Everybody Needs Somebody

Chapter Three

The next morning Zayn gets to sleep in a bit more because his mum and her boyfriend decided to do a day road trip up to Essex for some unknown reason to Zayn. But the boy wasn't going to complain about a whole day free of extra pain, so he didn't say anything. Once Zayn is fully awake he walks downstairs to see if there's any food in the kitchen, fortunately Zayn never had the opportunity to eat his food from the cafe last night so he decides to cut a third of it off and eat it now while saving the rest for later. From there, the boy cautiously throws on a pair of chinos and his old grey sweater, hissing in pain when he stretches his arms a bit.
Last night ended up not being as bad as Zayn expected. When he walked into the kitchen he was met by a high mother as well as a few of her friends and boiling water on the stove. From past experiences Zayn assumed the worst and was expecting to get burned, or possibly even forced to drink the boiling water like he once was, but much to his benefit, which isn't much, he was just shoved around a bit. Zayn quickly finishes his small breakfast, then he grabs his raggedy backpack and old skateboard before heading off to the school. Once at the school Zayn stops by his locker, where he talks to Ant and Danny for a few minutes, before he then walks to his homeroom. Zayn quickly sits down and puts his hood up, trying to ignore the judgemental stares of his peers, before he hears his name being called.
"Zayn?"
"Here," Zayn replies without thinking only to then hear his classmates laugh. The raven headed boy then lifts his head to see what's funny and notices Louis' facial expression.
"I know you're here Zayn. I called you to come up to my desk," Louis says teasingly, and now Zayn blushes before standing up and walks over to the older lad's desk. "Now did you look through your supplies at home?"
"Oh, uh, yeah. I have a supply box, a ruler, proper pencils, proper colored pencils, and relatively unused water paints. And well the sketch book," Zayn says sheepishly.
"Hey that's good! You're not missing that much, all you need is the acrylic paints, erasers, and sketch pens. Oh and the paper pads, wait right here and I'll get them," Louis says before walking into his closet. When he walks out he has two paper pads, one meant for water paint the other meant for everything else, two erasers, a set of sketch markers, and a small box of general color acrylic paints. "Now this is the stuff I require. Some people had pastels, but those haven't been shipped in yet. Once they get here I'll give you a box." Louis says with a smile.
"Thank you so much, Mr. Tomlinson. This means a lot to me," Zayn says genuinely but Louis just shrugs it off.
"Don't worry about it. Now Niall told me you are quite the footballer, are you trying out today?"
"Uh, I don't know. I've never played football really. I just had a lucky kick yesterday," Zayn says while rubbing his neck.
"Nonsense! I expect you out on the field today, tryouts begin at 3:00 promptly." And that's all Louis says before turning back to his computer.
+
The rest of the day goes by easily, still not much work being assigned since everyone's still getting settled. At lunch Zayn had to force himself not to use the free lunch option because of how hungry he was, in the end he succeeds. So now Zayn is at his locker talking to Ant and Danny when Niall comes up to him.
"What are you doing still dressed? We have tryouts in fifteen minutes! Get changed Zayn!" Niall says while patting the boy on the back, not noticing how tense Zayn got at that moment.
"I don't know, I do-" Zayn gets cut off.
"Zayn I didn't know you were gonna try out! That's awesome, imagine how happy Tyler will be when he hears that! He loves footy!" Ant says with a small smile. Zayn has told Ant and Danny about some of things that go on in his house, but never has he told them about the full extent of everything.
"Yeah come on! Make whoever this Tyler guy is happy! I have spare cleats for you to use, meet me in the locker room!" Niall says before walking away. Zayn huffs before glaring at his two best friends, who just smile back at him, before he walks off in the direction of Niall. The minute he steps into the locker room he is met by loud yelling and hooting from all the rowdy boys in there. Zayn has to force himself not to have a panic attack from the tightness, and quickly begins to look for Niall. He soon finds him at the end of the locker room where he is then given a pair of cleats, shin guards, and socks.
"Wear your PE uniform and wear these. You have a little more than five minutes before my dad considers you late." With that being said Zayn quickly gets changed before running out of the room and onto the field, getting there just as Louis begins to talk.
