I Like That About Her

by Aleks Mitchell

  Today was the first game of the season and my stomach was in knots. Today was going to be the ultimate test. If I didn’t perform well I was going to accept it as a sign. A sign that I would never play soccer the way I did before the surgery again. I really hoped that wasn’t going to be the case.

  “Ready for today, Striker?” Riley asked me as we stretched in the field.

  “Hopefully,” I shrugged.

  “Faith, you have to stop being so negative. Have some faith in yourself, Faith.” She smiled at the cleverness of her words.

  “I’m trying to. I’m just nervous.”

  “Nervous is good.”

  “How is being nervous a good thing?” I asked dumbfounded.

  “It means you care. Now all you have to do is harness those nerves and turn them into the motivation you need to crush the other team!”

  Maybe that was the reason why I was always so nervous around Chandler. I cared about her. If only I could harness those nerves and motivate myself to do something about it.

  We were playing against Rancocas Valley. They were one of the best teams we’d ever gone against. Their striker had a seriously hard kick. I felt bad for Taryn, our goalie. She’d definitely have a few bruises by the time the game was over.

  The game started off well. We’d managed to steal the ball from RV and bring it down to their side of the court. Riley passed the ball to me and I dribbled the ball towards the net. A girl from the opposing team went to steal the ball, but I managed to dribble the ball around her and maneuver myself closer to the net. As soon as I got an opening I kicked the ball towards the net. When it hit the back of the net I couldn’t help but cheer with excitement. We still had the whole game to go, but I scored. I actually scored the first goal of the game. It felt incredible.

  “See!” Riley exclaimed. “Striker is back and better than ever!”

  “Damn right!” I had my confidence back. The confidence I had before everything that happened with my knee. I was back and I was ready to win.

  RV managed to score twice before we were able to steal the ball from them and bring it down the court again. Lynn passed the ball to me and I dribbled it toward the net. The same player from earlier managed to steal the ball from me, but I quickened my pace after her and stole it back before she had an opportunity to get far. I dribbled the ball down the court and shot it into the net for the second time.

  Once the score was tied it stayed that way for the rest of the game. That just went to show how good both teams were. Both sides were determined to win the first game of the season.

  Finally, at the end of the game, the ball was on their side. Riley passed the ball to me, but two players from RV were coming towards me. I passed the ball to Lynn who had a clear shot ahead of her. She kicked the ball towards the net, scoring the winning goal of the game. BTHS had won the first game of the season and I was thrilled.

  “She shoots, she scores!” Andy exclaimed. We were sitting in the basement of our house, playing a video game together.

  Andy wouldn’t stop going on and on about the game today. He really was a supportive brother. His game was tomorrow and they’d be playing the boys of RV. Andy played defense and he played it really well. The goalie barely ever had a chance to block any balls because Andy always managed to take care of it before it got close to the net. He was pretty great. He could probably play pro if he wanted to.

  “So, how are you going to celebrate Miss Cahill? Are you going to Disney Land?”

  “Shut up, Andy. You can be so lame sometimes.”

  “Hey! I’m funny!” He looked at me with a mocked hurt expression.

  “Yeah, you’re funny alright.”

  “Hey, so you should totally come with me to dad’s house tonight.”

  I sighed. “Andy, you know I don’t want to see him. When are you going to give up already?”

  “I can’t sis, because I know deep down you do want to see him. Like it or not, you’re a daddy’s girl. I know you miss him.”

  “I miss who he was. Or at least who I thought he was. Now when I look at him I just see him as a cheater.”

  “People make mistakes Faith. He regrets it. He told me.”

  “Of course he does. He has to pay mom alimony.”

  “That’s not the only reason. He still loves mom. He wishes he didn’t hurt her and that they could have stayed together.”

  “Then he shouldn’t have cheated on her.”

  Andy sighed and then paused the game. “I have to go get ready. He’s coming to pick me up soon. I really wish you’d talk to him at least. He misses you.”

  “I’m just not ready to see him yet.”

  “Okay,” Andy gave in. “I’ll be heading out in ten minutes. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “See you tomorrow.”

  Andy gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Congrats again on today. You played awesome. Striker is definitely back.”

  I smiled at him as he went upstairs.

  Maybe I was being too hard on dad. After all, he did try for years to get mom to get help. They spent years going back and forth, arguing. I’m sure it took a toll on him too. My parents used to love each other. But, in recent years, they just seemed like they tolerated each other. Maybe he just needed to feel loved again. Isn’t that what everyone wanted? Love?

  Since Andy wasn’t home I stopped by Craig’s. He was going out for a jog so I decided to join him.

  “Can we slow it down a bit?” he yelled, out of breath. “Didn’t you destroy RV this morning? Shouldn’t you be exhausted right now?”

  I turned around and started jogging backwards so that I could look at him while I responded. “It’s just jogging. I can jog in my sleep. Besides, we’re only going like six miles per hour.”

  “Show off.”

  “I can’t help that I’m better than you!”

  “Well, someone’s in a good mood.”

  “I am! I’m back! Striker is back!”

