The Missarali Storks are winning, but I know these sorts of games can change at the drop of a hat. All it takes is for someone to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it gives the opponent an opportunity to slip through.
And that’s precisely what happens.
Bennett now has control of the ball, but he’s forced to the ground. There’s nobody there to pass it to, causing the crowd to throw their hands up in irritation.
I watch with a rigid posture, forgetting I’m supposed to be easing the crowd. The phoney smile drops from my face as I crane my neck to get a better look at Nathan, who’s dragging himself from the floor after having been tackled.
Bennett shakes his head in frustration as his captain helps him to his feet. The jumbotrons above show them having a conversation. It isn’t heated, but I can tell they’re having some choice words with each other, and after a few seconds, Nathan clips the back of Bennett’s helmet in a friendly manner.
The rest of the game doesn’t go as smoothly as they’d like. The Missarali Storks win, but only by three points, which is too close for everyone’s liking.
A win is a win in my book, though.
When Poppy and I enter the cheerleading locker room, we can hear Coach Darrell talking with the team in their own locker room through the wall.
“That was a close one, boys. We nearly lost it out there, but thankfully, you pulled through. I’m proud.”
Poppy has her ear to the wall, finger to her lip, telling me and the other girls to be quiet.
There’s another voice. I don’t recognise it, but they sound older. Grumpier. “Watching you out there made me nervous, so I can’t even begin to imagine how the fans felt. Nathan, where was the teamwork?”
I knit my eyebrows together.
The team won. What’s the need to pick on them? Nathan was playing to the best of his ability out there. They all were.
“I don’t know why you’re directing that question at me,” is Nathan’s response, his tone icy. Each word drips with a confident disdain that should repel me, but instead, I find myself drawn to the danger.
“Well, you’re the captain, aren’t you?” A scoff. “Are you even taking this seriously?”
The man speaks with such condescension.
Nathan is in his thirties. He’s not a child, and it’s perplexing that he’s being spoken to as if he is.
“And what areyouto this team?” he responds, making the rest of the team mutter under their breaths. “Just a nosy man using his family connections to force his way into the team's locker room. You’re not supposed to be in here, so I suggest you leave.”
There’s silence and a muffled response, but the sound of heavy footsteps indicates someone’s walked away, and judging by how I can still hear their coach and Nathan speaking, it’s neither of them.
“Sounds to me like they’re going to drive those boys to insanity one of these days,” I say, rolling my eyes and pushing myself off the door. After peeling the too-small outfit off my sore body, I grab my bag and change into my sweats.
I’m meeting Flo tonight. I haven’t seen my best friend for months, and I’m beyond excited—almost as excited as I am to get away from my mother for the night.
She’s been berating me for my choice of meals, telling me that if I don’t lay off the carbs, I’m going to gain weight, and she can’t have an overweight cheerleader on the team. It’s funny coming from someone who believes that a sliver of seasoned lettuce and two rice crackers with a thin layer of jelly on them is a sufficient meal.
One night, it was enough to make me scoff my dinner of vegetable lasagne down right in front of her, a proud smile on my face as she glared at me with disgust before mumbling something about having an animal as a daughter.
I wonder if she’s going through some intense menopause or something.
I wave a quick goodbye to the girls before exiting the locker room and entering the corridor, keeping an eye out for anyone who I think would fit the voice I’d heard speaking to Nathan and his team.
I’m nosy.
I can’t help it.
“Hey, Mae-Mae!”
I turn at the nickname, a laugh bubbling up my throat as my brother, Cam rounds the corner. He opens his arms wide, pulling me to his chest.
He’s been away on vacation with some friends and only got back this morning for tonight’s game.
