Rocks and Stars

by Sam Ledel

I nod, suddenly nervous when I jog over to join my teammates at the top of the box. I was a low midfielder for four years in high school but was asked to move to attacking midfield when I joined this team. Standing at the top of the box, I look ahead to where Jax and T. stand five feet apart, with Madeline and Sarah stacked behind them. Joey hops on the balls of her feet just outside of the net. I wonder if she’s as nervous as I am.

  Another whistle, and we begin. I try to hold on to what Emily just told me. I dribble through the designated area, Coach’s mini-field, zigging and zagging through the defense as best I can. I manage to escape a slide tackle from T. and take off to the right sideline. Madeline leaves her mark and makes a beeline for me. I glance to my left and see Katie raise her arm on the other side of the box, about twenty yards away. Jax is in front of her, but there’s room.

  The ball sails off my foot when I cross it. Katie leans back and receives it off her chest. The ball bounces off her foot a little wildly. I run forward, anticipating that Jax will snatch it and take off. But instead, she lunges in the wrong direction. Once she does, Katie is free to move to her left, and she lets a shot fly.

  Joey leaps from her line and is stretched out entirely once she’s in the air. The ball flies toward the top right corner of the net, and just as I think it’s past her, Joey’s fingers tap it enough so that it sails inches to the right of the goalpost.

  “Holy crap,” Madeline mutters behind me. “That girl’s got a wingspan on her.”

  Joey falls with a thud onto the grass but stands up quickly. She’s grinning when Coach blows her whistle.

  “Nice one, Carver,” Coach Gandy calls from the top of the box while Emily and a few others cheer.

  Joey grabs an extra ball from the back of the net and tosses it out to Katie. “Nice shot,” she says. Katie nods and jogs back up top. “Jax,” Joey adds, and I slow my jog to listen. “Watch her left side next time, yeah?”

  I can’t read Jax’s face when she turns and mumbles something to T., who snickers and shakes her head.

  “Nice pass, Kyle,” Emily tells me once I’m reset at the top of the box and waiting for Coach’s whistle.

  I exhale. “Thanks. Your intel helped.”

  Emily shrugs. “Just doing my part. Unlike some people,” she adds with a nod toward Jax.

  “Yeah, you saw that, too?”

  She nods. “I bet she’s sore about Haley still. I mean, I get it; Haley’s a junior and walked on as a freshman. Bit of a big deal. And she’s Jax’s hero or something. Which I’ve never really understood since Haley is, like, the sweetest person ever, and Jax is, well…Jax. But I guess she’s planning to make things a little difficult for our new goalie.”

  Turning back, I watch Joey in her box. She crosses and re-crosses her arms over her chest, staying loose. Her eyes are on Jax, but she must feel my gaze because they quickly shift and meet mine. The smile is on my face before I can stop it. Joey grins back, then moves to crouch when the whistle blows.

  “You know, a picture will last longer.”

  I turn to Emily as Katie passes me the ball. Her comment makes me fumble the pass when I receive it, but Mary recovers it as it rolls away from me. Emily looks way too entertained as she shakes her head, and I take off down the field, blushing.

  Chapter Five

  I switch my cell to my right ear, maneuvering around a group of people on my way to the foreign language building. The university flag waves eagerly in the breeze from its pole anchored between stalwart oak trees. Even it seems joyful to stretch out on such a beautiful day. The sun shines on the manicured lawns and carefully maintained flower beds lining the many sidewalks cutting between the white stone campus buildings.

  “Kyle, great news!”

  I turn my face to soak up some of the sunshine. “Let me guess. They’ve decided to put in a Four Brothers Burgers on campus?”

  Emily’s incredulous sigh makes me laugh. “Oh my God, do you think of anything other than food and soccer?”

  I step onto a curb that leads to a pebble laden pathway I take each Wednesday to class. “Not really.”

  “Well, anyway, we now have the perfect plans for next weekend. Alex is throwing a house party with some of his friends. The ones whom I’ve already met are very cool. Super chill. And he said anyone I want to invite is welcome. So clear your calendar, Kyle. We’ve got a party to go to.”