  “Damn straight she is!” Craig looked to the side and narrowed his eyes. “Hey, isn’t that Chandler?”

  I instantly turned around, my eyes going wide with interest.

  “Yeah, she lives in Sunset too.”

  Chandler was just getting home. She waved at us as we got closer to her.

  “Hey,” I smiled. Craig and I stopped when we got to Chandler.

  “Hey,” Chandler smiled. “You won a game this morning. Shouldn’t you be recovering at home?”

  I was surprised that Chandler knew about the win. I hadn’t told her anything about the game yet. “How did you know we won?”

  “I was there. I wasn’t going to miss your first game back.” Chandler smiled at me.

  I didn’t know how to respond so I just smiled back. I wished I had known she was there. It gave me butterflies knowing that she saw me playing. She actually took the time to go to my game.

  “She’s pretty awesome isn’t she?” Craig asked as he lightly hit me with his elbow.

  “She’s very awesome.” Chandler smiled at me and held my gaze for long enough that I felt the need to look away.

  “Hey, are you doing anything tonight?” Chandler asked me.

  “Um, no. Probably just going to work on some homework. Why?”

  “Well, if you want you can come over so we can start working on our project for constitutional law.”

  “Oh, I’m working with Dill,” Craig exclaimed. “We’re trying to change the drinking age to sixteen.”

  “That’s ambitious,” Chandler commented.

  “We figured people start drinking at that age anyway. Why not make it legal?”

  “True,” she smiled. “So what do you say?” She turned to me, expecting an answer.

  “Sure, sounds good. I’m just going to run home and grab a shower first.”

  “Okay, awesome. Come over whenever you get done.”

  “Okay,” I grinned.

  She grinned back. I was so awkward around her. I really needed to get a handle on that.

  “See you a
round, Chandler,” Craig said as he and I started jogging back towards our street.

  “See you.”

  As soon as we were out of ear shot of Chandler, Craig nudged me in the side.

  “Hey, what was that?”

  I looked at Craig bewildered. “What do you mean? What was what?”

  “Are you and Chandler a thing now?”

  My eyes went wide with worry. Was that how I had made it seem? If Craig thought that, could Chandler have thought that too?

  “No! Why would you say that?”

  “You guys just seemed like you were giving each other googly eyes.”

  “We were not!”

  “Okay, whatever you say. But, I think you two would be cute together. It’d be pretty hot.”

  “Shut up, Craig!”

  “Whoa, whoa! Don’t kill me Striker. I’m just playing.”

  But was he playing? If he was able to sense something between us, maybe it was true. Maybe we both had feelings for each other and it wasn’t one sided like I thought. I just wished I had the guts to find out.

  I drove over to Chandler’s house after I got done showering. I felt the need to put on more make up than usual and make sure my hair looked nice. I’m pretty sure my hair looked the same as usual though.

  When I got to Chandler’s I rang the doorbell. A few moments later, a man with brown hair and hazel eyes opened the door. He had to be Chandler’s father. She looked just like him.

  “Hi, I’m Faith. I’m supposed to work on a project with Chandler.”

  “Hi, Faith. I’m Michael, Chandler’s dad. She told me you’d be coming by. Come on in.”

  Chandler’s dad closed the door after I came inside. He turned and smiled at me.

  “Chandler’s up in her room. You can head on up there. It’s the second door on the right. Her name’s on it, so you can’t miss it.”

  “Thanks Mr. Reynolds.”

  “Please, call me Michael. I’ll just be down here watching the game if you guys need anything.” He went back into the living room and yelled about something that happened. I smiled as I made my way upstairs.

  I took a deep breath and knocked on Chandler’s door.

  “Come in,” Chandler shouted.

  I opened the door and found Chandler sitting on her full sized bed looking at her chemistry textbook.

  “Hey, your dad let me in.” I closed the door behind me. Her room was cute. She had a bunch of posters for different music groups on her wall. I knew a few of them, especially Fifth Harmony. “He seems really nice.”

  “He usually is,” Chandler smiled.

  “Your house is really nice. I like your room.”

  “Thanks.” Chandler got up from her bed and put her textbook onto her desk.

  “So, you like Fifth Harmony?” I asked.

  “Are you kidding? I love them!”

  “Seriously!” I agreed. “They’re the best girl group I’ve ever listened to.”

  “It’s a shame what happened with Camilla though. Technically I guess you could call them Fourth Harmony now.”

  We both laughed.

  “I don’t know,” I started. “That doesn’t seem to have the same ring to it.”

  “Who’s your favorite member?” she asked.

  “Lauren, of course,” I responded obviously.

  “Ditto! What else do you listen to?”

  “Mostly a lot of alternative, but I like all kinds of music so I listen to a little bit of everything. Even jazz and classical.”

  “That’s awesome! Not enough people listen to jazz. It’s really great.”

  “Agreed!”

  We both sat on her bed with our notes in front of us.

  “Okay, any ideas what you want our debate to be about?” I asked.

  “I was thinking we could debate about changing how we vote for president and getting rid of the Electoral College. It was just a thought though.”

  “No, I like it. Especially with how the election went last time. It’s a great idea.”

