"Football?" I had repeated with a disgusted look on my face, Louis nodding with a huge smile.

I had opened the cabin door a few days later in the morning to find Louis all dressed in shorts, a red Adidas jacket, and old black sneakers that had obviously seen better days. A huge duffel bag was over his shoulder and he had an interesting proposition for me.

"Wanna come play a football match with my friends and me? It'll be fun." He offered, my nose scrunching up at the idea. A girl with heart problems running around and getting tackled to the ground? Not my idea of fun.

Louis noticed my disgust and laughed when he realized what I thought he was talking about.

"Not American football, the other one. You call it soccer." He chuckled as my expression changed and my cheeks faintly tinted pink.

"I don't know Louis..." I muttered, leaning against the doorframe. I never really engaged in anything athletic due to my heart, and I wasn't too sure if Dad would let me go.

"Aw, come on Butterfly. Have you ever played?" Louis pouted, one hand pressed to the hard wood of the cabin wall as he leaned closer to me.

"I played in kindergarten. Dad made sure the coach always put me as a goalie so I wouldn't tire myself out too much though." I admitted, Louis smirking as he tried to convince me.

"See? We could use a goalie, all my friends suck at it." He joked, poking my side.

As if my situation couldn't get any worse, Dad decided to find out why I was keeping the door open so long.

"Mira, what are you doing just standing there? Let Louis in." He reprimanded me before walking over, but Louis only shook his head and laughed.

"I'm alright, Mr. Lane. I was just trying to get Mira to come play soccer with me and my friends." I scowled at Louis while my Dad's eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"Mira you should go. Show off your killer goalie skills." Dad nudged my arm, becoming the recipient of my angry glare instead of my boyfriend.

"Dad, I sucked."

"No, you were the best goalie the YMCA had." Dad snickered. He knew I wasn't the best goalie ever when I was young. I would often get distracted by little flowers on the grassy field and accidentally let balls roll in the net. I'm pretty sure the parents would have petitioned to kick me off the team, but Dad worked his usual charm. Besides, everyone loved him being around and I'm pretty sure kicking a girl with a heart problem off a kindergarten soccer team was a moral crime they didn't want to be guilty of.

"I don't know..." I trailed off, both men looking at me with sad looks. Dad was exaggerating a pout and Louis honestly looked like someone had just kicked his dog. It made my insides churn with guilt, and I sighed when I realized I was beat.

"Fine, I'll go." I huffed, both men smirking at each other. I glared at both before heading upstairs to change into some of Dad's old basketball shorts and a t-shirt. Louis was waiting for me outside, smiling and holding out his hand for mine as we walked towards the forest.

"You play soccer in the forest?" I teased, but to my surprise Louis said yes.

"There's not a place to play in the Rift, so we come out to a clearing in the forest. Minerva made us special goals that we can build on-site."

Our walk was silent for a little while after that, until I started getting nervous about meeting his friends. I already didn't have very many friends, what if Louis' friends hated me? What if they thought I was weird or strange? What if they didn't want to hang out with me because of my heart? It had happened before.

"Whatcha thinking about, Butterfly?" Louis casually inquired, but my insides felt like World War III was about to explode.

"What am I supposed to do when I meet your friends? I'm not exactly the best with meeting new people." I asked in worry, Louis' eyes holding a blank stare as he became confused.

"Uh, talk to them?" He was still confused.

"About what?"

"Anything, I'm sure you'll think of something." Louis said before I stopped walking, Louis being yanked back by our hands as I looked at him in worry. His eyes looked down to our hands before looking at my flustered self.

"Hey," Louis softly spoke, stepping closer and dropping the bag of stuff to the forest floor. "Don't worry. I'm sure they'll love having you there."

"Really?"

"Absolutely. Now please just stop worrying. My favorite Mira is the one that doesn't worry about what others think and is entirely herself. Okay?" He assured me, smiling faintly when I nodded.

"Good. Now let's go, Imani is a very impatient person."

We reached a huge clearing soon in the forest, a group of several people visible in the middle of the field. I mentally pushed down my nerves as I followed Louis towards the group of four people.

