The Girl in Cleats

⚽️Chapter 1⚽️

   Everybody is watching me. I take a deep breath and size up what I'm about to do. There's a soccer ball in front of me, and I'm supposed to kick it into that goal.

The goalie looks at me with a challenging glare. I know I can do this, I've done it a gazillion times.

My parents are screaming my name, it's distracting. I close my eyes and block out all the noise. Then, I walk back a few paces and open my eyes again.

I'm running, I'm kicking the ball... I close my eyes, shutting out the possible shouts of disappointment.

Wait, everyone is cheering and I'm embraced in a hundred hugs, pats on the back, and "Great Job!"s.

I open one eye; the goalie is throwing a fit, punching the ground, and swearing. Then I see the goal, and in it is...the ball?! I made it! I really did!

I turn around to meet my mother, she smiles at me and I smile back. As we're about to embrace, she gets close to my face and licks my nose. Wait, what?

"Ew!" I scream jumping back. Oh. It was a dream, and it was my dog licking my nose not my mom.

I should've known it was a dream, my parents haven't been together in a long time. Plus, my mom is a complete germaphobe and would never lick my nose, even if she wasn't terrified of germs.

My parents split when I was 12. I go to my dad's every weekend and he's a soccer coach for a guy team. So whenever he has practices, I'm there too, helping out and getting taught.

I suddenly remember it's Tuesday and I practically fall out of- correction, I fall out of bed trying to get up and ready for school.

As I search through closet to find something to wear, my dog, Hershey is sitting on my bed watching me.

Hershey is a German Shepherd that my parents got for me right before they told me about the divorce. He's from some breeder that trains German Shepherds to be guard dogs. Hershey is no guard dog, though. He's too much of a teddy bear, unless it comes to protecting me. Did they think it would lessen the pain and heartbreak of them not being together anymore? Well, it didn't, but it doesn't make me love him any less. I'm 15 now, so he's not a puppy anymore. But he really does act like one.

I look in the mirror quickly right before I go out the door, "good enough" I think to myself. Kaitlyn would certainly have something to say about my frizzy hair. She's the "goddess of beauty" according to everybody at school. For some reason, she hates me.

As I run downstairs, Hershey is there right beside me making sure no bad guys snatch me away from him.

As I reach the kitchen, my mom is there making eggs for me. I sit at the table and chirp, "Good morning mom!" My mom looks at me, one eyebrow raised and says "Why so happy this morning?"

I look over to her and say "Can't a girl be happy in the mornings?" My mom shakes her head and laughs.

I look over to Hershey, who is begging for food already. I don't even have anything. My mom walks around the table and places a steaming plate of eggs in front of me. I quickly thank her and stuff my face.

"Kiera, did you pray?" My mom asks accusingly. I stop mid-chew and bow my head, embarrassed. After we are done praying, I check the time. "Oh! Mom we gotta go!" Yeah I know, this sounds like those movies where there's so much food at the table but the characters eat nothing. Trust me, I ate what was on my plate. Most of it at least, Hershey managed to get a few bites thanks to those puppy eyes.

I rush out the door and on my way out, I grab the keys. I run out and start the car. Within a few minutes, my mom comes out.

"Turn on some tunes, girlfriend." She says, doing a weird little dance. I laugh and plug my phone in.

The drive to school is always fun with just me and my mom, both of us try to dance along to the songs (and fail, might I add).

As we enter the highway, I hear a loud, loud noise coming from behind us.

"Mom what is tha- MOM LOOK OUT!" I scream just as a semi crashes into us. Everything is in slow motion as I watch my mom glance at the rear view mirror before her eyes widen in shock.  She looks at me with that same look and terror fills my entire body. As the semi crashes into the back of our car, we swerve off the road into the divider. That's all I know before I black out.