"Tell me everything!" I cried when we all got back to the dorms after the Social and Shane and I went in with a distraught Melissa in our wake. Shane had a shocked look on her face since we had left Bartholomew's and I was relieved Margaret and Gina had told me both of them had a guy to go with for the Formal.

Shane sat on her bed across from me and I leaned forward in anticipation for her news.

"Delila." She started with a smile stretching across her face. "She actually asked me." She said proudly. "I didn't even know who she was, but she said she thought I was the coolest one there." She chuckled. I whacked her.

"That's awesome!" I exclaimed. "See, I told you, you had admirers." I grinned.

"Yeah, wow." She shook her head, still with her eyes wide in unconcealed disbelief.

"Who are you going with?" Melissa asked, sounding depressed from where she had collapsed on her bed.

"Uh, Dwayne said he didn't really like anybody, so he agreed to go as a friend." I answered softly, trying not to shoot her a look that made her feel more pitiful that she already felt.

"What about you?" Shane probed, feeling the somber tension in the room and asking it softly like she was worried Melissa would have an outburst or start crying.

"I said yes to Ryan, but I like someone else, so I'm not really that happy about it. Victoria and Paul practically forced us into it. Neither of us wanted to go alone, so..."

"Did Izzy find somebody?" I asked distractedly turning to Shane, to see a little bit of anger go through her expression.

"Fuck Izzy. She should never have hurt you! Now your foot's going to hurt for the game! We could lose play-offs because of her." Shane growled, her eyes going to the dried blood on my broken toenail.

"Oh, Shane, I'll be fine. It's a torn nail, not a broken toe." I waved her off as I pulled my shoes off with relief and wiggled my sore toes. They were kind of tender, but in the heat of the game, I doubted I would even notice once the adrenaline ramped up.

"Who's Izzy, again?" Melissa asked, closing the bedroom door as we heard others go squealing down the hall to our neighbors' room.

"The redhead on the soccer team." Shane answered.

"There's two redheads. She's the girl in the 'lesbo' group- the shorter one." I explained, making Shane's face pull down in an unimpressed frown. "Oh, stop. It's what Victoria calls us. I couldn't figure out another way to explain." I insisted to her.

"Oh, the one with the ratty hair and combat boots." Melissa said knowingly, sounding disgusted. "Victoria's taking Paul. I guess she didn't find a suitable replacement." Melissa chuckled, changing the subject.

"Poor boring Paul." I commented with a laugh.

*

"Hey! Are you ready!?" Coach had a nervous edge to his voice but was bursting with excitement when Shane and I jogged over to join him by the benches with our water bottles.

"I'm so ready!" I answered, bouncing on my toes and doing a few silly punches in the air like I was boxing. The rest of the team looked nervous as hell with the bright lights that illuminated the field and the students and faculty and parents that had gathered on the bleachers. We had half an hour to warm up before the game started, but the crowd was already huge. I was surprised to see Victoria and her cronies with the ends of their hair dyed red with temporary hair dye and red jerseys over their warm sweatshirts. The faculty looked practically jolly in red school sweatshirts and even colorful red and black beaded necklaces were being handed out. I saw Victoria wave to me as she accepted a metallic red plastic necklace that she put over her head. Even Melissa looked excited with her red-tipped hair pulled up into a curled ponytail and bright red eye-shadow on her eyes.

When we were made to start stretching, I looked distractedly over the 'home' crowd and saw Dwayne and the entire boys soccer team from Bartholomew's with their navy blue and red jerseys on and their faces all painted an alarming red like a bunch of devils. They were almost scary the way they howled and moved in a big group at the front seats on the bleachers.

The other team arrived to boo's from the crowd, but their own crowd had started to gather on the bleachers on the opposite side of the field including a cheer-leading team dressed in tight green shirts with bright gold short skirts. We were facing Princeton Prep for the second time that season. Since we had won the same number of games during the season, they were the ones that got the chance to re-play us. I saw them eyeing me and Shane while we did lunges across the field before high knees on the way back. I felt like a goofball doing our warm-ups, but it had become second nature and instead of dwelling on it, I watched the Princeton Prep cheerleaders do their stretches too. I saw some preppy boys gathering on the opposing team's bleachers with grins and laughs aimed at me.

