The Football Girl

By: aNdreaa

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Chapter 1: The Icebox

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"You KILLED him!"

Naruto lay sprawled on the ground, helmet askew and panting for his life.

"Ha…pant…ha…pant," he said, breathing heavily. Neji walked up to the crowd that was now gathered around poor Naruto, who was still on the ground.

"Nice pop, Icebox," he said, helping Naruto up.

The Icebox swung off her helmet to reveal a tumbled curtain of rosy pink hair that reached her middle back. Her face was hot and smudged with dirt from the field and she was breathing slightly.

"Thanks, Neji," she said, smiling. "Sorry, Naruto- you okay?"

Naruto yawned.

"I'm hungry. Anybody up for ramen?"

"…"

"See? I didn't kill him," Sakura said triumphantly.

"Shut up! The captain's here."

"Where's coach?"

"He's not here today. He starts coaching next week."

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Uchiha Sasuke, the captain of the Konoha Academy's football league walked up to them.

"Who got Uzumaki?" he said, staring at the small mob of people.

"Icebox," Naruto said proudly, as if he was happy that he had just been tackled down by a girl. "Hard and low, in the knees too."

Sasuke stared at Sakura for a moment, and then pulled out a timer.

"Fine," he said. "Let's go, people! We're doing the mile! Average time for a boy is under 6 minutes! Let's go!"

"That's not the average," Naruto whispered, horrified. "It should be 8 minutes!"

"Well, when has Uchiha ever been fair?" Neji said, unfastening his helmet. "C'mon, Icebox."

Sakura gathered her hair in a fast ponytail that made the boys there swoon.

"WHAT are YOU looking at, punk?" Naruto said, as he grabbed a boy who had been staring.

"Uh…let him go, Naruto."

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Naruto, Neji, and Sakura were at the Academy's football tryouts for the season. Sasuke was team captain- a sophomore from last year, and the team's best and elite player. Sakura (Along with Neji and Naruto) were freshmen.

"We're running the mile!" Sasuke repeated. "That's four laps around the track! You can take off your shoulder pads for now, but we'll use them later."

Sakura, however, left the pads on.

"If he's going to accept me on this team," she muttered, "then I might as well excel right now. I'm at a disadvantage because I'm a girl."

"But you're also at an advantage because your small and fast," Naruto said as a matter-of-factly.

"And that's why I'm wearing the shoulder pads," Sakura said, getting into a running start position.

"But they'll weigh you down," Neji protested.

"Then my weight will be equal to yours," Sakura pointed out.

"READY!"

There was a crunch of gravel as boys dug their heels into the track.

"SET!"

Sakura breathed in sharply.

"GO!"

The piercing of the whistle echoed loudly into the empty track stadium.

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"PACE YOURSELVES! YOU'VE GOT FOUR WHOLE LAPS!"

All at once, Naruto began to pant; Sakura, on the other hand, was in the lead, despite the shoulder pads.

"Those things must weigh pounds," a boy commented as she passed him. "How the hell is she running so fast?"

Sakura felt the wind whip through her long hair as she dashed across the track.

"6 minutes…" she muttered. "That's nearly impossible." And she sped up.

"Holy crud…" Neji mused. "Hey, Naruto…Naruto?" He turned his head to search for his friend and found him…

…all the way in the back of the line.

"Oh, geez. Don't tell me he's already tired," Neji muttered. Then a sight met his eyes.

"Sakura?"

She had already finished her first lap and it had not even passed a full sixty seconds. She was going to lap Naruto…who was dead last.

"That's my Icebox," Naruto said, smiling weakly as she whipped by him.

"Breathe in through the mouth and out the nose," She murmured to herself as she dashed along the inner track lane. "And when you get tired, stride run." She smiled to herself. She was tired, but since she hated to stride run, gathered up her speed once more and lapped another half a dozen boys.

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Sasuke was timing. It was already past 3 minutes. He sighed. According to the fast average, most of them should have been on the end of their second lap and starting on their third. He flipped through a clipboard, checking the statistics of all the boys who were trying out, and what time they had made in the dashes and mile-runs during P.E. class.

"Over six minutes," he muttered as he flipped.

"Over six, over, over, over. Slow, slow…" he flipped through all of their P.E. statistics and not a single one had managed to break 6 minutes for the mile. Sasuke turned back to the time. It was already 4 minutes, soon to be five. He glanced at the track. Nearly all of them were dead tired. People had lapped others so many times it was hard to see who was in the lead. He raised up the clipboard to check the papers once more but-

"Excuse me."

