Morgan Rice - Resurrected

She found herself mesmerized by the sight of him, and had to look away.

“I’m dying,” Maria said. “Is he still watching me?”

Scarlet tried to think of how to phrase it without hurting her feelings.

“Um… I can’t really tell,” she said.

As they walked through the throngs of girls and saw who was out on the field today, Scarlet felt a sense of dread. Of course. There was Vivian, already warming up, practicing her soccer skills, kicking it deftly back and forth between all of her friends. All of the popular girls seemed to be not only cheerleaders, but expert soccer players; somehow it was Scarlet’s fate to always be at their mercy to get picked, as one of the popular girls was inevitably in charge of the picking.

The coach suddenly blew a whistle and the girls huddled around, preparing to be picked.

“Vivian and Doris are team captains today. They’ll pick,” the coach announced.

Of course , Scarlet thought.

The picking began, and of the group of about twenty girls, Scarlet was picked close to last. Of course, she was picked by Doris, not Vivian. But luckily, at least Doris chose Maria to be on her team, too.

The coach blew another whistle, and Scarlet ran out to the field with the other girls, who were all screaming and yelling as the soccer ball was put into play. They all raced back and forth, kicking the ball to each other, passing expertly. Scarlet was distracted, looking over and catching a glance of Sage. He was still looking at her. At her, and no one else.

Scarlet forced herself to look away, to concentrate. She hardly knew what to make of it.

She hurried to catch up to the action, but found herself a bit winded, not in the best of shape. Moments later, though, the ball broke free from the pack, and to Scarlet’s surprise, it went flying right for her. Her heart started pounding. This had never happened before, and she hardly knew what to do.

She started kicking the ball down field, running alongside it. There was no one near here, and she, amazingly, soon found herself in range of the goal. She felt her heart race, as she might actually get her first chance ever to even attempt a goal.

“Go Scarlet go!” Maria encouraged behind her.

The goal was in sight, and there was no one between her and the goalie.

Scarlet took a few more steps and geared up to kick.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp cleat dig into her ankle, felt her foot kicked out from under her, and landed hard on the grass.

“That was such a foul!” screamed Maria to the coach. But he ignored it, as he let the game continue.

Scarlet looked up to see Vivian standing over her, smirking down.

“Sorry,” she said sarcastically. “Must’ve thought you were the ball.”

Vivian, smiling, high-fived one of her friends, and raced back downfield with the others.

Maria held out a hand for Scarlet and she took it. She got up slowly, disoriented, her ankle in pain, and her side hurting from the fall. Most of all, she was embarrassed: she hoped that Sage hadn’t witnessed that.

“God, I hate her,” Maria said. “That was so wrong. She totally robbed you of that goal. I’m gonna get her back.”

As Scarlet stood there, fuming with the indignity of it all, she suddenly started to experience something she never had before. She began to feel something burn up inside her, rise up from within. A sense of outrage and injustice burned inside her, and she began to feel a heat rising through her veins. She could feel the sensation tingling in her arms; it almost felt as if the veins were popping out of her skin.

For the first time in her life, she felt a burning desire for revenge. Her anger burned, grew stronger and stronger, as she felt a surge of energy race through her. A superhuman strength. In that moment, she felt she was capable of anything.

“No,” Scarlet said, taken aback by the strength in her own voice. “I got this.”

Scarlet suddenly raced down the field, running right for Vivian. Vivian was a good fifty yards away, but something was happening to Scarlet, and she found herself able to zoom in on her, in crystal-clear detail. She had never had vision like this before.

Or speed like this. As she ran, it was as if her legs ran for her. It was as if everyone else was running in slow motion, as if she were a gazelle among kids. In just moments she covered the entire field and was closing in directly on Vivian.

Vivian, of course, had the ball, and was moving it downfield. And she never saw Scarlet coming.

Scarlet kicked the ball out from under her, drove it further downfield, then turned around, all in the flash of an eye, and about ten yards away, kicked it hard, right at Vivian.

The ball went flying in a line drive, and hit Vivian right in the stomach. She keeled over, on the grass, clutching her stomach, as the coach blew the whistle.

Several girls came running over to Vivian, helping her up, making sure she was okay. Vivian got to her feet, fine but embarrassed. She glared at Scarlet with a look of death.

Scarlet stood there and smiled back, feeling vindicated.

“You little witch,” Vivian said threateningly.

She approached, but now, Scarlet was completely unafraid. On the contrary, she felt a power unlike any she’d ever known, and welcomed the confrontation.

Vivian lunged at Scarlet, claws out, aiming right for her face. But before she could get close, several of her friends grabbed her from behind, pulling her back.

“Vivian, it’s not worth it,” her friend said.

More girls got between them, and slowly, reluctantly, Vivian backed away.

“You’re dead,” Vivian yelled, pointing at her.

Scarlet looked over to the sidelines, and saw Sage still there, watching her. Now, he had a small smile on his face.

The coach blew the whistle, and again the ball was put into play. One of Vivian’s friends managed to get it, and instead of moving it downfield, she passed it to Vivian, setting her up.

Vivian turned away from the goal and instead prepared to kick it directly at Scarlet.

But Scarlet, with her new reflexes, sensed it coming. As Vivian geared up to kick it at her, about ten yards away, Scarlet burst into action. With lightning speed, she raced for the ball and reached it before Vivian could even finish winding back her leg. She stole it right out from under her and ran with it downfield. Vivian kicked at nothing but air, and her leg went flying up and she fell right on her butt, humiliated.

By then, Scarlet was already far downfield. There was no one who could get within ten yards of her as she zigzagged between everyone deftly. Soon, it was just her and the goalie – and the goalie didn’t stand a chance. Scarlet wound up and kicked the ball so hard, it went past the goalie and into the net with force enough to lift the entire goal and send it crashing back, it’s metal frame crashing to the ground.

Everyone stood there frozen, hardly believing what they just witnessed.

“OMG, Scarlet?” Maria said as she came running up to her. “That was like – amazing. Like unreal. How did you do that?”

Scarlet stood there, hardly registering what had just happened. She’d been so caught up in the moment, she hardly understood it herself.

The coach blew the whistle and screamed out. “Gym is over! Everyone back to class!”

The other girls filtered off the field slowly, giving Scarlet amazed looks.

“Nice kick, Scarlet,” a girl said admiringly.

“Yeah, nice kick weirdo freak,” came a snotty comment from one of the popular girls, as the group of them brushed passed her.

But Vivian now looked at Scarlet with something like fear, and she kept her distance, clustering with her friends. She glared at her, but this time she didn’t dare come anywhere near her. Scarlet realized, with satisfaction, that she must have shook them. Finally, she felt vindicated. Even if they did think she was a freak.