Take One For The Team Part 1: The newbie. ********************************************************************************** "Hey Burns! Wait up!" Ryan called out, running to catch up with me. "Sup Ryan, ready for another year?" I grinned, punching him in the arm. "You bet!" He cried. "Hey, do you reckon this new player's gonna be any good?" I shrugged, "I dunno, we'll have to find out." Since our other striker graduated, there was an empty slot on the team. Principal Stevens has apparently found us the perfect player to fill the spot, but we don't know anything about him. "Oh yeah man, I ran into Chelsea earlier and she told me to tell you to call her." Ryan added, rolling his eyes. I groaned. "God, she's unbearable. It's our senior year, you think she could move on now and leave me alone." Ryan laughed, "Somehow I don't think she's the moving on type." Chelsea was my ex girlfriend, and she won't leave me alone. You know the type; Cheer captain, blonde hair, blue eyes, sickeningly girly? I only dated her because it was basically expected of me. I was Soccer captain, she was Cheer captain, everyone said we were 'perfect' for each other. We were the furthest thing from perfect for each other. She was clingy, bossy and high maintenance. So I dumped her, but she still tries to get me back, it's so annoying. I was NOT going to call her. "Gentlemen, warm up!" Coach's voice boomed around the pitch. We did laps of the pitch and then 50 push ups each. The usual. When we finished Coach blew his whistle, signalling for us to gather round him. "Right. As you may know, we're expecting a new player today. I don't know much about him, all Principal Sevens has given me is his match file for the last season." We all looked at him expectantly, wanting to know how good this guy was. "Well let me tell you, the Principal came through; this kid is unbelievable! He scored 78 goals last season alone, with 12 hatricks." Whispers and gasps circulated the group. Damn, this guy WAS good. I only scored 63 goals last season, and I'm the best striker we've got. "He's going to be an invaluable addition to the squad. With him and Zack up front together, we'll be unstoppable this season. So make him feel at home." We all cheered and whooped, eager to meet the guy. "What's his name?" I asked. "Alex Martinez." Coach answered, reading from the file. "And I'm counting on you as captain, Zack, to make him feel welcome and help him fit into the team. Ok?" "My pleasure." I nodded, looking around at the rest of my team. They all grinned back at me. "No worries, we'll help you Zack." Adam, the goalie, smiled at me. "Yeah, this kids gonna be like the Messi of this place, we've got to make a good first impression right?" Ryan grinned. They all cheered excitably. "Gentlemen," We spun round to see Principal Stevens walking up to us, looking out of place on the sports field in his shirt and tie. "Principal! Afternoon!" Coach said, a huge grin on his face. "Ah, Coach Latimer good afternoon. I'd like to introduce you to your new player, Alex Martinez!" He stepped back and pointed to... The girl behind him. What? She had her long, mahogany hair pulled back in a ponytail, and she was wearing a white vest top, our team's red shorts, white and red socks and soccer boots. "Hi." She smiled, giving Coach a wave. We all stared at her in shock. Was this a joke? "Is this a joke?" Coach spluttered, echoing my own thoughts. "Most definitely not." The Principal replied. "You've read her file I assume?" "Of course I've read the file, but you failed to mention my new player was a girl!" "Now now, Coach. I've already discussed it at length with the championship organisers, as well as the school's board of governors. Nowhere in the rules does it say you can't have a girl, so it was agreed that she could join. It's a stroke of luck that she's enrolling here for her senior year, and as soon as I read her file I knew she'd be prefect for your team." I zoned out of their conversation and looked at Alex Martinez. She'd obviously got bored and she had wandered off slightly, casually starting to do some keepie uppies. Woah, she WAS good. I looked at the team and they were all staring at her, open mouthed, either in shock or awe. Shock; because she was a girl and she was doing keepie uppies better than most of us, and awe; because she was hot as hell. She was slim, naturally tanned, and she had big green eyes. Her soccer shorts were slightly shorter than ours, and they showed off her awesome legs and bum. Seriously, she was like some sort of soccer goddess. She turned round to look at us (whilst still somehow doing keepie uppies) and raised her eyebrows, "Do you have to stare?" We all quickly turned our attention back to Coach and the Principal, embarrassed that she'd caught us ogling her. "Coach, not only is she the best striker in possibly the whole district, she's also an exceptional student, and I'm certain she is going to be a great addition to EHS." Principal Stevens was saying in exasperation. "Well.. I suppose it's fine.. I'll make a solid decision once I've seen her play." Coach said forcefully. "Of course, thank you for your time." Principal