TOUCHDOWN turnaround (Summer of Sixty Nine)

Ever since her boys, which was what Julia referred to the Whitlow brothers as, had gone off to war, things had been incredibly boring. The late afternoons, much like the current one, often found her down at the soccer field, kicking the younger kids off so she could practice without them hanging around. Sometimes they would stick around and whisper about 'That Jackson girl. You know, the one who can kick anyone's ass.' She never minded the attention; in fact, she found it motivated her to kick even more ass.

Some days, a poor, unfortunate soul would decide to test their soccer skills and take her on in a one-on-one game. So far, Jules hadn't lost a match. In fact, they all had ended in a shut-out with her scoring somewhere around twenty points. Her record was a whopping fourty-two against a freshie who'd thought they could 'bend it like Beckham'. Yeah, right.

Today, however, had Julia craving some actual competition. She'd tried to call up some of the senior girls, but they'd all said they were 'busy' or 'too tired to play today'. How the fuck could they be tired? It was the summer- you weren't allowed to be tired during the summer! Either way, she found herself on the field, dribbling the ball around invisible defenders before deciding that this was incredibly lame.

And then, just as she was ready to give up on any hope for competition, an idea hit her. Bambi-freaking-Pratt, of course! That girl was always down for anything, if she wasn't with a guy at the moment. Shaking her head at her stupidity- Bambi was far better than any of the seniors who'd chickened out. Grabbing her cell phone from her bag, she scrolled quickly through her contacts list. Highlighting the picture of her dear friend (Bambi was flipping the camera off, of course), she hit send.

"Hey betch!" Julia began, grinning, "I'm down at the soccer field, and I think you should get your ass down here in five minutes or else I'll come drag you down here." She paused, "And you know I'll do it, too."

Hey yourself Jules. I'll be there in ten minutes. And I'd like to see you drag my bony butt. JK. I'll see you I'll grab my jersey.

"Hey biatch. How's it in the hen house without the Whitlows? I heard your kicking balls and taking names."

"Ready for a match to remember?

"When have I not been kicking balls and taking names?" Julia asked, pulling her long hair up into a sloppy bun to keep it off her neck. Though she was wearing shorts and a light t-shirt, she was already a bit warm. She had a feeling this match was going to make her sweat. "But I have kind of been dominating. I'm definitely ready for some actual competition."

Following the younger girl, she glanced off to the side, where a few guys sat, watching her and Bambi. "Looks like we've got an audience already... or are they just your afternoon screws coming around early to see how well you 'perform'?" Breaking out into laughter, she playfully nudged Bambi with her shoulder, though not hard enough to cause her to lose the ball.

Blowing a quick kiss to the guys, she grabbed a fistful of the jersey Bambi wore. Scrunching up her nose, Jules asked, "You're gonna buy my jersey when I make the Olympic team, right?" letting go, she circled around and gave the ball a quick tap to get it away from Bambi and then took off in the other direction, turning around to run backward while dribbling (which took quite a lot of talent). "Actually, I'll send you one that I've worn. You can wear my sweat with pride!"

"Well they aren't my normal afternooners, but they could do."

"I'll buy your jersey now. It's a wonderful color."

"I'd gladly wear it!"

"GOAL FOR PRATT!

Sticking her tongue out, Julia rolled her eyes. "Are you saying you have usuals?" she asked, raising an eyebrow slightly. After a moment, she laughed. "Oh, why does that not surprise me?" she joked, winking as she turned around to try and defend the ball. A bit distracted, however, Bambi was able to get it away and score.

"Fuck you!" Jules declared, pulling her shirt off as she said, "you can have this jersey for breaking my shut-out streak." Now in only her shorts and a vibrant yellow sports bra, she took the throw from Bambi, bouncing it off her knee before letting it fall to the grass between her cleat-clad feet. With a quick look over her shoulder, she called, "Catch me if you can, luv!" and took off down the field.

She didn't give her the time to catch her, however, as she gave the ball a single powerful kick from thirty feet away, sending it sailing into the goal. Turning around, she rose her arms into the air. "Ooh, what now?"

"They're not usuals, I just know their names and you know, they actually know my real phone number."

"You know you love it when you have some competition. You're happy I broke your streak."

"Call me a wimp. Call me a loser, but I'm tired out man. I can't breathe."

"How's it at the Whitlow house? Is my dear Robyn being a good housekeeper?"

Laughing, Julia threw the ball over by her bag of stuff and flopped down next to Bambi. Rolling over onto her back, she stretched out, reaching her arms out to her sides as far as they'd go. Looking over at her tired friend, she couldn't help but grin. Bambi had definitely given her the best game she'd had all summer.

Rolling her eyes at the comment about Robyn, Julia answered, "Well, she's not all that good of a housekeeper... she tried to rope me into dusting when I went over the first time. So I gave her the number of the maid service we have. The next time I went over, everything was all nice and clean, so I'm guessing Robyn either figured out how to clean or gave the house cleaners a call."

