It started out as a normal day in the little town of Sidney, Australia. The rooster crowed to start the day, the cows lowed in five-part harmony, and the town's shops were just opening when a voice with the sound of a meadowlark sang her way down the boulevard.

Max Hemmings woke up relatively early for a school day. He could already tell it was going to be a bad day when he smelled oatmeal from the kitchen.

"Uggh. Mother's going to make me eat oatmeal again," he wrinkled his nose in disgust, groaning as he slid down the bannister.

"Maxwell Hemmings, what did I tell you about sliding down the bannister?!" his mother reprimanded him as Max landed with a thud.

"Not to do it?" Max asked, half hoping he was right.

"And why is that?"

"Because, it's dangerous for my health and if I broke an ankle, I wouldn't be able to play football this season," he replied.

"That's right. Now eat your oatmeal."

"Aw, Ma, do I have to?" Max whined.

"Do you want to play football? Now hurry while I wake your brother. LUCIFER ROBERT HEMMINGS! Come down here or you won't have time for breakfast!" his mom yelled up the stairs. A couple minutes later, Luke came thump-thump-thumping down the stairs.

"Morning, Ma," he said, giving her a quick hug.

"Morning, Lil Bro," he said, ruffling Max's hair.

"Ready for the big game tonight?" thier mom asked, serving Luke and equally large portion of oatmeal.

"Eat up, or you won't be able to stay awake tonight," Luke commented, noticing the still full bowl of oatmeal in front of Max.

Begrudgingly, Max listened to his brother and ate the oatmeal, gagging it down.

That morning at school, some of his brother's friends, Ashton, Calum, and Michael came up to him.

"You ready for the big game?" Michael asked.

"It'll be suh-WEET!" Calum said.

"Yeah, um, it's gonna be great! Hey, um, I gotta be somewhere soon, so I'll catch ya later," Max answered, feigning enthusiasm, then hurried off to his next class.

************************************************

"Luke Hemmings, please come to the office," a voice over the PA system said.

"Luke, what'd you do THIS time?" Ashton called out.

"Oh, it's probably nothing," Luke answered good-naturedly as he walked out the door.

He walked into the office to see the principal sitting at her desk, deep in conversation with someone. When Luke walked in, she abruptly stopped and motioned to him.

"Luke, this is Phoenix. She's new here, and I've assigned you to show her around and help her adjust to Weton," she said.

Luke looked over at the girl she was pointing to, who sat there looking shy and afraid.

"Hi, I'm Luke," he said, presenting his hand for a handshake.

She took it gingerly, as if afraid to touch him.

"Here's a copy of her schedule. I'm going to have you adjust to her class schedule as well as taking your normal classes," the principal said, handing him a piece of paper before shooing them out of her office.

"So, what school did you come from?" Luke asked, naturally flowing into his easy-going friendliness.

"Um, I was, um, homeschooled," she replied, keeping her eyes on the tiled hallway floor in front of her.

"Really? What a coincidence, becasue I was too, until my freshmen year," he answered, pleasantly surprised.

"Oh," she said, almost to herself.

**********************************************

"Hey, Mrs. R, I got a new one for you," Luke said as he entered the English classroom.

"Who is it THIS time?" the teacher asked, feigning a big dramatic sigh.

Luke stepped aside to let Phoenix introduce herself

"Um, my name is um,"

"Phoenix!" a voice called out as a girl jumped up.

"Christie?" Phoenix asked, unsure of who it was.

"Girls, this is a classroom, not a reunion. Christie, take your seat. Phoenix, I'll have you sit right there," the teacher pointed to a seat in the back corner. "Luke, you can sit at the table," she added, then continued with the lesson.

When the bell rang, the teacher gave Phoenix the textbooks for that class.

"I'll be outside waiting, ok?" Luke said.

When Phoenix walked out of the classroom, Luke was casually waiting for her right outside the door, like he said.

"Can I walk you to your car?" Luke asked.

"Um, sure," she said as they walked outside.

