“Thanks for helping us with the move Kathy” Jill Bolton said to her best friend.

Kathy Myers just waved her hand in a dismissing gesture. “Really…did you think I’d tell you no?”

“No…I know you all too well and know all the ways to make you feel guilty if you did tell me no anyway” Jill responded.

“Not like I had anything else going on this weekend anyway” Kathy said as she picked up a box labeled dishes and began to unpack it.

Jill and her husband Tony had just bought a new house. Their only son Ben was 18 and had just started college. They had decided that their old house was too large for what they needed so they had moved across town to a smaller ranch style house.

Kathy and Jill had been best friends since the first grade, essentially growing up together, they had been through everything.

Jill and her husband had met in college and married in a rush when they found out she was pregnant and just 19. They loved each other deeply to this day but Jill had been devastated that complications in her initial pregnancy had prevented her from having any additional ones. She loved her son and had wanted more but couldn’t.

Kathy had been married twice and both had ended up in divorce. She had wanted the suburban dream along with her friend, but both marriages had been short and tumultuous and neither had resulted in children.

Both women were now 37 and while best friends, they were at different crossroads individually.

“Well at least we can sleep tonight…got the bed set up” Tony said as he came in the kitchen.

“Yea…don’t have to break out the sleeping bags” Jill said.

Tony was trying to get the larger pieces arranged with the help of a few of his buddies while Kathy and Jill tried to start the detail work.

“Who wants pizza?” Tony asked pulling out his cell phone “Least I can do is order dinner for everybody”

“I have our dinner right here…” Jill said pulling out a bottle of red wine to Kathy’s smile.
“That’s what I’m talking about…that’ll make the work go by faster” Kathy said.

At 37, Kathy stood 5’7”; about two inches taller than her friend Jill. She weighed around 150 pounds; she had a slight belly and thought that her thighs were getting too thick on her as well as her on going hatred of her butt. She had brown hair that she kept cut just above her shoulders and she was thinking about giving up her daily habit of plucking the gray hairs that she found there.

Jill uncorked the wine as Kathy had unearthed the glasses and they began to enjoy unpacking a bit more from then on.

Pizza came and went as did Tony’s friends as the sun went down. Even Tony went to lie down as Kathy and Jill wrapped up.

“You need to stay here tonight…two bottles of wine have seemingly disappeared on our watch and I don’t want you driving” Jill informed her friend.

Kathy just giggled and didn’t put up any resistance. “Whatever you say…Mom” Kathy joked with her as they sat down on the couch.

Kathy ran her fingers through her hair and sighed.

Jill slumped down next to her and they both just laughed again.

Kathy put her bare feet up on the coffee table and said “Well here we are…”

“Yup…” Jill said nodding. So much didn’t need to be said between them at this point in their lives.

“Do you ever wonder, if you could go back and do it all over again…would you do it all again?”

Jill smiled but it was a sad smile “I don’t know…I love Tony and Ben…so…” she shrugged. “Sure there have been some disappointments along the way, but…I don’t know”

“I know I wonder about it sometimes…the what ifs. God knows I’ve made my fair share of mistakes through life; I sometimes wish I could do it over again and do it right. See what could have been…” Kathy admitted staring into her almost empty wine glass.

Jill patted her on the leg as she stood up. “Let’s see what we can find for the guest room”
Kathy followed her down the hall to what was going to be the guest room.  “Look…bed and pillow…good enough for me”

Jill wrinkled her forehead “at least let me find some sheets and a blanket” she said as she rummaged through the boxes marked ‘Guest Room’.

It was a challenge to put sheets on when the room kept moving on them but they laughed their way through it until Jill excuse herself with a mumbled “Good Night”

Kathy sat down on the bed; she ran her toes through the carpet and balled them up as she looked around the room. The walls were a neutral beige color, as was the carpet. A dresser with a mirror over it sat against the wall while the full sized bed sat against the other far wall. Boxes made the room into a maze as the room had become a dumping zone.

She lay flat for a moment and let her eyes close. She had a dull headache but despite that, she felt good for some reason. “What if I could go back and do it all over again?” she thought.

Kathy laughed as she sat up. She took a deep breath and stood up. She walked to the mirror and drooped her head down. “Huh…no grays today…sweet” she said as she looked at her hair.

