Chapter 23

My eyes go as wide as alien saucers, but luckily he can't tell from where he's standing. My heart hammers in my heart as if I'm having a heart attack and my mind is racing. How do I reply to that? First of all he called me Jessa and no one except my dead dad, who Jace has obviously never meet, and Spencer, but we were always alone and it didn't last for long. Oddly enough it's not what he said it's how he said it. With such a tone as if he knew exactly what that name means to me. And secondly he asked me the question I've been begging he'd never ask me today in, such a knowingly tone too. "How come you've been avoiding me lately? Is it something I've done in the past?"

I search urgently in my brain for a reply that I can play off. And then I think of it.

"What Jace? I can't hear you, could you please speak a little louder?" I holler across the field. And just for dramatic effect I put cup my hand around my right ear. I mentally pray this works.

When Jace takes a long moment of confusion I take my chance. I discreetly look to Spencer with a look of urgency. Luckily, he's already looking at me because of all the commotion I caused yelling at Jace. 

Somehow he manages to read the look on my face which right now looks like I'm about to die.

Jace, who finally came out of his confusion, decides to repeat what he said before. And louder. Way louder. So loud that practically the whole team looks over at him.

Spencer, who now doesn't look too happy, jogs over to Jace. But he stays far away just so that he can yell at Jace without causing Jace hearing damage. How kind of him.

"Get back to practicing Everwood! It's soccer time not socializing time! And you should now that Jess doesn't like talking to gossip girls." Spencer hollers then pauses for dramatic effect. "Maybe you should stop acting like one!"

The whole team, who by now stopped doing the drill and started listening, goes crazy. They all holler various things. Such as:

"Ohhhh burn!"

"Chirps be fly'n!"

"Get wrecked Everwood!"

And my personal favourite: "Need ointment for that giant burn Everwood?"

Jace's whole face turns as red my favourite Belgium soccer jersey, which is the brightest shade of red I've ever seen in my life. He trudges back into the right spot, directly across from me, and waits awkwardly for me to pass the ball back.

I give Spencer a small, barely noticeable smile. In return he gives me a quick wink. But the look in his eyes tells me he will talk to me about this later. I give a quick bop of my head.

"Alright everybody!" Spencer hollers after we all continued the passing drill for about five minutes. "Let's actually do some real drills!"

7 drills, 2 scrimmages, 2 Gatorade water fights, 4 times Spencer yelled at Jace, 5 times Coach made 'dad jokes', and 3 and 1/2 hours later practice is over. And yes, all of those things did actually occur in almost only 4 hours. Not to mention all the times some of the weaker boys complained and then Spencer made them do laps for complaining, which actually made them complain more. I honestly can't say much since I was seriously about to complain near the end. And instead of having the 2 hour practice that Spencer told us we would be having, we had a 4 hour practice. Amazing.

"Do you always make the team suffer?" I ask him as I take a swig of Gatorade and lift my heavy bag up. Even I was tired and I'm used to practicing every day.

Spencer helps me hoist my bag over my shoulder as he replies. "No. I just wanted them to be more prepared for what's to come. If they think that it's all easy peasy at the beginning then get to the game which will be difficult, we'll all be doomed."

"Oh okay that makes sense."

But you now what doesn't make sense, is what Spencer does next.

"You seriously just squirted water at me?" I yell through my now squinted eyes as I wipe the water off of my face.

As I reopen my eyes I come face to face with Spencer. And no not like 1 metre away, 1 foot away.

My breath hitches in the back of my throat.

"Yes, yes I did." He grins cheekily. "What are you going to do about it?"

I pretend to think to myself for a moment. "Hmm... How about water fight number three?" I shout as I squirt water all over Spencer's face and I immediately start running.

"You just started World War 3 Kitten!" I hear him holler from behind me. And that definitely makes me pick up my pace.

I feel my back getting cold water splashed on and I instantly squeal.

I quickly turn around and see Spencer catching up to me. So what do I do? Squirt more water back at him.

Then I spot a tree not too far away, just in the other side of the soccer field. I could possibly climb it.

I change directions and Sprint towards the tree. I can literally picture Spencer's face full of confusion right now.

Luckily the giant tree isn't to hard to climb and I manage to make it to about the middle of the tree, which has like this perfect spot for me to sit in. I quickly get ready for Spencer, who by now is standing directly under the tree looking up at me.

