บท 44: Stressed 2

Cora pulled into the parking lot area at the beach and parked next to the only car their the BMW, she looked over and it was empty.

She turned her head and looked at the sun set and then to the empty beach except for him sitting there alone.

She got out and looked at the bag and smiled she reached for it and took something out, when she got to the sand she took her shoes and socks off and the felt really nice against her feet.

She "sneaks" up behind him and puts the object down next to her and got on her knees behind him and wraps her arms around him and hugs him.

She says "idiot"

He laughs slightly then released a sigh

Alexander said "I know"

"But seeing my mom so excited, even though we already talked about it before made me realize she still hopes I will change my mind and..." he trailed off.

Cora got more comfortable and sat behind him and pulled his head against her chest and combed her fingers through his hair.

Cora says "and what?"

Alexander says "and I'm not going to, I wouldn't be able to put all my time into the sport and I wouldn't make it professionally like that. High school Soccer and that are completely different things."

She says "Ok"

He shifts his body to look at her "Ok?"

She nods and smiles softly "yup, I said I would support you no matter what remember" she finished while rubbing his cheek with her thumb.

Alexander couldn't help but smile and he leaned in and kissed her when they separated

He said "your the best"

She looks at him with an air of false haughtiness "obviously"

They looked at each other for a few seconds before they both started laughing at her response.

He said "it just doesn't fit with how kind you are Cora" when her giggles died down she said "I just wanted to see you happy, so I wanted make you laugh"

He said "mission accomplished" he looked next to her and saw his Soccer Ball he looked at her with an eyebrow raised

He said "keep away?"

She nods "keep away"

They both got up and started to dribble the ball and went 1 on 1. Cora had the ball First and the first thing she did was hit the ball between his legs and got around him quickly he looked behind his back and she was grinning and then she stuck out her tongue mocking him.

Alexander said "I'm getting you back for that"

Cora shook her head and said "you can try" They had fun on the beach for half an hour before they remembered the game and when they got to the cars they shared one more kiss and then drove back to the school both happy.

(Back at the school same time)

Anna and Michael sat down with Birdie, Anna looks around worried she says "Michael, what if he ran away? What if-" she was interrupted by Michael as he brushed her hair behind her right ear and held his hand there for a few seconds before pulling away.

He shook his head and said "did you forget who else went after him? She'll definitely bring him back so don't even worry about it."

She sighed and then said "Your right, Cora will find him"

When she finished saying that Cora plopped down right in front of them before they could ask she said "he's okay, we just talked it out and now he's right... there" she pointed to Alexander running onto the field.

They all looked at him in his uniform running over to Jason and apologizing for being late and then Jason went to talk to the referee while Alexander went to stretch with the team.

Anna sighed "he had me so worried, thank you so much Cora" she looked at Cora who was looking ahead and saw sand in her hair.

Cora said "no need for that he had me worried too" Anna dusted the sand out of her hair

She said "why do you have sand in your hair?"

Cora said "I found him at the beach"

When she didn't say anything else they just went back to waiting for the game to start.

Jason said "Alright it's all good, why were you late though?"

I smiled and said "sorry, I was on a date with Cora and lost track of time" I lied but technically it could be true.

His lips twitched trying not to smile and he said "make sure it doesn't happen again next time your on the bench"

I nodded and said "sure thing coach and again I'm sorry"

He sighed and just walked away and I went to join the guys to get some stretching in.

Jared looks at me and wiggles his eyebrows knowingly and says "a Date huh?"

I punched his shoulder and said "Shut up Dude it Ain't your business"

He laughed and we did warm ups a few minutes later the game starts and the first half was very successful for us we held possession of the ball but we also pushed forward quickly I got 2 assists To Chris and Raymond.

It was towards the middle of the second were things got out of hand, the other team pushed Forward with a long pass to their Left Winger and he was onside and he had a step on our defenders their striker was making a run to the Box and Me and Jared saw that I tried to keep up with him but he was a lot faster then me and our center back went to help so he was wide open and the winger saw that and he sent a cross to him but Jared went up with the striker and that's were it went wrong.