  “Party?” I ask warily, glancing at my watch and stopping to sit on a bench outside of the foreign language building. “Isn’t it a little early in the school year for parties?”

  “Come on, Miss Tightly Wound,” Emily pleads. “It’s time to get you out there to meet people. People who aren’t on the soccer team, that is.”

  As Emily says this, I notice several of my teammates walking through the science building doors and out into bright afternoon Texan light. Among the crowd, I spot Haley, her leg brace tight against a pair of leggings. T. is next to her, laughing loudly as they walk my direction. Behind her, Jax strolls languidly, looking like she is in no hurry to get to wherever the group is going.

  “Kyle? Are you still there?”

  I adjust the backpack on my shoulders and nod, my eyes still on Jax. “Yeah, sorry, Em. I just realized what time it is. I should probably get going to class.”

  I hang up just as the group strolls past. Haley sees me first.

  “Hi, Kyle,” she calls from a few feet away. Her long blond hair is braided on one side as she waves. They pause when they’re next to my bench. “What’re you up to?”

  I gesture to the building behind me where herds of students are streaming in, the next class period beginning in a few minutes. “Spanish class,” I say. Then I brush a few hairs from my face when I notice Jax eyeing me from where she stands. This is the first time I’ve seen her off the soccer field. Despite the warm weather, she’s in black jeans paired with a deep red tank top. Her blue eyes are nestled into coves of dark eyeliner and her blond hair is down, falling to her shoulders. Several rings line her fingers, which she has hooked into the belt loops of her jeans. I realize I’m staring when T. speaks.

  “Who do you have for Spanish?”

  I clear my throat, tearing my gaze away from Jax. “Professor Jimenez,” I say, fumbling to stand.

  “Oh, I hear he’s tough,” T. says. “Abby had him last year.” She sticks her chin up a little. “That’s why I switched to German.”

  “Yeah, because so many people speak German.” Haley rolls her eyes. T. playfully shoves her.

  “Whatever, man. My family is from Germany. And I’ll visit one day.”

  Haley laughs. “T., we’re in Texas. Half the population speaks Spanish.”

  While they continue to banter over the relevance of foreign languages, Jax watches me from behind them. Meanwhile, I try not to panic at the fact that my incredibly hot teammate is looking at me like a cat who hasn’t eaten in days and has just cornered a mouse. I start to wander backward, toward the doors.

  “Well, it was really good seeing you guys,” I say. “But class starts any minute, so I should probably get going.”

  Jax nods slowly. “Okay. See you later, Kyle.”

  I give a short wave that I’m pretty sure looks more dorky than cool, then duck into the building as fast as I can.

  * * *

  Another scholastic day done, and I’ve got three hundred pages to read by Friday on top of online practice sessions for Spanish and a lab to prep for geology. I figure I can get a jump start on the reading in the locker room before practice begins at four. On my way to the bus stop, I’m about to pull out my phone to call Emily, when I notice somebody leaning against a tree, emerging from the shade beneath it. I squint and realize that it’s Jax walking over, one hand in her pocket. I glance over my shoulder, figuring T. or Haley must have just gotten out of class somewhere nearby, and she’s probably waiting for them. But I can’t find either girl anywhere. Eventually, I turn to walk toward Jax, and she gives me a half-smile when I reach her.

  Her eyes are
slanted from the sunlight when she speaks. “Hey, I thought you’d never get done in there.”

  I stare in disbelief. “Me? You were…were you waiting for me?”

  “What does it look like?” she replies, her gravelly voice slinking from her lips, each word in no rush to pass between them.

  “Oh,” I say, rubbing my toe into the sidewalk.

  Eyeing me from where she stands, she asks, “Can I interest you in something sweet?”

  My stomach leaps into my throat when she throws a nod to the other end of campus and starts walking that direction. She steps back a few feet, her smile growing with each moment I stand awestruck. Finally, she turns but calls over her shoulder. “Well, are you coming?”

  My mouth has fallen open a little as my gaze briefly lowers to her swaying hips. Jax, the Queen of Cool, wants me to go with her. Where? Why? Before I can think too much about it, I shove my phone into my back pocket and scurry to catch up. I’ll see Emily at practice, anyway. Just wait till I tell her about this. She’ll understand.

