Jamdown

Chapter 31

Donavan Malt

I rubbed my hands constantly. My legs pounded the floor as if I tried to dig myself into the earth's core. Sitting across from me in the living room were Nodelyn and Leon.

Leon looked at the list of people she had recruited. "This is good."

Had she? I tried to not groan. "She recruited a girl," I said.

Leon shrugged. "We need a team, it doesn't have to be the best team."

That.

This was the mentality I hated. I stared at him.

He held his palms up. "Okay, let's just keep it a hundred like we're a small team. She can just be a swing or she can play in special teams."

I replied, "You do realize no team has a woman, you know that right?"

Leon laughed. "You're right. That would be a sight to see."

I rolled my eyes. "Which one, a woman getting tackled or running from a bunch of men."

Leon laughed.

Nodelyn punched Leon in the arm. "I told her she could be a quarterback. That guy who throws the ball like. I met her while she was throwing cricket balls. She can throw."

That was what I described to Nodelyn.

I sighed. "Look, I get it, but we have a running back that I think can win us this cup." They widened their eyes at me as their bodies changed posture at the bomb I just dropped. "Your brother, Irwin had over a hundred yards a match in the JF championship. If we had a better team we could have won, if that foolishness had not occurred we probably would have gone far in the championship."

I waved my hands and watched their still gazes. "I really wanted players who could really help the team. Terry is great, he can be a running back. He'll backup Irwin. But Makada, I mean even if she wants to play like, I don't really want to see her being destroyed on the football field, nobody wants to see that. The other guy is Ashton, right? He's too short-"

"So are we," Leon cut in.

I frowned. "Dude, you are almost six feet, I am five eleven, Terry is five, ten right? Around Nodelyn's height. Ashton looks smaller than that. Five six? That's way too small." I scratched the hair off the edge of my forehead. "Well, I like the guy Vanessa recommended, he's tall."

Leon replied, "Even if you said that, I talked to Irwin he doesn't want to come back."

My body collapsed into a deep pit. I asked with caution, "Then tell him to come."

"He doesn't want to come. According to him he's not being paid enough to come, his words, not mine."

A stupor slammed my slowing heartbeat and my eyes lost focus. My mind got swept up in a dark place like a floating sheet of newspaper thrown away when used.

I shook myself out of my shock. Why was my life riddled with the madness of bad luck? At every intersection I took, I came upon a roadblock.

I moaned in discontent.

Nodelyn raised her hand triumphantly. "See?"

I ignored Nodelyn's gloating gesture, yet my voice was weak from the prior stroke. "But we need him."

Leon shrugged. "We needed the other players too and they never came to the match."

Nodelyn nodded her head and a gloom raised off her face. Her lips twitched in anxiety to speak, but she spoke confidently, "That's why I think we should get dedicated members, people who actually really want to play this sport like Leon or you. I think the members I got-" Nodelyn lifted her finger, paused, and continued with a twirl of her finger at me. "They're not the best they're not ideal-" Her eyes narrowed and her voice sliced through me with white-hot heat. "But they won't leave you hanging when you need them the most."