Falling For Amelia Manning

The field at midnight was just as breathtaking as the field during the day, only colder and darker, Phoebe thought. It didn't take her that long to find the switch for the lights, mostly because they were already on when she arrived. Curious, she looked around the field and didn't see anyone else practicing out here like an insane person, so she threw her bag to the grass and started tying up her hair.

"Just when my night couldn't get worse." Phoebe froze to her spot when she heard Amelia's voice from behind her. Her hands stayed in her hair with the elastic ponytail holder halfway through her thick mane, she quickly unfroze and finished tying it off.

"Is it possible to ever come to this field and not see your face?" Phoebe asked her without turning around to see her. Pulling her ponytail tighter, she ignored Amelia as much as she could just before slipping her gloves on from her bag.

"Funny, I was going to say the same thing about you. I have an excuse, what's yours? I'm shocked your mom allowed you to be out here. Shouldn't you be grounded for the rest of the school year at this point?" Amelia snickered just before standing on the sidelines alongside Phoebe. Slightly shocked, Phoebe just looked at her standing next to her with wide, accusing eyes.

"What are you playing at, Manning?" She accused.

"Forget it," she grumbled before leaving the sidelines and starting in a jog around the field. Phoebe decided against the run and headed straight for the field instead to start her throwing practice. She got a few balls into the goal before she heard Amelia heading toward her in the center of the field. She didn't stop throwing, she didn't want her to distract her, but that didn't work. She missed her first goal of the night when she felt Amelia stand directly next to her.

"Can we just agree tonight?" She asked while keeping her eyes on the goal standing yards away. "What sort of agreement is that? You already had a hand in getting me kicked off the team, plus you can't try-out come spring, why even be out here tonight?" Amelia asked while she, too, kept her eyes on the goal. Whenever Phoebe would make the ball in the net, Amelia could feel her hands tense against the hoop of her own Crosse.

"The agreement could be, that if I'm on the field then you're not, and vice versa. I think that would solve a lot of problems you seem to have with me." Phoebe twisted and threw the next ball into the net with a force Amelia had never seen from her. Slightly impressed, she took her leave and jogged over to the goal. "That could be a fair agreement, but my question is, why are you even out here? There's no reason for you to be practicing anymore, you've been banned just as I have. What are you running away from?"

The question caught her off guard and a ball missed the goal by a few feet to the left.

"I don't have to be running from anything to want to practice, I could ask you the same question, Manning," Phoebe spat back and for once, Amelia didn't roll her eyes or try to bite her head off. When she didn't get a rebut, as usual, Phoebe didn't know what to do with herself, so she just kept throwing balls until she was out.

"I'm here because I don't have anywhere else to go. Simple." Amelia shrugged, and Phoebe couldn't help her mouth hanging open in shock. "What do you mean?" She asked carefully, hoping she wasn't falling into an Amelia trap. "I mean what it sounded like; I do not have anywhere else to go. My mother kicked me out of the house. I won't be going to college next year, and my sister wants nothing to do with me." Amelia shrugged as if that wasn't the saddest thing she's ever uttered.

"What happened?" Phoebe didn't catch herself this time, she fell completely into the Amelia trap without thinking twice about it. If she were to suddenly say "psych" and punch her in the gut, it would be Phoebe's fault. But the punch never came, even when Amelia jogged closer to her in the center of the field, she could see that she wanted to talk about it.

"Oh, the usual," she started with a very un-characterlike smile on her face. "Mom found out how bad I'm doing in school, blamed my father a few times, and then went back to sleep with a bottle of bourbon and her old sleeping dress she never takes off. My sister, the levelheaded one, grounded me and showed more disappointment in me than my mom, for getting kicked off the team. She told me if I was going to do this lousy in school that I would need to get a job and start pulling my weight. She's held off telling me to do so since I was on the team, it's just time now." Amelia shrugged as if she was telling a casual story about a night at her house.

"That sucks, James and I have to help redo a house her father is working on for our punishment." Phoebe found herself telling Amelia things she used to think would get an eye roll and a snide remark. But when neither of those things happened, she let the awkward silence wash over them.

"That didn't explain why you were kicked out of your house," Phoebe told her while testing the waters on how far she would be allowed to take the conversation. Looking up at Amelia, she seemed to be anywhere else but on the field with her.

"You're right, it didn't explain that." Amelia's eyes lingered on Phoebe just a little longer than they should have. "But that's not important, why are you here at midnight on the field?" She changed the subject and Phoebe was happy about it.

"I may or may not have snuck out," she told her with her head held high as if she accomplished something no one would see coming. "Oh, the too good to break the rules, Edan, snuck out of her house? Be still my beating heart!" She threw her hands over her chest just as Phoebe had done to her mother not too long ago. Seeing and hearing Amelia like this was strange, it was like they were friends again. Clearing her throat, Phoebe tried not to fall down that hole again.