"I'll see you tomorrow, ok?" Luke said as he dropped her off.

"Ok, bye," she answered, waving a little.

***********************************************

"Max, where is your head?" his mother asked, staring over him like a hawk over its prey.

"Huh? What?" Max asked, shaken out of his reverie. He was sitting at the kitchen table doing homework with a glass of orange juice and some animal crackers in front of him.

"How much homework do you have left?" his mother asked.

"Just this page," Max answered, scanning the page.

"Ok, when you get done with that, I want you to go outside, ok?"

"Yes, Ma."

"Luke, I want you to go outside too," she called into the piano room.

"Ok, Ma," came the response.

*******************************************

"Alright, give me your best penalty kick," Luke challenged Max.

Max gave a half-hearted attempt to kick the ball at his brother.

"Come on, you can do better than that," Luke said, throwing the ball back to his brother.

Several more half-hearted attempts were made, followed by the same comeback. On the last kick, instead of throwing the ball back, Luke walked over to his brother.

"What's wrong, bro?" he asked.

"Nothing," came the grumpy reply.

"Aw, come on, bro. I know something's bothering you."

"You're right. Something's bothering me."

"What is it?"

"To be honest, I really don't know."

"Ok. When you think you've figured it out, let me know. Right now, we need to get changed and head on over to the pitch, ok?"

"Ok."

*******************************************

"Why are you wearing sweatpants and a baggy sweatchirt?" Christie asked Phoenix as she walked in the door.

"It's comfy and I'm kinda cold," Phoenix replied.

"Alright fine. But you know we're going to the football match tonight, right?"

"Yeah, you've been telling me about it ALL week."

"Well, I'm excited!"

"So am I, but I don't talk about it much."

"We should probably walk over now."

"You're right. Let me grab my bag," Phoenix said, lugging her bag over her shoulder.

"Why do you have to bring that thing?"

"You know why, so I won't tell you again."

"Fine. Let's just go."

******************************************

"Luke, you have anything else to say?" the coach called out after his pep talk.

"You bet, Coach. Guys, it's the biggest game of the season, but no pressure. Focus. That's all I can say. Just focus. Focus on the ball, focus on the guys on the pitch, just focus."

*****************************************

"Brrrr it's cold tonight," Christie shivered as the game started.

"Now do you see why I'm wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt?" Phoenix replied.

"Do you happen to have an extra pair of sweatpants in your bag?" Christie asked.

"Here," Phoenix begrudgingly handed her a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt.

"Thanks, girl! You're awesome. I'll be right back," Christie replied as she ran to go change.

*********************************************

Max was sitting on the bench freaking out. It was about midway through the second half, so the coach was going to put him in soon; he always did. Why this particular game he was freaking out, he didn't know. Whatever it was, he didn't like it, and it needed to go or else he wouldn't be able to... FOCUS! Then it hit him. He couldn't focus. So he cleared his mind and the word focus became his mantra. Deep breath in: fo; deep breath out: cus. Soon the thought of going out on the pitch didn't phase him. He could single-handedly win this match, that's how confident he felt.

"Hemmings, get out there and show 'em what you're made of," the coach said.

As he trotted out to meet the rest of the team, he asked, "Ok, what's the plan?"

Luke, the team captain, explained it like this.

"We need to defend the middle, but we can't leave the outsides open. I say, defend your position as best you can and keep the other team on their toes. And one last thing. Don't let them get to you. On three, focus."

"1, 2, 3, FOCUS!"

****************************************

"This is really intense! We've got the team's butts whooped!" Phoenix commented. the score was 6-0 in favor of Weton.

"Look at our defense! No one's getting past them! Not even the Hulk could get past them!" she said, marveling at how well the soccer team was doing.

"When does soccer start for you?" Christie asked.

"Our first game is actually on Friday," Phoenix answered.

"That's one, two, three, four days from now. Who are you playing?" Christie asked.

"West Castle."

"Yikes, our division rivals," Christie commented.

"Are they good?" Phoenix asked.

