AR Day 3 - The practice match

Adella feels better... but she doesn't want to eat. Luckily the other girls are more interested in chattering about swimsuits and complaining about the heat to talk about Lara, which would just make Adella feel bad.

You don't know how to cheer her up. Well... you know one thing that would cheer her up, but there is no time for that, or a private place.

You go to the lecture and try to enjoy the rest before you have to go back on the field.

For the practice game, Lara gets assigned to your team. You wish it could be you and Adella against her... you could definitely win. But now you have to play against Adella. That is usually fun, but now... you are not sure.

The game starts, and you turn off your brain and play as well as you can. Beth is so fast, and so good at stealing the ball. Whenever she gets it, she passes it straight to Lara, and Lara always sends it to you. She is so strong and accurate.

You score a goal within minutes of the start because Lara made an amazing long pass to you when you were far up. Adella catches your eye and claps politely. You feel bad, but you have to play your best. Adella knows that. She is not mad at you, she is mad at herself.

You almost have a heart attack when you see her about to collide with Lara, but Lara is fast enough to get out of the way. You wish Adella would not do that... she is always willing to run people over with her raw power. That's fine in a real game, but in a practice match it seems kind of mean... but Adella is her own person, and that power is one of the things that you find so attractive about her. You shiver when you think about last night when that power was concentrated on only you. You want that again.

Lara passes you the ball and you pass it back. You have seen her shoot, and she is really good, so why does she not just take it? She passes it back, but you lose it to Ingrid.

It's hard to concentrate. Ingrid passes to Adella, who drives it and scores, forcing Julieta to get out of the way or be killed.

This game is getting serious...

You get the ball back, but they're closing in on you, so you pass it to Lara. She pops it up to you in a ballsy pass, and Ingrid's attempt to kick it goes wrong. The ball bounces into the air.

You jump up and smash it into the goal. It's an incredible shot, and it looks awesome. All the coaches, all the camp people, and all the girls saw it.

Adella saw it.

It's halftime and your team gathers around to congratulate you.

"Pretty good," Lara says, smiling at you, and you blush.

"Why do you keep sending it to me? You're better," you say.

"Why not?"

She has a nice smile. She's tall and cool like Adella, but not scary at all.

"I like watching you. You play beautifully," she says.

You are so embarrassed, but the whistle blows and you are back in the game. Already up by two games, you score again within minutes. Down by three, Adella does her best, but she can't carry her team. Your team had the edge over her team even before Lara showed up, so now it's kind of a stomp...

Adella is trying so hard. You wish you could switch teams.

Lara sends you the ball, but Olivia steals it from you and passes to Adella. Olivia has you figured out, so you have to change your approach. You start to run, getting ready for Lara to get the ball back and pass it to you, but a whistle blows.

Something is wrong.