There were two girls and four boys, all very different from each other and all looking straight at me as Louis and I walked up to them. My heart began to race and my hands were shaking as Louis' hand pressed against the small of my back, pushing me gently towards his friends.

My voice was stuck in my throat, my teeth nervously biting my lip as they all just stared. Just then, however, one of the girls held her hand out.

The first thing I thought of was how beautiful she was. She could easily be a model with her glistening and soft-looking dark skin, her long curls tied back in a low ponytail. Her running shorts made her long legs look even longer, her tank top revealing script tattoos on the insides of her forearms inked into her ebony skin. Her eyes shone in the sunlight, and her lips curled into a smirk once I took her outstretched hand to shake.

"I'm Imani Azikiwe, pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." I managed to mumble stupidly. Imani was unbelievably gorgeous, and here I was looking weird in my old New Mexico t-shirt and baggy shorts, muddy sneakers not really helping my case. I was jealous of her looks, but Louis seemed to think different of her than I did.

"Ready to lose again, fat cow?" He sneered towards her, Imani's pretty face scrunching into a scowl when she heard him.

"Say that again, Tomlinson?" Imani jeered, and suddenly I couldn't believe my eyes. Within a matter of seconds the place where a beautiful girl was occupied by none other than a jaguar. My eyes widened as I watched the menacing jaguar growl and walk over to Louis like it was hunting. Louis was cautious and slowly backed away from the beautiful yet dangerous animal as it growled and opened its jaws, the jaguar sauntering away from Louis before it began to grow and change shape. Soon Imani was back, a victorious smile on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You should have known better than to mess with her, Lou." A boy with striking green eyes and long curly hair admitted, Louis grumbling a curse word as he dropped his bag and rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, Harry." Louis snapped, suddenly becoming annoyed. I giggled at his friends' teasing, taking the time to look at the rest.

The boys were all different in looks, but they seemed to have been friends for a while by the way they laughed at messed with each other.

The one Louis called Harry was all legs, his height towering over the others by a few inches. His curls were tied back by a headband, his t-shirt hanging off his lanky frame and shorts looking smaller than one would expect on his endless legs. Tattoos covered his arms and beautiful green eyes resembled the grass of the field.

He was quite handsome, if I did say so myself.

Harry smiled wide as he looked at me.

"Why thank you Mira." He chuckled. I almost wondered if I had voiced my thoughts out loud until Louis clarified for me.

"Harry here," Louis clasped a hand into Harry's shoulder. "is a mind-reader. He can read anyone's thoughts from a distance and can know every single thought you've ever had with one touch."

"Wow." I said, stunned as I stared at the Harry.

"Wow indeed, but he's a terrible football player so we just have him as our goalie. Can't score on a goalie who knows where you're going to shoot." Louis laughed, Harry's face scrunching up in annoyance at his friend.

"I'm not that bad, Louis." Harry huffed, his hair becoming pat like a pet's as Louis laughed.

"Louis' the best out of us all anyway." A muscular boy with tanned skin and dark hair that was combed back admitted. He had a nice smile and a birthmark on his neck, his black workout clothes clinging to his toned chest and arms. His arms had a few tattoos that I could see, and his chin had scruff and the beginnings of a beard.

"Mira, this is Liam." Louis introduced. Liam gave me a small smile, which I shyly reciprocated. Louis took the lead as he noticed my shy nature coming out. I graciously took his hand when he held it out for me, letting him lead towards the rest of his friends.

The two other boys were almost complete opposites: dark versus light, blonde versus brunette, outgoing and laughing versus quiet and introverted, pale skin free of markings verses sleeves of ink creations on skin.

"And this is Niall and Zayn." Louis introduced me to the two boys, then showed me the feminine members of his little group.

"You've already met the immature Imani, this girl here is Kaguya." Louis pushed past Imani, who rolled her eyes, to reveal a pretty petite Japanese girl who smiled at me.

"Nice to meet you Mira."