Sasuke ignored the voice.

"Captain."

Still ignored it. Then, a small, delicate hand placed itself on top of the clipboard and lowered it to reveal a breathless and grinning Sakura.

"Go finish your laps," Sasuke said in a bored tone.

"I am done," she said, staring at him defiantly. Sasuke lowered the clipboard again.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm already done. What's my time?" She asked, looking at the timer, clutched in his hand.

"Uh…hold on." Sasuke fumbled with the stopwatch. How long had she been standing there? How long had they been talking?

"Ten…eleven seconds…uh…you're time is 4 minutes and 52 seconds," Sasuke calculated. Sakura frowned.

"What?"

"I was hoping to break 4 minutes and 30 seconds."

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Sasuke stared at her, annoyed. What was a girl doing on this field anyway? Girls didn't play football. They were the ones who cheered on the sidelines waving their stupid pompoms and making their stupid banners with stupid cheers. Yet, there she was, mad that she hadn't cut the 4 minute and 30 mark when she lapped all the boys on the track and had beat the average 6 minutes. Stupid girl.

Sasuke jumped down from the bleachers he had been sitting on and pushed past her, and blew his whistle.

"OKAY! Bring it back here. It's already been six minutes. If you've finished the four laps, come tell me."

"Holy crap, Icebox," Naruto said, breathing in heavily. "You lapped me four times!" Sakura smiled.

"Sorry, Naruto."

"SHUT UP, OVER THERE!" Sasuke yelled. Sakura gritted her teeth.

"What's his problem?" she growled.

"Uh…"

"HEY, BARBIE!" Sasuke hollered to her. "WHAT'S YOU'RE TIME?" Sakura narrowed her eyes.

"It's 'Icebox', you moron," she snapped.

Sasuke looked at her. For a while, the whole picture seemed frozen. No one was moving, and the only noise was the raspy breathing coming from Naruto. The boys stood utterly still.

"Uh, oh."

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Sasuke walked over to Sakura and hovered over her in his almost 6 foot tallness.

"Listen, IceChest," Sasuke said, flicking her forehead as she winced. "I'm the captain, here. I call, you come. That's the rule."

"Then either the rule is stupid, or you are," Sakura said, standing up straighter.

"You didn't follow my rules when you were running," Sasuke said, crossing his arms.

"For your information, Captain," Sakura snarled, pushing him in the chest, "I ran the ENTIRE mile UNDER 6 minutes, WITH my 3 pound shoulder pads on. I did follow your stupid rules."

"I TOLD everyone to PACE themselves," Sasuke said, with emphasis. "And I don't need a cheerleader on my team."

"I'm NOT a cheerleader."

"They're all the same."

"As in GIRLS!"

"I don't accept girls on my team."

"WHY? Because you're afraid they'll BEAT you?"

"You. Are. Raving," Sasuke said with gritted teeth.

"Well, WHERE do think I LEARNED it from!" Sakura cried.

"Get off my field!"

"I have a RIGHT to try OUT!"

"Then you're WASTING your time, because I'm NOT PICKING YOU!"

"YOU EVIL PREJUDICED PUNK!" Sakura yelled. And with that, she shoved Sasuke so hard, despite her size, that he fell backwards into the grass. She turned sharply on her heel, her long hair whipping behind her.

"Uh…hey captain- are you okay?"

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In the Classroom...

"HE IS SO SEXIST!" Sakura yelled, punching the desk with her fist. "THAT'S WHY I HATE JOCKS! ERGH! I JUST WANT TO—"

She started tearing up notebook paper with her hands.

"Uh…I think we get the point, Icebox," Naruto said, sweatdropping.

"He's not going to pick me," she moaned, dropping her head into her arms with a 'thump'. "Because I'm a stupid female."

"Well, you could, uh…ask him," Neji said, trying to figure out a plan.

"He already said no, Neji," Sakura sighed, propping her chin in her hands. "I just want to play football."

And as she stared out the window, to the football field below them, she caught sight of a boy picking up the practice footballs and stuffing them into a gym bag. The boy raised his head and looked towards the window as if he knew someone had been staring at him all along.

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Obviously inspired by the awesome film, The Little Giants! Is it progressing too fast? Too slow?

REVIEW please! No flaming. :D