By Charles Schnell

Courtney only joined the soccer team for one reason: the boy she liked was on the team. She never played the sport, thought she would hate it. But she still joined.

Weeks passed, and she kept improving and improving. Not for her own sake, but to impress the boy. She needed to be the best girl on the team.

The team played their first game. She was put in as a substitution late in the game. However, as more and more games passed, the coach increased her playtime. And eventually, after many months of hard training, she was a starter.  

The playoffs came around; their team was in. Courtney was getting closer with the boy. Although, this was not the only reason Courtney was happy. When the coach announced that they were in, she felt a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t understand it, but she felt pure joy. She was exuberant that they made it. For the first time during the whole season, the boy wasn’t on her mind. For the first time in her whole life, she felt she found what she was searching for, the place where she was meant to be. She couldn’t fully grasp that feeling. So, she returned to dreaming about the boy after the meeting. She never understood the feeling.

The day before the first game of playoffs, the boy got in a car accident and died.

The team lost the first round.

Heartbroken and bewildered, Courtney quit the team, vowing to never touch a soccer ball again.

Three years of her life passed. Three empty years. The day still haunted her.

Not the day he died, although that was a significant contributor to the empty confusion. It was the day they lost the first round. Without a trophy and her purpose for even playing the game, she quit.

Still, after all the years, she felt as if a piece of her life was… missing. She couldn’t put her finger on it. She could merely live with the confusion, the incompleteness.

One day, she was at a park after school. Some girls that continued on with the team were having a scrimmage. They hadn’t made the playoffs since then.

They all recognized Courtney, waved her over, and asked if she wanted to play soccer.

Then, she was overcome with distant but vivid memories of the field: the cheers of her teammates, the ball flying seemingly atop the grass, the sun setting over the mountains. None of the memories contained just the boy. They were all about soccer. The sport. The game.

She ran over with a slight smile, and they played till the sky went dark.

Editor: Shelby Armor