"Welcome underclassmen to the 2015-2016 soccer team tryouts! Now normally tryouts are a three day process but we're pushed for time this year, so they'll only be today! Of the 35 of you trying out, 17 will make it. Now today's tryouts are for the JV team, but if Coach Grimshaw or I see someone who stands out just a bit more than the rest we may consider you for Varsity. That mainly applies to some of our year elevens but don't be disheartened year tens. Now along with me and Nick being here for tryouts, we have our three varsity captains, Liam, Andy, and Sam, helping out. Now everyone give me two laps for a quick warm up."
+
"...and the final two members of the JV team are George Anthony and Sean Collins," Louis concludes with a smile. And Zayn's heart drops. 'I thought I did so well,' the boy thinks to himself. This is exactly why he doesn't do stuff like this, because it just gets his hopes up. Zayn, along with the rest of the boys, begin to get up from the grass to collect their things when the assistant coach stops them.
"Excuse me gentlemen, but we aren't finished here!" Nick speaks out before signalling for Louis to continue.
"Thank you Grimmy. Now first off I want to say thank you to all of you for coming out today, I wish I could keep you all but unfortunately we can't. Secondly I would like to congratulate the ones of you that made the team. And thirdly I am happy to say that three of you have been chosen to move up to varsity," Louis finally says which causes all the boys to look at him with wide eyes, practically begging for him to continue. "Congratulations Niall Horan, Josh Devine and...Zayn Malik." Louis concludes with a wide grin and Zayn feels like he can't breathe. But he quickly snaps out of it when someone tugs him up and pulls him into a giant hug. Niall.
"I told you you were good!" The boy says before launching himself on to his dad. The group of boys slowly begins to deteriorate until it's only Zayn, Niall, Josh, the two coaches, and three year thirteens who were helping with the tryouts.
"Congratulations boys. You really showed a lot of heart out there, come with me to my office so I can give you your papers," Louis says before guiding the boys down the field. Zayn strays behind a bit since Niall was talking to Josh about some party coming up and he didn't want to interfere, but then he feels a presence next to him so he quickly glances over to see Liam.
"You're quick kid, that is a dangerous thing in football. You're gonna come in handy plenty this year, congrats," Liam says casually but Zayn still blushes.
"Th-thank you, uh," Zayn says but not really knowing how to continue, making Liam chuckle.
"You're so quiet though. That's gonna have to change cause you can't be quiet in this sport, got it?" Zayn nods. "Good, now football aside, I am here to tell you that you're my little brother this year." And now Zayn's confused.
"Um, I'm sorry what?" Zayn speaks out and Liam chuckles again.
"Not literally, rook! Year thirteen are assigned a year ten to mentor and I was awarded you. Next week is hazing week but I promise I won't be too bad. Any fears so I know not to do that? Like real fears, not something cause you're shy," Liam speaks seriously and Zayn actually appreciates him for being courteous enough to think of that.
"Tight spaces, I-I can't breathe in them," Zayn says slightly embarrassed but Liam just slings an arm around the boy's shoulder.
"No tight spaces it'll be then," Liam says with a kind smile and then the two are walking into the office in the locker room where the rest of the men are waiting.
"Zayn we need to do a quick evaluation of you. Today's the last day to submit the full varsity rosters and you're the only one I'm missing, so when's your birthday?"
"August 11, 2001 (I know this isn't accurate shut up)," Zayn says.
"Jesus Christ you're a baby! He just turned 14, Lou!" Nick said a bit shocked.
"I think you're the youngest person in the school to make varsity. Anyways step over here so we can measure you," Louis says this time and then Zayn is slipping off his shoes and stepping against the wall. " 5'7"," Louis speaks out and Nick writes it down. "Take off your shin guards and shirt and then step on the scale." Zayn hesitantly does as told, holding back a hiss of pain from the soon to be forming bruise on his back, before stepping on the scale. Louis plays with the pegs before pulling Zayn off and dragging Niall on.
"Uh dad, what are you doin'?" Niall asks confused.