Figuring that Bambi could appreciate a rant about the girl she didn't like, Julia continued, "She's been driving me crazy lately! I'll go over just to see what's up, if there's any news about Johnny or Turner or Finnegan. And she'll like start rambling on and on about stupid things like what Vera Wang's latest design is and what kind of hairstyles are the most popular on the runway- do I look like I care about that stuff?"

Sighing, she added, "And it doesn't help that I'm so fucking confused. I wish everything was back to how it was when I first started dating Turner... before all the guys left and before... ugh. Never mind." She shook her head. Jules didn't need to complain about her guy drama, especially not to Bambi. She liked to be carefree and happy around the Pratt girl.

"So," she said quickly, "are you going out for soccer this year?"

Bambi sat next to Julia and smiled. "Well I bet she isn't that great of a housekeeper. If she's anything like my dad then she sucks at stuff like that. Lucky you guys have a maid. We just have Ronnie. It's good enough." She smiled and and laughed happily. "I wish I could hang out with you more often but you have Robyn at the house. And then when I go to Angie's I see the Boners." She made a sick face and and scoffed.

Bambi smiled crazily when she mentioned Vera Wang. "With all of her crazy ideas, I don't think Vera Wang is the thing she should be thinking about. Isn't she being a bitch and trying to divorce Atticus?" She crossed her arms and put it under her head to prop it up. She sighed and stared up at the sky filled with fat clouds moving by. She wondered if she'd ever see such a beautiful sky again.

"Speaking of Finn and Turner, how are they? They never answer my emails. I think they're scared. Well Finn does but I think Tucker is shy." She rose her eyebrow and shook her head a little. "I wish everything was back to the way it was too. But yeah I might try out. I'd make it, duh." SHe smiled then thought of what happened before the war. CJ wouldn't be engaged and she probably wouldn't hate Christina so bad.

Pulling a face, Julia said, "Christina? I bet that's loads of fun." She rolled her eyes. Christina pretty much drove her crazy. Not only was she a bitch to Bambi, but she was also a girly-girl. Those were two things against her, and Jules wasn't ready to start on the little things about Miss Boner that annoyed her.

"Yeah, she's a fucking gold digger. I hate that..." Following Bambi's gaze up at the clouds, she attempted to rap, "If you're fuckin' with this girl then you betta' be paid. You know why? Takes too much to touch her... from what I heard she got a baby by Busta." That was as far as she got before she started laughing at her pathetic attempt to rap. "Well, we all know how white Julia Jackson is now," she said, regaining enough composure to speak properly.

And then she wondered how to properly answer Bambi's question. Finnegan was doing well, Julia knew. Turner seemed... okay, too. "Finn is... Finn. He asked if I could send him any drugs. I told him that he probably shouldn't be concerned with getting high while he's on duty. It's so typical of him," she smiled, continuing, "And Turner's... I don't know. We don't really know what to write about. His letters seem kind of awkward and forced. I'm sure mine aren't much better." She laid for a moment, thinking. "Hey, do you talk to Johnny?" she asked, rolling over onto her side, eyes brightening at the mere mention of him.

Bambi nodded at Julia. "Yeah. It's always buckets of fun with Christina." She laughed bitterly and picked at pieces of grass under her fingers. When Julia busted out her rap Bambi burst into laughter, clutching to her stomach she rolled onto her side. "Ok that just proved how white you really can be. And Who's Busta?" She grinned and giggled a little at what Julia had said. "I don't think she means it, but Robyn can be a total bitch when she wants to be." Rolling her eyes she looked over to the bench. "Aww looks like our audience walked away." She snorted a laugh and then licked her lips.

"Well leave it to Finn to ask for drugs. He never answers any of the emails from me." She thought about him. Just another fuck buddy of hers, she tried to stay away from people who were going to get married or succeed. There was always problems when you slept with those types of people. "Well you and Turner can't have much to talk about. But Johnny? I haven't talked to him in weeks. I don't even know if he knows me anymore. Just some forced conversations between us." She shrugged. "So, you ready to go home? Did you walk? I'll give you a ride back."

Frowning, Julia said, "Honestly? I have no idea who Busta is. I think he's a rapper, maybe? Sounds like a rapper name..." Standing up, she made what she thought to be a 'gangsta' pose- her shorts pulled down far on her hipbones so a few inches of her boyshorts were exposed, her fingers twisted into the 'west side' symbol- she said, "Word, yo, I'm Busta, foo'! I'll bust a cap in yo' ass, homie g."

Laughing, she pulled her shorts back up to their original position as she glanced over to where their little fan club had been sitting. It was true, they had gone off. They'd probably been turned off by Jules' lame attempt at being black. Turning back to Bambi, she nodded at Bambi's comment about Finn. "He really didn't answer any more of my letters when he knew I wouldn't be his supplier. I really can't wait for them to come home.

Grinning, Julia nodded, "Actually, I didn't walk here, I ran. But a ride would definitely be appreciated." Grabbing her stuff, she headed for Bambi's car. "This is fucking sweet," she said, looking it over.

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