Kathy took a step back and bumped into one of the boxes. As she pushed it aside with her foot, the words on the side of the box changed from Guest Room to Katie’s Room.

Kathy walked around the room. As she glanced out the window, more of the boxes began to read Katie on their sides in scrawled sharpie marker.

She absent-mindedly itched at her neck as her hair began to grow out longer, stronger and straight. Her hair was gaining a luster to it that she hadn’t had in years.

Kathy’s skin began to soften and strengthen becoming elastic and a shine began to spread across her face. Her brown eyes brightened and widened as the lines around the corners of them faded away as her skin pulled taut.

The lines at the corners of her mouth faded and disappeared and her lips plumped up and turned a natural pink again. Her cheeks brightened and lifted, becoming rounder and youthful in appearance.

Kathy felt light; she attributed it to the wine in her system but in reality, she was losing weight. Muscle tone returned and fat melted away as her metabolism picked up. Her ass began to rise and tone; her thighs thinned and toned and her hips narrowed.

Kathy shivered and shook momentarily as her belly fat vanished and her stomach came in flat.

Her breasts rose up perky and began to get smaller. They pulled up beneath her shirt, rounding off.

Kathy’s breathing increased with a sense of excitement that finally triggered her brain that something was wrong.

She began to shrink a few inches shorter down to just 5’3” as other smaller details began to emerge. A single pimple formed on her forehead; a few freckles appeared across the bridge of her smaller pert nose.

Her feet shrank down a size and narrowed while an aqua blue nail polish appeared on her toes. Callouses wore away as smooth skin reappeared on her youthful feet .The nail job wasn’t great as chips appeared as well as a bit of the polish was up from the bottom of her nails.

A scar on Kathy’s knee faded as it was from a cut that she received when she was 19.

Orange nail polish began to color her fingernails with the same pick marks and chips.

A metallic taste filled her mouth as braces appeared on her teeth. “What the fuck is going on?” she whispered as she ran her tongue over her teeth, feeling the braces glued in place there.

Kathy went to the mirror and promptly fainted.

Kathy heard banging and movement going on out in the house as she squirmed and curled up in a ball. “Bed” she thought “I’m in bed…that was one weird ass dream”

She turned onto her back and stretched her legs out all the way to pointing her toes. She heard Tony walk by and say “I wonder if Sleeping Beauty is getting up today?” followed by Jill’s laughter.

Kathy yawned and stretched her arms out above her. As her lips tightened in the yawn, she felt them catch on her braces and her eyes sprang wide open. She bolted upright in bed and scrambled to get up.

“Holy Shit…What the Fuck is going on?” she thought, her mind racing as she jumped toward the mirror.

A quick sound of desperation made its way out as she stood before the mirror with her mouth hanging open in shock. The face looking back at her was that of a kid.

“This can’t be happening…I must be dreaming” she said quietly and quickly as she ran her fingers through her much longer hair.

“This feels so real though” she mumbled as she looked down at her skinny body. She did the cliché thing of pinching herself on her upper arm. It hurt and she knew she was awake.

“How did this happen…what happened?” she said beginning to panic. “Who am I?”

Kathy jumped and nearly screamed when she heard a knock at her door “Are you up Sweetie?” she heard Jill say from the other side.

“Sweetie?” she said to herself. She flung open the door and said “Jill! It’s you!”

Jill looked bemused and confused “Since when did you start calling me by my first name?”

“What am I supposed to call you…you’ve got to help me…I…”

Jill cut her off “You can still call me Mom for starters and second…I don’t have to help you; I told you that you have to unpack your own room today and get everything set up in there. I want it looking nice by the end of the day, is that clear?”

Jill was standing before her with her arms folded and tapping her foot. Kathy had seen the look many times before when she was dealing with Ben, but now, she was talking to her like that.

Kathy mind reeled; she had never been more confused in her entire life. Jill looked the exact same as she had yesterday. She was still 37; everything was the same on her. So much so that Kathy couldn’t even speak.

It hit her that Jill was now taller than her though; just slightly but it was true. “I’m shorter too” she mumbled.

“What are you talking about honey…are you feeling okay?” Jill asked and put her hand out to feel Kathy’s forehead as if she had a fever.

“She’s just confused and disoriented Hun…let her wake up first. First night in a new room…new house…probably had a weird dream” Tony said as he walked by with a box in his arms. He gave her a wink as he passed by “Just get your room cleaned up today Sweetie, that’s all we’re asking you”

“Uh…” Kathy said taking everything in.