"Well, hello Katniss Everdeen."

I cackle evilly as I dunk some of my ice cold water on his head down below. Her weapon was a bow and arrow and mine is my water bottle.

"You're mean." He pouts after he shakes the water out of his hair like a shaggy dog.

"Get used to it." I joke as I dunk even more water on him.

"Okay okay," Spencer puts his hands up in surrender as he jumps away from the bottom of the tree. "You win." He grumbles.

"What did you say?" I yell pretending I couldn't hear him just so that he can repeat it. "I couldn't hear you."

"You win!" Spencer repeats in an exasperated tone. "Now can I join you up there?"

I scout over so that he can sit beside me. I pat the empty space. "The more the merrier."

Spencer soon makes his way up the tree and at about the 8 or 9 feet mark he stops and sits down beside me. I try to push the thought of how close we are right now out of mind. But I definitely can't. We are literally sitting with our inside legs touching.

He notices that I'm resting my head back on the tree and does the same.

"So, you wanna tell me what you hollering and the whole Jace thing was for? Because honestly, even if it was just a joke for me to yell at Jace, it felt really good yelling at that dickface." Spencer blurts out as he turns his head to face me.

I look down at my hands as I fidget with them. "He called me Jessa, Spencer." I whisper out as I finally find the words. "And you know how only one person in the whole world used to call me that. Well, except for you, but he never heard you call me Jessa."

His eyes widen at my answer and they fill with a familiar emotion. Rage. "You don't think he knows anything?" Spencer grits out and I notice his hands clench.

I instantly grab his hands, unclenching them. "Hey, I mean if he does know my whole past, they all had to find out soon anyways, right?" I give him a sad smile.

"But how on earth would he know all of that?" Spencer replies to my question with yet another question."No offence to him... Actually totally offence, the guy isn't exactly the smartest apple in the bunch if you ask me."

I roll my eyes. "Are you sure he doesn't know?" My eyes fill with vulnerability.

"You know what Kitten. There are somethings in the world that we just aren't 100% sure about. And Jackass Jace knowing about your confusing past is one of them. So you are going to have to trust me when I say I'll make sure he doesn't do anything wrong about it. I'll make sure that he doesn't blackmail you, threaten you, or anything because trust me that's one of the few things Jace is actually good at."

I give him a small appreciative smile. "Thank you Spencer." I rest my head in the crook of his neck. "Just to let you know I trust you one hundred and ten percent."

I feel him look down at me. "And I trust you one hundred and twenty percent."

I mentally roll my eyes but the smile on my face magically grows. "Maybe one hundred and whatever percent will be our always."

"You seriously didn't just try to recreate a famous scene from The Fault In Our Stars did you?" Spencer replies in fake disbelief. But I can tell he's smiling too.

"If I did how would you have known?" I question back suspiciously.

"Never mind then." I hear his voice immediately get scared.

"So, who forced you to watch the movie then?" I ask. "Or did you read the book?" I gasp. "Spencer Gold have you seen both the movie and read the book of The Fault In Our Stars?"

"No, no, no, a million times no!" He shakes his head rapidly. "I definitely did not read the book as well."

I squeal at what Spencer's implying.

"Yes kitten I watched the movie, but only because my mom made me watch it with her. So quite acting like the creepy fangirl we all know you are."

I seriously have to hug this woman.
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"What's got her in a happier mood than usual? I thought you made them stay for double the time in practice Spencer?" Mrs. Gold asks her son as I literally run to hug her.

"She's just glad to hear of my suffering." I hear him grumble as I hug his mom.

Once we get out of the hug Mrs. Gold replies. "What suffering? Has she learned about how I still force you to eat your vegetables?"

I bark out in hysteric laughter.

"I'm guessing I put you through a different type of suffering." I hear her say to Spencer as I continue my crazy laughing.

Once I get back to normal and breath properly I tell her about Spencer's other type of 'misery'. "I learned earlier today that you forced him to watch The Fault In Our Stars."

"Well duh," She states like a teenage girl. I use that tone all the time. "No one else was around and I wasn't just going to watch a sad movie by myself."

"So she had to drag me into it." Spencer grumbles from beside me. "The way she actually got me to watch it was by threatening two very important things. The Xbox and my phone."

I sarcastically gasp. "Oh no! How dare you Mrs. Gold!"

