Believe you can do it, and you will. 💯
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nb: please do not get offended by anything in this book, everything purely comedy or some random purposes serving there; like needing to save yourself from Alyssa... :) No racist or discriminating comments intentionally made. Forgot to say that at the beginning of the book....

I finished putting the stuff where they belong, taking out some somewhat decent clothes to wear to a mall; by that I mean some regular jeans and a hoodie that says Soccer Princess (Cruel title reference), and get out of my room.

I began going down the stairs and I saw Alyssa and some... guy?... talking. I walked down to get a better view of the guy and I etched closer.Getting that feeling someone's watching you, I spin around, only to be met with a smiling Cody. I laugh an airy laugh as I saw his face.

His cheeks are really red, probably from lifting all of his stuff and Jordan's, and also putting them in their places.I hear Alyssa sigh in annoyance as she hears me, but I of course pretend to not have heard that.

"Cody, what the hell have you done to your face?" I ask, and Alyssa's eyes trail up to where Cody is standing, and then begins laughing too. Cody's face wasn't only red and puffy. He also had black paint in random places, including his hands.

"Haha, very funny. Laugh it all up and rub my misery in will ya?" He asks me and Alyssa.

Cody literally skips down the stairs and comes near me. I quickly stop laughing as he waves his hands near my hoodie.

I screech, whilst Alyssa still laughs. That annoying brat.

"Cody, you dare touch my hoodie, then I will personally castrate your scrawny little neck." I seethe. He immediately backs away and holds his hands up in surrender."I was only kidding, Alex." He says and I ruffle his hair. "Now, as long as none of my special shirts and hoodies don't get ruined by you, we're good." I coo as he laughs.

I turn around to the mystery person and Alyssa, addressing her. "So, where to, Ms Mathews?"

Her laughter dies down a bit as she scowls at her nickname. "Jeez, don't start." I say, performing the same actions as Cody performed a few moments ago.

"You never said you had family round', Alyssa." The guy says, his brown eyes standing out."No, I didn't. Meet my cousins." She says, rolling her eyes. This earns a short chuckle from the guy and Cody.

"I'm Cody." My brother addresses the guy, holding his hand out for him to shake. Let's just say we're really social. The pair of us.

"Chase. Chase Hunstman." His eyes had an evil glint in them. "And I'm presuming they're gonna be coming to our school too."

"Unfortunately." Alyssa mutters. This in turn, makes me roll my eyes.

"And this pretty lady is...?" He asks me and I immediately scowl. He didn't just say that. He seriously deserved a smack on the face. I am not pretty. Clearly.

"She's not pretty!"
"I'm not pretty!"

We both screech at the same time. At least we agree on something. Oh and the fact that we won't get along very well.The room becomes silent, apart from Cody's laughter. Oh Cody. You have the worst timing. For everything.

"She is anything but pretty." Alyssa remarks, breaking our silence and I smirk. "So true. I'm intelligent, strong, confident and independent. Everything your not." Cody spuds me and I smile at him.

"How dare you!" Alyssa hisses.

"Ahhhh. I'm so scared." I mock. "Anyways, are we going or what?" Alyssa scoffs and nods. We follow her out the door and into the Q7 as Jordan called it.

"Wait. Shit. What about Jordan?" I say, only resulting in Cody laughing. I punch him in the stomach, because why not? "Owwww. What the hell Alex?!" He says and I only sing, "Thas whatcha get" and skip into the car. I sit right at the back, like I was coming.

I then text Jordan and he gives me his Grandmas address. He decided to go meet his Grandma when he realised that she was also in Burnsville. Bruh, I didn't even realise he went to his Grams, i just thought he went sightseeing or..., okay this is stupid. Because I didn't even realise we're gone.

I give the address to Alyssa and she drives us there, Cody sitting in the seats in front of me and that other guy in the front.

"I still didn't catch your name!" The guy shouts over to me and I let out a bitter laugh. "Cuz I didn't throw it."

"Oh for Gods sake, Alex. Stop being so immature. Her names Alexis," he tells Chase I huff.

"You never tell your little sister off. She is such a brat." Alyssa whines at Cody. What, is she the queen bee or a slut that she needs to whine to Cody. Actually, that's a huge probability. Cody looks at me and smiles, then relaxes against the seat, eyes closed. "Tell her Alex."

I release a laugh. "He's not the older one. It's obviously me." And Cody also laughs. We look like twins, but I'm about 10 months older than him. I was born in the beautiful month of September and he was born in July. Also serves us right why we're in the same year.

"Wait what?" Alyssa brakes the car immediately to face me. Not Cody. Obviously. I'm always the one in the wrong. Too bad, too sad.

