Grace

4. Soccer and A Fracture

Soccer was about the only thing Jordan cared about more than his friends and his brother. He loved the camaraderie that came from being on a team. He loved to move his body and feel the burn in his muscles and the sweat on his forehead. He loved the solid thunk of his foot connecting with the ball. He loved the rush of elation that you only got from winning a game. Most of all, he loved the stability of the game. Here, the world was reduced to a green field between two goal nets and the rules of play. Here was a world in which Jordan could excel.

The soccer fields were just behind the high school, in close proximity to the tennis courts and baseball diamond. The fields were also used for football practice, and the track team regularly met here as well to run laps around the whole sports center. As Jordan dumped his sports bag on one of the metal bleachers bordering the field, he recognized several of his teammates warming up, jogging back and forth from one goal net to the other.

Jordan went to join them. His nose throbbed faintly every time his foot hit the ground, but he ignored it. It had rained recently, so the field was slightly muddy. The boys kicked up bits of dirt and grass as they ran.

On Jordan's second lap Adam fell into pace besides him.

"Hey, so there's this huge slick spot to the left of the south goal net where the ground is lower, so make sure you don't- whoa, dude, what happened to your nose?" He stared at Jordan's swollen schnoz with admiration. "It's huge."

"I'll tell you later," said Jordan, thoroughly sick of people asking about his nose.

FWEEEET! Coach Landry blew his whistle from the sidelines. He was a rather diminutive man, with hawk-like eyes, an unfortunate nose, and grey hair around his temples. He was barely five feet tall. Nobody dared to call him "short" to his face, though. Not unless they wanted to do a hundred sit-ups on the field in addition to the regular drills.

"OKAY GUYS, LISTEN UP!" he bellowed. Coach had a voice that belied his stature. The group of twenty-odd teenage boys clustered around him.

"Last week was acceptable." He paused, and everyone held their breath.

"...but we all knew you would win because the Bobcats are a lousy team."

A couple boys chuckled.

"But plain old acceptable will not get us to State."

Everyone sobered up again.

Coach then gave the boys feedback in his direct, no-nonsense way, outlining what they did well and what they needed to work on. He also threw in some sparsely-worded praise to individuals who had played notably well in the last game, while emphasizing that they all worked together as a team and should rejoice in each other's success, etc. After that he announced that they would have a practice game so they could work on improving their play as a group. Half the boys pulled on bright yellow armbands to distinguish one side from the other. Jordan was on the non-yellow team along with Ian and Adam.

The boys all piled their hands on top of each other, yelled "GOOO BULLDOGS!" then broke apart and took their positions on the field.

FWEEEET! Coach Landry blew the whistle again, and the game began.

Jordan was playing offense, so as soon as he got a hold of the ball, he began dribbling it dexterously between his feet, weaving around the yellow team towards the opposing goal. Soon though, he became cornered by the yellow defense and passed the ball across the field to Ian, who had been expertly keeping pace with him the entire time.