Along for the Ride

by Rachel Meinke

  We were assigned roommates, but immediately everyone began switching room keys. Jenica and I quickly ended up in the same room.

  “What are we thinking?” Jenica asked, as she claimed the bed closest to the air conditioner. “Sushi for dinner?”

  “It’s barely lunchtime!” I said, with a slight laugh.

  There was a knock on our door. “Team bus leaves in fifteen minutes!”

  “I cannot wait to take a nap after practice.”

  We headed downstairs to the lobby, waiting with the other girls.

  “It’s our first Elite team practice together,” Jenica whispered.

  “How exciting!”

  “You’re way too peppy, I’m going to need you to tone it down at least seven notches,” Nancy said.

  “Exactly,” I teased.

  A van pulled up in front of the hotel, and we piled inside. I greeted people as I passed them to find a seat.

  “Are you ready for this?” Jenica asked, as we found seats.

  “Nervous,” I admitted.

  “Don’t be,” she chastised. “Remember, we were born for this.”

  The bus ride was short, but long enough for my mind to race with the overwhelming possibilities and scenarios of what was about to happen. The eighteen of us filed out onto the field, nervously chatting amongst one another.

  Coach Tom Wright was setting up cones on the field, chatting with two girls whose backs were turned to us. I immediately recognized them, even with their backs turned. They were Morgan Lopez and Charity Williams, two U.S. Women’s National Team players.

  Charity was a striker and Morgan was a defender.

  “You have five minutes to get your gear on,” Coach said, turning to face us.

  We dug through our bags, pulling on our stuff. Lucky for me, I already had my shin guards and socks on. I switched out my slides for my cleats and then grabbed a soccer ball, juggling while I waited.

  A couple of other girls copied me, working on their juggling while we waited, including Jenica once she was ready. Others sat around and waited, talking and giggling.

  “What’s your name?” Coach asked, coming over to me.

  My mouth went dry as I stared up at him. “Katelyn Jackson,” I managed to choke out.

  “Everyone take note,” Coach announced. “What Katelyn’s doing is what you should be doing when you have spare time.”

  My legs felt like Jell-O. Coach Tom had noticed me.

  “You can’t fangirl every time he speaks,” Jenica said to me. “He’s our coach now.”

  “All right, ladies, gather around,” Coach called, waving us over.

  Nervous energy coursed through my veins as we sat in a semicircle.

  “Welcome to the Elite Limitless Showcase World Tour,” Coach announced. “Wow, that is a mouthful. I’m Coach Tom, and I have two of my players with me. Charity is a striker on the U.S. Women’s National Team, and Morgan is a defender. They’re going to help me with today’s practice.”

  We clapped in excitement as Charity and Morgan waved at us.

  “We have three days to practice together before our first game,”

  Coach Tom continued. “Today I will be watching you to get an idea of my starters. Starters will be announced during game warm-ups, so nobody needs to ask me before then. Give me your best. Is that a deal?”

  I was unsure of what his schedule was exactly, but I knew that I’d constantly give 100 percent to be on that starter list.

  “Then let’s get started,” he said, clapping his hands together.

  “Morgan, why don’t you demonstrate the first drill here?”

  I lay down on the floor of our hotel room floor with a groan. “My hamstrings are so tight.”

  “Let’s stretch them out,” Jenica said. “Leg up.”

  I obediently put my left leg straight up in the air, Jenica applying light pressure to stretch out the back of my leg.

  “My body doesn’t hurt as badly as I thought it was going to,”

  Jenica said. “Probably because of the hell we went through at the Showcase.”

  “I’d say we’re pretty well conditioned at the moment,” I agreed.

  “How do you think you did at practice?” Jenica asked. “Other leg.”

  I did as she asked. “I gave it my best.”

  “Same here,” Jenica said. “Though I did make a couple of rookie mistakes.”

  “You can’t dwell on the little things,” I chastised. “Your overall performance is what’s most important.”

  A knock came on our door as Jenica finished stretching me out.

