In the middle of April, soccer sign-ups began. Lexi was very excited about it, and begged me everyday to sign up with her. I wasn't really fond of sports, to be completely honest. When I left North Carolina, I had to leave gymnastics along with everything else, and I just didn't feel like taking it up again here in Georgia. I thought that it wouldn't be the same. The girls would be different, the texture of the chalk wouldn't be the same, and maybe the balance beams had a fuzzy covering instead of the smooth, leather-like ones at my old gym. Point is, I was scared to do the same sport at a different place.
"Please! Come on, Anne! It will be so much fun! If you don't like it, you can quit. And we will be together, on the same team!" Lexi said, still trying to convince me to take up soccer.
"Noooo," I said, hoping that if I dragged out the word, she would stop bothering me about it.
"Seriously, you will be so jealous when I am taking home all of these shiny golden trophies, and you will not have any!" Lexi said.
"You mean the little cheap, spray-painted plastic trophies that you get for showing up at games?" I asked.
Lexi stuck her tongue out. "It is the thought that counts," she said.
I rolled my eyes. "I don't feel like it," I said.
"Why not? I mean, it isn't like you are going to be any good, so you might as well just do it to be with me every weekend and Wednesday after school," Lexi said.
I gasped, surprised that she would say I couldn't be good. "I am amazing at soccer, I will have you know, and we already are together all the time anyways!" I said.
"I bet the reason that you don't want to sign up is because you know you will embarrass yourself when you try to play," she said.
"Is not! And I will show you! I am gonna go sign up right now!" I said, now angry that she would insult my skills.
Lexi laughed, and I knew that she had gotten what she wanted.
"What about these," my mom asked me.
We were shopping for cleats and shinguards. I hated shopping.
"Yeah, those are fine," I said, throwing the pair of cleats back in the box.
"I want you to try them on," mom said.
I pulled them on quickly, walked up and down the store aisle, and then put them in the box again.
"See, they are fine."
My mom sighed in defeat, knowing that was the most satisfaction she would get.
"Fine, let's just get them," she said.
It was only a few days later when we had our first practice. Determined to show Lexi my amazing soccer skills, I tried my hardest, but I ended up making a fool out of myself. Every time that I tried to kick the ball, I would miss it entirely, and I would fall down. It was very embarrassing. When the coach told us to dribble, I would accidentally kick it too far, and the other team would get it. And don't even get me started on shooting.
I figured out pretty quickly that soccer wasn't my sport, but Lexi kept telling me to keep trying, so I did.
I hoped that eventually, it would pay off.
YOU ARE READING
The Cherry Trees
Teen Fiction"It was then that I heard it. The small, quiet, click. I couldn't turn my head fast enough. When I finally saw her, she had the gun to her head. "I'm sorry," she mouthed. And then the whole forest went silent when the sound of her life being taken e...
