Katie hurried home and when she was inside, threw herself on her bed, crying. Just when things were going well with Zac, something happened to screw it up. Again. She felt as though she had been smacked in the face. She lifted her head from her pillow and wiped her eyes.
"This is such a mess." She said quietly to herself. She lay on her bed for what seemed like hours trying to make herself feel any better. After realizing it was pointless, she got up off her bed and went over to her desk in the corner of her room. She opened the bottom drawer and fished out a shoebox from the back, under some old folders and notebooks. She picked up the box, walked over to her bed, and kicked off her shoes. She sat down on her bed, leaning against the wall, indian style.
The first thing she pulled out was a picure Morgan had taken of the two of them standing out in Katie's front yard right before the varsity/ fresh soph soccer scrimage, just three days before school started. Zac was dressed in his black and lime green goalie uniform, and Katie was standing beside him with his big gloves on.
(flashback)
"Zac, are you ready to go?" Katie asked, walking to the front door. "Everyone is already outside." She said.
Zac lagged behind, trying to pull on his goalie gloves. Tonight was the varsity/fresh soph soccer scrimage, and he had never been so nervous in his life. He was finally going to get to show his family and Katie his goalie skills, and he had butterflies in his stomach.
"Yeah." He muttered, walking up the the door.
"You okay?" She asked him quietly, shutting it again.
Zac sighed and smiled weakly. "No." He admitted.
Katie turned around and took his gloved hands in hers. "What's wrong?"
Zac bit his lip. "I'm nervous."
Katie looked at him. "About the scrimage?"
"yeah...I mean, what if I screw it up? A lot of people are going to be watching." he said.
"Well you can only do your best. You've been practicing all summer. I know you're good. Now you have to believe it." She said.
Zac put his arms around her shoulders and drew her to him. He leaned his forhead against hers. "I know." He said. "But I'm still really really nervous."
Katie looked at him and saw the worry in his eyes. She ran her hands on his shoulders, feeling the slick material of his bright jersey. "You'll do fine. We won't like you any less if you miss a few balls."
Zac sighed. "I know...."
"And even if you do loose terribly, you have all season to redeem yourself." She pointed out.
Zac laughed. "True." They were silent for a few moments. "But I still can't help feeling like this is D-day, you know?"
Katie smiled at him. "Yeah..."
"I like that." He said.
"What?" She asked. "What I said?"
"Yeah that, but I liked the part where you smiled at me the most." he said.
Katie smiled again, and wrapped her arms around his neck. She gazed up at him for a moment, wishing that she could make him not nervous, because she knew that Zac was an awesome goalie.
"You're the best goalie I know." She said.
Zac laughed. "I'm the only goalie you know."
Katie giggled, then pulled him closer to her. "You're my goalie." SHe said, squeezing him into a hug.
"That is right." He said. THey looked at each other for a moment, their foreheads pressed together.
"Katie?"
"Hmm?"
"Can I have a good luck kiss?" He asked.
"Sure." She said, leaning in. Zac pressed his lips against hers, savoring the feeling. He slid his tongue into her mouth and touched it with hers. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck tighter. They pulled apart breathless a few moments later.
Zac grinned at her. "If my game goes any way like that just did, we're gonna have a great season." He said.
"I feel pretty confident." Katie said. Just then the door opened and Morgan entered.
"You guys ready? I wanted to take a picture." She said.
"Oh, sure." Katie replied, grabbing Zac's hand. They followed Morgan out to the driveway, where both Zac and Katie's family were waiting.
"Okay, Zac, stand right over there." Morgan directed. She snapped a few pics of him, then Zac looked over to where everyone was standing.
"Wait, I want one with Katie." He said.
"Okay." Morgan said with a laugh. Zac pulled Katie over to where he was standing and she wordlessly stole his goalie gloves and put them on. He put his arm around her waist, and Morgan snapped six or seven pictures.
"Are we all ready?" Diana asked, opening the door to the Hanson van.
"Yup." Zac said. Katie gave him back his gloves and grabbed his hand, giving it an affectionate sqeeze. He smiled nervously at her, then they all climbed in the van.