  She went and answered it as I pushed myself up.

  “Just seeing if you guys wanted to grab dinner and watch Netflix or something?” Nancy’s voice said.

  “Yeah!” I called out. “Come in, I’ll turn it on.”

  “Take a seat anywhere,” Jenica said. “I’m ordering sushi. Want some?”

  “She’s been talking about sushi since lunch,” I said to Nancy. “As soon as we got here, she was asking me about dinner.”

  “I’m too wired to sleep,” Jenica whined. “And what’s the next best thing to sleeping? Eating.”

  We found an old sitcom to binge, and the food showed up halfway through the second episode.

  “Who’s your roommate?” I asked Nancy.

  “Marci.”

  The face I made must’ve conveyed my opinion, as Nancy was quick to defend.

  “I like her,” Nancy said. “We bonded over our love of romance books.”

  Marci didn’t strike me as a romance book reader. “Interesting.”

  Nancy leaned in toward me. “And she’d kill me if I told you, but she’s a total Mack fan.”

  “Mackenzie? Really?”

  “I can see it,” Jenica said. “She’s a bad bitch. Mack sings about being a boss bitch. Makes sense.”

  “I’m going to call it a night,” Nancy said, standing up. “Same thing tomorrow?”

  Jenica and I both nodded.

  “See you.”

  Jenica flopped down on her bed. “I’m still too wired to sleep.”

  “How are you wired? I’m exhausted.”

  “Are you going to bed now?”

  “I’m going to scroll through my social media until I fall asleep.”

  She let out a loud yawn. “Sounds like a good idea to me.”

  LOS ANGELES, CA

  CHAPTER 18

  My eyes scanned the airport as I waited for Connor and my dad.

  I rose to my tiptoes, standing up to see over the crowd. My entire family coming to my game. I never thought I’d see the day. And I couldn’t be more nervous.

  I saw my dad first. He was walking in front of Connor, who had his head ducked and sunglasses on. It didn’t stop him from being recognized by at least ten different people as they tried to come down the escalator.

  I hugged my dad first, much to his surprise. “Thank you for coming to my game, Dad.”

  “I couldn’t be prouder of you, Katelyn. I’m very excited to see you play.”

  It didn’t sound scripted. “Really?”

  “Very much so.”

  And then Connor pulled me in for a hug. “Congrats, baby sis.”

  “Thanks, Connor,” I said, holding him tightly. “And thanks for flying home for me.”

  “I promised,” he reminded me. “I want to support you like you’ve always supported me.”

  And then I saw Zach.

  “Oh, and I brought some friends,” Connor said. “You might’ve met them before, they’re on the same tour as me? The young one has a massive—”

  “Hi, Katelyn,” Jesse said, quick to interrupt Connor. “Hope you don’t mind that we crashed your party. Connor wouldn’t stop jabbering on about how talented you are, so we wanted to come and see you play.”

  Connor? Talking to his tour mates? About me?

  “Who is this social butterfly?” I asked Connor. “Do I know you?”

  I gave Jesse a quick hug, as well as Ross and Aaron
.

  “Come and drop your stuff in the car,” my mom said. “You all must be exhausted. Let’s get you home.”

  And then it was only Zach and me.

  “How’s the tour without me?” I asked.

  “Not the same.”

  I didn’t want to overthink it, but it was hard not to when he’d flown to another state to watch me play. “Thanks for coming.”

  “I don’t know much about soccer,” Zach admitted. “But I know you play it well, so I’ll just cheer for you.”

  “You don’t know that, seeing as you’ve never seen me.”

  “I also know you’re way too humble.”

  Ross’s voice called out over the airport noise. “Would you two stop flirting and come on?”

  I nearly choked.

  “I’m going to kill him,” Zach muttered. The tips of his ears were red, along with his cheeks. “Sorry.”

  We went out to the car Skyline had ordered. I could hear my mom arguing with Jesse as we approached.

