1 1- Soccer and the Start of Something New

Synopsis/Blurb:

Alia is perfectly happy with her life in her small Australian town with her friends and family. However, the small town might not continue to be so small as a family of Americans move in, announcing to be from a gated community that is looking to move to her town, bringing the rest of the community with them.

Not only has her limited world suddenly expanded, but the new arrivals are... interesting.

Little does she know, they find her and her friends just as interestingt.

Alia comes to the conclusion that she doesn't understand American culture, but is there more to their confusing customs? And since when does Australia have wolves??

Chapter 1-

The ball arcs through the air towards the goal as my eyes flick from player to player, calculating distance and speed in seconds as I run across the goal to put as much of my body between the ball and the goal as possible. For a second I think that my teammate will get to the ball first, but that hope is dashed as the other player overtakes, the ball now at her feet. I tense, my heart pounding, eyes burning, and run straight towards the enemy player. She rushes her kick, and I dive to the side, reaching out and catching the ball as my body hits the ground and I roll, tucking the ball into my chest. Breath ragged, I drop-kick the ball to my player on the other side of the field, then place my hands on my knees.

Being a goalkeeper isn't the most relaxing of positions. I should know, I'm my team's one and only goalkeeper. When our vastly talented former goalie left, I volunteered for the position on the condition that I get to have a run every now again. But no one wanted to be backup goalie, so I'm stuck in goals full time.

I mean, I have improved my skills in that area, but I miss being able to run around and be able to make a difference other than stopping goals. Being keeper hurts a lot more than being any other position, when you're out on the field, you should only get minor injuries. But as a keeper with the ball constantly hurtling at me and attackers more than willing to trample me, I tend to get injuries not just in my muscles and legs, but all over my body. My shoulder and back aches to confirm my musings, a testament to a not-so-soft landing from my last dive.

Turning my thoughts away from my complaining, I tune back in to watching the game. Out here in the middle of the bush that is our home ground, we're surrounded on all sides of the pitch with a thick line of trees, with only a dirt path leading to the cleared soccer ground.

The whistle shrieks as the ball goes out on the opposite side just beyond the halfway line and I take a deep breath in, preparing to project my voice across the entire field.

"Mark up girls! Find a player and stick to them, get to the ball first!" I yell. I get a thumbs up from the other side of the field, and rustling in the underbrush means I probably scared a bird or something. Another reason Coach thought I was good for the job of goalie is that I can make my voice so it can be heard all the way down the other end of the field, and I can keep that volume up all game with little to no effect on my voice. It's a real talent. Kinda useless in any other situation, good for scaring birds though.

I get a scowl from the nearest enemy player and realise I might have projected just a bit too loud. The team we're playing is the Panthers. It's a stupid name in my opinion, on the basis that there aren't Panthers in Australia, and even if there were, it wouldn't say much about the team.

Now our team name is genius if I do say so myself. We're the Kookaburras because we're loud and obnoxious and like to laugh a lot in-game. Great, huh?

I shift into my goal stance as the opposition's attackers get closer, and then relax as the referee blows the whistle to signal game over.

Straightening up, I hear groans of frustration from the other team and feel a surge of pride to know that not only did we win, but I didn't let any goals in this game. Not one. Go me!

We cheer for the other team and the ref, and then all run (stagger) over to Coach laughing and patting each other on the back.

The weird feeling goes away a bit, and only then do I realise I've had a strong sense of being watched all game. Strange the things that you can get used to after a bit of time. I scan the bush, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Birds flutter from tree to tree, the bushes rustle as ground animals make their way through, but the feeling of being watched never lifts.

I brush it off as Coach congratulates us, and adds in that he expects to see us all at training on Wednesday. We're a good team, we come every week and if we can't we always tell him, so I don't understand why he always reminds us.

Well, there was that one time where Grace got so immersed in playing the Sims that she forgot about training. But that was one time!

We say our goodbyes and all head down the dirt road to where our cars are parked. I look over my shoulder as I leave, but nothing is there.

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"Alia!" My adoptive mother calls, "Get your arse down here or you'll miss the bus and I can't take you this morning!"

I stretch, my joints cracking as I move. Turning, I face the mirror. Well, there's nothing I can do with my hair at this point. My red hair sticks up at all angles, defying gravity. I resign to my fate of having to run my fingers through it and hope that it looks mildly presentable. At least now I've cut it short it doesn't get in my face while playing soccer.

"Coming Cath!" I project my voice, not really having to yell for her to hear me. I don't call her Mum or Mother because of my parents, but I still think of her as my mother, albeit foster.

They took me in when I was around five or six, and have been great parents ever since. Cath and Al, that is. Al is my adoptive father. I start going down the stairs only to freeze halfway down.

"Shit!"

"Watch it!" I hear from another room.

"Sorry, Al."

Turning abruptly, I run up the stairs at break-neck speed. I forgot to pack my soccer gear. Shit shit shit shit. Luckily it's all in the same place as I grab a bag, stuff it all in, and then slide down the banister of the stairs, grabbing my school bag as I go.

"Go on, idiot! And what have we said about sliding down the banister?"

I smirk at Cath. "It hasn't killed me yet!"

She copies me. "Oh really! You better run before I catch you..."

I snort, walking down the path and then quickly start running as I hear Cath behind me.

"Have a good day! Don't break anyone, yourself included!"

I wave bye and then sprint for the bus that is pulling away a couple of meters ahead of me. It waits, luckily, and I'm off to school.

