A slow build up in this first chapter to tease readers into the story...I hope!
Chapter One
I wanted to please my coach so I forced myself up the sandy dune once again even though it seemed like Mount Everest, legs needing to give in to the rising tide of lactic acid yet my will admitting no surrender. Sweat had coated my skin, running down in little rivulets, and the abrasive sand grains had stuck to me when I had tumbled over earlier. My long hair, flaming red-gold in the setting sun, was tied back in a ponytail that whipped from side to side with every slow pace up towards the crest of the dune whilst my breath was rasping in my ears. I finally made it and gasped in fresh oxygen, only vaguely aware of the world as every muscle screamed at me to collapse but I stayed defiantly on my feet and waited.
"Tomorrow you can do it another five times, Emma," my trainer stated as he appeared by my side, hardly breathing at all even after the steep climb up the sand dune.
"What?" I gasped out in disbelief as he stood there, lean face watching me implacably.
"You want to make it as a pro, girl?" his voice snapped out questioningly, green eyes the mirror image of mine narrowing abruptly.
I was tempted just for a moment to ask him what sort of pro but I knew that he would make me suffer if I was rude. Another five trips up the unending dune maybe? Or would he put me over his knee and warm up my bottom as I wished he would? The thought shot into my head unbidden and made me feel weird because it was definitely true.
"Yes, Daddy, of course I do," I responded truthfully.
"Then you have to work at it as well as have natural talent...which you do in spades! Now back down the dune, run back to the house and have a shower. I'll be back soon to make dinner."
It had been my dream since I first started kicking a ball around as a toddler and I was grateful that my dad, an ex-semi-professional, shared it and believed in me yet he was a tough taskmaster, I thought ruefully as I dropped my shorts, shirt and underwear on the bathroom floor and jumped into the shower, sighing as the hot water began to ease the aches in my muscles. I had just started college now, taking sports science and playing for the local women's team as their midfield dynamo. I was on the cusp of being noticed and yet not quite there and the uncertainty whether I was quite good enough lingered in my mind however often I was told that I was. Some days, it was almost impossible to train after college due to tiredness and I wished sometimes that I could just have a normal life. Go out and celebrate with a few drinks or get laid...