Jared jumped later then the striker so he was higher up when he got the ball and he came down on the striker and he couldn't control his body mid air and he came down and hit his head hard on the ground and he was out the ball rolled out of his hands and a midfielder scored 2-1.

While they were celebrating I ran over to Jared and the striker who was getting up while rubbing his shoulder were Jared unintentionally landed on him.

I looked down at Jared his eyes were closed and he had his arms frozen like he was holding the ball above his head I wasn't a medical expert but it looked like when football players or fighters got knocked out and possibly had a concussion.

I quickly waved Jason and the trainer over both of the teams trainers came over quickly and Jason was a standing still for a second but then he quickly jogged over.

The Referee whistled for the players to stop while Jason was running over he was having flashbacks to when a similar situation happened to him, a career ending situation.

Jason said to himself "please, not him to"

When he got to them the trainers were helping Jared to a sitting position when he woke up, they were now testing him for a concussion and he failed it.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he was able to stand and walk of the field with his help Jason handed him off to their Dad and he and their mom took Jared to the hospital as a precaution of course he wants to go but he still has a team and a game waiting for him.

He looks to the bench and he says "Andrew" he gets no response from him so he yelled "Andrew!" That brought him out his trance and he quickly got up fumbling to get his gloves out his bag and then putting them on he stopped him real quick and talked with him trying to get him to relax and ready it only worked slightly, key word slightly and it showed on the field.

After the final whistle,

I was breathing heavily after forcing Jason to keep me in the whole time trying to carry the team to a victory and we did win 4-3, right when the game started up again they scored without the leader of the defense back there things were breaking down on top of that Andrew hasn't played all year so he isn't in form at all.

They scored again when Greg Fouled their striker in the Box and they got a penalty and like that it was 2-2 in under 5 minutes right when Raymond passed the ball to me I sent a long pass to our right winger David who was running straight at the Left back then passed him as the ball sailed over their heads and bounced towards the corner David stopped it just before it went out and since the defender had already committed he just pulled the ball back and the defender slid right by him and sent a cross in to the cluster of people and Raymond sent a header into the back of the net.

Because the defense was having issues Jason decided to park the bus and just defend but they scored in the last 10 minutes off of a corner kick anyway.

While we were walking back to midfield I talked with Raymond I told him let's forget about the plan because we needed to score I managed to convince him and we took over in the last minute since the other team thought we would just stay back and defend when they all came forward even the defense pretty close to midfield. Raymond and I ran forward after I stole the ball and with a quick pass to him and him pack to me (give and go) we got passed the CDM who was protecting the Center Backs then me and Raymond were quickly in front of the Center Backs.

With the rest of their team chasing us I sent a lob over their heads and Raymond ran passed them with his speed and he had their whole half to himself since they were all forward and he scored 4-3.

They weren't able to score with just a couple minutes of stoppage time left and we just barely won of course Jason wasn't happy we went against him I'm sure if lost it would have been worse but since we won he wasn't to mad for long.

He congratulated the team on the win and understandably he left right after that to go to the hospital.

My family walked up to me and my mom was the first to come up to me and she hugged and said sorry for upsetting me.

I shook my head and said "I'm not mad at you guys, I was mad at my self really."

Dad said "why would you mad at yourself?"

I answered "because I'm ruining mom's dream of me going to college, because I'm not taking either offer or any that comes after because I already have my dream"

Mom held my hands and said "oh sweetie, I could never be mad at what you want of course I want you to got college but I understand that's what "I" want for you and not what YOU want for you and I support you ok" I nodded and just hugged her and she just kissed my forehead then let me go and said "Now do you want to go visit Jared and see if he's ok"

I said "yeah, let's go" Cora walked up to me and I held her hand and we all went to the parking lot.