"Alright! Let's get this show on the road, I'm already a nice caramel color, I don't need to get any darker." Imani yelled out, arms crossing over her chest as the sun came out from behind a cloud and shone down on the field.

"If anything you're dark chocolate. No one likes dark chocolate." Louis smirked as he reached into his bag, pulling out two small boxes. He tossed one to Imani, who caught it with a scowl.

"Whatever you pasty white boy." Imani sneered before taking my arm to make me turn around. "Do you see how mean your boyfriend is to me?"

I only laughed as I walked with Imani, watching as she stopped in front of a bunch of chalk lines drawn crudely into the grass.

"You might wanna step back." She said before tossing the box to the grass. I watched as the box suddenly started unfolding and expanding once it hit the grass, a huge goal appearing in a few seconds in front of us. I looked down the length of the field to find Louis tossing his box directly across from our goal, another appearing in the blink of an eye.

"Cool." I mumbled in awe, walking back with Imani to the group, where Louis had ran over and pulled out a ball and jersey tops for all of us.

"So what are the teams? Captains pick like last time?" Niall asked.

"Why don't we play boys versus girls?" Imani suggested, Louis glaring at the suggestion since we wouldn't be on the same team.

"That won't work, there are five boys and three girls." Louis tried to reason out of the battle of sexes, but Imani quickly came up with a solution.

"We can have Niall, he's basically a girl anyhow." Imani said casually, Niall's reaction only a shrug before grabbing a jersey top. Louis was clearly unhappy about us playing on different teams, but made the compromise that we had to wear the old blue jersey tops if I couldn't be on his team.

I reached over to grab a jersey when Louis shook his head and handed another one to me, this one long-sleeved and bright orange.

"Goalie gets a different one." He explained, helping me in tugging it over my ponytail and getting my arms through the sleeves that were much too big. Louis' hands lightly tugged on the extra fabric, a small smile on his lips as he saw how huge the jersey was.

"You're so cute and tiny." He remarked, making me roll my eyes before I asked him to roll the sleeves up a bit. I was handed gloves from Louis' bag, Louis having to help me with them as well.

"I didn't realize we were playing a real game." I joked, earning a chuckle from my boyfriend as he finished securing the velcro tight.

"They'll help, trust me."

"I highly doubt that, trust me." I teased, Louis smiling before kissing me quick. In the time it had taken for Louis to help me, everyone else had already taken their positions and were ready to start.

"Will you lovebirds hurry up!?" Imani shouted, her foot on the ball at midfield ready to go. Both Louis and I laughed before we parted ways on opposite ends of the field.

I took my place in front of the goal, praying I wouldn't embarrass myself too much, and the match started.

And what a match it was.

As soon as Louis got ready, Imani took off and in mid-run changed into her jaguar form, the ball expertly staying in front of her paws. I expected Zayn and Louis to run away or even get a little scared, but instead both charged straight at her.

I was impressed by their fearlessness, but my jaw dropped when I saw the air distorting in front of Imani, visions swirling and becoming blurred. Imani slowed her pace slightly but was soon tripped up from a hill growing suddenly up from the earth.

She was hurled into the air, quickly changing into a bird and diving towards the ground as Louis pushed the hill back down with his talent, got the ball, and began heading towards our goal.

My heart thumped in my chest as he got closer and closer. Liam certainly wasn't lying when he said Louis was by far the best player, easily dribbling past Kaguya and heading for Niall and me.

Niall served well as a last defender, and I realized why Imani chose him to be on our team when suddenly instead of one Niall, five appeared from the one original. Louis slowed as the various Nialls spread out and prepared to play defense.

I wondered why Louis slowed down so much until suddenly all of the Nialls fell to the ground like they were pushed, each one disappearing until the real Niall was tripped up and face planted into the dirt. Louis laughed as he easily went by a disoriented Niall, Liam suddenly becoming visible and helping his friend up with uncontrollable laughter.

Liam and Niall were laughing, but I was scared out of my wits. The sleeves of the orange jersey were starting to unroll and the gloves were suddenly hot and making my hands sweat as Louis got closer. The goal suddenly seemed so much bigger and I so much tinier as the ball came closer, closer, closer.

