It was afternoon, time for soccer practice. I had made my way through about half of 8th grade, playing soccer ever since I was little, and happened to be the only person in my grade on the B team.
“Jamie! Come pass with us!” A short red-haired girl called out to me,
“My name’s Jame.” I mumbled
“I don’t care, Jame sounds stupid,” she replied, “I’m asking if you wanna pass with us?”
“Sure, I guess so.” I jogged over to the other two girls, noticing how my feet shuffled on the long grass, and that mud and dirt crusted my black cleats.
“Here” The redhead shouted, kicking the ball harshly at me, I was certain that she knew that I couldn’t trap it well, and inevitably it bounced away; I ran to get it.
“C’mon! Just do one thing right James!” another of them shouted at my back.
“Sorry.” I brushed off the fact that she had called me by the wrong name and picked up the ball,
“Hand ball, you’re out of the game.” The first girl sneered, tossing her shiny hair.
“Fine…” I dropped it and shuffled over to the bench, where I stood until the coach officially started practice. When she did, I tripped over balls, kicked the ground, missed the goal, and overall; I deserved my place on B team.
‘Why does Jame even play soccer?’ ‘I don’t know, she’s no good at it.’ ‘She holds us all back.’ None of these came as new to me, I heard them everyday at the end of practice.
On the bus, I sat alone and stared out the window, watching the clouds, letting the wind beat my long black bangs and ponytail into my face, feeling the air press my eyelids closed to the point where I could daydream of getting home, alone, in my room.
* * *
“Jame, hurry up, we can’t miss Natalie’s recital.” My mom greeted me, barely even looking in my direction.
“I just got home!” I complained, knowing that I would go anyway,
“Jame! That’s mean, today is Nat’s big day.” My mother beamed down at my little sister who had inherited all the good genes. She received all the good genes, pretty, delicate sporting light, fawn-brown eyes, and long, wavy dark hair; she was a good runner, smart, musically talented, not to mention that during the summer she actually tanned while I stayed pale as a whiteboard.
“Yesterday I had a soccer game, you guys didn’t bother to come to MY big day.” I shouted back, already heading to my room to change clothes.
“You’re fourteen, quit acting like a child!” My mom called finally to me, before she went to fawn over Natalie’s soft, graceful lavender dress, and tuck a loose strand of hair back into her braid. I roughly tied my hair into a bun, and slipped on a dark blue, folding skirt and lacy white shirt. I tripped down the hallway while tugging on a pair of light blue and white sandals; landing inelegantly on my butt. Natalie and my mom and Dad had already climbed into the car. I jumped in, patting the dust off my skirt and tossing piece of gum into my mouth.
“Jame, you shouldn’t chew gum at Natalie’s recital.” My dad scolded, handing me an old receipt to spit it out into.
“Dad!” I groaned, shoving the paper into my purse for when we got there.
YOU ARE READING
Water Locket
FantasiJame has only one friend and a star little sister. No one even cares to get to know her and her life has become a prison. This all changes when her single friend, Hannah is diagnosed with a lethal disease in her lungs. The illness will take the life...
