× Mercury

Midnight on Saturday, or Sunday depending on how you looked at it, was finally settling in that I was going to London. Even though it was dawning on me that I was leaving, it was still really, really hard to grasp. I mean, going from the city I've grown up in with the beaches and palm trees to a place that was always gloomy and a million miles away from my friends and family seemed like a huge mistake. And maybe it was, but I wouldn't know that if I just stayed in LA. It was about time I took some risks.

All my bags were packed (all twenty of them, though I was sadly informed that I would have to leave some behind), all the paperwork to transfer was signed (a long, boring process that I probably should have added onto my pro and con list), my physical with the family doctor gave me the O-K to play with the boys was finished (I really hated blood work and almost chickened out right then and there), and the only thing left were the goodbyes (something I've been dreading from the second I hung up with Coach Mathews three days ago).

I sighed heavily, looking around my room one last time.

The clock was ticking down to my departure as I grabbed my carryon bag. My friends and Grandma were waiting for me outside to say our goodbyes.

I barely made it through the threshold before my phone started to ring. I've been getting calls and text all day from my friends and teammates to congratulate me and to wish me luck. I even received a text from Lucy saying that I would do amazing in London. She also didn't fail to slip in another apology from a few days before, but I ignored her text like I did with her other ones.

I hadn't talked to Lucy since I caught her with Bradley. I was sure she was at soccer practice yesterday, but I didn't go because I was busy with my physical and packing. I saw her once in the hall on campus, but I kept looking forward and didn't give her the time of day. I was being harsh, but could you honestly blame me?

Bradley had been blowing up my phone as well, leaving voice mails and sappy texts. I even built up my courage to test my willpower and listened to his voice messages, each one of them sounding sad and desperate, always ending with a broken "I need you". But this time I didn't go running back to him. This time I deleted his messages and moved on.

Just as my phone was about to stop ringing, I took it out of my pocket and smiled at the caller ID.

"Hey, kiddo," Coach Sharp said into the receiver. "I was just calling to wish you luck."

I smiled, happy to hear my coach. "I wouldn't even have this opportunity if it wasn't for you."

"That's not true," she confessed. "You're an amazing soccer player; you would have been snatched up even if you were on a different team."

"If I'm such an amazing player, then why don't I just stay here and hope for the best?" I challenged. I was still having doubts about going to London and it almost made me sick to think that I would probably always have that doubt... that what if I had stayed in LA?

"Security," Coach said shortly. "Staying here would always have that chance of not making it big no matter how many people told you differently. Going to London gives you that security that's guaranteed. Your mom was the same way, you know. Always wanted that safety net."

I smiled, knowing that was the truth. "I'm just imaging what Mom would say to me leaving," I laughed, knowing it would be around the lines of: You're making a rash decision! Why in the world would you go across the world to play soccer!? You're just like your father!

Coach Sharp laughed, too. "I can only image! Mind you, I never did like your mother that much when your dad was dating her. However, things changed when they tied the knot."

Like I had said before, my dad and Coach Sharp knew each other in college, which was where my parents met. My dad and she were best friends so I always had some kind of connection to Coach ever since meeting her. At first people thought the only reason I got on the team was because of Couch's relationship with my parents, but after some time of playing on the team, it was apparent that I earned the position just like everyone else.

"Mom's probably cursing you out for even putting me on your team," I added with a smile.

"I wouldn't put it past her."

"Where did you go?" I asked, changing the subject. "After college, I mean. Dad said you got a job somewhere across seas which was why I wasn't able to meet you until I was thirteen."

"London," was all she said.

Then suddenly the pieces fell into place. This is an old friend of mine, Coach Mathews, she had said to me when we were introduced. He coaches a soccer team at a London university.

I probably would have asked her more about that - dug in deep to find all the secrets she kept about London - but right then I got a look at the clock in the living room and knew that I was limited on time. So instead I said, "Are you coming to see me off? I'm leaving in ten minutes to the airport."

"No, I'm not," she said sadly and my heart fell. "I have a meeting early in the morning. I'm sorry, kiddo. I wish I could. I'll make sure to go and see you play in London, though!"

London. That word still hung around me like a satellite in orbit. The thought that I was actually going to live in the same city as Big Ben hasn't fully sunk in yet and probably never would. Not just London, but everything about going there. Playing with the boys and pretty much having a career once I'm out of college... I wasn't just leaving California and everything in it, I was starting something fresh. Not just a new chapter, I realized, a new book from the series. A new story that circled around the same plot, just expanded into something more.

"Goodbye, Mercury. It was a pleasure having you on my team," Coach said into the phone.

"It was a pleasure being on it."

"I'll see you around, kiddo."