Louis hesitated as his eyes fell on me, eyes looking for a good target. The suspense as he prepared to shoot was killing me, the ball beginning flying towards the top right corner.

I jumped up, my right arm reaching as high as possible to get the soccer ball, but I wasn't even close as it soared into the net.

I huffed as I got it out of the net, rolling it back towards the middle of the field. Louis smiled wickedly at me, blowing me a kiss as I glared at him. He laughed before running back, Niall running over to me.

"Hey, don't worry, you got the next one." He pat me on the back, still chuckling from Liam taking him out. The poor boy had grass stains all over him and his hair was a mess, but he was still smiling.

The next goal had been scored by us, when Imani, after changing into a rhino and charging towards Louis and Zayn, had passed to Kaguya who scored. Harry had the same frustration face as me on after Kaguya scored, Louis yelling at him to get ready quicker.

"What's Kaguya's power?" I asked Niall, who had been resting close to the goal.

"She can see the future. That's how she can score on Harry: he may read her mind, but she can see where he's gonna move before he even decides to."

Imani had been taunting and teasing the boys on Louis' team, Louis' skin beginning to crackle with sparks of anger when she changed into a monkey, walking around, hooting and hollering, and shaking her butt at them.

It was determined the next goal or save by a goalie would win, since everyone was tired and the sun was beginning to wear everyone out. I was determined to not let Louis score.

Zayn had taken off with the ball first, heading for Imani. The shapeshifter had turned into her jaguar again, but Zayn had somehow created a cage out of nothing, trapping Imani. Zayn was simply too quick for Kaguya, and headed for Niall. Louis was right beside him, his eyes hardened by determination.

Niall multiplied himself again, several Nialls running towards Zayn and the others staying close to Louis. Zayn had only kicked up some dirt and closed his fists, making a rope out of the dirt which he tossed to Louis.

The two held the rope tight to trip up the Nialls, most of them falling over and disappearing like before. The ones who managed to evade the rope were placed in cages by Zayn like Imani had been, Zayn passing the ball over to Louis.

Louis raced towards me, my eyes watching his every move. My memory keeper talent flashed a vision of Louis' steps before he shot last time; he had a habit of taking two steps and then a tiny one to set himself up before kicking.

I watched his feet, and sure enough he took two long strides and a small one with his left foot, his right launching the ball towards the top left corner this time.

I jumped up for the ball again, my heart sinking when I thought it was going to slip past my hands again.

Please, don't get away.

The ball soared towards the corner, my fingers a good few feet too far away to reach it. My fingers stretched as far as possible, my heart willed the ball to come closer.

And the ball changed direction in midair as if a breeze had blown it, turning and landing right in my gloved hand. I stared in shock at the ball as I came back down, but I didn't have much time to wonder what had just happened until I was suddenly tackled to the ground.

"WE WON! MIRA'S THE MVP! WE WON!" Imani was screaming loudly from on top of me, making me laugh as the ball slipped from my grip and rolled away. She was crushing my lungs, my side hurt from where I landed on the grass, but I couldn't be happier.

My eyes looked up to Louis, a huge smile on my face that radiated pure joy. I was expecting him to look a little upset from losing, but instead he looked completely in shock. His eyebrows were scrunched together, his eyes were looking from his foot to the goal and back to me before Niall jokingly shoved his arm.

"How does it feel to lose for the first time Tomlinson?" He asked, Louis becoming broken out of his trance before smiling a little and shaking his head. He headed over to me and Imani, shoving Imani off of me before helping me up.

"Surprisingly, not that bad. Told you guys she was good."

I was beaming up at him, Louis chuckling again and kissing my nose. Today was the best day ever: I got to spend time with Louis, I was actually good at some kind of athletic game, and I made six new friends.

Not bad, Mira Lane. Not bad at all.

A/N: Dedication goes to @cagesandpoles for their reaction comments on the last chapter. Way to ship #Tomlinlane / #Lanelinson

Vote and comment! -Maddie