The sun was beating down on the college student's necks, Hope thanked the lord for sunscreen.

The September air was muggy and gross- the complete opposite of. Seattle weather, Hope's hometown. 16 girls had arrived at the soccer field for tryouts- 3 of them were seniors, 5 sophomores and the 8 freshmen. Hope only recognized 2 of them- Alex her roommate and Carli Lloyd, the girl Hope had ran into at the sign up table. The head coach, Coach Jackson, ordered the 16 to pair up for warmups.

Alex immediately looked towards Kelley and felt a pang of disappointment when she saw the freckled girl linking arms with a blonde chick.

"Hey," a person said, patting Alex on the shoulder. "Want to be partners?" Hope asked. Alex breathed a sigh of relief. How could she forget about her dormmate?

"Yes," Alex nodded, catching a ball thrown to her and gently placing it on the ground. The pairs started the session up with simple passing drills so the coaching team could get a sense of their coordination and basic skills.

The young women were dismissed for a water break and almost immediately called back to the training.

"Okay, here's the deal," the coach announced, bouncing a balk twice against the grass. "All keepers go over to the goal. Defenders line up equally on either side of the goal, mids and forwards make two even lines at the top of the '18." The women did as they were told, somewhat grudgingly.

After the drill was explained, Coach Jackson blew the whistle to single the start. Carli and a dark haired girl were the first mids/forwards to start with the ball. A brunette and the blonde from earlier came our on defense, attempting to stop the two from scoring. Carli passed the ball to her partner, who dribbled to the corner flag. She did a reverse to fake out the blonde defender and crossed it to Carli, who headed it only to find her shot blocked by Hope.

"Shit," she cursed under her breath, wiping her forehead with the bottom of her shirt.

In the goal, a girl stepped up, who had introduced herself as Ashlyn, and prepared to save a shot. This time, Alex and an Asian senior rushed into the goal box, setting the ball in the left hand corner of the goal, just out of Ashlyn's reach. The blonde groaned as Hope replaced her in the box.

"You've got this," Hope grinned at Ashlyn, trying to encourage the down keeper.

-

After the first day of tryouts, the girls made their way to their rooms, all sweaty and exhausted yet exhilarated.

Kelley dumped her athletic bag on her bag and quickly stripped and changed into a hot black dress. "What are you doing?" Allie asked, looking at her roommate in shock.

"Opal invited some of the girls to a bar. Wanna come?" Kelley explained.

"Who's Opal?"

"Oh, she's that Asian chick Alex played with today."

Allie shook her head. Isn't that illegal? Allie wanted to say, but instead decided to play it safe by saying, "I have other plans." Kelley smiled, and Allie was almost positive she knew she was lying.

"Have fun!" Allie called as the door slammed behind Kelley. "I'm sure you will," she muttered under her breath once the freckled girl was out of sight.