Stevens nodded and turned to leave. "But if this doesn't work it'll be your butt on the line Principal." Coach called after him, and the Principal laughed. They were old friends. "Go easy on 'em okay Alex?" He joked. "I'll try Sir." She grinned at him, and he turned and left us. "Right then.. Lets make Alex feel at home, lads, introduce yourselves." Coach boomed. Someone nudged me forwards. "Uh, hi. I'm Zack, I'm the captain. I play striker." I smiled at her and held my hand out. She grinned at me and shook my hand, "Nice to meet you Zack." Our eyes locked and our hands stayed together for slightly longer than a normal handshake. I noticed she had a cute smattering of freckles on her nose. Aw man, I'm a sucker for freckles. "I'm Adam, I'm the goalie." Adam jumped in, pushing me out of the way. "And I'm Austin, I play defence!" "I'm Ryan!" "Jake!" "Trent!" "Pete!" You could just tell they all had the hots for her, and I don't blame them; she was unbelievable. She looked overwhelmed by the massive number of names being thrown at her, so I decided to intervene. "Guys, guys, give her some room! She's not gonna remember all your names if you just shout them at her; let's do some drills." They reluctantly left Alex and went to get the balls and start the drills. "Thanks Captain." She beamed at me. "No problem." I smiled. "You know Coach is gonna be harsh on you today to see if he can break you right?" I asked her. She laughed, "Yep, I know." "Martinez! Burns! Quit chatting and get on with the drills!" Coach shouted at us. Alex saluted him, grinning, and picked up a ball. We did the normal passing and defending exercises for 10 minute, and Coach was writing notes the whole time. It's what he does to intimidate newbies, to make them think he's judging their every move. Alex was unfazed by him though, she just concentrated on the drills and let me tell you, she was good. Really good. Coach blew his whistle and shouted, "Right, game time! Shirts and skins!" "Can Alex be a skin?" Trent called out, gaining a few sniggers. "Mr Jackson! 50 push ups, now!" Coach bellowed, blowing his whistle loudly. That wiped the smile off his face, and he dropped down to start his push ups with lightning speed. Alex smirked at him. Half of us took our shirts off and the other half kept them on. I was a skin, it was pretty hot out today. I saw Alex having a sly glance at me as I pulled off my shirt. I winked at her and she laughed. "Martinez, I want you in centre attack for the shirts. Lets see how you play against Burns." Coach ordered. "Yes sir!" Alex replied, winking at me and running into position. This girl was something else, she really was. The whistle blew and the game started. I passed back to Pete and ran up the pitch, ready for a pass. The pass never came; Alex had got the ball and was running toward goal. "Alex, here!" Alex passed it over to Jake, who ran with it but then got tackled by one of the skins. We had the ball again. "Bring it up!" I shouted, and my team passed it between them, heading for the goal. Then Austin did a great slide tackle and got it back for the shirts, booting it up to Jake. Jakes dribbled it around my midfield and up to the defence. Alex was in the box unmarked, and she dashed forward as Jake crossed her the ball. She jumped and whacked it in mid-air, straight into the top left corner of the goal and over Adam's head. Adam punched the goal post in frustration as the shirts let out a roar of triumph. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Coach punch the air with joy and then quickly regain his composure. Jake ran up to Alex and span her round, and she laughed and high-fived her team. She was beating me already. Coach blew his whistle. "Good goal! Right, team change! Burns, put on a shirt, lets see how you play alongside Martinez." Yes, now the real fun begins. I put my shirt on and swapped with Jake as he took his off. "She's good bro." He grinned at me as we passed each other. I nodded in agreement and took my position next to Alex. "So that's how you scored 78 last season, huh?" I said. "Oh my, you read my file? I'm flattered." She laughed, tightening her ponytail. Her top lifted slightly, exposing an inch of tanned tummy, and I caught a glimpse of what looked like a tiny heart tattooed on her hip. You have no idea how badly I wanted to see that tattoo up close. The whistle blew, interrupting my (slightly inappropriate) thoughts, and the skins kicked off. Alex nodded at me and went straight for the ball, and I headed upfield. Rick won the ball for us and dribbled it up, then passed to Alex. Without stopping she dribbled it up the pitch and then chipped it through to me. I was too heavily marked meaning I couldn't shoot, so I passed it back to her, and she dribbled into the box. I signalled with my hand and dodged forward past the defenders, and she tapped it into me. I volleyed it into the back of the net, straight past the keeper. YES! "Woooo!" Alex cried, running over and jumping on me in a hug. The team raced over and joined in, turning it into a huge group hug. Eventually Coach had to blow his whistle to break us up. "Okay, okay, that's enough, cut it