"Ew, dream on!" Shane growled at them when we caught one of them saying he wanted to 'bang' me.

"Oh, you got an attack dog." One of them retorted, making Shane just growl more.

"It's fine, Shane. They'll be so embarrassed when their team loses, they'll leave with their tails between their legs." I said, loud enough for them to hear and guffaw in laughter as the cheerleaders eyed me with distaste.

I could see my breath in the cold November air, but after warming up my skin didn't feel the bite of the cold even after I had taken off my black sweatshirt. The others looked nervous and a little cold as we gathered around the Coach.

"Assume they've improved since the last time they played us." He started in a deep voice. "Don't get cocky." He shot a look at Shane and she smirked. "And don't play dirty." He added, with a pointed look at me, even though he had a bit of smile on his thin lips.

"We've gotten better too, Coach." I insisted with determination in my voice. My confident attitude made his smile turn to a proud grin and we put our hands in before throwing them up in the air with kii-ai. The other team had finished their goofy cheers that were making our raucous students boo and laugh and the whistle starting the game seemed to bring a quietness over the field. I actually felt a twinge of nerves as I took my place to take the kick off at the very center of the field before the ref flipped a coin to see who got the ball first. I won the coin toss, knowing by whichever side the coin was on when she flipped would more likely be the one that was up when it landed. I was across from the large girl we that had started the game the first time we faced them and though there was a tense expression on her face, I felt like her intimidation of me was empowering.

"Sarah!" I called out right as the whistle blew and I sent the ball furtively behind me. I was just standing there blocking the shocked, confused girl's view of where the ball went and she had looked down at my feet looking dumbfounded as my team rallied behind me to get the ball up the field. Then I started sprinting through the players to get into position and Sarah kicked the ball to me, but her aim was off and the other team got it before I could turn back to get it. I was on the girl with the ball and since she was looking down at the ball to focus on keeping it close to her big feet I was able to slip a foot in and steal it, before taking it up the field and kicking it to a waiting Danielle. Danielle ran into trouble with a defender and a midfielder on her but she managed to get the ball rolling on ahead and I swooped in to send it towards the goal. It ricocheted off the far post with metallic clang, but hit on the inside and bounced further into the goal.

I had watched with anticipation and let out a yip when it went in. The sound of the crowd surprised me as they roared and hooted in victory. Shane ran over to give me a high-five. She had been in place on the other side of the goal to catch the ball if I missed. I patted Danielle on the shoulder as we made our way back.

"Good assist." I cheered, making her shoot me a face that said worst-assist-ever-you-goofball. "I'm serious. You had two of them on you." I laughed before skipping back to take my place. The skinny blond girl was nervously taking her spot across from me and I was half-crouched like I was ready to book it.

The whistle blew and the girl nervously tried to kick the ball past me. It went skidding to my team as I looked back as I started moving down the field. The ball went to Shane and when she got it, I went diagonally up the field to be open for her to pass. She was too fast for most of the other players and I was bouncing in anticipation as I stayed just in front of the defensemen to avoid being off-sides. They saw me getting into position and started inching down the field to try to get me to move back. I was careful to move back with them and I saw them scowl at my awareness of them. Shane made a desperate kick to me, but the defenseman got it first. I went after her, but her heavy kick sent the ball spinning half a field away. I hissed in frustration and booked back down to the left to make sure I was open. It was excruciating to not be able to help my team defend, when the other team got past our midfielders and took on Gina and another large girl named Valery. Our team gathered near the goal and a struggle ensued as I watched nervously with Shane unable to assist until the ball came whizzing over towards me. I beat the other team to the ball and Shane grinned before doing an excited leap as she begun to take off towards the goal.

I faked left before taking the ball right and the girl before me took a huge step to the left before stumbling forward a few steps in shock. I ran like a damn gazelle up the field, the only players, defensemen in my path. I didn't bother to pass and instead dribbled past the defenseman and took a sliding kick at the ball. It sped like lightning at the open goal and the goalie dove to get it, but the ball was slippery and it just barely slipped across the white line. Her slumped shoulders and drooped head let the whole crowd know that it was a goal.

It was three to zero after another goal by Shane with my assist horizontally across the field. It was almost half-time when the other team managed to get the ball past us to our goal and our tired defensemen weren't able to prevent their goal. The whistle sounded half-time when I was about to throw the ball in after the other team kicked it out of bounds. I sighed, seeing our missed opportunity when Shane was in perfect position to receive my throw and Danielle was in position to back her up if she missed.

