USWNT - High School

Chapter 12

Tobin's POV

The weekend passed, and school was back on. So much had changed this weekend, and for some reason a lot felt wrong.
Hope was no where to be found still, and Carli was somewhat of a mess. She had been calling and texting the goalkeeper none stop, begging her to come home. We had even thought about calling the police, but knew we had to give her a couple more days. This is what Hope does, at least used to do. She runs.
Kelley on the other hand, had not been doing much to get the goalie back. She was busy sticking her tongue in the sophomore's mouth. She was angry, and it was easy to see she was deep down scared that something bad has happened, but she pretended to be fine. She flaunted her new fling in the face of everyone, trying desperately to show that she's okay without Hope. Something we all know she's not. She's also hurting Morgan, who I'm sure is soon going to develop feelings. Feeling that Kelley won't be able to return.

**

"You still haven't hear anything?" Ashlyn asked, looking at Carli with worried eyes. It had been almost a week with dead silence.
Carli shook her head, looking as if she was about to burst into tears at any moment.
"So for all we know, she's dead in a ditch somewhere?" Amy shot in, sounding upset as well. This was causing everyone to worry.
"Don't speak like that." I said quickly, seeing how it affected Carli and Ashlyn.

The attention of the group turned towards the doors from the locker rooms, as they were smashed open. Kelley walked out, looking both confident and cold at the same time.
She was late to practice, but seemed unfazed by what she was doing. That's not like her at all.

She walked over to where the newbies were standing in a group next to where we were standing, and eagerly crashed her lips onto Morgan's. She knew very well that everyone was watching, and the surrounded crowd backed up the best they could.
She kept it brief, but left everyone with shocked expressions on their faces.
"Dude, I don't even do that to Ali at practice and we've been together since like, forever." Ashlyn whispered to the few people that could hear, and even though it should've been funny, it wasn't. It was true. Kelley was so obviously not fine, and I hated seeing it.

"Okay, people." Jill clapped her hands and looked slightly confused towards Kelley.
"I'm not going to bother with your privacy, but has anyone heard from Hope? As a senior it's tremendously stupid to skip classes this early on in the semester, let alone practice." She continued, looking around at all our guilty faces. I wish we had answers to give her, but we didn't. We all knew how stupid it were.

"I'm sorry, coach. She's a hard one to find when she doesn't want us to." Carli said, apologizing on her friends behalf. She obviously tried to make it seem less serious, something we all agreed we would for a couple of days. Even though Hope seems like a tough and cold person, she's really just fragile. Seeing Kelley with Moe, the girl she obviously felt strongly for, it must've thrown her off. It's no need for adults to bother with it just yet. I hope.

**

Kelley's POV

My head was spinning on a daily basis now, it felt as if I was semi-drunk at all times.
Hope was missing. Like she had actually fallen off the face of the earth. A part of me was so mad at her for doing that. She's the one that told me not to, and then when I didn't, she acted like the victim in all this. I didn't do anything wrong by being with Morgan. I was told no, so I accepted that and moved on.
Well, moved on is a strong phrase. I've understood the facts and respected them. Kinda.

**

"You wanna hang out tonight? My parents are out of town." Moe smirked at me, and raised her eyebrows. I couldn't help but smile at the younger girl's not so subtle hinting.
I like Morgan. She's a sweet girl. I honestly wish I could've met her like a year ago, or in another life or whatever. Maybe I would've fallen for her then.
Cause right now, no matter how much I'll deny that if anyone asks, I'm definite a little lost in a certain goalkeeper.

"Sure. I'll bring some takeout." I smiled at Moe, truly not wanting to hurt her, but also too selfish to not accept that offer. She knows I'm not looking for anything serious, I just hope she believes me and wants the same.

**

"Hey, Kelley." Carli walked over to me as I was seated on the bench after practice. I wanted to wait a little so I didn't have to listen to all the 'where's Hope' talking in the locker room.
"Hey, Car." I smiled pale, seeing how clearly not okay she is. She's probably the one worrying almost as much as me.

"I guess it's pointless to ask, but you haven't heard anything, right? Like, off the record." She looked hopeful at me. I wanted to tell her I had, that Hope reached out to me, but I couldn't. "I'm sorry." I said simple, knowing it would not be what she wanted to hear.
She nodded her head slowly, looking down towards her feet.
"What- why didn't you and Hope end up together that night?" Carli didn't look at me, just seemed as if she couldn't keep the question to herself. I get why she's wondering.
"She wasn't ready, and frankly I don't think she'll ever be." I answered honest, knowing Carli was not one to be dishonest with. There was no point to that now.
"But she seemed ready, kind of, she wants to be so badly. You know how much she cares about you." Carli sounded almost desperate as she spoke, like she needed me to understand.
I'm sure she's right, but it doesn't matter when it's not what Hope's saying.
"I can't just sit around and wait for god knows how long, I need to move on." I probably sounded somewhat desperate as well now, finding it more difficult to tell Carli than thinking it in my head. Was I actually just going to give up like that, especially now that she's gone. That's not right. But then again, her leaving is not right either.

"I can't tell you what to do. I just know that when it comes to Hope, she's a damn hard person to love. But when you do, God there's not a bad bone in that body. She would never ever purposely hurt anyone, and that fear of doing so is what keeps her from opening up. It's what makes her hurt us. But at the end of day, at least for me, I wouldn't live my life without her." Carli spilled the truth out, practically saying all the things I couldn't put into words myself.

I need to talk to her again, explain my side, listen to hers. If she could just come home.

(A/N: sorry for dragging this out for so long, I just need to show everyone's perspective, etc. You'll find out by the next chapter;)