youngblood | a.i.

fifty one || the curse behind number 15

The second half started tied 1-1, giving us optimal time to still win or lose. Coach continued switching me and Aj out. It was our normal routine at this point.

When I went in for Aj this time though, it slowly started to rain. They didn't call off the game though. We had only 20 minutes left and we were hoping we could beat the thunder.

We pushed through the slick conditions, working as if it wasn't pouring around us. All of us were drenched, trying out hardest to push through because we knew some of us needed those scouts to pick us out of the group.

Ashton eventually pushed up towards the goal again, taking a shot but the goalie just stopping it. The added conditions were making setting up shots so much harder- the ball moved faster across the wet turf than it would dry, meaning you had to recalculate your usual force to make sure you still got to it correctly.

The goalie stepped out of the goal box as we all moved back downfield. The refs blew their whistle, bringing in other plays to switch out. I saw Aj running towards me, pointing to Coach on the sidelines who was ushering me off faster with hand signals.

I ran off quickly, scared as to what I had done. I gave Aj a questioning look, hoping he could give me an answer as I ran past, but he just shrugged. When I finally reached Coach, he immediately did a hand motion to get me to spin around.

"What?" I asked as I stood with my back to him.

He set down his clipboard, his hand pushing against my back, trying to smooth something out. "Did you bring your red tape?"

"No, why?" I asked confused, trying to look over my shoulder to see what he was doing.

"Because your numbers falling off," he explained, giving up on trying to push it back on. "And I can't have two 15's on the field.

"Shit," I huffed to myself, trying to come up with what to do. I'd left the tape at home, never having had an issue with it since I'd originally put it on. I guess the rain made it lose its stick.

"You're gonna have to bench until we can figure something out," Coach explained to me, seeming more stressed than I was. "Or I can pull Ashton and send you in on forward," he mumbled.

"No," I immediately spoke before I could think. "He needs the scouts to pick him. I don't need this game like he does. Leave him."

I was trying not to think like he was the guy who broke me. He was just my teammate.

"Okay," Coach replied, sounding a bit thrown off. "There's only ten minutes left, hopefully he doesn't get tired."

"He's got it," I whispered below my breath, hating that I knew it was true. No matter how much I didn't want to admit it, I still knew him better than anyone else.

I pulled the failed tape off my back, rolling it up in my hand as the tension raised on the bench. I looked up to the gameplay, watching as Aj ran the ball up the wing towards the goal. Everyone pushed towards the goal in hopes they could score to push us up a point. Aj ran it as far as he could before all the defenders swarmed him. He looked to Ashton, kicking it in to him.

But like I said, the ball moves faster across wet turf.

Ashton tried to readjust, relining up to shoot. I watched in panic as I saw a player from the other team running in behind him. Ashton was completely blind to his arrival and no one was calling it. "Behind, behind," I started anxiously whispering to myself.

I continued my anxious whisper as Ashton reached the ball, pulling back to shoot. The other player continued to run towards him even as Ashton continued to be blind. In a moment of panic as Ashton kicked forward, I yelled out "behind!".