She plays along with me. Seriously one of the best moms ever. "I know, I'm such a cruel mother." She puts on exaggerated hand to the forehead.

"You're both mean." Spencer grumbles as he crosses his arms.

"Get used to it." I repeat my earlier saying that I said after I dunk water all over Spencer's head this afternoon. Hmm, I think I've been pretty evil so far today if you ask me.

"So Jess, would you like to cash in dinner invite tonight?" Mrs. Gold says after we all talk a bit more.

"Already? I think I'll save the invite for a special day. But I'm looking forward to it Mrs. Gold." I reply kindly with a smile.

"Oh okay." She jokingly pouts. "That reminds me you still have yet to meet Mr. Gold."

I give a nod of my head.

"Well then, I guess when you decide to cash in that invite I'll make him come as well."

Lily comes running into the room with Sam.

"Hey Lily," I return her hug. "How was your day?"

"Good. Sam, Grace, and I built a giant sand castle in the sand box during recess!" She happily exclaims. Maybe she actually did something that doesn't have to do with princesses for once. "And Grace and I were the princesses and Sam was a knight!" There it is.

I suddenly yawn. Confused I turn to look at the fancy clock hanging on the wall. 6:47

Spencer and his mom chuckle.

"I guess that's my signal that I better get home." I joke. Lily and I start walking out the door.

"Oh wait!" Mrs. Gold stops us. "Who's going to babysit Lily for the rest of the week till the game?"

Huh, I definitely didn't think about that. "I'm probably just going to have to hire a babysitter them." I chew on the inside of my mouth.

"Oh nonsense," She begins. "I would love to watch Lily! She practically watches Sam herself."

"Are you sure? You really don't have to do-"

But I'm cut off when she pushes me out the door and Lily with me. I guess she's watching Lily then.
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"How many hot chocolates have you had today, Jess? Cuz I'm sure as hell that it's not a healthy amount.

I roll my eyes at Nova as she gives me a concerned look. I can't tell if she's joking or not though. "It's seriously freezing here and you all expect me to play my best in this horrible weather?"

"Yes." They all chorus.

I huff and continue sipping my marshmallow filled hot chocolate. I'm so glad they sell these at the cafeteria. I've already at least 7 of them today. But I'm not going to let them know that though.

It's already been a week since the first practice and Monday quickly rolled around. Spencer only decided to make us have double the regular time practices every other day. But yet at first some of the teammates complained. So Spencer made them do even more laps and they soon learned their lesson.

Jace tried to ask me again about everything including how I've been avoiding him lately. Which reminds me, I did tell Spencer about how Jace is curious as to why I'm avoiding him and he said that I should just brush it off. Jace should've probably figured out by now that Spencer told me everything.

"We're cutting you off." Spencer states as he grabs my cup right of my hands and puts it on the other side of himself.

"Hey!" I swat at him.

"You need something proper to eat." He protests. "Here have my granola bar and apple."

"I'm fine." I divert my eyes from looking into his eyes, because I know the look that he's giving me all too well.

"Kitten, you need to eat something somewhat healthy before the game tonight. It's only in a couple of hours."

"Ugh fine." I grumble. "You better be happy. I'm now freezing again."

Even though it's slightly raining outside they all decide to sit at our stupid regular table. Like what is it with them and the table? I'm almost shivering and I'm wearing my track pants, an old soccer jersey, sweater, and my thick rain coat with the hoods up. Don't want to ruin my perfectly styled hair, it took all of three minutes to get it into that ponytail.

I munch on the granola bar quietly as they all continue different conversations.

"So we get to see your little sister tonight, right?" Emma asks hopefully.

"Yep." I stay with a mouthful of granola bar. "Mrs. Gold is coming with her and Sam. I think Grace is coming too."

Spencer nods his head.

"Wait." Emma begins. "Does Grace by any chance have big blue eyes and somewhat brown hair?"

We all give her confused looks. "Um... Yea. Why?"

"She's Clarissa's younger sister."

"Yes, I know." I reply. Everyone except for Spencer and I are shocked about this information.

"W-what?" Nova blurts out for all of us.

"Right after I first moved here I meet her. But it was after Spencer and I first met and had the soccer match. Grace came over to play with Lily after and we soon had to take her home. And guess who opened the door?" I calmly explain. It may seem awhile ago but I oddly remember everything about that day. I'm not even going to mention to the, how I was dressed up as Olaf though.

