VIRAGO

ensorcel

ensorcel (v.) - enchant or fascinate

After being on edge for the last twelve hours, she was relieved to be stepping onto the bus that would be taking them to Lansing. They would play three games throughout the day tomorrow then finish out group play Saturday morning. If they topped their group, they would go into the quarter finals that evening, and then the semifinals, finals, and consolation matches were all on Sunday. They hoped to be playing in that final game on Sunday, and they were eager to show their worth in this tournament. It was all guys varsity soccer, and they were one of the only small towns going to participate. They did have high schools coming from all over Michigan to compete, so there were forty teams in eight groups, randomly generated so they did not skew who was playing who.

Samantha sat in the second to last seat on the bus, her two bags on the seat in front of her and Nash was sitting in the seat across from her, on the phone with his girlfriend. From what she had gathered, he was one of the three guys on the team who were tied down, and her name was Rachel. She was a senior like they were, and they had been dating since the middle of junior year, so not too long. From what she had heard amongst the team, they did not like her very much, but they never said it to his face.

"You want a piece?" Nash asked her, handing out a bag of jerky to her. She shrugged, taking one and thanking him.

"How's Rachel?" She asked him, for he had just gotten off the phone with her a few minutes ago.

"She's good. She's a little bummed we're gonna be gone all weekend, but she said she was gonna try and make it Sunday if we make it." He told her as they both munched on jerky.

"Oh that's cool." She responded curtly.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" He asked out of the blue, and it caught her a little off guard, but she shook her head.

"Nope." She sighed.

"That's a shame." He commented as he looked away to go back to his phone. "What about your family?"

"What, trying to write a book about me?" She asked with a chuckle, getting him to smile.

"No, no. I'm just trying to get to know you, Reed. Build chemistry." He defended, but the word chemistry stuck out to her for some reason.

"I have an older brother who goes to Michigan State, and my dad." She told him. That reminded her to text Jason to see if he was going to make it to any of her games. It was the weekend before they started classes, so she was sure he was going to be partying all weekend, but he had promised he would come see her play when he could, and this would be the perfect opportunity since she was going to be close.

"If you don't mind me asking, what about your mom?" He asked, and she sighed.

"My mom died in a car accident two years ago." She told him curtly.

"I'm sorry to hear that." He said, and she gave him a small smile.

"Yeah, me too." She responded, huffing. "What about you?"

"I have a younger sister and my parents. She goes to our school too, you'll probably meet her this weekend." He informed, and she nodded.

"Nice. I always wished I had a sister, but Jason is probably my favorite person in the world. I wouldn't trade him for the world." She responded with a small chuckle.

"You can have mine then. She's always trying to get into my business and can't just mind her own." He answered with a laugh himself.

"Oh I was the same way for a long time when we were both younger. I always wanted to play with the guys." She said, laughing with him.