"Good! Good!" Coach clapped as we jogged to the bench with our breathing labored. I grabbed my water and took a grateful gulp. "We have to keep it up!" he insisted, sounding like he was bursting with pride. I saw Izzy and another girl were on the bench and I was surprised they didn't look like they had played. I was feeling bad for Izzy until she glowered at me.

"Hey, City girl!" Dwayne called from close by where the boys soccer team had gotten up to gather around the short fence that separated the field from the bleachers. I heard the cheerleaders for the other team start a routine on the other side of the field.

"Hey," I called as an idea popped into my head. I leaped over the bench to trot up to the fence while the Coach was distracted by the referee. "You guys should've planned a flash-mob!" I insisted, making their eyebrows raise. "You could be our cheerleaders." I laughed. There were noises of agreement and excitement from all of them.

"It would be hilarious if both our teams just started busting out the Step Up moves on them." Tommy agreed.

"Yeah, exactly!" I clapped my hands as the Coach came to shoe me back to the other players.

*

The other team had the kick off after half-time and the Coach had stubbornly decided to play the same players while the other team's coach had put in a couple different players. I was soaked in sweat across from a girl who looked as fresh as a daisy. She wasn't ready for my gusto when I managed to pry the ball from her feet and go zooming across the field before taking it up the side. I ended up near the middle after dodging past a few players. Their offense players had been instructed to go back and help when Shane and I took off on their side of the field so I felt like I was being attacked on all fronts. When I looked up to find Shane and Danielle, I came close to getting the ball taken and ended up rainbowing it over one of the players and slipping between two of them to get it again. The next girl that was thundering toward the ball looked crazed and I turned my back to her blocking her aim at the ball and withstanding her shoves with her forearm from behind. I used my toe on the top of the ball to kick it to the side before letting her forearm slip suddenly from my back as I skipped around in an arc back to the ball. She lost her balance as she stumbled forward and I took the ball up the last bit of the field. It seemed like the entire team was facing me like a crowd of green shirts and intense, unfriendly faces. I had to dance between them, using my quickest footwork as I barely maintained the ball. As I dipped by one of the girls with a view of the goal in my sight, the one behind her came bulldozing into me and knocked me right off my feet. I fell on my back with my arms slapping out on the grass automatically and before I thought better of it, I used my leg to swipe hers out from under her. She had hit me so hard that she was already falling forward herself and she fell beside me with a thud on the grass as I leaped up with my eye on the unmanned ball. I took one huge stride before aiming a ground-shaking kick at the ball. The goalie had raced towards it, but I hadn't gotten there first and the ball went soaring over her into the goal. The referee had begun to blow her whistle, but the fact that I jumped up right away and then my desperate kick at the ball had made a confused look come to her face.

"Kate, are you okay?" Shane was the first to get to me and two girls on the other team were still trying to help the giant girl up from where she had fallen.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I shrugged as the referee made up her mind, and stopped their game to issue a warning to the large defensemen as the coaches both ran onto the field.

"Kate." Coach Beals cried. "Are you okay? She knocked you right off your feet." He had the utmost concern in his voice as his wide blue eyes looked me over in worry.

"I'm fine, Coach. Does our goal count or are they making us do a free kick?" I asked, focusing on the ball that the goalie was fishing from the net. Shane brushed the grass on my back and I saw her eyes stop on my abdomen with absolute concern.

"Kate, are you bleeding?!" She asked in a panic as she tried to lift my shirt to see my abdomen and slapped her hands away to see that my almost fully healed stab wound had opened at the impact and it had bled a little bit through my white shirt.

"It's fine. I had a cut there. It must've just opened it. I promise." I insisted in determination making eye contact with the Coach who looked like his puppy had died or something.

"Let me see." He demanded, making me roll my eyes.

"No, you can't take me out of the game for a papercut. I'm not taking my damn shirt off!" I growled in outrage, glancing at the huge crowd that had gathered and seeing some intense grey eyes watching me from where he stood smoking near the edge of the bleachers.

