Discovering Rose

Chapter 10

"We all have to show up for soccer?" I asked Thea in horror, on the last Friday of September on the way to school.
"Uh huh. Supposed to build team spirit or something." She blew a bubble in her gum, not seeming to bothered. "You can guess who's behind it. Mr Keneally  has you lined up for some incredible soccer player because you're a Brit."
I stared at her in shock. "But that's like expecting all Welsh people to be able to sing!"
She stared at me blankly. OK, maybe Wales wasn't well known in America.
"Well, that's too bad," she said eventually, swerving around a silver GTI golf.
I moaned, letting my head bang against the window.
This was going to be hell.

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Trying to make me feel at home playing my national sport, Mr Keneally crowned my captain of my team. And it doesn't take a genius to figure out who was captain of the team we were playing first.
"OK, Zed, you win the toss," Mr Keneally announced, tucking the coin into his pocket, blowing the whistle. "Fifteen minutes each way, off you go!" He gave me a pat on the back in passing as I made my way back to my team. "Do Britain proud, Rose!" he said cheerfully.
"OK Rosie, where'dya want us?" Kamil grinned, using his nickname for me.
"Um, okay, Kamil, you can go up front with Liam, Emma and Isabella can go midfield and Sara and Ben can go in defense. I'll be goalie"
I was thankful Nick made me watch the football - sorry soccer- on TV now, since I knew the positions. Hopefully I would discover some undiscovered talent in soccer. Unlikely.
"Are you sure?" Sara said doubtfully. "Aren't you a bit small to defend?"
"No, I'm fine." Out of harms way.
After kick off, I wished I'd thought my positioning through. It's not much fun being goalie when you're against a team with a captain who can easily weave through your defensive line. After ten minutes, we were 6-0 down. At halftime we were already 9-0 down.
"This is so humiliating," Ben muttered, who until then, had always been quite nice to me. "Mr Keneally said you'd be good."
"Well I'm sorry, I didn't ask to be captain, did I? It's a bit unfair to judge what people are good and bad at without even seeing them play," I said. Oh god, I was close to crying. My voice came out slightly hysterical and high-pitched. I repeated what I'd said to Thea in the car. "Expecting me to be good at football is like expecting all Welsh people to be able to sing!"
They gave me blank faces. So they hadn't heard of Wales either. "Just stop letting so many goals through and I won't have to save them."
"Save?!" Emma shrieked. "You haven't saved a single one!"
The whistle rang for the next half. The team trudged up the field to the other side, muttering things. The game continued pretty much the same for the next ten minutes, until Liam brought Zed into the box. Oh great. Wasn't this just the typical high school scenario. The best soccer-player in the year up against the rubbish foreigner. I got ready as Zed stepped back a few paces for the run up. Then I heard it.

'Dive to your right'. A voice entered my head.

Zed looked at me, holding our gaze for a while.

'Dive to your right'.

I shook my head. Stop imagining things Rose. Zed held our gaze. The whistle blew. I dived to the right, catching the ball with an 'Oof'.
A massive cheer went up, even from Zed's team. I saved it. I let go of the ball and flopped backwards onto the grass, spreading out my arms and legs.
"She saved it!" Thea shrieked, doing a celebration dance with Via on the sideline. A hand appeared in front of me.
"Are you OK?"
Zed.
"Yeah," I took his hand, and he pulled me up. "I saved it."
"I saw," he smiled.
"Did you help me?" I asked.
"Now why would I help you?" Zed asked, his eyes shining. Then he turned his back to me, reverting to the old, rude Zed.
'Why thank you very much, O mighty one,' I sent back instinctively, the same way I had received his voice. Telepathically. He turned around to look at me, as if I'd just dropped a piano on his head.
I couldn't tell whether he was shocked or amazed. He hadn't heard that sarcastic comment, had he? That was impossible...
I stood, frozen, as he held the gaze. He dropped it as Mr Keneally came jogging over to me. "Congratulations Rose! I knew you were a natural! Ball back in play!" He blew the whistle. We still lost. 18-0.
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In the changing rooms, I slowly untied my laces thoughtfully as Thea came jumping out of nowhere, clapping me on the back.
"You showed Zed, girl!"
"Yeah." I wasn't really listening, too busy wondering about that 'telepathy' thing. Had that really happened, or just been my imagination? Why had Zed suddenly looked at me like that?
"So you think I'll be playing in the team?"
"Sure thing - when pigs fly," Thea joked, not seeing my distraction to my relief. "Hey, what's going on between you and Zed? He was staring at you through all the other matches."
"Was he? I didn't notice." What a liar.
"Maybe he likes you."
"Does not," I snorted.
"Does too."
"Does not."
"Does."
"Not."
"What are we, first grade?"
"Never was," I shrugged, pulling on my converse.
"That explains it. There's a lot of infantile behavior you need catching up on. Now hurry up, I want to get home before I die of old age."