Begin Again

Chapter 1 -One day earlier-

I woke up to my dad gently rubbing my back. Confused, I rolled over onto my side and pulled my blanket over my head in attempt to block out the Florida sun and my hovering dad. Oh no. I groaned and laid there with the blanket covering my head in my pathetic attempt to hide.

"Come on Jen, get up," my Dad instructed me, "we have already been over this and I think camp will be good for you."

"Just one more minute," I complained.

"One more, but if you're still not out of bed I'm going to have to remove you by force." he warned in a joking matter.

I heard his footsteps pad to the door and the door closing behind him. I tossed my blanket over my head and lay on my back, breathing in the cool air. Just five days, I keep telling myself, just five.

Ever since I was thirteen I gave up my life, soccer. During the spring and fall I would play soccer, during the summer I would play beach soccer, and during the winter I would play indoor. I guess you could say I was dedicated. Soccer used to keep me sane, it was my drive for life. However, one day I stopped and I was never able to bring myself to play again. Here I am five years later and my dad is forcing me to go to the beach soccer camp I could only dream of going to when I was little. I groan and force myself to get out of bed.

It was about a fifteen minute drive to the houses in which we would be staying for the week. No matter how close you lived to camp, all athletes were required to stay at homes provided by the camp in order to keep the main focus of the week on soccer.

My dad pulled into the parking lot of the rental houses and it took everything in me to push away the ever so vivid memories of thirteen-year-old me. Just five days, I kept reminding myself. I spotted the bulletin board which held the lists of the teams and the house each team will be living in and walked up to it to discover my fate for the week. There are four teams and each team will be living in their own house. The list instructed me that I will be staying in house number four along with the red team. The list indicated that there are going to be fourteen girls who are on the red team and our coach is going to be Storm Cohen. My throat constricts while reading our coaches name and I have to remind myself to breathe.

There are twelve rental houses surrounding the central parking lot in which we parked. All twelve houses are owned by the same Seaside Rental Company, and all twelve house look identical to one another and are painted the same sandy color with brown trimming.

My dad approached me struggling to carry all of my luggage. I sighed and took some of it from him and led the way to house number four.

As I approached the house I saw that the door was open and waiting to welcome the camp members. On the porch sat two white whicker chairs overlooking the clear ocean. As soon as I stepped into the house I was standing in the living room, which contained two brown leather couches, a coffee table, and a TV.

"Thanks dad, I've got it from here." I said as I took the rest of my possessions from him.

"Alright honey, I love you. Be safe and call if you need anything."

"Okay. Love you too, see you in a week." I replied as I embraced my dad into a hug.

And just like that I am alone in the entryway of a strange place trying not to panic as memories danced inside of my brain telling me I should fear every part of this week.