"Checking to see if this thing is broken, but nope it's giving me your accurate weight. Zayn step back on." Zayn does as told and fiddles with his fingers. "Uh, boys step out of the room for minute," Louis says to the five high schoolers in the room before turning back to Zayn with a serious look. "Zayn, do you eat?"
"Wh- of course I eat!" Zayn says as convincing as possible.
"You eat three full meals a day?" Nick asks this time and now Zayn looks down.
"Y-yes. I always eat three times a day." And well it isn't a lie. He does eat three times a day, but most times it's cause he's splitting his food to last that long.
"Zayn you weigh 114 lbs. For someone your height and age, that isn't healthy. Even with a fast metabolism."
"I miss dinner a few times I guess, but I eat. It's not my mum's fault, I just get busy sometimes and forget!" Zayn says and Louis sighs.
"Zayn, do you want to talk to the school about possibly getting you enrolled in the free lunch system?"
"No! I have food. I'm fine, I promise!" Zayn says with wide eyes and Louis just sighs but nods nonetheless. They finish up the rest of the evaluation quickly and then Louis is handing Zayn some papers that contain the schedule, student athlete contract, and the two worst ones: payments and parent consent.
"Now Zayn, we have practice every day except Sunday. Monday through Friday is 3:00 to 6:30 and Saturdays is 8:00 AM to noon. Bring me these papers back signed before Friday."
"Yes sir," Zayn says before walking back to the locker room to grab his school bag and skateboard.
"Zayn do you want a ride home? It's getting dark and people don't see skateboarders that easily," Louis ask the boy but he just shakes his head.
"No thank you, Mr. Tomlinson. I have to go to work for a little bit. Thank you." And then Zayn is off.
+
"Babe we're home!" Louis shouts while entering the house, followed by Niall and Liam. Harry then walks out of the kitchen, quickly pressing a kiss to each boys' forehead before walking over to Louis.
"Hey babe, how were tryouts? How'd you do, Niall?" Harry asked.
"Our little Nialler made it to varsity," Louis said happily and Harry quickly pulled the boy in for a big hug before pushing him away with a look of disgust.
"You smell awful. Please go shower until you smell like dandelions." And with that Niall laughed but nonetheless ran up the stairs.t everyone else? Anyone special out there?"
"Actually yes. Remember Zayn? Our neighbor?" Harry nods. "He tried out and he's actually amazing! It was a unanimous decision to put him on varsity," Louis concludes with a wide grin.
"Huh, I would have never guessed him to be a footballer."
"Neither did I, but hey life's full of unexpected things."
+
Zayn is anxious throughout the whole next day. His mum was sober enough to properly sign his consent forms and Tyler actually have the boy a somewhat nod of approval when he heard he made varsity, but that went away very quickly. Unfortunately with now being on the team Zayn had to tell Joe he would only be able to help Saturday afternoons and Sunday's now, which well the man wasn't too upset about because Zayn is finally acting like a kid. The day goes by excruciatingly slow for Zayn, but soon he hears the tell tale sound of the last bell and he's quickly collecting his bags before beginning to go over to the locker room. Except Louis stops him.
"Zayn come here for a minute." And Zayn spins on his heels before making his way back to the older man's desk. "Do you have the papers?"
"Yeah here's the contract, the consent form, and I have the money just give me a minute." Zayn says while handing over a few sheets of paper before beginning to dig through his old backpack, that Louis can't help but smile at. Zayn quickly finds the ziplock of money before pulling it out and giving it to Louis. "Is it okay that the last two dollars are in coins?" Zayn ask sheepishly and Louis sighs.
"Yeah Zayn that's fine." Zayn is about to leave again when Louis stops him again. "Hey wait for a minute Zayn. How's your mum doing? I rarely see her anymore." And Zayn has to force himself to keep a straight face.
"Oh, uh, she's good. She's been experimenting with new jobs so her schedule is constantly changing," Zayn says but really he's thinking something more along the lines of 'she's experimenting with different drugs and guys so sometimes her body shuts down," but he couldn't say that out loud.