I was glad the goal counted and the referee agreed that my kick was about as good as a penalty kick so they had us go back to our sides of the field to continue the game. As our team got tired, the other team gained a little traction and I found myself unable to resist assisting when they made it to our goal and almost scored. Our goalie caught a slow-moving goal and hucked the ball to me. Though my footwork was getting sloppier from tired limbs and my twinging toe, I had an almost open field as I raced towards the goal. I kicked it past the defensemen in Shane's direction as one of the defense players almost slammed into me again, but slid to a stop as I steadied her and I peered over her shoulder as Shane wound up and took an impressive kick at the goal. This time the goalie leapt and caught it and the defenseman and I scrambled to be ready for a goal kick. Danielle stole the ball after the goalie's impressive kick made for a bad bouncing target and one of the other players couldn't control it.

The game was coming to a close and we were still 4 to 1. The other team was pretty resigned and their exhaustion made it easier for me and Shane to score two more goals even with their goalie catching three other attempted goals by the two of us and Danielle.

The final whistle was high and shrill and I was almost glad to get my aching feet off the field.

"Hey, Kate. Good game." One of the other team's defensemen called.

"Thanks, you too." I answered, returning her smile.

"Tess." She called, her smile brightening for a second. She was the short-haired girl who knew Shane. I felt a tinge of respect for her since she was definitely not a sore loser. I would've liked to have her on our team. We only had two good defensemen and our midfielders were strong, but weren't always fast enough to catch the other team's offense players.

The Coach swooped over to me and to my utter annoyance picked me up in hug and spun me around in his tight grip.

"Ow." I complained as it pressed on my wound.

"We won!" he cheered, putting me down. I forced a smile, feeling like my feathers were so damn ruffled. Like a cat, licked by a dog.

Shane came to my aid and the team gathered around us as the boys' team stormed the field to lift me from my feet again.

"No-ooo-o!" I howled as Tommy somehow had my legs over his shoulders as he paraded around. My hand went to my forehead and I scowled. "Will you PUT me DOWN!" I barked. Tommy chuckled as Dwayne came to my rescue and helped me off his shoulders before carefully setting me on my feet. They had been too intimidated to pick up Shane too, but Danielle got a ride on another guy's shoulders and looked about as uncomfortable as me.

"Sorry, they get a little... over-zealous." Dwayne chuckled.

"Terrible hooligans." I joked, making him laugh.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Shane asked looking down at the blood on my shirt which was in the shape of the knife-wound now and not just a small blotch when it first got aggravated.

"Yeah, I'm good- just need a shower." I laughed it off, but Dwayne saw my blood and freaked out too.

"Kate, what happened? You got hurt?" he asked as I reached for my water bottle to find that I had pretty much none left. It was the Coach that handed me a Gatorade to my surprise.

"Oh, god, thanks." I said in relief as I twisted the cap gratefully to take a much-needed gulp.

The Coach started yelling at the boys team to get outside the fence before we had to line up to shake hands with the other team and then receive a big trophy. The other team's crowd clapped quietly while our side was still roaring and cheering.

"I wish we weren't all sweaty. Now we're all going to look terrible for the pictures." Lola complained as she let her hair down after we were told we had to line up for a picture with the principal, coach, dean, and of course the trophy.

"Same... and I'm all grass-stained. I'm surprised they didn't mistake me for the other team." I joked, looking at the green stains on the side and back of my once white shirt.

"I'm more worried about the blood stains." Shane murmured, putting her arm over my shoulders. I put my arm around her back as we approached the milling group and the Coach instructed us where to stand. He had me and Shane in the center with the soccer ball and I was glad it was the perfect size to hide my bright red blood on my shirt. I wondered vainly for a second if I should take my hair down to look more feminine, but then I decided it would look gross and sweaty anyway.

The cold was starting to make me shiver after we stood still for like a thousand pictures with the play-off trophy being switched out for the ball and the Coach behind the group of us with his hand furtively on my back.

"Oh god! I'm stuck." Gina cried in distress from where she was still kneeling off to the side. Shane and I laughed as we pulled her to her feet and she chuckled. The JV team joined us as we stiffly went back to our bags at the bench and they congratulated us heartily. I guessed my lips were blue by the time I pulled my sweatshirt back on because the Coach offered me his sweatshirt.

"I'm fine. A warm shower is all I need." I laughed, seeing the dejection plain on his face.