  * * *

  “Two cones, please. Cookies and cream for me.” Jax turns to face me. She’s standing so close I can smell her perfume—like roses and honey—when she asks, “What about you, Kyle? Pick anything. My treat.” She finishes this with a quick brush of my forearm. I swallow and blush before I manage to order a scoop of plain chocolate, the only flavor I manage to remember with Jax so close to me.

  After she pays and grabs our cones, she leads me over to a corner table away from the front of the little ice cream parlor we’ve ventured into. We had crossed the street from our campus, to the other side of a road lined with stores bedazzled in blue and gold university regalia. Most of the shops are school supply stores, but a few cute restaurants and snack shops sit nestled between them, like the one we’re in now. It’s ten degrees cooler in here than it is outside, and the AC blows gently around us, making two ceiling fans turn slowly over the patrons settled among gleaming tables on the checkered tile floor. Jax takes us past everybody and over to a corner table that I have seen occupied by fawning couples each of the times I’ve been here with Emily.

  Once we sit catacorner with each other, Jax crosses her legs and hands me my cone.

  “Thanks.” I take it and sit back, and she does the same. I allow myself a few seconds to really look at her. Seeing Jax outside of soccer is like seeing your middle school science teacher at the drugstore on a Saturday: completely bizarre and curiosity inspiring. Her toes and fingernails are painted a deep blue today, and she loosely bounces her foot while she starts into her ice cream. The jeans she wears look worn, but fit her like a glove. Several tears in them expose light skin along her knee and upper thigh. Her tank top lands just over the top of her jeans, and my eyes rove over her freckled arms. Her hair has a slight wave to it and looks blonder than it does when she has it up. After another bite into her scoop, she licks her lips.

  “So,” she says, and I sit up, hoping she hasn’t noticed my wandering gaze, “you’re looking good at practice so far.”

  I take a napkin from the holder on the table and dab at my mouth, then set it down beside me.

  “Thanks. I’m really excited to be a part of this team. I hope I can contribute to a successful season with you guys.”

  Jax raises her brow and takes another bite into her cone. I immediately cringe after sounding like a complete robot who’s sat down for an interview instead of a college girl out to ice cream with a teammate. God. Whatever effect Jax has cast over me seems to be amplifying the longer I’m with her.

  “It should be a good year,” Jax goes on, unfazed by my comment. “Emily talked you up a lot last semester. Says you’re a rock star in the midfield.”

  I carefully start on my own cone before answering. “Emily is always a little extravagant in her opinions of people.”

  “Well, I see what she means so far. It’s hard to keep my eyes off you out there.” At that, she tosses the last bit of cone into her mouth and chews through a grin.

  My stomach flutters. Is she flirting?

  “Well, um, you guys are really good down on defense,” I manage to say, glancing quickly up at her between licks of my ice cream. “I read that you allowed the fewest shots on goal in the whole division last season.”

  Jax nods like this is old news. “Well, we also had the best goalie.” She frowns, frustration shadowing her face. “I told Haley not to play summer league. But she had to go and do it, and look where it got her.”

  I bite my lip, instinctively wanting to voice my optimism regarding Joey. But I know Jax isn’t a huge fan, which I understand. One of her best friends lost her starting position. But Joey has shone in the box so far. She deserves a chance. Finally, I can’t help myself. “Haley’s been really great for Joey, though. I bet she learns a lot from her.”

  Jax sighs. “Maybe.” Then the clouds vanish, and she is smiling again, her eyes narrowed at me. “I guess we shouldn’t be worried, now that we have you.”

  I blush and go for another bite into my cone, except when I do I suddenly feel the ice cream racing down one side of my chin. I cringe and turn my face away. “Oh crap.”

  “No, let me.”

  Before I can snatch my napkin from the table, Jax leans forward and reaches out. My body freezes. A stunning girl has never reached out to touch me, let alone on my face. My brain simultaneously shuts down and races a thousand miles per second when her index finger starts at the bottom of my chin, then traces the river of chocolate up to the base of my lip. It lingers there for a moment, and Jax, who is now only a few inches from my face, watches me with her blue eyes. My face grows hot. Finally, after an agonizing amount of time under her gaze, she leans back.

