˗ˏˋOur Differencesˊˎ˗

-7-

I dreaded the idea of going to soccer the next day. We were stuck with Coach Ben again. I'm not even sure where he came from or why we kept getting left with him for practice, but damn.

This was getting old.

I walked towards where we were all huddled up in a group, standing next to the majority of the girls.

I flipped my head over to tie my hair into a low, messy ponytail and then pulled some slut strands out in the front.

Devin and Austin were both eyeing me from across the group, and I ignored both of them completely. I don't know why lacked the ability to behave normally, but I can't stand being in their presences. Especially Devin's. He makes me so wildly uncomfortable.

"Alright, today's going to be a very light workout." Ben said, causing us all to cheer.

"Let's do scrimmages today."

Everyone started yelling out of pure joy.
Scrimmages were the only fun part of soccer, truthfully.

"Are we doing boys against girls.. or??" Austin questioned.

Him and Dylan got really close a few years ago, so he comes around a lot. Austin's nice, I guess. He's a track star, so Coach Thrash begged him to join the soccer team and trained him as a striker. He's good.

Him and Devin are especially close these days, so Austin's been popping up a lot more than he usually does.

"No, that's not fair skill-wise. We'll pick captains and do team picks from there." he clapped his hands together, as he scanned through all of us to pick the captains.

He hovered his finger around, contemplating people's leadership skills in his mind. I silently hoped he didn't pick me because that's awkward. I'm not a leader in the slightest and I don't want to have to pick people.

"Let's do you." he pointed to Devin, who mouthed
'yes' under his breath as he walked over to his spot so he could pick his team.

Dylan flipped him off immediately as a joke and Devin returned the same gesture. Cows.

"How about Esmeralda for our other team captain?" he smiled at probably the best player on the girls team.

She grinned and stood next to Devin.

"Ladies pick first." he added, as Esmo scanned the large crowd in front of her.

She bit her lip like the first decision was that tough. Everyone knew who she'd pick if she wasn't a complete idiot.

"Dylan."

Yes, I hate him. But he's the best player at Merriton. So I guess I'll give him that much. I might would've picked him first too. Maybe.

Devin didn't even scan the crowd when it was his turn to pick.

"Madison." he said without hesitation.

I think I internally groaned.

"Dude, really?" Dylan commented from his side.

We all shot him a look of concern after his outburst.

"Sorry!" Devin defended himself.
"She's good."

Dylan gave an eye roll, as the team captains continued to make their selections. I scraped the grass around with my cleats, avoiding how weird it felt to be Devin's first choice.

Out of all of his friends (who are all phenomenal at soccer), why the hell would he pick me first? I'm not even the best on the girl's team.

Our team was decided after a few minutes of Devin and Esmo going back and forth, trying to pick the best players.