I knew that I wasn’t going to make it. My time was up. At least I knew the future was safe with him, my baby. I could see it.

16 years later

After school, I have soccer practice. I walk past the lockers that are now empty, but had students leaving just five minutes ago. Now the school is empty. I look up at the wall and see that I’m already late. I hurry down to the locker rooms.
The rooms are empty when I get there. I stuff my bag into a cubby and pull on my pants and my cleats. I look into the mirror and take a deep breath. First day of soccer, and I have a lot of expectations to live up to. I walk back to the locker, and am changing my shirt when I hear someone behind me. I think that it’s a girl’s voice, but I can’t tell. I spin around, quickly whipping on my top and I don’t see anyone. It must have been someone passing in the hallways.
“Deryn” I hear, more loudly this time it sounds like she’s really close. In my mind I put a face to the voice. It’s Claire from my math class. Crush of, how long now? No matter how hot she is, I still don’t see her. I hear an answering moan in the corridors. Either she’s playing a joke on me, or someone is hurt! Is there someone else in this school called Deryn, or does she need my help. I check out the hallways and find them empty. I figure that she snuck into the girls changing rooms, moan forgotten. No matter how much she teases me, no way am I going in there.
I hustle out to the field, and warm-ups start. After the first two laps, I’m already huffing. I’ve got to get back in shape after the break. I spent my summer chilling at the pool, loving the attention I got from the girls. A couple high-dives, nothing fancy, but I haven’t been exercising as much as I should have been. Dad would be so mad if he ever found out. He thought I was at the gym every day. He’s really into all that jazz, pushing me to be tougher, when sometimes I just need a break.

After soccer, I’m ready to die. Literally. Coach starts talking about this big tournament that’s going to happen in D.C, but I’m so out of it I barely hear what he’s saying.

“C’mon Deryn.” my friend Nate pulls me up. I limp after him to the locker rooms. I get into a shower stall and let the hot water run on my back for a few minutes. Then I put it on freezing cold to wake myself up a bit. For some reason I can’t stop thinking about Claire. Something was weird about how I could hear her. She’s never done stuff like that before. Usually she completely ignores me, but I was hoping that she would notice me after my summer tan. I might have been imagining the whole thing.