Chapter 8 - Tryouts Part 2

I saw a hand reach out beside me and I grabbed it, pulling myself up. It was the girl that had been running beside me. Her ball was still right where it was before I fell, meaning she had stopped to help me. She smiled at me and I smiled back, thanking her.

Even with an advantage I somehow managed to fail, I felt pathetic and sorry for Kai spending all his time helping someone like me. It wasn't his fault I sucked. I felt embarrassed to even look up at them and sat at one of the benches with the other girls.

"Hey" the girl from earlier sat beside me "I'm Sarah". Now that I was taking a good look at her she really was beautiful. She had tanned skin and luscious, dark hair. Her eyes had a hazel tint and she had pretty dimples. On top of all that she was a guaranteed member of the soccer team, she was pretty much perfect.

I broke out of my daze to respond, "hi, I'm Sapphire" I smiled "I'm sorry, I totally ruined your momentum back there".

"Oh don't worry about it. I was really surprised when you passed me, you have a lot of potential" I blushed at her words.

"Well after that huge mistake I doubt the Coach will even take a second look" I sighed.

"I don't think so" she glanced at the Coach "there's a reason why our school is well known for soccer, and it's because of our Coach. He doesn't choose based on how perfect a person is but based on how much potential he sees. If he were to rule you out because of one mistake he would be a fool".

I was speechless, I couldn't explain how much better her words made me feel so instead I grinned really widely. Coach blew his whistle and Sarah got up, gesturing for me to follow.

Coach split us up into four teams and had the nets set up. I was in the third team and Sarah was in the fourth team, meaning I would have to play against her. The first two teams began to play, it was a very messy game. Blondie one and two were in opposing teams and were shoving and tripping people in ways that the Coach couldn't penalize them. There was no teamwork between the teams and it was everyone for themselves as people would steal balls from their own team members to get a goal in.

The game ended with blondie one's team winning and the nets were repositioned for us to start. I saw Sarah's team form a circle as she instructed them, she really was amazing.

An older girl on my team called us over, "well we all know the basics of soccer which is why we're here, just stay out of each other's way and we should be fine" everyone nodded.

"W-wait" I spoke up "I think we should at least set up each other's positions or else we won't be able to win. We all saw what happened with the last match, and team 4 looks like they have a plan. But that's just my opinion..." I started off strong but started losing some of my confidence as I noticed how uninterested they all looked, what was I thinking trying to take on a leader position like Sarah? Of course they wouldn't listen to me.

The older girl smiled, "I think that's a good idea, I'm Riana by the way" some of the other girls nodded too and I blushed. <i>They listened to me</i>. We quickly set up a roles for each person and the Coach soon blew the whistle for us to start.

I was playing as a midfielder, meaning I would stay in the middle of the field and defend while also going on the offensive occasionally. Sarah was one of the main forwards, which translated to a main attacker and goal scorer.

The game started and while it was tense it was still going a lot smoother than the previous match. Sarah was shooting goals left and right, her team was well put together and it was unbelievable to think that it was just a makeshift team. I was doing my best defending and had managed to help a forward score a goal. But still no one had managed to block against Sarah.

Sarah's team had a huge lead, they had 6 goals while we only had 3. The game was nearing the end, I ran with all my might towards the direction Sarah seemed to be running in with the ball. She noticed me and swiftly switched directions, Kai did that a lot so I was always prepared to switch directions.

I ran faster until I was right in front of her, she went to kick and I was prepared to block her. But instead she kicked the ball behind her to another forward. My eyes widened as I realized, the other forward kicked and I ran forward, barely making it and kicking the ball with the tip of my foot. Riana, one of the forwards, received the ball and hit it straight into the net. Our team cheered and Coach blew the whistle signalling the end of the game. I fell on the ground, cradling my foot in pain.

We lost but I still felt satisfied with the match. Sarah reached her hand out for me, "seems I wasn't wrong about you" she grinned and I grinned back.

"It was all thanks to what you said" I replied. I grabbed my water bottle and huddled around the Coach with the other girls, waiting for him to reveal who made it.

He cleared his throat "It was pretty easy to decide this year, many of you were tra- I mean a little inexperienced. But I was really surprised by some of you, I think with a little more practice you all will be amazing players so I do recommend trying out next year even if you don't make it this year. So without further ado, this is the list" he held up the list and everyone began to shove each other, trying to take a look at it.

I tried to squeeze my way to the front and finally caught a glimpse of it. There were disappointed sighs and cheers of happiness all around me but I tuned them out, trying to read all the names. My eyes scanned the paper until finally I saw it.

I turned around and held a thumbs up at Zach, Kai and my friends, they all smiled widely.

"Oh and your captain will be Sarah" Coach added. I squealed as I looked at Sarah, she grinned. We both grabbed our bags and made our way to the locker room to change our clothes.

We made our way out of the room and I saw all of them waiting there. I noticed Sarah's smile falter a little but didn't pay a lot of attention as I went to hug my brother.

"I knew you would make it" he smiled.

"Don't leave us now that you've become famous" Carlos pouted and I laughed.

"You can leave him and we'll have no complaints" Bella rolled her eyes. We all laughed as they bickered.

I remembered that I hadn't introduced Sarah, "oh yea this is-"

"Sarah?" Zach asked "looks like you helped Saph out a lot" he smiled.

Sarah looked at the two of us "how are you two-"

"Siblings" Zach said rolling his eyes. He really had a bad habit of cutting people off.

"Oh" Sarah said "I didn't realize, she's so much sweeter, prettier and overall a better soccer player than you". I was confused by the sudden change in her demeanour, it seemed like she and Zach knew each other by the way they were acting.

She walked away leaving Zach unable to respond, I had never seen him speechless before.

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