Finding Family

Chapter 7

 I'd been at school for two weeks now, and I loved it. I continued to meet with Mr. Daniels to work on english. He wasn't sure what was making it so hard for me to learn, but we were making some really great progress. My favorite part of the day was dinner. Our whole group would sit and talk and mess around. For the first time in my life I felt like I belonged. Tonight was the first varsity soccer game. Mouth had made the team as well, he was the goalie, and was surprisingly good. The game was away, so Sabrina drove Peyton, Rory and I. The car ride started out a little awkward. We only ever saw Sabrina because of the boys, and I didn't really know her individually. We sat quietly, avoiding small talk. Peyton finally turned on the radio to get rid of the silence. The song playing was party in the USA. All of a sudden Rory started to sing along. I was surprised by her sweet yet strong voice. She was incredibly good. I giggled a little and began to sing as well. Sabrina joined almost immediately after that. Peyton rolled her eyes, but soon began to sing as well. As the song ended we all collapsed in laughter and exhaustion. The rest of the car ride was really fun, we just needed something to break the ice.

When we reached the field we found seats together. The game began with our kick. Ben played forward and Nate played Center-mid. The started out strong with Ben overlapping Nate for beautiful through ball to the left corner flag. Ben crossed the ball to another forward who shot the ball and hit the crossbar. The other team took possession of the ball, and the game went back and forth for the remainder of the half. There were thirty seconds left and Nate had the ball, dribbling towards the goal with a defender on his heels. He reached the edge of the box, and was about to shoot when the defender wrapped his foot around Nates ankle. Nate slammed into the ground and Peyton stood up immediately to see if he was okay. The ref blew his whistle and Ben jogged over to help Nate. He pulled Nate to his feet and Nate signaled to the coach he was okay. He jogged over to the ball but I could see a slight limp on his foot that got kicked. He lined up the up the ball for the penalty kick. And closed his eyes. I'd seen Nate take hundreds of PKs but I never got tired of it. He gracefully placed the ball in the corner of the net without even looking. The rest of the game went well. Nate and Ben each scored another goal and Mouth made some great plays including on another PK.

Rory and I were so tired that we fell asleep immediately in the car ride back to school. I woke up and heard Sabrina and Peyton talking.

"I feel like we've lost our spark." Sabrina complained dejectedly. "I look at you and Nate, and you're so happy. You would do anything for eachother. I feel that way about Ben, I'm just not sure he feels the same about me.

"S, that boy loves you, but you need to trust yourself. If you think the magic's gone, then maybe it is."

"I can't lose him, Peyton. You know what I'm like without him."

"S, you won't automatically go back that. That's what you were like before us, not just before Ben. It was before you became friends with Nate and I also. No matter what, Nate and I love you, and we won't let you go back to that state. You're stuck with us, and you're stuck just like this." Sabrina gave tight smile, I could tell she wasn't as sure as Peyton. I didn't understand what they were talking about, what Sabrina was like before. I made a mental note to ask Nate. I tried to stay awake, but fell back asleep pretty quickly after that.