Try and Catch Me (Published)

Chapter 2: Welcome to the Team

Also I put a picture of Samantha Branson above

Chapter 2: Welcome to the Team

We were picking teams. Aspen and Vincent Rone stood side by side. Vinny was also a star player of the soccer team. He was the goalie. Every single ball that came to him he caught and punted it more than halfway down the field. It was no wonder that they won state champs; they had amazing players. My stomach knotted a little when I thought about playing them. They were great, and I was average.

They were looking at every single person in the group. We all stood on the grass. I had kicked off my shoes and was now playing barefoot. Heels were not exactly a good choice for running around. Most of the girl's soccer team was at the party too. We all huddled near each other giggling. At school we were never allowed to compete with the boys. Our coach thought that we were no match compared to the guys and so it would just end with us getting hurt. This was finally our time to play with them. We couldn't have been more ecstatic.

            "Aspen just pick someone," Vinny said next to him. He gave him a whack in the shoulder. Aspen just smiled and continued to stare.

            "Greg." He pointed at a short guy holding a red solo cup. He wooed and ran to embrace his new teammate.

            "Shit," Vinny mumbled. "Okay." He nodded and stared at the crowd. He rubbed his tan hands together. "Alright, I pick David," he said.

            "Great choice man." David smirked and slapped hands with Vinny.

            Aspen locked eyes with me suddenly. I tensed. He was looking at me. Or was he looking at someone behind me? I glanced behind and saw that it was just me in the back. Was he going to choose me? Out of all the amazing players on his team, was he actually going to pick me?

            "Ella." He seemed to have whispered it.

The world belonged to only me and him. There was nobody around us. Just him. I stared at him with my mouth gaped. He was still wearing his wet t-shirt, but somehow he made it look so god damn sexy. It clung to his stomach and emphasized his steal abs.

"Ella." I heard again. But it wasn't said by Aspen. "Ella," a girl said one more time next to me. This time it was harsh. I felt a poke on my shoulder.

"Sorry," I whispered. Everyone was gaping at me, and they had a right to. Why was soccer star Aspen Carder picking me over everyone else? I was by far not the best out of the rest of the players. Shannon was still in the crowd, and believe me when I say that she was much much better than me. I was ready to be picked last, like in gym class.

I walked over to my new teammates and practically fell on my face on the way over. A whole caught my foot and I stumbled a few steps forward. Aspen was only five feet in front of me and put his hands out to catch me but I managed to stand. One of my first interactions with Aspen and somehow I managed to almost break my face. What a catch. God, it was so embarrassing.

"Welcome to the team," Aspen whispered in my ear when I finally joined him. His minty breath tickled my ear. It was warm against my bare skin. My heart fluttered in my chest and my cheeks became flushed immediately.

"Thanks," I fawned. It was so clear that I had a crush on him. Why was I such an obvious person?

When Aspen and Vincent were done picking teams we both stood on our sides. The field was much smaller than a normal one, but it would do. We had ten people on each team. The team I was on was decent. We didn't get Shannon, but we got Maddison, who despite all her talking was a good soccer player.

"We're totally going to crush them!" Maddison squealed next to me. We were both playing defense. I was sweeper and she was the right defender. "Wait," Maddison said and threw her hands out to her sides. "Why are you here? Aren't you like, not supposed to come to your sisters parties or something?" She looked at me with a pretty dumb look. It didn't help that she was actually dumb.