  “We can keep brainstorming though.”

  “Why don’t we try mapping out what we would discuss and see if that topic gives us enough to debate on.”

  “Okay, good idea.”

  We spent the next hour jotting down ideas and different cross motions that could arise in class. We decided we had enough information to create a real argument for our debate.

  “My brain hurts,” Chandler sighed as she sat back on her bed. “Can we take a break?”

  “Fine with me. This shouldn’t be too hard to finish. All we have to do is find reputable sources and cite them.”

  “We work so well together. It’s too bad Anthony won’t stop being such a know it all in class.” We both laughed. “We could probably get the labs done a lot faster if we just had to work with each other.”

  “Boys always slow things down,” I smiled. She smiled back. We stayed like that for a bit too long.

  A knock on her door pulled us from our trance.

  Chandler’s dad peeked in and smiled.

  “I’m going to pick up pizza for dinner. Mom and Curren are on their way home. Faith, are you staying for dinner?”

  “Thanks, but I don’t want to impose.”

  “You’re not. I offered.”

  “She always thinks that she’s imposing,” Chandler stated, rolling her eyes. “She’ll stay for dinner.”

  I turned to Chandler to protest, but she gave me a stern look. “You’re staying. End of story.”

  “She’s a bossy one isn’t she?” her dad asked me.

  “I kind of like that about her,” I smirked.

  Chapter 7

  I got a chance to meet Chandler’s mom and little brother, Jen and Curren. Her mom was really sweet and her little brother was adorable. They seemed like the perfect family. Probably because they were. Jen was a nurse and Michael was a biological engineer. I still wasn’t exactly sure what Michael did, but it seemed interesting when he was explaining it.

  Today was Monday, so I had soccer practice, but I was skipping it today. I had finally decided to audition for the winter play. Unfortunately, I decided last minute so I barely had a chance to memorize my monologue.

  Luckily I was really good at memorizing things; otherwise it wouldn’t have gone as well as it did. Mr. Bishop loved it. Although, Mr. Bishop loved everything I performed so he could be pretty biased. Either way, based on his reaction I’d be surprised if I didn’t get a part in the play.

  After I got done with the audition, I went to the school library to see if Chandler was there. When I got there she was in the computer lab of the library, doing research I assumed. I sat down at the computer next to her.

  “Checking your Facebook?” I smirked.

  “I don’t have a Facebook,” Chandler smiled. “Once my grandparents got one, I got off. I switched to Twitter and Instagram.”

  “Don’t forget Snapchat.”

  “How could I? By the way, your snaps last night were hilarious. I had no idea you were that scared of spiders.”

  “Oh god! I hate spiders! I hate all bugs actually.”

  “Good to know,” Chandler smiled. “You got out of practice early.”

  “I didn’t go to practice. I was auditioning for the school play.”

  I smiled expectantly at Chandler. She had spent a good half hour on Saturday trying to convince me to audition. I still hadn’t told her that I decided I would do it.

  “Faith Cahill,” Chandler smirked. “I have to say, you’ve surprised me. I thought you were too stubborn to admit you wanted to be in the play.”

  “I’m not stubborn.”

  Chandler gave me a pointed look.

  “I’m a little stubborn. Anyway, I think it went well, you know for a last minute monologue.”

  “That’s awesome. I’m proud of you Cahill. I can’t wait to see you on stage.”

  “I’m actually really excited. Even if I don’t go into acting professionally, I still want it to always be a part of my life.”
>
  “Something tells me you care about it too much to not make it your profession.”

  “I guess we’ll see,” I shrugged. She was right. I did want acting to be my profession, but I knew it would be hard to convince mom and dad that it was the right decision for me. They didn’t believe in pursuing dreams and reaching for the stars. They’d rather I take the safe road.

  “I found some sources for our project if you want to work on it later,” Chandler said.

  “Sure, did you want to work on it at your house after we leave?”

  She made a face. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. My brother is having some of his friends over and the house is going to be pretty rowdy. Not to mention, they’ll keep trying to find a way to bother us.”

  I wasn’t sure about inviting her to my place. What if mom got out of work early somehow? What if she was home and she had a bad day? She could be drinking. I guess if her car ends up being there I could just tell Chandler we’ll have to do it another day.

  “My mom doesn’t get home for another two hours. We could go to my house if you want.”

  “Okay,” Chandler smiled. “I’m finished with this so we can go now if you want?”

  “Perfect, let’s go.”

  I left the car at school so that Andy could get home after he got done at soccer practice. Chandler drove us to my house.

  “Your house is so nice,” Chandler said. She was looking around at the different decorations my mom had around. That was one thing about my mom. No matter what she was going through in life, she always found time to decorate. She loved interior design. She was really good at it too.

  “Thanks,” I smiled as I grabbed a water bottle from the refrigerator. “My mom is kind of obsessed with decorating.”

  “She does a great job.”

  “Do you want anything to drink?” I asked.

  “Sure, what do you have?”

  “Water, diet coke, sprite, and iced tea.”

  “I’ll just have water.”

  I grabbed another water bottle from the refrigerator and handed it to Chandler.

  “Thanks.”