"Are you kidding? They didn't have a prayer in the world!" Alana declared as we walked back to our room, reflecting on the scrimage we had just won. "Man, am I ever tired," she stretched and unlocked the door to our room. "You shouldn't be. Yours truely played one hell of a front line man. Not one ball came even close to the fullbacks," I boasted. "Yes, all hail to the mighty Meg. Best soccer player alive," she sarcastically bowed in front of me. I laughed and dropped my black adidas equipment bag to the floor. "I'm gonna go get a shower," she said and turned to the bathroom. "Ok," I told her. I heard the water start to run and I collapsed back on my bed exhausted. I shut my heavy eyes but a knock at the door sent them flying open. The door made a loud and annoying squeak as I opened it. "Hello again, I hope you're enjoying our room," a somewhat bitter Zachary Hanson greeted me. I said nothing to him, only standing in the doorway because my facial expression asked the question of what he wanted for my mouth. He looked as if he had forgotten his reason but his faced suddenly lit up and he reached into his pocket for something. Zac held out three keys to me. "We forgot to give them to you," he explained and dropped the keys to my room in my hand. "Oh, thanks," I said quietly and put them in my own pocket. We stood in front of eahother for a long and awkward moment. He glanced at my shirt and then down at my feet. "You play?" he asked referring to my uniform. I nodded. "Are you any good?" he inquired my performance may have had a flaw. "My team is in finals so I would hope so," I told him. "Oh, really?" he grinned. I nodded in repetition. "Would you be up to proving this high athletic ability you claim to possess?" he asked with a challenging smirk. "Well, it depends on what you had in mind," I said although I probably would have agreed to proving it anyway he could think up. "Oh..I dunno...maybe a little one-on-one game of soccer?" he casually suggested. I accepted his act of competition with a smile and dashed back into the room to grab a soccer ball. I tossed it at him when I returned to the doorway,"Let's play."
"Your name's Meg, right?" Zac asked me as we walked down the hallway to the elevator. "Yeah," I answered. "O 'Leary....Meg O 'Leary," he mumbled to himself, reading my last name off the back of my jersey. We rode the elevator down to the main lobby and he paused when we got off. "What?" I wondered what was wrong. He looked to our right down a back hall that was silent and dim. "Let's go this way," he turned in that direction. "I know an empty field where we can play," I made an attempt to strike up a conversation as we traveled. "Cool," was Zac's reply. We came to a metal door. He politely held it open for me and then followed me out into the hotel's back parkinglot.
"First one to score five goals is champ, got it?" I asked Zac. He nodded and took his place across the white spray painted line in front of me. I dropped the ball in between us and looked at him. He stared back at me and smiled. I saw he wasn't concentrating and kicked the ball behind him and then took off down the field with him not far behind. I scored three goals before he even got one. It was when I had just made my fourth that he began to get more aggressive. I was mere inches from the goal box when Zac slide tackled me. I fell to the ground and he landed on top of me- hard. I groaned and looked up to find his blond hair hanging in my face. "Oh hey, I'm sorry Meg," Zac scrambled to his feet and then held out a hand for me. I took it and he lifted me to a standing position. I dusted myself off and then looked at the goal net. The ball was in. "Look who won," I said triumphantly with a smile. He glanced at the net again to make sure I wasn't lying and then nodded. "I guess you did," he shrugged. I went and retrieved my ball. "Just a friendly game," I told him as we began to walk back towards the hotel. Zac nodded but said nothing.
We walked in silence for a few minutes until Zac suddenly shouted something,"Hey look! Its a shooting star!" He pointed to the sky. Before I could look or respond, I felt Zac's lips press against mine. After maybe a moment or so, I pulled away from him, seemingly stunned. "Why?" was all I could ask. He sheepishly smiled,"Well, when you see a shooting star you're supposed to wish for something. I wished I'd have the guts to kiss you and...I did." I couldn't think of a thing to say considering I had never really flirted or taken a strong interest in a guy before. He chuckled,"Speechless I see." I could sense him starting to relax and I began to also. My heart nearly skipped a beat when he grabbed my hand. We strolled along the cracking asphalt of the parkinglot in either an uncomfortable silence or just a peaceful and contented quiet. I couldn't decide which it classified as.
A sudden outburst of shrill screams and excited cries rang throughout the air. This was nothing new to Zac obviously, for he simply trotted over to the small group of girls who had glued themselves to the lot's metal gate. I ducked behind one of the huge dumpsters behind the hotel while Zac did the whole meet-and-greet proceedure. I didn't need any crap about a girl named Meg seen with Zac Hanson at night in some hotel spreading around the internet. "No, don't leave! Bring your brothers out here!" I heard one of the girls plead with Zac. "What do you want me to do? I can't camp out here for the night with you," he joked with them. And with a few more desperate attempts to stall Zac's exit, he turned his back to them with a smile on his face. He seemd surprised to find me behind a trash receptical with my hand over my nose, but dimissed it and held out his hand as a gesture to continue on. We did, cautiously creeping through the ground level of the hotel until we reached my floor.
**CHAPTER THREE IS ON THE WAY!!**