Chapter One

As I ran off the field I slapped the other player’s hand. We were losing 10-0 and there was only two minutes left. I could feel the tension rising in my coaches and in me as well. I sat down on the bench biting my lip.
“Are you ok Alex?” Coach Anderson said sitting down next to me.
“Sure,” I replied trying to catch my breath.
“What’s wrong, there’s something wrong I can see it in your eyes.”
“Nothing.” I said in a bland voice.
“You’re lying!” she said with a small smile. “What’s wrong?”
“I know I can beat them. Look at our position we have no offence. So when defense wants to pass they have no one to pass to!” I explained
“I knew there was something wrong,” she laughed as the buzzer sounded the end of the game. We all ran on the field to line up. As we all walked off the field our heads hung low. My friend Valarie ran up and said
“What a game!” I looked over and gave her a glance. She didn’t say any more. As I walked out my coach caught me.
“Hey it’s ok we all have our days. Don’t beat yourself up over a silly game.” I turned around quickly
“I want us to be the best. I know we are the best. I’ll see ya at practice tomorrow.” I said as I walked out the door. As I jumped in the car my dad said,
“Awesome job out there bud.” I looked at him,
“What game were you watching?” I said as I shut the door. He began to drive,
“Why are you beating yourself up over this game?” he said as he looked over,
“Common dad you saw our position. You saw how we played. It’s not like us.”
“Well it’s not like it’s your fault or anything.” She said as we pulled in the driveway. I ran out of the car and yelled
“I’ll be back soon I’m going to practice for awhile.”
“Be back in time for dinner.” He yelled
“Ya, ya.”
BAM, BAM, BAM, was heard all around as she kicked the ball into the barn door. She could hear her mother calling her in the distance as she kicked the ball. When the ball came back to her feet she dribbled the ball back up to her house. She snuck a cookie when her mother wasn’t watching.
“I heard you had a rough day today.” She said as she put dinner on the table
“O ya.” I said as I sat down and shoved the cookie in my mouth.
“So how bad did ya lose?” my brother taunted.
“Oh get lost Justin, you can’t even score a goal.” I snapped back. I gave him a nasty look and my dad began grace. Dinner at our house was quiet unless I won a game. Dinner was over at about 6 o-clocks so I had enough time to run back outside for a couple more rounds. After I kicked around the ball some more I laid down and looked at the first stars in the sky. I closed my eyes and wished for our team to win our next game. At around 8:00 my mom called me in as I got ready for bed I couldn’t stop thinking about the game.