We hung up and I hosted my bag over my shoulder, heading outside once again. The moment the screen door slammed shut behind me, Jamie came running, jumping into my arms. I was nearly knocked over from the impact; I had to reach my hand out to grip onto the side of the wooden threshold of the door so we wouldn't fall over.

"I'm going to miss you so much," she mumbled into my neck. "I already miss you."

I smiled and wrapped the hand that wasn't supporting us up around her tiny waist. "I'm going to miss you, too, Jam."

That nickname was only between the two of us, something only we shared outside of the world. Freshmen year of college, shortly after making the UCLA soccer team, the newcomers along with Coach Sharp all went out to go bowling as a "bonding" exercise. As I was typing the names into the monitor before starting the game, the first three letters of Jamie's name was what appeared on the screen. Jam. Ever since then she was Jam to me. It wasn't anything funny or remarkable, but it stuck nevertheless.

"I'm going to go to every single game," Jamie continued. "I don't even care if it lands on a day when I have a game, I'm going to be there to support you one hundred present." She let go of me but didn't move to get out of the way. Her light blue eyes were shiny and her strawberry blonde hair was pulled up in a fancy twist.

"You're going to be living on the streets if you do that," I told her, laughing. "Do you know how much the tickets are to fly out there? I'll make sure to come back for Christmas and spring break, okay?"

I maneuvered myself around Jamie and walked over to the passenger side of the car and opened it, setting my bag inside. And then I held my arms out for Macey. She was wearing sweat pants and a baggy blue shirt, hair up in a pony tail and face clean of any makeup. That was the one thing I couldn't stand about Macey; she was always so effortlessly beautiful.

She stepped inside my arms and rubbed her hands up and down my back. "Kick ass for me," she said into my ear, and for Macey that was as good of a goodbye I was going to get. And I wouldn't have asked for anything else.

Before I could let Macey go, I was pulled away and cocooned by another set of arms - a stronger set of arms - and was quickly losing air in my lungs.

"Emily," I heard Grandma say from the other side of the car. "Please don't break my granddaughter."

"Right," Emily nodded and pulled away hastily, like she had forgotten that I was a human being and not a stuffed teddy bear. Then she punched me in the arm, and for Emily, that was her way of saying goodbye.

"We should get going, I don't want to be late to the airport," Grandma reminded me as she hopped into the driver side of the car.

"Wait!" Emily suddenly said. I watched as she dug around in her messenger bag, the street lights bouncing off her floral, tattooed arm. She took out a stack of something I didn't recognize and handed it to me. "I've been accumulating these ever since I joined the team, and I think you should have them."

Flipping through the stack, I quickly realized that they were pictures from when we went to the mountains and skied, sunbathing at Santa Monica Beach, messing around at soccer practice, catching up at the local diner, and a bunch more from other times we were all together.

"Just remember where you came from," Emily added with a wink.

I gripped the stack of papers in one hand as I wrapped my arm around her, giving Emily one last hug. "Thank you," I said and pulled away. "I'm going to put these up as soon as I get inside my dorm."

"Lynn." Grandma's soft voice came from the car. "It's time."

I leaned my arms on the hood and looked over at my best friend. "I'll miss you," I told Jamie, my throat closing up. "Take care of Grandma for me."

"I will," Jamie said with a smile. "Make sure to tell Jace I said hi."

I promised her that I would and joined my grandma in the car. I rolled down my window and waved at my friends, shouting my last goodbyes at them before we rounded the corner of the block.

Grandma and I sat in silence, both dreading the moment it was our time to say goodbye to each other.

It wasn't until we were inside the airport, only three minutes before they stopped collecting tickets, when Grandma finally spoke. "You grew up to be such a fine young lady," she said, gripping her strong hands on my forearms. She only came up to my shoulders and she was looking up at me with her dull blue eyes through the lenses of her glasses. "You look just like your mom."

I smiled down at her, fighting the tears that were threatening to be released.

"I knew you would go to London," she continued. "You're someone who follows their gut, not their heart. Just like your father. It's obvious that your heart is here in California, but what you want is over there. It's good to put yourself first sometimes."

I liked when she talked about my dad, even if it was just little things like that. It had only been three years since they died, but just hearing little insights about him made it seem like he wasn't gone at all. Grandma wasn't even Dad's mom, but my father was the type of person you couldn't help but too like - couldn't help but smile when he smiled, laughed when he laughed. And my grandma took him in like one of her own.

"I may not be there with you, but that does not mean I am not there for you," Grandma finished.

Nodding as I fought back the tears, I reached out and wrapped my arms around her frail body. Grandma was what I was going to miss the most, though, and it sucked to know she was going to be alone now that I wasn't going to be living with her anymore.

The announcement for the final ticket collection was heard over our heads and I let go of her, whipping away the tears that managed to spill over.

As I walked over to the lady who was collecting the tickets, I looked over my shoulder at Grandma one last time before I disappeared.