Chapter 37: An Invitation

SCARLETT

Sometimes I don’t get sports, just a bunch of people running around, putting themselves through rigorous physical exercise, always trying to get a ball to do something, whether it’s going past a goalkeeper, going over a line or into a basket.

I’m watching Delia and her teammates’ soccer practice with a little more enthusiasm than normal because I’m finally getting a little understanding of the game, since Delia has explained it like a dozen times.

Just like music helps me sometimes escape the world, that is what soccer does for Delia.

She said it’s the only thing that makes her feel seen, where her being a shy girl who rarely talks to anyone doesn’t matter. When the ball is at her feet, she feels like she is truly free to express herself and her feet does all the talking her mouth never could.

Delia passes the ball to a teammate and then runs ahead and her teammate plays it in between the legs of the opponent, giving the ball back to Delia, who dribbles past two defender