The Red Card

Chapter 1

"Goal!" I heard, while running back to the middle. I heard the applause and cheering of our side, and the groaning of theirs.

My teammates all hugged me, and a few seconds later, the game was started again. It was 3-2, Mavericks. I had given us the lead and now there were only two minutes left.

The whistle blew and the blonde haired girl on the other team passed it to her teammate.

Allie ended up getting the ball and she passed it from me, I passed it to Lauren. She dribbled up but the defense took position and kicked it to a striker of their team.

Run. I thought. They cannot score. I was running up, towards the girl. Before I got to the goal box, she had passed defense. I tackled her hard before she could shoot, making her shot weak and her on the floor.

The referees whistle blew, the other teams coach ran over and so did the referee. The referee pulled out a red card. I went off the field and I heard yelling from others. Instead of sitting on the bench, I stood at the side.

It was a penalty. The other teams coach had gotten off the field, and Ash was taking the penalty.

My team was ready to run up and defend if Casey couldn't get hold of the ball. Their team was ready to kick the ball in, in case Casey stopped the ball but didn't pick it up.

The whistle blew and Ash ran up and kicked the ball, but Casey stopped it and grabbed it with her hands. She, then, threw it out to Elaine and she dribbled up, but the whistle blew before anything else could happen.

The crowd erupted in cheers, we all ran to the middle of the field to congratulate the other team. I stood in the back, with the coaches behind me.

"Good job," I repeated, high-fiving the players on the other team. After I reached the end of the line, the referee stopped me and my coach.

"Well, she's not alllowed to play in the next game," the referee stated,

I nodded and left the field towards the guys team. I knew that would happen, and as sad as I was to not be able to play against our rivals, the Wilmington High Wildcats, I was happy we won.

"Cheer up," Jake Kinlaw says, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"You did good," Quinten Venters says, hugging me.

"Thank you, but now I can't play in the next game." I frown.

"Hey," He places his fingers on the bottom corners of my mouth, and pulls up. "Don't frown, I hate seeing you sad."

I laugh, "Go and warm up, I don't want you getting hurt."

"Okay, but if I see you frowning I'll do worse. Whenever I see your smile it only makes me want to do better."

"Oh aren't you sweet," I chuckle.

"I am, aren't I," He says, kissing me, and then going on the field with the guys.

I go off the field and sit on the bench. Lauren joins me, "Hey,"

"Hey," I reply.

"I'm sorry. If I didn't lose possession you wouldnt have a card."

"Its not your fault, I shouldn't have been stupid enough to foul like that."

"What surprised me is that you didn't try to fight the ref, or anything like that, you didn't argue."

"Oh," I chuckle, "Lauren! You saw that, I knew the ref would give me a red card, I didn't want to make it worse."

"As we all know." She chuckles, "So, Quinten and you?''

"Yep," I look over to the guys warming up, "Been a year,"

"Already?" She asks, surprised.

"Almost," I say back.

"Oh," She holds her heart and sighs, "You almost made me have a heart attack! I thought I missed it!"

"Very funny," I say, the captains of both of the teams went to the middle. Quentin, Jake, and Dawson going to the middle, and also three guys from the other team.

"Hopefully they win this, and hopefully they win the rest of their games, and so do we." I say.

"Hey, maybe we'll go undefeated." Lauren says, elbowing me.

"I blame you if we lose the next game." I jokingly say.

The guys had gotten into their positions, with some of the team coming off the field to sit on the bench. Lauren leaves and Jason sits beside me, along with Jake to the left of me.

"Why aren't you guys playing?" I ask them.

"Sterling doesn't want us playing the whole time. At half he's going to sub us in, and some of them out." Jake explains.

"Oh," I say.

I look on the field right when Quentin shoots the ball and scores. "Woohoo," I smiled, standing up from the bench and clapping, like the rest of the team.

Quentin looks over to me and smiles. We sit back down, and the game continues.

*****************

At halftime, it was 2-1, Mavericks. The whole team came over to the bench. I stood up, handing them all waters.

"Okay," Sterling, the coach said, "Great playing guys. For the next game, considering I need you all. I'm taking some of you out, and putting others in. Ben, you okay with staying in defense?"

"Sure coach," he says, nodding.

****************

The guys won, 2-1, with no other goals in the second half.

I help Sterling, Quentin's dad, move all the water and the balls.

After we get rid of that, we head to Quentin's car, with Coach having to take the bus back.

I lean against the seat and close my eyes.

"I'm so hungry," I groan.

"Me too, what do you want to eat?" he asks, looking over to me.

We end up getting subway, talking the whole time there. Quentin and I have been dating for almost a year. It took him a while to even ask me, but it was worth the wait considering how great our relationship is now.

While he's driving me home, his phone randomly goes off with a phone call. He quickly grabs it but I see the name before he's able to grab it.

"Who's Claire?" I look at him.

"Nobody, she's just one of my moms friends daughters. They're new around here and my mom wants me to make her feel comfortable because she knows no one here."

"Well, if that's the case, you know you could've answered."

"I know," he says, grabbing my hand and kissing it, "but I want to talk to my beautiful girlfriend as much as possible."

I smile at him, we finally arrive to my house, and I head in. I get a text from Jake before I go to bed. Meet me after school before practice, it reads.

A/N

Quentin's dads name is: Sterling Venters

Comments are appreciated!!! Thank you for reading!