Falling For Amelia Manning

The tiny ball that rested in the net of Phoebe's Cross was so dirty that it was no longer the original blue color it came in years ago. She has always been adamant that it was her lucky ball, and no one had the heart to tell her that it never seemed to work. It wasn't until the back door to the house slammed shut that her mind was pulled out of the practice.

"James, I didn't know you were coming over?" Phoebe saw her face scrunched up and tears already coming down her face. She tossed the stick to the side and shook her gloves off as she walked over to James sitting on the bench swing just under the porch.

"I hadn't planned on it, but I got bad news from my doctor and I don't know how to tell my dad."

The strangeness of James seeing the doctor by herself wore off a while back. It used to concern Phoebe that she was all by herself – because God only knows what could happen in the city – but she adjusted. Hearing that there was bad news made her revert to the fears she shut down a long time ago.

"What sort of bad news? It's not like a sickness there's no cure for or, or, or something I can't think of right now. Right?" James noticed the nervousness of her voice and the stutter that took years to get rid of coming back just enough, telling her Phoebe was over her worry quota for the day.

"It's not anything like that, it's my hormones," she started.

"What about them? You can still be on them, right?"

"They're changing, and with that change, the new brand or type – whatever it's called – is more expensive. Plus, my dad's insurance won't cover it." James' fingers reached up to her mouth but lowered when she remembered the habit, she broke so that her nails could grow on their own again.

"You have to tell your dad, maybe there's something he can do, he is an adult after all. One with a job and control over the insurance, stuff like that." James nodded her head silently, it would be devastating for her to stop the medicine she was on, life-changing even.

Phoebe knew all of this but there was extraordinarily little she could do about it. She wasn't an adult and it wasn't like she had a job to give her money for the difference in price. She barely had enough time to sleep and eat, let alone work. Plus, she knew James' job was just a part-time gig and most of that went to keeping up with her car. The more Phoebe thought about it, the stronger she felt about doing something, she just didn't know where to start.

"Let's go to the practice field," Phoebe suggested as she walked back to pick up her Crosse.

"I don't know if I'd be able to stay awake watching you practice," James quipped.

"Then don't just watch, show off your moves too. I need someone to play against, take my old stick and play me." Phoebe suggested and while James mulled it over, Phoebe walked around the backyard and picked up her stuff along with the old stick she rarely used.

"Fine, but you owe me a hot dog," James told her.

"Where did you get hot dogs from?"

"Not sure, just craving them, maybe one with jalapenos, make it nice and spicy." Phoebe turned her nose up at the suggestion, she didn't like peppers. "Chili would be good for me; we'll stop after we practice for a bit. Deal?" She asked, reaching out with her pinky James connected hers and they shook on it.

Flipping her blonde hair away from her face, James turned and made her way to the front door, through the kitchen, and the foyer. When she paused just before turning the silver knob on the front door, she looked down at the key table to the right of the door.

"Phoebe, where did this come from?" She asked and held up a bracelet she hadn't seen in years. "I thought you threw it out?" The little charms dangled in the air when she picked it up. They made more noise when Phoebe snatched it out of her hand. "It's nothing, I found it cleaning my room the other day and it somehow made its way down here. I'll toss it in the trash on the way out." But she didn't toss it, she kept it in the pocket and later she would put it in the secret drawer she doesn't think anyone knows about, but one that her mother and best friend definitely knew about and looked into often.

Once they were in the car, Phoebe clicked the heater on, and James pulled away from the curb with the charm bracelet still on her mind. She knew it wouldn't be wise to bring it up, not with the way she snatched it from her before. But she couldn't help herself from thinking about when they got those bracelets together. It wasn't just the two of them at the time, Amelia was the third.

Once the field was in sight, they started talking about things that helped Phoebe detach from the bracelet James pointed out and for the time being until it was brought up on her own, James wasn't going to pry.

"You forgot to mention who you're going to be tutoring, by the way," James called her out and when they stood outside the car, she just barely saw Phoebe's face flush from where she was standing. Thinking it was just the setting sun in her eyes, she ignored it for the time being. It wasn't until Phoebe told her who she was tutoring that it started to make sense.

"It's Amelia. How dumb is that? Ms. Jenkins had to make me teach her!" Phoebe blurted out in a ramble of slightly jumbled words and a heat to her face that James couldn't ignore this time.

"It's because you're the best at what you do, and she wants you to share it, just ignore her for the time being, get the tutoring done, and earn that college credit," James told her with a nod of her head. Sighing, Phoebe grabbed the sticks from the back seat and followed James to the field just past the parking lot. When the smell of grass and dirt filled her lungs, she knew they were close. It was getting darker which meant there wouldn't be anyone here to watch them, cameras for the school, sure, but other students would be long gone by now.