  “Don’t be silly,” she said. “Here’s our address. You’re coming to dinner at our house tonight.”

  “Say ‘Yes, Ma’am,’” Aaron said to Jesse, as he took the note from my mom. “You’re fighting a losing battle.”

  “Thank you,” Jesse said.

  I slid into the car next to Connor, my mom driving and my dad in the passenger seat.

  “The game’s tomorrow, right?” Connor asked.

  “Yup, we’ve been training all day. I have to go back to the hotel tonight, but my coach said that I can spend the evening with you guys.”

  We pulled up to the house, and both Connor and I leapt out and took off for the closest bathroom. One thing I had on Connor was speed, and I locked myself in the bathroom before he was able to.

  “You’re so annoying!” Connor shouted.

  “Just for that, I’m going to take my sweet time. Use the one upstairs!”

  I spent the next fifteen minutes in the bathroom to piss Connor off. As I opened the door, he was standing right there and gave me an all-knowing grin. “Skyline started the tour while you were busy.”

  “Good?”

  “If I recall, don’t you have some posters on your walls?”

  A brick settled in my stomach as I realized.

  “If only you’d been quicker,” Connor said.

  “No!”

  I quickly ran upstairs, but was too late into the self-guided house tour. The boys were all in my room, laughter loud and clear.

  “You’re a Skyline fan, huh?” Aaron asked, as I came running in.

  Crap.

  “More importantly,” Ross said, gesturing toward my Zach poster.

  “She’s a Zach fan.”

  Now would be a great time to get struck by lightning. Or for an infamous California earthquake. Anything to get me out of this embarrassing situation.

  “Leave her alone,” Zach said. But even he was holding back laughter.

  “I’ve been signing your posters,” Ross said. “I can’t reach the one on the top of that wall. But I got the rest.”

  There was nothing I could say to defend myself. “Thanks.”

  “We’re going to go unpack,” Jesse said, ushering Aaron and Ross out of the room.

  “Unpack?” Ross questioned. “We’re not at our hotel. And we’re only here for two—”

  “Walk,” Aaron ordered.

  He closed the door behind him, leaving Zach and me, alone, again. This seemed to be a recurring theme.

  Zach shoved his hands in his pockets. “You didn’t say anything about the song.”

  Between the Limitless Showcase and the flirty texts, I’d almost forgotten that he’d written a love song.

  My heart felt as though it plummeted in my chest. “It was really good. I hope whoever you wrote it about loved it.”

  I tried to keep the bitterness out, tried to remain positive. I mean

  . . . it couldn’t—

  “I don’t know if she did,” Zach said. “I hope she heard it. Listened to it.”

  I bit my lip, trying to hold back the ugly jealousy threatening to bubble up and drown the hope I still had. “Have you talked to her about it?”

  He shook his head. “I dropped a few hints. A lot of obvious ones.

  But she’s not seeming to get them.”

  As desperately as I wanted to be selfish, to ask him if it was me, I was scared I’d embarrass myself.

  “You honestly don’t have a clue, do you?” Zach asked.

  I stared at him, my heart beating so hard I thought it would leap out of my chest.

  “The song was about you, Katelyn. I wrote the song for you.”

  I stepped back, my mind racing. Did Zach just . . . The song is . . .

  Who? All I could do was stare at him with wide eyes. And he stared back at me, waiting for me to say something. Zach Matthews had written a song about me, Katelyn Jackson. Me. For a second, I could only gape at him. What alternate reality had I been thrust into? Was I dreaming?

  I needed to say something.

  “Me?” I managed to choke out.

  “Yeah, you.”

  “That . . . must have been very frustrating,” I said, my words coming very slowly. “To write a song about someone so oblivious.”

  And he’d been waiting for me to realize. Giving me gifts, sending me texts, waiting for me to say something.

  “I thought it was about some other girl,” I said, my voice coming out as a whisper. “I didn’t want to hope . . .”

  Before I could finish my thought, Zach’s hand reached out and cupped my cheek. His gaze burned into mine as he spoke his words slowly and deliberately. “And how’d that make you feel?”