"Um, they're ok. We've beat them the last two years," Christie answered.

"Ok. I'll keep that in mind."

*********************************************

Max was racing down the field with three Southmoor players following him, nipping at his heels. Why can't you just give up, his mind screamed at the players. The goalie was up ahead anticipating the shot he would block. As Max got ready to score, he felt his ankle turn and heard a crack as he kicked the ball at the goal. He faintly heard the crowd cheering as all of his thoughts turned to the earth-shattering pain his ankle was emitting. One of his teammates lent him a hand to get up, but Max couldn't even move enough to get up. Pretty soon the entire team was surrounding him.

"Luke, get Dad," he grimaced out before collapsing backward in pain. While Luke got the coach, Max felt like the world was closing in on him and everything was going black. When Luke came back, he had their dad, the coach, and the team's trainer. They looked at Max, and then at each other, the silent conversation looking like this:

"It's broken."

"Yeah, it is."

"How bad?"

"Looks pretty bad. Could be out for the rest of the season."

"But we just started!"

"I know."

"Luke, I need ice. Tyson, call 000," the coach said.

"Right away, sir," they replied in unison.

"How are you doing, Son?" the coach asked Max.

"It hurts, sir," he grimaced.

"None of this 'sir' stuff. I'm your father, not your drill sergeant."

"Sorry, Dad."

"Don't speak. Do you think you can get up long enough to get over to the bench?"

"With help, I don't know."

"How much does it hurt?"

"Off the charts big time."

**********************************************

"What's going on?" Phoenix craned her neck, trying to get a better look at what was going on down on the pitch.

"I don't know," Christie answered, doing the same thing.

"Is that? That's Luke! And it looks like he's got a bag of ice with him. That could only mean one thing," Phoenix said.

"Out for the season," they said together.

"I'm going to go down and see if there's anything I can do," Phoenix said, getting up.

*******************************************

"Is everything ok?" someone asked Luke. He turned and saw Phoenix standing there.

"Phoenix!" he said with surprise in his voice.

"What happened?" she asked.

"My dad and the trainer think it's broken," he answered.

"What's broken?"

"Oh! Yeah, sorry. The ankle. they think his ankle's broken."

"That can't be good. I'm assuming he can't move it?"

"Yep," he nodded.

"Can I help?" she asked.

"Well, unless you can quickly recruit another player, I don't think there's anything we can do."

"Give my five minutes. I'll have someone for you by then."

Watching her run off, Luke thought, 'I don't know where she can find someone on such short notice, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt,' and turned back toward his brother.

*************************************

"Christie, you'll never believe this," Phoenix said, yanking off her sweatshirt and sweatpants.

"What? No. You can't go out there!" Christie protested.

"I HAVE to. I told Luke I'd have someone for him in five minutes," Phoenix practically shouted.

"I don't like this, but you have to do what you have to do," Christie sighed."

**************************************

"Did you find anyone?" Luke asked.

"Yes," Phoenix replied, breathing hard.

"Well...?"

"It's me."

"What?"

"Just go with me on this."

"Alright."

Walking up to the coach with Phoenix in tow, Luke took a deep breath and said, "Dad?"

Turning around, he said, "Yes, Son?"

"Dad, you're not going to believe this, but I found your replacement for Max tonight. Meet Phoenix."

"Nice to meet you, sir," she said, shaking his hand.

"Can you kick?"

"Yes."

"Can you defend?"

"Yes."

"Can you aim?"

"Yes."

"Are you warm?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Luke, help her with the logistics of the team. You, my dear," he said, taking her by the shoulders, "are going to help us win this game."

"Are you ready?" Luke asked.

"What's the score?" she asked.

"6-6," he answered.

"Let's win this thing," she said with a look of determination on her face.

****************************************

Author's Note

Hi guys!!!! This is the prequel to Hopeless! First time doing anything with 5SOS, so bear with me on this one!

Hope you enjoyed this one, because it was a LOOOOONG thing to type out...

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Lizzy-Luci