"You said he was older!" She hisses. Oh my Lord, my poor ears. They burn. And, how on earth are the windows still intact!

"Yeh. To get you back in these kind of situations..." I trail off and then say, "you know, why don't I walk to the mall and you guys drive?" I suggest, needing to get out. Away from her wrath.

"Shall I come with?" Cody asks, having stopped laughing. I shake my head. "Weak legs." I tell him and he pouts. "Hey, I'm an exceptional winger! My legs are guns!" Shocked, I look at Cody's face, trying to decode it. "Never say that again." I deadpan, and he nods, awkwardly scratching his neck. "And we all know whose better at foo-UGH! Soccer." I say, Alyssa snorting.

"Doesn't even know the difference." She mutters and I shrug. "Well you Americans don't make any sense... It's FOOTball, you use your feet. Why call a game where you use hands, football!?" And Cody murmurs in agreement. "That's true. Good argument." The Hunting guy says as well, in return making my dear bratty cousin scoff.

I look out the window and see a guy who looks so much like... fuck no. Ron has no idea we're here. The guy is about to turn his face when a car whirrs past, with the guy putting on the hood on his head, covering his face.

I suddenly feel sick, my stomach churning at the reminder of how I left things.

Ronny raps his cold hands around my neck, and I scowl again.

"What's wrong with you, you psycho?" I growl as I kick him in the nuts, real good. He doubles over in pain and I take this my queue to leave.I run towards the door and turn a last time.

"You bitch!" He hisses in pain and I feel internally relived and quite satisfied. I've been wanting to do that since the day I realised my dad wasn't coming back.I knew he had something to do with it. This revelation just made me hate him more, and I honestly didn't think that was possible.

"I'm a girl. And I'm a football player, Ronny. I don't mess around Hun, and I wouldn't mess with me, because I kick balls for a sport." I smirk and take out the football from my bag.I kick it at his face and it hits with such intensity he loses balance and falls over. I smile peacefully as the ball roles towards my feet. I quickly pick it up and run down the stairs.

I don't know. I think I'm just losing my mind after everything that happened back in London.

Quickly, I'm snapped out of the memory. Thank goodness I'm sitting at the back where no one can see me, so I quietly gasp for enough air, controlling my breathing. "I'm walking. Stop the car. I'll text Cody the address." I say quickly as Alyssa more than gladly pulls over.

"Are you-" I cut Cody's voice off as I plug in my headphones and start walking, seeing the car drift off in the distance. The wind hits against my hair, and I feel much, much better.

I then laugh bitterly because I really wanted to see Ron's face when he realised I ditched him to fend for himself. Oh, and I wonder how the Landlord is gonna kick his tiny little ass out. Maybe he'll let him off until he can find a somewhat decent care home, ha!

With music playing in my ears, I walk across the roads, following my GPS on my phone. I walk over to the mall and then see the car only just pulling in.

Well, they did also have to get Jordan.

"Hey Lex." I hear Jordan say as he gets out of the car. I roll my eyes and carry on walking, my footsteps in sync with Cody's.

"What's up with her?" Jordan nudges me and Chase ask Cody and he just shrugs.

I can barely hear them, since the music is blasting loudly in my ears, but just about make up what they're saying.

"Let her breathe man. She's freaking tired. Everything that's been going on with Ron, England, she's gonna need time. And she needs space. I mean, providing the bills, and for two other people? Man, that's sick." Cody mumbles to the guys.

"You know, she hasn't had the best life. And she was practically a robot. Shift, school, shift, come home, cook, give us things to eat and go to sleep." Cody finished.

"Wait, first you tell me she's sleep deprived, and then she doesn't even eat?" Jordan quietly asks."What kind of sick shit is this?" I can hear the anger boiling in him and I turn my face towards him. Better handle this before he punches me.

"Yeah, I didn't eat to my full, but at least the other two did. And it's not like I didn't eat at all. I used to work in Caroline's. I usually just ate there." I shrug. "It was normally on the house because, you know that girl Stephanie?" And he nods. "Yeah she knew, and she was kinda the manager so she put it on the house."

"So you were like the... actual house person?" Chase speaks up for the first time. I forgot he was even here, what the hell.

I'm about to answer when I hear Alyssa's bored voice calling me. I walk up to her fall in step with her. After a few moments I ask, "yeah, what's up?"

"Which shop you wanna go in first. And money's on Dad." She shrugs. I shake my head and say, "Sports Direct."

"Huh? Wait, your British." She sighs. "Awwww... They don't have Sports Direct?" I ask and she shakes her head.

"Nike?" I ask her and she nods dully. "You are so not a girl." She mumbles and I let out a small laugh. "Another thing we agree with."