A Day in My Life

Luke's gift

I smiled and when I heard the whistle, I took off. Nick and Emma were almost too easy to get past, just a few fancy footwork tricks and they were left dazed behind me. Then I came up on Eric, who was on defense. Eric was huge and tall so naturally he just charged head on at me. I waited until the last possible second and then I quickly darted to the side, effectively knocking him over and getting around him. I dashed the few final yards and then shot the ball, which Blake jumped up and caught. 

My team cheered behind me for the effort. I walked a few feet back to Eric and offered him a hand. He refused it and stood up, brushing dirt off of his sweats. I laughed lightly and breathed in, he couldn't bother me though, I was in my happy place. 

 Then Blake grabbed the ball and drop kicked it across the street to my side. Dylan efficiently stopped it and passed it up to me. Eric stood a few feet away and once I had the ball he attacked me again. But this time, instead of trying to get the ball, he literally just attacked me. He ran at me and slammed a shoulder into me, which made me fly back about five feet.  I landed flat on my back and partially on my shoulder and the wind was knocked right out of me. I took a few pathetic breaths until finally the air came back into my lungs. I inhaled deeply and held my arms up. Dylan and Talen each grabbed a hand and pulled me to my feet. Dylan said "REF! That was so a penalty!" 

Eric protested but Blake, who I guess was closest to a ref said "No, Dylan's right. Kota gets a free kick on the goal." I walked over to Eric and shoved my shoulder into his side as I walked past. I literally didn't shift him at all and I just hurt my shoulder worse. Eric tried to contain it but as I kept walking to the goal angrily he began to laugh. I blushed hard and kept walking. He was still howling when I got to the goal and set the ball down. Talen said "You can do it, Dakota!" and I stepped back, ran forward, and kicked the ball as hard as I could into the goal (cones). It flew past Blake's outstretched hands and my team and I walked back to our side of the street cheering. I looked at Eric and smiled smugly. He smiled back meanly and the game continued again. 

I fought harder this time and we played for hours on the street, so far to the point where Emma had to leave so she could finish dinner. The score was 34-6, so a pretty even match, when Emma called us all in to get ready to eat for an early dinner. 

"Come on! Five more minutes!" Talen shouted at Blake. 

Blake considered and said "Ok. One more goal and that's it."

Talen grabbed the ball, and drop kicked it as hard as he could. He kicked it so well that it flew straight into the other teams goal. Blake laughed and we all began to walk inside.

"35-6!" I shouted. "WOO!" Nick said "Good game you guys." and my team cheered. 

We all walked inside and I went upstairs to shower and change. I had gotten super sweaty because I probably played harder than anyone else but it was so worth it. I showered off quickly and then changed into my comfy soccer pants and a tank top. I blew dry my hair too because it was freezing and I even straightened it to be fancy. It was just a small dinner but I still felt that despite my clothes I should be a little pretty. I walked downstairs and my mouth began drooling at the smell of dinner that was everywhere. Emma called to everyone and we all ran to the dining table to eat, where she set out a massive meal, some of which came to the grocery store. All of it looked amazing and we all served ourselves colossal portions. We were starving from playing all day. 

Just before we were going to dig in, I said "Wait, we should say like what we're all thankful for."

Eric said "It's not Thanksgiving, stupid." 

"But we can still be grateful for stuff! And thankful! To be together and all!" I said. 

Emma said "I agree. Let's all say at least one thing that were grateful for. Let's go around the table."