FicWad

My dad sat me down on the living room sofa, which I hated. It was uncomfortable and made me all itchy because of the rough fabric. I squirmed. Mom had now arrived from her rest but still looked as tired as she did before.

"Okay Kristina, I'm going to get straight to the point and not comment at all about that guy kissing you..." my dad started.

I glared at him. It wasn't like I told Pete to randomly give me a kiss. Despite how much I wanted to yell at that moment, I let him continue.

"...today, your mom got fired from her job,"

I gasped and looked at Mom. She was always so dedicated; spent hours and hours at night talking on the phone just to fix one tiny little problem. I would've never imagined anyone could get fired from a job as boring as my mom's. Wouldn't it take forever to replace a tech support person? I mean, really! Who would want that job?

"Kristina, this means you'll need to pick yourself up a little. That means find a job instead of playing soccer," she said.

I gasped again. "You can't make me do that! I'm practicing so that I can get be a professional! If I do some other--"

Dad interrupted me, "Kristina...you need to get your head out of the clouds. All the way down so that your feet are on the ground. It's no lie that you are good at soccer but do you have any idea how difficult getting into that field can be?" he laughed at his own joke.

"Yes but if I practice enough I--"

This time my mom interrupted, "Kristina, honey, stop and think for a minute. Even here in the neighborhood, there are kids better than you at soccer. So imagine all the people in this world who want become a soccer player. Do you think you have a chance?"

I shook my head and stared at the floor. Tears started to fill up my eyes. She's right...I stand no chance.

"Sweetie, all we're trying to say is that you need...a fallback option. Something not as competitive, okay?" my dad tried to make get the message across to me in a nicer way.

But I already understood it with what my mom said. I nodded, stood, and ran upstairs to my room. After closing and locking the door, I opened the window. A tree was right outside. I could just climb onto a branch and sit there. It always made me feel good. The only annoying thing about it was that my branch grew right over Pete's yard so if anyone came outside, they could see me. Then they would attempt to strike up a conversation which would make me want to go back inside. It was a risk I was willing to take this time. I sighed with irritation and picked off a twig from the tree. I broke off pieces of it to toss them out into the air.

"I'm gonna still play soccer," I threw the piece.

"I'm gonna still play soccer not,"

"I'm gonna still play soccer,"

"I'm still gonna play soccer not,"

"I'm gonna still play soccer,"

"I'm gonna still play soccer not," that was the last one.

When you're little, people tell you to always work at something that you really want to do. "You can do anything if you set your mind to it!" I was stupid enough to believe that bunch of nonsense. Now my own parents had to shatter my dreams...but oh well. Since soccer's over and done with, I can concentrate on that steadily dropping Science grade. But how can I just quit? "Quitters never win." Another lie. Cliches are all lies. I threw the last piece of the twig over into Pete's yard. Pete. I don't know what exactly happened today. He's supposed to hate me! I'm supposed to hate /him/! How can we just suddenly become friends? I bet this is some evil plan. He's gonna be all sweet to me for a while so that when I play soccer with him, I'm off guard and then he can win. Well, he really doesn't need to do this, though. He wins every time anyway. Except today! But today was weird... As if it even matters anymore. I sighed once more and crawled back inside to my room. I flopped down on the bed and cried myself to sleep



I fell out of bed with the alarm clock going off loudly.

"SHUT UP!" I screamed at it.

It didn't so I pressed the 'Snooze' button. That worked much better. I went into the bathroom to prepare for another boring day. This one is going to be especially boring since there's no more soccer in my life. Instead of tying up my hair in its usual ponytail, I left it down and brushed it. Then I put on a headband. I fumbled through my closet and found a skirt and grimaced. My mom bought it for me last month because she "thought it would look cute on me". It's been in my closet ever since. I grabbed it hesitantly, as if it would bite. Here starts my new life as a girl...