"I do bad things, like the spray paint, and the food fight! What about that time I greased your athletics locker and you couldn't get it open!" Phoebe hit back which made Amelia laugh at the memory. She could see herself trying to use her elbows to open the locker after five failed attempts. It wasn't until someone gave her a towel that it was able to swing open for her. Smiling at the memory, she moved closer to the scattered balls, picked a few up for some more rounds.

"Yes, Edan, you are bad to the bone. Now, run along home before your mom finds out." She waved her off the field, but Phoebe wasn't budging. "I'm not going anywhere, I want to learn that slapshot of yours," Phoebe told her just as an idea crossed her mind. "I have a deal to make with you, Manning," she started, and all Amelia could do was scoff and roll her eyes, like a normal interaction between the two of them. "The last time we made a deal, I believe suspension was involved, Edan," she bit back playfully, a side that Phoebe was still not used to.

"If you can show me your trick shot, for no one's benefit, other than my own, then I will help you bring your grades up enough to graduate. That way, you can go back home or whatever that situation is with your mom and sister. Would that help straighten things out?" She asked with a hint of glee to her voice. Amelia focused on the grass under her shoes, she didn't want to tell her the real reason she was kicked out. It wasn't for her grades.

"That would be great, but you know you won't be getting any credit for it, right?" She asked her.

"Of course, I know that it's just what – "She paused when she nearly said, friends. Through all this nice talk and lack of hate between them, she hadn't realized the gravity of their position. She was considering Amelia a friend and Amelia wasn't saying anything against it. Did they just need to have everything stripped from them for the light to come back through, she thought?

"I'm up for it if you are, where are you staying, by the way?" She asked quickly.

Amelia wouldn't meet her eyes, instead, they drifted over to the locker rooms just behind them and when Phoebe caught on, a blush warmed her face.

"How long have you been staying in the locker rooms?" She asked her.

"Not long, only a night here and there when I didn't feel safe at home. But since I've been kicked out, it's the only place I can think of. I don't have any friends, not real ones anyway." She told Phoebe while keeping her eyes on three things around her, the grass, the locker rooms, and not Phoebe.

"Grab your bag, Manning, I have another plan."

Without waiting, Phoebe stalked toward her bag on the grass and picked it up, she wouldn't get much further until she knew Amelia was walking behind her. "Well, are you coming or not?" She shouted back at her. Without thinking about it for more than a few minutes, Amelia jogged over where her bag sat in the grass and picked it up. There was enough clothes and emergency things in there to last at least a week before she had to figure something out. Phoebe's plan would stretch that for at least a month if they didn't get caught.

"Where are we going?" She kept pace with Phoebe, occasionally having to slow down for her shorter legs since she didn't know where they were going.

"You need a place to stay, and my room is big enough for two people, plus I have a bathroom in it. It just makes sense." Phoebe shrugged and continued toward the road that led to the back of her house.

"You can't just let me stay in your room. What about your mom?" She asked hastily.

"If we don't get caught, we will have plenty of time. Maybe after that, your sister will forgive you for whatever made her mad, and you can move back. Otherwise, maybe it can stretch until we graduate...I don't know, I haven't planned it out that far!" Hiding the smile on her face, Phoebe broke into a jog when her house was seen just under a mile away. Amelia didn't have much time to talk herself out of this.

When Amelia's hand found her shoulder to stop her, she turned to see a worried look pained on her face.

"You hate me Phoebe, and I'm supposed to hate you, why would you do this for me?" She asked, her brow furrowed and eyes watery.

"Because I'm done hating. We burned our bridge, let's rebuild." She stuck her hand out to Amelia who looked at it as if it was a blue tentacle instead of a normal hand. Timid, and unsure what Phoebe might be playing at, she took her hand after a long pause. Shaking it, she realized she just agreed to leave their enemy status behind. Something she never thought would happen.

"We might have to keep up appearances at school. Wouldn't want your gaggle of friends to know you're on better terms with me," Phoebe reminded her.

"They'll get over it. I barely talk to them outside of school anyway, they're only scared of me, not friends." Phoebe noted the change in her tone but when her backyard came into view, she had to zip her lip, so they wouldn't get caught.

"Okay, my window is right there," she pointed to the double-pane window to the right. "How do you expect us to get up there?" She asked her just as Phoebe realized there wasn't a way to get up there. "Hang on, I'll get the ladder from the shed, just stand by the house in the shadows. Just in case my mom got up for something in the middle of the night." She directed her to a spot where you couldn't see from the back door just before running quickly to get the ladder.

It took a few minutes to get everything ready, but once the ladder was in place, she told Amelia to run up the steps and stay in the corner of her room until she got up there, someone would have to put the ladder back.

Once everything was in place, Phoebe gently opened the back door and started for the stairs when a bright light switching on stopped her in her tracks.

"Phoebe Michelle Edan, what are you doing out of bed, fully dressed with your Lacrosse bag in your hand?"