"I can't see how you can put in hours at home and still want to practice. Isn't there such thing as burn out?" James asks while tossing the little lucky ball into the air and catching it without looking.

"I get tired like everyone else but being alternate sucks. I want to make the team when the half try-outs come. There usually aren't a lot of people during that time, maybe it will be to my advantage." Phoebe told her. James wanted to believe in her spirit and the hard work she puts into it, but she knew the outcome. It's been the same thing year after year.

After grabbing the Crosse, she was going to use, James jogged down the field in a skirt that probably shouldn't be worn for practice. Luckily, she had plenty of practice time on the squad that doing things like this in a skirt wasn't so hard. She still hasn't worked up enough nerve to tell Phoebe about the team. Maybe if she's able to get a spot midway through the year she would be easier to talk to about it, James thought.

All negative thoughts melted away when Phoebe threw the first pitch. James pulled all her athletic ability into really giving Phoebe a run for her money. She knew if Phoebe found out she was holding back; she would stop the practice and demand she gives it her all. It was one of the most annoying yet admiral things about Phoebe, in James' opinion, because she knew how to push herself. Did she overdo it most of the time? Yeah, but that what James was there for.

After about a half an hour, Phoebe stopped to take a breath after she caught the last pitch. They weren't getting into anything tougher than this, James didn't want any bruises and Phoebe didn't want to whack her into the ground. When the sound of slow clapping came from the locker room doors, just to the right of the field, they both turned to see Amelia standing on the sidelines.

"Wow, Edan, you can't even beat your best friend." Neither one of them could ignore the tone in her voice when she uttered the words 'best friend'. James looked to Phoebe and then to Amelia and they both held a stern gaze until she walked closer to the two of them.

"I wasn't playing to beat her, just getting in some practice. I can't say the same for you. Is being on the varsity team really that easy?" Phoebe bit back.

"Like you would know, do you want to get in real practice, or keep with this love-y dove-y friendship practice, you've got going on?" Amelia asked and for a second, Phoebe forgot what they were talking about.

"You want to scrimmage me?"

"I want to see you test your actual boundaries," Amelia told her and reached for the stick in James' hand. Giving it over easily, she took a few steps away until she met the field line. Watching the two of them together was so strange, she thought. It was nothing like the old days and it's been so long in between that they were more like strangers than enemies.

Backing up a couple of yards, Phoebe readied herself for the pitch, having been made to give over the ball before they broke apart. The moment she leaned in to catch it in the net, she broke into a run for the opposing goal but there was one big thing in her way. Amelia Manning and she wasn't going to just let her go by or even put up a slight fight for it like James does with her. She had a look on her face that screamed at her to try and get the ball past. Phoebe was hit with a realization that if she didn't get past Amelia in the next few moves, the next few seconds, she would be slammed to the grass under her feet.

The faster she ran the clearer she could see Amelia's face and the scowl that covered it. When she lifted the stick to throw the ball toward the goal, it was over for her.

Amelia, even standing six inches taller than her, easily, was deadly fast. If Phoebe didn't hold such a grudge against her, she would admire the athletic quality. But when that five-foot, eight, broad-shouldered athlete is standing in your way, there isn't much to admire about them.

The brute strength it took to slam into Phoebe, at the speed she thought she was traveling at, had to be immense. Sure, she wasn't the tallest girl in the grade, in fact, she was the shortest. But she was still strong, stronger than a lot of people. Amelia is stronger. Phoebe knew that by the dent her body made in the soft grass field. When she looked up to see Amelia standing over her collapsed body, her bruised and battered limbs filled with a seething rage.

"See, Edan, you can't even get the ball past me," she taunted.

Phoebe could hear James shouting from the sidelines, but she ignored her. Getting up, slowly and painfully, she pushed herself to stand at attention again.

"You are such a bully Amelia. Did you ever think that helping other people be as good as you are better than beating up everyone around you?!" Phoebe threw her Crosse down at Amelia's feet. It wasn't just her body that was bruised. The only answer Amelia gave her was a playful smirk.

"You don't care, you barely care about your actual teammates. You're just a selfish, big-headed – "

She didn't get to finish because Amelia stepped up swiftly and knocked her to the ground again.

"That ego of yours is getting in the way again, Edan. Don't go spouting off things you know nothing about, didn't that get you into enough trouble?" Amelia's smirk turned cold as she spat at her from her crouching position just above her. Not feeling the need to get knocked to the ground again, Phoebe stayed down after Amelia walked away without another word. It took James coming to her rescue for her to stand on her own two feet again.

"She's just a show-off, you know that," James tried to give her a sense of calm, but Phoebe's mind was somewhere else entirely as they walked back to the car.