"That's good. Tell her I say hi." And Zayn just nods before finally going over to the locker room. Once there he's met with same sight as yesterday except instead of year tens and elevens, he's surrounded by year twelves and thirteens. Zayn is about to walk out and find somewhere else to change when someone is slinging an arm around his shoulder. He looks up to recognize the guy as Andy from the previous day.
"Well if it isn't our little freshmeat! Gentlemen let's welcome the third underclassmen to the team!" Andy speaks out gaining the attention of the team, too which they all then give a big cheer making Zayn blush. Thankfully Zayn comes to the boys rescue.
"Stop messing with my rook! You can have Niall, this one's mine," Liam said teasingly before pulling Zayn over towards the lockers. "This is your locker, the school doesn't provide locks so if you want one you got to buy one."
"Do I need one?" Zayn asks confused.
"I suggest one," Liam says and Zayn sighs before frowning a bit, to which Liam picks up on. "I think I have a spare if you want it?" He offers and Zayn looks as about to oppose but Liam doesn't allow him to. "It's fine trust me. Think of it as peace offering for the hazing I'm gonna have to do next week."
"Thanks, uh, should I be scared for next week," Zayn ask with wide eyes and Liam laughs a bit.
"Nah it's just gonna be some stupid little rituals. I would be more scared for soccer practices, especially with being the youngest." Before Zayn can question it, Liam is walking away and Zayn takes that as a sign to get changed.
+
Practice goes a lot better than Zayn expected. A few teasing comments would be made towards Zayn when he didn't know what the drills were, but he knew they were being harmless. Practice had just ended and all the members were surrounding the water dispenser goofing off a bit while waiting for Louis to dismiss them. Finally the feathered hair man approached them and all the boys took a seat on the ground.
"Congratulations on an excellent first practice boys. If you boys continue to show the motivation you did today I will expect big things to come from this team. Now our first preseason game is only a week away, so we don't have much time to mesh which is why this Friday we'll be hosting a bonding get together at my house. We'll have practice at school till five that day and from there you guys will be coming over and we'll have pizza and drinks at the house. Now if your parents allow you to, you're allowed to spend the night and then we'll have practice the next morning at the park a block from my house. If your parents don't want you spending the night you don't have to, but I expect you all there for at least an hour." Louis wraps up and all the boys hoot and holler before Louis even gets to finish.
"Party at Tommo's place! Hell yeah!" A year thirteen yelled out and Louis just laughed.
"Alright, alright, calm down! I have one more thing to do before I let you guys go." The group of boys quickly quiet down and Louis continues. "Now as we already know we have three underclassmen on the team this year, so boys stand up and come here!" Niall and Josh jump up from the ground a make a big deal of getting to Louis, being the cheeky lads they are, where as Zayn awkwardly gets up and shyly walks over to Louis to which the man quickly slings an arm around the boy. "Now per tradition, every time an underclassman is on the team, they are awarded a three or more year varsity member to show them the ropes. So I would like to introduce senior Mr. Sandy Beales to sophomore Joshua Devine!" The group of boys erupt into a loud cheer. "Andy Samuels to Nialler Tomlinson-Styles!" A bigger cheer erupts. "And last, but definitely not least, Liam Tomlinson-Styles to the team baby, Zayn Malik!" All the boys are now yelling and cheering at six team members that stand in front of them. "Liam you know what to do."
"Gentlemen! As captain of the team I must do our founders of the rookie hazing justice by continuing out their tradition! So let the hazing commence!" Liam exclaims and before Zayn can even think about what he means, his clothes are quickly stripped off, along with Niall's and Josh's, and then two giant coolers of ice water are being dumped onto the boxer clad lads. "Welcome to Varsity lads!" Liam says before walking away followed by the rest of the team and a shivering Zayn, Niall, and Josh.
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A/N: HI! So I practically had like four study halls today cause no one showed up to school! Thank you everyone for the positive feedback, I'm so happy you like it! In regards to the end, it's all friendly hazing! That's the tradition at my school for the boys team so I thought it was funny! I do not promote bullying! Well that's all byeeeeee :)
DB