"Clarissa." They all mutter.

"I obviously didn't know her then but I recognized her when I got here. Let's just say when we first meet it was hate at first sight. She didn't like me straight from the gecko." I grumble at the end.

"Hey turn that frown upside down!" Emma practically commands me.

"Yea Jess. We all know why see doesn't like you. Clarissa Simmons sees you as a threat. She is jealous of you and wanted you tear you down right from the beginning." Nova says.

I stare at her dumbfounded. She really sees me as a possible threat? But a threat to what? I mean, I'm not exactly sure how scary I could be, but I'm sure I'm not that scary that Clarissa Simmons would want to ruin me that badly.

Awkward silence soon dawns upon us as I fail to reply.

"Anyways..." Spencer drags out. "We can at least hope that that bitch doesn't show up to the game tonight."

We all suddenly 'oh' loudly.

"What guys?" Spencer scrunches up his eyebrows. It takes him only 5 seconds to realize it. "Dang it! That doesn't count! You all don't like her, I don't have to pay!"

I laugh. "Sorry Spence, $1 into the swear sock." I motion towards Emma, who already got my old soccer sock out of her purse. It's all pretty full, but so far I think most the three of them have learned their lesson not to swear enough. Surprisingly, Spencer hasn't swore in a while, well, until now.

He reluctantly puts his one dollar bill into the sock. "Bye George Washington."

As they are all to busy cackling at Spencer I take the opportunity to sneakily snack my cup of hot chocolate back. I continue sipping on it happily. Drinking hot chocolate is perfectly fine, right?
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"Listen up team!" Coach hollers so loud that even. "SouthWood High will be here any minute and I just have to say some words before they arrive."

We all listen as we run up to Coach from the field.

"They are going to be ruthless. Aggressive. And they may even play dirty. But we can out smart them. Every single time they play they focus on attacking, not defending. So what should we do?"

"Attack back." We all chorus.

"Yes! But that doesn't mean that we weaken our defence as well. We have to balance out our positions." A bus comes to a stop right beside the field in the parking lot. "Now remember, pass to teammates. And trust each other."

The SouthWood High team looks exactly what Coach said they would like before in earlier practices. Ruthless. Intimidating. And down right mean.

They sprint to the other bench right beside us as if they simply practiced looking scary. I gulp as they slam their stuff down on the bench and ground.

"Alright team, here are our positions." Spencer says as he pulls out a clipboard/whiteboard that shows us who plays where.

I search for my name and soon find it. I'll be playing central forward. The central forward is usually the teams best scoring forward. I find Spencer's name in the striker/finisher position. He told me earlier that him and I will be alternating positions.

The ref blows the whistle that signals that the team captains have to go shake hands. Spencer jobs over to the middle of the field.

I turn over to look at the other team and see them staring at me. But that's not what worries me. What worries me is that they are all whispering to each other.

Their coach, who looks like one of those WWE wrestlers on major steroids, walks over to Coach Bennett.

"I heard a rumour that your team had a girl on it Bennett, but I thought everyone was joking!" He says in a hoarse low voice. The Coach looks completely amused that I'm even standing here.

But instead of Coach replying to that insult I do. "I bet I can beat everyone on your pathetic teams butts!" I raise my voice.

He just chuckles. Is it bad that I want to punch this grown man and I just meet him? "If you say so. But honestly Bennett, why would you let this girl make your team? Not only does she look like a twelve year old, she acts and talks like one too."

All the guys on the SouthWood team bark out into barbaric laughter.

Suddenly Spencer appears back. He rests a hand on my tense shoulder. "I've got this one." He whispers calmly into my ear, instantly soothing me.

"I guess we'll just find out how who's better on the field. Remember Coach Bradford, settle it on the field." Spencer says.

"Let's get this game on then!"
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Everyone's now in their positions. I'm on the right with Spencer on my left. And lucky for us Parker is actually beside him. But he can play all positions and Coach is making him play back in defence in the second half.

  I turn to look around at our team quickly. Dominic, our teams main goalie, is in net. He's one of the best soccer goalies I've ever seen. I've chatted him multiple times before and he once told me that he's been playing soccer since he was two years old and he's been a goalie since he was three years old! I've also bonded with a lot of the other teammates, including Brian who I first made friends with at tryouts and I still like to call 'Breakfast Club'.