--------

I get to my locker well before school starts and hear through whispering in the halls that there has already been a fight today, and that someone had pranked the principal and now she has bright green hair. The only problem with that is that the principal actually liked the colour and decided to keep it. So like, kinda-sorta power move?

Standing by my locker are two of my three worldly friends. I greet them as per usual.

"Wassup, fuckers!"

Elby looks up immediately, knowing the reference I had made.

"Why are you on my phone?!" He smirks, trying to pretend to be mad.

"Fuck you that's why!" I finish the vine and go in for a one-armed hug, Elby patting my back.

Reese still hasn't turned around from where his entire body seems to be engulfed by his locker, which is quite the sight considering he is a stick, all arms and legs gangling everywhere.

"Dude, wassup? You seem to be in a slight predicament." I poke him in the back, and he straightens suddenly with a frustrated grunt.

"My period came early and my father hid my tampons because 'If you're really a boy you won't need them any more' like what the fuck?!" I wince in sympathy.

"S'all good my man I've got you covered," I reach inside my backpack and pull out a handful. "There, until you can find them, or buy some more."

He smiles at me, and I grin back. I do anything I can to help Reese, he's one of my best friends. I love his smile because it's rare and bright. I wish I could make it less rare though, but there's only so much I can do besides getting Cath to adopt him as well, and I think she's a bit too stressed at the moment.

"Don't mind your father, he's an idiot," Elby reassures Reese.

"Yeah," I chime in "and if you need to, you can have a sleepover at my place."

Reese's smile grew. "Thanks, guys, I don't know what I'd do without you."

We group hug when I hear heels clicking across the floor, way too fast to be anyone else. If it's possible, my smile intensifies. "Incoming~" I sing into the ears of the boys.

I open the group hug as a blur of studs, black and pastel blue basically launches herself at us.

"TIMBER!" I yell into their ears as we tumble to the ground in a heap of arms and legs.

Giggles erupt from all of our mouths. I wouldn't exchange this for the world. Well, by that I mean that I treasure each moment with these guys, and that if the world was in danger, which it isn't, but if it was, I'd save the Earth, ya know? It'd be super selfish if I was in that situation- which I hope never happens- and chose my friends over all of the other living and nonliving things. So, in a way, I would exchange them for the world, it would be awful, but would be the right choice to make… where was I going with this?

"Uh, excuse me?" An unfamiliar voice interrupts our human pile time and my chaotic train of thought.

I look up, untangling arms and legs as I wiggle my way out from under all the others. Complaints are muttered as I finally extract myself from the others and stand up, apologising as I go.

"Sorry, sorry." I make eye contact with the speaker and my stomach drops. He's gorgeous.

"Sorry, we need to get to our lockers, they're just behind you…" I glance behind him, and see there are two other boys standing there, looking slightly awkward.

"Ah! Yup, sorry, gotcha, I'll get out of your way!" The blood rushes to my face and I stumble over my words, backing up and bumping into one of my friends.

The boy smiles, showing off adorable dimples, and my (limited) social skills go out the window. I open my mouth to make a fool of myself and Lexie jumps in to save my dignity.

"So you must be the new guys, huh?" She smiles charmingly at them and I feel a pang of jealousy before I remember she is ace and isn't interested.

I make eye contact with Reese as he mouths 'did you know?' I shake my head slightly, then mouth back 'I had no idea we had transfers. They sound American' He looks very confused, and I wave my hand to dismiss what I had mouthed because he missed what I was saying.

My eyes flicker to Elby and he is staring in awe at one of the three transfers. The one he was looking at was built like a bear. Compared to Elby's twink-like physique, this guy looked like he could snap me in half easily.

The last transfer wasn't paying much attention to his locker, instead paying keen interest to checking out Reese, Reese returning the attention enthusiastically. While Reese is a tall stick, the new guy was quite short, with wide shoulders.

I turn back into the conversation that Lexie is having with the first of the three, and step up beside Lexie to introduce myself and hopefully get his name- and maybe his number.

"I'm Lexie," I jump into the conversation as well.

"And I'm Alia," I stick out my hand for him to shake, "Nice to meet ya mate."

His friends snap their heads towards me, but I ignore that as he shakes my hand. Static shocks zap between our hands and we pull back, both apologising at the same time.

"Oop- sorry, zapped ya!"

"Oh, sorry about that."

We both laugh, my cheeks flaming even redder, and he spaces out for a second. He still hasn't told me his name, and I really need to change that.

"Sorry," I apologise again because socialising is definitely not my forte, "But what was your name?"

"Oh yeah, it's Oliver." Yes! Step one complete, step two is to get his number.

Huh. I wouldn't have pinned him as an Oliver, but it fits. It fits well. He points to his friends and introduces them.

"This is Kane," he points to the bearlike one, "and this is Reagan," he pokes the short one.

Reagan rolls his eyes then goes back to flirting with Reese as Elby is shyly approaching Kane.

"I can show you around the school," I offer, not because he is hot, but just because I'm nice that way. He smiles and I giggle, surprising myself. He finishes putting his stuff in his locker and shuts the door.

"So, can I get this tour now?" he asks, and the bell rings. I smile even wider.

"Absolutely! Gimme your timetable, I'll take you to your first class." In the background, I hear Elby and Reese doing the same to Reagan and Kane.

Lexie rolls her eyes at us and joins Elby, and we walk through the halls to the next class together. This feels like the start of something... nice.