After five minutes, we finish drawing the court, and I walk up to the centre line, facing Liam. Their team also put him in attack, and the two cousins are spread out behind him.
"Are we playing with offside?" I call out, so everyone can hear me.
"What's the offside rule?" Kennedy echoes behind me.
Liam grins. "Guess not," he says.
I realise I'm smiling too, and smother it. "Okay, who's starting with the ball?"
"You can," Liam says, kicking it to me. "You've got fewer people."
I hesitate because I don't want to have the advantage. That means that they can complain about it when Kennedy and I win. But we do have a smaller team. I nod, and Erin counts down as a substitute for an umpire's whistle. Three, two, one —
And I'm off, dribbling the ball around Liam and rushing down the court. It's always easiest at the beginning of a game when you're full of energy.
I'm not super skilled — the last time I played soccer was two years ago — but it's easy to weave around the cousins and head towards the goal. I'm about to kick, the triumph already filling me, when someone rams into me.
I blink, and it's too late. Liam's taken the ball, and he's dribbling it up the court. Kennedy stands nearby the goal, looking worried.
God damn it. I run after Liam, my skin on the side of my stomach sore from where he elbowed me to steal the ball.
We're now in my half of the court, Bonnie and Erin screaming encouragement for Liam behind me. I approach Liam, getting closer and closer.
If he scores before me —
"Argh!" Kennedy screams, jumping out of the way as the soccer ball whirls past her, across the line in the sand.
"Motherfucker!" I hiss. I slide to a stop just in time from slamming into Liam.
He hears and turns around, smirking. "That was easy."
"Sorry!" Kennedy calls to me. "The ball is scary."
"It's okay," I say. I'll just play better so we don't need a defence at all.
We start again after Kennedy retrieves the ball. It's easy to get around Bonnie, but Erin downplayed her skills and frequently blocks the ball. While Liam's technique is a little sloppy, I can't believe how fast he is. He spins around me, and every time he gets past the halfway line, I have to force myself not to stop running after him, even though I know it's impossible to catch up.
As we play, the game gets rougher, and Liam and I tackle each other more. He might be taller and faster, but I'm heavier, so I can run into his side, pushing him away, or sometimes into the sand.
After Liam's team reaches eight goals to Kennedy and my five, I pipe up and say we should adjust teams. Liam raises a brow at me, cheeks pink and hair messy, and I know he's about to comment that I'm whining. I add that Liam, Bonnie, and Erin won that round. The last thing I want to be seen as is a sore loser.
We try with Erin, Kennedy and me on one team, and Bonnie and Liam on the other, and my team wins easily. We adjust again and again until Kennedy suggests Liam and I be one team.
Everyone stares at her.
"They would destroy us," Bonnie says.
"But it would be two versus three," Kennedy says, her eyes on Liam. She's trying to send him a message, but I don't know what. "I've had practice now, I swear I'm a better goalie."
"I guess…" Erin says.
"Let's try it," Liam says, eyes on Kennedy, looking a little reluctant.
I raise my brow at him as we walk to our side of the court. "Why would you agree? It's so unfair."
He shrugs. "Why not?"
We play, and as expected, it's ridiculously easy. Liam and I are almost never in our half of the field because there's no need to defend. Instead, we kick to each other, running to empty spaces and kicking goals. Every time we score, Kennedy says, "one more time!"
