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River's eyes scanned the crowd of boys, and soon enough she spotted Jess. It wasn't terribly difficult with her sharp eyesight: he was smaller than any of the others, so even though they all had blond hair he did stand out a bit.

"There," she pointed him out. He was the one with the ball at the moment, and he was running for a goal. River watched him, slack-jawed. "Wow! Look at him go!"

She dropped her bag and started jumping excitedly. "Go Jess go!"

As they watched, Jess kicked the ball hard, and it went past the goal keeper. Half the boys erupted into cheers and started giving each other high fives, clearly Jess's team.

River burst into applause, then picked her bag up again and ran towards the field.

Amalirahc followed the girls, then broke into a run and very quickly passed them to join the game.

"Hey! Welcome back!" Jess called to the three of them when he spotted them, waving energetically.

The rest of the boys came to a stop when they spotted the girls, and a few of them exchanged glances with each other before looking over at one of the bigger boys - Darren - to see what he would do.

Darren glared at the girls - or more specifically, at Miyuki - and without a word, he turned and left the field. A few of the other boys left with him, but some of them stayed behind.

"Thanks," Jess grinned at Miyuki as he jogged over to them. "I'm usually stuck on defense but when Jasta comes they let me play offense." He pointed at the girl who was sitting on the sideline. "That's Jasta, my little sister. She's kind of weak so she doesn't play much of anything, she usually helps Papa."

Jasta, a slight girl with long, pale hair, was watching the group through large blue eyes. She was smiling ever so faintly, and when she saw her brother pointing at her, she waved at them.

River waved back, grinning. "You didn't say you had a sister," she told Jess.

Jess blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well ... I was a little distracted," he murmured softly.

Jess just grinned at that. "Are you going to play with us today?" he asked hopefully. He looked around. "Only Darren and his cronies left, so we have enough people for teams!"

"Cronies?" River blinked. Her brow furrowed slightly. "Isn't that a bit ... harsh?"

Jess shrugged. "Maybe. But they always follow him and do absolutely everything he tells them to. So I think it fits."

He smiled. "Come on, let's go form teams," he urged them, running back towards the other boys and motioning for them to follow him.

They split into two teams, and since there was an odd number, River and Miyuki were put on the same team to equal one player - since they were the newest to the game, and weren't very good yet.

Jess and Amalirhac were the other members of their team, and the boys they were against were Liam, Owen, and Phelan. Jasta was comfortable in her spot at the side of the field, and she watched in silence as they played.

Amalirahc, at a nod from Jess, ran towards their goal to be their keeper, and Jess set the ball in the middle of the field.

"Miyuki and River, one of you stay just in front of Amalirahc and defend him," he told the girls. "The other of you, come up with me on offense. And remember, no hands, unless it's coming at your head."

River looked to Miyuki. "Which spot do you want?" she asked hesitantly.

Jess grinned at her. "All you have to do is, if someone comes at you with the ball, kick it away from them. That's it."

"And me?" River asked him.

He nodded. "Stay forward with me. We have to work together to get the ball to their goal, like we practiced yesterday."

Halmir watched the children playing thoughtfully. For someone who yesterday had been the runt of the pack, so to speak, he was doing a great job of being in charge. Of course, he was only working with Miyuki and River, really, so it made sense. He wasn't telling the other children what to do.

"Ready?" one of the boys asked.

Jess kicked the ball lightly, adjusting its position. "We picked side, you get first ball," he told the boy. He stepped back a bit and looked around. "Ready girls?"

River nodded and braced herself to start running. "Ready!"

Since the other team had one less player, both of the boys not keeping the goal were going to be playing both offense and defense. The moment the first one touched the ball, Jess was off, running after it. He got it away from Owen, and kicked it to River to give her a chance to send it forward, but she missed it, and Liam got it instead, and ran towards Amalirahc's goal.

"Get it Miyuki!" Jess shouted across the field. "Kick it this way as hard as you can!"