“Fine Katie…you work at your own pace and get your own room ready. I know this is stressful for all of us but when you’re 13…everything is magnified” Jill put her hand on Kathy’s shoulder. “I have to remember that a lot is going on for you right now: New school next week, your big brother moving out and going to college…it’s a lot”

Kathy just blinked as Jill continued “Like your Dad said; work on your room today and let us know if you need anything. I’ll probably just run to Subway for lunch in a little bit okay”

Jill walked off leaving the stunned Kathy standing alone in the doorway. She stumbled forward a step out into the hall. She peeked across the hall at Jill and Tony’s room and it looked the same as what she remembered from yesterday.

Slowly, Kathy made her way out into the living room “How’s it look kiddo?” Tony asked her as he straightened out a picture on a shelf.

“Um…” Kathy said staring at the photo. It was an 8” by 10” framed picture with the standard family pose; Tony was seated in the middle with Jill over his left shoulder and Ben over his right but what caught her attention was the girl standing next to him on his right…

Kathy remembered and knew the picture very well with just the three of them but now; it was different, it had changed just like her. That girl in the picture was her.

Tony just shook his head as Kathy spun around scanning the room “Let me know when you come back to earth” he said sarcastically.

Kathy went to the bookshelf in the far corner where other pictures were set up. “Oh My God” she whispered as she took them all in. The wedding picture of Jill and Tony was the first that caught her eye. She had been the maid of honor and had been standing right next to Jill, but now she recognized Amy Jennings standing in her spot; she was nowhere in the picture.

The next shelf up had two baby pictures one with a blue background labeled Benjamin Martin Bolton but the other had a pink background.

Kathy picked it up and read “Katherine Ann Bolton: Dec 1st 2001 21” 7lbs 13 oz”

“Oh My God” she repeated luckily unheard by anyone else.

She replaced the picture on the shelf “If that’s me…that means I’m only 13…I went from being born in 1977 to being born in 2001” she thought panicking internally. “I can’t be Jill’s daughter! I’m her best friend, not her child!”

Pictures of a boy and girl dotted the shelves; the boy about 5 or 6 years older than the girl as they pose together for portraits. There was a picture of the girl in a white dress with a flowered headband on at about age 8 standing with Jill and Tony on each side of her in front of a church and a thought jumped to Kathy mind “That’s my First Communion picture”

“I’m not Catholic” she thought “But Jill and Tony are…so of course their daughter would be”

Kathy caught herself feeling faint again. She steadied herself against the back of the couch before she went back down the hallway to the bathroom, where she closed the door behind her.

“Oh my God Oh My God What am I going to do…what happened to me last night…why am I 13 and a kid again…oh shit” she said as it hit her. Kathy slowly turned to the mirror and was confronted by her pubescent face once again “I said I wish I could go back and do it all over again…what if it actually happened? What if I got my wish and now I am Katie Bolton instead of Kathy Myers. What if I really am 13 again?”

She looked in the mirror and believed that she was looking at a 13 year old. She looked down at her body and thought it definitely looked like that of a 13 year old. “Oh My” she said to herself.

Katie pulled out the collar of her shirt and peered down at her small but very perky breasts. She lifted up the bottom and ran her hand over her flat stomach before she reached behind and grabbed handfuls of her firm and small cheeks.

She realized that the aches and pains that she had gotten used to over the years were gone. The arches of her feet and her left knee didn’t feel anything. She flexed her fingers and felt no tightness there either. She cricked her neck around and felt nothing but relief “Being a kid again could be good and bad at the same time” she thought.

She quickly used the bathroom and then rushed back to her room.

She shut the door and stood with her back against the door as thoughts flooded her mind about what this all meant to her.

“I have no responsibilities but also no freedom; I can’t drive, I can’t drink…I can’t go out by myself even. I’m going to have to go to school again…shit” she realized. She took a step forward and began to think about her original days in school, but to her surprise, nothing was really coming to mind.

She knew she had gone to college but she suddenly couldn’t remember where or even what she had studied. Her mind quickly shifted to High School, She tried to remember chemistry or French but nothing was there except knowing that as Kathy, she had taken them.

She even tried to remember drivers ed but her knowledge of cars was now very vague. “Oh No…this is bad!” she said. “I can’t forget who I was…I can’t!”

