blake" I greeted. "I just moved in next door" I smiled, slightly embarrassed that even after three weeks I hadn't introduced myself to all my neighbors yet. 

"Ah they finally sold Betty's house, eh?" He smiled at his son as he shook my hand. Michael just rolled his eyes in response, clearly not phased by whatever his dad was saying. "It's lovely to meet you" he added as he retracted his hand. "I think I've seen you around the neighborhood before," he began, "you run every morning right?" He asked. That's when it clicked that he was the man I had seen on my run the other morning.

My cheeks began to flush thinking about it because if I was running, it meant I was wearing nothing but spandex and a sports bra, so my belly piercing was showing.

"Yeah" I laughed breathlessly, "-that's me" he smiled and j was happy when he changed the subject.

"You're from America?" He asked, recognizing me accent.