Chapter One

"Can you see them?! Are they in there?!" another frantic girl asked me. I glanced around to see hundreds more just like her surrounding us. "See who?" I was curious to know what all the fuss was about. "Come on Ladies! Let's hussle!" Coach Bruton's familiar field call still held its place even when there wasn't a game in progress. I turned to my teammate and friend Alana,"What's everyone screaming for?" She only shrugged in reply. We managed to squeeze through the hotel doors and leave the crazed mob behind. "Ok girls, listen up," the coach's voice silenced us all,"It's two o'clock now and we have a scrimage with West Point at five. I want your shingaurds on, water bottles filled, and your warm-ups finished by 4:30. Is that clear?" We mumbled an agreement as we edged towards the lobby counter to get our room assignments. "You two are in suite 369," a woman handed Alana and I each a key. I hoisted my equipment bag onto my shoulder again and we joined a handful of people waiting for the elevator. This was Acadia's first time to finals. Sure our team was good but only the top soccer teams went to state finals in Atlanta. We would be here for almost a week, playing off against the other nine teams for the state championship. "Check it out, Meg. Home sweet home," Alana chirped when we exited the elevator to find ourselves in front of a large pine door trimmed with brass features.

"Honey! I'm home!" she comically called into the vaccant room. I followed her inside and shut the door with my foot. Alana threw her bags on the first bed she saw and then began to dance around. "Man, the school sure did treat us nice. Look at this room! Check out the kitchen- it's got a mini fridge and a look! A whole cabinet filled with junk food!" she exclaimed and began to hunt through it. I smiled in amusement and turned to a chest of drwers to unpack my clothes. "What does a 14-year-old have to do around here to get herself a gin and tonic?" Alana asked in digusted at the contents of the refrigerator. I pulled open one of the pine drawers and narrowed my eyes when I saw what was in it. "Hey Lan, looks like someone forgot their clothes," I held up a shirt for her see. "A whole lotta clothes. Guess someone in this city is walking around naked," she laughed and dug through the drawer with me.

"Might there be a reason as to why you're going through our stuff?" a voice asked us. We spun around and Alana burst out into a fit of laughter. She leaned on my shoulder in an episode of uncontrollable hsyteria at who we saw. "Its...its Hanson," she managed to squeak after a gasp for air. The three boys looked at her strangely and silently turned to me for an explanation for her behavior. I stood mutely without an answer. Alana realized this and made an effort to cease her insulting laugh. "I'm sorry...its just that...that you're Hanson and you're in our room because why?" she asked, still holding an amused smile on her face. "Your room? You must be mistaken- this is our room," the oldest, Isaac, came forward. "Sorry, Buddy. We have our key right here," Alana told him and pointed out the gold numbers on the key ring to them. He pulled out a duplicate to show us in return. "Well, me an Meg aren't leaving. This is our room and we're staying," Alana said stubbornly and folded her arms. "We were here first. Sorry but you're the ones who have to leave," the smallest, Zac, stepped out from behind his brothers. Alana sat down on the bed in an act of defiance and pulled me down with her to prove we were both serious. I could have actually cared less who got the room but I said nothing to protest. They stood looking at us. I felt stupid but Alana held her head high with pride. Finally, Taylor gave in. "Its obvious the hotel made a mistake. Let's just let them have the room," he told his brothers. "No! Its our room," Zac told him. "Yeah, Tay's right," Isaac agreed with Taylor and then turned to us,"You win, you have the room." Alana squirmed with victory and a wore a proud smile from winning the battle. She watched with satisfactory as they gathered their things and left the room to us. "Bye boys!" she called obnoxiously while they we're exiting. She then turned to me,"Well, what do you say we get ready?" I nodded and went to my suitcase to find my scrimage uniform.

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Chapter Two
Back to the Institution

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