She knew that she was supposed to be 37 and that Jill was her best friend but the specifics were too fuzzy to put a clear thought together about it. The specific knowledge was obscured from her even though she knew it was there somewhere, it meant that school would be important because she would be learning things all over again as if they were new.

“Damn” she said as she opened up the box closest to her feet. “The life of a 13 year old girl huh” she said as she saw the contents.

She pulled out a basic desk lamp and set it on the desk in the corner “At least I have a laptop” she mumbled as she took that out and began to plug it in around the desk “Probably has parental limits set up on it though…”

A few Knick knacks of Giraffes came out and she set those up around the desk along with all seven Harry Potter novels that she lined up on the three shelf bookcase that was also in the room.

Once the computer booted up, Katie pulled up Google and did a search for Katherine Ann Myers. While a lot of things came back, none were for her. No pictures no LinkedIn profile, no Facebook or Twitter either.

She searched every data base she could think of, but there was no trace of her former life ever occurring. She wasn’t in her old yearbooks or in any mentions in the local newspapers.

A search of Katie Bolton though brought up several hits of mentions in the paper for placing third in a science fair and for a first place art project she had been a part of last year. That one even had a photo that showed the girl she now was alongside 4 other girls of the same age entitled ‘Seventh Graders win Statewide Prize’

Katie caught her feet drumming up and down and she kept crossing her ankles; she couldn’t sit still. She got up and started going through more boxes.

She found sheets and drapes and a comforter all in bright green and light purple before she found the first box of her clothes.

“Wow…I have to dress like this…” she said as she took out the clothes. It was the wardrobe of a young teenager with skinny jeans and tights and shorts and skirts. Small t-shirts and bulky sweatshirts, tank tops and camis, sweaters and sweat pants and so many items.

The next box was panties and bras and socks and more t-shirts, most of which would have made her roll her eyes 12 hours ago.

The next box was nothing but shoes: Sneakers, Flip Flops, boots, flats and sandals; there were about 30 pairs in all, all size 7 “Used to be an 8 ½ or an 8…” she thought along with lamenting that the bras were a 32B instead of her 38D she had been the night before.

Katie was happy that the panties were a small and the jeans were a size 2 though. She started hanging up skirts and shirts and putting clothes in the dresser while sliding the shoes on the bottom of the closet.

More thoughts ran through her head “Haven’t had sex in a few years anyway but I guess I’m a virgin again for whatever that’s worth”

Katie tried to remember the times she had sex but once again, the thoughts were gone and sex was just a thought of what might be in the future.

What caught her off guard was that the thought of a boy flashed through her mind when she did think of it. A crush of some kind or an ideal version of a boy that would be conjured up in them mind of a 13 year old girl came to her mind and made her heart race briefly and her body tingle a bit.

“I’ve never been touched or kissed for real” she thought.

There was a phone on the dresser that Katie grabbed and flicked on. She hit the contact button and several names came up and she was surprised to have some thoughts and recollections of each of them as she scrolled through them.

Gabby was her best friend and there were tons of conversations between them. Marti and Carrie were two other good friends and when she thought of them, soccer came to mind.

Katie glanced at an unopened box and knew soccer trophies were in it and that they used to sit across her dresser at her old house.

She went to the pictures and began to flip through them; with each one that passed by, memories of it came into her mind. A trip to an amusement park, swimming at a lake, a slumber party in a basement with a bunch of other girls, and with each one Katie found herself drawn further and further into this life, this reality of hers.

A knock on the door and then it was open “Hey honey, what do you want from Subway?” Jill asked.

“Oh Ji…” she stopped herself from saying Jill “…just get me a turkey on Italian…provolone cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, green peppers and vinaigrette dressing”

“So your usual” Jill said.

“Thanks Mom” Katie answered feeling a bit embarrassed and yet a bit excited at using the word.

Jill smiled and closed the door behind her as she left.

There were other boxes that Katie went through with what can only be described as all the stuff a 13 year girl would have accumulated over the years. As she went through them and arranged that stuff, she heard a call “Food’s here”

Katie stood up and took a deep breath. She smoothed out her black t-shirt and red shorts and walked barefoot out to the dining room.

“Can I have a Dr. Pepper?” she asked and thought “Oh My God…why did I ask that?”

“You can have one either now or at dinner…you choose” Jill said.

