~ "rainy girl, I can't wait to meet you. and I can't wait to hear your name and sing it to the skies above" ~
- Andrew McMahon and the Wilderness, Rainy Girl
Daisy was a gentle soul, kind and loving. Her exceptional empathy touche...
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The game started out normal. Jake, Embry and Quil were swallowing their pride, and whatever beef they had with the other two boys and the newcomers were excited to play. The teams broke down into: Jake, Embry, and Quil versus Paul, Jared, Kim and I. I was the only one willing to play for their team and Kim admitted she probably wouldn't play long anyway.
Staring Jacob down, I grinned wide, "I'm gonna tear you a new one." I raised an eyebrow tauntingly. He simply shook his head with a wide smile.
The ball shot from Quil's foot suddenly toward Jake, who I was guarding. It was my moment. I shot at Jake and snaked the ball out between his footfalls. I was passing the ball behind my right foot to put it on my side opposite Jake, when he lunged at me and took me down.
"Ugh, Jake we said no more tackling. That's a penalty throw from the sideline, bro." I sat up on my elbows laughing and shaking my head at him.
"What the fuck, Black." I heard the angry voice behind me grumble in what I can only call a growl. I looked up to see Paul standing over us and moving to shove Jacob. I grabbed his arm before he could, out of instinct.
His arm was shaking, I mean like vibrating. "Hey, Paul. It's cool, we were tackling before and I was taunting him right before we started. He was just playing." I spoke gently and evenly, trying to diffuse the situation.
After a moment of tension, Paul turned to me and pulled me up, pushing me behind him in the process. Weird.
Jared came jogging up quickly, shooting Paul a disapproving glare. Also weird, "Let's not tackle today. I'm pretty sure someone will end up injured. Let's play a clean game guys." The boys all nodded in agreement, though they seemed visibly shaken up by Paul's outburst.
Jake came up to me and we fist-bumped as a show of good sportsmanship and returned to playing. Paul seemed to be ghosting me throughout the game, always close but never so much so that it was clear if he was trying to be near me or not.
Kim quit when she realized how aggressive we were all playing, I didn't blame her, the shoving was serious. Eventually the game died off and everyone moved off to talk in their respective groups by the water.
I walked toward Embry to rub our win in. "Embry. I was thinking what kind of prize you could give me for handing you your own behind. I'm thinking that you need to declare me the 'Queen of Soccer, who is thoroughly greater than Embry'." He glared at me.
"I'm serious, pay up for the smack talk." I wiggled my finger in his face and booped his nose, which he swatted.
Taking a deep breath Embry shouted, "Daisy Swan is the Queen of soccer, who is thoroughly greater than I, Embry Call." He hung his head in defeat at the end in faux disappointment. He glanced up from under his mop of hair with a cheeky grin.
"Thank you dearest." I giggled, pulling him into a side hug. In that moment I heard a louder noise from behind me from where Paul, Jared, and Kim were sitting on a log. Sneaking a look over my shoulder, I saw Paul glaring at the back of Embry's head and Jared moving his hands quickly, seemingly trying to deescalate something.