  “Um, thanks,” I mutter. Then my eyes widen as she places her now ice cream covered finger into her mouth. Jax’s eyes don’t waver from mine as she makes short work of the chocolate. I swallow and bite loudly into my cone to keep myself from passing out.

  Meanwhile, Jax smirks, the smile lines etched deep in her cheeks, and I just wriggle in the dim corner of the ice cream parlor, imagining Emily’s face when I tell her about this, and hoping to God I make it out of here alive.

  Chapter Six

  “Mile two. One more to go!” Emily says from the treadmill next to me. I glance down at the bright green numbers on my machine and groan.

  “This has to be illegal. Coach Gandy can’t make us run until we puke.” I tilt my head; a trickle of sweat runs down the back of my neck and into my already soaked T-shirt. “Can she?”

  Emily just laughs through her heavy breathing while we continue our run. The steady whirring from the treadmill intermingles with the clomp clomp of our feet. For the first twenty minutes of our run, the sound consumed my mind, which helped ease the burning in my legs. Whir, clomp. Whir, clomp. Something was calming about the beat, and it allowed me to drown out the too-loud rock music blaring over the gym’s speakers. Not to mention it let me focus on my steps, and not on the room filled with spandex shorts and revealing tank tops.

  “How’s the book for your English class?” Emily asks, grabbing the white towel from the edge of her machine and lifting her glasses to swipe it across her brow.

  My eyes drift over the rest of our team working out in the crowded room before I respond. “You know, fine.”

  When I glance at Emily, her face is incredulous. “You haven’t read it, have you?”

  “All right, you got me,” I respond between breaths. Then I shrug. “It’s hard to get into. It’s an old book.”

  “Rebecca is not that old. And it’s such a good read!”

  I grab the water bottle from its holder and take a swig. Emily does the same with her own. “The Spark Notes are kind of boring.”

  A cold splash hits my arm and the left side of my neck.

  “Hey!” I cry, stumbling a little as Emily looks satisfied and takes another drink. When I lift up the bottom of my shirt to wipe my neck clean, I notice Joey on the rowing machine several feet to my right.
We lock eyes for a second, and when her gaze falls to my abdomen, I swallow and focus back on Emily.

  “Spark Notes, Kyle?” she says. “I swear you’ve kept them in business since we were in middle school.”

  My arms pumping, I glance back over at Joey, but she’s staring straight ahead as her arms pull back on a metal bar, making the chain connected to it pick up sixty pounds’ worth of block weights. Her back ripples under the white tank top she wears, and I momentarily feel light-headed.

  “Earth to Kyle.”

  I shake my head. “Sorry.” My stride quickens, and I’m not sure if it’s because our third mile is almost over or if the feeling that surged through me watching Joey has given me an extra jolt.

  “I guess we can’t all be stellar student-athletes,” Emily says, which warrants a water bottle squirt from me. She puts up her hands when I hit her right hip with a spray of water. After a little while, our treadmills beep, indicating we’ve hit our mile marker, and we both slow to a jog and eventually a walk.

  “You know,” I say, “I would read Rebecca if I had any semblance of free time. Between classes, practices, and workouts like this one, I barely even have time to sleep.”

  Emily nods, wiping the back of her neck after snatching the towel off her treadmill. “I suppose the first few weeks can be a bit of an adjustment period.” She sighs dramatically. “I remember it like it was yesterday.”

  I give her a shove before we step off our machines. Callie throws us a thumbs-up from her treadmill nearby, and I spot T. next to Jax along the left wall. They’re alternating on the calf-raise machine. Jax lifts herself up onto her toes, and the distinguished line running down her leg dries my throat. Suddenly, a thought occurs to me.

  “How exactly was last year for you?” I ask, throwing back another swig of water.

  Emily shrugs. “Fine.”

  We move over to a section of mats on the floor and sit down. “There was nothing,” I pause, “eventful?” I ask, hoping she doesn’t pick up on where I’m trying to go with this.