“Thanks Mom…I think I’ll have it now” she responded quickly.

She grabbed one from the fridge and slid onto her chair, her feet coming up off the ground and resting on the bottom rung of the chair.

“So how’s it coming in Casa Del Katie?” Tony asked.

Katie looked at him and no longer just saw her best friend’s husband, but instead, she also saw her Dad. “Good; I’m getting things settled in”

“After we eat, how about I come and help you get the drapes up?”

“Okay Dad” she said and found herself blushing just a bit.

She had never been intimidated by Tony, but Katie found herself surprised at feeling small next to him now. He followed her to her room and started putting up the holders and runners. “It looks nice in here…keep it that way” he said with a smile.

“I will” Katie promised. “I won’t let it get messy”

“I know this is big for you and I want to just say Thanks for not being too moody about moving”

“I’m nervous about school” Katie admitted.

“I know you are and you have every right to be. Changing schools in Eighth grade won’t be easy but at least you do know some people here through soccer and basketball”

“Yeah” Katie said and thoughts of a girl named Hannah came to mind along with others named Kelsey and Brooklyn.

“And you still see Gabby all the time…we’re not that far away” Tony said.

“I know” Katie said genuinely feeling nervous about going to school and fitting in.

“All set baby girl” Tony said to her as he finished.

“Thanks Dad” Katie replied.

“If you get finished, your Mom and I are moving down to the boxes in the basement”

“Okay” Katie said as he patted her on the head going out.

Katie flipped on her phone and started playing the music on it and the lyrics just flowed out of her. She knew every song even though part of her mind had no idea who any of the singers were.

She arranged and rearranged before she started texting with Gabby like it was perfectly natural. At times, the Kathy part of her brain would pop up and realize just how absurd and juvenile their conversation was, but the Katie part would come roaring back and continue the train of thought.

They talked about TV and movies and music and clothes and soccer practices, each message triggering new thoughts in Katie before she was told to quit and come downstairs to help unpack.

Katie headed down the steps and found her parents finding the best places to hide the Christmas decorations so they’d be out of the way.

Katie headed for a stack of boxes that turned out to be filled with books and photo albums. “So sweet” she said as she opened the one on top. “Oh my Gosh…look at me…I was so cute as a baby!” she said out loud.

Jill and Tony just kept working for the time being.

Katie flipped through pages of her as an infant being held by her Mom and Dad and big brother.

Memories of times spent with Ben now filled her mind both good and bad. Times he had picked on her and others times when he had protected her or shown her something new both came to mind.

Pictures of her standing and walking and getting her first tooth filled more pages, along with trips to the zoo and the beach and a time when she had met The Wiggles at about the age of 4.

“Enough with the stroll down memory lane Katie…keep unpacking” Jill called out to her.

Katie blushed “Sorry Mom” she said as she started stacking books on the shelves. “Was I a good baby?” she asked.

Jill smiled “You know I call you my little miracle…always have and always will. The doctors said I would never get pregnant again after the complications I had with Ben, but then one day…boom…I was pregnant with you”

She continued “Easy pregnancy, easy labor…then you wanted to stay up all night every night but yes, you were a very good baby”

“So you remember the day I was born clearly then” Katie asked.

“Trust me, there’s no way I could ever forget it” Jill noted.

“Hey look” Katie said. “I found your old high school yearbooks!” She quickly flipped to the page she should have been on but the names and faces now went from Mueller to Nagron…no Myers. “Nice hair” she added.

“It was 1995 and you’ll say the exact same thing about your own pictures in time; fashions and fads come and go. Why don’t you pick on your father and find the picture of him where he looks like Vanilla Ice”

“Hey, I was very stylish” Tony defended his fashion choices.

“Yeah, you and your mullet from 1987…” Jill said picking up a new box.

Katie laughed and went back to unpacking.

After a while, Tony said “Let’s go get something to eat…it’s still too messy upstairs to cook”

Katie had been sitting cross legged on the floor sorting through some old DVD’s; her skinny legs bopping up and down to the Taylor Swift song that was running through her head. She got up and followed up the stairs; grabbing her phone and slipping her feet into a pair of flip flops without stopping.

She also didn’t hesitate to get into the back seat as the thought of driving didn’t even cross her mind. Katie played on her phone the whole drive to the restaurant and when she saw where they had pulled in at, a bunch of thoughts rushed to her mind.