out." Everyone piled off me and Alex, laughing. "So that's how you scored 63 last season huh?" Alex said to me. I looked at her in astonishment. "Yeah, I read your file too, Zachary." She grinned at me, and then ran off. I stared after her, speechless. Zachary is my full name and usually I hate it when anyone calls me it (which is why nobody does), but I actually didn't mind Alex calling me it. I don't know why. We gathered round for Coach's after-practice pep talk. Alex pulled her hair band out, put her head down and then back up again, whipping her hair back. I knew I wasn't the only one staring. "Firstly, I'd like to congratulate Alex for doing such a great job, especially for a newbie." We all gave her a round of applause, with a few cheers thrown in for good measure. "Now, I have to admit, when Principal Stevens showed up with a girl, I had more than a few doubts," we all laughed and Alex joined in. "But let me tell you, you got rid of them straight away. And that goal was terrific!" He exclaimed. Alex beamed at him, "Thanks Coach." "My only criticism is that you need to call for the ball more." He added. "But I don't know all their names yet!" She cried, laughing. "Can't you all wear name tags?!" We all roared with laughter. "Oh yeah, and the next match we play we can say to the other team: 'we tend to forget our names so we have to wear name tags'!" Austin joked. Alex laughed and punched him in the arm. He grinned at her and winked. He so wants her. Well he can get in line. "Secondly, you should all know you have practice fifth tomorrow, am I right?" We all nodded. We all had a free period timetabled in which we had soccer practice. "Martinez, have you been given your timetable yet?" Alex nodded, "Principal Stevens gave it to me earlier. We have practices Wednesday and Friday too, right?" "We do indeed." Coach replied. "Now, the important bit. You need a shirt!" He boomed. "I'm assuming you'll be a Small, so I'll get you two shirts and another pair of shorts as well. I need to get your name printed on them so I won't get them to you until Tuesday. Do you have a number preference?" "4 please!" She said eagerly. "Hmm, lucky you, that's available." Coach said, jotting it down. "Right then you lot, clear off, practice is over!" He said, blowing his whistle. We all wandered off. I got all my gear and then went over to where Alex was packing her kit bag. "So, where's your new house?" I asked. She smiled, "Um, Sycamore Avenue, do you know it?" I blinked in astonishment. "Know it? I live there!" Alex looked up at me in surprise. "No way! Which house number are you?" "34, which ones yours?" "27!" She grinned at me. Realisation struck me then. I'd seen a load of removal vans outside the house a few doors down last week, but I hadn't really paid any attention. "So we're basically-" "We're basically neighbours!" She laughed. "So neighbour, do you want a lift home?" I asked, grinning. "Why thankyou kind Sir, that would be lovely." She replied. I chucked our bags in the back of my truck and we headed off. We talked about all kinds of stuff on the way. I found out Alex's Mom owns a clothing company, and her Dad's a teacher. She's got an older brother, Phil, who's studying medicine at college. She started playing Soccer when she was 5, because her brother played and she wanted to be better than him (which she did because he got bored of it but she didn't). She moved here because her Dad got a new job at the middle school down the road. I told her I have two younger sisters, Sophie and Melissa, and my Dad's a dentist and my Mom's a lawyer. We covered a lot during a pretty short car journey. She was so easy to talk to though, like we were old friends. When I pulled up outside number 27 her Mom and Dad were just getting out of their car, and they turned and looked at us. Alex waved and jumped out. "Hi, sweetie!" Her Mom smiled. "Who's this?" She pointed at me. "This is Zack, he's the Soccer captain. He lives in number 34." She said, grinning. I got out the truck and grabbed her bag from the back, heading over to where she was standing with her parents. "Nice to meet you." I said. "Nice to meet you too." Her Mom smiled warmly at me. "Now tell me son, is your team any good? Or will I have to find Alex another team to play for?" Her Dad joked, slapping me on the shoulder. I laughed, "Well we got to the championship finals last year and the year before, and we're ranked second best team in the district at the moment. Although I reckon with Alex we can win the championships this year." I grinned. This pleased Mr Martinez, and he looked eager to ask me more soccer questions. "Zack, you're welcome to stay for dinner." Alex's Mom said. "Oh no, I don't want to be any trouble-" "No no, I insist! It's no trouble." "Well, if you insist. Thanks Mrs Martinez." I smiled. "Call me Helena." "And you can call me Brian." Her Dad said, putting his arm round me and leading me into the house. I turned round to look at Alex and she was laughing at me, but she looked embarrassed by her parents as well. I thought they seemed really nice and laid-back. "So what does your team do in terms of training Zack?" Call-me-Brian asked.