  I grin back at Breakfast Club who is playing in midfield right behind me. He grins back and gives me a thumbs up which I return. The whole team believes in me and I'm honestly so grateful for them. Earlier Spencer gave this whole speech about how we not only have to beat them because they're our rivals, but because it would mean everything to our school. Dozens of people at school still think this is a complete joke, which is probably why all the bleachers are packed. Like Clarissa once said before 'I thought you were a genius or something'. She also stated that day that I'm going to fail miserably, blah blah blah.

I get pulled out of my inner happy thoughts to the ref blowing the whistle. The poor guy doesn't look like he wants to be here at all. Just here for the money. At least he won't be biased between the two school major rivals.

"You better all know the rules because I'm not in the mood to explain them all." The ref monotonously says. "This includes excessive pushing, tripping etc."

Spencer gets to start with it and right when the remiss ref blows the starting whistle he passes it to me.

I quickly bounce into action and start sprinting up with it. I already know that Spencer and Parker are running up beside me, so I don't have to worry.

I make it all of 15 metres by the time two huge guys come up to me and try to attack me, because because I 'look like a twelve year old', I manage to sneak right in between them with the ball sliding underneath giant guy #1 on the right.

As I do this I hear the crowd erupt into cheers. Even over the maniacal cheers I can hear my sister screaming happily. And yes, before the game started the whole gang meet Lily. Let's just say Emma made a new friend and Nova secretly loves kids. Emma also got to meet Mrs. Gold and I think she almost passed out from excitement.

I do some more tricky foot work as I maneuver my way through one of the midfielders. But I have to soon give up the ball when they start getting more aggressive and start pushing me, so I quickly pass the ball over to Spencer who was trying to stay by my side the whole time just in case.

Spencer skillfully snakes through most of midfielders but then the defenders attack. They push him roughly and he stumbles with the ball. Spencer tries to keep in possession but there is to many of them and by the time Parker and I try to come and help the defenders kick the ball up to the midfielders.

It continues to go like this, we get the ball and bring it up until the defenders get too rough and take it away.

I currently have the ball and I'm dashing up the side, hoping not all of them swarm me. My wish has been granted only one starts to charge at me. Unfortunately it's the biggest guy on the team. Half of his width is my whole body and my head has to tilt up practically straight into the sky for me to see his whole head.

I continue dashing up the side though. I've learned so far to not show intimidation. The whole being extremely aggressive thing hasn't really bothered me that much. I'm pushy myself. But I'm definitely not that rough.

And right when I think that the sky guy barrels his whole body into mine.

I fall down hard shoulder first into the ground. I hear the ref blow the whistle in the background as I give a muffled cry.

Spencer is instantly by my side stroking my hair. "You okay Kitten? Please tell me you're okay."

I lift my head up and nod weakly.

He gives a relieved sigh. "I'm so going to show that guy what karma is."

And that's exactly what he did. No later than 2 minutes Spencer pushed the giant sky guy into the ground. But luckily, he did it so that it looked as if a mere accident.

Right now the goalie on the other team has the ball. Parker just tried to score on the net but the goalie came out and snacked the ball.

He kicks it fairly far, all the way to the forwards on their team.

They try to get passed our defence but Jace took the ball away from them and quickly passes it up to Josh, one of our midfielders. Josh then carries it up a bit then passes it up to Spencer.

Spencer sneaks by all of the midfielders and soon faces the defence. Sensing he needs help I run closer up beside him.

"Pass it here!"

And that's exactly what he does. I get the ball then turn to head to the net which is only about 25 metres away now.

I didn't even see that 6'5 defender attack me. I only felt it.

When my head crashed into the ground.

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Of course I made another cliffhanger! *grins evilly #sorrynotsorry

Omg Jess! Let's all take a moment of silence and pray that she's alright........

Anyways hey perfect people! Surprise I updated a day early! I just couldn't stop writing. Also I'll be starting outdoor soccer again next week yay! The only problem may be the weather....supposedly it's going to rain like crazy :( By the way I live in Canada and no it doesn't just snow all year round like everyone thinks.

So what did you all think of this chapter? Want to see more of Mrs. Gold? More of Lily? More Spencer and Jess moments? Or even more gang scenes? Let me know in the comment below! Anyways, I won't make this too long. Please don't be a silent reader!

Bye for now my lovely bookworms,
                                                                   Ashley🌸