(end flashback)
Katie looked at the picture and smiled. Zac had done a great job that night, not letting any goals go by him. They fresh soph team had won 1-0, and Zac had caught at least six shots on goal. After the game, both of their families had gone out for ice cream. She looked at the picture, and saw the familliar lime green and black goalie jersey that she loved so much. She remembered it like it was yesterday; It was longsleeved and black, and all the writing on it was written in lime green letters. It said 'Hanson' on the back, and the numbers '00' for goalie. The jersey made him look taller and his shoulders wider. What a hunk... katie stared at the picture. They were so happy then. How did things get so screwed up?
The next picture she pulled out was one of Nicole had taken. She and Zac had been out on the dancefloor at their homecoming dance, and Nicole pushed them together and snapped their picture in the middle of a dance. They were grinning ear to ear and slightly squinting from the bright camara flash.
(flashback)
"Next."
"Oh! It's our turn." Katie said, grabbing Zac's hand.
"Stand on the X....yeah...." The photographer directed Katie in front of Zac, and he put Zac's arms around her and rested them on her side in a traditional pose.
"This is soooo cheesy." Zac whined.
"I know." Katie giggled. Zac pinched her playfully in the side, and Katie burst into giggles.
The photographer let out a distressed sigh. "I'm not going to take your picture looking like that." he said.
"oh....sorry!" Zac said, struggling to maintain his composure.
"Okay...One....two...."
Both Zac and Katie burst into giggles.
"Three." Click.
"Oh my gosh, we totally screwed that up." Katie said, covering her mouth.
"Yeah, but we had fun doing it." Zac said as they walked out of the cafeteria, where their dance pictures were being taken.
"So basically, we stood in line for twenty five minutes and paid thirty dollars to get a bad picture of the two of us giggling and acting like fools." She said with a giggle.
Zac snorted and looked at her. "Well, at least we'll have twenty eight wallets of us giggling and acting like fools." He pointed out. The two of them both burst out laughing as they made their way to the gym, where they could hear the music blaring.
They entered the gym, and found Nicole, who was there with her sort of boyfriend, Noah.
"Hey you guys!" Nicole said.
"hey." Katie said, giving a small wave.
"Where have you been?"
"Screwing up pictures." Zac answered with a smirk.
Katie playfully swatted him on the shoulder, and he grinned.
"Well, just...behave." Nicole said, dragging Noah off.
"Riiiiight." Zac said with another grin.
"let's dance." katie said, upon hearing a slow song come on.
"Okay." Zac agreed. He would never admit it, but he liked dances. He liked to dance, period. Katie dragged him to a small spot in the middle of the crowded floor and stopped. She put her arms around his neck and he put his around her waist and they started to sway to the slow music.
"I'm glad we came." he said.
"Me too."
"It's kinda weird if you think about it though."
"Why's that?" Katie aksed, looking up at him.
"Well, a year ago i didnt' even know you, and I didn't even want to go to a public school. Things change, you know?"
Katie nodded. "Yeah."
"I mean, it's a good change...it was just...sudden." He said with a laugh.
"I agree."
"But I'm glad it changed. I'm really happy." he said.
Katie felt her heart turn to putty. "I'm really happy too." She replied. Zac gave her a quick kiss and then looked at her for a moment. She smiled and he pulled her closer to him so that she was resting against his chest and his chin was resting on her head. They barely even noticed when the song ended and a faster song came on.
"hey guys, smile!" Nicole said, pushing the two of them together. They had about two seconds to get smiles on their faces before they were nearly blinded by the flash of Nicole's kodak one time use camara in the dark gym.
(end flashback)
Katie wiped her eyes and looked at the picture. That had been such a special night for her. She fished around in the box until she pulled out a smaller box with her yellow rose corsage and a pink rose on a stem that Zac had given her at dinner. She laughed when she remembered the way Zac had stuck straw wrappers up his nose at the dinner they went to with Nicole and Noah before the dance.
She pulled out other pictures of them; Pictures of them at his 15th birthday, pictures of them at parties, at church picnics, family barbeques, and various other places. After looking at them for a few minutes, she put them neatly back into the box and placed in the bottom of her desk drawer, under the old notebooks.