  My mind went blank as I reached up to touch his hand. I tried to come up with a response that would explain how jealous I’d been of a nonexistent girl. “Bad,” I whispered.

  He reached out, pulling me forward to close the space I’d opened between us. I let out a short gasp in surprise, and then he was kissing me.

  At first I didn’t kiss him back, my mind unable to comprehend what exactly was happening. But then my shoulders relaxed and I kissed him, warmth spreading through me as our lips molded together.

  Zach Matthews liked me. And I hadn’t realized it.

  As we pulled away, I couldn’t help but stare into Zach’s eyes, my heart soaring in my chest. “I really like the song.”

  “Good. Because it’s about you, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

  “There better be talking happening in there!” Connor called out from down the hall. “I speak for all of us when I say we’re tired of trying to find ways to get the two of you alone.”

  “Don’t mind us,” Aaron added.

  “Your next song should be about annoying brothers,” I giggled.

  “I could write an entire album about that,” he replied, and kissed me again.

  LOS ANGELES, CA

  CHAPTER 19

  Jenica and I stood side by side, staring in the full-length mirror in the hotel room. We’d received our uniforms this morning. And we hadn’t taken them off since.

  “Another selfie?” Jenica asked.

  “I want at least a thousand.”

  A knock came on the door as Jenica took a few more pictures of us.

  “Bus in ten!”

  I grabbed my soccer bag, making sure it was packed before hauling it over my shoulder. My slides were waiting by the door, and I shoved my feet in them as we walked out. “Are we ready?”

  “No,” Jenica answered. “But let’s do this.”

  The bus ride to the field was intense, everyone trying to get themselves into game mode. We were instructed to be completely in uniform before we got off the bus, so as we pulled up, I switched my slides out for my cleats.

  We filed off the bus one by one. The captains of the team would be announced to us before the start of the game, along with starters.

  We took a seat in a circle before our warm-ups, sipping on water as Coach Tom pulled out his
starter list.

  “Strikers, Jenica and Marci.”

  I reached behind my back, high-fiving Jenica behind hers.

  “Midfielders, Sky and Wilma. Stopper, Ashley. Defensive wings, Nancy and Gabriella. Sweeper, Katelyn. Goalie, Cassandra. Any questions?”

  Jenica reached around her back, the two of us high-fiving once again.

  Starting team. We’d worked our asses off for this.

  Our pregame warm-up was crucial—the other team would be studying and criticizing us. This was our first game as a team.

  “Marci Adams and Katelyn Jackson,” Coach Tom called, waving us over.

  I exchanged confused glances with Jenica before jogging over to him, my stomach flip-flopping.

  “Congratulations,” he said, handing the two of us captain bands.

  “Thank you,” we said in unison.

  “Make us proud,” Coach said as the refs called for captains.

  I slipped my captain band around my shin guard before heading to the center of the field. All of the handwork and dedication had led up to this moment . . . and I had to share it with Marci. As excited as I was supposed to be, I still felt a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to share centerfield with my best friend. And worst off, I was being forced to share it with her.

  My eyes traveled over to the stands while waiting for the other team’s captains. The stands weren’t packed, so it was easy to spot my family and the Matthews brothers. They were sitting together toward the top of the stands on the U.S. side. I gave them a thumbs-up, receiving a series of waves in return.

  “All right, introduce yourselves,” the ref ordered.

  I exchanged names with both the girls from the other team, who were from China.

  “All right, since you are the visiting team, you’ll call it in the air,”

  the refs said to our opponents.

  They called it correctly and asked for kickoff. Marci chose our side of the field and then we parted ways, heading back to our own teams.

  I’d never played in front of my entire family, let alone Skyline. Or Zach. And as shallow as it sounded, I really wanted to make a good impression.

  “Goalie, you ready?” the ref called to our goalie, Cassandra.

  Cassandra flashed him a thumbs-up, as did the other team’s goalie.