“This is where Jill and Tony had their first date” she thought, still remembering that particular memory. “How many times have I had dinner with these two? It’s never been like this though…I don’t even have a purse or any money” she giggled at the thought before adding to herself “Guess I won’t be having any wine with dinner tonight”

As she walked in behind her parents, Katie actually realized that she didn’t even have a taste for alcohol anymore or a real desire for it. She just wanted some ice tea and a burger.

Sitting next to Jill and across from Tony in a booth, she was relieved to not participate in adult talk when a few money issues came up while they were waiting for their food.
Katie was thinking about asking if she could take up guitar lessons. It was something she had wanted to learn but never got around to and now with a second chance, maybe it was time.

Little things about being a kid again kept piquing Katie’s interest. Being ignored by the waitress until it was her turn to order, not being asked where she wanted to go to dinner,  and not being expected to be an active part of the conversation all washed over her as she took in her new status in life.

Katie was a kid; she was lower down on the chain again. Her opinions would mean less; she would be dismissed as being too young if she offered her opinion.

As they were wrapping up, Tony said “When we get home, you need to shower and get to bed…you’ve got practice tomorrow morning and it’s been a long weekend already”

Katie didn’t hesitate to answer “Sure Dad…I’m kind of tired anyway”

“No staying up texting to Gabby either…you’ll see her at practice anyway” and Katie was surprised to think “How did he know that’s what I was going to do?”

That night, Katie dreamed that she was still Kathy. She saw herself clearly as the adult she knew she was and it made her nervous. In just the course of a day, Katie had come to look forward to a second chance. The sight of herself sitting in her small apartment and the thought of going back to her boring job made Katie spring up in her bed.

Katie woke up panting and grasping at her chest and face. The longer hair that she found in the dark comforted her but until she was able to turn her light on and see her youthful face and still developing body, did she begin to calm down.

“I guess that answers the question if I want to go back to being an adult” she said with a nervous chuckle.

She sat on her bed and saw that it was nearly 6 in the morning anyway. She dangled her feet over the side, sweeping them back and forth a few inches above the ground. “I don’t want to go back” she told herself. “I want to be Katie…I realize that I’m getting a second chance and I will make the most of it”

Katie hopped out of bed and headed to the shower. She was still getting used to her body as she got ready. A new pimple had popped out on her right cheek and her lips looked chapped. She was also still getting used to the braces on her teeth as she brushed them vigorously.

“I have some time” she said looking down at her toes. She grabbed nail polish remover and some cotton balls and retreated to her room.

Once back on her bed, she rubbed off the chipped up aqua blue and let her clean toes dry off. She went through the assortment of colors she had found before she picked out a shade of dark pink.

Katie took her time and concentrated; she still got some on her skin but as she blew on them to dry them off, she was quite pleased with her more determined effort so she moved onto her fingernails.

Nails done, hair pulled up into a ponytail, she found her sports bra and some under armor boy shorts and started getting ready for her soccer camp that day. Another pair of under armor shorts went on before a pair of baggier blue shorts and her white practice t-shirt. She put on her high socks and shin guards and found her pair of very well worn cleats.

She knew if her Mom heard her walking down the hall in her cleats though, that she would get yelled at, so she carried them in her hand as she slung her soccer bag up onto her shoulder and put on a pair of basic slides.

Her Mom was waiting for her “Are you ready?” she asked as she saw her coming down the hall.

“Yep…I’ve got everything” Katie replied heading straight out the door to the car.

She climbed into the passenger seat and tapped her hands on her bare knees as her Mom started up the car and backed out.

As they pulled up to the fields, Katie was a bit nervous but she also saw that she knew everybody there. They greeted her as she got out and walked over to them. She sat down on the bench to switch out her shoes and Gabby sat down next to her. They picked up their conversation from their last text as if nothing had ever been different.

When the coach called for them, she immediately was up and headed for her position on defense. The game came naturally to her and she was amazed at her stamina and strength in this young body. She felt like she could run for days and never tire.

She performed drills and skills that she had no idea about two days earlier as Kathy, but as Katie, she was a good soccer player.

The orange slices and water bottles were a welcome sight as she went to the bench to take a break as a new crop of girls went out for their turn.  “I think I’m going to be okay here” Katie thought as she caught her breath. “Second chances shouldn’t be wasted…”